The Texas districts map was last updated in 2012 by the ruling Republicans. Although in some states maps are drawn up by bipartisan commission, election outcomes are often skewed by these weirdly drawn districts, designed expressly to reduce Democratic voters to a minority in as many districts as possible. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19) has introduced H.R. 1102 Redistricting Reform Act of 2017 which would mandate that states conduct redistricting through independent commissions. Action: If your MoC is one of the co-sponsors of the bill, contact them to say thank you. If your MoC is not one of the co-sponsors, contact them to ask that they get on board. House contact info: www.house.gov.
0 Comments
Dreamers Trump has recently stated his determination to override DACA recipients’ protected status and toss them out of the country. Some hard-core Republican attorneys general from 10 states, under the leadership of Texas, are threatening to sue the president to precipitate the deportation of these young people. To the rescue comes Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) who are championing a bi-partisan measure to extend and formalize protection for Dreamers. Action: 1. Contact Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin and thank them for their efforts to protect Dreamers. 2. Contact the Attorney General of one or two (or more!) of the following states to express your shock and disappointment that they would attempt to pull the rug out from under law-abiding Dreamers. Ask them to back off from their threat of a law suit. Texas (the ringleader) Louisiana Alabama Nebraska Arkansas South Carolina Idaho Tennessee Kansas West Virginia Single Payer Health Care The New York Times recently said: “Grass-roots opposition to the bill ... swayed members of Congress in a way rarely seen on Capitol Hill.” The pressure that citizens have been putting on legislators is having an effect. Let’s keep the pressure up and start pushing for what should be our real goal: the institution of a single-payer system. There is a bill before the House called the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, introduced by John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI-13) and co-sponsored by 115 Democratic Members of Congress. Action:
House contact info: www.house.gov Senate contact info: www.senate.gov Election Commission (reprise) Pence and Korbach’s “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” is based on unsubstantiated paranoia and may even be an attempt at voter suppression. The Secretaries of State of most states are satisfied that their states’ voting process is fair and free from fraud and have expressed their unwillingness to cooperate. The real threat to our election integrity comes from hackers, with the Russians known to have attempted to break into voter databases in the last election. The Commission is ignoring the real threat and attempting to coerce states into handing over large amounts of voter information. Action: 1. Contact Mike Pence and express your disapproval of his Commission at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. 2. Contact your own state house representative and ask them for their position on the request by the Election Commission for voter information. If they do not state categorically that they are opposed to complying with the request, express your dissatisfaction. Phew. With the defection of Mike Lee (UT) and Jerry Moran (KS), the GOP health care bill is DOA. CNN reports that 41 out of 52 GOP senators are unwilling to commit their support for the bill. Now it’s official that McConnell doesn’t have the votes to proceed, it is thought that others will make their disapproval public. It’s not over yet, but the game has changed. Action: Take a breath and be thankful. Peaceable Kingdom Democrats and Republicans may be divided over most things, but one issue unites them: animal welfare! There are a number of bipartisan bills in the pipeline to protect animals from abuse, neglect, and abandonment. One humane piece of legislation, which has 228 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, is the Pets and Women Safety Act of 2017, H.R. 909. This House bill would provide grants to domestic violence shelters to allow women to bring their pets with them. Fear for their pets’ safety is often a factor in women’s reluctance to leave an abusive situation. In addition, the Act provides for the inclusion of pets in protection orders. Action: Contact your Member of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 909, the Pets and Women Safety Act of 2017. Health Care Mitch McConnell has delayed the vote while John McCain recovers from surgery. McCain has been opposed to certain aspects of the GOP bill and plans to file amendments addressing those concerns upon his return to the Senate after a short period of recuperation. Susan Collins (ME) and Rand Paul (KY) (for opposite reasons) have both stated their opposition to the bill and will not consent even to begin debate. Dean Heller (NV) is also a possible no; if he supports the bill, he’ll be parting company with Nevada’s Republican governor, who opposes it. Rob Portman (OH) is fence-sitting, and Shelley Moore Capito (WV) is dubious. Action: 1. Email Senator McCain. Wish him a speedy recovery. Thank him for standing up for Americans’ right to health care, and ask him to prevent the bill being fast-tracked. 2. Pick one or two of the above-mentioned senators. Call their DC and constituency offices to plead with them to preserve Medicaid expansion and SSDI, to excise the Cruz Amendment, to continue the requirement that employers must offer health care coverage to full-time employees, etc. This article sets out the main differences between the BCRA and ACA. As many of the Republican lawmakers and their staffers believe that single-payer health care is a crazed socialist idea and that those who advocate for it must be left-wing loonies, try to sound as much as possible like you’re conservative so as not to be written off. And of course, a single-payer health care system is in fact perfectly compatible with conservatism. Health Care Mitch McConnell has unveiled his new and totally NOT improved health noncare bill. Here’s what’s extra-specially bad about it:
This bill is a patchwork of ideology, greed, folly, short-sightedness, callousness, ignorance, and cynicism. Action: 1) Call the four moderate GOP senators who have stated their opposition to the bill and reiterate your pleas that they continue to oppose it. Dean Heller Susan Collins Rob Portman Shelley Moore Capito 2) Call your own senators again. .
Storm the Bastille! Net Neutrality Action: Call the FCC and demand that they preserve all the Title II Net Neutrality protections. (202) 418-1000. Social Security Disability Insurance Action: Call your senator and ask them to refuse to pass Trump’s budget, which cuts SSDI payments by $72 billion over the next ten years. Anyone who knows anyone who has tried to get disability knows how extremely difficult it is already to get approval. Health Care Action: Call Senator Pat Toomey (R PA) who has been championing the GOP health care bill, although his state stands to suffer greatly under its impact. Toomey is a fan of “leaner government,” aka “You’re on your own, folks.” Try all his numbers until you get through: (202) 224-4254; (814) 266-5970; (570) 941-3540; (412) 803-3501; (215) 241-1090; (717) 782-3951; (814) 453-3010; (610) 434-1444. & Election “Integrity” Commission The so-called Election Integrity Commission, chaired by Mike Pence and Kris Kobach, is seeking to obtain vast amounts of confidential voter information from all 50 states. They claim their actions are necessary to root out rampant voter fraud, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. The Commission’s true aim is voter suppression. In reality, in-person voter fraud is so rare as to be insignificant, and in any case, it would be a slow and ineffective way to influence an election outcome. In one billion votes cast since 2000, there are only 31 credible cases of in-person voter fraud. Action: The League of Women Voters has a petition against the Commission: sign here. Net Neutrality Action: July 12 - yesterday - was a Day of Action for Net Neutrality. Although we’re a day late, there’s still time to join in and write a letter to the FCC. You can send a letter from this site: http://www.battleforthenet.com/ |
Archives
November 2019
|