Greene County Democrat

Tag: Build Back Better Act

  • Federation provides update on Black farmer debt relief lawsuit

    By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (Federation), a regional Black farmer, landowner and cooperative development association has been the primary advocate for Black farmers in combating lawsuits by white farmers to block debt relief assistance under Section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan.

    The Federation filed a motion to intervene in the Texas case of Miller vs. Vilsack, in October 2021. Judge Reed O’Connor denied the Federation’s motion to intervene on December 8, 2021. The Federation appealed this decision to deny its motion to intervene at the end of December. Both sides have submitted briefs in the appeal which is currently pending.

    “It is with great concern that the Federation continues to work to persuade the Texas district court in Miller vs. Vilsack to allow the voices of and interests of our member-farmers to be heard during the Texas case that threatens their very existence. The impact of the delayed debt relief for Black and underserved farmers as it pertains to the American Rescue Act is already being experienced by our member-farmers in the form of foreclosure letters and lost land,” said Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the Federation.

    The Federation continues to advocate for its member-farmers with all of the legal instruments available for the USDA promised black farmer debt relief under Section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan. The Federation cannot allow their voices to be excluded from this lawsuit because they have far too much to lose. The white farmers in the case will be able to provide their reasons for trying to prevent Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color (BIPOC) from receiving the USDA promised aid. In the spirit of racial justice and fairness, the Black and other farmers of color must be afforded the same opportunity to share with the judge why the case should be thrown out and they receive the USDA promised aid.

    There were provisions in the proposed Build Back Better Act to provide debt relief to economically disadvantaged farmers, which included many of the Black farmers promised debt relief in the American Rescue Plan. The Build Back Better legislation has stalled in the U. S. Senate because of the opposition of all Republican and two Democratic Senators.

    “With the shift away from the racial equity focus on debt relief provisions of the Build Back Better legislation and its passage at a standstill, our members desperately need the Judge in this lawsuit to allow them to intervene as parties so they can share their experiences of racial discrimination and the very real risk of foreclosure our member-farmers, especially those with guaranteed loans, continue to face if Section 1005 is not fully implemented as passed last year,” said Dania Davy, the Federation’s Attorney and Director of Land Assistance Programs.

    Blanding stated, “The Federation of Southern Cooperatives celebrates the commitment Secretary Vilsack and the Biden Administration has shown towards the plight of the Black farmers and all farmers and ranchers of color. Secretary Vilsack and the USDA continues to honor their commitment to racial equity, as shown by the last week’s January 10th renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) extending the partnership between the USDA and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives at our administrative offices. We remain committed to executing all existing avenues available to remove all barriers experienced by farmers of color.”

    The MOU renews a partnership between the Federation, the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the US Forest Service, and the National Agroforestry Center aimed at increasing the number of black and underserved landowners in the South and support them in sustainable forestry and agroforestry practices.

    Additionally, Secretary Vilsack announced the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is the recipient of a new NRCS Equity agreement focusing on the critical role African-American and other underserved landowners play in forest management, food production, conservation, wood energy, and climate mitigation.

    “The Federation is honored to continue to serve our members and their communities in ways that promote fair and racially equitable access to USDA programs and services and the critical technical assistance to improve program participation in programs towards promoting a more just and sustainable environment for all the communities we serve and the Southern region as a whole. The Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center, located in Epes, Alabama (Sumter County) and Regional Community Forest Initiative will be critical components of this work, “stated Blanding.

    The Federation can be reached through its website: http://www.federation.coop or by calling 205-652-9676 in Epes, Alabama.
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  • Newswire: Voting Rights activists, Civil Rights leaders
    vow to keep fighting to pass voting rights bills

    Nsé Ufot

    By Barrington M. Salmon


    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Marc Morial said he, like much of the country, watched the tug-of-war between Democratic and Republican senators over passage of two critical voting rights bills with dismay last week.

    After 50 Republicans and two Democrats voted against a carve-out to allow a debate or a vote on passage of the bills, Morial – among other civil rights leaders – were left perturbed but resolved to keep on fighting until the upper chamber of the U. S. Senate passes both bills. The fate of African-Americans and this country hang in the balance, he added.

    “We’re working on precisely what happens next,” said Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans. “We will not be defeated; we will not give up. I’m dismayed and disappointed by the actions of 52 senators who will not allow this to come to floor, allow debate. This issue is far more important than the filibuster rule. Advocates and activists have to take the fight to the streets to let the public know about the obstruction of the senators. It’s old-fashioned obstructionism.”

    The bills are crucial because they could override the damage already being done as dozens of state legislatures have already passed laws that are tantamount to voter suppression. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “between January 1 and December 7 last year, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting. More than 440 bills with provisions that restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 legislative sessions.”

    Morial said he expects President Joe Biden to use his executive powers and the Department of Justice to sue the states, while using the tools at its disposal to blunt voter suppression and Republican intransigence.

    Aided by the filibuster, Republicans had blocked debate on legislation that combined the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act four times prior to last week’s heated debate. After the more than 10-hour deliberations, Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Machin of West Virginia joined 50 Republicans to defeat a change to the filibuster rules 52-48. Democrats needed 10 Republican votes to break the filibuster. They also failed to secure the votes to unilaterally change Senate rules to override the filibuster and allow the bill to pass with 51 rather than 60 votes.

    Nsé Ufot, activist, community organizer, and the CEO of the New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund (NGPAF), agreed with Morial about the grave and consequential threat to democracy not passing both bills poses.

    She and other primarily Black female organizers and activists have been in the trenches fighting the Republican-dominated legislature in Georgia which passed a law last year that severely restricts the freedom of Black and brown people to vote, and which also gives Republicans the power to determine which ballots voters cast will be counted.

    “I’m a woman of my word and walk it as I talk it with friends, others and the trash Republican Party,” she said during a recent interview. “Republicans have been successful in framing it as a Black issue and the press has helped out by framing it as a partisan issue. But what we’re seeing is an existential threat to our democracy and our ability to govern. Bipartisanship is absolutely not a virtue. Republicans have changed the electoral infrastructure. I think Democrats get it: not being able to pass the Build Back Better Act might have been the wake-up call.”

    Ufot said she and other activists have said repeatedly that the right to vote is reflective and affects

    everything. “There is no Build Back Better, no student loan debt forgiveness, nothing moving,” she said. “You have to get people in the states accountable to communities. They stole seats, gerrymandered and consolidated power.”

    Ufot said she doesn’t like pretending as if she doesn’t see what’s real.

    “I’m greatly frustrated. The people we work with get it. When we’re hosting events, organizing, building, ordinary Americans get it,” she said. “The demand has come from ordinary people. Leaders in the House and Senate get it. The House has done its part and we’re waiting on the Senate to get it together.”

    The New Georgia Project was one of coalition of voting rights organizations that boycotted President Joe Biden’s speech in Atlanta on January 11, 2020. Leaders held a press conference to announce their boycott as a way to express their deep displeasure with the way Biden has mishandled and overlooked the issue.

    “Yes, boycotting this event (was) absolutely the right thing. We’re asking them to do something else with their time. Go somewhere else to Arizona or W. Virginia,” said Ria Thompson-Washington on the day of the speech. “We (Black women) brought out the vote, brought them two senators. The organizers are fine. Biden should be using his powers to ensure that these bills pass such as whipping up the Senate to ensure that the filibuster is removed, no longer allowed to influence the passage of these critical laws.”

    Thompson-Washington, an activist and independent consultant on voting rights and housing issues, said Biden’s visit to Georgia was widely rejected because they (activists) have already shown what they can do.

    “Every single Latinx and Black vote led to the two Georgia Senate seats. The time for Biden to come was when the Georgia legislature was passing those horrible laws. That’s when he should have been in Georgia. He should have been in Georgia on Jan 6 last year thanking people for holding the line,” she said.

    Republican legislators introduced bills in the legislative session following record turnout and a surge in Black and non-white voters in the 2020 presidential election last November and the senate races in January that propelled Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossof to the US Capitol and who helped Democrats gain control of the upper chamber. The GOP has pointed to voter fraud to justify the new restrictions, despite no evidence of wrongdoing.

    Former President Donald Trump and other Republican elected officials freely admit that if they allow everyone to vote, the GOP will never win an election again because they don’t have the overall numbers to do. So, under the guise of election integrity, Republicans in state houses introduced more than 500 bills to restrict voting.

    More than 1.3 million people voted by mail in the 2020 general election in Georgia and since then Georgia Republicans has led the way with wave after wave of voter suppression laws, voter subversion and gerrymandering. The bill signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp includes an end the right to vote by mail without having to provide an excuse, which Georgia Republicans made law across the state in 2005. Among the law’s provisions are new limitations on the deployment of ballot drop boxes; the reduction of polling stations in Black neighborhoods; and a requirement that voters submit their driver’s license or state ID number as part of their vote-by-mail application. Republicans have also criminalized the act of providing food and/or water to voters waiting in line to vote.

    But the most alarming part of the law, activists and advocates say, is the provision that gives state officials the authority to override county election board officials and allow Republicans to potentially disqualify voters in Democratic-dominated areas.

    Democrats and other critics have castigated Republicans for their willingness to destroy democracy in their desperate racist bid to hold on to power, with more than a few Democrats likening Republican efforts not just to a weaponization Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election, but also as modern-day Jim Crow tactics reminiscent of the Jim Crow/segregation era.

    Ufot and Thompson-Washington said organizers will continue to do their work on the ground to bring greater numbers to the voting booth. They promised not to ease up on the pressure on Biden, Democrats or Republicans.

    “We gave them the votes, a governing trifecta of the White House, the House and the Senate. Forgive me for expecting them to govern,” said Ufot. “What’s the point of winning if you won’t govern? We want you to act like the house is on fire because it is. This country has a high tolerance for Black suffering. Because this is happening to Black people, you don’t care. I’m probably not going to get invited to anymore White House dinners but I’m good with that.”

  • Newswire : Rep. Sewell holds “Building a Better Alabama” infrastructure district tour

    Congresswoman Sewell with Choctaw county officials at bridge site to be improved with infrastructure funding

     

    Livingston, AL – Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) concluded the first leg of her “Building a Better Alabama” Infrastructure District Tour, stopping in Marengo and Sumter Counties to highlight the transformational funding from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Congresswoman Sewell also visited Choctaw and Clarke counties.
     
    “The first leg of my Infrastructure District Tour was a great success and I look forward to continuing my travel to alert our communities of the transformational infrastructure funding coming their way!” said Rep. Sewell. “By visiting our communities and speaking with constituents and local officials, I am prepared to leverage our collective resources to ensure that infrastructure projects in our district receive the funding and prioritization they deserve.” 
     
    Sewell began the day in Demopolis with a visit to Whitfield Memorial Hospital followed by a press conference to discuss the healthcare provisions in the Build Back Better Act and how federal funding from various pieces of legislation have helped support hospitals by keeping first responders, frontline health workers, and other providers of vital services safely on the job. She took the opportunity to thank frontline workers for fighting to keep residents of the 7th District safe and healthy during the pandemic.
     
    She then visited Carl Turk County Road 12 in Livingston to highlight the over $6 billion in federal funding for Alabama included in the infrastructure law that will help fix Alabama’s roads and reduce the backlog of major repairs for highways and bridges in Alabama.

    The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will:
     
    • Create Millions of Good-Paying Jobs – Together with the Build Back Better Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will create an average of 2 million jobs per year over the course of the next decade.
    • Repair and Rebuild Alabama’s Roads and Bridges – The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system. Based on formula funding alone, Alabama would expect to receive:
    o $5.2 billion for federal-aid highway apportioned programs
    o $225 million for bridge replacement and repairs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act over five years. 
     
    • Connect Every Alabamian to High-speed Internet – Broadband internet is necessary for Alabamians to do their jobs, participate equally in school learning, health care, and to stay connected. Yet 18% of Alabama households do not have an internet subscription, and 11.5% of Alabama residents live in areas where, under the FCC’s benchmark, there is no broadband infrastructure. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Alabama will receive a minimum allocation of $100 million to help provide broadband coverage across the state, including providing access to the at least 565,000 Alabamians who currently lack it. It also makes 1,518,000 Alabamians (31%) eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Benefit, which will help low-income families afford internet access.
     
    • Make Transformational Investments in Alabama’s Water Infrastructure – Currently, up to 10 million American households and 400,000 schools and child care centers lack safe drinking water. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, based on the traditional state revolving fund formula, Alabama will expect to receive $782 million over five years to improve water infrastructure across the state and ensure that clean, safe drinking water is a right in all communities. The bill also includes $23 billionnationally for the bipartisan Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act.
    • Improve Healthy, Sustainable Transportation Options – Alabamians who take public transportation spend an extra 66.2% of their time commuting and non-White households are 4.5 times more likely to commute via public transportation. 25% of transit vehicles in the state are past useful life. Based on formula funding alone, Alabama would expect to receive more than $400 million over five years under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve public transportation options across the state.
     
    Alabama can also compete for the $12.5 billion Bridge Investment Program for economically significant bridges and nearly $16 billion of national funding in the bill dedicated for major projects that will deliver substantial economic benefits to communities.

  • Newswire :Black leaders applaud Biden’s infrastructure signing, but make clear there’s more work to be done

    President Biden signs the Infrastructure Act

     

    By: April Ryan, The Grio

    President Joe Biden has a major victory under his belt after he signed into law the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.   
    Reverend Al Sharpton attended the White House signing ceremony on a cold Monday afternoon located on the South Lawn, where the Grio was also in attendance. After the event, Sharpton told the Grio that this moment is “important and it is a deposit on the first part” of President Biden’s physical and human infrastructure legislative agenda.

    But the civil rights activist also emphasized that “we are not paid in full until” Biden and Democrats are able to pass critical voting rights legislation. As for the infrastructure bill that was just passed into law, Sharpton noted that there is a need to “make sure some of these contracts go to Black communities.” He added, “broadband is good but we need to keep going further.”
    Taking the stage at the signing ceremony before President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris said there is indeed more to come from the Biden-Harris administration. Clad in her staple pant suit, Vice President Harris said “this bill is one of two,” the second half of the bill being the social infrastructure component to include extended tax credits for children, significant climate investment, among other things, is expected to be voted on in Congress at the end of the week or sometime next week.


    Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is tasked as the Implementation Coordinator for this new law. President Biden said Landrieu will make sure the federal dollars are dispersed as expected in the structure laid out for each line item in the bill from roads, to lead pipe removal to money for Amtrak to fix dilapidated infrastructure.  
    President Biden will begin his victory lap on Tuesday as he travels with Landrieu to New Hampshire and the site of a “broken down bridge,” according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. The presidential spokesperson said it is all “in efforts to help people understand how the infrastructure bill will impact their lives.”
    Ultimately, Psaki said, President Biden and Vice President Harris will be crisscrossing America to educate the nation on the infrastructure law and how Americans stand to benefit from its investments.
    U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, who was in the audience at Monday’s ceremony, told the Grio “this is physical infrastructure, which is something North Carolina needs desperately.” He said at the top of the list of necessary investments is rural broadband followed by roads and bridges. The congressman also vowed that next up on the agenda for him and his Democratic colleagues is passing the second arm of Biden’s infrastructure agenda in the Build Back Better Act.

    The signing event drew a swarm of recognizable faces and names like U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah along with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Congressional Black Caucus Chair U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, U.S. Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida along with a contingent of Republican and Democratic members of Congress, Republican and Democratic governors, civil rights leaders, union leaders, clergy and others who traveled for this moment. 
    However, there were some dark clouds hovering over Monday’s signing with President Biden’s recent approval rating at its lowest levels. In response to Biden’s approval rating, Press Secretary Psaki said, “this is an opportunity” amid COVID fatigue for the administration to get to work and to help Americans on various domestic issues. 
    “Can they do better? Of course. That is why we are out here protesting everyday,” said Melanie Campbell of the Black Women’s Roundtable in response to public criticisms over the job performance of both Biden and Harris. Campbell will be marching Tuesday from the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women to the U.S. Capitol building to push for passage of voting rights legislation. 
    “[It] has to get done and it needs to get done,” said Campbell, who has the ear of both President Biden and Vice President Harris. “The administration needs to get the filibuster reform done so they can pass legislation that is important to all of us.”
    Campbell was also in attendance at the bill signing. She and Rev. Sharpton are of one mind on voting rights and this administration. Sharpton contends, ”I think we had to be here to insist that we also move forward on the voting rights bill. In the great spirit of bipartisanship I hope they also include the John Lewis [Voting Rights] Advancement bill.”