Polls

Trump’s approval dropped to 36% in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, its lowest since he took office last year, down from 40% last week. Just 25% approve of how Trump is handling the cost of living

The WRECK America Act

Generation Vote -  GenVoters and our allies from across the DMV area showed up and set out to engage with the most vocally supportive Senators of the SAVE Act. It was time to get them publicly on the record about how they could support such an anti-voter, anti-student and anti-trans bill.

We caught Senator Ted Cruz coming out of a committee hearing and asked him why he supports a bill that could block over 12 million Texans from voting before the 2026 elections. His response? “It’s alright.” 

After being told that Senator Rick Scott wasn’t in his office, we caught him on his way out the door and asked him why he would support a bill that would steal the right to vote for over 8 million voters in Florida. His response to our young students? “Y’all come here and what you’re saying is complete crap.”

What’s “complete crap” is misleading propaganda that the so-called “SAVE” Act is just a “voter ID” law. This bill is a desperate attempt to rig the 2026 elections by allowing mass voter purges, forcing states to give sensitive data to DHS and DOGE, and creating a modern day poll tax for millions of eligible voters. If passed, the so-called “SAVE Act” would go into effect immediately and require every single American citizen to track down documents like a birth certificate or passport every time they register or re-register to vote

Donald Trump

President Trump -  "I don't think we're necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war, I think we're just gonna kill people. We're going to kill them. They're going to be, like, dead."

NBC News - President Donald Trump cast a mail ballot in an upcoming Florida election as he publicly condemns the voting method as fraudulent.

College grads face job fears

Axios -   College graduates are much more worried about the job market than workers who didn't go to college, Axios' Emily Peck writes from a Gallup analysis out today.  The unemployment rate is relatively low. But hiring has slowed. And slipping worker sentiment signals things could get worse.

Gallup found in a separate January polling of U.S. adults that just 27% of college grads said now is a good time to find a quality job, according to data shared with Axios. But 44% of those who didn't graduate from college think it's a promising time to job hunt — a 17-point gap.

That's the widest gap on record, going back to 2001.

Today's report finds a similar chasm: Only 19% of college-educated employees say it's a good time to find a quality job, compared with 35% of employees without a college degree.  More

US No Longer the Leader of the Free World

Carlos Lozela, NY Times -    We had a good run — some eight decades or so — but it is clear by now that the United States has ceased to be the leader of the free world. A successor for that post has not been named, and it appears unlikely that the European Union, or NATO, or whatever constitutes “the West” these days will promote from within. The job might even be eliminated, one more reduction in force courtesy of President Trump.

Rather than leading the free world, the United States is striding across the globe seemingly free of restraint, forethought or strategy, exerting its power because it can. In a matter of months, the Trump administration has captured Venezuela’s president and tossed him into jail in Brooklyn and has pummeled Iran’s theocratic leadership in a war that is ricocheting across the Middle East and upending the global economy; now the president says he will have “the honor of taking Cuba” next. Trump in his second term is like Michael Corleone in “The Godfather,” settling all the family business.

Nearly two decades ago, Fareed Zakaria, the international affairs columnist, published a best-selling book called “The Post-American World,” which predicted the United States’ relative decline versus other economically ascendant countries, what he called the “rise of the rest.” (Senator Barack Obama was seen carrying the book around during his first presidential campaign, affirming the volume’s elite sway.) The United States would remain militarily and economically pre-eminent, Zakaria argued, but it could take on a new political role, a sort of chairman of the board for the planet, relying on “consultation, cooperation and even compromise.”

Under Trump, the idea of U.S. leadership has indeed been remade — but from authority to domination, from persuasion to bullying, from nurturing alliances to wrecking them. (Consultation, cooperation and compromise have yet to join the MAGA coalition.) “We don’t need anybody,” a peeved Trump said last week when European leaders initially declined to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need them.”

Launching a war with only one ally and then expecting everyone else to fall in line is a perfect example of the tensions inherent in America’s new approach. The United States wants the benefits of hegemony, but without accepting the responsibilities — ensuring collective security, promoting economic openness, nurturing vital alliances — that come with it. Trump doesn’t care to be a superpower; he just likes to wield superpowers. He wants to operate in the world constrained only by “my own morality” and “my own mind,” as he told The Times recently.

What does that mean for America’s role and purpose in a world that has been too long defined by what it is not (the post-Cold War era)? It means that what we once called Pax Americana, that U.S.-led system of alliances and institutions that promoted American interests and values and helped avoid major conflicts in the decades after World War II, is gone, and irretrievably so. In place of the Pax Americana we are seeing a sort of Lax Americana, a world in which a careless and uninhibited and incurious U.S. superpower struts across the chess board, threatening old friends and enabling old rivals, seeking short-term gains, heedless of the dangers it is creating for itself and for the world. More

Putin

Independence Journal - Putin’s regime is openly defying Trump administration sanctions by dispatching oil tankers to prop up Cuba’s communist dictatorship, turning America’s backyard into a dangerous Cold War flashpoint. Russia dispatched two tankers toward Cuba in mid-March 2026, carrying approximately 925,000 barrels of crude oil and diesel combined. The Anatoly Kolodkin, a Russian-flagged vessel sanctioned by the U.S., EU, and UK, transports 725,000 barrels of crude oil....

Kentucky’s Andy Beshear takes aim at Vance

The Hill -   Democrats vying for their party’s presidential nomination in 2028 have focused on President Trump and his policies, almost treating the incumbent as if he’s campaigning for a third term. But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is taking a different approach. He’s targeting Vice President Vance, Trump’s second banana and likely heir apparent.

It’s a strategy that could help the centrist Democrat get attention and carve a unique lane for himself in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive primary for his party.

On Saturday, while speaking at a Democratic Party gala in the Ohio county where Vance is from, Beshear singled out the vice president, sharpening a line of attack that he’s been testing in recent weeks. 

“There is no one who will work harder — no matter what I am doing that year — to beat JD Vance in 2028,” Beshear said at the gala in Butler County. “He is the most arrogant politician I have ever seen — and given his current boss, that’s saying something.” 

.... Appearing on the podcast “Raging Moderates” earlier this month, the governor also blasted Vance, whose family is from Breathitt County in Kentucky, where the vice president spent summers as a child with his grandparents.  

“He is the most conceited elected official that I’ve ever heard speak,” Beshear said on the podcast. “And that’s incredibly dangerous because if you think you know it all, you’re going to make some really bad decisions because you’re not listening to some smart people you should put around you.” 

Trump's test run

Hartmann Report -  Steve Bannon, an enthusiastic advocate of authoritarianism, dropped the mask this week. On his War Room podcast, while interviewing far-right lawyer Mike Davis, Bannon said plainly what the Trump administration has been dancing and weaving around for months:

“We can use this as a test run, as a test case, to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections.”

There it is. Not a conspiracy theory. And definitely not liberal hand-wringing. The man himself, in his own words, explaining exactly what’s going on at airports across the country right now.

I’ve been writing and talking about authoritarian playbooks for decades, including in my book The Hidden History of American Oligarchy: Reclaiming Our Democracy from the Ruling Class, and they almost always follow the same predictable script.

First, you exploit (Reichstag Fire, 9/11) or manufacture (“Border invasion,” Iran attack) a crisis. Use that to change the laws to give yourself more power as you flood public spaces with your militarized enforcers under the cover of “helping.”

Then you normalize it. Have you noticed how stories about ICE brutalizing and killing people have gone from the front pages to occasional mentions on social media?

Then you expand it. ICE has gone national, massive databases of protesters are being organized, and Trump this weekend came right out and said that his next target will be Democrats, who he called America’s “greatest enemy,” using the “Democrat Party” slur that Joe McCarthy suggested Republicans should always use:

“Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!”

Hitler didn’t march his stormtroopers into polling places on day one. He put them on street corners first, just like Trump is doing. By the time Germans understood what was happening, the intimidation and threats of violence or imprisonment were already baked into daily life, and questioning what was happening felt like questioning the natural order of things.

Meanwhile. . .

NPR - Architecture and cultural organizations are suing Trump and the Kennedy Center board over the planned renovations to the arts complex. The lawsuit, filed yesterday, seeks compliance with historic preservation laws and congressional approval before the changes take place.

Abortions

NPR -  A new report finds that the number of abortions in the U.S. held steady in 2025 from the previous year, despite anti-abortion rights advocates pursuing laws and court cases to restrict access to them.

Hawaii flooding

Time -   Hawaii is grappling with the aftermath of the worst flooding to hit the state in over two decades. 

Thousands were forced to evacuate their homes and power was knocked out for customers across the islands by flooding that began late last week and continued into the weekend, brought on by severe storms. The state has suffered an estimated $1 billion in damages, according to Gov. Josh Green. Oahu, Hawaii's most populous island, and Maui, were hit hardest by the storms. ..

The fall of American democracy

Th Guardian -  The health of American democracy, as measured by those who study it most closely, has settled into a diminished state – stabilizing after a sharp decline last year, but still well below the levels recorded at any point before the start of Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new survey ...

The findings, by the nonpartisan democracy-tracking project Bright Line Watch, which surveys hundreds of US scholars at American colleges and universities, suggest that the erosion of norms detected after Trump’s return to the White House last year has hardened into a new baseline. The public also holds a dim view of American democracy, the most recent survey found, but are sharply divided along partisan lines over how well the system is functioning.

The heat wave

The Guardian -  A stunning heatwave that shattered records in the US west is threatening to rapidly melt the sparse snowpack and ramp up wildfire risks in the seasons ahead.

March has already been historically hot, but the early onset of summer weather across the region may be here to stay. There’s little reprieve in forecasts, which show more heat records may fall this spring.

Extreme heat is exceptionally dangerous, especially so early in the year, when bodies and systems are not prepared for it and when it lingers over a long period of time. This heatwave is also posing significant threats to the water supply. After one of the warmest winters in the west, the snow that feeds streams, reservoirs and soil moisture as it melts through the summer season is already dismally scarce in key watersheds.

.... The unprecedented heat event pushed temperatures between 20 to 30F higher than average across the region, with some areas seeing spikes up to 40F higher than normal.

March high temperature records have already been broken in at least 14 states. A new national temperature record for the month was smashed last Thursday, when an area in Arizona hit 110F (43.3C). The record didn’t stand long; by Friday, it was broken again, when a parts of California and Arizona reached 112F (44.4C). The record is just one degree shy of April’s heat record.

Iran

NPR - An Israeli official informed NPR that the U.S. is planning for talks to happen within the coming days in Pakistan. Iran’s Foreign Ministry says that the U.S. reached out to the country seeking discussions to end the conflict. Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan are actively involved in de-escalation efforts and officials from the three countries met in Saudi Arabia last week to discuss containing the war. NPR’s Aya Batrawy tells Up First one of the challenges the talks face is that there is no trust between Tehran and Washington. In addition, with Iran’s top leaders being killed in the conflict, it is uncertain who will represent Iran in the talks. Trump has set tough conditions for peace, including no nuclear enrichment by Iran, a demand Iran rejected prior to the war. Israel also wants conditions that could lead to regime change.

Bloomberg - The Iran war is creating waves across the global economy, affecting everyone from Australian farmers to cricket fans in Pakistan.

• As concerns about fertilizer supplies mount, wheat farmers in Australia—one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters—are paring back plantings.
• It’s a similar story in Calabria, the toe end of Italy’s boot, where winemakers worry about squeezed profits as higher diesel, fertilizer and pesticide costs intersect with Trump’s tariffs.
• Pakistan ordered fans of its top cricket tournament to stay home and watch matches on television to conserve fuel. Indian filmmakers are delaying cinema releases so as not to miss out on the lucrative audience in the Arab Gulf, where several countries have been targeted by Iran.
• It all adds to worries that a prolonged energy supply crunch will drive up food bills, stoking global concerns about inflation arising from the conflict.

MS NOW - It is a good thing that Trump did not hit Iran’s power plants, because that would effectively be an attack on the country’s civilian population, and it would mark yet another escalation in a war that should never have started in the first place. But there’s reason to be skeptical of Trump’s pivot.

Multiple Iranian officials deny the existence of the U.S.-Iranian negotiations Trump says were so productive. When asked about Iran’s denials, Trump insisted that his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke with an Iranian official Sunday night, identifying them only as “the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader.” But just days ago, Trump boasted about how he had killed so many of Iran’s leaders that “we have nobody to talk to — and you know what? We like it that way.” MORE

 

NY Times -  President Trump seized on initial contacts between Iranian and American officials to back away on Monday from his threat to strike power plants in Iran, declaring that the countries had begun “productive conversations” for the first time since the war began more than three weeks ago.

Iranian officials publicly denied that any negotiations about terms to end the war were underway, and American officials said the contacts were in a very early stage and not substantive.

But Mr. Trump used the opening of even an early dialogue as an offramp from the threat he issued Saturday to attack Iran’s power plants in retribution for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had vowed not to capitulate, and the 48-hour deadline Mr. Trump had set would have expired on Monday.

Learning to live with other people

Sam Smith - Just had an interview with Capitol Hill Citizen that plans to run a story in several weeks. In preparation, I reread a number of stories about my past. One thing that struck me was how living and working with other people was so important. 

Here are a few of the things that I came up with, not as an activist role model but as an example of how experiences apparently unrelated to our chosen work can influence what we do and how we do it:

• I was one of six children and so learned at an early age that other people didn't always talk, think or act like me. 
• I went to a Quaker school in Philadelphia. Far from theological rigidity, the teachers at this school offered ways to react to things and people who didn't think like you, something you do a lot of as a reporter. At Germantown Friends School you learned that  success was not just a personal experience but one you shared with others. The goal was "SPICES" - or simplicity. peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship. As GFS put it, the school was "dedicated to reaching that of God in every person, Our mission is to seek truth challenge the intellect, honor differences, embrace the city, and nurture each student's mind, body and spirit." 
• These days I sometimes describe myself as a Seventh Day Agnostic in that I am happy to try to follow Christian principles without having to pray about them in church or assign them to a god. I learned this in part in the 1960s working with activist preachers. One study of Friends of the Britain Yearly Meeting found some 30% of its Quakers to be non-theistic, agnostic or atheist. 
• One of the best teachers I had at Germantown Friends School taught one of two high school anthropology courses then available in the country. I went on to major in anthropology at Harvard College  along with about a half dozen others. As recently as 2024 there were still only about a dozen anthro majors there. This fits well into a society which places so much emphasis on money, power, and success rather than what it means to be human and sharing a community. 
• I was third in command of a Coast Guard cutter and one of things I learned with that rank was seldom as important as cooperative service.  I consulted with lower ranked crew members and what mattered was the problems that needed to be solved, not rank. As Joseph Conrad put it, "Of all the living creatures on land and sea, it's ships alone that cannot be taken in by barren pretences."
• For some four decades I played in bands, mostly on piano with vocals,  and while I would get my solos, the bulk of a band musician's time is spent helping others sound good.  I hardly even noticed this. As a role model for good group human existences, you can't do much  better than look into the life of a band musician.

Alll this is just one small example of  how someone finds  other people and other ways to think about life and do one's work.  

Action links

Sign the petition: Congress must hold hearings on the latest threat from FCC Chair Brendan Carr to revoke broadcast licenses for stations airing news coverage Donald Trump doesn't like.

“Un-cancel Stephen Colbert” petition

Sign and send a message urging your members of Congress to block any executive order that would federalize or seize control of our elections.

Congress should reject the SAVE Act and all attempts to make it harder to vote.

Impeach and convict Donald Trump... 30,000 activists have already signed on this week 

Save Stephen Colbert's show ....

Who should be the Democratic nominee for President in 2028? 

Mark Kelly is suing Pete Hegseth for violating the Constitution, after Hegseth abused his power and tried to punish Senator Kelly for speaking the truth. To support Kelly

Tell Congress: Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Iran

The Hill - A senior Iranian official disputed Trump’s claim that there are negotiations between the two countries, arguing Trump has “backed down” due to pressure from the markets and allies.

“Trump backed down from attacking critical infrastructure as Iran’s military threats became credible. Financial market pressure and the threat of bonds within the U.S. and the West have increased, and this has been another important factor in this retreat,” the senior official told Iran’s Fars News Agency in translated remarks.

Trump then clarified: The president said he has not been in contact with Iran’s supreme leader, arguing his top envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been speaking with their Iranian diplomatic counterparts.

Newsweek -    The U.S. Department of State has issued a worldwide alert on March 22, 2026, urging Americans across the globe to exercise increased caution as geopolitical tensions continue to ripple far beyond the Middle East. The advisory, posted early Sunday, warns that U.S. diplomatic facilities and American interests abroad could face elevated risks in the coming weeks.

While this advisory does not cite a specific imminent threat, it highlights growing concern that groups supportive of Iran may widen the scope of their targets. These groups could focus on locations associated broadly with the United States, including American businesses, cultural centers, or areas frequented by U.S. travelers.

NPR - President Trump says he’s postponed military strikes against Iranian power plants, after he threatened on Saturday to “obliterate” them if Iran didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 48 hours. On social media this morning, Trump said the U.S. had “very good and productive conversations” over the past two days, and that he would postpone strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, “subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”

Iran’s Defense Council said Monday that the only way for “non-belligerent” countries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz is through coordination with Iran, and warned that any attack on Iran’s coasts or islands would trigger mine-laying across the Gulf sea lanes. As the war enters its fourth week and attacks escalate, some Iranians tell NPR’s Emily Feng that the internet blackout is really scary because they cannot receive warnings about where the next strikes will be.

WE HAVE A PHONE PROBLEM

Having problems with our phone - 207-865-1485.  Can't get a repair job until April 1. Please use our email ssmith@igc.org at least until then. 

Donald Trump

Mykhailo Rohoza - More than 340 retired U.S. generals, admirals, and national security experts have issued a public warning: Donald Trump poses a threat to American democracy. The criticism has also been joined by prominent figures from his own administration — John Kelly and Mark Milley.

The letter directly called Trump “the most dangerous person for the country.” 

Particular concern is being raised about his strategy toward Iran. Military experts consider it unjustifiably risky and poorly planned. Instead of clear objectives — contradictory statements; instead of dialogue with opponents — personal attacks and threats.  Veterans warn that such an approach risks repeating the mistakes of Iraq and Afghanistan, but on an even more dangerous scale.

Judaism and Zionism are not the same

Voice of Rabbis -  Over 10,000 Jews attended this event where Satmar Grand Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum declared: “We have no part in Zionism. We have no part in the State of Israel. We will continue to oppose Zionism in the name of our faith.” A reminder that Judaism and Zionism are not the same.

Jared Kushner

NY Times -   Jared Kushner, one of the U.S. government’s chief negotiators in the Middle East, is trying to raise more money for his private equity firm from governments in the region.

Mr. Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has spoken with potential investors in recent weeks about raising $5 billion or more for Affinity Partners, his investment firm, according to five people with knowledge of the talks who were not permitted to speak publicly about the discussions.

As part of the fund-raising effort, Affinity’s representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which invests the proceeds of the kingdom’s vast oil reserves, two of the people briefed on the discussions said. PIF is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has formed close ties with Mr. Kushner and the Trump administration.

Jobs

Economic Policy Institute - The persistent gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025; women were paid 18.6% less than men on average after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, marital status, and state.

Women are paid less than men across all education levels. Women with a graduate degree earn less, on average, than men with only a college degree.

The gender pay gap worsened following a year of Trump administration attacks on workers, including cuts to the federal workforce; attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; ordering mass deportations; and undermining child care and home care providers.

Health

Common Dreams -   About 24.3 million Americans were enrolled in healthcare plans within the Affordable Care Act marketplace last year, but a survey released Thursday by KFF found that about 1 in 10 of those people had no choice but to make a difficult and risky calculation at the end of 2025 when ACA subsidies expired due to Republicans’ refusal to support an extension.

According to the research, 9% of people enrolled in plans under the marketplace last year are now uninsured, having dropped their coverage—and costs were a deciding factor for the vast majority of those who left the marketplace.

Markwayne Mullin

Forward Blue -  After firing Kristi Noem, Trump is nominating Markwayne Mullin to run DHS. A department with 240,000 employees, including FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection.

Mullin has no national security experience. No law enforcement leadership background. No record of managing anything close to this scale.

The Senate confirmation process was designed to evaluate whether a nominee can actually do the job. Mullin cannot.

Remember when federal agents shot and killed Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year? Mullin's answer was to block any new restrictions on federal agents. He called it "handcuffing" them.

Congress

MS NOW -  In the first year of the 119th Congress, the House held the fewest number of roll call votes in the first session in decades — 362, according to congressional records. The next two lowest on the list? The first year of the 102nd Congress, which held 439 roll call votes throughout 1991, and the 117th Congress, which held 449 throughout 2021. (Democrats controlled the chamber both of those years.)

By comparison, during the 118th Congress — when the GOP also controlled the House — the chamber cast 724 roll call votes in the first year, ranking among the busier first sessions of the past few decades...

Congressional data also shows that in the first year of the 119th Congress the second-fewest number of bills became law since at least the 1970s: 45. That is surpassed only by the 29 in the 118th Congress, when the GOP led the House and Democrats controlled the Senate and White House. (In the 1970s, some congresses saw upwards of 200 bills become law in the first year alone.)

Polls

A Yahoo/YouGov poll published last week found that gas prices are already doing serious damage to Trump’s popularity. The survey of about 1,700 U.S. adults found that 66% disapprove of how the president is handling gas prices while only 27% approve. A similar breakdown emerged over cost of living: 67% disapprove of the president’s approach, while 26% approve.  The poll also documented a sharp plunge in public perception of Trump’s handling of the economy compared with findings a month earlier. Approval dropped from 37% to 32%, and disapproval rose from 57% to 61%.

Cuba

Bloombeg - A senior Cuban official told NBC the country is preparing for a possible military assault as Trump increases economic pressure on the government in Havana and suggested it could be the next US target after Venezuela and Iran.

• Trump has repeatedly threatened Cuba, saying he can “Free it, take it—I can do anything I want” and calling for its president to step down.
• The plan? Less regime change, more US economic control. The Atlantic reported the US is discussing which Republican donors with Cuban ancestry could be considered for future transition or leadership roles.
• Cuba has mostly resisted the pressure, but the country is facing severe stress after Trump cut off fuel and funding. It suffered another another nationwide blackout Saturday, the second in a week.

ICE

Flyover -   Border czar Tom Homan said ICE won't operate X-ray machines but will cover exit lanes and check IDs to free up screeners for security checkpoints. It takes four to six months to train and certify a TSA officer, a process ICE agents haven’t undergone

Bloomberg - Trump is directing ICE agents to airports, where “they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.” The goal is to help ease long security lines, triggered by TSA agents—who haven’t been paid in several weeks—calling in sick. 

NY Times - ICE personnel, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations, are planning to be at 14 airports, according to a document obtained by The Times. The airports include Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix, as well as Kennedy and LaGuardia in New York.

Trump regime seeking preemption of state artificial intelligence laws

Roll Call -   The White House on Friday proposed its framework for a national artificial intelligence policy, pushing for broad preemption of state AI laws and against “open-ended liability” for AI firms.

The proposal urges Congress to take some steps to protect kids, energy costs and copyright holders, while also requesting streamlined permitting for data centers, regulatory “sandboxes” to allow exemptions to federal regulations and no new regulatory body to oversee the fast-spreading technology.

The four-page document fulfilled a request from President Donald Trump’s December executive order on state AI laws, which directed White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios, along with Special Adviser for AI and Crypto David Sacks, to develop a national policy to preempt state laws.

House leadership immediately offered their support for the proposal.