THE CLASSROOM. #20.
ANAY BICKHAM, DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA.
WHAT HAPPENED IN ARIZONA IS UNACCEPTABLE.
I’ve lived in Phoenix for more than 20 years -- and what I witnessed last Tuesday during Arizona’s presidential primary is unacceptable.
Election Day should have gone smoothly. In the days leading up to the election, people were excited. But when I went to my polling place on Tuesday, long lines stretched around the building -- and people were visibly angry and frustrated.
I wasn’t alone. According to news reports, voters stood in lines for hours in several locations -- some as long as 5 hours or more. Only 60 polling sites were open in Maricopa County -- the most diverse, populated county in the region with the highest voter turnout in Arizona. Many people were turned away or walked away -- unable to vote.
I wasn’t alone. According to news reports, voters stood in lines for hours in several locations -- some as long as 5 hours or more. Only 60 polling sites were open in Maricopa County -- the most diverse, populated county in the region with the highest voter turnout in Arizona. Many people were turned away or walked away -- unable to vote.
Believe it or not, Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell -- who has been in charge of elections and making sure every vote counts in the county since 1988 -- immediately defended herself, answering a reporter's question by asserting that voters were to blame:
"Well, the voters for getting in line, maybe us for not having enough voting places."
Last Wednesday, during a county board meeting Purcell changed her tune by taking responsibility. But this is not enough.
Purcell's outrageous decision to close 140 of 200 polling places disenfranchised marginalized communities from the voting process. For voters who were able to travel long distances to one of these polling places, many were turned away.
For decades, Arizona has been at the forefront of voter suppression -- disenfranchising Black and Latino communities. During last Tuesday's primary, it happened again, as some areas largely populated by residents of color had only one polling place or no polling place at all. As Ari Berman in The Nation wrote:
"Election officials said they reduced the number of polling sites to save money -- an ill-conceived decision that severely inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of voters. Previously, Maricopa County would have needed to receive federal approval for reducing the number of polling sites, becauseArizona was one of sixteen states where jurisdictions with a long history of discrimination had to submit their voting changes under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
"This type of change would very likely have been blocked since minorities comprise 40 percent of Maricopa County’s population and reducing the number of polling places would have left minority voters worse off… But after the Supreme Court gutted the [Voting Rights Act] in 2013, Arizona could make election changes without federal oversight.
"The long lines in Maricopa County last night were the latest example of the disastrous consequences of that [Supreme Court] decision."
Many Republican officials, charged with the responsibility of election oversight, continually work to restrict access to voting by closing polls, misinforming voters, and enacting Voter ID laws -- creating frustration, fear, and vulnerability for many communities.
Voting is the most sacred right in our country, but it is being stripped away, one election at a time.
- Anay
Date- 3/29/2016.
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THE CLASSROOM. #21.
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL.
U.S. SENATOR.
U.S. SENATOR.
TAKE ACTION: Equal pay for equal work.
If you follow soccer, you know two big things happened recently: One, our U.S. Women’s National Team stormed to a 7-0 victory here in Connecticut. Two, we learned that despite this triumph, the incredible women on that team are paid just a fraction of what’s paid to members of the men’s team.
Unfortunately they are not alone: On average, American women earn just 79 cents for every dollar men are paid for completing the exact same work. I need you to join me and send an unequivocal message: Whether on a soccer field or an oil field, in a corner office or a corner store, every person deserves to be paid equally for completing equal work.
When extremists in Congress block efforts to reduce wage disparities, they tell women in Connecticut and across the country: Your work may be just as good, but you are worth less than men. We marked Equal Pay Day this week, and we must be 100% clear: Women are notless than, and inequality is not an American value. This is not a complicated issue, and it should not be a debate.
I’ve fought to end discrimination like this my whole career, and I won’t stop now.
Thank you.
Date- 4/14/2016.
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THE CLASSROOM. #22.
DONALD TRUMP IS NOW THE LEADER OF
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
ELIZABETH WARREN.
U.S. SENATOR.
It's real – he is one step away from the White House.
Here's what else is real:Trump has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia. There's more enthusiasm for him among leaders of the KKK than leaders of the political party he now controls.He incites supporters to violence, praises Putin, and, according to a columnist who recently interviewed him, is "cool with being called an authoritarian" and doesn't mind associations with history's worst dictators.
He attacks veterans like John McCain who were captured and puts our servicemembers at risk by cheerleading illegal torture. In a world with ISIS militants and leaders like North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un conducting nuclear tests, he surrounds himself with a foreign policy team that has been called a "collection of charlatans," and puts out contradictory and nonsensical national security ideas one expert recently called "incoherent" and "truly bizarre."
What happens next will test the character for all of us – Republican, Democrat, and Independent. It will determine whether we move forward as one nation or splinter at the hands of one man's narcissism and divisiveness. I know which side I'm on, and I’m going to fight my heart out to make sure Donald Trump’s toxic stew of hatred and insecurity never reaches the White House.
THE CLASSROOM. #23.
ELIZABETH WARREN.
U.S. SENATOR.
In just a few hours, the Senate Republicans will vote for a proposal to make it easier for giant Wall Street banks to cheat Americans out of their retirement savings.
That’s right, EASIER.
Here’s the deal: Many financial advisers already put their customers’ interests first, but a loophole in the law means scrupulous retirement advisers don’t have to – and it costs their customers $17 billion a year. The Department of Labor recently released a terrific new conflict of interest rule to close the loophole. The new rule is simple: all retirement advisers have to do what’s in the best interest of their customers. It’s so obvious that most people assume it already exists.
It didn’t exist – and if the Republicans have their way, it never will. Today on the floor of the United States Senate, the Republicans will publicly vote to overturn those new commonsense regulations. Unbelievable, right?
The Senate Republicans only need 51 votes today to send this to the President’s desk – and President Obama has already vowed to veto it. But the only way we can stop the Republicans from pushing these appalling bills on the Senate floor is if enough people pay attention – and if the Republicans feel some heat for what they’re doing.
Tell the Senate Republicans: Shame on you for pushing Wall Street’s agenda to weaken the new rules on retirement advisers.
Slick-talking retirement advisers have a lot to lose with this new conflict of interest rule. It’s been perfectly legal for them to receive free vacations, cars, bonuses and kickbacks for selling lousy retirement products to unassuming clients. And they have a lot of influence in Congress.
But I have a message for the Senate Republicans: We weren’t sent here to work for Wall Street and their armies of lawyers and lobbyists. We weren’t sent here to make it easier for financial institutions to cheat people.
Help us remind the Senate Republicans exactly who they work for. Before today’s vote, tell the Republican majority: Shame on you for cheating America’s working families.
Elizabeth.
THE CLASSROOM. #24.
SIGN ON: PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE.
U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN.
Three and a half years ago, I had just been elected to Congress when 20 precious children and 6 brave educators were torn from us by gun violence at Sandy Hook Elementary in my district.
On that fateful day, my heart broke as did the hearts of people around the nation for the unimaginable pain and loss of the Newtown families -- mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children whose loved ones were so brutally and senselessly slain.
Today, on National Gun Violence Awareness Day, I'm wearing orange to honor all lives cut short by gun violence, and I'm asking you to take action too.
Join me and demand that House Republicans take action to prevent gun violence.
We have unfortunately learned that no family is immune from the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
We have seen the impact of gun violence in our neighborhoods, our elementary schools, our movie theaters, our grocery stores, and even our places of worship.
Despite the carnage, despite the daily shootings in our cities and the now all-too-common mass shootings, the American people have been denied even the opportunity to have Congress vote on a single bill to help keep our families safe.
But we can take action and fight back. There’s no reason we should accept losing 30,000 Americans every year to gun violence. We have a duty to take action to save lives.
Stand with Newtown and Chicago and communities across the country and call for commonsense gun safety reforms.
Thank you,
Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty.
THE CLASSROOM. #25.
THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COVERAGE AND TRANSPARENCY ACT.
CONGRESSMAN JOE KENNEDY III.
SENT- June 10, 2016.
Community health centers that say even if they could afford to hire 200 new mental health professionals, their caseloads would be full within the week. Insurance companies that refuse to approve mental health coverage on weekends, leaving patients in emergency rooms for several days. Emergency room directors, who can find an in-patient bed for someone facing a physical ailment in just three hours but who spend nearly a full day finding a place for a patient with a mental health crisis. Parents forced to work as full-time caseworkers for their own children. Children refused the care they need because outdated government regulations put limits on their treatment.
This is the heartbreaking reality I heard echoed in a series of discussions I held in our communities for Mental Health Awareness Month. The physicians, families, community health centers, hospital CEOs and advocates who met with me gave a stark picture of the state of mental health care in our Commonwealth and country.
They detailed a vastly underfunded mental and behavioral health system that lacks the infrastructure required to deliver proper care to the one in four Americans struggling with mental illness. They described insurance companies flouting parity laws and denying coverage for critical mental health services with little to no explanation. They spoke of a severe workforce shortage and Medicaid reimbursement rates so paltry that providers risk losing money every time they see a patient.
It was a timely discussion. Down in Washington, Congress is in the midst of a debate over how to respond to our country’s growing mental health crisis. Led by the Energy & Commerce Committee on which I serve, we are trying to craft bipartisan solutions for a system plagued by lack of access, funding and stability.
Any comprehensive reform effort must move beyond the margins and attack the systemic inadequacies deeply entrenched across the entire continuum of mental healthcare.
First, we have to put teeth behind the federal laws that require insurance companies treat mental health the same way they treat physical health. Referred to as “parity,” these laws were intended to ensure that depression, schizophrenia and addiction are covered to the same extent as cancer, diabetes, or a broken leg. Despite having these laws on the books, however, mental health claims are denied today at nearly twice the rate of physical health claims, often with no explanation.
Earlier this year I introduced the Behavioral Health Coverage and Transparency Act, which would force insurers to disclose how often they deny mental health claims as well as the criteria used to make those determinations. This information would help empower patients to demand the care to which they’re entitled.
Additionally, this bill would require federal regulators to undertake a certain number of random health plan audits each year to discourage skirting the law and would establish a Patient Parity Portal, where patients can access coverage information and lodge complaints when they are unfairly denied coverage. Our health care system doesn’t wait until someone has stage four cancer to offer treatment; those struggling with mental illness deserve the same.
Second, the federal government must address abysmal Medicaid reimbursement rates, which disproportionately jeopardize care for our most at-risk populations. As the single largest payer of mental health services in the United States, Medicaid’s current reimbursement rates are shortchanging providers and patients alike by eliminating incentives to accept new patients, stunting our mental health workforce across the board, and closing off pathways to care for low-income families that often have nowhere else to turn. The impact of this has been profound; over half of all counties in the United States have no practicing psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers. With that in mind, I’ve introduced legislation called the “Medicaid Bump,” which would help address this gap and encourage states to increase mental health spending by raising federal reimbursement rates.
These are two essential pillars of systemic reform. But there are many more. We need to fix outdated federal regulations that currently say a child in Medicaid who requires in-patient care can receive treatment for either physical or mental health – but not both. We need to end Medicare’s 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospitals stays for senior citizens. And we need to finally and fully invest in the entire continuum of mental health care – not just the crisis-stage interventions we resort to in emergency rooms, courtrooms, and jail cells at tremendous cost.
The pain that our broken mental health system has inflicted on countless American families and communities is immeasurable. Government at every level must work day and night to address the shortcomings that continue to allow tragedy and suffering to occur.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III.
THE CLASSROOM. #26.
Susannah Randolph, via Democracy for America.
On Sunday morning, my husband and I woke up to frantic phone calls from friends, asking if we were all right after the "Orlando shooting." Our four-year-old daughter had been asleep in our bed, but upon hearing the urgency in our voices, she woke up and asked me, "Mommy, what's wrong?"
I didn't know what to say.
How could I tell her that the worst mass shooting in U.S. history had happened right here in Orlando? That a gunman motivated by hate deliberately targeted Latinos and LGBTQ community members and killed people at a local nightclub? As a mom, I want to be able to tell my daughter that I can keep her safe. But I could not bring myself to say that to my daughter yesterday. None of us can.
This was an act of hate. It was an act of terror. And it happened here.
But in this moment, we must also take a stand. Gun violence has to end. Right here. Right now.
That's why we are launching a 3-point call for action:
- Ban assault weapons
- End the ban on gun violence research
- Expand background checks
Stand with Democracy for America: Tell Congress to stand up to the NRA and the gun industry and pass common-sense gun reforms NOW.
First, we need to reinstate the ban on assault weapons. Period.
Assault rifles have been used in ten of the most recent and deadly mass shootings in America – in a movie theatre in Colorado, a community center in California, a first grade classroom in Connecticut. And over the weekend, an assault rifle was used to carry out the largest mass shooting in U.S. history right here in Orlando.
One man, armed with a weapon of war, murdered forty-nine innocent people, and injured dozens more.
That has to end. Congress should reinstate the ban on assault weapons – immediately. If Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to bring this issue up for a vote on the House Floor, we'll need a discharge petition to force him to. (If I were in Congress and there were a discharge petition to force all of Congress to vote on this issue, I'd be the first to sign it.)
Second, we need to overturn the congressional ban on federal funding for gun violence research.
Gun violence is a serious public health epidemic, yet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not touched gun safety research for two decades. If we truly hope to prevent future gun violence tragedies, we need rigorous scientific research – which won't happen so long as that ban remains in place.
Finally, we need to expand background checks for gun purchases.
This is a public safety issue, and we need to treat it as such. We need more extensive background checks to ensure that we're protecting our communities from the threat of gun violence. We should be able to send our kids to school, enjoy a night out with our friends, and live our lives without fear of gun violence. The fact that the Orlando shooter passed these background checks demonstrates just how broken the current system is.
Join me and DFA in telling Congress to pass common sense gun reform laws now.
Orlando certainly isn't the first place to bear witness to the horror of a mass shooting. But if we demand action today, maybe – just maybe – Orlando can be the last.
Yesterday, I spent hours at the blood bank with thousands of people who showed love and charity in the face of hate and terror. It tells me that we are strong enough to fight discrimination and hate against our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. It tells me that we won't fall in line with even more hateful, irresponsible rhetoric blaming the entire Muslim community for these horrifying attacks. And it also tells me that we have the strength to support these measures.
I can't promise you that this will be an easy fight, but it is an important one. So I'm not backing down. Will you stand with me?
Join me, DFA, and millions of Americans who are ready fight back against hate and terror: Tell Congress to pass legislation to protect our communities from gun violence today.
Stand with me and our community in this critical moment.
Susannah Randolph
Resident of Orlando and candidate for Florida's 9th Congressional District.
First, we need to reinstate the ban on assault weapons. Period.
Assault rifles have been used in ten of the most recent and deadly mass shootings in America – in a movie theatre in Colorado, a community center in California, a first grade classroom in Connecticut. And over the weekend, an assault rifle was used to carry out the largest mass shooting in U.S. history right here in Orlando.
One man, armed with a weapon of war, murdered forty-nine innocent people, and injured dozens more.
That has to end. Congress should reinstate the ban on assault weapons – immediately. If Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to bring this issue up for a vote on the House Floor, we'll need a discharge petition to force him to. (If I were in Congress and there were a discharge petition to force all of Congress to vote on this issue, I'd be the first to sign it.)
Second, we need to overturn the congressional ban on federal funding for gun violence research.
Gun violence is a serious public health epidemic, yet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not touched gun safety research for two decades. If we truly hope to prevent future gun violence tragedies, we need rigorous scientific research – which won't happen so long as that ban remains in place.
Finally, we need to expand background checks for gun purchases.
This is a public safety issue, and we need to treat it as such. We need more extensive background checks to ensure that we're protecting our communities from the threat of gun violence. We should be able to send our kids to school, enjoy a night out with our friends, and live our lives without fear of gun violence. The fact that the Orlando shooter passed these background checks demonstrates just how broken the current system is.
Join me and DFA in telling Congress to pass common sense gun reform laws now.
Orlando certainly isn't the first place to bear witness to the horror of a mass shooting. But if we demand action today, maybe – just maybe – Orlando can be the last.
Yesterday, I spent hours at the blood bank with thousands of people who showed love and charity in the face of hate and terror. It tells me that we are strong enough to fight discrimination and hate against our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. It tells me that we won't fall in line with even more hateful, irresponsible rhetoric blaming the entire Muslim community for these horrifying attacks. And it also tells me that we have the strength to support these measures.
I can't promise you that this will be an easy fight, but it is an important one. So I'm not backing down. Will you stand with me?
Join me, DFA, and millions of Americans who are ready fight back against hate and terror: Tell Congress to pass legislation to protect our communities from gun violence today.
Stand with me and our community in this critical moment.
Susannah Randolph
Resident of Orlando and candidate for Florida's 9th Congressional District.
THE CLASSROOM. #27. FROM: BARACK OBAMA. HILLARY CLINTONS NOMINATION AS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTIES CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
David --
On Wednesday night I gave my final speech to a Democratic convention as president. I’m grateful I got to spend it talking about why Hillary is the right person to succeed me in the White House. She is going to be an exceptional leader because she is an exceptional person.
David, Hillary has my trust because I know her, and I know her heart.
My respect for Hillary has been reaffirmed time and time again by those who have known her for decades.
In 2012, we traveled to Burma together and met people she remembered from the time she was First Lady nearly twenty years before -- and they hadn’t forgotten her, either. A year later, when we flew to South Africa in 2013 to pay our respects at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, I could see in the eyes of his
family how much she had meant to him.
Hillary commands any room she enters because her wisdom, her patience, and her generosity of spirit are impossible to deny. I counted on her advice on everything from foreign policy to how to raise my daughters in the White House. She treats everyone she encounters with decency and dignity, whether the cameras are on or off.
I am proud to see Hillary become our party’s nominee, and I can’t wait to see her win this election and become our 45th President.
I am proud to see Hillary become our party’s nominee, and I can’t wait to see her win this election and become our 45th President.
Thanks,
BARACK.
THE CLASSROOM. #28. FROM- HILLARY CLINTON. THIS SUPREME COURT DECISION POISONED OUR CAMPAIGN FINANCE SYSTEM.
Almost a decade ago, I learned that a film called “Hillary: The Movie” was being released by a conservative group called Citizens United. It took aim at me and other progressives. What we didn’t know at the time was how much damage this 90-minute film would do to our country -- because the movie set in motion a legal roller coaster that affected our entire democracy.
Citizens United -- a special interest group -- argued that the First Amendment protected their right to spend unlimited money to influence the outcome of elections. The case made its way to the Supreme Court. And on January 21, 2010, the Court handed down its landmark ruling, "Citizens United v. FEC," clearing the way for special interest groups to bankroll campaigns.
In the years since, we’ve seen the aftermath of that decision. Let’s be frank: that ruling has perverted and poisoned our campaign finance system. It has stifled the voices of ordinary Americans. Instead, it has amplified the opinions and interests of corporations and billionaires.
David, I used to teach law students -- and nowhere in the Constitution does it say that corporations and wealthy special interests have the right to control our elections. A Fortune 500 CEO should not have more sway over an election than an elementary school teacher.
That’s why, as your president, I will work tirelessly to put in place a constitutional amendment reversing that Supreme Court decision. I'll put that process in motion within the first month of my tenure in the Oval Office.
We cannot have people like the Koch brothers buying our elections. We need to work as hard as we can, for as long as we must, to protect the sanctity -- and transparency -- of our democratic process.
...And that’s part of the reason I’m so honored to have End Citizens United’s endorsement.
...And that’s part of the reason I’m so honored to have End Citizens United’s endorsement.
HILLARY.
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