U.S. Poverty Weekly Update, June 27, 2017
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | June 27, 2017
“People's lives are literally on the line. I urge Sens. Heitkamp and Hoeven to oppose any proposal that cuts or restructures Medicaid or threatens the health care of millions of Americans.”
RESULTS Grand Forks (ND) volunteer Kathleen Ness in a June 26 letter to the editor in the Grand Forks Herald
- Got Two Minutes? It Ain’t Over 'Til It's Over – Tell Your Senators to Oppose BCRA (June Action)
- Got Ten Minutes? Use the Media to Maintain Vigilance Against the Senate Health Bill (June Action)
- Got Twenty Minutes? Make the July 4 Recess Memorable for Lawmakers
- RESULTS Conference Is Less Than a Month Away – Are you Ready?
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Action: Tell Senators to Protect Medicaid
| Take Action! |
Got Two Minutes? It Ain’t Over 'Til It's Over – Tell Your Senators to Oppose BCRA (June Action)
It’s been a bad week for both supporters and opponents of the Senate’s health bill. Since last Tuesday, we’ve learned that Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would cut and cap Medicaid deeper than the House health bill. We’ve learned that BCRA gives hundreds of billions in tax cuts to the wealthy while seniors and working families face steep increases in the cost of insurance (or lose their insurance altogether). We’ve learned that under BCRA, 22 million Americans will lose health coverage over the next decade, with 15 million losing coverage in 2018 alone (CBO). And just this afternoon, we’ve learned that lacking votes to pass, the Senate has abruptly delayed a vote on their bill until after the July 4 recess.
This last item is certainly good news and a tribute to your advocacy. But as we learned from the House, delay is not death. Leaders will be working furiously over the next few weeks to make changes to the bill and cobble together the 50 votes they need. Make no mistake – this bill cannot be fixed! Stay vigilant by calling your senators to make sure this bill gets the proper defeat it deserves.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to call both your Senate offices to tell them to oppose any bill that cuts or caps Medicaid. Call (800) 826-3688 and leave the following updated message (and try local offices if you cannot get through to the DC office):
My name is ___________________ and I am a constituent from ___________________. I am appalled that the Senate would consider passing a health bill that takes health care from 22 million people, most of them low-income children, seniors, and persons with disabilities on Medicaid. This bill is wrong and no amount of changes will fix it. Please tell Sen. ________________ to protect our health care and oppose any health bill that cuts or caps Medicaid or causes millions of Americans to lose their health insurance. Will you deliver that message?
Once you call, urge others you know to call as well. We need as many people as possible telling their senators to oppose this plan. Share with your local action networks and on social media to get the word out. The June Action has wording you can use when contacting people to call.
Got Ten Minutes? Use the Media to Maintain Vigilance Against the Senate Health Bill (June Action)
The sudden delay of a health care vote in the Senate gives you time to remind your communities just how devastating this plan is: the Better Care Reconciliation Act forces 22 million people to lose health coverage, 15 million of them from Medicaid; premiums for moderate-income Americans will go up’ protections for core health services will be compromised. This is a bad bill and any changes they make going forward won’t dramatically change it for the better.
Senate leaders will use this delay to tamp down opposition. The House used the same lull in opposition to pass their bill in May. We must stay vigilant. The media can help you do that. We’ve updated our online letter to the editor so you can tell your senators that secret deals that put the health of millions in jeopardy are unacceptable.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to submit a letter to the editor telling your members of Congress to stop playing politics with people’s lives. Urge them to protect Medicaid and health care for all Americans. Use our updated online alert to send a letter to your local paper today. Be sure to edit the letter online for to mention your senators by name and to include the impact of BCRA on your state.
Also, if you live in AK, AR, AZ, CO, LA, ME, NV, OH, TN, or WV or know of others who do and can share how Medicaid impacts your children, played a role in your childhood, or know of others in those states that can do so, we’d love to get you involved in our “Medicaid Story Project.” See RESULTS Expert on Poverty Asia Bijan Thompson’s Facebook post for more information.
Got Twenty Minutes? Make the July 4 Recess Memorable for Lawmakers
The importance of next week’s congressional recess just got a lot more important. With the Senate’s health vote delay, your voice in maintaining opposition against the Better Care Reconciliation Act next week is critical. Remember, Senate leaders were pushing hard to vote this week because they did not want their members going home and have constituents give them an earful about their dreadful health proposal. Prove their fears correct.
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to contact House and Senate schedulers about face-to-face meetings and town halls during the July 4 recess. Use our sample meeting request to ask for a meeting today and look at www.townhallproject.com for events in your area. Try the DC scheduler first and then the local ones if need be (find names and contact info here). Remember, many politicians appear in Independence Day parades so if you get there early and seek out the staging ground, you might get a few minutes to talk to them.
For senators, the message is: Oppose any bill that cuts or caps Medicaid or causes millions to lose health insurance.
For representatives, the message is: Oppose any cuts Medicaid and SNAP in the budget.
If you get a meeting or find an event to attend, contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to help you get ready.
RESULTS Conference Is Less Than a Month Away – Are you Ready?
With the RESULTS International Conference starting three weeks from this weekend, take a few minutes to see what you can do to prepare:
Set Up Letter-Writing Parties in July. To allow everyone to participate in the Advocacy Day (July 25), even those who are not in DC, we urge you to invite friends and colleagues to write letters on our U.S. Poverty issues that you can hand-deliver in your lobby meetings in DC. In July, plan to gather people together for a local letter-writing party either during the National Webinar (July 11 at 8:00 pm ET) or at some other time before July 21 (when people leave for the Conference). You’ll even get a small recognition at the Conference the more letters you bring. The July Action Sheet will be available in the next week with information to help.
Schedule Your Lobby Prep Call. We continue to set up pre-Conference “lobby prep calls” with attendees to help them get ready for lobby meetings in DC. Look for an e-mail from Jos Linn asking you for times when you can do a prep call and respond ASAP.
Log Your IC Lobby Meetings. As you set up meetings for Advocacy Day at the Conference, please fill out our Lobby Meeting Schedule Form for each meeting you get scheduled.
Register for Pre- and Post-Conference Trainings. At the Conference, we’ll be doing an advocacy intensive on Saturday morning (July 22) and a media intensive on Wednesday morning (July 26). If you will be in DC during these times, sign up to attend one or both of these trainings at: Check out the details online and register for a spot.
Conference Resources Online. For all your Conference-related resources, including sample meetings requests, the IC Checklist, and issue background packets, go to our 2017 RESULTS Conference Resources page.
It’s Not Too Late to Register. If you haven’t yet registered for the Conference, go to www.resultsconference.org to register today. And remember that first time attendees get a $50 discount off their registration fee. Use the discount code FIRSTIC17 when you register.
Quick News
Be a Monthly Donor to RESULTS. Our campaign to unlock the $25,000 match (a longtime RESULTS donor and volunteer has promised to donate $1,000 for every new monthly donor, up to $25,000) continues to go strong, but it ends this Friday, June 30. Add your name to the list of monthly donors to RESULTS’ important work today!
Upcoming Events
Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events. Also, find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website.
Upcoming Congressional Recesses: House and Senate: July 3-7.
Independence Day Holiday, Tuesday, July 4. All RESULTS offices are closed. RESULTS offices will be open on Monday, July 3 but many staff persons will be on vacation that day.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, Tuesday, July 11 at 8:00 pm ET. Participate at http://fuze.me/32255914 or (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32255914#. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
RESULTS Introductory Call, Wednesday, July 12 at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an Intro Call on the RESULTS website.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, Tuesday, July 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/32256018 or dial by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32256018#.
RESULTS International Conference, Saturday, July 22 – Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. Register today!
If you have a question, comment or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail them to RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Vanessa Garcia at [email protected]. You can view the most recently published minutes from Board meetings on the RESULTS website, as well as download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report.