How is anyone supposed to believe that President Trump truly cares about the rise in anti-Semitism? Every week brings new and shocking indifference coming directly from the White House. I am appalled by reports that the Trump White House is considering eliminating the office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism and the Ambassador-level position that leads it. There's a dangerous wave of anti-Semitism rising in this country and around the world, and choosing now – of all times – to stop monitoring such incidents around the globe is deeply troubling. Read more »
South Florida Jewish leaders gathered in Broward Friday morning to strategize with law enforcement following a series of bomb threats nationwide that have forced evacuations of Jewish Community Centers.On Friday morning, the FBI arrested Juan Thompson, 31, in St. Louis in connection to at least eight of the threats in a few states not including Florida. Thompson, a former journalist, allegedly made the threats to harass a woman. Authorities don't believe he is the perpetrator behind the bulk of the threats nationwide.U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who organized the meeting at Broward College was grateful an arrest was made but said other perpetrators are still at large. Read more »
It was 100 years ago Saturday that Jeannette Rankin took her seat as the first woman elected to Congress, breaking up the ultimate all-male power club. Surviving unwelcoming workplaces is something Rankin and countless other women have endured, and sadly, many still do today. And while women have always worked, it's too often been in situations where they were underpaid, undervalued or not paid at all. As we celebrate Women's History Month, it's important to acknowledge the low wages, poor working conditions and limited opportunities so many generations of women endured. But during this month we can also celebrate the fearless civic, labor and business innovators who knocked those barriers down for all the sisters and daughters who followed them. Read more »
America's top law enforcement official can't perjure himself before the United States Senate and maintain the credibility and confidence that the chief law enforcement officer for the nation must have to hold that position. He must now resign. Read more »
America needs a forward-looking, investment budget that will focus on job creation and investing in our future, not one that recklessly abandons the millions of workers, students and seniors who still struggle to make ends meet. Read more »
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz vowed to fight back against President Donald Trump's immigration orders and criticized Miami-Dade County commissioners for caving to Trump on sanctuary cities. Wasserman Schultz, a Weston Democrat, met with city and county officials in Broward on Thursday morning after she held a closed-door briefing with federal immigration officials from multiple agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Wasserman Schultz sought the ICE briefing to gain more clarity about the administration's immigration plans, but said she walked away with scant information. "In my 24 years in office I have rarely had a more evasive briefing than the one I just had," she told local government officials who met with her at a Sunrise government building. Read more »
President Trump's mass deportation plan is cruel, costly and dangerous, and it undermines America's long-held values of due process and welcoming immigrants to our shores. The human toll will be immeasurable. It will tear apart families, and incite panic as untold numbers of our friends, co-workers and neighbors will now be frightened just to go to work, school or the hospital. Many more will now avoid police, even if they're victims of a crime. Read more »
If the United States truly seeks a lasting peace in the Middle East, President Trump's choice to be our country's next envoy to Israel is the wrong man. David Friedman will bring only a lengthy record of conflict and provocation to the job. Read more »
Wasserman Schultz and 20 Jewish House Members of Congress wrote President Trump today urging him not to exempt any federally funded, faith-based organizations from current nondiscrimination protections. Wasserman Schultz and the Members sent the letter after press reports indicated that Trump would issue an Executive Order that would allow federally funded groups to discriminate based on religious objections. Wasserman Schultz and organizations supportive of the letter issued the following statements Read more »
It's hard to imagine a more destructive pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency than Scott Pruitt, a climate science doubter who sued the agency he's cynically being asked to lead more than a dozen times. Any Republican Senator who votes for Pruitt is basically handing matches to an arsonist. Sea levels are already encroaching on Florida's coasts, forcing local taxpayers to spend millions of dollars to fend off a problem that will only get worse under Pruitt. The EPA desperately needs a leader who wants to protect our water, land and air -- not a pollution apologist who will try to destroy it. Read more »
