As you probably know, Sen. McConnell (E-KY) won't hold a vote on H.R. 1, the For the People Act, whenever it passes the House (with more than half of House members as co-sponsors, you'd have to imagine they'll pass), so Common Cause helps you demand that the Senate hold a vote on the For the People Act after it passes the House. You might also do well to call Mr. McConnell and demand that he allow a vote; his D.C. phone number is (202) 224-2541; you can find phone numbers for his Kentucky offices if you scroll to the "Office Locations" section of his Senate website. It's not enough to win the argument with a bill that would improve voting rights and campaign finance reform in America -- we have to be in their grills every day, because that's the only thing that gets their attention. We got in their grills over health care and they utterly failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act despite having all the advantages. We get in their grills the same way over H.R. 1, and they'll have no choice but to pass it. We can do that; we need but act.
Meanwhile, H.J.Res. 37, the War Powers Resolution that would end American involvement in the war on Yemen, passed the House by a 248-177 vote; the "yea" vote included at least a dozen "Freedom Caucus" members, meaning it only took about eight years for the Tea Party to earn a very small part of its reputation for foreign policy iconoclasm. H.J.Res. 37 now goes to Senate, where the companion resolution -- S.J.Res. 7 -- has one Republican co-sponsor, Mike Lee of Utah; the Senate approved a similar resolution last year by a 56-41 vote, but they took that vote when they knew it would do no good; they'll only approve it now if we demand it, and if our President vetoes it, then we'll just have to get after them again for the override. So use the tools in the upper right-hand corner of this page (or the bottom of this page, if you're viewing it on a cellphone) to call your Senators and tell them to vote to end our logistical and weapons support for the Saudi/UAE war on Yemen.
Finally, the Tennessee state legislature plans to take up HB 563 this week; HB 563 would prevent Tennessee state and local governments from enacting policies against corporations that discriminate against certain populations (i.e., gays) for "religious" reasons. Its supporters call it the business anti-discrimination bill, which is to laugh, since it essentially prevents governments from doing anything about businesses that discriminate! Folks who think governments should be able to refuse to provide taxpayer funding to organizations that participate in the BDS movement in re Israel and Palestine really have no business supporting HB 563, since HB 563 would prevent governments from doing the same thing to businesses that discriminate against gays. Of course, rageheads don't care about consistency, but if you do, you can let the Tennessee Equality Project help you tell Tennessee state legislators to reject HB 563, the "Business License to Discriminate" bill.
Comments