Tell your members of Congress: Reject the White House’s request for another $4.5 billion to terrorize refugees

The White House is asking for an extra $4.5 billion to target, separate, detain, and deport immigrants and asylum seekers. They’re trying to claim that some of this money is for “humanitarian” purposes, but we’ve seen enough to know that’s not true.

The Trump administration is co-opting a refugee crisis to pay for more human suffering. Here are some toplines of what they’re requesting:

• $342 million to expand even further the deadly, abusive immigration detention system to be able to detain nearly 54,000 people every day.
• $377 million to further militarize the border, including an increase in funding for “Operation Guardian” which sends the National Guard to do Border Patrol’s bidding.
• $155 million for the Department of Justice US Marshals to criminalize people seeking to claim their legal right to asylum by prosecuting them for unauthorized entry or re-entry.
• And more to lock up immigrants and refugees, separate families, and deny asylees protection from harm. You can read more in our Defund Hate resource here.

Whether Congress says Yes or No to this budget request is up to us right now. Today, join thousands of people across the country, from Bend the Arc, Indivisible and other allies, to demand immigrant justice — call your members of Congress to tell them to reject Trump's request.

Call 

1-844-332-6361

1-844-909-0232

National call-in day: Thursday, May 9th

Sample Script:

“Hi, my name is [first and last name] and I'm a constituent of [member of Congress]. How our country treats immigrants is a very important issue for me, so I'm calling to ask [member of Congress] to reject the White House’s request for another $4.5 billion to further terrorize immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. I want [member of Congress] to urge their party’s leadership to reject the White House budget request.”

More Information:

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO DEFUND HATE - Indivisible 

White House asks for $4.5 billion in emergency funds for border - CNN Newsource

White House Asks Congress for $4.5 Billion in Emergency Funds to Deal with Border Crisis -Yahoo Finance 

Tell Congress: Block and resist the Trump budget (an attack on the poor, children and the enviroment)

Petition to Congress "Block and resist the Trump budget. It is an immoral attack on the poor and essential programs like the EPA, State Department, women’s health, Medicaid and Head Start combined with a tax handout for the ultra-wealthy and subsidies for war-profiteering defense contractors." Add your name:

Donald Trump is waging war on immigrants. He is waging war on women. And his latest budget is a grotesque reminder that he is also waging all-out war on people living in poverty. Budgets are moral documents. They lay out an administration’s priorities and describe its vision for the country. It no surprise that Trump’s vision is a nightmare. Trump’s budget is an unconscionable attack on the poor with handouts for the super-rich and defense contractors.1 It supercharges cuts to programs that help people navigate and overcome poverty – and doubles down on Republicans’ racist, classist attempts to blame people living in poverty for their situation and reward the people and systems that have institutionalized poverty for millions of Americans. We need to make sure it is dead on arrival in Congress. Tell Congress: Block and resist the Trump budget. Click here to sign the petition. Medicaid, the Environmental Protection Agency, Head Start, education, housing assistance, women’s health – all of these programs and agencies face devastating cuts.The Trump budget includes more than 40 percent cuts to programs that make America stronger, healthier, better-educated and more prosperous, while funneling close to $1 trillion to war-profiteering defense contractors.2 The Trump budget would: Attack the poor. It would cut SNAP benefits – already only $1.40 per person per meal – by more than a quarter, steal health care from millions by cutting Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies, rob funding from Head Start and evict millions by slashing housing assistance at a time of out-of-control rents.3 Trump has even suggested dictating what low-income families should eat by replacing already-meager food stamps with a box of processed or canned food.4 Weaken America. Environmental Protection Agency safeguards, State Department diplomacy, FBI law enforcement, Labor Department protections, National Science Foundation research, Planned Parenthood health care and National Institutes of Health cures would all face huge funding cuts. Almost every domestic program would lose funding – even infrastructure spending, despite the Trump administration’s false promises.5 Benefit Wall Street and defense contractors. Only the ultra-wealthy and war-profiteering corporations who make billions entirely off of our tax dollars would benefit from this outrageous proposal. The budget includes more than $777 billion in new defense spending and $550 billion in new tax handouts.6 We cannot allow this nightmarish vision for America to become the new normal. Without a massive public outcry, the Trump budget might lower expectations for all future budgets even if none of it becomes law. We can’t let that happen. Tell Congress: Block and resist the Trump budget. Click here to sign the petition. The Trump budget makes it clear that only the ultra-wealthy and war-profiteering defense contractors matter in his eyes – women, children, people of color, immigrants, the environment and every person who struggles to make ends meet are on their own. It is a nightmarish and immoral vision for an America that is sicker, poorer, more endangered and less innovative. The Trump budget is an even more devastating version of the Ryan budgets that CREDO members have fought for years.7 We cannot allow the Trump-Ryan vision for the future of America to become the new normal standard in Washington – we need to speak out now. Tell Congress: Block and resist the Trump budget. Click here to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump_budget_2018?t=8&akid=27500%2E3130208%2EaAEohx - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Dylan Matthews, “Trump’s 2019 budget: what he cuts, how much he cuts, and why it matters,” Vox, Feb. 12, 2018. Ibid. Erica Hunzinger, “Trump Administration Wants To Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get,” NPR, Feb. 12, 2018. Matthews, “Trump’s 2019 budget: what he cuts, how much he cuts, and why it matters.” Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

Sign the Petition: Demand a budget that supports working families and older Americans

Donald Trump’s budget would cut more than a trillion dollars from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and trillions more from education, food stamps, infrastructure spending and more. Tell Congress to reject a budget that hurts working families just to pay for tax cuts for the rich and corporations.

Donald Trump has just proposed a new federal budget that steals from working families to pay for his massive $1.5 trillion tax cut that largely benefits the wealthy and big corporations.

As if his tax scam weren’t bad enough, he’s planning to pay for it with a budget that would slash critical services for working families and older Americans, including:

• $1.8 trillion from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and more―kicking millions of seniors, children and people with disabilities off their healthcare;
• $203 billion from student loans, making it a lot tougher for students to afford college;
• $215 billion from food stamps, hurting the health of low-income children;
• And, $1.5  trillion from hundreds of other public investments from schools to highways to medical research and environmental protection―gone!

Stand up to Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans as they attempt to devastate our earned benefits and other critical services for working families (all so they can pay for their massive tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations). Sign the petition today!

Participating organizations:

Americans for Tax Fairness

Center for American Progress

Corporate Accountability

Daily Kos

Demand Progress

EPI

Good Jobs Nation

People Demanding Action

People For the American Way

Urge your reps and senators to say NO to the dirty budget that allows Arctic Refuge drilling.

An extremely serious situation has just developed in Congress--one that could forever change our nation’s last wild frontier.

The U.S. House of Representatives has released a proposed 2018 budget that would pave the way to authorizing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic Refuge is an exceptionally wild place, home to polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen and tens of thousands of caribou. It is one of the last remnants of wild America. This is not an appropriate place for oil development, roads and noisy infrastructure. 

Unless you act now, the House will march forward with a strategy to authorize Arctic Refuge drilling through the passage of this budget.

Please urge your Representatives and Senators to say NO to this dirty budget that would allow Arctic Refuge drilling. Sign The Wilderness Society's Petition. 

Petition message: (Add a personalized message for more impact.)

The House budget for Fiscal Year 2018 includes a dirty tactic that would pave the way to authorizing oil drilling in one of America’s last wild, pristine and untouched places—Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In the strongest possible terms, I urge you to oppose it.

Voters see through this sneaky assault on their public lands. By including instructions for the House Natural Resources Committee to generate $5 billion over 10 years, the House is ignoring the will of the American people and attempting to force drilling in the Arctic Refuge via a budget reconciliation bill.

American voters have opposed Arctic Refuge drilling for decades, and we still do. It is too wild to drill. We have a moral obligation to protect this place, and you must oppose the House’s dirty budget.

The Arctic Extinction Game: brought to you by President Trump and oil/gas drilling.

Wanna play? 

According to President Trump, gutting the programs that safeguard our environment and health isn't enough. His new budget would also open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to dirty, dangerous oil and gas drilling.

The Arctic Refuge in Alaska is our nation's largest denning site for pregnant polar bears. It's the last home to hundreds of shaggy muskoxen. It's a birthing ground for tens of thousands of Porcupine caribou. We should protect this untouched wilderness with everything we've got — not turn it over to fossil fuel companies that would decimate this natural treasure to make a quick buck.

Tell Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain and Rep. Martha McSally to protect the Arctic Refuge by opposing Trump's disastrous budget plan.

President Trump just released his detailed budget plan to fund the government next year, and the cuts are horrifying.

The budget slashes funding for nearly every program to protect our environment, our climate, our lands and our health — all to fund massive tax cuts for corporate polluters.

Only Congress can stop him now. Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain and Representative Martha McSally need to hear from you today, Jana. Tell them to stop Trump's draconian budget plan from ever becoming law!

This so-called "plan" is a colossal tax break for the corporate polluters who back Trump and his anti-environment allies in the House and Senate.

If this budget makes it through Congress, the impacts on our environment and our public health could hurt generations of Americans.

Here's a small sample of some of the most egregious cuts:

*A 31% cut to the EPA's budget, eliminating a quarter of its staff and slashing enforcement, clean water, clean air, toxic cleanup and energy efficiency programs — crippling the agency's ability to fulfill its mission of protecting the environment and our health. Contact your legislators now and tell them it's unacceptable. 

*A 70% cut to programs to expand energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and clean energy jobs. Your representatives need to hear from you. 

*Huge cuts to the Interior Department, which oversees national parks and public lands, while assuming massive revenue increases from ramped up fossil fuel development on public lands. Tell Congress to stop this dirty budget NOW! 

*Severe reductions to NASA and NOAA climate change monitoring and adaptation programs, depriving us of knowledge we need to effectively fight climate change and prepare for more extreme weather scenarios. Don't wait to take action.

It's Congress's responsibility to stop this dangerous plan in its tracks. We need to start fresh with a responsible budget that puts people first — not polluters. But many legislators won't risk going against the White House unless they know that pro-environment voters like you are watching and prepared to rise up against those who sell out our planet and our public health.

Tell Congress to oppose this budget — an outrageous, all-out assault on our right to a safe and healthy environment.

Trump's dirty budget won't be finalized until fall, so in the weeks and months ahead, NRDC Action Fund and NRDC will be pushing back — and pushing back hard. NRDC policy experts are working on Capitol Hill to line up opposition in Congress. And we'll mobilize our hundreds of thousands of supporters via online petition drives, phone banks, town halls and face-to-face meetings with representatives.

Together, we will send a message to Washington and the world loud and clear: We refuse to allow President Trump and his allies in Congress to use the federal budget to devastate our environment and violate our rights... all to fund tax cuts for corporate polluters.

- Rhea Suh, President, NRDC Action Fund

Trump's budget is a corporate-influenced plan to put profits ahead of people. Time for THE PEOPLE'S BUDGET!

Yesterday, the Trump administration released its proposed budget -- and it was nothing but a wish list of tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working-class and poor Americans.

This budget shows where the Trump administration thinks the focus of the country should be. As it's written, the Trump budget:

• Slashes Medicaid and anti-poverty efforts, including food stamps and programs that feed kids without enough to eat
• Guts the EPA -- threatening the air we breathe, the water we drink and our climate for the next generation
• Calls for more than $1.6 billion to fund Trump's fanatical, inhumane border wall with Mexico
• But, most importantly to Trump, his proposed budget gives massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, giant corporations, and special interest groups

The Trump budget is a corporate-influenced Republican plan to put profits ahead of people.

That's why members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus released the People's Budget: a plan for how we can return economic and political power back to the people.

If you're with us, will you add your name in support of the People's Budget today? Help us send a message to Trump that we won't stop fighting back against his abandonment of American values.

Our People's Budget is a commitment to our communities and the values we fight for. Unlike the Republican alternatives that prioritize corporations and the ultra-rich, the People's Budget focuses on working families, people of color, women, and seniors -- and aims to decrease the economic inequality that plagues so many of our communities.

And, unlike Trump's budget, our People's Budget ensures that working-class Americans have the opportunities they need to get ahead.

- Raúl Grijalva

Trump's budget is out, and it's a killer.

Proposed cuts mean hundreds of thousands of more asthma attacks, heart attacks, and premature deaths from slashing basic enforcement and cleanup programs, meaning dirtier air and water, all thanks to giant giveaways to corporate polluters.

Luckily, presidents don't set the final budget, Congress does. When Trump and anti-environment radicals tried to make these cuts earlier this year, your calls and emails shut it down-- protecting funding for the EPA, national parks, and clean air and water.^[1]

Now let's do it again. Tell your member of Congress to protect clean air, clean water, our shared public lands, and the climate.

Proposed major cuts in Trump's "fat cat" budget include^[2]:

• A 31% cut to EPA's budget, specifically to enforcement and climate programs which will mean more pollution. Also cut-- popular regional cleanup programs to the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and even cuts to Superfund.
• An 84% cut to the National Park Service.
• An 88% cut to the US Forest Service.
• An 89% cut to the Bureau of Land Management.
• A 66% to the Fish and Wildlife Service

Our air, our water, our climate, and our public lands belong to all of us. If we don't protect them, more people will get sick, more will die, and we will lose our public lands to greedy millionaires and billionaires who want to drill, frack, and mine in them. 

Tell your member of Congress to protect our air, water, public lands and climate. Budget cuts like these have real impacts on real people in your communities.

Kirin Kennedy
Lands and Wildlife, Sierra Club

References

[1] 14 Ways Trump Lost Bigly on the Budget Deal #3 No Cuts to EPA

[2] EPA remains top target with Trump administration proposing 31 percent budget cut

The People's Budget

The Trump administration is trying to cut funding for the arts and social service programs at the expense of working people and communities of color. But we have a proactive solution that funds the America we want to see an America that works for all people. This budget invests in America’s infrastructure, bolsters our commitment to renewable energy and green jobs, protects and expands healthcare for millions of Americans, ensures fair elections, and does all of this and more by ending corporate tax breaks, taxing Wall Street, and reducing military spending.

Tell your representative that you support the Congressional Progressive Caucus Alternative Budget today!

We all know: when it comes to improving economic prosperity, too many hardworking Americans have been left behind. Our economic and political system has lost sight of what matters most: We the People.

Luckily, while the Trump administration’s federal budget proposes tax cuts for the rich and increased military spending at the expense of vital social service programs, working people, and communities of color, there is a progressive alternative: the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s People’s Budget: A Roadmap for the Resistance.

Now more than ever, it is critical that we have a federal budget that reflect the needs of ordinary Americans around the country, not the wealthiest one percent and corporations.

The FY 2018 Congressional Progressive Caucus Alternative Budget, The People's Budget: A Roadmap for the Resistance tackles systemic issues with comprehensive solutions, from the impact of climate change on rural communities and communities of color, to implementing criminal justice reforms, to repairing and replacing outdated infrastructure to create millions of sustainable, good paying jobs all over the country.

Among many important provisions to improve our nation, the People’s Budget will:

*Invest $2 trillion in America’s infrastructure to transition to a 21st Century economy and transform our energy, water and transportation systems

*Expand our commitment to efficient renewable energy and green jobs, including job assistance and training for those transitioning from fossil fuel to clean energy jobs

*Invest $100 billion to increase affordable access to reliable, high-speed internet

*Protect and expand affordable healthcare for millions of Americans, including support for states to transition to a single-payer healthcare system and provisions to lower prescription drug prices

*Create and promote a fair tax system that benefits working families by ending tax loopholes, corporate giveaways and tax breaks for billionaires and Wall Street and ensuring that billionaires and Wall Street pay their fair share of taxes

*End corporate tax breaks for offshoring American jobs and profits

*Tax Wall Street to fund Main Street

*Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Care Credit

*Ensure fair elections by increasing funding for voter protection and legal assistance programs and strengthening key election integrity reforms

*Advance criminal justice reform and promote safety of American communities by developing community oriented policing reforms, increasing funding to address hate crimes, and promoting policies and initiatives to significantly reduce gun violence

*Curb special interest and dark money influence in politics by ensuring public financing of campaigns

*Expand affordable housing for low-income Americans by increasing Community Development Block Grants and HOME funds to cities, allocating $32 billion for Public Housing repairs, ensuring 100% of operating needs for Public Housing, adding 400,000 new Section 8 Vouchers and fully funding the End Homelessness Act

*Reduce military spending by eliminating unneeded weapons and reducing rather than increasing the US nuclear arsenal, to fully fund badly needed social programs rather than the profit margins of giant military contractors

Will you join us in petitioning the House of Representatives to take up a budget that works for all the American people?

Good news! Our activism pays off as Trump's budget is rejected

Some good news! Our activism has paid off! In the spending agreement that was reached last night to keep the government funded until the end of September:

*Trump's wall did not get funded. 1) The measure that did get passed put a strict limit on the amount of money that can be used for border security - making it almost impossible for Trump to pay for starting his wall. 2) No funding can be cut for "sanctuary cities." 3) No money for a deportation force in ICE.

*Trump wanted to cut the National Institutes of Health by 1/3. But it got a 2 billion dollar boost!

*Trump wanted cuts in all scientific inquiry.. But there were nearly NO cuts in scientific budgets.

*Instead of the 1/3 cut in the EPA, it was cut by just 1% and there were no staff cuts.

*No cuts in Planned Parenthood!

*Trump got 1/2 of what he wanted for the military.

*They did not fund the justice department in stopping medical marijuana in states where it was legalized.

*The subsidies built into the affordable care act will continue.

The United States and the American people came out on top! This gives me hope in our checks and balances and that our activism is working!

But our activism continues to be important. This spending agreement lasts until September.  Trump will continue to enact executive orders and his cabinet members will continue to wreak havoc in their departments. We must stay diligent! 

Call your members of Congress and demand they fight for clean air and water today

As I’m writing this, Congress is gearing up to decide whether the air we breathe and the water we drink will be protected for future generations.

Last month, Donald Trump proposed a federal budget that includes a staggering 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — slashing programs that protect children from lead exposure and fight air pollution in our cities. [1]

In the next two weeks, Congress decides whether or not that budget passes. We cannot let that happen. Please, call your members of Congress at 1-877-969-2590 and demand they fight for clean air and water today!

Trump’s budget would cut funding for:

*Clean Air Act programs that have reduced emissions of six harmful air pollutants by 70 percent in the last 40 years.

*State and local government initiatives that protect fresh water and allow communities to meet health-based drinking water standards.

*The entire EPA environmental justice office.

*Scientific research on climate change and the health impacts of toxins in our environment.

Where would that money go? Not to taxpayers — to the Department of Defense for “more warships and fighter jets.” [2]

We have to resist this attack on our health and communities! Call 1-877-969-2590 today and ask Congress to protect funding for a clean and healthy environment.

Congress has until April 28 to pass a budget, which means that right now is our best chance to make sure that budget includes protections for the air we breathe and the water we drink. Democrat or Republican, your representatives need to hear from you.

Your action has moved Congress and thwarted Trump’s dangerous agenda before. Your phone calls and Town Hall visits made his deplorable cabinet nominations the most contested in history, ensured his inhumane healthcare bill was dead on arrival, and helped push extremist Steve Bannon off the National Security Council.

Now we need to do it again to protect our health and environment. Call your Congress members at 1-877-969-2590 and be a voice for healthy communities and environmental protection!

Gutting the EPA would be nothing short of life-threatening for millions of Americans. Jana, we need you now more than ever in the fight for clean air and water — I know you won’t let me down.

Yours in resistance,

Rachel Rye Butler
RESIST Project Team, Greenpeace USA

P.S. I got off the line with my representatives this morning, and it felt good to stand up for the healthy environment our communities deserve. Will you join me? Call 1-877-969-2590 today to protect programs that clean our air and water.


[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/trumps-budget-would-mean-less-money-for-clean-air-and-water-more-money-for-war/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-budget-proposal.htm

President’s budget proposal to eliminate federal library funding 'counterproductive and short-sighted'

WASHINGTON, DC — In response to President Trump's proposal to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services in his FY2018 budget, American Library Association (ALA) President Julie Todaro today issued the following statement:

"The President's proposal to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in his FY2018 budget just released, and with it effectively all federal funding for libraries of all kinds, is counterproductive and short-sighted. The American Library Association will mobilize its members, Congressional library champions and the millions upon millions of people we serve in every zip code to keep those ill-advised proposed cuts from becoming a Congressional reality.  Libraries leverage the tiny amount of federal funds they receive through their states into an incredible range of services for virtually all Americans everywhere to produce what could well be the highest economic and social "ROI" in the entire federal budget.

“The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funded through IMLS is the primary annual source of funding for libraries in the federal budget. IMLS distributes the majority of LSTA funds to every state in the nation according to a population-based formula. Each state library determines how to best spend its allocated federal funds, which must be matched at the state level. The range of services provided to millions of Americans through LSTA grants is matched only by the creativity of the libraries that receive them: veterans transitioning to civilian life, small businesses seeking to expand their business online, summer reading programs, resources for blind and hearing-impaired patrons, resume writing and job skills workshops and computer coding courses to teach youth 21st century job skills.

"America's more than 120,000 public, school, college and university and many other libraries are not piles of archived books. They're trusted centers for education, employment, entrepreneurship and free inquiry at the core of communities in every state in the country – and in every Congressional district. And they’re staffed by the original search engines: skilled and engaged librarians."

Shawnda Hines

American Library Association

Check out Trump's proposed budget cuts. This affects our quality of life as Americans!

I've been up all night studying Trump's proposed budget cuts. And it's shocking! We need to keep on top of what is going on in our government.

"Trump’s budget takes a sledgehammer to the EPA. Eliminates more than 50 programs and 3,200 jobs lost. Discontinues funding for international climate-change programs. Cuts funding for the Office of Research and Development in half. Cuts funding for the Superfund cleanup program and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance."

The cuts to the EPA alone eliminates more than 3,200 jobs. Now compare that to the 40 jobs the Nestle bottling facility brings to Phoenix (to bottle up AZ. CAP water) or the 400 Green Valley miners who were let go when the mine was deemed "not profitable enough."

"Climate change and ocean research would suffer sharp cuts in the Trump budget proposal for the Commerce Department, which aims for a reduction of 16 percent, or $1.5 billion, much of that targeted at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Commerce cuts would eliminate $ 250 million in coastal research programs that prepare communities for rising seas and worsening storms, including the popular $73 million Sea Grant program, which works with universities in 33 states.

But scientists, including a former NOAA administrator, Jane Lubchenco, strongly criticized the proposed cuts when they were reported on previously, saying that they would harm coastal readiness in the face of rising seas and damage states that rely on these funds to manage their shorelines."

"The EDUCATION DEPARTMENT faces a 14 percent cut under the Trump administration budget, which would downsize or eliminate a raft of grants, including for teacher training, afterschool programs, and aid to low-income and minority college students. The cuts would be coupled with a historic investment — $1.4 billion — in charter schools, private schools and other school-choice initiatives."

This is just the tip of the sinking iceberg. Check out the proposed budget cuts for yourself - then speak out! This is about our quality of life as Americans: our education, our health, our arts, our public lands and national parks, our animals, our rivers and streams, even the water we drink and the air we breath. This is about the science and innovations that make us a world power. This is about being a compassionate nation. This is about taking care of our own - our elderly and our children. This is about protecting freedom and the American Dream. The American Dream is providing a BETTER LIFE for our children.

It's time we asked ourselves, "What makes America great?"And fight like the dickens for it.