January 5, 2023

Contact all members of Congress:

Contact White House or other federal agencies:

HOUSE SPEAKER VOTE:After two days and six votes, the House has yet to select a new Speaker. Without a Speaker, all House business is on hold, including swearing in new members. While Speakers are usually chosen on the first vote, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy assumed that would be the case, it was not. The lack of votes from the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus members is keeping McCarthy from the number of votes needed to secure the position. There could be many possible outcomes at this point. Although it is a long shot, let’s contact our representatives and ask them to support a unity/coalition candidate so that they can get to the work they were elected to do.

BAN CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADES:
An independent analysis found that congressional stock trades outperformed the market average by a substantial margin yet again in 2022, and Business Insider found 78 members of Congress violated conflicts-of-interest and financial disclosure laws with their trades. This is yet another sign for why we shouldn’t have our federal elected officials making individual stock trades. Let’s contact our members of Congress and ask them to support a ban on congressional stock trading.

VOTE BY MAIL IN 2023:“Oregon currently has the highest rates of voter turnout in the entire country. Two factors political scientists point to are the state’s vote by mail system and the “motor voter” law that automatically registers people to vote when they get their driver’s license.” https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/03/oregon-leads-nation-in-voter-turnout-rates/ More than 30 states allow no-excuse voting by mail. But in many of these states, our mail-in ballots won’t come to us automatically; we must apply to receive them. Let’s see if our state allows no-excuse voting by mail. If it does, let’s find our state’s official elections website and download an application to vote by mail. Let’s do it today so we don’t miss an election!

NEED FOR SUPREME COURT ETHICS REFORM:“A series of recent events at the Supreme Court threatens to undermine trust and confidence in the institution and demonstrates the need for it to have a code of ethics and for better oversight within the judiciary.” The 117th Congress tried to address this with proposed legislation but was not successful. Let’s encourage our current legislators to advance this cause with a new bill that will implement ethics and transparency practices in our highest court.

CLEAN ENERGY FOR HOUSEHOLDS: Now that 2023 has arrived, new tax credits and incentives to help us reduce our carbon emissions are available under the Inflation Reduction Act. We can get tax credits for rooftop solar, battery storage, and geothermal heating systems; electric vehicle chargers; heat pumps; weatherization; and more. Let’s download and read this guide to the Inflation Reduction Act, and let’s use this calculator from the nonprofit Rewiring America to see how much money we can save. Then, let’s start switching our households to clean energy!

FIGHT FOR ETHICS IN CONGRESS:
The new Republican House majority is making their agenda clear with a proposed rule that would gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by making it nearly impossible to hire the staff they need to do the jobs right. Let’s contact our members of Congress and tell them to oppose any rules package that undermines the OCE.

HELP ASYLUM-SEEKERS STRANDED AT THE BORDER:The Supreme Court’s decision last week to keep Title 42 restrictions in place has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis at the U.S./Mexican border, as thousands of people are living in dangerous, unsanitary conditions. Let’s check out this list of organizations compiled by the Journey for Justice, a 2-week caravan from Brownsville/Matamoros to San Ysidro/Tijuana, and see if we can lend a hand to one or more of these organizations.

REQUIRE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ TAX RETURNS: “Since the 1970s, U.S. presidential candidates have voluntarily released their tax information, as a way to show voters they paid taxes and let voters evaluate how their personal finances may influence their decisions in office.” Trump did not follow that established practice and after six years of court battles, his tax returns were finally released in the last days of 2022, and we learned more of his dishonesty. The 117th Congress introduced legislation to codify the practice of requiring tax returns of certain candidates, but it only passed the House. Let’s contact our legislators and ask that they reintroduce this bill in both houses in the 118th Congress and pass it so that this will never be an issue again for our country.

CLEAN ENERGY FOR ALL:The Inflation Reduction Act provides assistance for families wishing to shift to clean energy and save on energy bills. This assistance comes in the form of tax credits and rebates for things like rooftop solar, upgraded home weatherization, energy-efficient heat pumps, electric vehicles, and more. Tax credits and rebates start rolling out in 2023. Let’s sign up for updates.

JOIN THE WOMEN’S MARCH ON JANUARY 22ND:
We sent the message loud and clear in the midterms: abortion rights are fundamental, and we won’t stop fighting for them. Plenty of Republicans don’t seem ready to listen, led by Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who indicated he was ready to support further abortion bans in Florida last month. The Women’s March is organizing to march in Madison and on every state house in the country on January 22 to let politicians know we’re not going anywhere. Let’s join them if we can.