October 5, 2023
House chaos, striking health care workers, Banned Books Week, and more!
******SUBMITTING YOUR ACTION IDEAS TO ROGAN’S LIST ******
We’ve had a number of the Rogan’s List family (now 12,000 strong!) send in action items in the last few weeks – and some really important ones at that! So we’re setting up a “tip line” you all can use if you have ideas or submissions for us: roganslisttips@gmail.com. Please don’t hesitate to email and pass on your suggestions, we look forward to hearing from you!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- HOUSE CHAOS CONTINUESThe GOP continues to implode. While it took 15 votes to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, it only took one to oust him. Following that historic vote, Patrick McHenry is now the Interim Speaker whose duties are limited to the ability to only recess the House, adjourn the chamber and recognize speaker nominations. Nonetheless, in a petty, divisive move, McHenry has apparently taken it upon himself to order Nancy Pelosi, who is attending Dianne Feinstein’s funeral, to vacate her office immediately. While most representatives have their offices in nearby office buildings, as former Speaker, Pelosi was permitted to keep her office in the Capitol. So, it appears that House business is at a standstill until a new Speaker is chosen. Let’s tell our representatives to get this done so that the real business of the House can continue. There is another shutdown looming and so much work to be done.
- HEALTH CARE WORKERS ON STRIKE!
Striketober rolls on! As of 6AM yesterday morning, 75,000 workers at Kaiser Permanente are out on a three-day strike, the largest health care strike in American history. They’re protesting unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels at hospitals and health care facilities across the country. Let’s show them some support! If we’re near a strike location, let’s try to join them on the picket line, and we can all follow along for updates here and help them spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. We can also add our names to the growing list of supporters!
- BANNED BOOKS WEEKIt’s Banned Book Week and America is right in the middle of a book banning crisis. The American Library Association (ALA) tells us there’s a 20-year high in book bans, with more on the way. With books by and about women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people as the primary targets, it is time to fight back. Let’s find out more about this crisis and how we can help by checking out ALA’s Banned Books Week, United Against Book Bans, and They Banned What?
- FIXING SSI SO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES CAN SAVE
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a part of Social Security that provides cash payments to people with disabilities to ensure they don’t live in poverty, has long been burdened by outdated rules that did not adjustment for inflation and forced recipients to live in poverty to continue qualifying. Right now, the asset limit to qualify is just $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for couples. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) are leading the way on a bipartisan effort to bring those numbers in line with modern realities, raising the limits to $10,000 and $20,000 respectively: the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act (S.2767/H.R.5408). Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and urge them to support this legislation and make it a priority, and to continue working on making SSI work for people with disabilities by eliminating the marriage penalty.
- PROTECT THE PLANET. SUPPORT THE FATCAT ACTPrivate luxury jets spew at least 10 times more pollution per passenger than commercial jets. This means that 1% of very wealthy passengers are responsible for about half of all aviation emissions. The Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax (FATCAT) Act (S.2378,/HR 4760)would increase fuel taxes on private jets from 21.9 to $1.95 cents per gallon and use the increased tax revenue to help fund the Clean Communities Trust Fund. Senator Ed Markey, the bill’s Senate sponsor, reports that “per passenger, private jets pollute up to 14 times more than commercial flights and 50 times more than trains, producing as much emissions as millions of cars every year in the United States.” Let’s tell our US Senators to co-sponsor S.2378, and our US Reps to co-sponsor HR 4760.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
- CO – BALLOT PROPOSAL TO EXPAND ABORTION ACCESS The Colorado Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Coalition is pursuing a ballot initiative which would expand and protect access to reproductive healthcare in the state. Colorado currently has many protections for abortion, but it still has a constitutional ban on Medicaid recipients and state employees using their insurance to cover abortions, with few exceptions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 17% of Coloradan girls and women ages 15-49 are on Medicaid. Ballot proposals 89 and 90 are in the preliminary stages of the approval process by the state, but when the ballot language is approved, approximately 125,000 signatures will be needed to get them on the November 2024 ballot. Let’s keep our eyes out for these ballot proposals, and be ready to sign and collect signatures. Let’s also be sure to read through ballot proposals that are presented to us for signatures, as anti-abortion groups will be collecting signatures to criminalize abortions.
- MANY – SUPPORT NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE INITIATIVE: The National Popular Vote initiative (NPV) aims to is a state compact to award their electoral votes in a presidential election to the winner of the popular vote nationwide. Once enacted, elections wouldn’t be decided by a small number of swing states and every person’s vote would count, no matter where they lived. Many states have already signed on to NPV, comprising 205 electoral votes (DE, HI, RI, VT, CO, CT, MD, MA, MN, NJ, NM, OR, WA, CA, IL, NY and DC) have signed on. Only 65 more electoral votes are needed to make this system work. If we live in a state that hasn’t yet adopted NPV, let’s reach out to our state legislators and ask them to bring this to the floor for a vote. We can find out more at nationalpopularvote.com.
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