I’m typing this to you from my dining room table in Seattle, Washington. My daughter is doing homework across from me. Just a few feet away my son is playing a video game to a background of rocking techno. Our puppy is intermittently trying to hop in my lap and share her soggy toy. My email inbox is an avalanche of emails pinging in at blizzard pace. And I’m fielding a stream of requests for delicious snacks.

In other words, it’s a normal night at my house. I’m beyond grateful for moments like these.

But there is nothing normal about what's happening right now in the other Washington… Washington, D.C. where beginning next week the U.S. Senate will start voting on Trump’s cabinet nominees. It’s an understatement to say that this isn’t a normal Cabinet, nomination process, or election.

*Tell the U.S. Senate to vote against Trump’s proposed Cabinet nominees. These nominees represent and promote hateful ideals and policies that are harmful for our children and our economy. The time to speak out is NOW: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/put-stop-cabinet-of-bigotry/

This moment is bigger than politics. When we speak out, when we sign on, we aren’t just speaking out to our lawmakers… we’re speaking out to our children. We’re speaking out so our children know that we are fighting for their safety and future, and against the spread of hate and division in our nation. We’re showing our children that we will stand up for the rights of everyone to live, work, love, and thrive in all the many chaotic life-filled ways that are happening this very second in dining rooms across our country.

This moment is about our kids. 

We can’t stay silent because these dangerous Cabinet nominations hurt our children and families, threaten our economy, and tear the fabric of our democracy. Hate crimes are up since the election occurred. [1] This is not the future we seek to build for our children or our communities. Hate is not the example we seek to set. So we are setting the opposite example for our children by speaking out of love right now.

-> *Stop the U.S. Senate from rubber stamping Donald Trump’s Cabinet of Bigotry. Let them know we will hold them accountable for their votes on Trump’s nominees. http://action.momsrising.org/sign/put-stop-cabinet-of-bigotry/

Here’s a bit about three nominees that particularly concern us:

• Senator Jeff Sessions, nominated for U.S. Attorney General, has a history of racist rhetoric and was even rejected by a Republican Senate Judiciary Committee over his troubling record on basic civil rights. As a U.S. Senator, he repeatedly opposed legislation that make our nation more equal and more just, including the Voting Rights Act and the Violence Against Women Act, [2] but has defended a ban of all Muslims entering the United States.[3] Sessions’ recent embrace of policies that oppose birthright citizenship and legal immigration are deeply disturbing from a man who would be the chief legal defender of the rights of all Americans as the U.S. Attorney General. [4]
• Rep. Tom Price, nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made dismantling the Affordable Care Act (ACA), healthcare coverage that is widely supported by the nearly 30 million people who use it, his mission. Price’s stated goal is to kick nearly 30 million Americans, including 4 million children, off health care coverage and force people with pre-existing conditions into an expensive and unnecessary fight for their lives, all of which hurts our economy and families. Further, Price’s policy direction for Head Start would make access to child care and early childhood education harder for struggling families and make our country less competitive internationally. [5]
• Andy Puzder, nominated for Secretary of the Department of Labor, would be the #AntiLaborSecretary. He is a fast food CEO with a history of being anti-working people and anti-labor. He is an outspoken opponent of raising the minimum wage, frequently falsely claiming that raising the minimum wage would lead to job loss - something that has been disproven time and again by both research and example. Throughout his career as CEO of CKE Restaurants, Puzder has also consistently disrespected the basic rights of working people - arguing that even 10 minute meal breaks for employees working an 8 hour shift constitute an “undue burden” on employers. It’s no surprise to find then that nearly half of the Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants run by Puzder have been cited with at least one wage and hour violation. [4] Puzder’s consistent eagerness to prioritize corporate profits over the local economy and welfare of workers - the very people he would be tasked with protecting as Labor Secretary - would have very real and serious negative consequences for America’s workers, families, and our economy.

There’s no other way to say it: These are extremist nominees by an even more extremist President-elect. But there’s absolutely NO mandate for this extremist direction coming out of the election. In fact, it’s the opposite: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 3 million votes. [6] 

*Sign on to our letter that we’re delivering to every U.S. Senator urging them to vote against Donald Trump’s proposed administration-in-waiting, a Cabinet of Bigotry: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/put-stop-cabinet-of-bigotry/

Join us by clicking the action link to stand up against the normalization of hate and hold our Senators accountable for their votes. You can take action from your dining room table, from your cell phones, from wherever you are reading this right now as part of teaching our children to stand up for one another and also making our voices heard in Congress.

As moms, dads, and people who care about our nation, we can’t stand silently and let hate become “business as usual.”

Together we will never stop fighting to keep hate out of our communities.

Thank you for standing with us.

P.S. Don’t forget to sign on here – and to post the action link on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere you think you’ll get more people to sign on. It’s time to raise the roof! Here’s that action link again: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/put-stop-cabinet-of-bigotry/