Take Action to Defeat #TrumpCare
(Adapted from Center for American Progress Action Fund)
The House vote on TrumpCare is Thursday, March 23rd. This vote is far from a sure thing! More than two dozen House Republicans have said they are considering voting against the bill, which is all we need to defeat TrumpCare.
There's still more we can do. Find out how TrumpCare would impact communities - take a look at this interactive map.
Then use this toolkit with numbers and shareables, sample tweets, and sample call scripts to contact the representatives we need to vote no.
Tell the Justice Department: We Need a Special Prosecutor on Russia & Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Wednesday, March 22
(Adapted from Daily Acts of Resistance)
FBI Director James Comey confirmed on Monday that the FBI is actively investigating ties between Trump's campaign and Russia. We also know that Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath about his contact with Russian officials during Trump's campaign. We also know that Sessions has recused himself from leading the investigation into Trump's ties to Russia, and passed that responsibility on to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, but that is not enough.
We need an independent Special Prosecutor to ensure a full, fair investigation.
Action You Can Take Today:
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Call the Attorney General's Office at 202-353-1555. When you get through, here's your short script:
"Hi, my name is ___ and I'm calling from ___ to urge Deputy AG Boente (BEN-tay) to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Attorney General Session's possible perjury as well as Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and President Trump's possible collusion. These are obviously hugely sensitive issues of national security that require a thorough, impartial investigation that is not tainted by association with Sessions. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen."
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Submit a comment through the AG's office's web site. You're welcome to copy the comment below or write your own. A relevant topic to choose is "Messages to the Deputy Attorney General."
"I'm writing to urge you to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Trump's ties to Russia and possible collusion in their successful attempts to influence our 2016 elections as well as to investigate Attorney General Jeff Session's ties to Russia and his lies under oath about his contacts with the Russians during Donald Trump's campaign.
Given that AG Sessions has admitted to lying under oath, I do not feel that merely recusing himself will be enough to ensure a truly free and impartial investigation. We need an independent investigator who can perform a thorough, unbiased investigation into these deeply troubling questions. Thank you for your time and attention to this truly urgent matter of national security."
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Call Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Congressman Maloney to ask them to push for a special prosecutor, too. You can use the same script as above and just swap in their name for Boente's name.
Contact info for our members of congress is at: http://www.philipstowndemocrats.org/contact_your_legislators
Tell Our Senators: Say NO to Gorsuch on the Supreme Court
Tuesday, March 21st
(Adapted from Indivisible)
Action You Can Take Today: Call our Senators and let them know you support opposing Neil Gorsuch's appointment to the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat on the United States Supreme Court. Judge Gorsuch does not belong on the Supreme Court—and not just because Republicans stole this seat by refusing to hold a hearing (let alone a vote!) for Merrick Garland, President Obama’s supremely well qualified and moderate nominee. Judge Gorsuch is a staunch conservative out of step with the American people.
Decisions Senators make today about who to put on the Court and how Supreme Court appointments are made will affect our democratic system for decades to come. The Supreme Court will continue to hear cases on critical issues, from protecting minority rights to ensuring free, fair, and democratic elections. And political games Republicans may play would threaten the dignity, impartiality, and legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Senators who oppose Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, or are wavering, need our support and encouragement to demand a more moderate, consensus pick. And senators who support Gorsuch need to hear that their constituents will not tolerate short-sighted power grabs that undermine the Court in the long run.
Our Senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillbrand, have said they will oppose Gorsuch's appointment. Let’s help them stay committed to that choice and applaud their actions on our behalf.
- Full list of contact information for Senator Schumer.
- Full list of contact information for Senator Gillibrand.
Some important background information about Neil Gorsuch:
Neil Gorsuch has routinely put the interests of employers, institutions, and big business ahead of average Americans. When a company fired a trucker for leaving his cargo to seek help in subzero temperatures—after the man waited long enough for his torso to go numb—Judge Gorsuch sided with the company. When a professor recovering from cancer was fired after requesting a short period of telecommuting to protect her fragile health from a flu epidemic on campus, Judge Gorsuch concluded that her modest request imposed an unfair demand that her employer provide a “safety net.” He also wants to judges to have greater liberty to substitute their own uninformed views for those of scientists, economists, and other technical experts who spent years meticulously crafting data-driven rules to protect our air, water, health, and safety. He’s no champion of free and fair government, either: he has been unwilling to stand up publicly against Donald Trump’s vicious attacks on federal judges and supports an extreme view that common sense restrictions on campaign contributions should be struck down unless they satisfy “strict scrutiny”--the most difficult test the Supreme Court applies, and the same one used to protect our most sacred, fundamental rights.
In what is probably Judge Gorsuch’s most famous case, he conjured up the new theory that for-profit corporations have a right to religious freedom. This right had traditionally been reserved for individuals, houses of worship, and other religious non-profits, and Judge Gorsuch’s philosophy theory radically expands on the fiction that big businesses are people with rights as important—or even more important—than actual people. Judge Gorsuch believes that business should be able to impose their religious beliefs on their employees—even when doing so means depriving those employees of basic health care—and they should be able to use their “religious beliefs” to avoid the laws that protect the rest of us. But it’s not clear whether his expansive view of religious freedom extends beyond big business to protect, for example, Muslims’ constitutional right to an equal place in our society.
Senate Republicans have already been playing games with the Supreme Court for over a year. They only have a seat to fill today because of their unprecedented obstruction and breach of protocol last year. And those same Republicans, who used Senate procedures to block fair consideration of Merrick Garland, threaten to change the Senate rules to silence Democrats, unless Democrats rubber stamp thee far-right, anti-worker, anti-women friend of big business and big donors they have picked for the Court. Specifically, there is talk that Republicans will resort to the “nuclear option” of scrapping the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. With the centuries-old filibuster, any nominee requires support of 60 of our 100 senators, which nearly always means a nominee must have support from at least some senators on either side of the aisle. Without it, bare partisan preferences could select the next justice and all who follow.
Help the "Undecided Nine" to Vote No on the Republican Health Plan
Monday, March 20th
(Adapted from RISE Stronger and Rogan's List)
Action You Can Take Today
Twenty-two Republican Representatives need to vote 'No' next Thursday in order to stop TrumpCare. So far 17 Republicans have indicated that they would likely vote against TrumpCare. Five more votes are needed.
Here are are the nine most vulnerable Republicans that could get us to 22 votes.
Two of the nine are New York Reps Dan Donovan NY-11 (202-225-2371) and Peter King, NY-02 (202-225-7896).
The 11th district includes all of Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Gravesend. Politically, it is the most conservative district in New York City.
The 2nd district, in Long Island, includes southwestern Suffolk County and a piece of Nassau County.
Call your friends and relations who live in these districts and ask them to help their congressmen make up their minds before the next vote on Thursday, March 23 - the seventh anniversary of the original ACA signing.
Philipstown Civics Seminar Part 2
Sunday, March 19th from 2-4 pm
Join RiseUPNY and Citizen's Soapbox for their second Civics Seminar at St. Philip's Parish House in Garrison.
This is how a bill becomes law will examine the process of how a bill becomes law in Congress, looking specifically at the power of the majority party in determining the legislative process, the role of special interests and organized citizens groups, and why most close observers of the process call it "sausage making".
Jason Angell currently farms at Longhaul Farm, engages in civic-activism through the Ecological Citizen's Project, and teaches both American Government and Sociology at Bronx Community College. Before leaving NYC, he was the Executive Director of the Center for Working Families, the policy think-tank associated with the Working Family's Party.
Join Citizen's Soapbox Today at St. Philip's Parish House
Saturday, March 18th from 2-4pm
Join Citizen's Soapbox at St. Philip's Parish House in Garrison.
The group will be dedicating a good portion of the meeting to discussing carbon pricing, which was voted as the most urgent and important issue to bring to our federal representatives to move our country in a positive direction.
Take a look at this draft memo outlining a recent Carbon Dividends proposal and read this Statement of Support. We hope to discuss the merits of this approach as a group and develop a strategy for future action.
You can find Citizen's Soapbox on Facebook or send an email to longhaulny at gmail dot com for further information.
Tell Your Climate Story
Friday, March 17th
(Adapted from Jen Hofmann's Checklist for Americans of Conscience)
Action For Today: Tell your climate story.

Stories change minds. Our Climate Voices is seeking first-person narratives about how climate change impacts your local community to be shared in their newsletter and website. If climate change affects you where you live, consider telling your story.
Climate change is affecting our communities and our spaces now. When the collective impact of climate change disproportionately affects the world’s poor, women, and people of color, it is illogical--and immoral--that only a select few have the platform to speak out on environmental injustice. Our voices are vital for fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the climate change dialogue.
Email: [email protected].
Resist. Persist. Repeat.
Thursday, March 16
Some helpful folks have created ResistBot, a handy new tool for your smartphone.
Try it out, it's ever so easy.
Sign up and start messaging your elected representatives: just text resist
to 50409 to get started.
It takes less than 5 minutes to have your voice heard in Congress.
Resist. Persist. Repeat.
Learn more at https://resistbot.io/about.html
Snowed In on Pi Day? Knit Yourself a Science March Hat
Tuesday, March 14th
(Adapted from 100DaysAction , Project Thinking Cap and StudioKnit)
Action for Today:
On this snowy, snowy Pi Day, why not knit yourself a hat for next month's Science March?
Inspired by the Pussy Hat Project, Project Thinking Cap invites you to support science and scientists by knitting green and blue hats to wear during the Science March on April 22nd.
Find a pattern here. If you’re an avid knitter, make some extras and send to this address for distribution at the DC Science March:
Project Thinking Cap*
c/o C. Lantz
P.O. Box 25791
Alexandria, VA 22313
If you still have pink yarn left over from the Women's March, you can knit a Brain hat.
StudioKnit has provided a handy brain hat webpage which gives you all the instructions you'll need.
After you've made your hat, show the world.
- Use the #100daysaction tag on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
- Use the #sciencemarch tag on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Support NY Attorney General Schneiderman's Investigation of Trump's Financial Conflicts
Monday, March 13th
(Adapted from Rogan's List)
Eric Schneiderman, the NY Attorney General, wants to investigate Trump's violations of the emoluments clause. His office is tallying public support nationwide.
Action You Can Take Today
Call: (212) 416-6218. and email: [email protected].
Simple message "Please investigate President Trump's possible violations of the Emoluments Clause."