Gallagher Releases First Official Newsletter
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-Greenpoint, Williamsburg) yesterday said with her first state legislative session underway as a newly elected lawmaker she is encouraging constituents to sign up for her District Newsletter.
You can expect regular legislative updates from Albany, government and community resources you can access, events and updates from around the neighborhood and more. If you want to see something included in a future newsletter, feel free to reach out to assemblydistrict50@gmail.com,” she wrote.
“Here are a few other items of note:
- Next Thursday (1/21), I’m hosting a virtual town hall on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine with Dr. Julian Watkins of the NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene. We’ll be covering a lot of ground and answering your questions live. Register here.
- I spoke with Greenpointers about my goals for these first few months, why I love town halls and what democratic socialism means to me. Also check out my interview in Greenline and a profile of ALL the new legislators in City & State!
- Finally, if you’re a resident of Assembly District 50 and want to get in touch, here’s how you can reach us this month.”
Brisport Blasts Cuomo, Will Present DSA State Agenda
State Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Gowanus, Park Slope), a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), yesterday blasted Gov. Cuomo for over the past decade “played Jenga with New York, steadily moving resources and power from working-class people to those at the top. This approach left our state, our communities, and our healthcare system riddled with vulnerabilities — and then COVID hit.
“In response, the Governor made more cuts to our healthcare, education, and countless other vital services, in order to maintain tax breaks for the ultra-rich. Now, New York State is flirting with a $60-billion revenue shortfall and we’re being threatened with even more cuts to the services and infrastructure we need to keep our heads above water, all while the 1% are enjoying their best year in a decade.
“In his State of the State speech on Monday, the Governor claimed that raising taxes on the wealthy could only bring the state $1.5 billion. That was a lie,” said Brisport.
Brisport and the DSA will present their own State of Our State: A Response to Austerity at 7 p.m., tonight, Jan. 14, where they will release their own budget plan. To sign up to hear this plan click here.
Adams on Trump Impeachment
Brooklyn Borough President Adams released a statement on the House vote on impeachment charges against President Trump.
“Last week, our nation watched in horror as the President of the United States, who has sworn an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution, incited a mob of supporters as the House and Senate convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Five people were killed, including a Capitol Police officer. Dozens were injured in the riotous insurrection that ensued. The US Capitol, a symbol of our democracy, was ransacked and looted. Legislators, staff, members of the press, and others inside the building barricaded themselves in offices, fearing for their lives. As this chaos unfolded, the President did nothing to intervene.
“I commend members of the House, from both parties, who voted to impeach this president for an unprecedented second time today. This vote is not a cause for celebration, nor is it the finish line in the pursuit of accountability and justice. As I said after the failed coup, we demand an investigation as to if and how President Trump or his staff were at all involved in the incident, its planning, or its instigation. We also demand a commission be convened to determine how the insurrectionists were able to breach the Capitol so easily — as well as who was responsible — and to deliver those findings to Congress. We need a full reckoning with what happened on that dark day to move forward as a country.”
Jeffries on Trump Impeachment
U.S. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn, Queens) released a statement on the impeachment charges brought against President Trump
“I did not come to Congress to impeach Donald Trump. But the constitutional crimes by an out-of-control president, inspired by his hatred and the big lie that he told cannot be ignored. Donald Trump is a living, breathing impeachable offense. It is what it is.
“The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was an act of insurrection incited by Donald Trump.
He is a clear and present danger to the health, safety and well-being of the American people, and that is why this impeachment is necessary on the House floor for a second time with a bipartisan majority. Violence will not win. Insurrection will not win. Sedition will not win. Terror will not win. Lawlessness will not win. Mob rule will not win. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Democracy will prevail,” said Jeffries.
Gillibrand Urges For Paid Leave Provision Expansion
U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter urging the incoming Biden administration and congressional leadership to extend and expand the COVID-19 emergency paid leave provisions that expired at the end of last year.
“As your incoming administration and Congress outline new plans to fully respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis, we urge you to reinstate the emergency COVID paid leave that expired at the end of last year,” wrote the lawmakers. “The United States is among the few developed countries that do not have a national paid sick days and paid family and medical leave policy. Over eight in ten working Americans lack access to comprehensive paid leave. The dire effects have never been more pronounced than they are now. We need people who are sick to be able to afford to stay home in order to curb the spread of the virus, and to keep their jobs to stem the tide of job loss.”
The lawmakers continued, “The success of the emergency paid leave program can easily be increased in scale by closing the loopholes – including those for the largest corporations in the world – that left 75% of workers unable to access emergency leave. If we don’t extend emergency paid leave to all workers and towards a permanent national paid leave program, even more working parents will be forced, once again, to make impossible choices between caring for their family and earning a paycheck.”
