Contact Federal Government Officials
Fax legislators
for free:
Or use Resistbot: https://resist.bot/
Or use StampsLicked to have
messages hand-delivered to our own legislators:
https://stampslicked.org/
White House
contact: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/white-house
1. The bipartisan committee to
come up with border security is now working to find a solution. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/689932941/border-security-talks-begin-on-capitol-hill Let’s make
sure that our MoCs know that while we are all for increased border security in
terms of technology, that we are equally concerned that the legislation includes
increased immigration funding to handle the backlog of asylum cases (so this
does not happen: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-court-ice-agents-hundreds-of-immigrants-fake-court-dates-2019-01-30-live-updates/ or this: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-mexico/u-s-sends-first-central-american-asylum-seeker-to-mexico-under-new-policy-idUSKCN1PN2HZ) and to properly take in those seeking asylum at
the border. We need to make sure that refugees
and their families are treated humanely and with compassion.
2. Aside from his false twitter
claims that “the Wall is being built,” Trump on Thursday asserted that the
Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee were “wasting their time” since
the Democrats initial proposal did not include new money for his Wall. To which
Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded “What did he say today? It doesn’t matter what
Congress does? Really, a president who wants Congress to become completely
irrelevant in how we meet the needs of the American people?”:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-an-increase-in-mexicos-murder-rate-as-he-insists-a-border-wall-will-be-built/2019/01/31/8f3d2f5a-2549-11e9-ad53-824486280311_story.html or https://www.rollcall.com/news/whitehouse/lets-just-call-them-walls-from-now-on-trump-says The members of the congressional committee
charged with finding a compromise on border security are listed here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/28/politics/dhs-bill-conference-committee-list/index.html We might let them know that we, the people,
want a compromise not a Wall, that we want representation not autocracy.
3. Representative John Larson
(D-CT-1) has introduced the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 860), which would improve benefits paid out by Social
Security, and be paid for by increasing taxes for wages over $400,00 and by
increasing the payroll tax rate (https://reut.rs/2HJwldz). The bill was introduced with 200 cosponsors, and
is expected to pass the House, while facing a much larger challenge in the
Senate. Let's contact our representatives and either thank them for
cosponsoring the legislation, or ask them to support the bill; cosponsors can
be found here. Then, let's contact our senators and tell them that
supporting and expanding Social Security is essential in fighting poverty among
our older generations as well as among children (we can read more about
that here), and we want them to support the Social Security
2100 Act when it makes its way over to the Senate.
4. Effectively saying that
making Election Day a national holiday would give more votes to Democrats, Senate
Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) came out against HR 1, the House bill of anti-corruption/election
reforms. https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/427683-mcconnell-blasts-house-bill-that-makes-election-day-a-federal-holiday Let’s remind
our MoCs that we support all legislation that would give more Americans the
opportunity to vote.
5. Some of us have been living
in the midst of extremely cold temperature due to the polar vortex which is a
result of climate change and the melting of the Arctic. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27092017/polar-vortex-cold-snap-arctic-ice-loss-global-warming-climate-change Let’s make
sure our MoCs know that we understand climate
change and are counting on them to make sure our country does all things
possible to do our share to stop the damage.
6. Not a single Republican has sponsored a bill to give back pay to low-wage federal
contractors https://www.federaltimes.com/management/pay-benefits/2019/01/16/senators-seek-to-guarantee-back-pay-for-low-wage-contractors/, Instead three Republican Senators introduced
a bill to fully repeal the estate tax on the richest Americans. https://thehill.com/policy/finance/427328-senate-republicans-reintroduce-bill-to-repeal-the-estate-tax. Let’s express our outrage at the GOP’s continued
attempts to perpetuate income inequality and their total disregard for the
economic realities of a large percentage of Americans. Let’s also ask them to
support and pass S162,, the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor
Employees Act.
7. Some GOP Senators are finally
set to rebuke Trump for his total disregard of the work conducted by his
national security team, which has found that North Korea, ISIS, and Russia are
still threats. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/427773-gop-poised-to-rebuke-trump. Let’s remind our Senators that the our national
intelligence has also found that, contrary to Trump’s claims, Iran is complying
with the nuclear deal signed during the Obama administration, and ask them what
can be done to make sure that Trump doesn’t further wreck that deal through
U.S. sanctions.
8. HR 1, "the very first bill introduced in the
Democratically-controlled House, is a democracy reform package, focused on
voter empowerment and access, getting big money out of politics, and cracking
down on corruption." On issue after
issue, the key to making progress is electing representatives with the vision
and will to push the right agenda. That's why we need to support HR1, the House
of Representatives' bill to take electoral influence away from billionaires,
corporations, and dark money PACs, and return it to the people. It's already got a lot of cosponsors, but
let's make sure our House Members know we want them to sign on if they haven't.
We can also let our House reps know that we want it to "remain a bold,
progressive, comprehensive democracy package" and not get watered down. We
can read more about the bill, courtesy of Indivisible, here: https://indivisible.org/resource/hr-1-strengthening-our-democracy
9. From one of our own: A new report from the Inspector General of
the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that thousands of
children were being separated from their parents for at least one year before
the administration announced their separation policy to the public. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5687807-Oei-BL-18-00511.html . HHS officials failed to keep records of
the identities of these children and failed to track them because they say they
were not legally required to do so before the June 2018 court order. “We don’t
have any information on the children that were released prior to the court
order “, according to the assistant Inspector General for HHS. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/a3bweb/the-trump-administration-lost-track-of-thousands-of-migrant-children-separated-from-their-parents Common sense
and humanity should have informed this administration that these children
should have been identified and tracked, not a court order. Where are the
children now? How old are they? Are they with relatives? Are they in detention
centers? Were these children old enough to even know their own names? The
human rights of thousands of children were violated by this administration and
we demand answers. We demand accountability. We demand justice. We must
demand that Secretary Nielsen explain where these children are and demand that
our members of Congress Investigate. Immigrant Justice Now put together an
action for you to text your members of Congress and ask them to demand answers.
There is also a link to a pledge that you and your legislators can sign onto
demanding Immigrant Justice Now:
10. U.S. land managers will move forward in March with
the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National
Historical Park and other sites sacred to Native American tribes. We can read
more at AP News. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) website
will be accepting our protest comments from Feb. 11 to Feb. 20 here. Let's get ready to submit our public
comments in opposition to these sales and mark Feb. 11 on our calendars so
we don't forget. Let's compose our comments today so we can cut and paste them
then. Let's spread the word to other environmental protectors. Our collective
voices can make a difference on this issue.
11. The Equality Act is a
comprehensive LGBTQ civil rights bill which is a priority for the U.S. House’s
new pro-equality leadership and is expected to be re-introduced soon. The
Equality Act was first introduced in July 2015. A recent study found that
seven in 10 Americans (71%) support laws like the Equality Act, which protect
the LGBTQ community against discrimination in employment, public accommodations
and housing. Let's read more at Human Rights
Campaign (HRC.org).
Let's tell our representatives that we want them to support the Equality Act.
12. Senator “Grassley [R-IA] -- the former chair of the
Senate Judiciary Committee -- introduced the Special Counsel
Transparency Act with
Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut Monday. The bill would require any
Special Counsel to produce a report to Congress at the conclusion of an
investigation or within two weeks of a removal, transfer or resignation. That
report would be required to include all factual findings and underlying
evidence.” http://www.kmaland.com/news/grassley-introduces-legislation-requiring-special-counsel-report-to-congress/article_0437e594-23be-11e9-bf95-9f0e653002c0.html Let’s tell
all our senators that this is the kind of protection and transparency we have
been wanting.
Election/Voting
1. Volunteer Postcarders are currently
working on the address list for Postcards to Voters' Campaign 143: Eric Coleman for Tennessee State Senate. Let's write 5
cards today for this important March 12 special election.
Other Actions
1. Now that the Midterms are
over, customers are not buying Postcards To Voters (P2V) two special
"Talking Be a Voter" designs at the rate they were and Amazon is
getting ready to charge storage fees. If we can, let's purchase a set (50) or
two of these cards for $9 per set including shipping. Let's help P2V avoid
extra costs. Let's check out the designs and consider purchasing for our future
needs now: A) Talking Hens
design, and B) Talking
Breakfast design.
2. Many of us have been enjoying
Political Charge to keep up with the political news and learn more about what
is going on. Let’s take Political Charge’s
survey to help them evaluate what they are doing and how to continue: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/01/30/1-year-anniversary-reader-survey/
3. A careful New York Times
reader, Kimberly Probolus, has pointed out the extreme gender imbalance in
their publication of Letters to the Editor. Far more letters written by
men are published then ones by women and the submissions skew more heavily to
male writers. Acknowledging this imbalance, the Times has pledged to
address it, starting by providing this link to their submissions guide for
women and anyone else who feels underrepresented. If this describes us, or
someone we would like to share this information with, we can access the
guidelines here. https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-letter-to-the-editor For help
composing our letters, we can check out this guide from The Public
Health Institute: http://www.phi.org/resources/?resource=tips-for-writing-effective-letters-to-the-editor
We can read more about this issue and The Times’
response, including a pledge to more active outreach here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/opinion/letters/letters-to-editor-new-york-times-women.html
State Actions
1. MOST: The National Popular Vote interstate compact (https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/) will guarantee the presidency to the candidate who
wins the popular vote nationwide. Under our current system, each state gives
100% of its electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote within the state.
The result? A) Presidential candidates
only concern themselves with battleground states, and ignore the concerns of
citizens in states where they are certain to win or lose, B) Presidents shower
favor, in the form of federal grants and other benefits, more heavily on
battleground states, and C) Five of our 45 presidents, including W. Bush and
Trump, have become president without winning the popular vote—that is, without
the support of the majority of American voters.
How will the National Popular Vote interstate compact change this? Each
state that passes the compact promises to throw its electoral votes to the
presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia. The compact will take effect when the electoral votes of
the states that have enacted the compact total 270—the number of electoral
votes needed to elect a president. Every vote in every state will matter in
every presidential election. More info
here:
https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation, and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0rOKo9BWEU So far, the
compact has passed in 12 states, totaling 172 electoral votes. Let’s use this tool to urge our state
legislators to pass the National Popular Vote compact:
2. NH: An
automatic voter registration bill is going forward in the state legislature. If
it passes, it will break down barriers to voter registration in New Hampshire.
https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/breakthrough-voting-rights-new-hampshire If we’re in NH, let’s tell our state
legislators, https://openstates.org/, to co-sponsor the automatic voter registration
bill filed by State Senator Melanie Levesque (D).
3. VA: Even
though Republicans in the VA State House voted on party lines to block bringing
up the ERA for consideration, for the rest of this legislative session, https://wtvr.com/2019/01/22/adding-fuel-to-the-fire-virginia-house-committee-blocks-equal-rights-amendment/, the speaker can still bring it up for a floor
vote. Let’s tell House caucus leaders that Virginians want ERA passed
THIS session! We should call Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert 804-698-1015 and
Dem Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn (804) 698-1041 and ask for an ERA floor vote!
4. WA: With the
support of eighty state and nationwide organizations, legislation (H.B. 1706/S.B. 5753) has been introduced in both the House and
Senate which would end subminimum wages for people with disabilities. We can
read more about subminimum wages and find more information on the
legislation here. Then, let's contact our state legislators and ask
them to cosponsor and support these important bills.
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
1. Healthcare-Now informs us that next week Medicare for All
legislation will be introduced to the House of Representatives, and activists
across the country will coordinate a grassroots uprising to bring a majority of
Representatives on board the bill. If we want help lobbying our representative,
we can join this webinar, hosted by Healthcare-NOW and Progressive Democrats of
America on Saturday, February 2 at 2PM, which will provide a
step-by-step guide to running our own grassroots lobbying campaign to move our legislator
on single-payer healthcare. We can find out more and sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/medicare-for-all-webinar/
Reading/Watching
1. Memorandum Reveals United States Government Planned
to “Traumatize” Migrant Children - http://liblog.law.stanford.edu/2019/01/memorandum-reveals-united-states-government-planned-to-traumatize-migrant-children/
2. Mueller says Russians are using his discovery
materials in disinformation effort - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/mueller-says-russians-using-his-discovery-materials-disinformation-effort-n964811
3. Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise
ordinary men - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2018/01/30/sex-trafficking-column/1073459001
4. Which Democrats Are Running In 2020 — And Which
Still Might - https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/689980506/which-democrats-are-running-in-2020-and-which-still-might
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