Tell the President and your Members of Congress: Protect Our Planet from the Corrupt Partisans Across the Aisle
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
To President Biden: You should use your full powers under the Defense Production Act to (a) impose limits on Big Oil price gouging, (b) include the DOD in your whole-of-government approach to reducing global warming, and (c) overrule corrupt Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s plan to buy non-electric gas guzzling vehicles for the USPS’s new fleet.
To your Senators and your Representative: We need every Democrat in Congress to defy the Republicans across the aisle and call them out for their partisanship, dangerous ignorance, and outright criminality. It is long past time to stop giving any deference to those demagogues across the aisle, many of whom, whatever they may have said to you “off the record,” were plotting, covering up, and then minimizing an attempt to overthrow the US government and overturn election results nationwide. Be honest now, before the whole country learns the extent of their treachery in June. Seeing Democrats forcefully speak the truth about those corrupt criminals in Congress will provide much needed inspiration to get voters to the polls in November.
And since Republicans have made it clear that they will block all climate and corporate responsibility legislation, we need you to urge President Biden to use his full powers under the Defense Production Act to (a) impose limits on Big Oil price gouging, (b) include the DOD in his whole-of-government approach to reducing global warming, and (c) overrule corrupt Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s plan to buy non-electric gas guzzling vehicles for the USPS’s new fleet.
Background
President Biden pledged during the campaign not to allow any more oil and gas leases on public lands, and he ordered a pause on issuing such leases soon after taking office. But in the summer of 2021, a federal judge in Louisiana struck down that order. Nevertheless, it was infuriating when we learned of his new leasing plan to open up approximately 144,000 acres for new drilling, even if the royalty rates were hiked up by about 6 percent. We hear that the Republican-friendly move was motivated in part by the hope of finally getting senators Manchin and Sinema on board with a slimmed-down, more climate-focused version of the Build Back Better Act in the next reconciliation bill.
President Biden also campaigned on bipartisanship and working across the aisle, but there must be a limit. We’re learning more every day about how sitting Republican Members of Congress plotted, covered up, and minimized the deadly attack of January 6, 2021, and reached out to Republican state officials for help with their effort to overturn Biden’s victory. Democrats in Congress should take every opportunity to highlight the anti-democratic behavior of the criminals across the aisle. Perhaps that would encourage more senators to join Biden’s efforts to rebuild our country.
Like most Americans, we are concerned about inflation. We are hoping the president and Democrats in Congress will unite to adopt three inflation control measures that reflect the people-oriented values and priorities of the Democratic Party:
Green Energy: Using the Defense Production Act (DPA) and other executive powers to increase production and use of green technologies that reduce fossil fuel demand and fuel costs, as called for in this March 23, 2022, letter from Senators Markey, Warren, and others.
Price Controls: Contrary to Republican lies about government spending, the root of inflation lies in corporate greed and price gouging, not federal social spending or workers being paid too much. The best way to fight inflation in energy costs during this national crisis is to use the DPA to impose price controls on gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil, similar to what Trump did in 2020 to reduce price gouging by medical equipment companies in the first months of the pandemic.
COVID-19 Relief Funding: The COVID-19 relief funding that Americans relied on for the past year to cover the costs of testing, vaccinations, and treatment has run out. Republicans blocked renewing it in the Omnibus appropriations bill. For the families that will now have to pay these bills, it's a new and punishing form of inflation. Congress should pass an emergency supplemental funding bill that attaches restoration of the blocked COVID-19 relief funding to additional humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine. Let Republicans, Manchin, and Sinema vote against such a popular measure at their political peril. (See our other Call to Action this week for more about this.)
References
Oil & Gas | OpenSecrets, Donations to Republicans vs Democrats, 2021
Three ways Democrats' Build Back Better bill could go from here - Vox, 3/16/22
Poorest States 2022, World Population Review dot com
Why are gas prices so high? These obscure traders are partly to blame | Oil | The Guardian, 4/2822