Monday, June 19th

(Adapted from Rogan's List and GovTrack) 

House Bills and Resolutions, week of June 19th

It's a busy week in the House, 19 bills and resolutions are on the House calendar for the coming days.  Take some time to look into them, and call our Congressman to let him know how you feel about any or all of them.  Apparently, call volumes are trending lower, presumably because people have dialing fatigue, but it's still the best way to let members of Congress know what their constituents think -- don't give up!

Sunday, June 18th

(Adapted from Jen Hofmann's Action Checklist for Americans of Conscience)

Good news

• France’s president offers American climate scientists 4-year resident grants to do research there.

• 13 states, 4 tribes, and lots of US cities commit to honoring the Paris Climate Accord.

• Breitbart advertisers dropped 90 percent from 242 in March to 26 in May.

• Coal use in the US is on the decline thanks to efficiency and natural gas-burning plants.

• The Ford Foundation launches a post-incarceration internship program.

• In Flint, MI, lead pipes to 1,300 homes have been replaced, with 6,000 pipes to go.

• Kansas’ trickle-down experiment fails as Republicans vote to raise taxes for schools. Yes: The GOP voted to raise taxes.

• New York will no longer prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.

• New York pension fund will back out of investments tied to private prisons.

• Illinois House and Senate pass automatic voter registration.

• Standing Rock Sioux receive $1M renewable energy grant and $250,000 Wallace prize.

• Kindness signs are popping up around McMinnville and Newberg, Oregon (Hat tip: @ResistinKristin). Photo by Karyn from Newberg.

Friday, June 16th

(Adapted from Rogan's List)

America relies on undocumented workers to make our agriculture industry work - 70% of all the farm workers who put food on our tables are undocumented. We need to be sure that these folks have some protection from Trump, for their sake and for the sake of everyone in this country who eats. Democrats led by Dianne Feinstein and Luis Gutierrez have proposed the Agricultural Worker Program Act to protect farm workers from deportation and put them on a path to legal status if they show consistent employment and meet certain other criteria.  (Read more.)

Join the United Farm Workers in asking our own members of Congress to sign on to this bill:

http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/immig617

Wednesday, June 14th

(Adapted from Rogan's List and Indivisible)

The Senate is trying to do what the House of Representatives did in May: jam through its TrumpCare bill in secrecy, without public hearings, without a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score, and without knowing its full impact on American families.

The Senate is trying to do what the House of Representatives did in May: jam through its TrumpCare bill in secrecy, without public hearings, without a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score, and without knowing its full impact on American families.

TrumpCare bill (American Health Care Act, or AHCA) would strip coverage from at least 23 million people and cut Medicaid by $800 billion, in order to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. It would also undermine critical protections for people with pre-existing conditions, defund Planned Parenthood, and raise premiums for American families.

Action You Can Take Today

All day on June 14th, call our US Senators and tell them to reject TrumpCare and the Senate Committee's closed-room deal to take health care away from 23 million people. Get started at: https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/stop-trumpcare-senate-call-script/

Contact information:

• Senator Chuck Schumer
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
  

Bonus Action

Once you've called our senators, you can join the ACA Defenders in making sure folks in key states call their senators too here: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMiCjyVEprsCak0eifPbNorKx-C86ygqSasdbbLaA4gX874g/viewform

Tuesday, June 13th

(Adapted from Rogan's List)

Apparently corporate sponsors only like art when it behaves itself. Both Delta Airlines and Bank of America have withdrawn their funding from NYC's Public Theatre, which is staging a production of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.

Why? In this interpretation of the play, Julius looks a lot like Trump, and the other characters are recognizable analogies for contemporary political figures as well. And we know what happens at the end of the play, right?

Was this interpretation of the play meant to "provoke and offend," as the spokesperson for Bank of America said? Obviously. That was the role of the original play, too.  This production has been the target of criticism in recent days from right-leaning outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News, which may have had an effect on the decisions by Delta and Bank of America to stop advertising. (Read more.) 

That's part of what art does -- it makes us think.

Losing funding from these big companies is likely to be a major blow, and the Public Theatre could use our help. 

Actions You Can Take Today

1. Support this edgy and timely production of a classic play by making a donation at: https://www.publictheater.org/en/Support/Donate-Now/ 
   
   
2. Contact the advertisers asking them to reconsider their decision: 
   
   Bank of America:  http://www.corporate-office-headquarters.com/bank-of-america-corporation and Delta:  http://www.corporate-office-headquarters.com/delta-airlines