February 14, 2024
Crack down on methane and plastic, Biden's accomplishments, help Pennsylvanians vote by mail, and more!
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HOUSE EMBARRASSINGLY IMPEACHES SECRETARY MAYORKAS
Last night, by a single vote, the House has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Viewed primarily as a revenge move against Biden over border issues that the GOP voted down last week, it seems likely that the Senate will either acquit or sidestep the charges particularly in light of the fact that the impeachment was done "without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds." Let’s tell our senators not to play along with this sham that serves only to detract from the real border issues at hand.
BIDEN ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Although the media does not do nearly a good enough job reporting on the numerous good things that President Biden has done during his first administration, we know that sharing this news is important. Here is a list of 30 accomplishments we can share. Included in each is the move, the impact, and the upshot. Let’s spread some of this good news around.
LET PA VOTERS KNOW THEY MUST RENEW THEIR VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT REQUESTS THIS YEAR
Swing state Pennsylvania voters can now vote by mail but they must reapply every year to do so. Many voters are not aware of this and may miss their chance to vote by mail in this year’s crucial election. Now Activate America is ready to send postcards to Democratic leaning voters in two key house districts to let them know they must request their vote by mail ballots again this year. We can find out more and then sign up to let Pennsylvania voters know their vote by mail rules here. When we check out their page, we can find several other opportunities to reach voters if we’d like to do even more!
FOREIGN AID BILL NEEDS TO BE PASSED BY HOUSE
In the early hours Tuesday morning, the Senate passed a bipartisan aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The bill also includes humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. The vote was 70-29 with 22 Republicans signing on. The bill now goes to the House where Speaker Johnson has already said it has no future as it does not include border security. Keep in mind that the House voted down a border-security bill last week at the behest of the former president to keep it an election issue and not work on the problem. We may have issues with parts of this legislation, but we are also committed to democracy around the world. Let’s tell our representatives that we want this bill passed, but that conditions need to set for how Netanyahu uses the money.
CRACKING DOWN ON METHANE LEAKS
U.S. gas pipelines leak millions of tons of methane, a powerful driver of climate change, into our atmosphere each year. That’s the same impact as roughly 50 million passenger cars. The Department of Transportation has a proposal to hep find and fix more leaks which would require more regular surveys for repairs, more detailed reporting, use modern technology for leak detection, and extend protective standards to cover 70,000 more miles of pipelines. Unfortunately it has not yet been put into action despite being first published last May and initially expected to be finalized last July. The activists at Earthjustice are asking folks to reach out to Secretary Buttigieg and push him to finalize the rule this spring. Let’s use their tool to do so.
REDUCE PLASTIC WASTE POLLUTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Over the last four years, the Biden Administration has taken small steps to reduce plastic waste pollution such as phasing out plastic water bottle sales in National Parks. Most recently the General Service
Administration (GSA) has introduced a new rule that requires federal agencies purchasing through the GSA to ask their suppliers to identify any products that are packaged with single-use plastics and seek more sustainable solutions. Oceana, an environmental organization working on this issue claims that this is not enough to address the 33 billion pounds of plastic waste that enter the oceans each year. Let’s read their arguments here and then add our comments to the new rule.