Biden-Harris Administration and Congress Must Continue to Advance Civil and Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janessa Sambola-Harris, [email protected]

WASHINGTON—The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights today released “Civil and Human Rights Progress Report: The Biden-Harris Administration and the 117th Congress,” a review of the first year of both the Biden-Harris administration and 117th Congress. The report, which draws on the expertise of The Leadership Conference’s 11 issue-based task forces, documents the progress made and the issues still yet to be adequately addressed, per the organization’s transition priorities released after the 2020 election. The report contextualizes the extraordinary circumstances of the last few years — including a pandemic response mismanaged by the prior administration — and makes the case for the urgent, transformative change needed across so many issues.

“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office two weeks after an armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, at a time when it seemed so much was broken in the United States — in our governance, our laws and policies, and our politics… while we urged the new administration and Congress to repair the devastation wrought and chart a new course, putting these pieces together to make concrete progress would prove to be challenging. The sheer breadth of this document is a testament to the commitment of the Biden-Harris administration and the 117th Congress to advance civil and human rights in their first year,” the report notes. “Yet we remain disappointed by a lack of urgency on reforming the criminal-legal system, dismantling inhumane immigration policies and practices, and ensuring that civil rights are front and center in the nation’s technology and AI policies. We hope the administration will prioritize these issues in 2022 and beyond.”

The full report can be read here.

The full analysis of the first session of the 117th Congress is in The Leadership Conference’s annual Voting Record. The legislation mentioned in this report reflects our priorities for the incoming administration and Congress as outlined by our 11 task forces in November 2020. The Leadership Conference issued a timeline of the civil and human rights rollbacks of the prior administration, which can be read here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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