5/31/17
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STATE & FEDERAL legislative rep phone numbers.
- Another reminder that Congress is on recess this week! This means that our MoCs are not required to be in D.C. They should be in their home states working, and hopefully holding town halls. Check if yours have scheduled any at https://townhallproject.com/ . A good number of GOP MoCs are avoiding holding in-person town halls. Don't let them get away with it: let's make sure they know we want to meet with them! They work for us, after all.
- Here is a tool for people to see and share if their members of Congress are putting #PeopleOverParty. The tool helps you determine if our representatives in Washington are truly representing us by protecting our access to health care (with new post-CBO numbers), preserving critical government services, and securing our democracy. We can choose our state, Senator and/or Representative, and ask them if they can check the boxes by tweeting a state-specific representation checklist directly at them or by picking up the phone and dialing any of the district numbers provided: https://www.recesstoolkit.com/
- We’ve already seen civil rights changes happening in federal departments and in legislation. Now, we see that Trump’s budget plan purposefully minimizes civil rights across the government: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-plans-to-minimize-civil-rights-efforts-in-agencies/2017/05/29/922fc1b2-39a7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?utm_term=.95c01d6d6835 Let’s make sure our MoCs know that if they cannot stop this that we expect them to pick up this slack, however necessary to maintain civil rights for us all.
- While Trump is expected to make an announcement about the future of the United States' involvement with the Paris Agreement, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has called for our withdrawal http://trib.in/2pgIhZM Let's give Mr. Pruitt a call to let him know that we want the U.S. to remain a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement. We can find a call script and phone number here: https://5calls.org/issue/rectqlnanlSYY5wAP or we can email him here: pruitt.scott@epa.gov
- Last Thursday, 22 GOP Senators sent a letter to Trump, urging him to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement http://bit.ly/2r7aked , http://bit.ly/2s4QiyH Conversely, forty Democratic Senators wrote to Trump in support of the Paris Agreement http://bit.ly/2r798HQ Let's find out where our MoC stand, then give them a call to hold them accountable, or offer our praise.
- The Department of Homeland Security has set up a public “Victim Identification and Notification Exchange” database (DHS-VINE) that includes contact information for some abuse victims: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/26/us-immigration-crime-database-victim-data-exposed Let’s let DHS Secretary John Kelly know that this is unacceptable: The Honorable John F. Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, 20528
- Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly criticized for air strikes in Yemen that have caused extensive civilian casualties and shows no sign of changing its policies. Yet Donald Trump is moving forward with a $110 billion arms sale to the Saudis. A bipartisan group of senators is proposing legislation to block this sale. (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/rand-paul-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-238730) Let's use the "oppose selling American weapons to countries that commit war crimes" script from Jen Hoffman's Americans of Conscience Actions Checklist and ask our senators to join this effort: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L8HnKq6hcAfbWUa0a-7PPA4S7h9gqkRzFJGu60gJfws/preview?usp=sharing&sle=true
- There are a few pieces of
legislation in the works that would put sanctions on Russia: Russia Sanctions Review Act (S.341/H.R.1059) and the Counteracting
Russian Hostilities Act of 2017 (S.94). https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-congress-sanctions-idUSKBN18L1WL Let’s let all our MoCs know that we
support these bills. We do NOT
want Trump in a position to lift sanctions against Russia given the
current Russian interference investigations and most certainly, not without Congressional approval.
- On the House agenda for
a vote next week (June 5) is HR10, which would
essentially dissolve Dodd-Frank which was put into place to avoid another
financial meltdown. There needs to
be a better fix. http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/finance/333665-the-choice-act-is-just-dodd-frank-20-we-can-do-better
We can read more about the
bill, including its text at https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/10 We need to tell our
representatives that we oppose this bill.
- Within Trump's proposed
budget are draconian cuts to the National Park Service (NPS). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/eliminating-conservation-we-know-it-budget-proposal Let's tell all of our MoC's that
we want to keep the NPS fully funded at current levels.
- From Postcards for America: Automatic Voter Registration S1231 & HR2669 -- A
bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters
to vote by mail in Federal elections and to amend the National VoterRegistration Act
of 1993 to provide for automatic voter registration. Here’s how we can help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j9EFoo1h8tfpgD9XV6BBCPEarhRP5OIw5Ypn0XKPvXo/edit Individual state bills and info
here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PB58tyrCDEvy1aKoeY9y-HTe_R9ok4zYbOL-pumcWe8/edit
Other Actions
- From
Tony the Democrat: “103,155 total
addresses written and 136,096 voters reached across all 3 of our campaigns
since March 11. This is as of nearly midnight tonight. When I emailed the
first 25 addresses to 5 complete strangers from Postcards for
America, I never imagined the idea of handwriting and mailing
postcards directly to voters would connect with so many of you. We're now assigning around 1,500 voter
addresses a day! Y'all are amazing. Thanks so much for the support to flip
key seats!” If we want to be part
of this, we can use Abby the
Address Bot which is ready to assign voter addresses conveniently and
promptly via SMS text messaging. Using your cell phone, simply text the
word HELLO to (803) 630-0295 and follow
Abby's helpful prompts. Abby can immediately assign 5, 10, or 15 addresses
to you making that part of the process quicker. For larger address lists
or if you have any questions, contact us directly by email: Postcards@TonyTheDemocrat.org
- The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has already experienced three leaks http://apne.ws/2rkOOnJ While the spills have been relatively small and contained, there is reasonable concern that a spill will occur where real damage is done. Let's continue our efforts to #DefundDAPL by divesting our money away from the banks that are funding the pipeline. Let's also make sure that we are contacting our former banks to let them know that they are losing our money (and how much of our money they are missing out on). DeFunddapl.org has a letter we can send, as well as a list of banks and credit unions where we can safely place our finances http://www.defunddapl.org/defund
- While the Trump
administration continues to downplay, if not outright dispute, climate
change, some on the right know the solid science needs to be addressed and
supported. https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0523/Why-some-Republicans-are-warming-to-climate-action Let’s take a look at “republicEn, a nonprofit that strives to introduce
conservative voices and solutions into the national discourse on climate
change”, and encourage our climate-denier GOP members of Congress to look
again and join in: http://www.republicen.org/
- Texas state
representative Matt Rinaldi, in the midst of a debate over a bill to help
Trump enforce his unconstitutional executive orders to crack down on our
immigrant friends and neighbors, called ICE on peaceful demonstrators and
threatened to shoot one of his fellow legislators in the head. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/29/a-texas-republican-called-ice-on-protesters-then-lawmakers-started-to-scuffle/?utm_term=.813f4805236b) Rinaldi came within two points of being
thrown out of office in the last election - and his Democratic opponent, Dorotha Ocker, is planning on running again. Let's
help her hold Rinaldi accountable for his disgraceful actions by donating
to her campaign and following her on social media. You can find her
website with donate, Twitter and Facebook links here: https://dorothaocker.ngpvanhost.com/.
- Republicans in
New Hampshire are joining forces with members of their party across the
country to push a bill to make it harder for people to use their right to
vote. (http://www.concordmonitor.com/Bill-would-add-new-requirements-to-prove-NH-voter-eligibility-8530966) People for the American Way will be
hosting a virtual phone bank TODAY, May 31st, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm (training
at 3:30pm)
to rally New Hampshire voters against this dangerous legislation. You can
sign up to help make calls here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdvxBzKN2qcqKZZl9HMh9hvVpNlu-3EeTCvhNYqLKsFA3vn2A/viewform?c=0&w=1.
- "Fox
News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday shared a story that urges people to
boycott companies that advertise on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. Hannity
retweeted a story from conservative blog Media
Equalizer that
sides with him in the wake of advertisers pulling ads from his Fox show
and calls for pressure on those that advertise on MSNBC.” He is upset
about advertisers pulling ads from his show in respect to the lies he
propagated regarding a conspiracy theory he continued to air about
the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich even though
it was proved untrue: http://thehill.com/media/335610-hannity-shares-call-to-target-maddows-advertisers Let's call, tweet and email Hannity and
tell him that his advertisers pulled out because he was creating lies and
causing a family even greater grief over the loss of their son who was
murdered in a blundered robbery attempt. Let's tell his boss at FOX
that Hannity is not a real journalist. Call Fox News: 1-888-369-4762
or tweet: @seanhannity or email: hannity@foxnews.com
- ACT for America, the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in the
country, announced plans to hold nationwide rallies dubbed the “March
Against Sharia” on June 10. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/05/23/act-americas-march-against-sharia-official-facebook-page-full-racist-anti-muslim-sentiment
Here is the list of scheduled marches:
http://www.actforamerica.org/rally We need to be peaceful
observers/allies/interrupters. If we see a marginalized person or group
being harassed, we need to consider engaging with the person/group being
harassed and/or contacting the authorities.
Petitions to Sign
- A petition to publishing companies as Greenpeace is being sued by foresting company in Canada after efforts to save the Boreal forest there: https://actions.sumofus.org/a/stand-up-for-greenpeace-our-great-forests-and-free-speech
- Let’s tell Congress that we don’t want
millions of people losing Medicaid coverage via Trump’s budget: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/887/917/075/congress-don%E2%80%99t-let-10-million-people-lose-health-coverage-under-trump%E2%80%99s-budget/
Learning
- “Voting rights are under assault nationwide. Here’s how to protect them.” https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/5/30/15710628/voting-rights-act-new-north-carolina-shelby-voter-identification-id
- Trump’s Twitter
followers are growing by the millions, but nearly half are fake accounts
and bots: http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-twitter-followers-fake-617873
- Time to read this
again? http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/robert-reichs-8-point-plan-for-a-new-democratic-party-w451713
Rogan’s
List is a participant in and strategic partner of the Action
Alliance,
a loosely-federated group of
organizations that, in the wake of the
2016 election, are sharing daily or weekly calls to
action.
Other
member sites are listed here: https://www.actionalliance.co/ --scroll
down and click through and you'll find many more opportunities to make a
difference.
******
Rogan’s List is also part of RISE Stronger’s United States of
Resistance
