As you all know (unless you’ve been hiding under a rock in a deep, dark cave) we will see some significant changes in government this coming January when the Republican Horde arrives to take over Washington D.C.
The current Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, per Jonathan Chait on NYMag.com, “Paul Ryan Says Medicare Privatization Is On”. In a recent appearance on FoxNews Ryan told Brett Baier, “Because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke.”
Which Chait and MSNBC have both identifed as a lie, because the opposite is actually true. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA/Obamacare) has reduced inflation in medical spending and reduced costs and has extended the lifespan of the Medicare Trust Fund by more than a decade. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities “Medicare is not bankrupt and healthcare reform has improved the program’s financing.”
Perhaps the Republicans have forgotten that this is something which George W Bush proposed and got smacked down hard for, the result of the 2006 mid-terms was The People’s response, turning the (D) 44 — (R) 55 configuration of the Senate into a (D) 49 — (R) 49 with 2 Independent seats (Bernie Sanders’ first term and Joe Lieberman’s last).
None of which is likely to sway Republican plans to hold another vote to repeal the PPACA in the opening days of the 115th Congress once Ryan takes up the Gavel in the U.S. House — and this time they’ll have a majority in the U.S. Senate willing to accede, but more importantly, a Republican President who may well sign such a bill if it ends up on his desk.
The incoming Trump Administration is floating his Cabinet picks, and Mother Jones covers the publicly identifiied possibilities in a piece (quite accurately) titled “Trump's Cabinet Is Going to Be as Bonkers as You Thought. Buckle up.” From Chris Christie to Sarah Palin (yeah, you thought you’d heard the last of her, but zombies never die — because they’re already dead!) and bad and worse options for seats in Interior and Attorney General and the rest of the 15 current Cabinet seats. Because Trump noted during the campaigning that he would lean towards getting rid of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Sure, why not, the environment is in great shape “Believe me!”
These and a whole host of other bad acts are already on the agenda. Come January 3, 2017, the new Congress will be sworn in and installed and ready to open for business.
Unless WE do something, that business will include the destruction of the progress of the past 60 years, across the board.
"But what can I do,” you may be asking, “didn’t I vote for someone else, isn’t that my part? What else can we voters do now? The election is over.”
Well, yes — and no. The election is over. But we citizens have an ace in the hole which we need to pull out and slap down on the table before that new Congress opens it’s first day of business.
The good news?
It is as easy as picking up your phone (I kid, I know it’s in your hands already, you can’t put that thing down and you know it) and calling the LOCAL office of your DEMOCRATIC U.S. Senators.
You don’t have one of those? Call the D.C. Office of outgoing Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada OR likely incoming Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer. BE SURE to note that you are calling them because you don’t have a Democratic Senator in your state.
Why should you call them? I’ve long known that there is a heirarchy to the value Federal politicians place on the ways the public and their constituents contact them. The top of that list is the simple phone call, and the type of call which is valued the most are those made to local offices by constituents.
This was reaffirmed to me recently on Twitter in this series of posts by Emily Ellsworth. If you click on this Tweet it will allow you to read the entire series of tweets which send an important message to all of us looking for ways to leverage what power we still have in this new President #TinyGrabbyHands world:
A bit down into the series you’ll find this:
The last one explains our goal.
A coordinated pattern of calling
What do you say when you call?
First up — BE NICE, don’t yell. The people you will speak with are as hurt as you are by the recent election. They will WANT to hear this message from you, I promise you.
These offices are only open on WEEKDAYS. You will only be able to leave a voice message if you call on weekends or evenings.
LIVE CALLS all during this coming week, beginning on Monday and lasting until Thanksgiving is my goal.
Here is your script:
Hi, this is Angela Marx, I’m a constituent from Clark County, in Vancouver, precinct 426.
I’m calling to urgently request that once the new Congress opens on January 3rd, that our Democratic Senators protect us from the incoming Republican SuperMajority with the one tool that can SAVE the PPACA and stop them from Destroying Medicare.
I want the Democratic Senators to start using the Filibuster AND the Cloture Rule to obstruct every action of the Republicans which could take away our hard-won benefits, like Healthcare.
I am terrified of what will happen to us if the Democratic Senators don’t protect us.
The Republicans used Cloture to obstruct Democratic GOOD for eight years, NOW, we need the Democrats to use Cloture to prevent the Republicans from doing harm.
If you need to find out what your Precint is?
Look at your Voter ID Card if you have one. Contact your Local Democratic County Party — Start here at the Democrats.org website for State Parties. Call your Local County Voting and Elections Department.
How to contact YOUR Democratic Senator
REMEMBER it’s crucial you call your own state Senator. As CONSTITUENTS your voices carry far more weight and in fact, most Senators will discount messaging from non-constituents.
Calling your Democratic Senator — These are the currently sitting Democratic U.S. Senators and the links to their offical Senate page with the Local Office phone numbers in your state (arranged alphabetically by State). I’ve listed incoming Senators and how to reach out to them, too.
States not listed have only Republican Senators
A state with only one listed Senator has a Republican in the 2nd seat
I have personally checked each page, sometimes you need to look for the names of the cities of the local offices on either a left or right hand vertical menu, or you might have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, but on each of these pages there IS either a link to a number of local offices or the phone numbers for their local offices at the page you arrive on.
If all else fails and you can’t find a local office or a link to one MOUSE OVER the page, a number of them have images which, when you mouse-over them, display the local office and contact number.
California
Barbara Boxer Local Offices
Kamala Harris will be replacing the retiring Barbara Boxer, please ask her to convey your message to her.
Diana Feinstein Local Offices
Colorado
Michael Bennett Local Offices
Connecticut
Richard Blumenthal Local Offices
Christopher Murphy local offices
Delaware
Tom Carper Local Offices
Chris Coons Local Offices
Florida
Bill Nelson Local Offices
Hawaii
Mazie Hirono Local Offices
Brian Schatz Local Offices
Illinois
Richard (Dick) Durbin Local Offices
Tammy Duckworth will be replacing (R) Mark Kirk in January, but she is currently serving in the U.S. House. Please call her House Local Offices
Indiana
Joe Donnelly Local Offices
Maryland
Benjamin (Ben) Cardin Local Offices
Barbara Mikulski Local Offices
Newly elected Chris Van Hollen is replacing retiring Barbara Mikulski, please contact him at his U.S. House Local Offices
Massachusetts
Edward Markey Local Offices
Elizabeth Warren Local Offices
Michigan
Gary Peters Local Offices
Debbie Stabenow Local Offices
Minnesota
Al Franken Local Offices
Amy Klobuchar Local Offices
Missouri
Claire McCaskill Local Offices
Montana
John Tester Local Offices
Nevada
Harry Reid Local Offices
Harry Reid will be replaced by Catherine Cortez Masto in January.
Please mention you want Senator Reid to convey this message to her.
New Hampshire
Current Governor Maggie Hassan will be replacing Kelly Ayotte in January, please contact her at the New Hampshire Governor’s office
Jeanne Shaheen Local Offices
New Jersey
Cory Booker Local Offices
Robert Menendez Local Offices
New Mexico
Martin Heinrich Local Offices
Tom Udall Local Offices
New York
Kirsten Gillibrand Local Offices
Chuck Schumer Local Offices
INCOMING Minority Leader Call him if you have NO Democratic Senator
North Dakota
Heidi Heitkamp Local Offices
Ohio
Sherrod Brown Local Offices
Oregon
Jeff Merkley Local Offices
Ron Wyden Local Offices
Pennsylvania
Robert (Bob) Casey Local Offices
Rhode Island
Jack Reed Local Offices
Sheldon Whitehouse Local Offices
Virginia
Tim Kaine Local Offices
Mark Warner Local Offices
Vermont
Patrick (Pat) Leahy Local Offices
Bernard (Bernie) Sanders Local Offices
Washington
Maria Cantwell Local Offices
Patty Murray Local Offices
Wisconsin
Tammy Baldwin Local Offices
West Virginia
Joe Manchin Local Offices
They must hear this message BEFORE the new Congress starts, so that they can be ready to go to mats for us the day it opens on January 3, 2017.
The future looks bleak, there is no way to deny it.
But we have elected these people to represent us, and we’ve never needed their representation, and for them to carry our voice and our wishes into the Floor of the U.S. Senate, more.
Please, I beg of you, SHARE THIS MESSAGE EVERYWHERE.
UPDATE:
Per the poll responses, I will be posting a companion piece either later today or early tomorrow morning circa 10-11 am EST for calls to Republican Senators and U.S. House members.
