MORNING COFFEE ACTIONS
(Actions you can do while enjoying your morning cup!)
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Ask MoCs to Fight Trump's Cruel Immigration Policies
Heartbreaking stories, photos, audio, and videos showing the impact of the administration's zero tolerance policy have increasingly filled the news. Forty-nine Senators (all Democrats or Independents) have signed on to cosponsor the Keep Families Together Act (S.3036), a bill filed by Sen. Diane Feinstein to limit the practice of separating children from their families at the border. Please thank our Senators for their support, urge all our MoCs to continue speaking out and taking action to end this inhumane policy, and ask friends or family with Republican Senators to call their offices and urge them to support S.3036 and take other actions to help keep families together.
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​Help Defend MA's Gender Identify Non-Discrimination Law
In 2016, a bipartisan group passed legislation updating the Commonwealth’s nondiscrimination civil rights laws to include protections for transgender people in places of public accommodation - medical facilities, restaurants, retail shops, and restrooms. These protections are now at risk via a November ballot referendum. Here are 3 ways you can help: 

1. Volunteer to talk about the referendum to patrons at the Lexington Farmers Market (coaching available).
2. Participate in phonebanks with Freedom Mass. Training provided.
3. Join our LexVotes4TransRights email group for weekly updates.

Email LexPrideMA@gmail.com for more details..

​Support SNAP in the Senate Farm Bill
Ask our Senators to support the bipartisan Farm Bill in the Senate, which would leave intact the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, which also improves national health outcomes. SNAP helps about 42 million low-income Americans afford a nutritious diet. The House-passed version would make cuts to the program and add work requirements, thereby increasing hunger among the vulnerable, including children. Also, thank our Representatives for voting against the draconian House version.

​Register Voters with MassVOTE 
Our allies at Sister District MA & RI and MassVOTE are partnering on a non-partisan voter registration project targeting unregistered voters in historically disenfranchised communities. Their first effort is a postcard project making initial contact with potential voters in Boston, with plans to follow up doing phone calls and voter registration drives. They're hoping to identify volunteers around MA & RI who will take the lead in their towns or in target communities nearby. If you'd like to sign up to be included as this project develops, or would like to take some lead role organizing, please complete this form.

Contact Your State Rep. to Support Clean Energy Legislation
Please call your state representative to push for action on clean energy legislation and urge the House to adopt the policies included in the Senate Climate Omnibus bill ((S.2302). To keep pressure on the MA House to take up the legislation, organizers are asking clean energy supporters to call every Monday, but calls or emails anytime are helpful; a call-in script can be found here. If you'd also like send a postcard to Governor Baker or write a letter to the editor supporting carbon pricing, this action toolkit from the Massachusetts Campaign for a Clean Energy Future has all the information you need.

Help Fight Against Medicaid Cuts
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to propose up to $25 billion in spending cuts, including targeting safety net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. AARP has a campaign for people to tell Congress to protect Medicare. You can help by filling out AARP’s online form to automatically contact your Members of Congress (MoCs). Alternatively, you can call your MoCs or email them via webform, thank them for their past support of Medicare and urge them to fight against any cuts to Medicare or other safety net programs. You can check your MoCs’ voting records on Medicare here.

 

Help Reduce Plastic Bag Pollution
The Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a bill (H.4234) to prohibit stores from providing single-use carryout bags to customers at the point of sale on or after August 1, 2019. If the bill passes, reusable grocery bags or recycled paper bags could be provided or sold as an alternative. While 65 cities and towns in MA have passed similar bans, this legislation would provide a consistent retail environment for businesses and reduce plastic bag pollution even more. The bill was reported favorably out of the Natural Resources Committee and is now in the House Ways and Means Committee. Please call your state representative and ask them to support this bill. See this fact sheet for more details

Sign Up to Register Voters 
Our members have been volunteering with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) to register new American citizens just after they are sworn in. Interested in joining us? You can see what's involved on MIRA's website, then sign up for specific days using this link. Volunteers are typically needed for an hour or so on Thursday afternoons in Boston and a coordinator is at every event to answer any questions and provide brief training on the day of the event. There are many events scheduled from June through September.​
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​Protect the Integrity of the Census
The Department of Commerce recently decided to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, prompting public outcry from many officials (including our Senators, MoCs, and Secretary of State Galvin). MA Attorney General Maura Healey has joined many other states in a lawsuit and several Senators, including Senator Markey, have co-sponsored a new bill (S.2580) to block the change and ensure an accurate census count. Please thank these officials for speaking out and taking action. You can call the Department of Commerce, Office of Public Affairs at 202-482-4883 to express your opposition to including this question in the census. 
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Protect Mueller's Investigation
Trump called the recent FBI raid on the office of his attorney, Michael Cohen “an attack on our country,” increasing the likelihood that he might try to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But that’s not the only way that Trump can impede the investigation. There are other “red lines” that Trump could cross including:

• Firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
• Pardoning Key Witnesses
• Taking Other Actions that Interfere with the Investigation (such as repealing the regulations establishing the special counsel's office)

If these red lines are crossed, we need to respond. Here is what we can do NOW:

1. If you haven't already, use this link to sign up for one of the more than 900 Mueller Rapid Response rallies that will take place all over the country. Tell your friends to signup too. Have your T-shirt and sign ready to go! 
2. Sign up to receive alerts from Indivisible - Text LINE to 97779
3. Read Indivisible's new toolkit on what to do next
4. Ask our MoCs to support bills to protect Mueller. Senators can support S.2644, the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which merges two bipartisan bills to protect against a Mueller firing that were introduced last year (S. 1735 and S. 1741). Representatives in the House can co-sponsor H.R. 5476, the companion bill in the house.led by Representatives Cohen and Jones.

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