Action: 30 Mar 2017

Senators Schumer, Whitehouse and Blumenthal held a press conference about Neil Gorsuch and the dark money being spent to get him confirmed.

There are some other interesting facts in the clip that Senator Whitehouse brings up about our Supreme Court and their voting history.

Senator Schumer explains the history and reasoning behind the 60 votes needed to confirm a Supreme Court Justice. Schumer's point being, if you can't get 60 votes, don't change the rules, change the candidate.

So, take a look at the YouTube press conference and then call our Senators.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MmRwmlqv_WI


Senator Roger Wicker: 202-224-6253

Senator Thad Cochran: 202-224-5054

Script:

This is ______.  I live in _____, MS.

I'm calling today to voice my objection to the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Action: 27-31 Mar 2017

This was copied from a FB post.  We need an Independent Commission to investigate our last election. This action is in the House.  I will look for info on the Senate Committee and do another post later in the week.

CALL TO ACTION

Tell members of the HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE to insist on open hearings. Chairman Nunes should be removed for obstructing his own committee's investigation and sharing information with Trump before bringing it to the committee.

Make your voice heard! IT MATTERS. Our activism helped defeat trumpcare by unrelenting pressure. Now let's continue to hammer them on the investigation. Let them know we are not going away until the truth is revealed.

Leave messages tonight and tomorrow. Tweet any time.
(If DC mailboxes are full, call local offices and leave messages.)

This is ______.  I live in _____, MS.

I am calling today to say I want an Independent Commission to investigate Russia's involvement in our Election.

Or

I am calling today to say Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes should be removed for obstructing the investigation.  I also want the Committee's hearings to be open.  America needs to know.

*Congressman Trent Kelly: 202-225-4306

*Congressman Bennie G. Thompson: 202-225-5876

Republicans:

DEVIN NUNES (R-CA) Chairman @DevinNunes
Wash DC 202 225-2523
Clovis 559 323-5235
Visalia 559 733-3861

MIKE CONAWAY (R-TX) @MikeConawayTX11
Wash DC 202 225-3605
Llano 325 247-2826
San Angelo 325 659-4010
Odessa 432 331-9667
Midland 432 687-2390

PETER KING (R-NY) @RepPeteKing
Wash DC 202 225-7896
Massapequa 516) 541-4225

FRANK LOBIONDO (R-NJ0 @RepLoBiondo
Wash DC 202 225-6572
Mays Landing 609 625-5008

TOM ROONEY (R-FL) @Rooney4Congress
Wash DC 202 225-5792
Okeechobee 863 402-9082
Punta Gorda 941 575-9101

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R-FL) @RosLehtinen
Wash DC 202 225-3931
Miami 305 668-5970

MICHAEL TURNER (R-OH) @RepMikeTurner
Wash DC 202 225-6465
Dayton 937 225-2843

BRAD WENSTRUP (R-OH) @RepBradWenstrup
Wash DC 202 225-3164
Cincinnatti 513 474-7777
Peebles 513 605-1380

CHRIS STEWART (R-UT) @RepChrisStewart
Wash DC 202 225-9730
Salt Lake City 801 364-5550
St. George 435 627-1500

RICK CRAWFORD (R-AR) @RepRickCrawford
Wash DC 202 225-4076
Jonesboro 870 203-0540
Cabot 501 843-3043
Mountain Home 870 424-2075

TREY GOWDY (R-SC) @TGowdySC
Wash DC 202 225-6030
Greenville 864 241-0175
Spartanburg 864 583-3264

ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY) @RepStefanik
Wash DC 202 225-4611
Glens Falls 518 743-0964
Plattsburgh 518 561-2324
Watertown 315 782-3150

WILL HURD (R-TX) @HurdOnTheHill
Wash DC 202 225-4511
Del Rio 830 422-2040
Eagle Pass 210 784-5023
San Antonio 210 927-4903
Socorro 915 235-6421

Democrats:

ADAM SCHIFF D-CA @RepAdamSchiff Ranking Member
Wash DC 202 225-4176
Burbank 818 450-2900 or 323 315-5555
Hollywood 323 315-5555

JIM HIMES D-CT @jahimes
Wash DC 202 225-5541
Bridgeport 866 453-0028
Stamford 203 333-6655

TERRI SEWELL D-AL @RepTerriSewell
Wash DC 202 225-2665
Birmingham 205 254-1960
Montgomery 334 262-1919
Selma 334 877-4414

ANDRE CARSON D-IN @RepAndreCarson
Wash DC 202 225-4011
Indianapolis 317 283-6516

JACKIE SPEIER D-CA @RepSpeier
Wash DC 202 225-3531
San Mateo 650 342-0300

MIKE QUIGLEY D-IL @RepMikeQuigley
Wash DC 202 225-4061
Lakeview 773 267-5926
Portage Park 773 267-6583

ERIC SWALWELL D-CA @RepSwalwell
Wash DC 202 225-5065
Castro Valley 510 370-3322

JOAQUIN CASTRO D-TX @JoaquinCastrotx
Wash DC 202 225-3236
San Antonio 210 348-8216

DENNY HECK D-WA @RepDennyHeck
Wash DC 202 225-9740
Lakewood 253 533-8332
Lacey 360 459-8514

Thanks a lot Little Marco

This article explains how the GOP underfunded the ACA.  I knew it had been underfunded by 2.5 billion but I didn't know how it happened. Thanks to Thom Hartmann for the explanation.Just read the highlighted areas to get to the heart of the matter.
WEDNESDAY, MAR 22, 2017 03:44 AM CDT

How Republicans quietly sabotaged Obamacare long before Trump came into office

Billions that should go to Obamacare are missing, thanks to se

THOM HARTMANN, ALTERNET

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Donald Trump suggested that the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) was a clever ruse by our first Black president and his Democratic friends to have a successful health-care system in place for his own presidency, but one that was set up to fail in the first year of the next president’s term.

Trump said (on 3/10/2017) that this year “would be a disaster for Obamacare. That’s the year it was meant to explode, because Obama won’t be here. That’s when it was supposed to be, get even worse. As bad as it is now, it’ll get even worse.”

While most people are rolling their eyes – why would Obama do that, particularly when everybody expected the next president to be Hillary? – there’s actually a substantial grain of truth to Trump’s assertion.  He has identified, however, the wrong culprit as the person who poison-pilled Obamacare for 2017.

That distinction would go to Marco Rubio (and his Republican helpers in the Senate).  Let’s step back to 2015 for the entire story, which is bizarre and fascinating.

When the ACA was rolled out, telling insurance companies that they had to insure anybody who signed up, regardless of previous conditions or sickness, everybody realized that the insurance companies would probably lose money in the first decade or so, until previously-uninsured-but-sick people got into the system, got better, and things evened out.

To get the insurance companies to go along with this danger of losing money, the ACA promised to make them whole for any losses in any of the first decade’s years.  At the end of each fiscal year, the insurance companies merely had to document their losses, and the government would reimburse them out of ACA funds provided for by the law.

The possibility of their losing money was referred to as the “risk corridor,” and the ACA explicitly filled those risk corridors with a guarantee of making the insurance companies, at the very least, whole.

And then something happened.  As The New York Times noted on December 9, 2015, “A little-noticed health care provision slipped into a giant spending law last year has tangled up the Obama administration, sent tremors through health insurance markets and rattled confidence in the durability of President Obama’s signature health law.”

Rubio and a number of other Republicans had succeeded in gutting the risk corridors.  The result was that, just in 2015, end-of-fiscal-year risk corridor payments to insurance companies that were supposed to total around $2.9 billion were only reimbursed, according to Rubio himself quoted in the Times, to the tune of around $400 million.  Rubio bragged that he’d “saved taxpayers $2.5 billion.”

And, indeed, he had.  But the insurance companies were thrown into a crisis.  And, with Republicans in Congress absolutely refusing to re-fund the risk corridors, that crisis would get worse as time went on, at least over a period of a few years.

So the insurance companies did the only things they could.  In (mostly red) states with low incomes and thus poorer health, they simply pulled out of the marketplace altogether.  This has left some states with only one single insurer left.  In others, they jacked up their prices to make up their losses.

Robert Pear in the Times noted, Rubio’s “plan limiting how much the government can spend to protect insurance companies against financial losses has shown the effectiveness of quiet legislative sabotage.”

To add to the political psychodrama, the first hack by Rubio  was maintained by Republicans into the 2016 budget, meaning that things got even worse in October, 2016 – the first month of the federal fiscal year when these cuts hit the worse, and, no coincidence, the month before the presidential election.

Rubio’s October Surprise was extraordinarily effective.  October 2016 saw an explosion of stories in the news about how health insurance companies were either pulling out of ACA exchanges, or jacking their prices up wildly.

Time magazine wrote “8 States Where Obamacare Rates Are Rising by at Least 30%” without mentioning Rubio’s role in why. Ditto for NPR’s “22 Percent Hike in Obamacare Rates…” and CNN’s “Obamacare Premiums Soar By 22%.”  If you date-limit just to October of 2016 – the month before the election – you can find hundreds of similar articles.  It was a huge story, but somehow Little Marco’s role in it all – along with his friends in the GOP – never made it into any of the stories.

Excuse me while we state a few facts...

1. Action: 24 Mar 2017

Today's call to action:

Senator Roger Wicker: 202-224-6253

Senator Thad Cochran: 202-224-5054

*Congressman Trent Kelly: 202-225-4306

*Congressman Bennie G. Thompson: 202-225-5876

Script:

This is ______.  I live in _____, MS.

I'm calling today to object to Trumpcare.   I want to keep the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and I ask Congress to make improvements to the ACA.

2. Action: 24 Mar 2017

The following is a Press Release from Rep. Ted Lieu. I've been watching him for awhile and I like his thoughts.  In this statement, he is spot on.  I'm calling Roger, Thad and Bennie.

REP. LIEU STATEMENT ON REPORT OF TRUMP ASSOCIATES’ POSSIBLE COLLUSION WITH RUSSIA

March 23, 2017 

Press Release

Washington – Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) issued the following statement regarding the CNN report that Trump associates possibly colluded with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 election in the United States.

“The bombshell revelation that U.S. officials have information that suggests Trump associates may have colluded with the Russians means we must pause the entire Trump agenda.  We may have an illegitimate President of the United States currently occupying the White House.” 

“Other than allowing routine governmental functions, there must be a total and complete shutdown of any agenda item being pushed by the Trump Administration.  Congress cannot continue regular order and must stop voting on any Trump-backed agenda item until the FBI completes its Trump-Russia collusion investigation.”

“Congress must immediately form an independent commission and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the collusion allegations with impartiality and independence.  Congress also needs to pass the Resolution of Inquiry, authored by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and I, to compel the Trump Administration to publicly disclose information on its Russian ties to the American people.  At this point in our nation's history, there is nothing more important than finding out whether or not high crimes were committed by associates of Donald Trump or possibly by Trump himself.”

Today's call to action:

Senator Roger Wicker: 202-224-6253

Senator Thad Cochran: 202-224-5054

Congressman Trent Kelly: 202-225-4306

Congressman Bennie G. Thompson: 202-225-5876

Script:

This is ______.  I live in _____, MS.

I'm calling today to object to any and all Trump administration agenda items being moved forward until after the completion of the FBI investigation into the Trump Campaign's involvement with Russia.

Wicker on Neil Gorsuch

Article by Senator Wicker is below my remarks.

Senator Wicker, you are wrong again.  The American people elected President Barack Obama to replace Antonin Scalia.  It was Barack Obama who was the President of the United States when Justice Scalia passed away.

No one knows when a vacancy will come on the Supreme Court.  Whoever is the President at the time of such vacancy, gets to make the appointment.  The Senate does not get to decide what President will fill a vacancy.  

Senator Wicker, you and your Party created ideas that are not in our Constitution when that document speaks of nominations to the Supreme Court.  Further, your Party doubled down on your beliefs when it was reported that you intended to hold this vacancy open for 4 years should Hillary Clinton be elected.

The only way for your Party to right the wrong you created is to make restitution to the American people.  You need to honor our vote for President Barack Obama and you need to advise and consent on Judge Merrick Garland.  Anything less is simply wrong.  And you sir, will be judged to be on the wrong side of history. 

"Wicker Praises Trump Pick for Supreme Court

   Judge Gorsuch Has a Judicial Philosophy Much Like the Justice He Would Succeed

The tragic death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last February left a colossal void on the highest court in our nation.  He was brilliant, principled, and fair, unmoved by politics or public opinion.  The task of replacing him is enormous, but President Trump has put forward an excellent nominee who embodies the characteristics that Scalia brought to the bench. 

Judge Neil Gorsuch is more than qualified for this consequential role.  His legal background includes clerking for two Supreme Court justices and serving for the past 10 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver.  He has earned widespread bipartisan respect for his intellect, collegiality, and fairness when it comes to applying the law and the Constitution.  His nomination to the Tenth Circuit was unanimously approved by the Senate.  

Americans Chose Trump to Fill Court Vacancy

The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide “advice and consent” on executive nominations, including judges to federal courts, appeals courts, and the Supreme Court.  As Mississippi’s U.S. Senator, I take my part in this process seriously.  

Last November, the American people elected a president who promised to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court in the mold of Scalia.  President Trump has followed through on this promise with Judge Gorsuch.  He is a nominee capable of earning support from both Republicans and Democrats.  In fact, several Democrats currently serving in the Senate, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), were among those who confirmed him to the Tenth Circuit in 2006.

I am pleased President Trump has selected a judge who understands the importance of defending our constitutional rights and unabashedly protecting our religious freedoms.  This was made clear in the Hobby Lobby case, in which Judge Gorsuch agreed that Obamacare mandates should not force business owners to violate their religious beliefs.  He has also ruled against the removal of the Ten Commandments from public land. 

Protecting the Framers’ Separation of Powers

The highest court in our country serves as a vital check on potential excesses of the government’s legislative and executive branches.  It is not a place for activism or policymaking.  In keeping with Justice Scalia’s legacy of judicial restraint, Judge Gorsuch has a record of upholding our Constitution’s separation of powers.  

At 49 years old, Judge Gorsuch can shape the future of the Supreme Court for many years to come if confirmed.  I am confident he will remain true to the judicial philosophy and convictions that have brought him to this point in his distinguished career.  As Americans know, a single vote in Supreme Court decisions can have a major impact.  Landmark cases protecting Second Amendment rights and religious freedom have been decided by one vote.  

We need Supreme Court justices who are committed to defending the Constitution and the principles it enshrines.  I believe Judge Gorsuch has the intellect and competence to fulfill this responsibility, and I look forward to his confirmation process in the Senate."

P.S.: It is disgusting to me that one of our Senators talks about "the Constitution and the principles it enshrines" when his Party has so abused the same document.