Congressional Coauthors

A Budget for Working America

THE HILL 04/04/14 By Michael Shank and  Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) To hear corporate America tell it, our economic recovery is going great. The top 1 percent of earners saw their incomes grow by 31.4 percent from 2009-2012. Oil companies are seeing record profits. Unfortunately, that’s not the recovery — […]

How to Save the American Dream

CNN 03/14/14 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Alan Lowenthal Editor’s note: U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif) serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Natural Resources Committees.  Michael Shank is associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation and a senior fellow at the JustJobs Network. […]

Small Town America Shouldn’t Resemble War Zone

USA TODAY 03/10/14 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) Why do police departments need military vehicles and weapons? Something potentially sinister is happening across America, and we should stop and take notice before it changes the character of our country forever. County, city and small-town police departments […]

Congress vs. the Super Pollutants

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 12/11/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Scott Peters Despite clear warnings of a new climate normal, we still have not made significant progress in Congress to address the root causes. Global climate change has resulted in devastating consequences, but Congress and the president remain […]

A Quick Climate Cure: Stopping Super Pollutants

ROLL CALL 12/09/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Scott Peters With gridlock gripping Washington, D.C., and preventing action on even simple fronts, it’s hard to see how Congress and the president will agree on good climate action policy. But the need is clear. Examples of extreme weather occurrences seem […]

A New Look at Climate Change

REUTERS 12/09/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda The annual United Nations climate change talks, which concluded last month in Warsaw, unfortunately found little common ground on carbon. The talks broke down over the world’s richest nations’ inability to agree with the poorest on how to address the […]

Climate Crisis and the Will to Act

THE HILL 10/22/13 By Michael Shank and US Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) In the past month, the U.S. has faced two grave threats, one domestic and one international. Both pose serious consequences to the United States and the world at large, and no one knows how either will end. The […]

A Constituency to Combat Climate Change

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/23/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Paul Tonko On Friday, the Obama Administration announced greenhouse gas emission limits on new power plants. We applaud this development and appreciate the meaningful step forward it provides. Much of the conversation about this progress concerns coal-fired power […]

Why I Oppose Syria Strikes

THE DAILY BEAST 09/05/13 By Michael Shank and US Rep Charles Rangel (D-NY) Instead of getting involved in a costly war, the president should combat poverty, gun violence, and inequality at home. By Rep. Charles Rangel and Michael Shank. America seems increasingly inclined to engage in a new military conflict […]