Resistance needed: No state-sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ people

Tell Congress: Protect LGBTQ people from discrimination – 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: Dear Katy, 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=25101%2E12967895%2ETx8-Ec Thank you for standing up to bigotry, 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. 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. Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter © 2017 CREDO. All rights reserved. This email was sent to katy63.kelso@blogger.com. To change your email or mailing address, please click here: https://act.credoaction.com/me/update/?t=24&akid=25101%2E12967895%2ETx8-Ec To unsubscribe, please visit our subscription management page at: http://act.credoaction.com/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=26&akid=25101%2E12967895%2ETx8-Ec

Sign the petition: Stop Trumpcare again

Time to stop Trumpcare again Petition to Congress: "Put the health and well-being of your constituents first. Block and resist the cruel and heartless Graham-Cassidy bill and stop right-wing Republicans' last-ditch effort to gut health care for millions of Americans." Add your name: Dear Katy, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Trump Republicans have not given up their quest to gut our health care. Two extreme right-wing Republican senators from South Carolina and Louisiana – Senator Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, respectively – just introduced a so-called compromise bill (Graham-Cassidy) to win over the supposedly moderate wing of their party. But make no mistake, their latest proposal is just as cruel and heartless as the Trumpcare bills that came before it. Graham-Cassidy would roll back Medicaid expansion, end protections for people with pre-existing conditions and cut funding to Planned Parenthood.1 Mitch McConnell is so desperate for a win on health care that he is now trying to ram through a vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill next week to avoid a democratic filibuster and the public scrutiny of this dangerous bill.2,3 Our collective activism helped stop Trumpcare three times before. Now, we need to use the same grassroots power to block this latest attack and make sure that we defeat the Republicans' zombie Trumpcare bill once and for all. Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click here to sign the petition. Republicans are using the same old dirty tricks to advance this latest version of Trumpcare. Once again, they are pushing through a secretive bill to steal health care from millions of people that they drafted behind closed doors and with no time for public hearings, constituent input or amendments. The Graham-Cassidy bill would: End employer-provided health coverage for many Americans. Eliminate subsidies that help middle- and low-income people purchase health plans. Dramatically cut funding to support states' Medicaid costs and allow states to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries, an attack that could leave millions of people with disabilities and low-income families without health coverage. Give states the power to remove more expensive health services like maternity care from the list of essential benefits that insurance providers are required to cover. Allow insurance providers to charge more and reduce the quality of care for people with pre-existing conditions. Defund Planned Parenthood. Increase health care premiums for seniors.4,5,6,7 Graham-Cassidy would also replace federal funding for Medicaid expansion and health care subsidies with a state block grant that would shrink over time. The block grant gives states the power to design their own health programs but less money to run them. Many Democratic states like California, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and the federal government gave them more funding to cover the cost of new and more Medicaid beneficiaries. Graham-Cassidy would force states to absorb the cost of expanding Medicaid and eventually roll back the expansion. By 2026, states that expand Medicaid would have 50 percent less federal funding to keep the program going.8 Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who opposes the bill, has called Graham-Cassidy's block grant scheme a "game" to take away federal funding from Democratic states.9 It is also an insidious attack on the health care of more than 15 million low-income people covered under Medicaid expansion.10 Senate Republicans claim they are just a few votes short of repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with Graham-Cassidy, which is why we must speak out now.11 Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click here to sign the petition. We have signed petitions. We have made calls. We have showed up to congressional offices. We have shared videos, graphics and articles via our social media channels. Our activism has worked to defeat Trumpcare before, and we can win again if we put forward a massive show of resistance against Trump Republicans' latest attempt to gut our health care. Will you help ramp-up the pressure now to make sure members of Congress do the right thing and reject the heartless Graham-Cassidy bill? Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click on the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Resist_GrahamCassidy?t=8&akid=25093%2E12967895%2EO_LeAQ Thank you for your activism. Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Sarah Kliff, "Cassidy-Graham: The last GOP health plan left standing, explained," Vox, Sept. 13, 2017. Dylan Scott, "Senate Republicans claim they are a few votes away from repealing Obamacare," Vox, Sept. 15, 2017. Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim, "Senate Republicans claim they are a few votes away from repealing Obamacare," POLITICO, Sept 20, 2017. Kim Soffen, "There's one Obamacare repeal bill left standing. Here's what's in it." The Washington Post, Sept. 6, 2017. Scott, "Senate Republicans claim they are a few votes away from repealing Obamacare." Kliff, "Cassidy-Graham: The last GOP health plan left standing, explained." Jennifer Haberkorn, "Graham, Cassidy unveil last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill," POLITICO, Sept. 13, 2017. Margaret Hartmann, "4 Ways Graham-Cassidy Would Make the Health-Care System Far Worse," New York Magazine, Sept. 19, 2017. Ibid. Kaiser Family Foundation, "5 Ways the Graham-Cassidy Proposal Puts Medicaid Coverage At Risk," Sept. 19, 2017. Dan Mangan, "Senator says Obamacare repeal bill close to enough votes to pass, but there's reason to be skeptical," CNBC, Sept. 15, 2017. Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter © 2017 CREDO. All rights reserved. This email was sent to katy63.kelso@blogger.com. To change your email or mailing address, please click here: https://act.credoaction.com/me/update/?t=26&akid=25093%2E12967895%2EO_LeAQ To unsubscribe, please visit our subscription management page at: http://act.credoaction.com/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=28&akid=25093%2E12967895%2EO_LeAQ

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How can they deny climate science after Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria?

Kathleen - We must hold fossil fuel corporations and climate-denying politicians accountable right now! Give genourously today to hold the line on climate change-fueled extreme weather and to support all of Greenpeace's work. The whole country looks on as survivors in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Dominica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands piece their lives back together after this month's extreme weather events. At a time of great anxiety, we can find solace in communities coming together — friends and strangers helping one another repair their homes and remove debris, sharing generators and food, collecting and distributing funds and supplies to those who need them. I'm so proud that Greenpeace's supporters have been a part of that — your generosity is staggering. Greenpeace supporters also know that we can't count on those who fueled these problems to correct them. The people hit hardest by these extreme weather events are focused on restoring their homes and livelihoods — so they'll need to rely on the rest of us to hold the right people accountable. Can I count on you to make an urgent gift to help us do just that and support all our work to protect the environment? As we do all we can to support families and communities that are rebuilding, we must take on the additional work of demanding that fossil fuel corporations and climate science-denying politicians pay for the disasters made worse by undermining climate action. With their obscene profit margins and campaign war chests, it is unconscionable that they would refuse to protect our people and our planet from rising seas and stronger storms. We must force the issue. Donate right now to stand together, hold the line against the corporations and climate change deniers who got us into this devastating situation, and support all our important campaigns. Let's do all we can, and stretch as far as we can, to stand up for victims of extreme weather until they have the strength to rejoin us. Yours in solidarity, Annie Leonard Executive Director, Greenpeace USA P.S. While communities rebuild we must hold fossil fuel corporations and climate science-denying politicians accountable for stronger Hurricanes. Give generously right now to support all of Greenpeace's important work!

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Sign the petition to stand with Sen. Warren: Equifax

Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand freedom from Equifax exploitation Petition to Congress: "Support the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act, sponsored by Sens. Warren and Schatz, to protect people and give them more power over their information in the wake of the Equifax breach." Add your name: Dear Katy, Credit reporting agencies govern our reputations and profit off of our identities without anyone electing them or giving them consent to do so.1 And now, a massive breach at one of those credit bureaus, Equifax, has put the private information of 143 million people at risk.2 Progressive champions Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Brian Schatz are fighting back with the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act, and we need to get behind it in a big way.3 Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand freedom from Equifax exploitation. Click here to sign the petition. Equifax waited more than a month to tell the public after discovering the data breach, during which time a number of executives apparently sold their company stock.4 When Equifax finally did come clean, they did so with a website that appeared to trick people into signing away legal rights and to charge them to freeze their credit report. As Sen. Warren noted: "Equifax's initial efforts to provide customers information did nothing to clarify the situation and actually appeared to be efforts to hoodwink them into waiving important legal rights."5 The FREE Act would protect people from the worst of this behavior, by:6 Requiring credit monitoring agencies to provide credit freezes and do so for free, replacing patchwork state laws and banning credit bureaus from charging people to freeze information that was gathered without their consent. Toughening credit freeze rules by mandating that fraud alerts last longer and have more teeth and blocking companies from selling your information to marketers even while you have a freeze on your account. Demanding refunds on credit freezes and an additional free credit check for people who paid for a credit freeze after the Equifax breach became public or who want to check their credit but have already used their yearly free credit check. Credit companies make billions of dollars by collecting and selling our private information – Social Security numbers, birth dates, credit card numbers, driver's license information, and more – with minimal oversight and zero consent. Then, they charge people to freeze or access their credit reports.7 Sens. Warren and Schatz's bill is a tough first step toward putting control back in our hands. Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand freedom from Equifax exploitation. Click here to sign the petition. It was not that long ago that credit bureaus would investigate your political leanings, sexuality, medical conditions, drinking habits, and more to determine your "creditworthiness." Being a person of color, a single woman or gay could hurt your credit score. During World War II, credit companies ran loyalty checks on behalf of the military. With technological advancements, computerized systems now vacuum up as much data on you as possible. From the beginning, credit bureaus have been an under-regulated, invasive corporate force helping to keep access to credit, and thus financial well-being, in the hands of the few.8 In 1970, Congress passed basic rules to ban discrimination and insist on the right of everyday Americans to have input on how credit relationships – essential to modern-day commerce – shape our society.9 The Equifax breach puts that tension back in the political conversation, and the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation is a first step to reclaiming our control over our personal data. Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand freedom from Equifax exploitation. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/equifax?t=8&akid=25067%2E12967895%2EBELaI8 Thank you for speaking out, Murshed Zaheed, Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act Factsheet," Sept. 15, 2017. Ibid. Ibid. Alina Selyukh, "3 Equifax Executives Sold Stock Days After Hack That Wasn't Disclosed For A Month," NPR, Sept. 8, 2017. Hannah Levintova, "Elizabeth Warren Goes After Equifax Over Hack," Mother Jones, Sept. 15, 2017. Sen. Warren, "Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act Factsheet." Ibid. Matt Stoller, "Equifax Isn't A Data Problem. It's A Political Problem." HuffPost, Sept. 13, 2017. Ibid. Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter © 2017 CREDO. All rights reserved. This email was sent to katy63.kelso@blogger.com. To change your email or mailing address, please click here: https://act.credoaction.com/me/update/?t=21&akid=25067%2E12967895%2EBELaI8 To unsubscribe, please visit our subscription management page at: http://act.credoaction.com/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=23&akid=25067%2E12967895%2EBELaI8

Harvey is a pollution disaster

Kathleen - We need to protect our communities from toxic pollution! Tell your members of Congress to stand up for EPA funding. Three weeks. Three climate change-fueled super storms. Our nation and the Caribbean are reeling from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria — which made landfall in Puerto Rico this morning. In the days after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, we saw a series of environmental catastrophes at dirty oil refineries and chemical plants. Amid the flooding and loss of human lives, there is widespread concern that residents and first responders are being exposed to hazardous pollution.1 The kicker? The Trump administration is now pushing for cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency — including shutting down an EPA lab in Houston!2 That's why we're joining with the organization Green for All in calling on Congress to stop these cuts. Tell Congress: we need the EPA more than ever. Please don't cut funds to protect our communities. I can't stress enough how much we need EPA protections and services right now. Harvey's rains and winds forced the state of Texas to close down dozens of air pollution monitors, so there was no way to independently verify the level of pollutants that companies reported to release. After the storm, local air quality monitoring by Air Alliance Houston and the Environmental Defense Fund proved that a Valero oil refinery downplayed how much cancer-causing benzene was leaked into the air.3 We can't let fossil fuel companies get away with this. Petrochemical facilities in Texas released millions of pounds of chemicals into the air from "controlled" shutdown procedures and uncontrolled damage caused by the storm.4 13 Superfund sites were flooded and possibly leaked dangerous chemicals into surrounding communities.5 Elemental mercury, a liquid metal with a toxic vapor, was found dotting the soil by a landowner in Channelview, TX.6 An explosion at a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas that forced the surrounding community to evacuate.7 And it's not just about big climate-change fueled disasters. Communities living next to petrochemical facilities — often working class and people of color — have fought for decades against the pollution they live with everyday. Agencies like the EPA are needed to protect our air and drinking water all the time. Please tell your members of Congress TODAY that we need the EPA more than ever. We will personally deliver your name to Congress next week. Thank you for taking the time to contact your members of Congress and stand up for your community. Sincerely, Sarah Rasmussen Digital Director, Greenpeace USA P.S. Now is not the time to cut funds protecting our communities from pollution! Tell your member of Congress to protect the EPA's funding. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/08/us/houston-hurricane-harvey-harzardous-chemicals.html [2] http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/article/Houston-EPA-lab-set-to-close-12195927.php [3] http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Private-air-quality-monitoring-detects-high-12203487.php [4] http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/14/550472740/air-pollution-from-industry-plagues-houston-in-harveys-wake [5] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-harvey-superfund/harvey-floods-or-damages-13-texas-superfund-sites-epa-idUSKCN1BD0US [6] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/science/harvey-superfund-mercury.html [7] https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-harvey/harvey-danger-major-chemical-plant-near-houston-likely-explode-facility-n797581

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Greenpeace 702 H Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20001 | 1-800-722-6995 Greenpeace Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) organization. As a result of our effective work for new environmental policies, contributions are not tax-deductible. You received this mailing because is subscribed to our mailing list. unsubscribe. We value your privacy. If you have any questions about how we use your information please read our privacy policy.