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 House will consider
ten (10) bills this week starting on Wednesday with other legislative
activity scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is now
putting out "The Weekly Leader" on Fridays for the following week's schedule. Let’s review this so we know what's coming. On Monday, the Senate will again resume
consideration of the motion to proceed to S.1, the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle
East Act. (Source: Senate Floor Schedule) Last week, cloture was invoked for this bill and
it is moving forward for debate and a vote. (Source: The Tower.) Opponents of this bill are concerned that its
anti-BDS language restricts free speech.
2. The U.S. Department of Energy
has started making a new, “low-yield” nuclear weapon designed to counter
Russia: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689510716/trump-administration-begins-production-of-a-new-nuclear-weapon And on Friday, the Trump administration
announced that it would suspend the highly successful 1987 Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) after long accusing Russia of violating it;
this treaty bans ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500km and
5,500km. Nuclear weapons experts at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace said in a statement that while Russia's alleged violation
of the INF Treaty was a serious problem, the US withdrawal would be
counterproductive:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/suspend-nuclear-arms-control-treaty-russia-190201133242724.html Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear
information project at the Federation of American Scientists, worries a smaller
warhead of the kind Trump has been demanding and the DOE is making could actually
make nuclear war far more likely: "A nuke is a nuke," he says.
"Once it's used, the gloves are off." We have six months
until the US ceases to be bound by the INF, during which time we must convince
our MoCs to demand that this treaty be renegotiated; perhaps we should share
with them this short history of Congressional power vis a vis treaties and
executive powers: https://thebulletin.org/2018/11/can-trump-abrogate-the-inf-treaty-without-congress/ Also, eleven
senators have signed S. 312, the Prevention of Arms Race Act, which would ban
Trump from producing short-range nuclear missiles; let's urge our senators to
cosign this bill.
3. The ACLU tweeted on Friday, ““BREAKING:
Tonight the Trump administration filed documents that don’t dispute the recent
report that there may have been thousands more separated kids. They’re arguing
it would take too long to figure out where those kids are because they have no
tracking system. This response is a shocking concession that the government
can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn’t
even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them. We will be back in
court on February 21.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/finding-all-migrant-children-separated-their-families-may-be-impossible-n966266 Let’s tell
our MoCs that this situation has gone too far and that these families need to
be reunited.
4. Two American immigrant rights
attorneys and two journalists were prevented from entering Mexico, when their
passports were flagged with alerts from an “unknown” government. https://www.latimes.com/nation/immigration/la-me-immigration-attorneys-detained-20190202-story.html. The attorneys had been providing legal assistance
to migrants in the process of filing asylum claims. Let’s make sure our MoCs
are aware of this and ask them to intervene.
5. In a terrifying move, on
Friday the Trump announced that he will pull the U.S. out of the nuclear arms
control treaty signed with Russia in 1987. https://www.apnews.com/13bee012befd4f989ab9ae108d1ca729. With Russia now pulling out, as well, the
potential for nuclear proliferation is at the highest it’s been since the Cold
War. As Trump continues to show his impulsivity and disregard for information
provided by national security experts, there is no time more important than now
to pass the bills to make it U.S. policy not to use nuclear weapons first. The
bill, Senate bill S272 and House bill HR921, titled the "No First Use Act", simply
says, “It is the policy of the United States to not use nuclear weapons first.”
Let's read more at The Hill. Related bills, S200/HR669, would require congressional approval to
launch a nuclear first strike. Let's contact our MoC's in support of these
bills and let them know we prefer the "No First Use Act."
6. ICE has confirmed that it is
force-feeding detainees who have gone on hunger strike to protest the
conditions under which they are being held. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690578380/ice-confirms-force-feeding-of-detainees-on-hunger-strike. These include claims of verbal abuse and holding
inmates in solitary confinement. As these claims on ICE’s behavior continue to
grow, let’s ask our MoCs to intervene and also to hold hearings on ICE’s
alleged violations of human rights.
7. This Thursday, the House Ways
and Means Committee will be conducting a hearing on HR 1, a bill that contains a number of provisions to
make voting more fair and government processes more ethical. https://thehill.com/policy/finance/427702-house-to-hold-hearing-on-presidential-tax-returns. Under debate is whether the bill should include
requiring presidential candidates to submit their tax returns. Let’s tell our
House Rep. that we absolutely want the provision included in the bill, and that
we also want the House Ways and Means Committee Chair to get Trump to release
his returns, which he has the power to do, regardless of whether the bill is
passed.
8. The Trump administration,
along with Israel, has followed through on its promise to leave UNESCO, the UN
body whose mission is to build peace through cultural understanding and
knowledge exchange. http://www.artfixdaily.com/news_feed/2019/01/23/7278-the-us-withdraws-from-unesco-the-un-agency-that-aims-to-build-pea and https://www.apnews.com/abfcb84a48f14f41ab1ce6b7045e6794 Also, we
left with an unpaid bill of $600 million, so let's make sure our MoCs know just
how shameful and shortsighted this decision is.
9. “The American people
overwhelmingly support expanding, not cutting, Social Security because they
understand its importance. A poll taken during the 2016 Presidential primaries
revealed that supporters of the different candidates disagreed on nearly every
issue – except for Social Security.” The
Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 860) will make some needed improvement to the Social
Security system. Over 200
representatives have signed on as c0-sponsors.
Let’s see if ours has: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/860/cosponsors If they
have, let’s thank them, if not, let’s ask why not.
10. The Green New Deal Week of Action starts today! Friends of the Earth wants every Congress member to hear from concerned
citizens this week and we can help them out. We can start
by clicking on this link to find a Green
New Deal week of action event in our city! If there is no event near us, here’s
what to do next: Click here to look up our
Member of Congress’s nearest office by entering our zip code, then, print out these two letters and bring them
with us to our Representative’s office: A)
A campaign letter signed by
more than 600 organizations with our policy demands; and B) Our cover letter outlining the 5 principles we ask all Members
of Congress to publicly support.
Election/Voting
1. There is an important Special
Election on Tuesday, February 5th for Minnesota State
Senate District 11. They only had the primary this past week so there is
almost no time to campaign. As you know getting the word out for special
elections is difficult and especially so under current weather conditions which severely
hamper volunteer activity in Minnesota - so virtual phoning is the
main way to reach voters many of whom are unaware that there is an election.
STU LOUREY, the DFL candidate (in Minnesota the state party affiliated with the
National Democratic Primary is the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party commonly
referred to as DFL) could use a lot of OUTSIDE HELP. The DFL has asked
for help with their virtual phone bank.
Let’s find get more information and see how we can help regardless where
we live:
2. Well we might be all
election-ed out after November but guess what: there are a bunch of special
elections in February. Heads up MO, GA, TX, VA, WI, LA, CT, IL, and NY, there
may be an opportunity to vote!! Check out the details that Political Charge has
compiled for us, here: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/01/28/special-elections-in-february-2019/. Let's share with our networks, too! Local
elections matter.
3. Never miss an election!
Everytown for Gun Safety has a tool that will send us election reminders—even
reminders of our small town elections—help us register to vote, and get
absentee ballots. Let’s sign up here: https://everytown.turbovote.org/
Other Actions
1. Stacy Abrams, the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s 2018 governor
election has written a thought-provoking piece on identity
politics. Let’s read it and remember to
watch, her on Tuesday evening, give the Democratic response to the State of the
Union address, which we may not be watching.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-02-01/stacey-abrams-response-to-francis-fukuyama-identity-politics-article
2. Democratic Governor of
Virginia Ralph Northam has been on a strange journey over the weekend regarding
a racist yearbook photo that surfaced from his time in medical school in the
mid-80’s. He first apologized and then walked back whether he was actually in
the photo and continued to dig a deeper hole rather than set the shovel
down: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428201-northam-denies-prior-knowledge-of-racist-photo-rejects-calls-to-resign There have been many high profile
calls for his resignation but as of press time, he had not. Let’s ask friends
in Virginia to be in touch with him to call for his resignation: https://www.virginia.gov/agencies/office-of-the-governor/ and we can send messages via Twitter as
well to @GovernorVA
3. From one of our own: Here is a good list to use with our
postcarding groups this week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q1PpccGWveAKzirm6U_734DvKVG4zQC8dJwyfrLA-Gk/edit
State Actions
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
1. If we are interested in
running for office, we can check out the National Democratic Training
Committee’s Online Campaign Academy by joining their Orientation Webinar this
Wednesday, February 6 at 5pm Eastern Time. The training is free and NDTC
promises to “do everything we can to teach you how to win.” We can find out more about the organization
here: https://www.traindemocrats.org/home/, then we can click here to register: https://traindemocrats.typeform.com/to/L9FYdH
Reading/Watching
1. A simple technology could secure the border for a
fraction of the cost of a wall — but no one's talking about it - https://www.businessinsider.com/fiber-optic-sensing-technology-vs-border-wall-2019-2
2. Children's climate rallies gain momentum in Europe - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46999381
3. Trump Administration Gets An Earful On New Campus
Sexual Assault Rules - https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/689879689/education-department-gathers-feedback-on-new-campus-sexual-assault-rules
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