#5Actions of the Week! November 27, 2017
We hope you enjoyed time with family and friends this holiday week. Being around those we love helps us recharge — and reminds us who we're fighting for: our kids, friends, family, neighbors and communities.
This holiday in particular stands out as a cutting reminder of how much work we still need to do as a country to lift every community.
So join the fight on several urgent fronts this week, including net neutrality, taxes, healthcare, and more. As always, our #5Actions list below is ready for you to take action now — and for you to share it.
* Here are the 5 actions for this week:
1. Tell FCC and Congress: Protect Net Neutrality!
BACKGROUND: An open internet is essential to protecting many of the freedoms we hold dear: Our ability to innovate, speak our mind, connect, and hear diverse voices and opinions. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to roll back 2015 rules that require internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all content the same. We can't let them. Net Neutrality ensures a level playing field. It stops ISPs from blocking or suppressing content. It limits them from manipulating the speed at which you receive certain content, or selling premium access to the highest bidder. Net Neutrality ensures that when we raise our voices online, they can be heard - loud and clear. Add your voice to the millions of people calling on the FCC and Congress to protect Net Neutrality.
2. Quick Signature: Urge U.S. Senate to Reject Trumpcare in the Tax Bill!
Background: Congress really is starting to feel like a season of Stranger Things. Like the monstrous ‘Demogorgon’ that keeps coming back after it’s been sent to the ‘upside down’ (and you hope is gone forever)… the devastatingly bad Trumpcare just keeps coming back! And this time it’s come in the form of the terrible, no good, very bad U.S. Senate Republican tax bill. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate tax bill would include a provision to do away with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which is a cornerstone of the law. Without it, the whole system becomes off balance, tilting the market toward older, sicker consumers, driving up costs, decreasing the number of insurers who participate in the marketplace, and undermining the entire health care platform. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated this would leave 13 million Americans without health insurance and raise premiums in the individual marketplace by 10 percent in most years over the next decade. Join us to speak out!
3. Tell Congress: Support Our Littlest Learners!!
BACKGROUND: The struggle is real when it comes to finding high-quality, affordable early learning opportunities for our little ones. Childcare and pre-K costs are sky high—in fact, in 30 states and the District of Columbia, infant care costs exceed the average cost of college tuition. Approximately half of American families live in a “childcare desert”, meaning they can’t access the quality childcare they need. Additionally, early learning providers, 94% of whom are women, are struggling significantly since childcare is one of the lowest paying industries in the United States. This is why we are inspired, thrilled, excited, and overall relieved that three leaders in Congress, Senator Patty Murray (WA), Senator Bob Casey (PA) and Representative Bobby Scott (VA) are taking a stand to address these issues by introducing the Child Care for Working Families Act. **Sign our letter NOW encouraging your members of Congress to support the Child Care for Working Families Act.
4. Be an #ACAdefender for Open Enrollment 2017!
BACKGROUND: It’s time to #KeepMarching and use our outside voices for health care! President Trump and his administration have taken some terrible steps this year to sabotage our health care, limit consumer access to information, and confuse the public about our options for coverage. We need to do everything we can to help get the word out that quality, affordable health care coverage options are available at HealthCare.gov thru December 15th!
5. Demand U.S. Senate Vote NO on Michael Dourson
BACKGROUND: Clean and safe water is a human right. Full stop. Michael Dourson has spent his career helping companies like Dupont shirk responsibility for contaminating groundwater with dangerous chemicals known to harm kids and families. How does he make sense working at the very office charged with protecting us? He doesn't. The Senate could vote on Dourson any day. Let’s make sure our voices are heard loud and clear. Our health, our families and our water are NOT for sale to the chemical industry. Join us in telling the Senate NO to Michael Dourson.
Thank you for all you do! #KeepMarching!
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