Author: votersforaccountability

Let Trump and Congress know you oppose Trump’s executive order to ban entrance of Muslims and refugees to the U.S. They need to hear our outrage. (Contact information below)

Optional Script:
My name is _________, and I strongly oppose President Trump’s executive order banning the entrance of Muslims and refugees from seven Muslim nations. The order is immoral, reckless, and goes against everything we stand for as a nation of immigrants. It will unnecessarily disrupt our immigration process, businesses and people’s lives. Some refugees may be endangered because of this order.

Pick a few to call:
White House Comments Line:
202-456-1111
Site to find Trump’s businesses’ numbers to leave a comment (Ha!):
https://whitehouseinc.org/
Republicans questioning Trump’s order (send praise for standing against Trump):
Charlie Dent-PA 202-225-6411
Ben Sasse-NE 202-224-4224
Previously against a Muslim ban, so far silent on the executive order (Congress can’t change an executive order, but can voice opposition and change laws):
VP Mike Pence https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Mitch McConnell 202-224-2541
Paul Ryan 202-225-3031
Bob Goodlatte 202-225-5431
Michael McCaul 202-225-2401
Marco Rubio 202-224-3041
John McCain 202-224-2235
Lindsey Graham 202-224-5972
***Call your own Republican Senators/Congressman:
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
http://www.house.gov/representatives/#name_r

Background:
Trump signed an executive order to halt refugee admission to the U.S. (indefinitely from Syria) as well as for immigrants/visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries except on a case by case basis.These include: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia, despite the fact no fatal U.S. terror attacks have occurred from the these places. This order applies to:
-Men, women, and children Syrian refugees fleeing for their
lives.
-Refugees already vigorously vetted after a two-year
Homeland Security process.
-Students, business people, and legal residents with green
cards traveling abroad.
-U.S. CITIZENS with dual citizenship in those countries who
are traveling.
-People from these countries loyal to the U.S. who aided our
military for years.
The executive order was poorly written, without the input of immigration officials, causing confusion and conflicts with the Constitution. The far-reaching consequences of the order, including to businesses families and diplomatic relations, does not appear to have been considered. Iran stated Trump’s order is a “gift to extremists”.
**Very notably Muslim nations that do business with Trump interests are not affected by his order, though there are terrorist concerns in several including Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia (the origin of 15 of the19 terrorists responsible for 9/11). This appears to be evidence of yet another conflict of interest for Trump.

Some background information:
http://www.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-executive-orde…/index.html

Oppose Trump’s choice of Scott Pruitt for head of the Environmental Protection Agency! (see legislator’s phone numbers below)

Optional Script:
My name is _______________, and I strongly oppose Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA. He has shown himself to be uninterested in protecting the health of citizens and the safety of the environment and has regularly opposed regulation by the agency he would be leading. An EPA managed by Pruitt would endanger us all. Please do not vote to confirm Scott Pruitt.

Call legislators about repealing Obamacare without a good replacement plan!

Optional Script:
My name is __________, and I’m calling to express my opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act without a suitable replacement. Without it 20 million people will lose insurance and some will needlessly suffer and die. Premiums and out of pocket costs will rise, and we will lose preexisting condition coverage. This is unacceptable and immoral. The media and angry voters will rightfully blame Republicans for the disaster.
**If you are calling your own legislator add: If I see you vote against the ACA, I will actively work against you in the next election.

Call Your Own Members of Congress: (see List on Our Group to look them up).
Members of Congress Needing To Hear From You:
Speaker of the House: Rep. Paul Ryan———–202-225-3031
Senator Maj Leader: Sen. Mitch McConnell—-202-224-2541
Republican Senators Wavering on Repealing Obamacare without replacement:
Sen. Rand Paul 202-224-4343
Sen. Lamar Alexander 202 224-4944
Sen. Susan Collins 202-224-2523
Sen. John McCaine 202-224-2235
Sen. Tom Cotton 202-224-2353
Sen. Bob Corker 202-224-3344
Sen. Rob Portman 202-224-3353
Sen. Mike Rounds 202-224-5842
Sen. Ron Johnson 202-224-5323

Background:
***Republicans in Congress have been promising to repeal Obamacare for eight years. In all this time they have made no replacement plan, and it seems unlikely they will come up with one soon. The ACA is actually based on a Republican plan and was passed as a compromise versus a single payer or public option (such as Medicare for all).
***Obamacare requires everyone to be insured (the “individual mandate”). If we don’t require everyone to have insurance, then we can’t cover preexisting conditions. This is because otherwise many people wouldn’t pay for insurance unless they are sick. With a high percentage of people with insurance coverage being sick and using up large amounts of insurance money, there wouldn’t be enough money to pay for all the ill people’s costs. Healthy people who are not using benefits are necessary to cover the payments of sick people.

***What we’ll lose if the ACA is repealed:
-20 million people will lose their health insurance (most people can’t afford chemotherapy, and expensive test/medicine without it). There will be people, including children, who will die because of this.
-Preexisting conditions will no longer be covered (insurance won’t cover any illness you have before you had your policy). Changing jobs/insurance means loss of coverage.
-You can’t keep your child on your healthcare plan after they turn 21 years old (now 26 under the ACA).
-Lifetime/yearly caps for insurance coverage will return.
-Coverage of some people’s wellness care to prevent illnesses will disappear.
-Government help with insurance premiums to low-income people or small businesses will disappear.
-Drug discounts to seniors will evaporate.
-Healthcare screening coverage will decrease (physicals, colonoscopies, mammograms, etc.).
-Regulation of insurance companies so that they must spend an adequate amount on actual healthcare (versus profits to shareholders) will disappear.
-Premiums will rise as uninsured people return to the ER for last minute care (and thus more expensive care). Hospitals pass this on as fees to insured patients to keep solvent, and insurance companies increase their premiums to cover the cost.

Oppose Betsy DeVos –Secretary of Education Nominee

Sample Script:
My name is __________ and I am calling to voice my opposition to Betsy DeVos as education secretary.  She is inexperienced, wants to do away with the public schools system, and doesn’t seem to know basic concepts and laws regarding education.  She would destroy our school system and increase costs for all of us.  I want to ask Senator _____________not to support her nomination.

Senators to Contact:
(Pick a few to call, particularly any that are your representatives)
Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions:
**Chair: Lamar Alexander—R-TN 202-244-4944
Republicans:
Johhny Isakson—R-GA 202-224-3643
Bill Cassidy—R_LA 202-224-5824
Pat Roberts—R-KS 202-224-4774
Michael Enzi—R-WY 202-224-3424
Rand Paul—R-KY 202-224-4343
Lisa Murkowski—R-AK 202-224-6665
Richard Burr—R-NC 202-224-3154
Susan Collins—R-ME 202-224-2523
Orrin Hatch—R-UT 202-224-5251
Tim Scott—R-SC 202-224-6121

Democrats:
**Patty Murray—D-WA(Ranking Mbr) 202-224-2621
Al Franken—D-MN 202-224-5641
Tammy Baldwin—D-WI 202-224-5653
Tim Kaine—D-VA 202-224-4024
Bernie Sanders—D-VT 202-224-5141
Michael Bennett—D-CO 202-224-5852
Christopher Murphy—D-CT 202-224-4041
Maggie Hassan—D-NH 202-224-3324
Robert Casey—D-PA 202-224-6324
Sheldon Whitehouse—D-RI 202-224-2921
Elizabeth Warren—D-MA 202-224-4543
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s controversial nominee for Education Secretary, would be a disaster for education:

• She wants to privatize public schools (get rid of them, you pay for a for-profit, unregulated charter school and you pay private school tuition).
  For profit = you pay more/no more “whole sale” cost for education.
• She doesn’t believe in enforcing standards to make sure private schools are meeting basic standards.
• She has no experience in public education (not teaching, working for, or even attending).
• She has no experience managing loans/grants (Edu. Sec. manages $1 trillion in loans,
  $30 billion in grants).
• She doesn’t appear to understand basic issues, concepts, or core debates in education
  (didn’t even understand all the terminology in her hearing).
• She thinks guns in school are ok. (what could go wrong?)
• She doesn’t think kids with disabilities should be guaranteed free/appropriate education by the federal government or know this was already a law.

Good Background Resource:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/27/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-with-betsy-devos-as-education-secretary-two-scenarios/?utm_term=.4266a293031e