Call Senators To Reject Trump’s Immoral Deal To End Government Shutdown
By MUUSJN on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
Call Sen. Gary Peters: 202-224-6221 & Sen. Debbie Stabenow: 202-224-4822
Tell Them: Vote NO on Bad Trump Proposal & Press McConnell to ALLOW vote on House Bills to End Government Shutdown!
BACKGROUND
January 22nd marked the beginning of a second month of a record government shutdown over a budget dispute. In December, Congress had reached a bi-partisan agreement (supported by 100% of Senators) to keep the government open with a continuing resolution. Then Pres. Trump, pressured by right wingers, demanded over $5.7 billion for a wall on our southern border that the majority (63%) of Americans don’t want. Now, 800,000 federal government employees and their families have been working (or furloughed) without pay. They are becoming desperate without funds to put food on table, pay their mortgages or pay other bills.
In exchange for $5.7 billion to build his wall, President Trump and Republican Senators proposed opening the government with a deal that included some cruel strings:
- Temporarily extend the Dream Act for three years. Only DACA children with work permits would be allowed to continue to stay in the U.S. Fees to apply for DACA status would be doubled, making it very difficult for poor youth to apply. The offer of three years of protection is hollow since a court has determined that its illegal to end the DACA program. A Supreme Court appeal of this ruling is not expected for another year.
- The Senate Republican proposal would bar Central American children from applying for asylum in the U.S. They would need to apply for asylum in the country they were fleeing from. At the same time, they must have have a guardian in the U.S. Numbers of children applying for asylum would be restricted to 15,000.
- The proposal would extend funding for the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). Funding for services for women who have been raped or abused ended on January 18th. Vulnerable women are being held hostage for a wall.
A vote on this 1,031 page “compromise” bill introduced in the Senate Appropriations Committee, could happen by Thursday, January 24th. According to a recent article in today’s New York Times, this bill is not likely to have enough votes to pass. Click HERE for more information.
Call your Senators before this Thursday. Other impacts of the government shutdown are disturbing. Funding for subsidized housing and SNAP (Food Stamps) that benefit 38 million Americans is expected to stop by the end of January. Fortunately, the Secretary of Agriculture has taken steps to advance funding for February for SNAP and other nutrition programs such as school lunches and supplemental nutrition funding for the Women, Infants and Children program. For more information, click HERE. Low-income people are faced with a genuine crisis of either hunger, homelessness or both due to this immoral government shutdown.
The best solution is for the U.S. Senate to vote on bills to end the government shutdown adopted by the House. URGE OUR SENATORS to demand that Senator McConnell allow a vote on these bills so the government can reopen and so that debates can continue on what security should look like at our southern border.
President Trump has said this shutdown could last as long as it takes for him to get funding for the wall. He’s even said (click HERE for article in NY Times) this could be a matter of months or even years!! We the people need to restore sanity, to block the President from his efforts to grab more power and demand that Sen. McConnell allow a vote on a bill without cruel strings to fund and reopen the government — for the sake of workers, women, immigrant children, vulnerable families and America!
Category: News |