Help Stop the Dirty Water Attacks in Congress with Clean Water Action's Congressional tracker

While floundering on some parts of their agenda, notably a failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and judicial challenges to their immigration ban, the Trump Administration has been mostly successful on its plan to radically deregulate polluting industries and remove protections for our air, water, health, and climate.

In his first months in office President Trump signed repeals of key Obama-era protections, including the Stream Protection Rule; the Oil, Gas, and Mining Anti-Corruption Rule; and Protections for Alaska’s Wildlife. He also issued executive orders to fast-track construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline, and to begin to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Donald Trump’s cabinet members, most notably EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, have reversed or delayed environmental safeguards on everything from climate and clean energy research to chemical safety to methane pollution to lead bullets on federal land.

So it’s no surprise that the assault on our health and environment continued throughout the summer. Below are just some of the actions taken by Donald Trump’s executive branch in July and August:

EPA formally moves forward on rescinding the Clean Water Rule, which protects drinking water for 117 million Americans.

EPA moves to roll back limits on toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Department of Homeland Security waives environmental protections for Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

Department of the Interior proposes to shrink some national monuments. This will remove protections and open up land for mining or drilling.

Trump Administration ends Climate Advisory Panel.

Department of Energy manipulates energy grid study to boost coal industry.

Donald Trump signs an executive order to remove flood protections from new construction projects.

Department of the Interior halts health impact study for communities who live near mountaintop removal mining.

Now that Congress is back in session, we can expect continued attacks on our health and water. Keep up to date with our Congressional tracker — and by following Clean Water Action on facebook, twitter, and instagram.

Take action here.

- Clean Water Action

Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate the reassignment of top officials and scientists.

The petition to the inspector general of the Department of the Interior reads: "Censoring experts for doing their jobs is an abuse of authority. Launch an investigation into Interior Department Secretary Zinke's arbitrary reassignment of Joel Clement and 50 other senior officials and scientists." Add your name:

Joel Clement was the top climate change scientist at the Department of the Interior until this June. That's when Trump's department chief quietly banished him to an accounting job, where he processes royalty payments from fossil fuel companies. Clement is one of about 50 scientists and senior officials quietly removed from their posts at the Department of the Interior in June. He believes he was punished for speaking out about the climate risks facing Alaska Native villages. Censoring scientists will not solve the climate crisis – but Donald Trump is much more interested in covering it up. Banned from doing his job, Clement filed a whistleblower complaint and called for an investigation.1  Click here to sign the petition. Before he was demoted, Clement coordinated the federal response to Alaska Native communities threatened by climate change. In a region that is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, these communities are located on melting permafrost.2 A major storm could flood them away entirely or cause major loss of life. Clement was helping these communities prepare. Some want to relocate now, and others need emergency evacuation plans. Now the federal government has abandoned them, and as Clement points out, they are not the only Americans at risk: "Right now Alaska Native villages are on the front lines, but every coastal city, the deserts of the Southwest, the farms of the Midwest that are getting these frequent and almost biblical deluges, these are direct impacts on the health and safety of Americans and our economic prosperity."3 Systematically eliminating the government's expertise on climate change is not only foolish, it is dangerously irresponsible. As temperatures increase, so will the dangerous impacts of climate change – flooding, catastrophic storms, heat waves and droughts. We need our scientists to help us understand how to prevent and respond to these threats. Unfortunately, helping out oil and coal companies is a far bigger priority for federal agencies under Trump's authority. Instead of helping us prepare, they are retaliating against anyone who acknowledges the risks we face. Joel Clement's story is part of a broader pattern. Trump has appointed anti-science ideologues and industry lobbyists to key agency roles, revoked environmental safety regulations, removed climate information from government websites, censored scientists from speaking up and reduced public access to data. This administration is at war with reality, and our future will be the casualty.4 Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate the reassignment of top officials and scientists. Click here to sign the petition. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke actually admitted that reassignments are part of his plan to downsize – in other words, he hopes that staff will resign because of their new jobs.5 Trump's government is intentionally pushing out senior scientists and officials by making their jobs intolerable. Fortunately, federal employees like Joel Clement who speak up about health and safety risks are protected under whistleblower laws. While his complaint is being investigated, he has no intention of going anywhere. And now, eight Democratic senators have called for an investigation into Zinke’s decision to reassign Clement and other officials.6 If we join them, we can add pressure and publicity to Clement's case, making it harder for the Trump administration to quietly sweep scientists under the rug. Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate the reassignment of top officials and scientists. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=8&akid=25112%2E3130208%2ECoVEv1 - Brandy Doyle CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Joel Clement, "I’m a scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump administration." The Washington Post, July 19, 2017. Ibid. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "Meet the senior federal official blowing the whistle on Trump's suppression of climate science," Democracy Now!, Aug. 8, 2017. Jacob Carter, et al., "Sidelining science since day one: how the Trump administration has harmed public health and safety in its first six months," Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, July 2017. Lisa Rein, "Interior chief wants to shed 4,000 employees in department shake-up," The Washington Post, June 21, 2017. Juliet Eilperin, "Senate Democrats call for an investigation of climate scientist whistleblower complaint," The Washington Post, July 24, 2017.

Use a one-click tool to tell Trump, McConnell, and Ryan you're not buying what they're selling on taxes.

Republican leaders emerged from a 5-hour closed-door meeting where they finalized their tax "plan," and now Trump is selling it to the nation.

No matter what Trump says, here's the truth:

The only people the Republicans are trying to help are the rich and massive corporations -- despite new polls showing that 65% of Americans think corporate tax rates are too low and 62% oppose tax cuts for the rich.

We have to fight back -- use our one-click tool to tell Trump, McConnell, and Ryan you're not buying what they're selling on taxes.

Here's what to expect from Trump's speech describing the tax plan:

• Massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, disguised as "simplifying" the tax code
• Tax giveaways to big corporations, camouflaged as "cutting taxes for small businesses" (the vast majority of which already pay the lowest-possible tax rate)
• A tax hike for the lowest tax bracket (aka those who can afford an increase in taxes the LEAST)

Trump and his Republican cronies are being so blatantly dishonest about the true implications of their plan because they know how unpopular it is.

But that won't stop them from doing everything they can -- including spending hundreds of millions of dollars -- to rush it through Congress with as little public input as possible. (Seriously: One corporate lobbying group has already pledged $100 million to help make sure it passes.)

That's why we need to make sure they hear our voices loud and clear.

Use the one-click tool to tell Republican leaders you're not falling for their lies about their tax plan

With funding for programs like Medicare and Medicaid on the line, we can't afford to lose this battle.

- The Tax March Team

Sign the petition: Stop Trump from militarizing Arizona police

Phoenix rally proves if Police have military surplus, they will use it - on innocent protesters

Read my letter to the Phoenix police chief here. 

Tell Congress:“Pass the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act and block Donald Trump’s attempt to militarize local police.” Add your name:

Pres. Donald Trump is going to give state and local police military-grade weapons of war.1 The Defense Department’s 1033 program transfers surplus military equipment to police. It has given billions of dollars' worth of tanks, grenade launchers and other weapons to local law enforcement agencies – including more than 93,000 machine guns.2 In 2014, police in combat gear driving mine-resistant tanks violently confronted people protesting the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The national outrage and organizing, including from more than 100,000 CREDO members, helped force President Obama to dramatically scale back the 1033 program. Recently, police in St. Louis in full riot gear were chanting “whose streets, our streets” as they violently confronted people protesting yet another not guilty verdict for another police killing of a Black man.3 But Trump, whose racist, xenophobic agenda depends on demonizing communities of color and unleashing law enforcement, wants to bring 1033 back in full force. Fortunately, there is a bill that would stop Trump’s dangerous escalation and help keep weapons of war out of our communities, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. The more of us who speak out, the more pressure on Congress to act. Tell Congress: Pass the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act and block Donald Trump’s attempt to militarize local police. Click here to sign the petition. Police militarization contributes to the over-policing of communities of color and the erosion of trust between communities and police. When police departments are armed with military-grade weapons and trained to use military tactics, they are more likely to treat the people they are meant to serve as enemy combatants.4 In many communities, fully militarized SWAT teams routinely issue search warrants, terrorizing people in their homes and neighborhoods.5 Police militarization also undermines people’s right to peacefully and safely protest. The hyper-militarized and clearly disproportionate police response to largely peaceful protesters in Ferguson is far from the only example. In the summer of 2016, Baton Rouge, Louisiana police responded to peaceful protests of Alton Sterling’s murder as if they were going to war.6 Last fall in North Dakota, police in riot gear confronted peaceful Standing Rock protesters with armored vehicles, automatic rifles, sonic weapons, concussion grenades, pepper spray and beanbag bullets.7 Surveillance devices like the Stingray, which can secretly download cell data and disrupt cell service, are also part of the 1033 program.8 It is no surprise that Trump, who condoned white supremacist Nazi violence against peaceful protesters last month in Charlottesville, wants to further weaponize police, terrorize communities of color and stifle peaceful dissent to his hateful regime. That is why it is more important than ever to pass the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act now. The bill would shut down the direct pipeline between the Defense Department and police, ban the transfer of a long list of military equipment, require extensive documentation and reporting, and prohibit the militarization of departments under investigation for civil rights violations.9 Donald Trump’s extreme agenda has already emboldened law enforcement agents across the country, at the local, state and federal level. Making sure that his administration cannot arm police with weapons of war is a powerful way to fight back. Can you add your name today? Tell Congress to pass the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act and block Donald Trump’s attempt to militarize local police. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/No_Police_Militarization?t=7&akid=25150%2E3130208%2E2_cMRu - Heidi Hess, Senior Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Tom Jackman, "Trump to restore program sending surplus military weapons, equipment to police," The Washington Post, Aug. 27, 2017. Matt Apuzzo, "War Gear Flows to Police Departments," The New York Times, June 8, 2014. Nicole D. Nelson, "When Will Black Lives Matter in St. Louis?" The New York Times, Sept. 20, 2017. ACLU Foundation, "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing," June 2014. ibid. Tess Owen, "Baton Rouge cops dressed for war to confront protesters," Vice News, July 11, 2016. "Standing Rock Special: Dallas Goldtooth on Police Violence & Repression of Movement Against DAPL," Democracy Now, Nov. 24, 2016. Jeremy Scahill and Margot Williams, "Stingrays: A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone," The Intercept, Dec. 17, 2015. "H.R.1556 - Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act"

Sign the petition if you agree: The Senate needs to stand up for consumers and fire FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Petition to US Senate:

Since joining the FCC, Ajit Pai has undercut the public interest at every turn. From waging war on the free and open internet and Title II net neutrality, to threatening to cut off phone and internet service to low-income people, it's clear he's more interested in looking out for his former employers at Big Cable than the American People. Pai is failing at his job to protect consumers and should not be re-confirmed. Please vote NO to reconfirming Ajit Pai to the FCC.

It’s time for FCC Chair Ajit Pai to go.

He’s been undermining the open internet from his first day at the Federal Communications Commission, and he’s only gotten worse since Trump made him Chair.

Pai is going all out to repeal net neutrality protections – even after a record 20 million public comments overwhelmingly told him to leave the open internet alone.

But we have good news: The Senate has an opportunity to stop Ajit Pai’s anti-net neutrality, pro-Big Cable agenda in its tracks.

Tell the Senate: Fire Ajit Pai.

The Senate has to vote to reconfirm Pai to the FCC by the end of the year or he’s out.

Here’s what this means for us: We can get every single member of the Senate on the record about net neutrality and a whole lot more.

Let’s be clear: A vote for Pai is a vote to:
End the internet as we know it, and let Pai's former employers at Verizon and the rest of Big Cable be the gatekeepers of what you can and can’t do online.
Let notorious right-wing media empire Sinclair (known for its racist and highly biased “must-run” broadcasts1) get market share reaching over 70% of American households.2
Shut off phone and internet service for the working poor and low-income people.

Not one senator should support that agenda.

Sign the petition if you agree: The Senate needs to stand up for consumers and fire FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Pai has made it clear he has no real interest in public service to begin with – only furthering the interests of his Big Cable benefactors. Let’s end his career at the FCC.

- Demand Progress

Sources:
1. Politico, “Sinclair increases 'must-run' Boris Epshteyn segments,” July 10, 2017.
2. Politico, “How Trump's FCC aided Sinclair's expansion,” August 6, 2017.

Tell big banks: stop financing climate disasters

In 30 days, more than 90 of the world's largest banks will meet in Brazil to recommit to the set of rules guiding which big infrastructure projects they will and won't finance—the Equator Principles.¹

"Equator banks" have promised to avoid or minimize the social, environmental and climate impacts of such projects, and to respect the rights and interests of Indigenous communities affected by them.²

But they haven't kept their word.

All the recent hurricanes make it painfully obvious that we need to STOP funding more fossil fuel projects.

Sign the petition with our allies telling the banks to stop funding climate devastation and respect Indigenous rights.

For example, these projects are financed by banks under the Equator Principles, even though they negatively impact the environment and are resisted by Indigenous communities:

• The Dakota Access Pipeline, built to pump tar sands, the dirtiest oil on earth, and fiercely opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Lakota Tribes for threatening their water sources.³
• The Honduran Agua Zarca hydro project, where Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was murdered for leading Indigenous resistance to the project.⁴

All over the world, Equator banks also continue to finance new coal power plants that will further add to climate disruption.

Tell the banks to stop funding climate devastation and respect Indigenous rights by signing this petition with our allies.

The October 24 meeting in São Paulo, Brazil is a clear opportunity for Equator banks to revisit their Principles and commit to a higher standard of practice. Advocates will be on the ground in Brazil, and local activists around the world are planning related actions around the same time to increase the pressure.⁵

As a powerful coalition of human rights, environmental and Indigenous-led organizations, Green American is demanding that Equator banks stop financing climate disasters and respect Indigenous peoples' rights and land.

We need you to sign on and show these banks that every customer on every continent sees what they're up to and demands that they commit to making changes.

- Todd Larsen
Green America

1 - https://www.equatorbanksact.org/
2 - Coal power plants, coal mines, tar sands exploration and transport, oil pipelines, fracked gas plants, deepwater oil rigs, oil exploration in the Arctic, and more have all qualified as ‘responsible’ projects under the Equator Principles, as have projects that violate international Indigenous rights. From the Americas to Australia, Indigenous peoples find themselves on the front line of struggles against fossil fuel extraction and transport projects, and also large hydro and other infrastructure projects that threaten their lands and way of life.
3 - https://www.banktrack.org/search#category=dodgydeals
4 - https://www.banktrack.org/search#category=dodgydeals
5 - https://mazaskatalks.org/divesttheglobe

Add your name: Disband the voter suppression commission now!

fighting for the right to vote in Selma

People put their lives at risk to fight for the Voting Rights Act. We can't go backwards now. 

Trump's 'Election Integrity Commission' was convened under the guise of rooting out supposed 'voter fraud' in the 2016 election. But its true purpose is to justify voter suppression laws across the country, despite voter ID and other discriminatory suppression laws being struck down as unconstitutional in courts. Trump's commission includes the Right's foremost leaders in disenfranchising minority voters.

Let's send a unified message as a country that we stand for PROTECTING the right to vote and against discrimination in all its forms.

Add your name: Disband the voter suppression commission now!

Read Washington Post article. 

Help Prevent War with North Korea: Call Congress Now

Fifty-five years ago during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Americans were glued to the news as fears of nuclear war escalated. Once again we're facing that fear as President Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, trade insults and engage in dangerous military actions and saber rattling that could spiral out of control. All of us need to do what we can to prevent that from happening.This is truly an all-hands-on-deck moment.

Call your members of Congress now and demand real leadership on North Korea and nuclear weapons.

Call the Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the House and Senate office you request.

Urge your members of Congress to speak out publicly and forcefully in support of a "diplomatic surge," as Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called for.


Talking Points to Guide Your Call:

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I'm calling from [CITY, STATE].

I am deeply concerned about the crisis with North Korea and the prospects for a devastating war that could end up as a nuclear conflict.

It is critical that [LEGISLATOR] speak out public and forcefully for diplomacy.

Senator Ben Cardin has called for a global diplomatic surge. [LEGISLATOR] should show the same leadership and call for the United States to refrain from words and actions that make war more likely.
[LEGISLATOR] should speak out about why war must be avoided at all costs.

And [LEGISLATOR] should call for the administration to pursue direct talks with North Korea and also actively work with allies and all of the countries in the region, including China, North Korea, Japan, Russia, and South Korea to develop diplomatic solutions to this crisis.
Thank you for your time.

If you reach voicemail, feel free to leave a message. Please leave your full street address and zip code to ensure your call is tallied. Once you're done, feel free to call the switchboard again to contact your remaining members of Congress.

- Union of Concerned Scientists 

Urge JPMorgan Chase to #DefundTarSands

Today Rainforest Action Network showed up in downtown Denver to tell Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, to stop funding human rights abuses and climate disaster.

Join us and Telll JPMorgan Chase to #DefundTarSands

JPMorgan Chase is the #1 Wall Street funder of tar sands oil--one of the dirtiest forms of fossil fuels on the planet. Not only do TAR SANDS = GAME OVER for the climate, all projects associated with tar sands production wreak havoc on Indigenous, frontline, and fenceline communities.

Despite Indigenous and grassroots opposition, JPMorgan Chase is bankrolling ALL four proposed tar sands pipelines: TransCanada's Keystone XL and Energy East, Enbridge's Line 3 and Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain.

We are demanding that JPMorgan Chase not only stop funding tar sands pipelines, but end financing to the tar sands sector as a whole.

Tell JPMorgan Chase to protect Indigenous rights and the environment.

We need to make it clear to JPMorgan Chase (and banks in general) that the funding of extreme fossil fuels like tar sands is no longer acceptable. We will not tolerate threats to our health, land, and water.

Extreme energy means extreme weather. Climate change is not a threat of the future, but a major issue here now--back-to-back disasters like Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma have made that clear. We must act now to to move towards a climate stable future.

This is your chance to tell Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase to defund one of the worst of the worst extreme fossil fuels, tar sands.

We need your voice — today. Tell JPMorgan Chase that you expect banks to live up to their commitments to Indigenous rights and the environment.

-Tess Geyer, Climate and Energy Network Organizer,
Rainforest Action Network

Tell Congress: Pass the Do No Harm Act

The petition to Congress reads:  “Pass the Do No Harm Act to ensure that no one can use the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to justify discrimination.” Add your name:

When right-wing, anti-LGBTQ extremists want to discriminate against LGBTQ people across the country, they often use religion as an excuse. Unfortunately, there is a federal law that helps protect their bigotry: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The federal RFRA was designed to protect the rights of religious minorities. Today, it is mainly used to justify discrimination, and state legislators and governors have used it to justify enacting similar legislation on a state level across the country. We have a chance to fix that. Progressive champion Rep. Joe Kennedy III, along with Rep. Bobby Scott and 50 other co-sponsors, has introduced the Do No Harm Act – long-overdue legislation to reaffirm that one person’s religious freedom can never be used to deny another one’s civil rights.1 Tell Congress: Stand with Rep. Joe Kennedy III. Pass the Do No Harm Act. Click here to sign the petition. RFRAs are helping right-wing bigots and lawmakers across the country refuse medical treatment to women and LGBTQ people, deny women reproductive health care, justify discrimination in hiring, override nondiscrimination laws, and challenge the legitimacy of state laws against child abuse and domestic violence.2 In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court made an extreme interpretation of RFRAs in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case. It ruled that for-profit businesses could exclude birth control from their employees’ health-care plans even though the Affordable Care Act mandated a birth control benefit.3 In other words, the Supreme Court allowed Hobby Lobby to withhold basic and vital health care services from their employees all across the country based on the owner’s religious beliefs. The Do No Harm Act would explicitly prevent the federal RFRA from being used by agencies and organizations that receive government funding to justify or defend discrimination in cases of wages and collective bargaining, access to health care, public accommodations, child labor and abuse, or social services.4 This legislation would create a clear distinction between religious freedom and a license to discriminate. Under the Do No Harm Act, government clerks would be prohibited from refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples; hospitals that receive government funding would be mandated to provide equal access to appropriate health care to women and transgender people; foster and adoption agencies wouldn’t be able to refuse to work with same-sex couples; and businesses wouldn’t be able to deny reproductive health care to their employees. Our lawmakers never meant for the federal RFRA to become a tool hateful right-wing bigots abuse to justify discrimination. The Do No Harm Act is a chance to fix it. Tell Congress: Stand with Rep. Joe Kennedy III. Pass the Do No Harm Act. Click here to sign the petition. Passing the Do No Harm Act will be an uphill battle, especially with our current bigoted, Republican-held Congress. But now is the moment to build momentum and make sure that all politicians know that the vast majority of Americans support equal protection under the law for LGBTQ people. Standing for equal rights is standing on the right side of history. We have to make sure that Congress feels the pressure to stand with us. Tell Congress: Pass the Do No Harm Act. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/do_no_harm_lgbtq?t=8&akid=25189%2E3130208%2EDHqWp3 -Tessa Levine, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images References: 1. ACLU, “ACLU Statement on Reintroduction of Do No Harm Act,” July 13, 2017. 2. IaN Millhiser,“If You Want To Know The Problem With Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Law, Just Ask George W. Bush,” Think Progress, March 30, 2015. 3. Jennifer C. Pizer, “Do No Harm Act Re-Introduced in Congress,” Lambda Legal, July 13, 2017. 4. Rep. Bobby Scott, “Scott, Kennedy Introduce Amendment to Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” May 18, 2016.

Protect working families: Stop Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations!

President Trump, Republican leaders in Congress and a massive special-interest lobbying machine (run by the Koch brothers and corporate America) are gearing up to give massive tax breaks to millionaires and wealthy corporations. They want to pay for them by cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and other critical services for working families.

President Trump and Republican leaders have proposed budgets that would slash between $4 trillion and $6 trillion from those services we all depend on—just so that they can afford huge tax cuts of similar amounts that would further enrich billionaires and big corporations and encourage the offshoring of jobs. This is the health care fight all over again. We can win, but only if we all speak out.

Sign the petition telling members of Congress to reject a budget that cuts Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and much more while giving massive tax breaks to the rich and powerful.

To: All members of Congress

Any tax and budget plans you support must meet the following principles:

• The wealthy and big corporations must be required to pay their fair share of taxes. They must not get one penny in new tax cuts.
• Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and services that protect the most vulnerable must not be put at risk of cuts. Congress must raise the revenue needed to fund investments that create millions of new jobs rebuilding roads and bridges, educating our children, expanding health care, researching new medical cures and ensuring a secure retirement for seniors.
• Tax breaks should be eliminated that encourage multinational corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore. Corporations should pay what they owe on current offshore profits. And Congress should not establish new tax rates for overseas earnings that encourage companies to stash money abroad.
• Congress must not use a fast-track, partisan process, known as reconciliation, to pass tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that lose revenue.

BRING ACCOUNTABILITY BACK TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

There is an epidemic of police killing and abusing Black and Brown people. And we have an Attorney General hell-bent on making sure these injustices continue for a very long time.

Communities and movements have been fighting for generations to achieve real accountability for prosecutors and police. Not only is Jeff Sessions working to dismantle that progress, he’s crafting initiatives and policies that will make these betrayals of justice even worse.

We live in a world today where we have no reliable data on how many people are shot by police officers each year. Where police can use the same weapons of war our military uses in Iraq and Afghanistan on our streets. Where prosecutors protect police departments, not the communities that elect them, and turn a blind eye to police misconduct.

Prosecutors and law enforcement should be accountable to the communities they serve, but Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department is widening the divide between police and communities and fueling mass incarceration.

We will not accept this. We must take action to ensure real accountability and community safety.

Join us in making five clear demands to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Justice Department must:

*Develop guidelines for prosecutors to shrink racial disparities, bolster accountability, and reduce mass incarceration

*Enforce requirements for data collection and reporting on police-community encounters

*De-militarizing the police

*Stop allowing police departments to profit by seizing property

*Restore community policing programs.

Sign the petition. 

Read the letter I wrote to the Phoenix Chief of Police after the police assaulted protesters at the Trump rally. 

Sign the petition to guarantee that every eligible person age 18 and up is automatically registered to vote

Voting is one of the greatest equalizers we have. Regardless of who you are or what you look like, we are all equal. Because of that we must continue to protect and expand access to the ballot box. Yet, with the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, our right to vote is under a renewed assault.

Voter ID laws, restrictions on same-day registration and early voting, gerrymandering, aggressive purges of voter rolls, and a multitude of other efforts have made voting more difficult for African-Americans, Latinos, students, and many others. Our Revolution is working to pass the Automatic Voter Registration Act (H.R. 2840) as part of the People's Platform. Add your name to our petition to guarantee that every eligible person age 18 and up is automatically registered to vote.

Our vote is how we hold our elected officials accountable to the policies we want to see passed. It is how we express our opinions in the public space. Policies pushing voter access remain just as important now as they were during the Civil Rights era.

Automatic Voter Registration will add millions of new voters to the rolls, ensuring that people are not barred from voting for want of registering on time. Add your name to our petition calling on Congress to pass H.R. 2840, the Automatic Voter Registration Act.

The struggle will always continue, but through the power of voting we have the opportunity and responsibility to create a nation that values clean water, fresh air, safe neighborhoods, and quality education for everyone.

- Nina Turner, Our Revolution

ADD YOUR NAME »

After you've signed our petition, make sure your voter registration is accurate and encourage your friends and family to check their registration as well.

"If anyone can hear us...HELP!

President Donald Trump, Majority Leader Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are failing to act to help the people of Puerto Rico survive and rebuild from the devastation of the fossil-fueled Hurricane Maria.

The 3.4 million American citizens of Puerto Rico have no representation in Congress -- they need all of us to demand action from our elected leaders.

Please add your name.

To Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress: "Aid our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico immediately, including rapid, just, and comprehensive relief and recovery legislation."

- Climate Hawks Vote

Stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger (signature needed)

The petition to the Department of Justice reads:

"Stop the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, which would hurt consumers, decrease competition and drastically increase market concentration."

Add your name:


John Oliver riffs on mergers including AT&T and Time Warner merger here.

Media consolidation is already hurting our democracy and consumer choices. Now AT&T – one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world – wants to buy Time Warner. This would be one of the biggest media mergers in history.

AT&T has a terrible track record of overcharging its customers,1 spying on them2 and opposing consumer protections like net neutrality.3 The new supersized AT&T could control both internet access and internet content for hundreds of millions of people.

Before that happens, the Department of Justice (DOJ) must approve or reject the $85 billion deal. The DOJ has been investigating for more than nine months, and if it rules against the merger, this dangerous deal won't happen.

Tell the Department of Justice: Stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Click here to sign the petition.

These companies already have vast control over our media landscape. AT&T is the second-largest wireless and third-largest broadband company in the United States, and the company recently purchased DirecTV in another big merger. Time Warner is the owner of HBO, CNN, TBS and Warner Brothers. If this deal goes through, AT&T will control mobile and wired internet access, the largest satellite TV provider, cable and news channels, movie franchises, a major film studio, and much more.

Acquiring Time Warner's popular content would give AT&T the incentive and means to throttle speeds or limit availability for its competitors' content. Such behavior would be illegal under today's strong net neutrality rules. But with Trump's FCC now actively working to reverse them, AT&T could soon be able to prioritize its own content and make it even harder for other companies to compete.

Even worse, industry insiders say that if the merger is successful, other cable and satellite companies will seek similar deals with wireless companies and content firms.4 These larger mega-corporations would mean higher prices, lower wages, less competition and fewer jobs.

Just as important, less media diversity means a less-informed public and worse political outcomes. As fewer companies own more sources of news and information, these entities have greater and greater power to shape how we see the world. Consolidation in the media and telecommunications industries is not just harmful to our economy, it is simply bad for our democracy.

Tell the Department of Justice: Stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Click here to sign the petition.

In the past, companies have won government approval of mergers by promising to meet special conditions that benefit the public. However, the companies have often failed to deliver on their promises to consumers and wiggled out of meager and unenforceable conditions – as in the case of the recent Comcast-NBCUniversal merger.5

The good news is that this deal is under widespread scrutiny. More than 20 state attorneys general are investigating the merger.6 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Al Franken, have loudly opposed the deal.7 Even Donald Trump opposed it while on the campaign trail, although he has been conspicuously silent since taking office.

The AT&T-Time Warner mega-merger would stifle competition and limit our media options – and it would benefit no one except the executives and shareholders involved. The DOJ has antitrust rules in place specifically to prevent just this kind of danger. Those rules must be enforced.

Tell the Department of Justice: Stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Click the link below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/att-timewarner?t=8&akid=25172%2E3130208%2ERnd1i1

- Brandy Doyle
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:



References:
Anna Werner and Megan Towey, "AT&T and DirecTV face thousands of complaints linked to overcharging, promotions," CBS News, May 16, 2017.
Anthony Cuthbertson, "AT&T spying program is ‘worse than Snowden revelations’," Newsweek, Oct. 26, 2016.
Brian Fung, "AT&T claims ‘strong’ net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That’s a big leap." Washington Post, June 18, 2014.
Cecilia Kang and Michael J. de la Merced, "AT&T’s blockbuster deal for Time Warner hangs in limbo," The New York Times, July 9, 2017.
Consumers Union, "Comcast" A history of broken promises," March 1, 2014.
Kang and de la Merced. "AT&T’s blockbuster deal for Time Warner hangs in limbo."

Tell the Bureau of Land Management to protect our public lands and keep this coal in the ground!

In the age of Trump’s anti-climate administration, it's easy to feel discouraged about the future of our country's climate policies. But time and time again we've seen that continuing to fight together, across all legal means, is our best chance for protecting our future and our climate.

Despite the Trump Administration’s plans to help fossil fuel giants, we are still winning. In the last month, the Sierra Club has won three landmark court cases regarding the government’s obligation to take into account the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects.1, 2 These rulings are good news for climate advocates and for those that care about our public lands. We are continuing to push back against the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda, and we want your help.

Right now, the Bureau of Land Management is considering another massive, 441 million ton coal mine expansion on public lands in Wyoming. For context, this is more than 50 times as much coal as Colstrip, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the United States, burns in a year. Building on the success of our recent court battles, we want to drive home to the BLM that the public is watching, and that caring for our public lands requires taking into account all the costs of continuing to burn fossil fuels.

Email the Bureau of Land Management today, and tell them not to sell our climate future for short-term coal profits.

Last year, in response to public pressure, President Obama paused all leasing of coal on public lands while the Bureau of Land Management reassessed its public coal-leasing program. Thanks to hundreds of thousands of public comments, the BLM determined that it needed to update its coal-leasing program to take into account the cost of coal's damage to our health and our climate. Now, President Trump's administration is trying to disregard the will of the public, which supports investment in new clean energy technology over a dying coal industry, and we're determined to fight back.

The lands and the coal at stake in the Antelope 3 mining project in Wyoming are owned by taxpayers. This is our chance to hammer home the need for the BLM to be honest with the American people about the climate, health and economic impacts of letting the fossil fuel industry wreak havoc on our public lands.

Our goal is to drive thousands of comments into the official record, to show the BLM that people throughout this country demand policies that support and protect the long-term health of our communities and our climate.

Submit a message to the Bureau of Land Management during its scoping process today. Let the agency know its environmental analysis must include the cost of doing further damage to our climate. Let's build on these legal victories, and show our growing grassroots power. 

- Cesia Kearns
Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign

Sources:
1) Press Release: Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Hands Down Landmark Ruling on Public Lands and Climate Change, SierraClub.org, 9/15/17
2) Press Release: Court Stops Expansion of Country's Largest Proposed Underground Coal Mine Over Climate Impacts, SierraClub.org, 8/15/17

More information: http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/posts/meet-your-new-bureau-land-management-giant-seam

TAKE ACTION Coal piled eight stories high on the banks of the Columbia River is a disaster waiting to happen, but we can stop it.

Coal piled eight stories high on the banks of the Columbia River is a disaster waiting to happen, but we can stop it. Tell Cowlitz County and the Washington Department of Ecology to reject the shoreline permit for Millennium Bulk Logistics.

Northwesterners could face higher cancer rates, increased risk of rail accidents and air heavy with coal dust—all due to coal trains barreling through neighborhoods and along the shore of the Columbia River, carrying coal that will produce 2 million tons of global greenhouse gas emissions.
That is, if Cowlitz County and the Washington Department of Ecology allow the largest coal export terminal in the United States to be built in Longview, Washington.

For more than seven years, people like you across the Northwest—conservation groups, Tribes, Earthjustice’s legal team and concerned individuals—have pushed back against this massive project. With another permit application in the works, now is the time to tell Cowlitz County and Ecology to deny the permit for Millennium Bulk Logistics. This coal terminal was never a good idea, and it never will be.

Coal trains already harm our communities. One recently derailed in Montana, dumping 30 rail cars of dirty coal into the Clark Fork River, a tributary to the Columbia. Although over a month has passed, the coal is still there, settling down into the water and smoldering—on fire—on the river’s banks.

It’s a burning reminder that our clean air, clean water and public health are at risk when we transport tons of uncovered piles of dirty coal along environmentally sensitive water bodies.

There’s no good reason to invest in this climate-bomb coal terminal; we have better, cleaner options for powering our homes and communities. The terminal would increase national coal exports by 40 percent, when for years the coal industry has been in decline. Instead, we need our leaders to invest in clean energy jobs, positioning Washingtonians and Oregonians to lead and prosper in our clean energy future.

Coal piled eight stories high on the banks of the Columbia River is a disaster waiting to happen, but we can stop it.

Tell Cowlitz County and the Washington Department of Ecology to listen to the abundance of substantive critical comments from Tribes, state and federal agencies, elected leaders, health professionals and residents of the region, and reject the shoreline permit for Millennium Bulk Logistics.

- Earth Justice

Your personalized message will be added along with the following letter:

Reject the Shoreline Substantial Development and Conditional Use Permit for Millennium Bulk Terminals

Dear Senior Environmental Planner Ron Melin,

I urge Cowlitz County and the Department of Ecology to reject the Shoreline Substantial Development and Conditional Use Permit for Millennium Bulk Terminals. If built, Millennium would be the largest coal export terminal in the nation. I am certain that exporting coal does not protect local, state or national interests, and fails to meet the basic criteria for these permits.

Millennium's environmental review found that cancer rates, rail congestion and harm from climate change would increase if the 44 million-ton-per-year facility is built. These permits must be denied; they are clearly not in the public interest.

We cannot trade our clean air and water for the sake of exporting coal. Coal is a dying industry; we should instead invest in innovation and clean energy that will benefit our entire region in the long term.

I urge Cowlitz County and the Department of Ecology to review the abundance of substantive critical comments from Tribes, state and federal agencies, elected leaders, health professionals and residents of the region, and reject the Shoreline Substantial Development and Conditional Use Permit for Millennium Bulk Terminals.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Pruitt: Now is not the time to go back on clean water protections! Don't repeal the Clean Water Rule!

Thanks to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the rule that protects the drinking water for 117 million people in the United States is under attack.

Administrator Pruitt has issued a proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule, moving this country away from a commonsense safeguard that helps state and federal agencies protect our rivers, streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.

Despite the fact that a majority of people in this country consistently support stronger clean water protections, the Trump administration continues to bend to the will of oil and gas industries and Big Agriculture by repealing this important safeguard. This move weakens clean water protections across the nation, attacking our public health, the growing outdoor economy, and the fish and wildlife that depend on clean water to survive.

Let Pruitt know: Now is not the time to go back on clean water protections!

Unfortunately, this attack is just one piece of the larger effort to go after vital safeguards for clean water across the country. We need your help to elevate this issue. The EPA is looking for your input, so now is your chance to submit a comment telling the agency that you do not support repealing the Clean Water Rule!

Without the Clean Water Rule, waters across the country—and the people, wildlife and businesses that rely on them—are at risk.

We’ve come so far in the almost 45 years since the Clean Water Act was first passed, yet many of our rivers, lakes and bays are still not safe for swimming, drinking or fishing. Tell Administrator Pruitt that now is not the time to go even further backwards on water protections.

- Earth Justice 

Your personalized message will be added along with the following letter:


RE: Docket ID Number: EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0203: Comments on the Repeal and Replacement of the 2015 Definition of Waters of the U.S.

Dear Representative,
I am writing in response to your recent request for comments on the repeal of the Clean Water Rule. As someone who supports protections for this nation's waters, I strongly oppose this attack.

Before finalizing the Clean Water Rule in 2015, EPA held more than 400 meetings with stakeholders across the country, received over 1 million comments--more than 80 percent of which were in support of the rule--and published a synthesis of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed scientific publications, which showed that the small streams and wetlands the rule safeguards are vital to larger, downstream waters.

Repealing the Clean Water Rule would put many of our waters at risk, including waters that are critical for drinking water supplies, recreation, fish and wildlife. It would also affect our economy. Consumers spend $887 billion annually in outdoor recreation and the outdoor recreation economy is responsible for 7.6 million American jobs. Without protections for wetlands and small streams, the outdoor industry will likely suffer. The costs of treating our water also go up when streams and wetlands aren't protected.

Clean water is fundamental to our health and economy, something our nation recognized a long time ago in passing the Clean Water Act. I urge you to reconsider this proposal and leave the Clean Water Rule in place.