January 7, 2025

Progress on offshore drilling, last chances for big moves by Biden, train to run for office, and more!

Contact all members of Congress:

• By phone: (202) 224-3121

• By email: Congress.gov

• By US mail: Representatives / Senators

• By fax: Representatives / Senators

• By Resistbot: Resist.bot

Contact White House or other federal agencies:

• usa.gov/federal-agencies

• PRESERVE NEW AREAS PROTECTED FROM OFFSHORE DRILLING

  President Biden announced yesterday a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of our coastline, protecting 625 million acres along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bering Sea – about 20% of the total controlled by the United States. This is a long-sought goal of environmental activists seeking to transition away from fossil fuels and protect vulnerable areas and economies, and crucially should be difficult for Trump and his benefactors in the fossil fuel industry to overturn. Under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the president has the power to indefinitely withdraw unleased lands from mineral leasing and drilling, and a district court judge ruled in 2019 that the White House does not have the legal authority to unilaterally throw out prior bans. The right-wing dominated courts may or may not overturn current precedent if Trump pushes forward with executive action, but litigating that will take a long time. He could also seek legislative approval, and while there will be plenty of Republicans lined up behind him, those representing the areas that benefit from the ban may hesitate and getting anything through this Congress will be a challenge. Let’s start laying down our markers now and reach out to our members of Congress to let them know we support these new protections against offshore drilling and urge them to oppose any effort to roll them back– either directly or by texting PCAQWW to 50409 to send this message via Resistbot. We can also write or call the White House to thank President Biden and urge him to keep going with more aggressive actions like denying pending permits to liquefied methane gas terminals, using sample language from Climate Hawks Vote.

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• SAY IT STRAIGHT: RFK JR WILL KILL OUR CHILDREN

  We have seen what happens when Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s anti-vaccine views prevail. His disinformation campaign against the measles vaccine in Samoa contributed to an epidemic in 2019 that killed at least 83 people and led to more than 1800 hospitalizations, mostly of babies and young children – all in a nation with a population of about 200,000. Kennedy described this outbreak as “mild.” Samoan health officials have urged us to treat his appointment as a threat to health security, and Hawai’i Governor Josh Green, an ER physician who helped combat the epidemic, is personally lobbying senators against his nomination. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) went on MSNBC this weekend at said it straight: “RFK Jr wants to kill our kids by withdrawing vaccines from our schools.” Let’s reach out to our senators and tell them it’s exactly as clear as Senator Murphy put it, and we want them to be just as blunt. We expect them to vote no, and we expect them to speak plainly and publicly about the lives RFK Jr’s plans will cost.

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• ASK BIDEN TO EXTEND TPS/DACA RENEWALS WHILE HE STILL CAN With less than two weeks left in Biden’s term, and Republican states rolling out plans to aid Trump’s promises of massive deportation, immigrants in our country, even those who have current legal status, are in peril. The American Immigration Council is putting forth one last attempt to urge Biden to extend Temporary Protected Status for populations whose TPS is set to expire in the next year, and newly designate TPS for residents of Lebanon and the Congo. Biden also must prioritize DACA renewals, expedite work permits, release detained people who are not a threat to public safety, and dismiss removal cases of people who are not enforcement priorities, and rescind two rules that prohibit asylum-seekers from receiving humanitarian aid. Let’s contact the White House and urge Biden to act now, and use this template to tailor letters to our MoCs, urging them to put pressure on him to do the same.

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• RELEASING THE SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT
  With legal accountability for Donald Trump’s crimes off the table for now, transparency may be the best we can hope for – and Trump is trying to make sure it doesn’t happen. The President-Elect, having reviewed special counsel Jack Smith’s two-volume final report on the classified documents and election interference cases, has asked Attorney General Merrick Garland not to publicly release it. His co-defendants in the classified documents have made a similar request of Judge Aileen Cannon. Garland has previously pledged to release Smith’s report in some form, in keeping with recent tradition. Let’s contact the Justice Department and urge the Attorney General to keep his promise and share the entire report with the public. We deserve to know exactly what kind of crook the special counsel concluded the President was.

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• BUILDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL VOTE - WEBINAR TONIGHT
  Biden’s announcement of the offshore drilling ban is proof of the influence of environmental voters. Obviously, however, we are going to need a lot more of them to face the challenges ahead. The Environmental Voter Project identifies millions of non-voting environmentalists and turns them into consistent voters. Those of us who’d like to help can tune into a free introductory webinar TONIGHT at 8:00pm Eastern. We can register here.

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• GET FREE VIRTUAL TRAINING TO RUN FOR OFFICE THURSDAY

  It’s clear the country needs our help and there are many ways we can serve. If we are thinking about running for office, we can join the National Democratic Training Committee this THURSDAY, January 9, from 1–2PM Eastern for a free virtual training designed to guide us through the steps of running for elected office. This live session will cover how to decide which office to run for, the support we’ll need, and how to share our decision with our network. Ideal for those considering a candidacy but not yet committed, this session also suggests taking the “Running a Ballot Access Program” course for deeper insights. Accessibility support is available—we can reply to our registration email for assistance. We can register for “So You Want to Run for Office” here.

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