For years, people were called hysterical for saying Republicans would gut abortion rights. And then, it actually happened. But it wasn’t enough for Republicans. They’ve made it clear that they’re coming after everything, including contraception. 1/X In states like Missouri and Idaho, Republican-led legislatures are pushing bills to block access to basic forms of birth control, including Plan B and IUDs. 2/X

What happened today in Gaza is a human tragedy. It was inexcusable, immoral, and counterproductive, and appalled me to my core. It is not surprising to see hungry people acting aggressively when a relief truck arrives. 1/X I and several colleagues continue to call for more aid to flow to Gaza. The Netanyahu government continues to prevent that, and fails to maintain crowd control and keep a peaceful order. 2/X

From the concurring opinion from Justice Gorsuch: “Often, Native American Tribes have come to this Court seeking justice only to leave with bowed heads and empty hands. But that is not because this Court has no justice to offer them. Our Constitution reserves for the Tribes (1/4) place—an enduring place—in the structure of American life. It promises them sovereignty for as long as they wish to keep it. And it secures that promise by divesting States of authority over Indian affairs and by giving the federal government certain significant 2/4

We got a lot done last year - some big, some small. But one of the cool things about my job is that even the small things are actually quite big. With the help of my team, we put together some highlights of what we accomplished together: 1/26 As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, we delivered the largest investment for Native communities in U.S. history, including millions in new funding for climate adaptation and clean energy. 2/26 indianz.com/News/2022/08/0…

I feel like the media is having a hard time metabolizing the fact that this congress has been historically productive. And acknowledging the size of these accomplishments, and the degree of difficultly, - it’s just hard to do accurately without sounding a bit left leaning. Like, Postal Reform was such a standing, seemingly unsolvable issue for every congress for a decade it seemed not doable. Done.

The Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act (PACT) was introduced by me, @SenJohnThune, @SenatorBaldwin, @SenJohnBarrasso, @benraylujan, and @BillCassidy is the most bipartisan section 230 reform in this congress. What does it do? 1/X First it holds platforms accountable to adhere to their content moderation policies. They have to say what they are doing, and then actually do exactly that. 2/x

So what does this child tax credit provision, pushed by @SherrodBrown @CoryBooker @Bob_Casey and @SenatorBennet and others actually do? Well, first we need to understand a few facts. As of 2019, more than 10 million children live in poverty. 1/7 The pandemic has made child poverty worse—1 in 7 households with children report lacking sufficient food in the last 7 days, which is more than 4 times the pre-pandemic level of food insecurity, and 1 in 4 households with children are behind on rent.

It’s simple. The President’s first job is to protect Americans. When the Capitol was physically under attack, he didn’t mobilize the federal government to stop it. 1/x But it’s not just that he didn’t protect us. It’s also that he precipitated the attack. He spent 50 millions dollars and his vast and powerful communications channels mobilizing people to be furious at a “stolen election” and to show up in a specific place at a specific time. 2/x

Too much of the climate movement of the past was about what climate change is doing to us, and not about what climate action will do for us. Taking action does not require austerity and scarcity. Done well, it will result in more wealth, more fairness, and better jobs. We already have many of the technologies needed to avert catastrophe. We just need the American optimism and the political will to deploy them on an unprecedented scale.

1) For Hawaii: Today was a record day for COVID cases in Hawaii. We still have a very low case rate and death count, and the positivity rate - the percentage of tests that come back positive, has not yet moved up sharply. But it is a reminder that / 2) our ability to continue to have a functional economy, schools that operate, and a healthy society is not solely dependent on what we do at the airport, but how willing we are to comply with some very basic guidelines /

Next week presents a basic test for the Senate, specifically Republicans. And they still haven’t explained why this trial, unlike every other trial, won’t accept documents that would help to illuminate what happened, and hear from witnesses with first hand knowledge of the case. They are going with something like this is a “pencils down” moment when you are taking a school test. If something wasn’t available to the House then it doesn’t count I guess? But that’s not how trials work - that’s not how impartial justice is administered.

The President has unique authorities under the law - he can do things that would land ordinary citizens in jail. So the question isn’t whether he has those authorities, because he does, but rather whether or not he abused his power. And he did. Searching for a specific statutory or even constitutional violation is a bit of a trap. It turns this thing into an ordinary trial. The question is more basic than that. Are his actions so reckless and corrupt and corrosive that they are crimes against the country?

Republicans are supporting the raiding of military construction money for the Wall. Here are some of the projects that they are defunding: FORT GREELY, ALASKA – 8 MILLION this money was to be used to enhance our missile defense to increase the number of interceptors in the case of a North Korean ICBM.

Here’s what I saw on the border in Texas today. Conditions were awful. Overcrowded quarters. Harsh odor filled the air. Mylar blankets. Spoke to some men through a chain-link fence.  Many have been in for more than forty days. They are drinking heavily chlorinated water even though there was running water and bottled water in the facility. 3-5 days between showers.

To the 24 Democrats running for president: Climate change is a planetary emergency, and voters know it.  In April a CNN poll found that climate change was the top issue for D’s, outranking gun safety and even health care. But what does it mean to prioritize climate change? 1/5 Be committed. Our next president will face tough choices between worthy causes, and voters need reassurance that you won’t drop climate change for an easier win if you’re elected. Show voters that you take this issue seriously, and personally

A few sort of disorganized thoughts about the election.

1) There’s plenty of time to pick a candidate. Debates are in a couple of weeks. Might as well keep an open mind and see how this plays out. We lost for lots of reasons last time. But at least part of the problem is that we were so damned angry at each other. Heated competition is fine - even good. But let’s not to make lifelong enemies in a Primary, even if it is satisfying to dunk on someone on twitter or whatever.

Kids in cages. Betsy DeVos. Bill Barr. Scott Pruitt. The Paris Climate Deal. Possible war w Iran. Negotiating poorly with North Korea. The trade war hurting farmers and consumers. Gutting the CFPB. Doing nothing on gun violence. The tax bill rip-off. Taking away your healthcare. Racism as policy and strategy. Corruption. Emoluments. Raiding military money for the wall. The wall. Undermining NATO. The War in Yemen. Record debt and deficits. Climate inaction. Gutting healthcare in native communities. The stacking of the judiciary branch with ideologues.

An international group of more than 30 banks and bank supervisors, including China, Japan, England, France, Germany have taken the lead in addressing the risk that climate change presents to the financial system. They assert that financial institutions face new and growing risk from droughts, floods, storms, wildfires, and sea level rise. These events could reduce the value of assets, decrease investment income, increase insured and uninsured losses, and disrupt financial institutions.

A few thoughts on 2020 since all of my friends appear to be running which is good. First, no one should be trying to figure this all out before the voting starts. 2nd, we must reject the premise that this is a fight between moderates and progressives. We are going to nominate a progressive.

So part of how healthcare works is there are certain minimum standards for a healthcare plan - it’s gotta cover ER visits, pregnancy, Athsma - there’s a long list of what they call Essential Health Benefits - a list of ways that insurance companies are not allowed to screw you. The Trump administration is trying to use a loophole in the law - if a plan exists for less than a year, then patient protections are no longer required by law. In other words, if you have a plan w a duration of 364 days, it’s allowed to give you Garbage health insurance.

Thread. There is now a definitive report from an international panel of scientists informing us that the climate is changing faster and in more direct and dangerous ways than we had hoped. This means real and massive economic and human impacts. For farmers, this likely means more droughts and more severe and unpredictable weather. For insurance companies it means 500 year storms happening annually. For fisheries it means just less fish. For ski resorts, some will manufacture snow for whole seasons.