Presidential Debates Continue
The Democratic Party will hold the second round of presidential primary debates in Detroit, Michigan, on July 30-31, 2019. The debate is limited to 20 candidates with 10 candidates participating each night. Twenty candidates have qualifiedi.it for these debates. The Democratic National Committee will use tiebreaker criteria to decide which candidates participate. To date, no debates for Republican candidates have been scheduled.
Reunite the Migrant Families, Especially those Applying for Asylum!
The outrages at the Mexican border continue, with agents of the Government and its contractors routinely committing institutional child abuse and neglect. Contact your Senators, to get them to pass something like S 3036, Keep Families Together Act. In the House, there are several legislative vehicles that propose migrant family reunification and release of children to their families: HR 3451, the HELP Act; HR 5950, the Help Separated Children Act; HR 3452, the Help Separated Families Act; and HR 541, the Keep Families Together Act. The main point is to express your outrage at current conditions and urge rapid Congressional remedies. You might consider participating in the demonstrations continuing throughout the country, to get the children back with their families.
Tell Your Senators: Appropriate More for Early Childhood, Less for Defense.
You have heard this from us before, but the Senate still hasn’t decided about the Federal appropriations for the fiscal year starting in October. So please, even if your message is just the headline sentence above, tell your Senators how you feel about these issues. The House already has passed HR 2740, providing a $4.7B increase over last year’s appropriation for early childhood programs, and a $9.6B increase over the Trump Administration’s proposal. If you have a good story to tell about the difficulties that inadequate funding puts in the way of the quality of care we can give to the children, that information would help.
Get Congress to take back its Constitutional Right and Duty to Decide on War and Peace.
After the Senate almost prohibited the Trump Administration from going to war with Iran, a growing number of Senators and Representatives from both parties have cosponsored HR 1274, which would revoke the authority given to the President following 9/11 to go to war against “terrorists”, which the current Administration interprets very widely. Please urge your Representative and Senators to join the Co-Sponsors, if they haven’t already done so.
