1. Ban Bannon: The Senate Committee on Homeland Security is taking calls about Steve Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council. If you haven’t done so already, you can call (202) 224-4751 and express your opposition to the appointment of this dangerous man. 2. Oppose Nominations: After DeVos, there are several upcoming nominations:
Republican Senators: continue reaching out to your senators to oppose these nominations and the appointment of Bannon. Call or fax. ("Speak Out" tab above.) Democratic Senators: call and ask them if they will commit to withhold consent on Senate business and use the filibuster to stop other legislation if necessary. This triggers considerable time-consuming procedural delay. 3. Heads Up: Congress will be on recess February 20-24, and your congressperson will be back in the district, holding events. This is where the alerts that you signed up for on February 1 will come in handy, as you’ll be able to keep an eye open for town hall meetings, etc. that you can attend and shout a lot and just generally behave like a Tea Partier.
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1. Back to Betsy:
The DeVos vote has not yet taken place, so let’s keep hammering our Senators to oppose her nomination. As education is close to the heart of so many Americans, this very unpopular nomination has caused an uproar. Let’s keep roaring as long as possible on this one. So …. a) If your Senator(s) is/are Republican (except Collins or Murkowski, who oppose DeVos), try to reach them by phone to oppose the nomination. If you can’t get through, send a fax or email. OR just try to keep calling all day -- use all the phone numbers listed on their Senate page under “office locations.” (20 x 30-second attempts = 10 minutes!) b) If one your Senators is on the list of those who have received campaign contributions from DeVos (except Murkowski) - look at the list in this article - do one of the following: - write (online) to a local newspaper enumerating the amount of DeVos’s contribution to your Senator and demanding recusal; or - call and/or fax your Senator asking him to recuse himself and state why. c) If your Senator is Collins or Murkowski or if your Senator is a Democrat, contact your other senator or target one of the other Senators on the list with the actions in (b) above. d) Anyone feel free to target Sen. Patrick Toomey of PA. 2. Sasse Gets Sassy! GOP Senator Ben Sasse (NE) has publicly spoken out against Trump’s recent intemperate remarks about The So-Called Judge and Putin. Senator Sasse deserves a vote of thanks, but let’s not gum up his phone or fax -- instead, message him here, thanking him for his responses to George Stephanopoulos on ABC news. Links to Senate and Congress contact info on the Speak Out page on this site. N.B. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so it’s fine if you’re real strict about sticking to only ten minutes a day. Better to keep that up for a year (or four argh!) than to do two hours a day to start with and then give up. So … with that in mind, here are four suggested actions for today. PLEASE only do as much as you can do in ten minutes
1. Betsy DeVos is probably confirmed by now or will be soon. If you have a Republican senator, shoot them a fax (via Fax Zero, which is linked on the Speak Out page) telling them they’re quislings. Except for Collins and Murkowski who voted against DeVos - you could thank them, or not. If you have a Democratic senator, you can pass. 2. Jeff Sessions is coming up for nomination for the position of Attorney General. The vote will likely split along party lines, but with possibly (I’ve heard) two Dems voting in favor of him. One is Joe Manchin of WV. If Joe is your Senator, call him and let him know you want him to oppose Sessions. If you have a Republican senator, call (or fax or message) him or her telling them good job putting politics ahead of principle or words to that effect. If I find out who the other pro-Sessions Dem is, I’ll post it in a comment later. 3. Steve Bannon - if you didn’t make the call to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security yesterday, you can do it today. When I called on Thursday, there was still room in the voice mailbox. 4. Sheriff Sally Hernandez of Travis County Texas has boldly defied the order to detain illegal immigrants for U.S. Immigration & Customs. As a result, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has cut funding to her department. Let’s all write her a card or letter thanking her and send it via U.S. mail to: Sheriff Sally Hernandez, Travis County Sheriff’s Office, P.O. Box 1748, Austin, TX 78767. First Action - Betsy DeVos:
Second Action - Steve Bannon: The Senate Committee on Homeland Security is taking calls about Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council. You can call (202) 224-4751 and express your opposition to this appointment. URGENT
Betsy DeVos’s nomination, having been approved by the Education Committee, is coming up before the whole Senate on Friday, with the final vote any time between Saturday and Tuesday. If only ONE more Senator can be flipped, her nomination will be scuttled. Senator Susan Collins (R, ME) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R, AL) have both said they will not vote to approve DeVos. This puts the vote at 50-50, with Pence the tie breaker. 1) If your Senator(s) is/are Republican, try getting through to them by phone and ask them to vote AGAINST DEVOS. You can also send them messages via their contact forms on their Senate sites if you can’t get through to any of their phone numbers. 2) Call potential swing vote GOP Senators: Rob Portman (OH) - office locations. Dean Heller (NV) - office locations. Pat Toomey (PA) - office locations. And you can also fax them via Fax Zero. After sending, check your email inbox for a message with a link to confirm the fax. If any of these three is your own Senator, devote your whole 10 minutes to calling as many as possible of his office locations or faxing. 3) If you have any time left over, please send a thank you mes sage to Senators Collins and Murkowski via: Collins Senate contact form or comment/message on her FB page; Murkowski Senate contact form or comment/message on her FB page |
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