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4/20/18 Rogan's List




Contact Federal Government Officials

Find senator’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/RLiotu

Find representative’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/5i7SXC

Fax legislators for free:  Reps:  https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php


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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/events/1336799936464054/?ti=icl.

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/events/2016781005310322/?ti=icl. This link will give us prewrittten tweets for to send out: https://dontdelistgrizzly.blogspot.com/2018/04/tweet-sheet-stop-wyoming-trophy-hunt-of.html. There’s still a chance to save the grizzlies if we act now!

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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