Our Administration plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty, which has kept intermediate-range nuclear missiles from proliferating for over 30 years, and at least one result of that, the latest email missive from Just Foreign Policy reminds me, is "yet another corporate welfare gravy train entitlement for the Pentagon-industrial complex," and I count at least three instances of turning right-wing tropes against the right wing in that phrase alone. But a "corporate welfare gravy train entitlement" will result if and only if Congress funds said gravy train, hence H.R. 1249, which would prohibit spending on any weapons that would violate the treaty, and which its main sponsor, Rep. Gabbard (D-HI), says she'll force a vote upon if it gets enough support. Hence Just Foreign Policy and Change.org help you tell your House Reps to stop our President's efforts to nullify a treaty that's done us, and the world, a considerable amount of good by passing H.R. 1249.
Meanwhile, our EPA will be taking comments until March 25 on its nefarious plans to roll back mercury pollution standards from power plants. It's like they've never heard the phrase "mad as a hatter," or know that it derives from the use of mercury in hatmaking, or know that mercury causes serious developmental disabilities in children, or know that mercury used to be so prevalent in our fish that just about every state told its citizens not to eat local fish! It often seems, in fact, like our Administration doesn't know anything about anything except how to cripple our government's ability to work on the people's behalf. That being said, our EPA is at least aware that they have to take public comments on its regulatory proposals (or, should I say, anti-regulatory proposals), and Penn Environment helps you tell our EPA to protect our health, rather than executive bank accounts, and leave mercury standards the way they are.
Finally, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell your Congressfolk to create a real paid family leave program in America by passing S. 463, the FAMILY Act, then Moms Rising still helps you do that. The FAMILY Act would fund 12 weeks of paid family leave for all workers (including part-time and self-employed workers) from an 0.4% payroll tax, half borne by the employer and the other half borne by the employee. Thus a worker making $50,000 annually would pay $100 annually, or less than $2 per week, for the peace of mind of knowing that they'll still be able to pay the bills if they have to take a few days off to care for sick kids or sick parents. That's certainly better than Sen. Rubio's profoundly offensive plan to pay for family leave by using future Social Security benefits! Seriously, if you love freedom, and believe that a lifetime of hard work ought to earn you a dignified retirement, you have no business supporting such a noxious idea. The FAMILY Act is far, far better.
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