Tuesday, May 23 (NEW YORK, NY) – Tamara Draut, Vice President of Research and Policy at Demos, a New York-based public policy organization and think tank, issued this statement following the unveiling of President Trump’s full budget to Congress:
“The deeply alarming budget released by the Trump administration today would wreak havoc on working- and middle-class people, including many of the very people who sent him to the White House, by cutting services and programs that support our most vulnerable communities.
This Mothers’ Day, as the mother of two stepsons who came from Guatemala and one son born here, I’m grateful that all three of my children and their father have their papers. That was literally the first thing that crossed my mind after Donald Trump was elected.
April 26, 2017 (New York, NY) – In response to Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan, Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy & Research at Demos, a NY based public policy think tank, issued the following statement:
“This tax proposal shows once again that Donald Trump is no populist, but rather is hewing to traditional conservative and Republican philosophies, including doubling down on the failed experiment of trickle-down economics.
New York became the first state in the country to return to a guarantee of tuition-free college for students at state public colleges and universities.
April 9, 2017 (New York, NY) -- Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research at Demos, released the following statement after New York became the first state in the country to pass tuition-free college:
This year’s Maryland legislative session will soon end and among the potential unfinished businesses of the session is the Maryland Trust Act. Polls show that this is the type of law that Marylanders would love their leaders to take a stance on as part of the resistance to President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants and refugees.
With so many eventual graduates starting at community colleges, we should take a hard look at institutional aid policies, which reward incoming freshmen much more than transfer students.
Last week I had the privilege of testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch. Wth the Court split four-to-four on so many critical issues, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
But even beyond issues, what’s at stake with this nomination is the very shape of our democracy: the way we make decisions about everything from who gets health care to whether working families will live in poverty—and whose voices are heard in that process.
March 23, 2017 (New York, NY) – At the conclusion of the four day Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Heather McGhee, President of Demos, released the following statement:
“Today, I had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Demos’ deep concerns over the nomination of Judge Gorsuch for a lifetime appointment on the highest court.
We’ve created our own bracket here, matching up colleges not by the number of McDonald’s High School All-Americans on their roster, but by whether or not they provide access to an affordable education and whether they are engines of upward mobility for working-class students.
You can be sure that communities are fighting back against the far-reaching, multi-headed, xenophobic and draconian first wave of Trump’s immigration enforcement apparatus. Everyone who believes in equality and justice can assist in this community-led battle for the soul of our democracy.
The state legislature should support the Maryland Law Enforcement and Governmental Trust Act (“Trust Act”) and its model of limiting state and local involvement with federal immigration law enforcement.
Wednesday, February 8 (NEW YORK, NY) – Heather McGhee, President of Demos, a New York-based public policy organization and think tank, issued the following statement in response to the introduction of the 2017 New York Votes Act by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman:
Doing “everything right” — making all the optimal life choices to build wealth and get ahead, despite obstacles — is still not enough for black and Latino households to accumulate as much wealth as their white counterparts.
Washington DC – In the closest confirmation vote for a Secretary of Education to date, Betsy DeVos was confirmed by the narrow margin of 51-50, with the historic tie-breaking vote coming from Vice President Mike Pence. Following the decision, Mark Huelsman, Senior Policy Analyst and higher education expert at Demos, issued the follow statement:
“The unprecedented level of uncertainty shown by both Democrats and Republicans surrounding Betsy DeVos’ ability to serve as Secretary of Education should have been enough to disqualify her from assuming this position.