Long story short: tell your Congressfolk to pass a budget more like the Biden budget but with less defense spending, tell your Senators to pass the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act, tell your Congressfolk to pass the Grand Canyon Protection Act and reject the Managing Predators Act, and tell your Senators to pass the MORE Act. Use the tools in the upper right-hand corner of this page (or, if you're on a cellphone, the bottom of this page) to find your Congressfolk's phone numbers and/or use the email/petition tools in the following paragraphs.
Americans for Tax Fairness helps you tell your Congressfolk to use the Biden budget as "a roadmap to lower costs, invest in our future and unrig our tax system." You'll find things to like in the Biden budget plan -- the return of the expanded Child Tax Credit, paid family/medical leave, and higher taxes on the rich and on corporations -- but you could also tell your Congressfolk you'd take the Biden budget plan over Rick Scott's "Rescue America" plan, which would raise taxes on lower-income Americans and sunset Medicare and Social Security after five years. People care about making ends meet; the Biden budget addresses that, and Rick Scott's masturbatory rage-addled screed about "wokeness," the only Republican proposal on record, doesn't.
However, Peace Action helps you tell your Congressfolk you think $813 billion on defense in the Biden budget is way too much. Hey, might as well meet it head-on! Saying you want a budget that taxes the rich harder and helps working families more doesn't require that you accept that we spend even more money on weapons. They're selling it as "keeping pace with China," but China's military budget doesn't comprise even 31% of Mr. Biden's proposal, and what has Mr. Putin's little adventure in Ukraine reminded us? That massive military power not only doesn't guarantee victory (though, of course, our adventure in Iraq should have reminded us of that!), but it's an anchor around a civilization. Bigger guns and higher walls testify to a civilization's insecurity. So let's be more secure.
Public Citizen helps you tell your Senators to pass H.R. 963/S. 505, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act. Congress has, commendably, ended forced arbitration in re sexual harassment complaints, but should end it for all contracts; the FAIR Act would do that, though the bill would still give consumers and workers the choice to use arbitration to settle a dispute if they'd like; I mention that because this bill's opponents will almost certainly lie about that. I expect folks would rather take offenders to court than to arbitration, once they learn you almost never win in arbitration -- and that corporations can then turn and sue you in arbitration and win! Again, how much of that "average $5,000 arbitration award" do you collect if you lose?
Environmental Action helps you tell your Congressfolk to pass H.R. 1052/S. 387, the Grand Canyon Protection Act, which would remove a million acres of Grand Canyon-area land from ever being considered for any sort of drilling or mining project ever again. Keeping drilling and mining projects away from the Grand Canyon -- which you really do have to see to believe no matter how many photos of it you've seen already -- should be a no-brainer, but though our House passed similar legislation last term, the McConnell Administration wouldn't even bring it up for a vote. We've got another chance to do it again, and this time, the notorious Kyrsten Sinema is the bill's main Senate sponsor! Let's see if she can work that bipartisan getting-to-yes magic for which she's so famous!
Environmental Action also helps you tell your Congressfolk to reject H.R. 286, the Managing Predators Act, since it would remove gray wolves from the endangered species list in certain states. Thanks to our Endangered Species Act, gray wolves have come back from near-extinction, but they've only recovered about 15% of the range they used to have, and now they face death wherever they are. So naturally this bill would let four states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wyoming) treat gray wolves as if they have no Endangered Species Act protections, and would let all the other states set wolf population goals, as if none of them would ever set an absurdly-low population goal just so it can kill more wolves! Seriously, when they say Congressfolk don't know how to make laws, this is what they mean.
Finally, the Drug Policy Alliance helps you tell your Senators to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (or MORE) Act. And Matt Gaetz voted for that bill, too! We live in an age of wonder! Sadly, Democratic Senators have made cowardly noises about the bill -- it's not exactly what they want, you see, though you would think that's why Senatorial debate even exists. We know their real problem, though: Republicans will say they're soft on crime. Like Republicans ever say anything else! Here's what they should do: pass the MORE Act, which most people want done anyway, then remind everyone that Republicans all rejected the American Rescue Plan Act which included more funding for cops and hate the Biden budget that would include more funding for cops. You're welcome, Democrats.
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