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4/15/19

Contact Federal Government Officials




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  1. THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS: The House has district work periods (Source: House Calendar) and the Senate has state work periods until Monday, April 29. (Source: Legislative Calendar) Let's check our MoC's websites to find out if they will be at a location/event where we can see them in person during the next two weeks.
  1. PUBLIC COMMENT ENDS TODAY- Redefinition of the Waters of the United States: From one of our own: This week I'm just posting one regulatory proposal - the Redefinition of the Waters of the United States, with background and how to comment. They are taking away our water protections. The deadline is tonight. It redefines all inland waters - it is sweeping and alarming. Please read at least the first two paragraphs. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dKN6odgbICOUWmNl3-XhrMTFdodVWLSt
  1. ATTACKS ON ILHAN OMAR: Trump is using an out of context quotation combined with a terrible video about 9/11 to incite violence against Rep. Ilhan Omar and at press time it remained his “pinned” Tweet on Twitter:  https://apnews.com/5d866c967f7c4db8a98e980bce2b5a38  and   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/12/ilhan-omar-democrats-trump-attacks-sanders-warren   If we are on Twitter, let’s report the tweet and then let’s let our MoC know that we expect them to stand up with great clarity that the President cannot be targeting a member of Congress and inciting violence against her to whip up his base.
  1. TRUMP’S TAX RETURNS: Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Richard Neal has written to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig to explain how and why missing the deadline to release Trump’s tax returns is against the law:  https://www.apnews.com/30289b7196a74fc293aab17a22171316  Let’s let Commissioner Rettig know that shall means shall and that we expect him to follow the law rather than carry water for our lawless POTUS. The IRS is on Twitter at @IRSNews or mailing address is: Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20224
  1. INCOME TAX: Today is Tax Day. We wondered how the 2018 tax cut would affect us. Some of us were happy with the change and some of us were very surprised as we had to pay more back than in previous years. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-returns-2019-tax-refunds-so-far-this-year-are-down-by-6-billion/ The undisputed winners in all this, besides the wealthy, were corporations. “Big companies have long relied on strategies to reduce their tax bills. But the new tax law is making it even easier, with a new analysis finding that 60 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no taxes on a total of $79 billion of profits earned in 2018.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/ Let's contact all our MoCs and tell them how much we paid in taxes and tell them it is time for the wealthy and big companies to pay their fair share.
  1. IRS FREE TAX FILING SOFTWARE BILL: Thanks to heavy lobbying from companies like Turbo Tax and HR Block, The House, with support from both Democrats and Republicans,  just passed HR 1957, the misnamed “Taxpayer First Act,” a bill that would make it illegal for the IRS to create a free e-filing system. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/filing-taxes-is-hard-enough-congress-should-ease-the-pain-not-worsen-it/2019/04/12/1e17da22-5d5d-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?utm_term=.1fc002ef79b7h. Let’s tell our Senators NOT to support this bill. They should not be prioritizing the rights of corporations over the needs of taxpayers to file taxes conveniently and without cost. Ask them instead to support the Tax Filing Simplification Act, which was just re-introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren which allows the IRS to provide free e-filing software, as is done in many other countries.
  1. SCIENCE FUNDING: “Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program – in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress. . . “I just haven’t seen anything like this in my almost 30 years of working with the federal government,” said a scientist at the Fish and Wildlife Service who worked for one of the LCCs and wished to remain anonymous, because federal employees were instructed not to speak with the Guardian for this story. “There is this lack of accountability.” “ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/08/trump-administration-sabotages-major-conservation-effort-defying-congress Where is the oversight for this kind of action? Let's ask our MoCs to do what they need to do to get this long-standing program back on track with the money they allocated.
Elections
  1. APRIL ELECTIONS: “So far in April, there are 29 elections scheduled. If one of these is in your district, make sure you vote! For everyone else, please share this with your network to spread the word in order to increase awareness and turnout!” Let’s check this out: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/03/28/elections-in-april-2019/
  1. NEW POSTCARDING CAMPAIGN: Postcards To Voters' Campaign 155: Marc Friedenberg for Congress (PA, Centre County) is now open. Let's help Democrats flip PA CD12 blue by requesting 5 addresses for this May 21st special election today. It's a "massive" district so let's be sure to tell our friends about this one.
Other Actions
  1. FAMILY SEPARATION: Houston Police Chief Art Acevado took to Twitter to decry the deportation of an 11-year-old girl without her family:
    https://twitter.com/artacevedo/status/1116673699476901888?s=11 and https://thehill.com/latino/438666-houston-police-chief-hits-order-to-deport-child-without-family-nazis-enforced-their?fbclid=IwAR0l6y8YmYCFHzSPdXYPibxDG_6xF1vjMsX0TVR5Syy8dz-FFy2dG3VkT0M Chief Acevado has been an important and clear voice about gun violence prevention and is now speaking up again. Let’s thank him for this important form of leadership and let’s tell our own police departments to follow his example, reminding them as Acevedo reminded us, “that the Nazis also enforced laws.” We can contact him here: https://www.houstontx.gov/police/contact/index.htm
  1. WOMEN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: We know there were no women candidates on the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. The problem is even bigger than that. The reason we don't see more media coverage of these women is that they are not getting covered. https://www.bustle.com/p/female-2020-candidates-face-tougher-media-coverage-than-male-candidates-study-finds-17036285 Let's call this out as we become aware: https://fair.org/take-action-now/media-contact-list/
  1. AMY SISKIND'S WEEKLY LIST: Experts in authoritarianism advise us to keep a list of things subtly changing around us, so we’ll remember.  Amy Siskind is keeping that list for us.  Amy writes, "Troubling reporting this week indicated Trump instructed his incoming Secretary of DHS to break the law, assuring him he would be pardoned." Let's review Week 126.
  1. SPANISH-SPEAKING ATTORNEYS NEEDED: “The ABA’s Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA) in conjunction with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) seeks Spanish speaking volunteer attorneys to provide legal services to detained immigrant children being held in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas during 3-day weekend trips in April, May, and June.” If we fit this need, or know someone who does, let's get more information here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wxXfLQCj4-sSyfQ0GtFAoqes9SkHgTzgXT8vot74nsc/viewform?edit_requested=true
  1. IMMIGRATION: The BBC, in its Cut Through the Noise series gives us some facts about the migrant crisis at the border: https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/419578555284315/?t=146 One way we can help is to donate toward the bond for these refugees to help them get started with working toward their life in this country. Al Otro Lado has started such a fund to which we can contribute: https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/
  1. POSTCARDING RESOURCES: If we are looking for a ready-made list of postcarding ideas for this week, we can find it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v30LrWfrLQX3_AUwwsVy2uyVi-jK59BKZAF4kYukw0U/edit Let's gather a postcard writing crew!
  1. ALL FOR STUDENT-MADE GUN SAFETY VIDEOS: If we are or know any high School or college students, we can help save lives and win scholarships by making videos to help prevent Family Fire incidents, shootings involving an improperly stored or misused gun in the home. The Brady Campaign is launching the End Family Fire Scholarship Competition, challenging  high school and college students to create a video which raises awareness of this issue  and promotes safe gun storage as a way to prevent such tragedies. Two  winning entries will be selected, one from high school and one from college, and each will receive a $5,000 scholarship to be used toward college, university, or trade school tuition, fees and/or supplies. The winners will also have the opportunity to have their video used by the Ad Council as an official End Family Fire campaign PSA, with a potential to be distributed nationally to over 1,600 television stations. High school or college students can learn more and submit their videos here  by June 16, 2019. https://www.bradyunited.org/program/end-family-fire/scholarship-competition We can also spread the word and share information about the scholarship competition with our friends and on social media.
  1. CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINEE AND UNIFY SUPPORT: Whatever differences we have, we know the terrible damage four more years of Trump will do to our country. Once the primary is over, we must band together and support our nominee. Right now Trump has a huge fundraising lead against our eventual Democratic primary winner, but Swing Left and PodSaveAmerica have a plan to help our candidate get the resources needed to win. We can click here to donate to the Unify or Die Fund where 100% of the money will be sent to the eventual Democratic nominee for president exactly when they’ll need it most—right after the convention in July 2020, as they start the general election: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/unify-or-die
State Actions

  1. MOST: PRIVATE DETENTION FACILITIES: Freedom for Immigrants has developed a  toolkit for launching a Dignity Not Detention Act (similar to CA's bill) campaign in every state: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/policy-advocacy Let's see how we can get this moving in our state.
  1. IL: PRIVATE DETENTION FACILITIES: From Freedom for Immigrants: The Illinois House passed a bill, the Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act (House Bill 2040), yesterday that seeks to expand the state’s moratorium on private prisons to include civil immigration detention centers, following in the footsteps of California’s Dignity Not Detention Act.  The next step is the Illinois Senate.  We look forward to continuing to support our allies in Illinois and across the country to get state governments out of the business of immigration detention. We can learn more about this Illinois legislation in this Chicago Tribune article: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-illinois-bill-private-immigration-detention-center-ice-20190409-story.html Let's contact our state senators to support this bill.
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
  1. POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN SUMMER CONGRESS:  "At the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress in June [17-19], people from all over this country will convene on Capitol Hill to frame the national political narrative around our issues and the real emergencies facing 140 million people. Somebody’s been hurting our people, it’s gone on far too long and we won’t be silent anymore!"  We can register here: 
Reading/Watching

  1. Automatic Voter Registration Works Everywhere It’s Been Implemented - http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/automatic-voter-registration-works-everywhere-been-implemented




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