Here’s the weekly Action Checklist from Jen Hoffman’s Americans of Conscience. Want to learn more about Jen Hofmann’s group? Go to Action Checklist for Americans of Conscience.
Use this new tool to make your calling easier.
Whether you’re shy, busy, or just get full voicemails, the Stance app can help.
Stance will provide the correct phone numbers and automatically leaves a message after hours and keeps calling until it succeeds. You can record a message with Americans of Conscience’s scripts or your own to your elected officials.
What to do if your Members of Congress (MoC) are Democrats.
Call them. Praise them. Give them stories they can use to support great legislation. Calling MoCs who agree with you tells them you’re paying attention. It also keeps their lines from being full of opposition messages.
Advocate for student loan borrower protections. (Hat tip to Rogan’s List.)
131 MoCs support protections for student loan borrowers. Betsy DeVos does not support this.
Write: Betsy DeVos, U.S. Dept. of Ed., 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20202
Script: “With 1 in 4 student loan borrowers in default or delinquent on federal student loans, you need to address the sources of the student debt crisis. Please reverse your decision, reinstate protections, and support American growth.”
Advocate for a special commission to investigate President Trump’s Russia ties.
Newly-confirmed Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein can approve a special prosecutor or commission, but has previously hedged on this action. Speak up.
Call: Dept. of Justice comment line (202) 353-1555
Postcard: USDoJ, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001
Script: “I am among the 58% of Americans who want an independent commission to investigate Trump-Russia ties. Trust in the current investigations is compromised, and the Attorney General’s credibility is tarnished. Only an independent commission or special prosecutor will restore confidence.”
Oppose using National Monuments for resource extraction and mining.
Call: Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior (202) 208-7351.
Script: “Hi. I’m calling to oppose Trump’s executive order. (Mention any NMs in your state and) Bear’s Ears NM is (are) a treasure. National monuments are protected, citizen-owned land, and I oppose efforts to extract resources from them.”
Engage in Acts of Gratitude
Get out your stamps, postcards, and sparkle markers or fire up your computer for some gratitude mail.
Thank Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for his leadership and integrity in calling attention to Scott Pruitt’s apparent violation of the Hatch Act.
Address: 170 Westminster St # 1100, Providence, RI 02903
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) for speaking out in support for the rule of law and against President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. Immigrants’ rights are human rights.
Address: 90 State House Square, Hartford, CT 06103
Thank Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (SC), Jeff Flake (AZ), and Marco Rubio (FL), and House Speaker Paul Ryan (WI) for their commitment to keeping the US government from shutting down, regardless of whether the temporary spending bill includes funding for building the wall with Mexico. Paul Ryan made clear last weekend that his top priority is to keep the government open. Marco Rubio is quoted: “We’re just trying to finish out the current cycle, the current budget year. And so I think that’s a fight worth having and a conversation and a debate worth having for 2018.”
Jeff Flake (202) 224-4521, https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/
Lindsey Graham (202) 224-5972, https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/
Marco Rubio (202) 224-3041, https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/
Paul Ryan (202) 225-3031, https://paulryan.house.gov
Thank Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz (UT), Chair of the House Oversight Committee, for demanding that the White House turn over documents about Flynn’s Russian connections to the Committee. The White House is refusing to turn over the documents. Chaffetz has said that Flynn may have broken the law by failing to disclose his Russian business connections and by inappropriately accepting money from Russia.
Jason Chaffetz (202) 225-7751, https://chaffetz.house.gov
Thank Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) for introducing a bipartisan bill, along with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden ( that would ban border agents from searching phones or laptops without a warrant. NBC News reports that an alarming number of U.S. citizens are being forced by border agents to give up their passwords, cell phones, and laptops to be searched at the border – all without a warrant.
Rand Paul (202) 224-4343, https://www.paul.senate.gov
Remember, if you can’t get through to their Washington DC offices, try their state offices (info on their websites)