Produced by the Legislative Committee of the Coconino County Democratic Party and Democrats of the Red Rocks
FEDERAL ACTION ALERT –June 19, 2023
A. Demand our House and Senate Representatives pass the EQUALITY ACT! There is an
alarming surge in discriminatory attacks against LGBTQ+ people so far this year. A total
of 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across over a dozen state legislatures
this year alone! Many of these bills target transgender youth, denying them access to
essential and life-saving healthcare. It is important to recognize that our fellow citizens
are not adequately safeguarded from discrimination under current federal laws.
Discrimination persists in education, housing, transportation, medical care, public goods
and services, family planning and even jury service. Demand our representatives take
immediate action to pass the EQUALITY ACT and affirm LGBTQ+ civil rights!!
B. Urge both Congress and our Senate Representatives to increase TEFAP funding in the
2023 Farm Bill to help food banks meet rising demand!! TEFAP stands for the
Emergency Food Assistance Program. The federal government moves nutritious food
from farms to food banks across the Feeding America network. As family food budgets
are slashed due to inflation or job insecurity, more funding to food banks is desperately
needed. Last year 30% of the food distributed to Feeding America came via TEFAP. We
need to double the funding for TEFAP in the 2023 Farm Bill and we need to expand
assistance for TEFAP storage and distribution to get food from point A to point B safely.
Insist our Representatives do the right thing and expand TEFAP in the 2023 Farm Bill!!
C. Demand our House Representative show total disapproval of the proposed Republican
Study Committee budget!! The Republican Study Committee, which includes 70% of
the House Republicans, released their 2024 budget and it’s a disaster for Social Security
and Medicare. It would raise the retirement age from 67 to 69 – cutting benefits in
effect by 14%, it would end Medicare coverage guarantee – replacing it with a coupon –
effectively privatizing Medicare, it would force disabled Americans to wait twice as long
to qualify for Medicare, it does not ask for a single penny more from the wealth!! The
strategy seems to be to get some Democrats to support this budget (behind closed
doors) and then come out with it to the public as “bipartisan”. Our Representative
MUST NOT SUPPORT this terrible budget proposal!!
D. Express thanks to the Department of Interior for preserving the oral history and
records on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The DOI is partnering with the
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to preserve key historical documents
about the Indian Boarding School’s troubled history. NEH has committed $4 Million to
support this effort. The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was launched in 2021
by the DOI and is an on-going effort to acknowledge the poor legacy of federal Indian
boarding school policies. Arizona had 47 boarding schools where Native American
children were taken away from their families and subjected to attempted assimilation
through education and often, physical punishment. You can learn a lot about this topic
with a visit to the Indian School exhibit at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Let the DOI
know how you feel about their commendable effort in this area.
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. Eli Crane: Call (202) 225-3361 (DC) or email via website at
https://crane.house.gov/contact. Tag the Congressman @RepEliCrane
President Biden: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
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