Act Now!

Suggestions for Act Now! items? Please email ahead.oh.web@gmail.com and include “Act Now! suggestion” in the subject line.

8/24/2017 – Submit a Letter to the Editor

Contact information for the Lima News, Bluffton News, Ada Herald, Kenton Times, and Findlay Courier can be found by following each of these links. Most papers seem more likely to publish letters from people in their surrounding areas. Get to writing and make your voice heard!

5/10/2017 – Help HOLA Ohio support immigrants by visiting Jordan’s Lima office May 15 and 19

5/7/2017 – Trumpcare passed the House this week. Here are the next steps, presented by Indivisible.

To become law, this bill has to go through a 5-step process:

  1. Pass in the House
  2. Pass an amended version in the Senate
  3. Go to “conference“ to hammer out differences between the House and Senate
  4. Pass in the House again
  5. Pass in the Senate again

It took them 5 months to take the first, and easiest step – passing a repeal that they’ve passed literally dozens of times through the House before. The next steps are much harder – and we’re going to be there, every step of the way, until this bill collapses under the weight of its own lies and cruelty.

New Resources from Indivisible to fight back:

This is our chance to provide feedback to our representatives. To help you make your voice heard, Indivisible put together updated and new resources:

5/6/2017 – Ohio Voting Rights Call to Action

From the Ohio Democratic Party’s weekly legislative summary:

House Bill 41: Modify voting procedures

“ACTION ALERT: This bill would require early in-person voters to provide a photo ID and make access to the ballot more difficult for Ohioans. Call Government Accountability and Oversight committee chair Louis Blessing, III (R) at (614) 466-9091 and ranking member Kathleen Clyde (D) at (614) 466-2004 and tell them you oppose this legislation.

“Summary: To modify the law concerning challenges to voter registrations, the appointment of observers, and the procedures for processing absent voter’s ballots and for casting absent voter’s ballots in person.

“Quote from Rep. Kathleen Clyde on HB41: ‘When a bill like this shows up on the committee schedule, it can look harmless. But if you scratch the surface, you see exactly who it goes after – minority voters, women voters, and Democratic voters who use in-person early voting more than other groups. While purportedly about reducing paperwork, HB 41 is really an attack on an easy voting method that many Ohioans juggling work and family like to use.’”

5/2/2017 – Some suggested calls for this week from Ohio District 5 Indivisible:

Federal:
ALL HANDS ON DECK. This is major. Paul Ryan and the Republicans are closer than ever to reaching a deal for repealing Obamacare. The bill they are proposing is horrible, and it would not only kick 24 million people off of insurance, but it would also eliminate preexisting conditions and would not mandate services like pregnancy and mental health care as essentials. In short, it would be a disaster for sick Americans. The Republicans are seeing their best chance of passing the bill this week. Ryan is worried that, if the squeamish Republicans go home to their districts after the recess on Thursday, they will lose their resolve as they get protested by Indivisible groups. It’s time to make ourselves heard loud and clear even before they go on recess.
CALL Bob Latta and Senator Portman, and tell them how ordinary Ohioans need Obamacare.

State:
Obamacare is not only under assault at the federal level, but at the state level. Ohio Republicans are considering an amendment that would freeze sign-ups to Ohio’s Medicaid program, in essence gutting the Medicaid expansion. Not only would this be a disaster for sick people in Ohio, but it would aggravate and worsen the opioid epidemic that is gripping Ohio (“GOP plan to kill Ohio Medicaid expansion may fuel drug crisis” — The Columbus Dispatch). The bill’s sponsor is a state representative for part of our district, Wes Goodman.
CALL your state senator and representative and demand that they keep the Medicaid expansion in Ohio.

4/24/2017 – Some suggested calls for this week from Indivisible:

The Week Ahead in Congress

The Budget: Now that your MoCs are back in Washington this week, they have to pass a stopgap funding bill, known as a “CR” (Continuing Resolution), to fund the government past April 28. But with his 100-day report card looming on that same day, Trump is desperate for any legislative win he can get—so much so that his cronies in Congress may be willing to risk a government shutdown by including unpopular policy riders in the funding bill, such as:

  • Defunding of ACA cost-sharing subsidies (CSRs) that millions of Americans rely on to keep coverage affordable
  • Defunding Planned Parenthood and other family planning initiatives
  • Additional funding for Trump’s mass deportation force, including his border wall, detention facilities, and more ICE agents
  • Restricting federal funding for cities that take up sanctuary policies
  • Defunding the EPA and other climate protection programs
  • Ask your MoC not to risk a shutdown and to oppose any of these policy riders in any funding bill.

Zombie TrumpCare: Trump just won’t let his awful healthcare bill die. This week, he renewed his demand that Congress pass an ACA repeal bill. But as the White House and congressional Republicans continue working on their bill, they’ve only managed to make it worse. What hasn’t changed is the devastation the bill will cause: at least 24 million Americans would lose their coverage, premiums would increase, and people with pre-existing conditions could face astronomical premiums.

That’s why it’s critical that your Representative continue to hear from you. Tell them that you don’t want them wasting any more time on TrumpCare. For additional resources and talking points, see the “Obamacare is the Law of the Land” guide.