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Progressive Democrats in Congress will on Thursday introduce the Transform, Heal and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) Act. The bill, which has been promoted for months, outlines a bold and holistic plan to address racial injustice, the climate crisis, and the economic anxiety and mass unemployment exacerbated by the pandemic. I think that for us the pandemic has sadly just showcased our belief that we need to figure out how to help people thrive and not just survive, says Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), one of the bills sponsors.

Bold may be an understatement. While President Bidens proposed infrastructure plan calls for spending $2 trillion over the next 10 years, the THRIVE Act green-lights the investment of $1 trillion annually. The money would go toward creating an estimated 15 million family-sustaining union jobs, rebuilding the nations physical and social infrastructure, and cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. The bill gives particular attention to lifting up communities of color that have borne the brunt of racial and environmental injustice. Its putting forth this unified vision for a recovery that is deeply intersectional, that is extremely bold, and that meets the scale of these multiple crises that we face, adds Jayapal.

The THRIVE Act is being led by Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the Senate and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in the House of Representatives. The THRIVE Agenda will guide us as we mobilize on a transformative mission to bring justice and healing to our communities, Rep. Dingell said earlier this year. With a broad coalition of colleagues, advocates, and activists, we will save our environment and achieve the racial and economic equity that our nation demands.

The massive scale of the THRIVE Act means that it exists for now as more of a marker than something with a chance of passing through a Congress that cant even stomach far more moderate reform measures. But the same could be said of Green New Deal legislation, the principles of which are now largely supported by the American people. Lawmakers introducing the THRIVE Act are seeking to capitalize on this momentum, as well as the unique opportunity offered by a devastating year that has emphasized the imperative for equitable change.

I always used to say that if politics is the art of the possible, then its our job as activists to figure out how to move the boundaries of what people see as possible, Jayapal says. Thats what I feel like has happened with how the pandemic has combined with the racial justice movement, the economic justice movement, the climate justice movement, and the labor justice movement. All of those things have kind of come together and really created a different vision.

The allocation of the $1 trillion annual investment called for in the THRIVE Act would be guided by a 20-member board composed with representation from impacted communities, indigenous communities, and labor organizations.

The infrastructure upgrades will be geared around cutting emissions in half by 2030, and involve upgrading and expanding water systems, the electrical grid, wind power, solar power, electric vehicle infrastructure, and public transit. The bill holds that by the end of 2030 the majority of Americans will live within walking distance of clean, affordable, high-frequency public transit.

But the THRIVE Act isnt just a green infrastructure initiative that just tacks on a few racial justice measures. Instead, the bill is very much built around lifting up marginalized communities and righting the wrongs of years of environmental racism. There will be equitable hiring. There will be educational initiatives. There will be equity assessments and guardrails put up to prevent discrimination. Communities of color will be given the tools to sustain themselves on their own terms. The THRIVE Act holds that at least half of the $10 trillion in federal investment over the next 10 years will directly benefit those who have been most affected by systemic racism.

Indigenous communities have been given particular attention. The THRIVE Act was originally introduced as a resolution last September by then-Rep. Deb Haaland, who has since been confirmed as the first Native American secretary of the Interior. The bill is filled with language that centers indigenous people, ensuring they have autonomy over their lands. It also ensures free, prior, and informed consent, which means theyd need to sign off before something like, say, a massive pipeline is built through their lands.

Theres been a total abandonment of this nations duty to engage with each nation on an issue about these projects, Ashley Nicole Engle, the Green New Deal organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), says of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Tribes are not organizations. Were not special interest groups. Were individual sovereign nations within this larger nation.

The IEN is one of 15 environmental, labor, and justice groups that make up the Green New Deal Network, the progressive coalition that last year put together what it dubbed the THRIVE Agenda. Since Haaland introduced the THRIVE resolution last fall, it amassed over 100 sponsors before the THRIVE Act was announced in March.

The bills introduction on Thursday comes a day after Bidens first address to Congress, but Jayapal doesnt see the THRIVE Act as at odds with the administrations plans, placing them both on the continuum of progress and casting the bill as a blueprint for what is possible. I feel like the progressive movement and the president himself and the people around the president have really moved miles in terms of how they see these crises and what hes put forward between the jobs and the families plan is incredibly progressive and quite far along on the spectrum, she says. However, obviously, we feel like we need even more than we need it faster.

Part of what makes the THRIVE Act unique is its attention to organized labor, and the creation of not just jobs, but family-sustaining jobs. Democrats have long been criticized for glossing over the impact green-economy initiatives like the THRIVE Act will have on those losing their jobs. Remember in 2016 when Hillary told West Virginias that, Were going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business? The comment was taken out of context (Clinton went on to detail her plan for a just transition), but the gaffe fed into the idea that Democrats were treating fossil-fuel workers like disposable pawns, and that reimagining the economy to take on the climate crisis is at odds with sustaining their livelihoods. Its hard enough to believe in promises from a political candidate. Its even harder when it could mean losing your job.

The deindustrialization of the country has created a lot of cynicism about both the role corporations and government played in really creating a transition for those manufacturing workers, says Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which is also part of the Green New Deal Network. Thats why we are so fierce in saying they cant just be any old job. They have to be living wage jobs where workers have the opportunity to form a union.

But there have been some recent signs that the fossil-fuel workers could be coming around to the idea of transitioning to a green economy. Last week, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts told The New York Times that he would be open to a transition so long as there are available jobs in renewable energy and the government provides aid to newly out-of-work miners. Were on the side of job creation, of a future for our people, Roberts said. If that isnt part of the conversation at the end of the day, well be hard pressed to be supportive.

Biden has anchored his climate action in the creation of good jobs that people can actually feed their families on as opposed to creating a green energy sector that is poverty wage, Henry explains. I think thats created a huge shift in the labor movement thinking. Yes, were not going to have the same mining jobs in West Virginia, but what jobs can exist as we rebuild physical infrastructure and open up solar and wind.

The THRIVE Act isnt likely to make it through Congress as a single piece of legislation and cure what ails America, but, as Jayapal puts it, its providing a vision for what the nation can see as possible. A decade ago few in the Democratic establishment would have dreamed of even considering the idea of transitioning to an economy predicated on clean energy. Nevertheless, the ideals put forth in Green New Deal legislation have seeped into the policies of the Biden administration, to the policy preferences of average Americans and, increasingly, into what fossil-fuel workers see as sustainable not just for the country, but for their own livelihoods.

I always remind people that sometimes in organizing and progressive movements it feels like youre not making progress, or its too slow and too slow and too slow, Jayapal says. Then suddenly theres a tipping point. Theres something that happens in the outside environment that wakes people up, which I think the pandemic has done. The movement has been building and building and building, and so its ready for that moment when that tipping point occurs, and it can quickly jump into action. I feel like thats where we are and were always going to want more, but weve moved so dramatically. Its really exciting.

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Democrats Are Releasing a Massive Green Jobs and Justice Plan. Heres Whats In It - Rolling Stone

Progressive advocacy groups including Public Citizen, the Center for Popular Democracy and Social Security Works came away from a Friday afternoon virtual meeting with staff of the White Houses Domestic Policy Council without a firm commitment that drug price controls and a Medicare expansion would be included in the forthcoming package, which the administration calls the American Families Plan. The groups pitched the policies as ways Biden could fulfill his promise to address racial disparities in health care.

This is a very live issue. No one knows exactly where theyre going to be, said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works.

Jennifer Flynn Walker, director of mobilization and advocacy for the Center for Popular Democracy, said while the meeting gave her the impression the Biden administration is an "ally" on these policies, holding the president to his campaign promises wont be easy or a slam dunk, given opposition to the drug pricing measures from powerful pharmaceutical interests.

Meanwhile, lawmakers hoping to force the White Houses hand are forging ahead with health care legislation theyre aiming to wrap in the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure package.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday revived her drug price negotiation bill that the House passed last year, and said in a statement that the policy will be a top priority for House Democrats to be included in the American Families Plan.

Progressives like Senate Budget chair Bernie Sanders are moving forward with bills to expand Medicare coverage as Underwood and many other moderates are hoping to further shore up Obamacare.

But without an explicit endorsement from Biden, some congressional Democrats worry their health care plans, big and small, may not survive legislative haggling over the infrastructure package, widely seen as the last major bill they can pass this year.

Bidens backing is important and perhaps decisive, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), particularly following the implementation of the president's $1.9 trillion Covid relief package.

This is a very popular president with a lot of wind at his back after the passage of the Rescue Plan, so any policy he gets behind has a lot of instant momentum, Murphy said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday didnt offer further clarity by listing health care as separate from the forthcoming infrastructure pitch as she previewed Biden's address to Congress next week. She demurred when asked directly if the White House is abandoning provisions to lower drug costs and expand health insurance in the plan.

He will definitely talk, in his speech, about his commitment to expanding and increasing access to health care, she said, adding that the American Families Plan will not represent the totality of every priority item for him and every item he wants to move forward as president.

Biden allies outside the administration see the White Houses reticence to wade into the fight in practical terms: The White House doesnt want a big fight with powerful health industry groups to scuttle its chance to deliver on major economic priorities they see as essential to fortifying narrow Democratic majorities in the midterm election.

Health care is complicated politically and substantively, said one outside advisor familiar with the White House deliberations. It seems the White House doesnt want to weigh down issues like preschool or college [aid] with lobbying campaigns from Big Pharma.

The House drug price bill also would face very slim odds in the 50-50 Senate, where even one Democratic defection would likely sink its prospects.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, whose state is home to numerous pharmaceutical companies, has already said he doesnt want to treat the drug industry as a piggy bank to fund other priorities, whether its infrastructure or insurance expansion. Others like moderates Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana are on the industrys watchlist as potential allies likely to block government negotiation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed again this week that he is waiting for the White House to lead the way on health care an issue that is more fraught for his caucus than for Pelosis, particularly on drug pricing.

And yet most Democrats see the infrastructure bill as their best chance to tend to unfinished business while the party maintains full control of Washington.

Last months Covid relief package, with the full backing of the health industry, directed billions of dollars to temporarily boost subsidized health coverage in Obamacare markets and for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. House Democratic leaders have made it clear they dont want to waste the chance to make the Obamacare subsidies permanent after a decade of pledging to expand the health care law.

The major expenditure, from my perspective, should be to ensure the Affordable Care Act is truly affordable and accessible to all, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

Progressives led by Sanders, the Senate Budget Committee chair, want to go further, pressing a plan that would add dental, vision and hearing benefits to Medicare and lower its eligibility age to 60 or even 50, even though Democratic leaders are unsure whether Biden supports the idea or if theyll have the money to do so.

Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who has long stumped for drug pricing reform and sent his own letter to Biden Friday calling for its inclusion, worries Democrats will lose their way if they get bogged down in a debate over how to spend savings from drug pricing reforms without first locking them down.

We have to keep our eye on the urgency of getting those savings, he told POLITICO. Having a debate about how we spend it before we save it could doom our prospects. The risk is that we wont save it at all and Big Pharma will keep it.

For Democrats, getting these major health care changes into the infrastructure package would be more than just a fulfillment of longtime policy priorities now within their reach. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said hes repeatedly told the administration that the party risks losing voters in the midterm election if it fails to deliver on health care, which Democrats have featured prominently in their campaigns the past two election cycles.

"I have stressed, continually, with my colleagues and with the White House the urgency of this its a priority," Wyden said, adding hes heard all kinds of rumors about the White House abandoning health care in the infrastructure package. Let me wait and see what theyre going to do."

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Democrats worry Biden's hesitation on health care will doom campaign pledges - Politico

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is encouraging retailers, pet service providers (such as vets and rescue centres) and popular visitor sites to join together this spring to raise awareness of sheep worrying by dogs.

With cases of sheep worrying attacks by dogs continuing to rise, the NSA is preparing to launch its 2021 campaign supporting the issue, and is suggesting others play their part in tackling the problem too.

NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker, commented:

As a farmer facing organisation it can be difficult for the NSA to reach the general public with the simple but crucial message to keep dogs on leads whenever sheep might be nearby.

The NSA is therefore calling on those with regular contact with dog owners in the many varied areas of life to help spread this message also, he added.

To assist with promotion of NSAs 2021 #LeadOn campaign we ask as many public-facing organisations and companies as possible to display our newly designed, eye-catching graphics and posters.

Together a change in attitudes and reduction in this devastating problem can be achieved and the welfare of thousands of sheep that are affected each year improved.

The NSAs plea comes ahead of the release of results from the associations 2021 sheep farmers survey assessing the impact of sheep worrying by dogs on farmers across the UK during the past year.

Having received a record-breaking response to the survey, the NSA is confident results will show an increase in cases of sheep worrying by dogs over the past year as lockdown has seen an increase in dog ownership.

The concern of many UK farmers is now of the ongoing issues with dogs who may have not been able to be fully trained and socialised over the lockdown period due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the problems they could potentially cause while enjoying walks through the countryside.

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NSA calls for combined effort to raise awareness of sheep worrying by dogs - Agriland.co.uk

Italian prosecutors have asked a judge to put four senior members of Egypts powerful security services on trial over their suspected role in the disappearance and murder of Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016, as the case finally reached a courtroom five years after his death.

The 28-year-old doctoral student went missing in Cairo on 25 January 2016 while researching Egypts unions. His body was discovered on an outlying Cairo highway nine days later, displaying signs of extreme torture and abuse.

The Rome prosecutors have accused Gen Tariq Saber, Col Aser Ibrahim, Capt Hesham Helmi, and Maj Magdi Abd al-Sharif of the aggravated kidnapping of Regeni. Sharif, they say, should also be charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Any trial will take place in absentia, after the Egyptian state refused to recognise the Italian legal process or extradite the four suspects. Preliminary hearings were suspended until 25 May after one of the state-appointed defence lawyers was quarantined due to exposure to Covid-19.

The hearings mark the culmination of five years of investigation into Regenis death, and a vanishingly rare moment of accountability for Egypts security forces. A judge is expected to spend the coming weeks weighing whether to continue the trial, potentially indicting the suspects for murder before full trial proceedings begin.

The Regeni family, their legal team and human rights groups investigating a pattern of abuses by Egyptian security forces welcomed the hearing, despite it occurring in absentia. Some observers remarked that the Italian authorities should do more to pressure Egypt into extraditing the suspects.

Regenis parents, Paola and Claudio Regeni, issued a joint statement via their lawyer Alessandra Ballerini this week urging more potential witnesses to come forward.

Many other witnesses are coming forward, they said. Time is a great ally. Well keep asking everyone with information to come forward and speak. We will guarantee their security and will not disclose their identity, as we have done so far. Once again we ask you: help us, for Giulio and for all of us.

On 14 April, Rome prosecutors said three new witnesses came forward to accuse the four Egyptian security service members of torturing and murdering the Italian student.

One of the witnesses reportedly told prosecutors that the four staged a robbery gone wrong to try to cover up Regenis torture and murder. The witnesses, deemed reliable by the prosecutors, say Regeni was kidnapped by agents of the Egyptian National Security Agency (NSA) on 25 January 2016, and taken to at least two security facilities in the space of a few hours.

Egyptian officials have denied any involvement in the killing and Egypts public prosecutor officially closed its own investigation into Regenis murder late last year, saying that the Italian authorities claims of the officers involvement did not rise to the level of evidence.

Its unprecedented for NSA officers to be prosecuted and have the case heard in a court of law, said Hussein Baoumi, a researcher on Egypt with Amnesty International. Torture is so prevalent in Egypt, everyone knows the NSA is practising it as well as enforced disappearances and unlawful killings. But there has never been a case where an officer was prosecuted and went to trial. Yes this is in absentia, but it sends a strong message that you cant escape justice forever.

All four accused officers are still serving, and Saber was recently promoted. This means theyre potentially in a position to commit similar crimes, said Baoumi.

The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, whose lawyers act as the Regeni familys legal representation in Egypt, reported last year that at least 2,653 people had been forcibly disappeared by security forces, primarily the NSA, since 2015. The NSA has been freed to commit violations unchecked, the commission said.

Regenis death soured relations between Italy and Egypt, and Rome initially withdrew its ambassador from Cairo in protest. It subsequently restored its top envoy and there has been no let-up in trade relations. Days after prosecutors called for the trial of the four Egyptians, Italy handed over the first of two frigates to the Egyptian navy in a deal worth up to 1.2bn (1bn).

Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Italian authorities should resist Egypts efforts to protect the officers. The trial is a positive step, but these officers are still potentially escaping justice if the Egyptians authorities dont hand them over to Italy or prosecute them in Egypt, which they dont want to do, said Baoumi.

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Italian judge is asked to put Egyptian officers on trial over Giulio Regeni death - The Guardian

With the devastating issue of sheep worrying by dogs continuing to affect sheep farmers and their flocks across the UK, the National Sheep Association (NSA) is preparing to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the problem.

Traditionally, the NSA has held a week-long campaign each spring highlighting the subject of sheep worrying by dogs, alongside its year-round work to tackle the problem.

However, with cases increasing at an alarming rate, the sheep farming charity will run a series of online activites over an extended period of two weeks this year, in an effort to have a greater impact on the important messaging of responsible dog ownership needed to protect sheep flocks.

The NSA will launch its 2021 campaign, titled #LeadOn on Friday, April 30, by releasing the latest results from its farmers survey.

The survey has broken all previous NSA survey records for the number of respondents sharing their experiences of attacks on their flocks during the past year, an early indication of the shocking scale of the problem.

NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker, commented:

Sheep farmers across the UK have suffered an increase in sheep worrying attacks by dogs over the past year, as dog ownership has increased and walking in the countryside has become one of the few activities to be enjoyed during lockdown but dog owners must be responsible for their pet.

The NSA is committed to ensuring the general public develops a better understanding of the stress and suffering that any dog, no matter its breed, can cause to sheep by barking, chasing and attacking them. It is a serious animal welfare issue that puts both sheep and much loved pets at risk.

The two-week long campaign will include: social media activity; webinars; workshops; new online case studies; and content on the NSA website, to help both sheep farmers in reducing the risk of attacks happening on-farm, and the general public in preventing their dogs from being involved in sheep worrying attacks.

It is hoped that the campaign hashtag #LeadOn will be recognised as an encouragement to dog owners to be responsible, and act as an example to others by keeping their pets on leads in the presence of livestock.

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NSA ready to #LeadOn the fight against sheep worrying by dogs - Agriland.co.uk