Today I seized the opportunity to phone lawmakers on three different issues. Since November of 2016, I have been determined to contact my lawmakers more frequently than in the past, but I find the process intimidating, and it’s not clear that, when leaving a message, anyone will pay attention to it. But it’s important for them to get feedback from their constituents, asking for them to do what you want them to do, praising them for doing the right thing, and criticizing them for doing the wrong thing. If they don’t hear from their constituents, they’ll only hear from the lobbyists, meaning that only those who can pay for those services will get what they want.
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Yesterday, I had received an urgent request to contact my state (Pennsylvania) representatives in order to stop the current budget deal from advancing. Both houses are under Republican control, and the budget they have fashioned, as you might guess, lavishes the rich while screwing the poor and the middle class. In particular, the proposed budget kills the General Assistance fund, which provides financial assistance to poor people who are not eligible for government help. (General Assistance would constitute $24.5 million out of a $34 billion budget—less than one tenth of one percent.)
I didn’t call yesterday, but I received another message today to call the Governor, Tom Wolf, to urge him to veto the budget, as it had passed both houses of the legislature yesterday. (For the record my call would not have made a difference—with few exceptions, it passed on party-line votes.) The budget’s passage through the state senate occurred with unprecedented rancor, as the GOP Senate President Tempore, Joe Scarpati, seized the gavel from the actual President, Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, for attempting to pause the vote. Democrats walked out. Later, when debate resumed, a Democratic Senator who was reading a letter from a General Assistance recipient was shouted down. The budget passed 26-24, though two Republican joined all the Democrats to vote against it. (If Democrats can pick off just three senators next year, with the Lt. Gov.’s tie-breaking vote, we’d have a majority.)
So, I called the Governor to tell him to veto this awful budget. This would not be the first time that there would be difficulties with the state budget since Wolf was elected. Early in his governorship the state went budget less for months because Republicans refused to compromise.
Next was the issue of the treatment of migrant children separated from their families in the abusive facilities run by Customs and Border Patrol. I’ve been meaning to phone my lawmakers about this for some time, but I fear I will lose my composure. However, bills have been moving in the US House and Senate on this matter, and Joan McCarter posted this item on the front page, criticizing Democratic Senators for approving a Senate bill that forces the administration to meet basic standards of safety and health for those in CBP detention facilities. Sadly, my own Democratic Senator Bob Casey was one of those who voted for it, so I left him a message leaving him a ration of shit for doing so.
Then, I received an alert from Daily Kos urging me to contact my Senators to approve the Udall-Kaine amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, which would prevent Trump from starting a war with Iran without Senate approval. So I left messages with both Senator Casey and Senator Toomey. I expect the message to Toomey is a waste of time, since he never listens to anything, but, well, some poor bastard Senate aide is going to have to listen to it anyway.
So that’s what I did today. How about you?
Now, on to the comments!
Top Comments (June 27, 2019):
From peregrine kate:
Commenting on Dartagnan's post on a study showing how far right the US Republican Party is, relative to other political parties around the world, Satya1 rightly points out that white supremacy and xenophobia have a long and brutal history in the US. We need to examine and address our own lamentable record in the US without diluting it by making comparisons with any other, similarly hateful political entities like the Nazis.
Top Mojo (June 26, 2019):
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Top Photos (June 26, 2019):
Courtesy of jotter