THE HILL 08/21/17 By Michael Shank and US Congresswoman Yvette Clarke This country desperately needs a positive vision, some goals for where we’re going. Instead, it’s all negative all the time; a daily slashing and burning of hard-fought protections. Take the environment, for example. In this month, the Trump administration […]
THE HILL 02/17/17 By Michael Shank and Danya Hakeem This year is set to witness one the greatest rollbacks of environmental protections in Republican history. Even if Scott Pruitt hadn’t been confirmed this week as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) administrator, Republicans are already easing the restrictions on coal mining […]
THE HILL 01/09/17 By Michael Shank and Former US Congressman Michael Honda Meryl Streep concisely summed up America’s increasingly violent temperament at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony this week, “When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.” Streep said it plainly and powerfully. “Disrespect invites disrespect. […]
THE HILL 10/16/15 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner This month, North Carolina state lawmakers voted to prohibit so-called sanctuary ordinances in cities and counties throughout the state. While a sanctuary ordinance may sound esoteric enough, the reality is much more harsh. Among the myriad consequences, under the new law […]
THE HILL 08/31/15 By Michael Shank Announced in the quiet of Congressional recess, new data published this week by Consumer Reports indicates that ground beef often contains bacteria that causes sickness in humans and resists drug treatment. Congress should take note. Fortunately, the United States Department of Agriculture already rolled […]
THE HILL 06/17/15 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Hank Johnson It is time to talk honestly about science. Americans are busy working, taking care of their kids and loved ones and trying to save for the future. It is understandable that many do not have time to read academic […]
THE HILL 11/12/14 The Hill Staff Michael Shank, who served as the associate director of legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation — a Quaker lobbying group — is joining Climate Nexus. Shank’s new title will be the director of media strategy for the group, which advocates for […]
THE HILL 10/29/14 By Michael Shank and Peter Hammer The post-industrial dystopia emerging on the streets of Detroit may be shocking, but it is not surprising. The crisis results from the convergent forces of fiscal austerity and structural racism in a region defined by its extreme segregation of race, wealth […]
THE HILL 10/20/14 By Michael Shank and Rep Scott Peters (D-CA) Last month was a significant time for climate action and raising awareness about climate change, featuring the massive People’s Climate March and the United Nations’ Climate Summit. Despite these events, Congress hasn’t acted. But there is an opportunity for […]
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 — […]