3/12/18
Contact Federal Government Officials
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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. This week in Congress: The House will consider sixteen (16) bills this week starting Tuesday. Let's check out the Majority Leader's Schedule so we know what's coming.
2. On Monday, the Senate will convene at 4:00 p.m. to resume consideration of S.2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The Leadership Conference, a civil rights coalition, opposes S2155 because it "would undermine one of our nation’s key civil rights laws and weaken consumer protections enacted after the 2008 financial crisis." We can read the Leadership Conference's letter of opposition here. Let's tell our own Senators that we oppose bank de-regulating act S2155.
3. Federal government funding runs out again on March 23. Instead of doing another stop-gap measure, Congress is working on an omnibus spending bill which would last through the fiscal year. As usual, many riders are being discussed and need to be watched: https://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/omnibus-spending-bill-riders Let’s make sure our MoCs know how we feel about some of these riders.
4. Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen has been marked by war crimes and has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and a worsening humanitarian crisis. Trump has not only continued to back Saudi Arabia, he’s expanded American support for their war, despite the fact that Congress has never authorized our involvement in the conflict in the first place. A bipartisan group of senators led by Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders is going to use a procedure under the War Powers Resolution to force a vote on the Senate floor to stop Trump’s war in Yemen (S.J. Res. 54), and that vote may come as soon as LATER TODAY. http://thehill.com/policy/defense/377457-experts-urge-senators-to-support-sanders-lee-bill-on-ending-us-involvement-in Let’s contact our senators and let them know we want them to support this effort. We can use talking points and call scripts from Indivisible here.
5. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has introduced the Securing Our Elections Act, (H.R. 5147) which authorizes emergency funding to make sure that every state can adopt a voter-verified paper trail by the midterm elections in 2018. Let’s ask our representatives to co-sponsor this important legislation.
6. For reasons no one can fully understand, the Trump administration is not taking the Russian election meddling seriously and our top US commander in Europe is concerned: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/russia-cyberattacks-election-2018-curtis-scaparrotti-congress-a8246691.html Let’s make sure our MoCs know that we are concerned, too, and that we need to step up our congressional investigations.
7. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Bureau of Land Management have submitted a proposal to repeal the Waste Prevention Rule, an Obama-era rule which reduces methane emissions http://bit.ly/2EqdvG8 While the courts have struck down Zinke's efforts to delay the implementation of the original Waste Prevention Rule, his proposal in the Federal Register is a separate attack which is open to comments until April 23rd http://bit.ly/2FsWFDV There are currently less than forty comments on the proposal; let's change this. We can submit our own comment directly:
http://bit.ly/2Hrgtrh or we can use a form letter through the Sierra Club https://sierra.secure.force.com/actions/National?actionId=AR0106930&id
8. 22 senators have introduced the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which would legalize discrimination, so long as a person claims "religious belief" http://bit.ly/2FHStml The bill would protect individuals "on the basis that such person speaks, or acts, in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union of one man and one woman, or two individuals as recognized under Federal law, or that sexual relations outside marriage are improper." If our senator is one of the cosponsors, let's be sure to give them a call and express our disgust that they would sign on to a bill which violates free speech and the Equal Protection Clause (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection). We can read the bill and find the cosponsors here: https://www.scribd.com/document/373318007/FADA
9. “From Brussels to Tokyo to Capitol Hill, the White House faces backlash over its steel and aluminum duties.” https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/11/trump-tariffs-trade-international-405685 Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has announced he will propose a bill to negate these tariffs: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/377477-flake-to-introduce-bill-to-nullify-trumps-tariffs Let’s ask our senators to sign on as co-sponsors and support stopping these tariffs.
10. The president’s infrastructure plan is hitting a wall in Congress due to Republican opposition to fund it through gasoline taxes. http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/377681-trumps-infrastructure-push-hits-wall-in-congress. Senate Democrats have released an alternative infrastructure plan that would be financed by eliminating some of the recent tax breaks given to the 1%. According to an article in Politico, the Democrats’ proposal would “raise the top individual tax rate to 39.6 percent, set the corporate tax rate at 25 percent, go back to 2017 law for the Alternative Minimum Tax, undo the exemption increase for the estate tax and end the beneficial tax treatment of carried interest.” Let’s tell our MoCs that we want to see the benefits of the recent tax bill focused on Main Street, not on Wall St., and that this is a sound way of addressing our infrastructure issues.
11. Russian leader Vladimir Putin made headlines this weekend by suggesting that Jews were responsible for the 2016 hacking of the U.S. election,
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/after-putin-says-jews-may-be-behind-meddling-lawmakers-urge-sanctions-1.5889309 and again the President is silent, as he was in Charlottesville, when he suggested that there might be “very fine people on both sides.” In a year where anti-Semitic incidents have risen by 60%, faster than any other time in the last 40 years, we must urge the White House to publicly denounce hate speech and put much needed sanctions on Russia, as Congress has directed them to. We should also tell our MoCs to publicly denounce Putin’s remarks and keep up the pressure on this very important issue.
12. From one of our own: A provision in the House-passed Homeland Security reauthorization bill [H.R. 2825] would allow Trump to send Secret Service agents to polling places on Election Day. This provision is not in the Senate version [S. 1103] & CANNOT stand when the bills get reconciled. https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2018/03/09/top-elections-officials-raise-alarm-over-allowing-trump-new-authority-over-polling-places/qvdmfTe7N7AFZXl0k4CwEO/story.html
Election 2018 – General
1. Our next chance to flip a House seat will be on April 24th, when Democratic nominee and emergency room doctor and cancer researcher Hiral Tipirneni will face off against the scandal-tarred Republican former state senator Debbie Lesko. Dr. Tipirneni wants to expand Medicare access, protect Social Security and the right to choose and block funding for Trump’s border wall. Senator Lesko is an advocate for school vouchers who opposes common sense gun control measures (http://www.peoriatimes.com/news/article_9fba784a-2236-11e8-a854-bb183615413f.html). Postcards to Voters is helping turn out voters for Dr. Tipirneni! Let’s check out the details and then sign up to help with this or other P2V campaigns here: https://postcardstovoters.org/2018/03/09/hiral/.
2. Postcards to Voters is currently running three (3) campaigns. 1) NY- Campaign 58: Shelley Mayer for State Senate. 2) FL- Campaign 59: Ricky Shirah for State House 3) AZ-Campaign 60: Dr. Hiral Tipirneni for US Congress. Returning writers may text WIN to (484) ASK-ABBY which is (484) 275-2229 and get addresses right away, 24/7 with an emailed courtesy copy for added convenience. If we are new to this effective grassroots effort to help get out the vote, we can email: Join@TonyTheDemocrat.org OR text JOIN to (484) ASK-ABBY.
3. Democrat Conor Lamb is up by four points in the polls in the Pennsylvania Special Election (March 13th) for the Congressional seat in District 18 but, according to The Economist, is “likely to lose”: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/377579-poll-dem-leads-by-4-points-in-pa-special-election and https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21738400-still-consistent-idea-democratic-wave-conor-lamb-likely-lose In other words, the election actually needs to happen and people need to get to the polls. Thanks to all who supported Lamb via writing for Postcards to Voters. If you are on the ground in PA, please engage in Get Out The Vote efforts and if not, please consider a donation to help support these “day of” efforts: https://conorlamb.com
4. Millions of young voters of color who voted for Obama in 2012 didn’t vote at all in the 2016 presidential election—and they’re not being courted they way older, white voters are. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/obama-trump-voters-democrats.html Let’s contact (google for info) the campaigns of our Democratic candidates for Congress and statewide offices and tell them that we care that the voices of these voters are heard, and we expect them to campaign in their schools and communities.
Election 2018 – By State
1. PA: Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13, voters in the Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District will choose their next U.S. representative. If we live in the district, let’s make sure we get out and vote for Democratic nominee Conor Lamb. If we don’t, let’s send Trump and Lamb’s “Trump Before Trump Was Trump” opponent Rick Saccone a message by helping Conor get out the vote! We can sign up to make phone calls here or send texts to voters here.
2. TN—State Senate District 14 has a special election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13. Let’s be voters for Democrat Gayle Jordan, http://gaylejordanforsenatetn14.com/ . Election day voting locations are on her website: http://gaylejordanforsenatetn14.com/voting-polling-locations/
3. MI: Dan O'Neil is running to become the first Democrat ever elected to the 104th State House seat. There will be a volunteer event this Sunday afternoon, March 18th from 2 to 3:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse. Dan will be there to answer questions and provide an update on the campaign. Come out and meet the team and find out how you can help. We will begin direct voter outreach in April! If you can’t make that date, there is another on March 19th from 6 to 7:30 pm. Sign up here to come to one or the other: http://signup.com/go/AuyVhoi For more information and to connect with the campaign, visit our website or Facebook page.
Other Actions
1. The example set by West Virginia’s teachers is inspiring educators across the country to stand up for better pay and benefits. Last week, Oklahoma’s teachers announced that they will go on strike on April 2nd if the legislature doesn’t agree to a pay raise before then (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-oklahoma-teachers-20180308-story.html). Let’s show our teachers we have their backs. We can pledge to stand with them at this link, and help amplify their message on social media by following the Oklahoma Education Association on Twitter. And those of us who live in Oklahoma can contact our legislators and let them know we want them to pay our teachers what they’re worth: http://www.oklegislature.gov/FindMyLegislature.aspx.
2. From one of our own: If you're a high school student, teacher, or administrator walking out on April 20 and would like pizza delivered to your school, please register by clicking here: https://pizzasaves.org/
3. This is National Public Schools week. Network for Public Education has a few things we can do to celebrate the week and demonstrate the power of public education: https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2018/03/10332/
4. Bass Pro Shops are not making changes to their business practices in the vein of Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart (http://footwearnews.com/2018/business/retail/bass-pro-shops-semi-automatic-rifles-walmart-dicks-sporting-goods-509890/). We can boycott Bass Pro's brick and mortar stores (https://stores.basspro.com/search.html), restaurants (https://stores.basspro.com/search.html?), Cabela's stores (Bass subsidary)
5. (https://www.cabelas.com/stores/stores_home.jsp#StoresByState), and boating centers (https://www.bassproboatingcenters.com/dealer-locations.html). We can urge friends who patronize these brands (or who like them on Facebook) to drop them.
6. A newly formed Facebook group, My Voice! My Vote! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/153895975255202/), is a hub for Spanish speaking volunteer opportunities of textbanking or phonebanking. If we speak Spanish, we can use our skills to help get out the vote and engage in candidate outreach to Spanish-speaking communities everywhere. (From https://www.solidaritysundays.org/)
7. California Congressman Adam Schiff has written a strong op-ed for the LA Times about what Democrats need to do to win the midterms: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-schiff-how-democrats-can-win-midterms-20180309-story.html Let’s share with our local party affiliate organizations and get involved there to do our part in the blue wave.
8. The Movement for Black Lives will be hosting a webinar today at 8pm ET, highlighting the Electoral Justice League https://ejp.m4bl.org/ The League is "a paid fellowship for Black organizers to gain campaign and advocacy skills." Let's check it out! http://bit.ly/ejpJLw1
9. The New York Times has launched the Overlooked project; newly-written obituaries of remarkable women who were never duly recognized by the newspaper
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked.html Overlooked is slated to be a recurring feature in the NYT. If we know of someone who never received an obituary, and meets the criteria for the Overlooked project, we can nominate them here: http://nyti.ms/2G6wxiF
10. “Announcing an additional 700 million euros investment for solar-energy, French President Emmanuel Macron, at the first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit here (New Delhi) on Sunday, called for "joint duties" for a "planet that has to be shared". Speaking at the summit, Macron said that while some (the US) decided just to leave the Paris Agreement, others decided to act because they wish good for their children and grandchildren.” https://www.socialnews.xyz/2018/03/11/macron-announces-700mn-euros-to-solar-power-at-isa/ FYI, last year France paid the 2 million euros to U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that tRump refused to pay after leaving the Paris’s Climate Agreement. We can thank President Macron by sending him a Tweet here @EmmanuelMacron for his continued dedication to health of our planet.
11. Storytelling is at the heart of social change. If we are running for office, working for policy changes or want to effectively advocate for change, we can learn how to,use stories to change hearts and minds. The Center for Story-based Strategy has an excellent outline of storytelling applied to strategy, in which we can analyze the current narrative, determine our strategy for intervention, take action, and then reflect on our results: https://www.storybasedstrategy.org/intro-to-sbs
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
1. Wednesday, March 14th, is the 17-minute #ENOUGH National School Walkout all over the country coordinated by Women’s March Empower youth group. Let’s check here to see if there is an event near us: https://www.womensmarch.com/enough
2. Wednesday, March 14th at 7:30pm EDT, there will be an organizing tele-conference with Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist, whose son was killed by enemy action during the Iraq r, regarding to the upcoming Women’s March on the Pentagon on October 20-21, 2018. More details here: https://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2018/03/womens-march-on-pentagon-organizing.html
States
1. A rider has been added to a Homeland Security bill to give federal presence (via avenues like the Secret Service) with the president’s authority at polling places. Many Secretaries of State have already spoken up about this authoritarian move:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2018/03/09/top-elections-officials-raise-alarm-over-allowing-trump-new-authority-over-polling places/qvdmfTe7N7AFZXl0k4CwEO/story.html Let’s contact our own Secretaries of State (or Commonwealth) – names can be found on this link:
2. https://ballotpedia.org/Secretary_of_State_(state_executive_office) (unless we live in Alaska, Hawaii, or Utah which does not have the position) and our MoC to express our concerns about this rider.
3. Check this mapfrom Verified Voter to see if your state has adopted a tracking system to make sure our votes are secure, accurate and audible. Then, if necessary, contact your state legislators here and ask them to push for trackable voting before the 2018 elections.
4. NY: As students prepare for school walkouts, the New York City Department of Education has prepared a guide for students and parents. Absence policies, ways to proceed in an orderly fashion and ways to have respectful discussions are all covered on this page, along with a letter on attendance to parents in several languages. http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/schools/Safety
Reading/Watching
1. “How to Tell If a Bill Is Serious With 5 Tips” - https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-tell-if-a-bill-is-serious-with-5-tips
2. 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, "This week, Trump acted like a dictator, taking policy matters into his own hands. After praising China’s President Xi for ending term limits, Trump took controversial actions, imposing tariffs and setting up a meeting with Kim Jong-un — both against his party’s positions, and taken after foregoing or ignoring experts’ and allies’advice." Let's review Amy Siskind's list week 69.
3. And, as usual, our weekly dose of Small Victories: https://mailchi.mp/peaceisloud/small-victories-anybody-can-do-it