This might be a face kids put on to make their friends laugh, but it's never a face parents want to see for real. Respiratory illness is rampant in this country, with more than 7 million kids suffering from asthma. Yet, last week, pediatricians, nurses and families across the country had to stop celebrating the nation’s first limits ever on toxic mercury spewing into the air.

What? Why? Because the very same day that the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule that families fought so hard for was officially entered into the federal register, corporate lobbyists launched their secret weapon to try to dismantle it: Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

At this very moment, Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma, whose Top-Five political supporters are energy companies with coal interests, is using the obscure Congressional Review Act (CRA) to obstruct the rule. With the CRA, a simple petition of only 30 Members of the Senate can move the rule to a joint resolution. A simple Senate majority vote on the join resolution would effectively kill it.

We really need the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, which President Obama signed in December, because of the hard work of hundreds of advocates and thousands of supporting messages from MomsRising members (like you). The EPA estimates that the rule will prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year. It will also prevent 130,000 asthma attacks, providing relief to the one in ten American children suffering from asthma. And the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule will also protect families across the country from toxins like mercury and arsenic. Mercury can harm children's developing brains, affecting memory, attention and IQ. The other toxic metals that are addressed in this new standard, such as chromium and nickel, can cause cancer.

Families need to speak up and tell their Senators to support the Mercury and Air Toxis Standards rule! CLICK HERE to add your signature: http://action.momsrising.org/letter/Mercury_Rollback_2-22-20L/

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