Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Tuesday 5/15 Call to Action

Tuesday
1. Farm Bill (HR 2)
The infamous Farm Bill will be up for a vote in the House this week. The Farm Bill began during the Great Depression to help American farmers and address nutrition issues. Food stamps were first introduced (as a bipartisan effort) in 1973. It was considered a win-win. Poor families get to eat food and stores get revenue when those families buy their goods. Over the years, Republicans have made a Herculean effort to villainize families who are struggling to put food on their tables. The last Farm bill (2013/2014) saw large budget cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the new name for food stamps). This time around Republicans in Congress want to set a requirement that SNAP recipients either work or train 20 hours a week. Let’s first consider that policing this new rule will be very expensive for us taxpayers. Second, the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities says that this bill will increase food insecurity and hardship, especially for children who will be most affected by this rule change.
Also consider that HR 2 will
*Allow federal government to preempt state pesticide laws
*Weaken federal protections for wildlife and endangered species from pesticides
*Exempt pesticides for the Clean Water Act
*Eliminate the Conservation Stewardship Program that provides farmers with resourses to imlement conservation on their farms.
*Allow mining, and oil and gas drilling on agricultural conservation lands
*weaken protections of endangered species from logging
https://www.nrdc.org/…/hyper-partisan-house-farm-bill-shoul…
https://www.sierraclub.org/…/draft-2018-farm-bill-good-for-…
We should all be incensed by this bill! We should be making lots of noise and plenty of calls to our members of Congress. The government’s purpose is to help its citizens. I think our government has forgotten its mission. If you make one call this week, let it be this one.
CD2Action has a great overview of this bill. Check it out here: https://cd2action.com/e…/tell-congress-vote-no-on-farm-bill/
2. Trump vs. The “Deep State”
If you have some spare time, take a look (or a listen-there’s an audio version) of this fascinating article from the New Yorker about how the Trump administration is reshaping government by dismantling its largest sector, civil service. The effects of this will be felt for generations to come.
https://www.newyorker.com/…/2…/05/21/trump-vs-the-deep-state
Sites to Check:
If Trump fires Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, please be ready to take to the streets in protest.
https://act.moveon.org/…/mueller-firing-rapid-respo…/search/
CD2Action https://cd2action.com/, @CD2action
League of Women Voters MN https://lwvmn.org/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
Smith (202) 224-5641
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/
Paul McCartney - Junior's Farm
YOUTUBE.COM

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