Your Action of the Week (March 6, 2019) is to
"Contact your US Representative and thank her/him" Please contact Representatives Blumenuer, Bonamici , and DeFazio and thank him/her for being an original co-sponsor of at least two of these three bills. Contact Reps. Schrader and Walden and express your disappointment that they co-sponsored none of these bills. 1. HR1004 - Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act. With the Trump administration ramping up attacks on the Venezuelan government of Pres. Muduro, including threats of military actions, Reps. Blumenauer and DeFazio joined other Representatives to tell Trump that military adventures in Venezuela are not acceptable. Any military action must be authorized by Congress before the action starts. Please call Rep. Bonamici and ask her to join Rep. Blumenauer and Rep. DeFazio by signing on now. 2. HJR48 - Amend US Constitution to say that money is not speech and corporations are not people. The US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that, because the courts have found that corporations have free speech rights as do people, laws banning corporations from engaging in candidate elections are unconstitutional. They thereby opened the money flood gates for corporate involvement in candidate elections. HJR48 is a proposed 28th constitutional amendment to allow those restrictions by declaring two principles: that money is not speech and can be regulated at all levels of government, and that corporations are not people and do not have our constitutional rights. Rep. Blumenauer, DeFazio and Bonamici all are among the 11 original co-sponsors of HJR48 this session and should be called with a Thank You message. 3. HR1384 - To establish an improved Medicare for All national health care program. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State has introduced a revised Medicare for All bill into Congress. In the past, this was bill HB676, but has now been improved to include more services, like prescription drugs, dental, hearing and mental health services, while having no co-pays or deductibles. Rep. Blumenauer, DeFazio and Bonamici are among the original 100 sponsors. Please thank them. Or if you are represented by Rep. Schrader or Walden, ask them to co-sponsor as well. Contact information: Rep. Blumenauer 503.231.2300 https://blumenauer.house.gov Rep. Bonamici 503.469.6010 https://bonamici.house.gov Rep. DeFazio 541.465.6732 https://defazio.house.gov Rep. Schrader 503.588.9100 https://schrader.house.gov Rep. Walden 541.776.4646 https://walden.house.gov
0 Comments
Our partner organization, Move to Amend, is meeting in cities around our state starting on December 5th. This is the kick off to their Democracy Movement organizing effort. It's purpose is to safeguards our citizen's rights from the undue influence of corporations and money in politics.
Recent supreme court rulings elevate corporations to the level of a person. They also treat money as if it is speech. Both of these have a distorting effect on our democracy. This is a root issue -- it strikes at the heart of where our democracy has become corrupt. As I have written before, our faith has a special place for democracy. We "affirm and promote the use of the democractic process within our congregations and in society at large." The action of the week is to attend one of these kick-off meetings featuring Move to Amend Executive Director, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap. Many of these meetings are being held in UU Congregations. The schedule of events (For more on these events, click this Link and scroll down ): 12/5, Tuesday, 7:00 PM, Corvallis Benton County-Corvallis Public Library 12/6, Wednesday, 6:30 PM, Bend The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon 12/7, Thursday, 7:00 PM, Portland First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel 12/8, Friday, 7:00PM, Astoria Alderbrook Hall 12/9, Saturday, 1:30-4:30pm, Eugene "Defend Equality to Defend Democracy" Conference The Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene If you can't be at one of these events, you can still help with the effort. Please join over 440,000 people who have signed an online petition supporting a constitutional amendment at MoveToAmend. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell |
Printable PDFs of
Action of the Week here. Archives
August 2019
Categories
All
|