Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2025 — Whip Clark to the GOP: ‘Let’s Stop the Health Care Cuts’
Today, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) took to the House Floor to condemn Republicans for voting to hike everyday costs after returning from their 54-day vacation. Below is a transcript of her remarks:
‘Donald Trump said the cost-of-living crisis is fake news — “a con job by the Democrats.”
‘Mr. Speaker, 60% of Americans can’t afford a basic quality of life. 45% have had to skip a doctor’s appointment or a prescription. 41% are living with medical debt.
‘The American people are simply not making it.
‘Not only is that crisis real. It is a crisis Republicans that promised to solve. Voters believed them.
‘And now, after a 54-day hiatus, what are Republicans doing? They’re voting to raise the cost of living. They’re voting to make it even harder to get by. Not by some marginal amount — they are doubling, tripling, and quadrupling monthly premiums.
‘And what’s the defense? They are looking people in the eye and flat-out gaslighting them: “Costs aren’t up. Costs are down!”
‘Trump says: “I don’t want to hear about the affordability.” Well get used to hearing about it! You’re going to hear about it a lot — because people are feeling it every single day.
‘People can’t make rent. They can’t afford their prescriptions. They can’t afford to take their kid to a doctor. They can’t find child care — and when they find it, they can’t afford that either. Grocery and utility bills are spiking.
‘This is the crisis of our time. And it’s about to get exponentially worse because of the GOP’s craven allegiance to billionaires over working people.
‘The cost-of-living crisis is not “fake news.” It’s not a “perception issue.” It is daily life for the people we all represent. So let’s do something about it. Let’s reject this budget. Let’s stop the health care cuts. Let’s stop the premium hikes. Let’s stop the hospital closures. And let’s stop the billionaire giveaways.’
To watch the full speech, click HERE.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 2025 — NEWS: Sanders, 25 Senators Call on Starbucks CEO to Stop Union-Busting and Negotiate a Fair Contract for Workers
After 92% of unionized Starbucks workers voted to authorize a nationwide strike this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led a letter to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol demanding that the multibillion-dollar corporation stop its illegal union-busting campaign and negotiate a fair contract with its workers. The Starbucks Workers United union represents more than 12,000 workers at about 550 stores nationwide.
Sanders was joined on the letter by Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
‘We are writing to express concern regarding Starbucks’ failure to reach a fair first contract with its baristas. Additionally, we have heard of a troubling return to union busting, which has impeded the ability of Starbucks workers—many of whom are our constituents—to exercise their statutory and constitutional right to organize,’ Sanders and the senators wrote.
Since workers began organizing, Starbucks has waged an aggressive and illegal anti-union campaign. The company has been found guilty of more than 500 labor law violations and has been accused of 125 new allegations of union-busting since January of this year.
Last year, Starbucks and its workers made progress toward a fair contract, reaching 33 tentative agreements on key issues such as health and safety and protections against unfair firing and discipline. But after Niccol took over as CEO in September 2024, the company abruptly halted negotiations and walked away from the bargaining table.
‘We are troubled by reports that since you started your role as CEO in September 2024, the company has failed to put forward a serious economic proposal, backtracking on the previously agreed-upon path forward,’ Sanders continued. ‘As you well know Starbucks is not a poor company. Last year Starbucks made over $3.6 billion in profit and paid out nearly $5 billion in stock buybacks and dividends. In fact, in the first 3 quarters of the year, Starbucks made $1.7 billion in profit and paid out over $2 billion in dividends. Last year, you made $95 million in compensation for the four months you worked in 2024, roughly 6,666 times more than what your average worker was paid for the entire year.’
While Starbucks executives and wealthy shareholders reap enormous profits, the company continues to deny its workers a living wage, predictable scheduling and decent benefits — demands that would cost less than one day of Starbucks’ average sales. Instead, Starbucks has refused to settle the more than 700 union-busting charges against it and is implementing a restructuring plan to close stores and lay off hundreds of workers.
‘It is clear that Starbucks has the money to reach a fair agreement with its workers,’ Sanders concluded. ‘Starbucks must reverse course from its current posture, resolve its existing labor disputes, and bargain a fair contract in good faith with these employees.’
Read the letter here.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 13, 2025 — Merkley, Wyden Call on Starbucks CEO to Stop Union-Busting and Negotiate a Fair Contract for Workers
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined colleagues in a letter to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol demanding that the multibillion-dollar corporation stop its illegal union-busting campaign and negotiate a fair contract with its workers. The Starbucks Workers united union represents more than 12,000 workers at about 550 stores nationwide and 92% of unionized Starbucks workers voted to authorize a nationwide strike this week.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2025 — Merkley: ICE Raids Across Oregon Terrorize Our Communities
Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement in response to escalating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in communities throughout Oregon:
‘It’s been disturbing to see raid after raid terrorizing our communities with ICE agents violently detaining people solely based on the color of their skin, denying their Constitutional right to due process. In Oregon and across the country, we’ve even seen schools and day care centers become places where teachers are thrown to the ground by federal agents in front of children who shouldn’t have to fear the chaos of these senseless actions.
‘These attacks on the rights of some are attacks on the rights of all. Trump is using ICE to stoke fear and uncertainty in our communities, shredding our Constitution in the process.
‘If we allow families to be torn apart and our neighbors to be detained by their government indefinitely without due process, we surrender the values that define America. As Oregonians, we must all use our voices to speak out against these unjust raids and keep ringing the alarm bells on Trump’s authoritarianism.’
Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 2025 — Warren, Senate Dems Press Government Accountability Office to Investigate Trump Administration’s Partisan Government Shutdown Messaging
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) pressed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to open an investigation to determine whether the Trump administration violated federal appropriations law by publishing partisan messages on official government websites and directing employees to post political out-of-office messages.
The Trump administration started to incorporate partisan — possibly illegal — messaging into official federal agency websites ahead of and during the government shutdown. Some agencies’ announcements appeared to include nothing more than partisan messaging and lacked a connection to official business. One message on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website, for example, blamed ‘the Radical Left’ for the shutdown.
HUD was not the only agency to post such messages online; the Department of Agriculture (Ag), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Association (SBA), and others included similar shutdown language on their websites. The Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began playing videos with partisan messaging about the shutdown for passengers in airport security lines.
‘(These) announcements appeared to include nothing more than partisan messaging and lacked a connection to official business,’ wrote the senators.
Some agencies reportedly also directed furloughed employees to post partisan messages in their out-of-office email responses. The Department of Labor reportedly ‘sent a message to all employees…suggesting a potential out-of-office notification’ that accused Democrats of shutting down the government. Some emails were even sent without employees’ knowledge, like at the Department of Education, where some workers ‘had out of office messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown’ that were ‘automatically sent from their email accounts without their consent.’
Federal law prohibits the executive branch from using federal funds ‘for publicity or propaganda purposes,’ including for purely partisan materials. The law also prohibits agencies from using federal funding directly or indirectly, to generate publicity designed to influence Congress in supporting or opposing legislation or appropriations. When agencies violate restrictions on the use of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda, GAO usually finds that those actions also violate the Antideficiency Act.
‘To help us better understand recent actions taken at federal agencies leading up to and during the government shutdown…we ask GAO to conduct an investigation,’ concluded the senators.
The senators asked that GAO investigate any and all processes followed to make the determination to issue partisan public communications, as well as directives by federal agency leadership to post partisan messages, and that GAO make a determination about whether these agencies’ communications violated federal law.
[Find the text of that letter here.]
Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 2025 — Rep. Summer Lee Launches Investigation into DOJ for Dropping Corporate Criminal Cases with Trump Connections
Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, launched an investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its concerning failure to fully prosecute large corporations that have violated the law. Reports indicate that major donors to Trump have been given leniency under this administration. The investigation comes as a criminal charge against Boeing—which donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund—was dropped. The corporation was facing prosecution for the two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Rep. Lee demanded information and documents concerning corporate criminal enforcement and rationales for each case that has been declined, paused, or resolved through prosecution or non-prosecution agreements. An investigation by Public Citizen found that 30 corporations that faced federal investigations by DOJ collectively gave $29.5 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund.
‘The Department of Justice (DOJ) has an obligation to uphold the laws of this country. No person or corporation should be above the law, regardless of how many resources or how much money they may have. Yet DOJ has increasingly failed to fully prosecute large corporations,’ wrote Rep. Lee. ‘When corporations break the law and exploit the American people, they must be held to account. It is your duty as attorney general to uphold the laws of this country, regardless of who committed the wrongdoing and how much support they have given to the Trump Administration.’
