Quick links:
- Last chance to buy tickets for Understanding Autocracy: An Evening with Sarah Kendzior
- Read how your actions made a difference this week
- Keep Calling: CHIP is Still not Funded
- Tell John Cornyn to Withdraw Support for Judicial Nominee Jeff Mateer
The House is in recess this week. Calls to make and Austin-area events are below.
Calls to Make This Week
Call Cruz, Cornyn & Attorney General Ken Paxton About Trump’s Decision to End CSR Payments
A worst-case scenario came true: the administration has announced that it will end the cost-sharing reduction payments, or CSRs, that lower out-of-pocket costs for low income enrollees. This may take effect immediately. And Sen. Cornyn has expressed concern, stating “I’m not for further complicating the lives of Texans just to make a point.” So there is hope for a bipartisan remedy!
But remember! The ACA is still here, financial assistance is still available, and we need to help people get enrolled for 2018.
Get more information and scripts here >>
Join Cover Texas Now’s statewide ACA outreach and enrollment effort >>
Tell Cruz, Cornyn, and Your House Representative to Cosponsor the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act
Trump’s statements on nuclear weapons indicate both an unhealthy obsession and a complete lack of understanding of how they work. This is beyond dangerous. Call your MoCs and demand they constrain Trump’s authority to use nuclear weapons by co-sponsoring the “Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act” (H.R. 669 in the House and S. 200 in the Senate).
We’re helping Global Zero form an Austin chapter to fight nuclear proliferation. Find out how! >>
Support Puerto Rico: Tell Cruz, Cornyn, and Your House Representative to Rescind the Jones Act for Areas that Receive Federal Disaster Aid
We’re just going to say it: Trump’s attitude toward Puerto Ricans is racist as hell. On Sept. 2, after Hurricane Harvey, he promised help to Texas “EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and rebuild!” On Oct. 12, after Hurricane Maria, he tweeted “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military, and First Responders… in P.R. forever!”
Just so you can see them side-by-side, here is Trump on Texas vs PR. Wonder what the difference is. Hmmm… pic.twitter.com/5QWEAPgWG7
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) October 12, 2017
Last week Congress finally passed an aid package, which included assistance for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with Texas. But the Jones Act, which forbids non-US ships from delivering aid, is back in effect. Ask your MoC to amend the Jones Act so it does not apply to areas that are receiving federal disaster aid.
Special call for constituents of Rep. Roger Williams (TX-25): Ask why he voted against the latest relief package.
Read more about Hurricane Maria Relief >>
Thank Rep. Lloyd Doggett for Standing Firm Against the NRA
Call Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s office at (512) 916-5921 to thank him for his statement after the Las Vegas shooting. Here is that statement:
“Apparently this massacre has moved even the NRA to acquiesce in one narrow bump stock provision in order to bump consideration of any other gun safety measures,” Doggett said in a statement. “One and done is not enough. Republicans want much more than their pending bill to loosen restrictions on gun silencers. They are still trying to silence full, fair, bipartisan debate on meaningful ways to make our families safer, such as closing the gun show loophole.”
Events
Wednesday, Oct.18
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Meet & Confer Police Contract Negotiations public meeting II. Please support Austin Justice Coalition just by showing up at the public, city negotiation meeting. If you were to ever get involved with police reform in the city of Austin, now is the time. Campaign Zero analyzed Austin’s police contract and determined it to be the worst in Texas and one of the worst in the nation.
Thursday, Oct. 19
- Sign the petition to stop Alirio Gámez’s deportation. Indivisible Austin is sponsoring this petition today. Help prevent the deportation of this El Salvadoran immigrant receiving sanctuary at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin.
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Meet & Confer Police Contract Negotiations public meeting III. Please support Austin Justice Coalition just by showing up at the public, city negotiation meeting. If you were to ever get involved with police reform in the city of Austin, now is the time. Campaign Zero analyzed Austin’s police contract and determined it to be the worst in Texas and one of the worst in the nation.
- 7 p.m. Understanding Autocracy: An Evening with Sarah Kendzior, Asian-American Resource Center, 8401 Cameron Road. Indivisible Austin is proud to present the first in a series of guest speakers on authoritarianism and Trump. (Tickets: $25.)
Friday, Oct. 20
- 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jeff Sessions in Austin — NOT IN OUR CITY, 816 Congress Ave.
Saturday, Oct. 21
- 9 to 10 a.m. Coffee with Beto in Round Rock. Star Coffee, 201 E. Main St.
Sunday, Oct. 22
- 1 to 2:30 p.m. Town Hall with Beto in Austin. Beto O’Rourke will be hosting a town hall with the University Democrats in Texas’s 25th Congressional District. Burdine Hall, Room 106, 2505 University Ave.
Monday, Oct. 23
- 7 p.m. America Ferrera’s “Out of Reach” at Alamo Drafthouse – Mueller FREE screening co-hosted by Workers Defense Project, Indivisible Austin, RAICES, and Working Films. Out of Reach follows actress America Ferrera as she travels to Texas in the final months of the Obama administration to find out how immigration policies affect the 1.65 million undocumented people currently living in the state. Screening will be followed by discussion with local leaders on strategies to resist SB4.
Tuesday, October 24
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Meet & Confer Police Contract Negotiations public meeting IV. Please support Austin Justice Coalition just by showing up at the public, city negotiation meeting. If you were to ever get involved with police reform in the city of Austin, now is the time. Campaign Zero analyzed Austin’s police contract and determined it to be the worst in Texas and one of the worst in the nation.