Junk Insurance Trump has changed regulations to allow individuals to buy “junk insurance.” Junk plans are cheaper and are thus attractive to healthier consumers who are looking for a way to fulfil their requirement to buy insurance, but these policies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, do not cover many basic services such as prescription drugs and hospitalization, and have extremely high deductibles. Trump’s plan is to allow consumers to purchase these plans for up to three years, This will drive up costs for everyone else by removing healthier people from the pool of consumers in the for-real insurance market. It will also put those who do buy junk policies at risk of medical bankruptcy. The Senate is planning to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn this rule change. Action: Contact your Senators and ask them to vote in favor of S.J. Res. 52 to block the sale of junk health insurance policies.
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Election Interference Congress is due to vote this week on H.R. 4617, the SHIELD (Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy) Act. This act would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 by:
Action: Contact your Member of Congress (preferably by phone, as the vote may be today), and ask them to support H.R. 4617, SHIELD Act. If they are a cosponsor, thank them. How Much Longer? DT has gone too far. Well, he went too far about 70 years ago, but this flipping off the female astronauts is insane. He can deny it all he wants. Who scratches their head with their middle finger? Action: Time to call on your Member of Congress again to demand impeachment. Our children are growing up watching this demented yob and possibly thinking, “This is how it’s done.”. No bueno. Tongass National Forest, reprise Trump is intent on despoiling Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate forest in the world. Tongass covers over 16 million acres, and under Clinton it was (and currently still is) protected by the “Roadless Rule,” which prohibits logging and the building of roads within the forest. Trump’s USDA Forest Service wants to remove half of Tongass from protection, which would open the area up to the danger of clear cutting. Although Governor Dunleavy and Senator Murkowski are in favor of the rule change, saying that Alaska’s economy is being stymied by the limitation on logging, in fact a very small proportion of Alaska’s economy depends on logging, the most significant sectors being fisheries and tourism. The USDA will be accepting public comments on six alternative plans, ranging from not changing the rule at all to their preferred plan of unrestricted open season on half of Tongass. Action: If you didn’t already email or mail your comments to USDA (or even if you did), the public comment page on the USDA site is now open. You can leave your comments on this page. (Scroll down the page to find the form.) Share the page on social media. https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=54511 Syrian Kurdish Forces Trump has confounded everyone, including military leaders, by withdrawing U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish fighters, leaving the area open to brutal Turkish reprisals against the Kurds, who have been allies to the U.S. in the fight against ISIS. The House has passed House Joint Resolution 77, opposing the decision to withdraw military support protecting the Kurds against Turkey. All Democrats and a majority of Republicans (129 to 60) voted in favor of this resolution. Is Trump’s support crumbling? Let’s hope. Action: See how your MoC voted on HJ Res. 77: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll560.xml If they voted in favor, especially if they are Republican, send them a message of thanks - you might want to make a phone call on this one. If they voted Nay, blast them. http://www.house.gov/representatives Tongass National Forest Trump is intent on despoiling Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate forest in the world. Tongass covers over 16 million acres, and under Clinton it was (and currently still is) protected by the “Roadless Rule,” which prohibits logging and the building of roads within the forest. Trump’s USDA Forest Service wants to remove half of Tongass from protection, which would open the area up to the danger of clear cutting. Although Governor Dunleavy and Senator Murkowski are in favor of the rule change, saying that Alaska’s economy is being stymied by the limitation on logging, in fact a very small proportion of Alaska’s economy depends on logging, the most significant sectors being fisheries and tourism. The USDA will be accepting public comments on six alternative plans, ranging from not changing the rule at all to their preferred plan of unrestricted open season on half of Tongass. Action: Email a comment to the USDA stating your opposition to any alternative except Alternative 1. Give your full name and address: akroadlessrule@fs.fed.us Or write to them: USDA Forest Service, Attn: Alaska Roadless Rule, P.O. Box 21628, Juneau, Alaska, 99802 A Break from Angst It seems the only thing that the two parties can agree on is the treatment of animals. There are several genuinely bipartisan bills before the House and Senate which would improve the treatment of animals and protect them from suffering and harm:
1. Contact your Member of Congress and ask them to support H.R. 1155 and H.R. 249. If they’re a cosponsor, thank them. (Cosponsors in links above.) 2. Contact your Senators and ask them to support S. 479. If they’re cosponsors, thank them. (Link above.) Trump Strikes at Immigrants Trump has proclaimed that immigrants will be denied visas to enter the United States unless they have health insurance. This is ridiculous for a number of reasons, not least of which is that health coverage in this country is beyond what most immigrants can afford. Clearly Trump only wants to let in rich folk. Action: 1. Contact the White House to demand that Trump reverse this restriction on immigration. 2. Contact your Member of Congress to complain also. Net Neutrality A federal appeals court has upheld the FCC’s rules which roll back net neutrality but has ruled that the FCC cannot prevent states from enacting their own net neutrality laws. The FCC’s new rules threaten our democracy, which depends on open and equal access to the Internet. Action: Contact your state representative and state senator and urge them to sponsor legislation that promotes net neutrality, such as laws that incentivize net neutral internet service providers and laws that block the state government from doing business with non-net neutral providers. http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/ |
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November 2019
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