On March 26th, 10 of us from Indivisible Tacoma met with Rosa McLeod from Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office. She shared some amazing news with us: SR 47 passed.
SR 47’s Something to Brag About
Who can blame Cantwell’s South Sound & Olympia Peninsula Outreach Director for bragging a little? Getting SR 47 passed is an amazing achievement. Better known as the Natural Resources Management Act, this massive package of over 130 bills creates over 100 public lands.
Maria Cantwell’s been working on this for years. When you consider the U.S. Senate’s pro-Trump GOP majority, this is nothing less than a miracle.
Rosa McLeod then explained the details. SR 47 sets aside 1,340,000 acres of new wilderness, 367 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers, and 2,600 miles of new trails. It also creates four new National Monuments.
But wait. There’s more good news.
The bill provides for updates for our early warning and monitoring system for volcanoes. Plus, there’s the latest tech for managing wildfires. These and other provisions help keep people here in Washington state safer.
So… How About Blocking Yemen and Trump’s Nominees, Saving the Internet and Endangered Species, and Ending Family Separations?
IT expressed our appreciation for Cantwell’s work. SR 47 is an enormous accomplishment.
We then went on to grill Rosa McLeod on our senator’s specific votes on the following:
- Stop US involvement in Yemen
- Oppose Donald Trump’s nominees.
- Support the Save the Internet Act
- Support the Endangered Species Act
- End family separations.
We thanked her for her high progressive scorecard ratings from many groups who advocate for human rights and the environment.
IT then asked her specifically to sponsor a Senate Companion bill to the House bill by Rep. Jayapal on Single-payer universal healthcare, especially now that the ACA is under attack again by the President and his minions. We asked her to step up and become a leader for a Green New Deal in the Senate. We asked her to support a Senate version of HR1, the Anti-corruption and Democracy bill passed by the House. We also asked her to sign the Defund Hate Letter opposing the detention of Immigrants and requesting cuts to ICE and CBP.
IT members felt the meeting was productive and beneficial!
Featured image: CC by 2.0 Phil Venditti via Flickr.
