He added that the White House holding these listening sessions finally addresses the “disconnect there has been between people who are actually dealing with gun violence and those in office.” Trevon Bosley, a board chair for March For Our Lives, an organization that focuses on gun violence prevention, said that his group played an active role in getting the White House to create the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and considers that a big win. Some progressive groups say that these listening sessions have allowed these organizations to push the administration to do more on issues that young voters care about and have served as another vehicle to let these groups be a part of conversations with officials who play a role in creating federal policies that they otherwise would have been excluded from. Since Biden came into office, the White House Office of Public Engagement has regularly held listening sessions with progressive groups to discuss various issues like gun reform, student debt and climate change. “We are very pragmatic, and we understood … that nobody represented the best chance to beat Trump.” “We were never excited about Joe Biden,” he said. Still, Cliff Albright – co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund – said that Black voters have been underwhelmed by the “lack of movement” Biden has made on some of his 2020 campaign promises, including canceling some student loan debt.Īlbright told CNN that The New York Times and Siena College polls reflect the reality of how many Black voters feel about Biden right now. “We are working hard to highlight how an extreme MAGA agenda would devastate the financial security, safety, and freedom of young people, and how President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting for the future that America’s young people deserve,” Munoz said in a statement.īut Biden has also fallen short of implementing major reforms on the immigration system and student debt relief due to legal challenges and difficulty passing progressive pieces of legislation through the GOP-controlled House chamber in Congress. Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said that next year’s election is “deeply consequential for young people” and added that Biden will continue delivering “on the issues that matter to young people.” On gun reform, Biden also signed the first major piece of bipartisan gun safety legislation in decades and created the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention that would address gun violence in the country. The president has also recommitted the United States to the Paris climate agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which the Trump administration had withdrawn from, claiming that it would undermine the country’s economy. For instance, last year, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which includes key provisions to reduce carbon emissions. Since Biden came into office, he has fulfilled several promises from the 2020 campaign trail. Hall and other groups have said that they are giving Biden until the summer to see him heed their call or else they warn that he could lose a significant part of his base. “Young people work so hard to get them (elected) in 2020 … and they’re not necessarily feeling valued or like their work was appreciated because they’re not being listened to,” Hall told CNN. But now, nearly a year later, Hall says his hope is beginning to fade. Hall was elated when he received an invitation last year to the White House for his progressive group to attend a youth summit, which made him feel optimistic that Biden was finally making good on his promise to keep listening to young voters. But now some progressive groups warn that the president will have to do more to win back support among these voters on issues such as gun reform, student debt, climate change and the Israel-Hamas war.ĭakota Hall – executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action, a national network of local organizations that aims to mobilize young voters – told CNN that Biden is running out of time to demonstrate to these voters, who were key to Biden’s coalition in 2020, that he will fulfill his 2020 campaign promises even as the president’s efforts to sign more bills into law are likely to be stalled in a divided Congress. Young voters played a critical role in helping elect President Joe Biden to the White House.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |