Act of Resistance: Oppose nomination of Andrew Puzder to US Labor Secretary

Andrew Puzder is currently being considered for US Labor Secretary. As labor secretary, Mr. Puzder would oversee the federal apparatus that investigates violations of minimum wage, overtime and worker safety laws and regulations.

He is, “a man whose business record is defined by fighting against working people.” -Richard L. Trumka, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

• Opposed efforts to increase minimum wage nationally
• Staunch opponent of overtime pay and rules
• Criticizes paid sick leave policies
• Supports a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act
• Active opponent of employment laws
• Outsourced the technology department of his fast food empire to the Philippines
• His nationwide fast food chain conglomerate, CKE, was found guilty of wage-theft violations in dozens of cases

In an interview with Business Insider, Mr. Puzder was supportive of increased automation because machines, “never take a vacation…there’s never a slip-and-fall or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.” The man clearly supports employing robots instead of people.

Sources

http://www.businessinsider.com/andy-puzder-outsourced-jobs-to-philippines-2017-1

http://www.businessinsider.com/puzders-business-methods-raise-questions-2017-1

http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-puzder-to-be-named-labor-secretary-2016-12

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/politics/andrew-puzder-labor-secretary-trump.html?_r=0

List of US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators:

Senator Maria Cantwell

Phone: (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Senator Patty Murray

Phone (202) 224-2621

https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Transcript for phone/email:

Hello Senator _____,

Please oppose the nomination of Andrew Puzder for US Labor Secretary.

He does not support working Americans. (Your Name)

Daily Resistance Action: Oppose Jeff Sessions, nominee for US Attorney General

Jeff Sessions is currently being considered for the position US Attorney General. If approved, he will represent the United States in legal matters.

He is, “amnesty’s worst enemy” – National Review

• Fought legal immigration, including guest worker programs
• Supports anti-LGBT initiatives
• Science Denier, in a 2015 hearing Sessions stated, “Carbon pollution is CO2, and that’s not really a pollutant; that’s plant food, and it doesn’t harm anybody…” (as any high school science student knows, CO2 is an asphyxiant, exposure to concentrations of 10% can cause death)
• In 1986 a Senate committee denied Sessions a federal judgeship due to his connections to the KKK and racist comments

Contact these Senators today

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 202-224-3744

SJJC Ranking Member, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) 202-224-3841

List of US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators:

Senator Maria Cantwell

Phone: (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Senator Patty Murray

Phone (202) 224-2621

https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Transcript for phone/email:

Hello Senator _____,

Please vote NO on Jeff Sessions for Attorney General.

His record in legal matters would be disastrous to the economic vitality of the United States, and our nation’s civil rights laws.

(Your Name)

Resistance: Vote NO on Scott Pruitt, nominee for head of EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency was created on December 2, 1970. The mission statement of the EPA is, “to protect human health and the environment.”

The EPA oversees the following: 

• Funds the cleanup of toxic sites
• Provides air quality monitoring
• Funds and conducts water quality testing
• Conducts environmental impact studies
• Provide funding and materials for education about environmental issues
• Develops and enforces science-driven regulations to keep our ecosystems diverse, sustainable, and economically productive

America has an environmental emergency. Today, right here in our country, communities do not have access to clean drinking water. Flint, Michigan is the poster child of the crisis, but is not the only community. Forty-one states have unsafe levels of lead in their drinking water. (Source: CNBC, America's Water Crisis)

In the last five years, 18 major oil spills in the US caused millions of dollars of damage to businesses and communities that depend on clean soil and water. (Source: Wikipedia, List of Oil Spills)

History has proven that industries do not regulate themselves. The EPA is a vital program that ensures clean air, water, and soil for American communities.

Donald Trump selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” - Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research and advocacy organization

As Oklahoma Attorney General, Mr. Pruitt has a frightening record of destroying the environment:

• Created a “federalism unit” explicitly designed to fight environmental regulations
• Fought environmental regulations on the oil and gas companies
• Worked secretly with some of the largest oil and gas companies to try to overturn regulations on air emissions, water pollution and endangered animals
• Filed an anti-regulatory lawsuit with Oklahoma Gas and Electric, Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, and Devon Energy

(Source: NYTimes, Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead EPA)

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-trump.html?_r=0

Contact these Senators today

Heads of US Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works:

John Barrasso

Phone: 307-772-2451

http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/office-locations

Tom Carper (has adamantly opposed Pruitt’s nomination – thank him!)

Phone: (302) 573-6291

https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-senator-carper

If one of your senators is a member of the US Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, please contact them today. Member  List

http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/members

List of US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators:

Senator Maria Cantwell

Phone: (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Senator Patty Murray

Phone (202) 224-2621

https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Transcript for phone/email:

Hello Senator _____,

Please vote NO on Scott Pruitt, nominee for the head of the EPA.

Clean air, soil, and water is not a privilege, but a basic human right.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma has built his career suing the EPA, and challenging federal action to control pollution. As a result, his home state of Oklahoma now experiences hundreds of damaging earthquakes a year due to fracking activities.

At a time when climate change and pollution threatens the entire planet, we need leaders who are willing to move away from the old technology of fossil fuels and direct our country’s energy production towards renewable, affordable, clean energy options.

(Your Name)

Resistance: Protecting the ACA

The Affordable Care Act (aka ‘Obamacare’) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012. The ACA ensures the following:

• Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, cancel existing healthcare when a customer becomes ill with a costly condition, or impose limits on annual or lifetime coverage.
• Expands Medicaid and provides financial assistance to lower-income households to help pay for insurance coverage.
• Large employers are required to provide insurance coverage. Small businesses are offered a tax credit to help pay for employee health insurance.
• Insurance companies must cover preventative services and immunizations.
• Provide a payment and service delivery model that improves the quality of care, while reducing overall costs.

The ACA works!

• 20 million previously uninsured Americans now have health care coverage
• The ACA expansion of Medicaid extended coverage to 14 million more Americans
• More than 90% of the U.S. now has insurance coverage. Prior to the ACA, around 50% of Americans had health insurance.
• Health care prices have risen at the slowest rate in 50 years since the law passed

(Source: December 2016 U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices Report)

On January 12, 2017, Republicans introduced a vote to gut the budget of ACA, and have no replacement plan in place. Senator Mitch McConnell, majority leader of the senate, introduced this vote, along with blatant lies about the effect of the ACA on Americans. (Source: CongressionalRecord of Proceedings)

Senator Mitch McConnell

Phone: (502) 582-6304

Email: https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform

Contact your senator today: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators: (Be sure to thank Senators Cantwell and Murray for protecting the ACA!)

Senator Maria Cantwell

Phone: (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Senator Patty Murray

Phone (202) 224-2621

https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Transcript for phone/email:

Hello Senator _____,

Please do not repeal the ACA.

Quality, affordable health care is not a privilege, but a basic human right. Millions of Americans have benefited from the positive changes ensured by the ACA. Do not repeal the Affordable Care Act. Instead, continue to improve upon a plan that is affordable for all Americans, includes full coverage of benefits, and leaves all consumer protections in place.

(Your Name)

Resistance: Candidate for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos is currently being considered for the cabinet position Secretary of Education. If approved, she will be the head of the U.S. Department of Education and serve as the principal adviser to the President on federal policies and programs related to education in the United States.

Betsy DeVos is a strong advocate for private education. She supports public funding for private, for-profit schools that are unregulated and exempt from state oversight, with no accountability or transparency for educational standards. Civil rights groups, including the NAACP has expressed concern that low-income students and non-white students suffer when there is little to no oversight of education standards.

DeVos is a member of the board, Foundation for Excellence in Education, which supports controversial Common Core standards. Her actions have cut funding to public schools, reducing access to free public education for children in Michigan. Due to her efforts, 80% of Michigan’s schools are for-profit. (Source: Washington Post, "A Sobering  Look At What Betsy Devos Did to Education in Michigan)

In Senate hearings last week, DeVos demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of the basic needs of our children’s education system.

Contact your senator today: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators:

Maria Cantwell

Phone: (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form

Patty Murray

Phone (202) 224-2621

https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Transcript for phone/email:

Hello Senator _____,

Please vote NO on Betsy DeVos, nominee for Secretary of Education.

America’s economic future depends on an educated, skilled workforce. Our public-school system ensures that everyone, regardless of income, has access to an education. Please support our teachers and students by voting NO on Betsy DeVos, who would funnel federal funding away from public schools to unregulated, for-profit organizations.

Sincerely,

(Your Name)