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President Obama: Close Guantánamo Bay
More than three months into President Obama’s second term in office, 166 men are still imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, the majority of them held for more than eleven years without any charge or fair trial. While President Obama has rightly argued that Congress is standing in the way of his fulfilling his promise to close the prison, human rights groups have pointed out the many meaningful actions he can take.
TO DO
We Need the Post Office
We applauded Congress’s recent defense of Saturday delivery at the United States Postal Service and the USPS’s subsequent decision not to cancel it. However, the story didn’t end there. As John Nichols reported, the USPS still suffers from attempts to weaken the public institution and privatize its services. To preserve and modernize the USPS well into the twenty-first century, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Peter DeFazio have introduced the Postal Service Protection Act, a package of reforms designed to give this critical institution a fighting chance.
TO DOTell President Obama: Halt Deportations Now
Each day that Congress delays passing comprehensive immigration reform, an estimated 1,100 undocumented immigrants are deported, leaving spouses, siblings and even children behind. These families are torn apart despite the fact that, if the “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill or similar legislation passes, many of them could be eligible for legal status and a path to citizenship. Although President Obama has been a vocal advocate of immigration reform, his administration has deported a record 1.5 million people.
TO DOSupport ACHE. Save Appalachia
In April of 2012, four leading scientists briefed Congress on the environmental and health impacts of mountain top removal (MTR) mining in Appalachia. Their findings were damning: mountain top removal, the practice of clearing mountain tops of trees and topsoil and then blasting them with explosives to reveal the coal seams underneath, is polluting the Appalachian watershed, decreasing organism diversity, increasing flooding and contaminating ground water. Meanwhile, people living in the affected areas are experiencing high rates of cancer, heart and respiratory disease, along with rising birth defect and mortality rates.
TO DOTell Your Senators to Preserve Background Checks in Gun Control Legislation
As the Senate approaches a vote on gun control legislation, amendments and changes in language threaten to hinder any attempts at meaningful reform. Right now, Senator Tom Coburn is advancing a change to the rules regarding background checks that would undermine much of the bill's intent.
TO DOTell Secretary of State John Kerry: Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
It's still entirely unclear if the Keystone XL pipeline can be built and managed safely. Moreover, its construction would delay the critical conversion to a non-fossil fuel based economy on which our future depends. Secretary of State John Kerry, who once spoke out bravely against the Vietnam War and who has stressed the dangers of climate change, could stop it. Sometime in the next couple of months, the State Department will issue a final environmental impact statement on the pipeline, followed by a determination on whether it is “in the national interest."
TO DOStand With Indiana University Strikers
On April 11th and 12th, while the Indiana University Board of Trustees holds its annual meeting, students and staff throughout the statewide system will walk out of class and off the job to protest critical issues plaguing higher education across the country—from sky-rocketing tuition costs to privatization schemes to barriers facing undocumented students.
TO DOThe Student Loan Fairness Act is Only Fair
Student loan debt in the US has exceeded $1 trillion—more than credit card or automobile debt—and it is growing. This is a crisis that not only limits opportunities for those struggling to pay back their loans; it also causes a significant drag on the entire economy. Recently, Representative Karen Bass introduced the Student Loan Fairness Act of 2013, a measure that promises meaningful relief for many of the more than 37 million Americans saddled with student loan debt.
TO DOStand Up for Employment Protections for LGBT Workers
While much attention has been focused on the Supreme Court’s consideration of California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense Against Marriage Act, the struggle for LGBT rights extends beyond the right to marry. Currently, twenty-nine states do not prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and thirty-four states do not protect transgender workers.
The protections are sorely needed, as members of the LGBT community, particularly LGBT people of color, face alarmingly high rates of employment discrimination. Studies show that up to 42 percent of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and an astonishing 90 percent of transgender people, have experienced employment discrimination on the job or felt the need to hide their identity to avoid it.
Stand with Walmart Warehouse Workers
Recently, warehouses contracted by Walmart have proven to be as aggressive at thwarting workers’ rights as the retail giant itself. After workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Chico, California, were awarded $1.1 million in stolen wages, they spoke of retaliation for speaking out.
Then, in late February, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against companies involved in staffing and managing Walmart’s largest distribution center in the United States. The complaint alleged that the company had threatened and punished workers for organizing, even firing those active in advocating for their constitutionally protected rights.
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