Produced by the Legislative Committee of the Coconino County Democratic Party and Democrats of the Red Rocks
A. Democrats must raise the debt ceiling NOW to stop the GOP from holding our economy hostage. Raising the debt ceiling, once considered a routine duty of Congress to pay our bills – bills that have already been approved through formal votes, is now used by Republicans as an opportunity to threaten and extort concessions from Democrats. The GOP has already threatened, if they capture a majority in the House, to hold the debt ceiling hostage while demanding cuts in essential programs like Social Security and Medicaid. If Democrats raise the debt ceiling during this lame duck session, they
can deprive the GOP of a chance to hold the country hostage over the next two years. Democrats must stand up to Republican obstruction before it starts and use their respective powers to end this Republican manufactured crisis before it begins!!
B. Demand our representatives support and PASS the Afghan Adjustment Act!! When the
US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 we welcomed thousands of Afghan refugees via
humanitarian parole, a fast-track system that allows them to live and work in the US for two years. Unfortunately it does not provide a pathway to a green card. Hence, these people have to apply for asylum despite being thoroughly vetted by Homeland Security. The Afghan Adjustment Act would help facilitate the resettlement for Afghan refugees by providing a pathway to a green card. Currently the special immigration visa program has a backlog of 70,000 applications and the asylum process has a backlog of 1.4 million cases. These Afghans who qualify for relief are our allies, people who worked for the US government in Afghanistan and whose lives would be in dire peril from the Taliban if forced to be deported. Get our reps to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act!!
C. The Senate has just a few weeks to permanently protect the Grand Canyon region from uranium mining!! The Senate must pass the Grand Canyon Protection Act!! This bill would permanently ban new uranium mines on about 1 million acres of federal public lands near the park. The bill has passed the House twice this Congress but the Senate is sitting on it!! Uranium mining has a long history of contaminating land and water in the Grand Canyon region. Indigenous communities have and continue to suffer disproportionately from the dangerous consequences of uranium mining. The Havasupai Tribe has warned that Pinyon Plain Mine endangers the tribe’s sole source of drinking water. And the Pinyon Plain Mine is currently advertising for miners and staff so its clearly planning on increasing its activity soon. The Grand Canyon is the ancestral and cultural homeland of many tribes and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It is the last place companies should mine
uranium!! The Senate MUST pass the Grand Canyon Protection ACT before they adjourn!!
Sen. Mark Kelly: Call (202) 224-2235 (DC); Email via his website at
https://www.kelly.senate.gov/contact/. Tag the Senator at @senmarkkelly.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: Call (202) 224-4521 (DC) or (602) 598-7327. Email via her website at
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact-kyrsten. Tag the Senator at @senatorsinema.
Rep. Tom O’Halleran: Call (202) 225-3361 (DC) or email via website at
https://ohalleran.house.gov/contact. Tag the Congressman @RepOHalleran