by indivisibletacoma | Mar 28, 2019 | Actions, Events, News
Summary of Meeting with Rep. Denny Heck’s Staff on March 28, 2019, in Lakewood
12 members of Indivisible Tacoma gathered to meet with Rep. Denny Heck’s staff at his Lakewood office on March 28, 2019. We had different people present our agenda items to District Director Phil Gardner. Each of our speakers brought their own stories, information, or passion to their talks and made a strong impact.
Back in January, when the Democrats took back the House, we met with Gardner with a short wish list. We asked Heck to support HR 1 for electoral reform, a Green New Deal, Single Payer, and more White House investigations.
Now, we’ve added a few things to our list, including:
- Investigations and Mueller Report
- Disaster Relief for Puerto Rico and California
- Now War in Yemen
- Healthcare: Single Payer
- Cannabis Reform
We also planned on asking for a Town Hall, but Phil Gardner says there’s one coming up on April 17th. We’ll tell you the exact time and place when we learn more.
Congrats on Your League of Conservation Voters Rating on Environmental Issues. Now, How About a Green New Deal?
IT members thanked Rep. Denny Heck’s staff for his work and his voting record on environmental issues. He received a high rating from the League of Conservation Voters on a variety of environmental issues. In 2018, he scored 94 percent and his overall score is 97 percent.
IT members told Phil we’d like him to support The Green New Deal.
We mentioned that he had not signed on to the Save the Internet, net neutrality bill, which apparently is an oversight because he supports it. Phil said he’d contact the DC office to make sure Denny gets signed on to the bill.
No War in Yemen
With regard to U.S. involvement in Yemen, we asked that Denny reject Republicans’ procedural maneuvers using MITs to keep it from passing. Phil explained what they had done and assured us it will pass the House again.
Thanks for Supporting Medicare Buy-In at 50. Now, How About Single Payer?
As usual, we brought up our support of universal healthcare and urged him to sign on to Rep. Jamila Jayapal (D-7)’s single-payer health care bill. Phil explained (again) that Denny has some concerns about that particular bill, but has co-sponsored a Medicare buy-in at 50 bill. He is also looking closely at another bill called Medicare for America. We talked about the awfulness of the possibility of the court overturning the ACA and the Republican’s “astounding lack of a plan.” Phil told us that the two Democratic caucuses all want to head in the direction of healthcare for all.
We asked if the House has any ability to do anything about the tax bill passed last year. Sadly, Phil told us that at this point there’s not much we can do. At least not until we elect a new president and put Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate.
Release the Mueller Report
We discussed the work of the House Intelligence Committee which Denny is on. Phil told us about the attack on Adam Schiff and outlined what they believe Barr and the Republican’s strategy regarding Mueller’s report is, which is to leak it out over long periods so the total impact of it is minimized. It will most likely end up in a court fight.
Thanks for Supporting Cannabis Reform
Phil Gardner told us the Cannabis Reform bill just moved out of Congress and has support from both parties. Denny supported it and also eventually getting cannabis moved to a schedule 1 drug and eliminating problems for people in states where it is legal but get into trouble due to federal law. One of our members told a story about a woman losing refugee status because of this issue.
Disaster Relief for Puerto Rico and California
We asked what recourse Congress has for money allocated for the disaster relief funds Individual #1 has refused to send for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the wildfires in California. Phil told us that during Nixon’s reign the “Impoundment Act” passed which made it illegal for the administration to not spend money allocated by Congress. However, as with many things, this administration is ignoring the law. Again, this will probably end up in the courts.
Special Education and the Special Olympics
We asked about the latest budget issues, i.e. DeVos’ cutting of special education and the Special Olympics. Phil assured us that DeVos and the administration can only put forward budget requests but it is Congress that makes the decision. He indicated that Congress is fairly bipartisan regarding education and he thinks more money will actually be allocated for Special Olympics than in the past.
Rep. Denny Heck’s Staff: Town Hall on April 17
Phil affirmed that Denny will be holding a Town Hall in the evening of April 17 in Pierce County, but an exact time and venue has not been confirmed. He will let us know as soon as it is and we will put that on the Events Calendar. We asked about having Denny speak to IT during the summer recess and he said Denny will be home for 6 weeks starting in August, so we can try to plan for that. We also asked what we can do to help and he said emailing and calling about what we agree (or disagree) with and right now personal stories about the ACA or other healthcare issues.
We left Phil with a letter signed by all present which highlighted what we discussed as well as additional topics. The letter requests a written response.
by indivisibletacoma | Mar 26, 2019 | Actions, Events, News
Hello everyone! This week’s jam-packed with ways to make your voice heard through actions and events. Tonight we’ve got a Town Hall with state Sen. Steve O’Ban (R-28) and this afternoon, our Legislative Action Committee meets with Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. But if you can’t make it to those, we’ve got some national and state actions that require just a quick email or phone call. You don’t even need to wait for an action to come along. We’ve got all of our lawmakers’ phone numbers right here.
Also in This Email:
Last Wednesday we had our first general meeting for 2019, and it went swimmingly. Evan Koepfler, field organizer for Pierce County Democrats gave a presentation on Rise and Run. This exciting new program provides tools, resources, and training for progressives like you who are thinking of running for political office. For more information, visit the Rise and Run website. Members of our steering team then gave their reports and we then adjourned fo break into smaller groups and to enjoy cake in honor of Indivisible Tacoma’s second anniversary.
Evan Koepfler presents Rise and Run for the Indivisible Tacoma General meeting on March 20, 2019.
This past weekend was also action-packed. On Friday, Louisa, Ellen, and Damita joined Tacoma’s kids and local activists at Wright Park for the Global Youth Climate Strike (shown in the featured image above). Our state lawmakers also held Town Hall meetings over the weekend. If you went to any of them, we’d love it if you could send us a brief report via email (IndivisibleTacomaChapter @ gmail.com) or our contact form. If you attend any events for Indivisible Tacoma, local lawmakers, local progressive allies, etc. please send photos to our Facebook, Twitter (@IndivisibleTac), Instagram (@IndivisibleTacoma), or email.
Town Hall Meeting with State Sen. Steve O’Ban (R-28) TONIGHT
Rep. Steve O’Ban (R-28) is holding a town hall meeting on State Initiative 1000, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Act which is currently before the State Legislature. This is a rare thing for him when it comes to diversity issues! Your conservatives neighbors are going, are you? Make your voice heard!
Tuesday March 26, 2019. 6:30 p.m.
University Place Branch Library 2609 Market Place West
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Upcoming Indivisible Tacoma Meetings & Events
Members of Congress (MoCs) Meeting with Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell
Tuesday March 26 (tonight), 4:00 p.m.
950 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98402
Legislative Action Team Meeting
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
University Place Pierce County Library
3609 Market Pl W, University Place, WA 98466
Meeting Room
Steering Team Meeting
Monday, April 22, 2019
University Place Pierce County Library
3609 Market Pl W, University Place, WA 98466
Conference Room
General Meeting: Voter Registration 2.0: New technology, new laws!
Featured Speaker: Julie Anderson, Pierce County Auditor,
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation
1115 S 56th St, Tacoma, WA 98408
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This Week’s National Action
Ask Our Reps to Subpoena White House Documents — and the Mueller Report! — to Expose Corruption
Call your rep. Ask them to support having the House leadership subpoena all documents needed to investigate the corruption of the Trump White House.
SCRIPT: Hello. My name is ____________ from (address or zip code), a constituent and a member of Indivisible Tacoma. I’m calling to ask Rep. _______________ to join with the Democratic leadership to urge the House Oversight and Reform Committee to subpoena all documents needed to expose all corruption on the part of any and all members of the Trump administration and White House Staff. This includes the Mueller Report.
Here are our reps’ phone numbers.
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This Week’s State House Actions (Do By Thursday)
This looks like a lot, but not all of these are for all districts. Here’s the breakdown:
- 28th District: Two action emails.
- 25th and 29th districts: One action email.
- 27th District: One phone call.
LGBT (28th District ONLY)
ACTION EMAIL! Send an email to Christine Kilduff (D-28) Christine.Kilduff@leg.wa.gov. a member of the House Education Committee. Urge her to vote to support this bill and pass it out of committee. This bill will be heard in Executive Session on March 28th!ov,
Healthcare (25th, 28th, and 29th Districts)
SB 5822 would create a workgroup for a broad range of health care stakeholders to study and make recommendations to the legislature on a universal health care system that is sustainable and affordable for all Washington state residents.
Script: Hello. I’m ___________________ from (zip code or address). I’m one of your constituents and a member of Indivisible Tacoma. Please support SB 6822 to create a workgroup that includes a broad range of health care stakeholders who will study and make recommendations to the state leg. for a statewide universal health care system that is sustainable and affordable for all Washington state residents.
Immigration: Policies to protect all Washington residents (27th District)
E2SSB 5497 Establishing a statewide policy supporting Washington State’s economy and immigrants’ role in the workplace. Since the bill has been scheduled for executive sessions in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, urge the Committee Chair Rep. Laurie Jinkins to push this bill to the floor for action and to vote yes for E2SSB 5497.
ACTION: Call Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D) 360-786-7930
SCRIPT: Hello. I’m ___________________ from (zip code or address). I’m one of your constituents and a member of Indivisible Tacoma. We urge you, as House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, to push E2SSB 5497 bill to the floor for action and to vote yes for protecting immigrants and all Washington state residents.
Thank you, Olympia Indivisible, for all your helpful information on this week’s actions in drawing up this list.
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Help Wanted!
We need help for lots of things, including
- A secretary to record minutes for our Steering Committee meetings. update member list, and other organizational tasks
- Posting updates and announcements to our events calendar, blog, and social media channels
- Greeting people, setting up, and breaking down for Indivisible Tacoma’s meetings and events
- Brief reports on photos and videos for local political events and actions with Indivisible Tacoma, our lawmakers, our public officials, our City Council, and our allies.
- Someone who attends lots of local politics events and a visual arts/graphics person to post memes, photos, and videos on our Facebook, Twitter (@IndivisibleTac), and especially our Instagram
Please get in touch with us via email (IndivisibleTacomaChapter @ gmail.com) or our Contact Us page. Also, if you aren’t already on our email list, sign up here!
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