Contact Federal Government Officials
Find senator’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/RLiotu
Find representative’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/5i7SXC
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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.
Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he will not put the
bipartisan bill protecting Special Counsel Mueller up for a vote: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/383620-mcconnell-senate-wont-take-up-mueller-protection-bill. Let’s let McConnell know what we
think of his leadership at this fraught time: https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform. And let’s let our MoCs know we expect them to fight this decision and
publicly push for fast action.
2. Every five
years, the Farm Bill is renewed, offering funding for agricultural,
environmental, and nutritional programs, and generally with bipartisan support.
This year, the content of the bill (H.R. 2) is so partisan, it only passed out of the
House Agriculture Committee on a party line vote (https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/04/12/601900588/republican-farm-bill-calls-on-some-snap-recipients-to-work-or-go-to-school). Included is a work requirement for SNAP
recipients, as well as weakened protections against pesticides, and weakening
school food programs. Let's read the National Resource Defense Council's
rundown of the bill (https://www.nrdc.org/experts/mae-wu/hyper-partisan-house-farm-bill-should-be-plowed-under). Then, let's be sure to contact our
representatives and tell them to oppose this harmful bill.
3.
20 different groups, including Win
Without War, The Nation, and Just Foreign Policy, have joined forces to try to
block Trump’s State Department nominee Mike Pompeo from confirmation if Mitch
McConnell brings his name to the full Senate for a vote, as he has threatened
to do regardless of whether Pompeo is recommended by the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/16/pompeo-confirm-republicans-secretary-state-527886). With Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
opposed to the nomination of Michael Pompeo for Secretary of State, and Senator
John McCain (R-AZ) likely to be absent, Pompeo has to walk a very narrow path
to win, and we need to make sure our senators are clear his warmongering,
Islamophobia and climate change denial are disqualifying (http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/383864-dems-walk-tightrope-on-pompeo-nomination).
Here is
their tool for making our voices heard: https://blocktrumpswarcabinet.com/.
4.
We’re
coming closer and closer to April 23rd, the end of the period where Congress
can reverse the rollback of net neutrality, and D.C. Republicans are stubbornly
refusing to protect the free and open Internet. But the states are stepping up,
with Oregon among the most recent to pass a bill creating economic incentives
for companies to obey the standard (http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/tns-oregon-net-neutrality-brown.html).
Let’s call our MoCs and tell them we want them to act immediately to preserve
net neutrality, and then contact our state legislators and
tell them we want them to step up if Washington won’t.
5.
The Senate approved a measure Wednesday that would
roll back policies designed to protect people of color from discriminatory loan
terms when they’re shopping for cars. Republicans passed the bill by a narrow
margin, and it now moves on to the House. Let's read more at The Hill, then
contact our representatives in the House to let them know we oppose this
discriminatory policy roll-back.
6.
The
Prosper Act (H.R.4508) sounds benevolent, but
wreaks havoc on student loans and will make affording college even more
difficult (http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/380471-congress-must-act-before-america-falls-into-a-student-loan-debt-crisis). Let's watch/listen to Actions to Withstand to learn more and see what we can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G8RUzemDfo.
7.
The
Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S.2559) would make available to US
residents with sight impairments and other print disabilities an additional
350,000 accessible books through their public libraries. This bill has received
warm bipartisan support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (http://www.districtdispatch.org/2018/04/senate-foreign-relations-committee-hearing-on-the-marrakesh-treaty/). Let’s tell our MoCs we want them to pass this humane legislation.
8.
Congress
passed a bill that included major tax cuts and created a substantial deficit.
Now, eager to appear more fiscally responsible, some GOP members are pushing
the need for a balanced budget which will disproportionately target social
programs that affect our most vulnerable citizens; programs like Social Security,
Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP http://www.macombdaily.com/article/MD/20180417/NEWS/180419682. Ironically, should this happen, it is the GOP base that will be
hit the hardest: https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/516861/. Let's let our MoCs know that we are counting on them to maintain a
safety net for our most vulnerable.
9. After walking back the sanctions
against Russia, Trump said that he will seek those sanctions “as soon as they
very much deserve it”: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/383851-trump-well-put-sanctions-on-russia-as-soon-as-they-very-much-deserve. Let’s let Trump know that they very much deserve it: The White
House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington DC 20500 or on Twitter @realdonaldtrump.
Election 2018 – General
1. Polling averages now indicate Dr.
Hiral Tipirneni might actually be closing in on her scandal-tarred opponent
ahead of the special election in the Arizona Eighth District on Tuesday (http://ktar.com/story/2025904/poll-hiral-tipirneni-small-lead-over-debbie-lesko-distrcit-8/, https://twitter.com/gelliottmorris/status/987081332600856576?s=03). Now we need to make sure we do
everything we can to pull off the upset. Let’s sign up to call or text for her
this weekend at http://hiralforcongress.com/gotv. We
can also help Hiral win by joining this Action Together Network’s Election Eve
twitterstorm for her this Monday, April 23
from 8pm - 9pm Eastern Time. We can find more
about the event and get prewritten tweets to send out here: https://www.facebook.com/
Election 2018 – By State
Other Actions
1.
Sean Hannity is yet another Fox News host with a questionable
background and connections (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/18/603471930/besides-cohen-other-trump-connected-attorneys-linked-to-sean-hannity). We know that what he does on Fox is not quality
journalism. As we've done with other Fox News personalities, let's
contact his advertisers and let them know that we will not be supporting them
while they support Hannity: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aew0GGo1M3adPajley3Hxy0al-lYEz5gIb42jOlN8hA/edit#gid=1086988979.
2.
Trump likes to drop bombs on
Syria, but the proof that he doesn't really care about Syrians is in the fact
that we have let in only *11* Syrian refugees in 2018: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/12/602022877/the-u-s-has-welcomed-only-11-syrian-refugees-this-year. But we can help Syrians in need, in Syria, by donating to
NuDay Syria, a non-profit U.S. aid organization. Among other projects, they
supply orphaned babies and their caregivers with infant formula. Let's find out
more, and give if we can, here: http://www.nudaysyria.net/babies-and-milk.html.
3.
America’s history of white supremacist violence against black
people is unknown to far too many of us, and so is the history of activists
fighting back ( https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/04/14/an-online-fund-raising-push-may-finally-bring-a-monument-to-ida-b-wells-to-chicago). Activist and educator Mariame Kaba is trying to change
that by raising funds for a memorial to crusading
journalist Ida B. Wells, an American hero and one of the
leaders of the anti-lynching movement. We can join her by giving at idabwellsmonument.org. (If we do, we can also email jjinjustice1@gmail.com to let her know how much we donated, and spread the word
by tweeting about the #IdaPledge.)
4.
In a recent interview, Wisconsin
Attorney General Brad Schimel admitted that the president and Senator Ron
Johnson would not have won without Wisconsin’s voter ID law. (https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/13/attorney-general-brad-schimel-suggests-donald-trump-won-wisconsin-because-states-voter-id-law/514628002/). In an earlier article, the New
York Times confirmed that these ID laws prevented thousands of Wisconsin
residents from voting in the 2016 presidential election, when the president won
the state by only 22,000 votes (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/us/wisconsin-voters.html). Two reputable organizations, Voteriders and Spread the Vote, help voters get IDs. Let’s consider donating money and/or
volunteering to help these worthy efforts.
5.
Senator Bob Corker is preparing to introduce a new Authorization
for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which as the ACLU puts it “would almost
irretrievably give Trump the power to declare war around the world. This would
be a fundamental abdication of Congress's constitutional responsibilities."
And given Trump's proclivities, dangerous to boot. We can read more about the
new AUMF here: (https://www.lawfareblog.com/primer-corker-kaine-draft-aumf). And we can sign an ACLU-sponsored petition to urge our
Senators to stop this from happening: https://action.aclu.org/petition/No-Blank-Check-for-War.
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
1.
Today, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, there
are two gun reform actions
happening. The first is the National Student Walkout started by a
student: http://nationalschoolwalkout.us/. Here is
where to check on the locations of events: http://act.indivisible.org/event/national-school-walkout/. The second
is sponsored by the Network for Public Education and is more of an all-school
approach: http://protectourschools.com/. Schools who
take part in this can get free pizza: https://pizzasaves.org/. Let's find a way to share the information
and be part of the day.
2.
Yellowstone Grizzlies have been removed from the Endangered
Species list and are now on the verge of being aggressively targeted in Wyoming
and Idaho trophy hunts (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/22/533965856/after-42-years-yellowstone-grizzly-will-be-taken-off-endangered-species-list).
The Sierra Club opposes these attacks on the 700 or so bears in the Yellowstone
area and we can add our support by joining in Action Together Networks’ Twitter
Storm to Protect Grizzlies this
Sunday, from 8pm
to 9pm Eastern Time. We can read more about The Sierra
Club’s position here, then find out how to
join the Twitterstorm by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/
States
1. MI:
The Senate Competitiveness Committee approved S.B.
897,
which would institute work requirements for some recipients of Medicaid (http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/senate_panel_approves_medicaid.html). We can read through the
concerns with imposing work requirements at the Kaiser
Family Foundation,
then let's contact our state senators and tell them that we want them to oppose
S.B. 897: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/.
Reading/Watching
1. From Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the
NAACP: "50
years after Kerner and King, racism still matters."
2. Good news! Major legislation curtailing LGBT
rights has been completely stymied in state capitols around the country this
year amid anxiety by Republican leaders over igniting economic backlash if they
are depicted as discriminatory. Out of 120 proposed discriminatory bills, only
2 remain under serious consideration. Let's read more at ABCNews.
Let's keep following LGBT issues and making our calls.
3. From EcoWatch: 22
Facts About Plastic Pollution (And 10 Things We Can Do About It). In these
chaotic times, let's not forget the environment and the individual differences
we can make each day with our choices.
4. The administration has quietly reshaped enforcement of air
pollution standards in recent months through a series of regulatory memos
that are fulfilling the top wishes of industry. Let's read more at The
Hill. Let's be aware that these
changes are being made. We will need to push our state and local legislators
for greater regulation.
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