3/13/18
Contact Federal Government Officials
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Many
newspapers, including New York Times and Washington
Post require subscriptions, but without one we can see a few articles
each month. We can also check with our
local libraries to find out how to get online access through them.
1.
S.
2155, the rollback on Dodd-Frank regulations, is
expected to be voted on this week. Though it is likely to pass, we should still
call our senators to express our stance on the bill and ask that they only vote
"yes" if they are able to negotiate better consumer protections. We
can also ask that they remove Section 104 of the bill, which eliminates the
requirement for banks to identify and report discriminatory lending practices.
Indivisible has various call scripts to choose from, depending on our senators'
stance on the bill https://www.indivisible.org/resource/republicans-planning-unravel-wall-street-reform/
2.
One of
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 17 excellent amendments against S.
2155, the Bank Deregulation Bill, (aka Bank
Lobbyist Act) fights back against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s attempts
to prevent states from imposing limits on
student loan debt collectors. The amendments also continue federal
oversight for any bank that has received over $1billion in federal bailout
money or has outsourced more than 50 jobs in any of the last 5 years. Let’s
review these amendments here, and tell our MoCs to
support these ideas that bring back at least some sanity to the perils of
deregulating Wall Street.
3.
Apparently,
"draining the swamp" over at the EPA has meant hiring lots of
lobbyists and lawyers from industries regulated by the EPA, giving them jobs
overseeing their previous employers, and even letting some of them continue
working for those industries while supposedly doing their regulatory jobs. One
such new hire, John Konkus, is collecting a 6-figure salary while also working
for undisclosed outside clients and is fond of calling climate change "the
double-C word." Well, "corrupt," "crook," and
"crony" also start with C, so let's ask Trump why he's letting the
EPA flaunt his own rules against hiring lobbyists. Also, let's inform the House
Energy & Commerce Committee (202-225-2927),
that we don't appreciate Scott Pruitt's revolving-door policy for his polluter
friends. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/3/8/17092764/epa-employee-ethics-lobbyist
4.
Secretary
of Education Betsy DeVos appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and
showed herself to be as ill-suited for the position as anyone feared:
https://mobile.twitter.com/axios/status/972996794757140486/video/1 Let’s
let her know that she can be of service to our nation’s children by
resigning:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/contacts/gen/index.htmlor
on Twitter @BetsyDeVosED
5.
White
House economic advisor Peter Navarro is surging back to prominence with his
disturbing views now that Gary Cohn is gone. He had this to say about Trump’s
tariff plans: “This is the president’s vision. My function, really, as an
economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his
intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters,” Navarro said.
He compared the White House to the successful New England Patriots football
team. “The owner, the coach, and the quarterback are all the president. The
rest of us are all interchangeable parts.”: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-08/after-defeating-cohn-trump-s-trade-warrior-is-on-the-rise-again Let’s
let Mr. Navarro know that the analytics should inform the planning not the
other way around: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC
20500
6.
As we
approach November, it’s more important than ever that we remind our elected
officials that climate change is a voting issue for us, and we want to see them
take action. In January, 106 members of the House from both parties wrote to
Trump urging him to listen to the experts and recognize climate change as a
national security threat (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16012018/military-climate-change-bipartisan-congress-letter-national-defense-strategy).
We can check here to see if our reps
signed on. If they did, let’s call them and thank them; if not, let’s contact
them and ask them why they are not showing leadership in protecting our
country.
7.
The
damage Hurricanes Irma and Maria did to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands is
no longer in the news much. But our fellow citizens still need our help – parts
of Puerto Rico still do not have power six months after the hurricanes (https://www.voanews.com/a/new-blackout-puerto-rico-amid-funding-worries/4277247.html).
Even so, Congress has not moved forward the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands
Equitable Rebuild Act (H.R. 4782) to
ensure these folks get the assistance they need, and the Treasury Department
cut disaster relief loans to Puerto Rico by more than half. Let’s contact our
MoCs and tell them to prioritize this legislation, and second Puerto Rico
Governor Ricardo Rossello’s call for Congress to loosen restrictions on Puerto
Rico’s ability to obtain relief funds.
8.
Over the
weekend, Trump traveled to Pennsylvania to rally for Republican PA#18 candidate
Rick Saccone. During his inflammatory speech, he referred to US Congresswoman
Maxine Waters as a “low-IQ individual” and journalist Chuck Todd a “sleeping
son of a bitch”: https://apnews.com/974065202d064040b3e2b05d0fae940c Let’s
let our Republican MoC know that unless they are actively working against him,
they are painted with his racism and press-bashing and that we will remember
this in the lead-up to the November elections.
9.
S.1917:
Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a bipartisan bill which would overhaul sentencing
and reduce mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenses, passed the Senate
Judiciary Committee last month, yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is
not taking the bill to the floor for a vote http://nyti.ms/2tD6FrU http://bit.ly/2DiHgTX Let's
contact Senator McConnell and tell him we support S. 1917 and want a full
Senate vote on it ASAP: 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202)
224-2541 We can also call our senators and ask
that they cosponsor and support this bipartisan legislation.
10. Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, the Army's current
cyber chief, was unanimously approved by the Senate Armed Services
Committee to serve in the dual-hat role as NSA director and commander of U.S.
Cyber Command. This week he will face lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence
Committee for his second confirmation hearing on Thursday. (Source: The Hill)
Nakasone has received bipartisan support and has been nominated to receive his
fourth star. (Source: Hawai'i Herald)
Let's tell our senators that we support Nakasone's confirmation to the NSA
position.
Election 2018 –
General
1.
Inmates
in Cook County Jail (Illinois) participated in the county’s first jail-wide,
in-person voting session on Saturday. Organizers said 94 percent of
inmates at the jail are eligible to vote. The program is part of an effort to
give more people in the criminal justice system the ability to vote.
(Source: ABC7
News)
People awaiting trial still have the right to vote. Let's contact county
jails near us to ask about plans for programs that they are setting up for
Election 2018.
Election 2018 –
By State
1.
PA: Today’s the day to vote for Conor Lamb if we
live in PA-18! If we need a ride to the polls, we can get a FREE round-trip
ride from Uber or Lyft. Use the promo code VOTEPA. We can sign up with Lyft
here: https://www.lyft.com/signup or
we can sign up to ride with Uber here: https://www.uber.com/ride/
If we need to verify our polling place, we can check it here: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/pages/pollingplaceinfo.aspx
Other Actions
1.
Lyft has
announced that it will be giving free rides to students attending the March 24
March for Our Lives Rally. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/03/lyft-will-offer-free-rides-to-anti-gun-rallies/554756/.
Let’s express our appreciation on social media: https://www.facebook.com/lyft/ or
Tweet @lyft.
2.
JUST FOR
FUN! Trump Madness! Politico Magazine has assembled a contest
that pits the bureaucrats, members of Congress and hangers-on in Trump’s orbit
against one another in a weeklong smackdown for the ultimate
prize—Trump's loyalty. To us readers, they pose a simple question
with this bracket: Who is most likely to stay in Trump’s good graces until the
bitter end? We can read more about the brackets here and participate
at Politico
Magazine's official Twitter account.
3.
For the
first time, political appointee and federal financial disclosure information is
publicly searchable thanks to ProPublica. They have released an
authoritative searchable database, "Trump
Town," of 2,475 political appointees,
including Trump’s Cabinet, staffers in the White House and senior officials
within the government, along with their federal lobbying and financial records.
We can read more about this effort here. Let's bookmark
"Trump Town" for future reference. We can support ProPublica's work
by donating to them.
4.
Let’s
ask conservation organizations (http://community.basspro.com/wildlife--habitat/) to
cut ties with Bass until they end their complicity in mass shootings. The
Missouri Department of Conservation is partnering with Bass as well:
(http://conservation.basspro.com/Page/Outdoor-Days-Series.aspx).
We can ask them to end this partnership until they stop selling semi-automatic
weapons:
5.
Despite
increasing pressure from angry customers and groups like Moms Demand Action,
Amazon is still carrying NRATV, with its violence, divisive messaging. If we
are looking for ways to begin an Amazon free life, we can check out this
Lifehacker article:
If we want to contact Amazon, we can find
their info with this link from GrabYourWallet. They also provide a script for
us to use: https://grabyourwallet.org/
6.
“This
Comic Outlines Student Protest Rights” – let’s pass it on to the students in
our lives: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/student-protest-rights-comic-cbldf-ncac
7.
From the
Republican National Committee:
President Donald J. Trump wants to hear from YOU. Take the
2018 Listening to America Survey today: https://action.donaldjtrump.com/listening-to-america-2018-survey
8.
Bringing
together contributions from teachers, counselors, artists, journalists,
researchers, and allies across the nation, Teachers
Take Action Against Gun Violence has created their FIRST
comprehensive, open-access curriculum and resource bank around gun
violence: http://bit.ly/TeachersTakeActionV-1 Let’s share with our teacher friends and
school administrators.
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to
attend/organize
1.
From Central Valley Indivisible (CA Nunes
district): Rep Nunes (R-CA) has refused
to hold a Town Hall in his district despite pleas from his constituents. Rep
Ted Lieu, a democrat from the 33rd district has adopted Nunes’ district and
will hold a town hall. You can sign up for this free event here for an evening
with Rep Ted Lieu. Nunes has been invited but has not commented. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rep-ted-lieu-adopt-a-district-town-hall-tickets-44088063585
States
1.
MI: The Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ) is asking for public comment regarding a mining operation which
would use approximately 1.25 million gallons of water per day http://bit.ly/2G54Jet There
are concerns about the environmental risk of such an operation, including its
effect on tap water for residents nearby:
http://savemiwater.org/michigan-potash-company/ Let's
be sure to submit a comment to the MDEQ (open comment period ends March
19th). We can send our input via mail: Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality, Oil, Gas, and Minerals Division, RE: Comments Michigan
Potash Application, P.O. Box 30256, Lansing, Michigan 48909-7756 or
e-mail: DEQ-OGMDpubliccomments@michigan.gov
Reading/Watching
1.
Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland victim Jaime
Guttenberg, has written an essay for Marie Claire about why he is turning his
life’s focus towards sensible gun control:
2.
Childhood poverty has hit a record low in the
U.S. We all need to understand what this means for these children and for us as
a country: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/poor-kids/
3.
“7 Female Activists Under 23 Who are Changing
the World” - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/08/these-7-young-female-leaders-are-changing-the-world.html
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