8/10/17
The Rogan’s List Team is on vacation through August 13, but because of the extension of the Senate
calendar we have decided to run a smaller list during this time. We look
forward to being back to the full list on August 14.
Contact Federal
Government Officials
Find your legislators here: https://www.theloyalopposition.net/rep-finder/
OR
Search all members of Congress here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/current
OR
Fax your legislators for free: Reps:
https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php
and Senate: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
OR
Find senators’ Twitter and Facebook Accounts here:
Find representatives on Twitter here:
********************************
If your senators and reps aren't saved in your
phone yet,
text your US postal address to (520) 200-2223 and get a text back
with their contact information.
1. Perhaps you have been fortunate
enough to miss the news that Trump has gone rogue from his own advisers and is
sending scary bluster to North Korea via tweet: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lawmakers-slam-trumps-promise-unleash-fire-fury-north/story?id=49099484 and http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/345838-foreign-relations-dem-north-korea-is-the-modern-day-cuban-missile-crisis. Some members of Congress from
both parties have spoken up about this, but we need to be hearing from more of
them. Please be in touch with yours to ask them to demand diplomacy, not
nuclear brinkmanship.
2. Democrats led by civil rights hero
Rep. John Lewis have proposed a bill to restore the voting rights protections
struck down by the Supreme Court (https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-06-22/house-democrats-move-to-restore-key-provisions-of-the-voting-rights-act). After the assaults on voting
rights across the country since Shelby County v. Holder, it’s clear this
legislation needs to be in place before the next election if at all possible.
We can check out who has co-sponsored the bill here. If our reps are on board, let’s
contact them and thank them. If they’re not, let’s contact them and ask them
for an explanation. We can also sign
this ACLU petition in favor of the legislation here.
3. It’s temporarily out of the
headlines, but the Trump administration’s voter suppression commission is still
moving forward. Democrats in both houses of Congress have introduced the
Anti-Voter Suppression Act (S. 1547/H.R. 3214) to nullify Trump’s executive
order establishing the commission and to prohibit any of our money from being
used to investigate the non-issue of voter fraud (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/07/12/democrats-aim-block-funding-trumps-election-commission/474045001/). Let’s check out the House and Senate versions of the bill to see if our
members of Congress are co-sponsoring it, and contact them to thank them if
they are and ask them to get on board if they are not.
4. Congress needs to put safeguards in
place to ensure that all citizens who are willing and able to serve in our
military have legal protections to do so, regardless of gender identity.
Congress could make this happen by including an amendment specifically
protecting our transgender troops in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Let's contact Senator John McCain ((202) 224-2235), Chairman of the Armed Services
Committee and Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed ((202) 224-4642), along with our own senators, and ask that they support
adding language to the NDAA prohibiting bans against transgender service
members. We can also sign CREDO Action's petition to Senator McCain: http://bit.ly/2vNXvZh.
5. Ten state attorneys general demanded
in June that the administration end the DACA program by September 5th or
face litigation (http://cnn.it/2vERiiN). The deadline is less than a
month away. Congress has introduced legislation to help preserve the program
and protect DREAMers, yet both of those bills are stuck in committee (http://cnn.it/2vesIT7). Let's call the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Chuck Grassley (202-224-3744) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein
((202) 224-3841) and ask them to help move forward the DREAM Act of 2017
(S.1615). We can also call the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border
Security Chairman Raul Labrador ((202) 225 -
6611) and Ranking Member
Zoe Lofgren ((202) 225-3072) and ask that they move forward the
bipartisan BRIDGE Act (H.R. 496). Let's also make sure that our members of
Congress are supporting both pieces of legislation. Finally, let's read through
and sign MomsRising's letter to Congress in support of the DREAM Act: (http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Protect_Dreamers/).
6. Across the country, kids as young as
four years old are being humiliated and going hungry due to unpaid student
lunch debts. The Department of Agriculture is requiring districts to adopt
policies for addressing meal debts and to inform parents of them at the start
of the academic year, and New Mexico has passed a law banning school meal
shaming (https://apnews.com/affc45f314114094b01f1e649811c4ad). As Ashley Ford
says, “we have
enough money in this country to feed kids. We absolutely do. Every day we don't
is another day we fail our humanity.” So let’s contact our reps and ask them to
sign on to the bipartisan congressional effort to curb the worst of these
shaming practices, the Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2017. (You can see if they’re
already on board here.). And if we haven’t already, let’s
contact our local school boards to ask how student lunch debt is
being handled in our communities, and if it’s not being handled right insist
that these policies be changed, and call our state legislators (https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/) and encourage them to follow New
Mexico’s lead and make school meal shaming a thing of the past.
7. Democrats on the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee have launched an investigation into how our tax
monies are being used to enrich Trump: "The committee's 18 minority
members sent letters on Tuesday to the 15 cabinet departments and
nine independent executive branch agencies, requesting documents on their
spending at 'businesses owned by or affiliated with the Trump
Organization'" (http://www.npr.org/2017/08/08/542296258/hill-democrats-launch-investigation-of-federal-spending-at-trump-businesses). If we are constituents of the
Republican members of this committee, especially Trey Gowdy (R-SC), let's let
them know that we'd really like their participation to give this investigation
some bipartisan clout. All members of the committee are listed
here: https://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/. Let's help get to the bottom of
this!
8. To ensure that any presidential
pardons are disclosed publicly, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)
introduced the Presidential Pardon Transparency Act, HR3498, on July 27 (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/344024-dem-rep-to-introduce-measure-requiring-white-house-to-disclose-pardons). This bill currently has 24
Democratic co-sponsors (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr3489/details). Let's thank our
representatives if they are among the co-sponsors. Let's contact our
representatives who are not on the list to ask them to support the Presidential
Pardon Transparency Act – this does not need to be a partisan issue. We can
send thank you's to Representative Krishnamoorthi for introducing the bill to:
Raja Krishnamoorthi, 515 Cannon HOB, Washington DC 20515 or via Twitter at https://twitter.com/CongressmanRaja. (Be sure to tag #RogansHeroes if
you thank him by tweet!)
State Actions
1. UT: Rocky Mountain Power wants to
triple monthly charges for customers with solar panels. They are looking to
implement the same changes that destroyed Nevada's blooming solar industry. The
public hearing about this is scheduled for today (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865666906/Rocky-Mountain-Power-seeks-fee-hikes-for-new-solar-customers.html). Let's contact our state legislators and governor about this issue, as well as writing
to the Utah Public Service Commission to let them know we oppose this proposed
change and we want to see solar power supported, not marginalized. We can reach
out to the Utah Public Service Commission, Attn: Chairman, Commissioner Thad
LeVar, 160 East 300 South, Salt Lake City UT 84111 or by phone at 801-530-6716.
2. MA: Attorney General Maura Healey, a
progressive Democrat, has a legislative wish list that includes a bill helping
eligible students recover their tuition from failed for-profit schools
(S.112/H.627), a bill enabling the attorney general to advocate for the
interests of electric and gas customers before the state Department of Public
Utilities (S.1823/H.3387), a bill enabling the attorney general to bring civil
violations of wage laws to court, reducing wage theft (S999/H.1033) and a bill
to increase the penalties for corporate manslaughter (S.858) (http://www.mass.gov/ago/news-and-updates/press-releases/2017/ag-healey-legislative-priorities.html). If we’re in Massachusetts, let’s
contact our state reps (https://malegislature.gov/StateHouse/Contact) and tell them to support these
bills.
Other Actions
1. Organizing For Action will be hosting
a call tonight (Thursday, August 10th) at 8pm ET, which will
give an overview of their program, Rubber Stamp Rep. The program focuses on
reps who have been acting as a "rubber stamp" for the Trump
administration, regardless of where their constituents stand. Let's join the
call and learn how we can help hold these reps accountable during the August
recess: https://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/WM1FXO5UMYKBZHQ.
2. For those of us who create Postcards
to Voters: Good news! Dr. Phil Miller has won his legislative race in Iowa (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/democrats-vs-trump/early-iowa-tea-leaf-falls-against-trump-n791096). This is the third winning
campaign in a row in which postcarders participated. The prior three
campaigns finished with unexpectedly close elections. Right now, the
seventh postcard campaign, for a city council seat in Phoenix, is underway.
Tony the Democrat has lined up 5 more campaigns after that for the
current 4000 postcarding volunteers. We can commit to creating as few as 5 postcards
for a campaign. Every postcard counts! If we are not signed up yet, let's
consider participating. Let's also tell our friends who might enjoy
participating. We can email Tony the Democrat to sign up
at: Postcards@TonyTheDemocrat.org. We can also find "Postcards
to Voters" on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TonyTheDemocrat.org/.
3. Democratic state attorneys general
like Maura Healey, Bob Ferguson, Xavier Becerra, Mark Herring and Douglas Chin
are on the frontlines of the fight against the Trump administration. They’ve
battled to stop the Muslim ban, preserve clean air and clean water, keep
students safe from sexual violence on campus and more. The Republicans have
responded by stepping up efforts to drive them out of office, ending a
longstanding agreement by both parties not to target incumbent attorneys
general during election season (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-republican-ags-exclusive-idUSKBN16Z1A5). We need to be prepared to defend
the folks who are defending our rights. Let’s sign up for accounts here to get
information about texting in support of Democratic attorney general candidates
at https://wevolunteer.openprogress.com. And we can also donate to the
Democratic Attorneys General Association: http://democraticags.org.
4. The Resistance will ultimately
be won by VOTING. Here's a reminder for us to refer to flippable.org, or sign up for their mailing list, to see what elections
are coming up in our state. Flippable focuses "on state races, which play a huge role in national
elections but are often overlooked. Information about these races is hard to
find, and busy people don’t have the time to sift through it. That's where we
come in." Whether it's for the school board or the state governor,
the election will be listed here for our convenience: https://www.flippable.org/upcoming-elections/.
5. Our collective effort to remove Bill
O’Reilly from Fox News by targeting his advertisers was successful. It is
now time to do the same with Sean Hannity, who continues to use his platform to
bash Democrats and help perpetuate false stories (http://www.newsweek.com/fire-hannity-effort-intensifies-646090). Let’s contact Hannity’s
advertisers to tell them to stop funding the lies. We want real
journalism with real news, not spin. Let’s use this to help us know who
to contact: http://firehannity.org/.
6. “Team Internet is a decentralized
group of volunteers who are working together toward a shared goal of
maintaining Title II Net Neutrality. We’re combining people power with
technology to build a volunteer network of bold activists who can hold their
leaders accountable!” We can sign up here: http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/sign-up-text-team-internet/.
7.
Climate-change
mitigation begins at home! For little or no cost, you can have your home
assessed for energy efficiency and receive energy-saving benefits and services.
In return, you’ll lower your carbon footprint and save money on utilities. Use
this Google doc to find a program in your state: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v1j8p8MWZVW6Z0uCWhcYQvQdbwRWt3ES5BkYqhkaZqw/edit?usp=sharing.
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
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