#progressive caucus

Did you know that?

Probably not because people would rather talk about what they think Democrats aren’t doing than what they are.

Luckily, you have me and I made a YouTube video (with a transcript for those who don’t wanna watch) all about that and three other stories!

In the years between 1949 and 1967, the clamor for the end of the “occupation” referred to cleansing Israel (without the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or the Old City of Jerusalem) of its Jews. In the decades since, the Palestinian leadership—first under veteran PLO terrorist Yasser Arafat and then his successor Mahmoud Abbas—has rejected peace and even several Israeli/American offers of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Authority still talks of a “right of return” that is synonymous with the destruction of Israel and funds terrorism. Its Hamas rivals who rule Gaza demand Israel’s extinction.

All of this means that any discussion of the nakba ought to be on the way the Palestinian leadership and the political culture they created are the reason for the original disaster that befell their people and their current plight. Rather than addressing this problem, the Tlaib resolution and its supporters are simply trying to fuel the conflict. Their goal of a world without Israel could only be achieved by genocide. The resolution’s supporters are thus opponents of any idea of peace other than one built on a new Holocaust.

Any sympathy for the nakba narrative is not merely built on ignoring the truth about the Palestinians and their wars. It’s also inherently anti-Semitic since it is built on a foundation of denial of Jewish rights and the Jewish victims that were created by the Arabs’ anti-Zionist hate.

So rather than ignore Tlaib and the Progressive Democrats’ willingness to mainstream anti-Semitism, mainstream Democrats and Republicans should eagerly take up the chance to debate this resolution. It would be an opportunity for centrist Democrats to demonstrate their rejection of the intersectional myths that a considerable portion of their base has embraced. Sadly, all too many Democrats, especially younger ones, pay lip service to critical race theory, which similarly brands Jews and Israel as beneficiaries of “white privilege” and part of the oppressor class while the Palestinians enjoy the status of victims and indigenous people.

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said this week that providing additional student loan debt relief, among other measures, could potentially help Democrats avoid a "disaster."

On Monday, the New York Times published a guest essay from Warren entitled "Democrats Can Avoid Disaster in November" where she wrote that she felt the Democratic party needed to do more to deliver on promises that it made to voters to avoid "big losses in the midterms."

"Democrats need to deliver more of the president's agenda," Warren wrote, "or else we will not be in the majority much longer."

In addition to saying legislators need to address climate change, "root out corruption" and close tax loopholes for the rich among other measures, Warren also directly addressed what she saw as a need to provide more student relief than what has already been provided, which includes some additional debt relief announced this week.

"We also need to use every tool of the presidency to deliver for working people," Warren wrote. "For example, by a margin of more than two-to-one, Americans support providing some student loan debt cancellation — an action the president could take entirely on his own."

"Doing so would lift the economic outlook for too many borrowers who still weren't able to get a college diploma, for the millions of female borrowers who shoulder about two-thirds of all student loan debt, and for Black and Hispanic borrowers, a higher percentage of whom take on debt to attend college compared to white students, and have a harder time paying it off after school," Warren continued. "With the stroke of a pen, the president could make massive strides to close gender and racial wealth gaps."

On Tuesday, the Department of Education announced actions to address "historical failures in the administration of the federal student loan programs," that resulted in the "immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program."

The announcement comes as Biden has continued to face pressure from Democrats to relieve student loan debt, as well as to deliver on more of his agenda ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.

Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden cancelling all student loan debt through the use of executive action is "still on the table," during an appearance on the live podcast, Pod Save America.

Psaki also spoke about the pause on federal student loan payments, saying "Nobody's had to pay a dollar, a cent, anything in student loans since Joe Biden has been president."

The pause on federal student loan payments was first enacted during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic by former President Donald Trump, but it has continued to be extended, with the latest extension going until August 31. According to Psaki, the pause on federal student loan payments is "either going to be extended or we're going to make a decision," about canceling them.

Following the announcement by the Department of Education on Tuesday, Warren wrote on Twitter that "Fixing the Income-Driven Repayment system for borrowers is critical."

"And it starts with providing relief to the millions of borrowers who followed the rules but haven't received the forgiveness they were promised. #CancelStudentDebt," Warren wrote.

Despite the praise from Warren, many other Progressive Democrats have called for the Biden administration to do more to cancel all student loan debt.

On Tuesday, the Progressive Caucus tweeted that the new debt relief would "make a meaningful difference for those impacted, especially borrowers with lower incomes," but the caucus still wanted to see the Biden administration go further, saying it would continue to push for cancel student loan debts.