INDIVISIBLE CEDAR MILL OREGON
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Resistance Letter #31
October 27, 2017
Day 281 of 1461 days
Dear Co-defendants –
ONCE MORE, DEAR FRIENDS,…
…to the breach. We are entering into a replay of the health care fight with taxscam ready to be taken up by congress. (Please refrain from ever using the word ‘reform’ in relation to this process; ‘reform’ implies improvement. This is an outright scam!!!) It will take the same dedication and persistence (yes, we will persist!) that characterized our stalemating and ultimately defeating healthcare ala Trump. The budget resolution process will be used by McConnell to ram this atrocity through, so that means we need to convince three Republican senators to vote against the taxscam, and to hold all the Democrats firm. This should be achievable; Trump has slighted or directly insulted a full 20% of Republican senators and has turned three into outright enemies.
The Republicans will put all they have into this fight. Senator Lindsay Graham said that failure in this legislation will mean the end of the Republican party. Let us hope so, and let us do all we personally can to help them along the way to their self-destruction. They deserve to change or go; their choice.
Thomas Paine said that, ”those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” We will all be fatigued before this taxscam has been defeated, but defeated it will certainly be. The taxscam proposals are scheduled to be revealed this upcoming week, but many of them can be inferred from the adopted budget. Of most immediate concern are huge Medicaid and Medicare cuts which will accomplish in taxscam what they were not able to do in the healthcare fight. In addition, food stamps, SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), federal pensions, CHIP (Children’s Health Program), and EITC (Earned Income Tax Credits) will all be severely curtailed to make funds available to shift to the wealthy. There are discussions about removing state income and sales taxes from itemized deductions, and restricting or eliminating the alternative income tax. Of course, they plan to abolish the estate tax to directly benefit the wealthy and, in particular, Donald J Trump. All in all, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates a 677 billion dollar ($677,000,000,000.00) annual deficit between 2018 and 2022.
There are enough oxen being gored to furnish us with multiple lines of attack. See Calls to Action for specific targets this week. Next week there will be more and varied.
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND
Senators Bob Corker, Jeff Flake and John McCain all took on Trump very directly this week. Most of the criticism stressed his unfitness for the office due to mental instability, and character and moral defects. Both Corker and Flake essentially called him a nuclear danger and a serial liar; McCain ridiculed this president’s five deferments from Vietnam service due to bone spurs, pointing out that American wars are being increasingly fought by the nation’s poor, because the wealthy can buy their way out. All of these senators deserve a call thanking them for their open opposition to Trump. See Calls to Action.
A VALIANT EFFORT WILL COME UP SHORT
The Senate HELP (Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions) committee has produced a bi-partisan bill to fund key insurance subsidy programs which support Obamacare through 2019. These subsidies were discontinued by Trump a few weeks ago in an obvious attempt to cripple ACA (aka Obamacare). Chair Alexander Lamar (TN) and co-chair Patty Murray(WA) have signed up 24 Republican and Democratic senators as co-sponsors. While we should applaud this attempt at bipartisanship, it is unlikely to ever see the light of the Senate legislative day; McConnell will decide if it ever comes to a vote, and you can easily figure the odds of that happening – close to zero. Even should it improbably get by the Senate, it would face quick and certain defeat in the House and, even after that, a quick veto from Trump. Still, a try is a try, and Murray and Alexander should be lauded for their efforts. See Calls To Action.
AS IF WE DIDN’T KNOW
Read this WAPO article to see how we defeat Trump. Indeed, this is the only way open to us to put him in a box, and all our efforts are in this direction. We started with WA and VA for the legislative elections this year; we will continue to aid other districts next year, and to flip the House in 2018. That will put us in the cat-bird seat!
CALLS TO ACTION
The highest priority calls now and in the future are aimed at defeating taxscam. Start off with calling Wyden, Merkley and Schumer: the message being to oppose this wealth transfer. The Republicans will probably need a few Democratic votes to get this things passed. We do not want any Democrats to break rank; tell Schumer that.
Senator Ron Wyden(OR)—202-224-5244
Senator Jeff Merkley(OR) – 202-224-3753
Senator Charles Schumer(NY) – 202-224-6542
The taxscam promises to increase the deficit and the national debt by $677 billion dollars a year for the next four years. Budget hawks should be encouraged to oppose this huge increase in debt. These two senators need to be reminded what the taxscam would do to the budget and the deficit.
Senator Rand Paul(KY) – 202-224-4343
Senator Bob Corker(TN) – 202-224-3344
The next priority is to tell these senators that we approve of their open opposition to Trump, and hope that more of their confreres will follow their courageous outspoken opposition.
Senator John McCain(AZ) – 202-224-2235
Senator Jeff Flake(AZ) – 202-224-4521
Senator Bob Corker(TN) – 202-224-3344
Finally, these senators deserve a supporting shout-out for trying to cover the insurance subsidies so cruelly deleted by Trump in a continued attempt to cripple medical care.
Senator Lamar Alexander(TN) – 202-224-4944
Senator Patty Murray(WA) – 202-224-2621
MONTHLY MEETING
The meeting is set for Monday, November 13 (email for address: indivisiblecedarmill[at]gmail.com). Doors open at 6:30PM, the meeting starts at 7:30 PM and ends promptly at 8:30 PM. Refreshments, both adult and juvenile will be provided along with a few tasty snacks. The speakers for this meeting are Ryan Eckert and Kathryn Harrington, both running for Washington County Chair. This is an important local position being vacated by Andy Dyck, current Washington County Commissioner. His replacement should be of great concern to all progressives in the county.
No Surrender.
L’audace, encore l’audace, et toujours l’audace!
Thank you.
John Fox