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Site Update: Congressional Committees – Contact Information (downloadable, PDF tables)
The first opportunity the average American has to lobby for or against a piece of legislation is when that bill or resolution is taken up by a committee. Any citizen can contact the committee or committee members to lobby for or against that bill. When contacting the committee, it’s important to reference the bill or resolution number and state how this bill will affect you. Consider it your opportunity to give brief, concise testimony to the committee member.
Dinner at the Grange would like to thank our newest site contributor on the east coast who has worked put together these congressional committee spreadsheets. There are over 35 congressional committees, so we’ve prioritized the committees that are most pertinent for current, active legislation. As additional PDFs are added, I’ll add to this post (which can be found on the Archives page for future reference) and will be adding these links to the Executive Orders and Legislation page.
These PDFs will help us to quickly contact the committee members via Twitter and calls or faxes to their DC and local offices. The below links are downloadable PDFs.
House Committees:
Armed Services Committee
Budget Committee
Select Committee on Intelligence
Judiciary Committee
Natural Resources Committee
Ways and Means Committee
Senate Committees:
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Select Committee on Intelligence
Judiciary Committee
Committee on the Environment and Public Works
Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
Site Update: ACLU Resources & the People Power Resistance Training
Information in this post will be permanently stored on the Helpful Tools and Apps page.
ACLU’s mobile app: iPhone and Android (check respective app stores – it’s free!).
Head over to the ACLU’s Know Your Rights page to get information. This page has helpful material to inform citizens of their rights in various situations including when protesting and demonstrating, if they’re questioned about immigrant status, if stopped by the police, want to record the police, etc.
The ACLU has created an action network for citizens to resist the current administration and GOP-lead congress called People Power. The training below focuses on explaining your rights when demonstrating and protesting and what you can do to protect yourself and your fellow Americans if questioned by the police or are the subject of an ICE raid. ACLU is asking for people to help develop Freedom Cities. ACLU’s “Freedom Cities” plan brings local grassroots activists together and provides a blueprint for local-level campaigns to defend our communities and block the worst abuses of the Trump administration. Go to PeoplePower.org for more information.
This training is a motivational companion to the ACLU Know Your Rights information posted on on ACLU Nationwide’s site.
ACLU’s People Power Resistance Training (recorded on 3/11/2017).
Materials from the training:
ACLU’s 9 “model” state and local law enforcement policies and rules
Freedom Cities’ Action Guide
Call to Action: Two Resolutions to Investigate Trump Being Suppressed by House GOP Leaders – What You Can Do by TUESDAY 9 am (ET) on 2.28.17
There are two resolutions introduced into the House calling for investigations into 45; both have been referred to House committees. According to recent news reports, the committees’ GOP leadership intend to kill both resolutions this coming Tuesday.
So what can you do? Use the links below to contact the committee members BY TUESDAY 2.28.17. Remember that any citizen can call committee members even if those members are not your elected official. However, if they are your representative, all the better!
H.R. 111 is an inquiry resolution introduced on 2/9/17 by Representative Nadler (D-NY) with 61 co-sponsors directing the Attorney General to transmit certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the financial practices of the President. This resolution is in the House Judiciary Committee. The committee members can be viewed here.
House Judiciary Committee main line: (202) 225.3951
H.R.1172 is a resolution introduced on 2/16/17 by Representative Neal (D-MA) to require the President to disclose income, assets, and liabilities associated with countries with which the United States is negotiating a trade or investment agreement, countries subject to presidential determinations in trade enforcement actions, and countries eligible for trade preference programs, and for other purposes. It has been referred to the House Rules and Ways and Means Committee.
The Committee on Rules Ways and Means Committee
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives
Main phone line: (202) 225-9191 Main phone line: (202) 225-3625
Fax: (202) 225-6763 Fax: (202) 225-2610
Rules.RS@mail.house.gov
Below are two news stories on H.R. 111.
2.22.17: Politico’s GOP to Bury House Resolution on Trump Conflicts
2.23.17: NY Mag’s This Obscure News Story, Which Should Be Huge, Shows How Trump Gets Away With Corruption
Worried about Bannon on the NSC? Lobby for H.R. 804 (141 Co-Sponsors)
2/1/17: US House Representative Stephanie Murphy (D-Fl) introduced bill H.R. 804. It’s been sent to three subcommittees for consideration. Click here to read the bill. No action has been taken by the committees and that’s NOT okay.
ANY citizen can call committee members and lobby for or against a bill. It’s only when a bill goes to the floor for a vote that constituents should call only their elected officials.
Link to House Armed Services committee members
Link to House Foreign Affairs committee members
Link to House Intelligence (permanent) committee members
It’s worth following up on a previous Call to Action post concerning Bannon. These are separate issues. The above is to lobby for a specific piece of legislation. Below, this is your opportunity to contact the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee to voice your concerns about Steve Bannon on the NSC.
2.5.17 – Call to Action: Updated Info to Get Bannon off the NSC
New information: Where do your congressional members stand on Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council? Check this site (organized by houses, House of Representatives and Senate). Links to contact your congressional members in the table. Call their District/mobile offices first, then their DC office.
Call to Action # 1: Keep placing calls to the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee’s main number (202-224-4751). If the mailbox is full, try again in a few hours. They empty the mailbox every day at noon EST (9:00 am PST) and every night. You can call repeatedly; no limit.
You can also email the Committee – use this the form from the Committee to contact them.
The folks over at the Daily Kos put together a list with contact information to the Committee Members. See below for the 15 members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and how to contact them directly. Just one call makes a difference and it takes just a few minutes.
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) – Chairman
- Direct: 414-276-7282
- DC: 202-224-5323
Claire McCaskil (D-Mo.) – Ranking Member
- Direct: 816-421-1639
- DC: 202-224-6154
John McCain (R-Az.)
- Direct: 602-952-2410
- DC: 202-224-2235
Rob Portman (R-Oh.)
- Direct: 513-684-3265
- DC: 202-224-3353
Thomas R. Carper (D-De.)
- Direct: 302-573-6291
- DC: 202-224-2441
Jon Tester (D-Mt.)
- Direct: 406-252-0550
- DC: 202-224-2644
Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
- Direct: 270-782-8303
- DC: 202-224-4343
James Lankford (R-Ok.)
- Direct: 405-231-4941
- DC: 202-224-5754
Heidi Heitkamp (D-Nd.)
- Direct: 701-258-4648
- DC: 202-224-2043
Gary C. Peters (D-Mi.)
- Direct: 313-226-6020
- DC: 202-224-6221
Michael B. Enzi (R-Wy.)
- Direct: 307-739-9507
- DC: 202-224-3424
John Hoeven (R-Nd.)
- Direct: 701-250-4618
- DC: 202-224-2551
Margaret Hassan (D-Nh.)
- Direct: 603-622-2204
- DC: 202-224-3324
Kamala Harris (D-Ca.)
- Direct: 916-448 – 2787
- DC: 202-224-3553
Steve Daines (R-Mt.)
- Direct: 406-245-6822
- DC: 202-224-2651
Site Update: Flowchart – Make Your Way Through the Political Maze
A Dinner at the Grange user forward this graphic to me today. I know, tiny, tiny print, so here’s the link to the Google Doc. The flowchart is sound advice right down to contacting committee members. Update: author and graphic artist found! Author: Eva Hagberg Fisher, Graphic Artist: Jason Snell. 2017. It’s great resource to share with others!
For future reference, it’s been uploaded to Dinner at the Grange’s Helpful Tools & Resources page. Don’t know where to find legislation? See Dinner at the Grange’s Executive Order & Legislation page.
Eva Hagberg Fisher, Graphic Artist: Jason Snell. 2017
Site Update: New Graphic added (News Sources & Outlets – Quality & Partisanship)
Dinner at the Grange’s Find Credible News page has been updated to 1) include a new graphic that illustrates news sources and outlets’ information quality and partisan portrayal of that information and 2) added a news’ biases checker. Click here & have a look. This graphic should be compared with one previously posted that is a bit older. Not all news outlets are represented on the graphics.
Take away message: ultimately, we need to use our critical thinking skills to assess and choose the news outlets we read as a single graphic should be used as a guide, not gospel. Helpful nonetheless.
http://www.pigscast.com 1.25.17
Site Update: U.S. Civics – Training – Overview Presentation
Friends recently asked me to give a U.S. civics’ overview/refresher presentation. I am not an expert on federal legislative affairs (I’m a scientist!) but given my history geek background, I was happy to help. Turns out the group really liked it, so thought I’d provide it for others to watch – Dinner at the Grange’s U.S. Civics’ Overview PowerPoint presentation. The link takes you to DropBox where the presentation may be downloaded. It is a brief, basic refresher of the U.S. Constitution, checks and balances between our three branches of government, and focuses on how bills become law – with tips on how folks can get involved to lobby for (or against) a bill. There are only a few slides but two of them have multiple transitions on them. As such, watch in slideshow to see the information fully-displayed.
If you share this presentation – and I encourage you to – please cite appropriately and link back to Dinner at the Grange.
Call to Action (2.5.17): Updated Info to Get Bannon off the NSC
New information: Where do your congressional members stand on Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council? Check this site’s table (organized by houses, House of Representatives and Senate). Links to contact your congressional members in the table. Call their District/mobile offices first, then their DC office.
Call to Action # 1: Keep placing calls to the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee’s main number (202-224-4751). If the mailbox is full, try again in a few hours. They empty the mailbox every day at noon EST (9:00 am PST) and every night. You can call repeatedly; no limit.
You can also email the Committee – use this the form from the Committee to contact them.
The folks over at the Daily Kos put together a list with contact information to the Committee Members. See below for the 15 members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and how to contact them directly. Just one call makes a difference and it takes just a few minutes.
Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) – Chairman
- Direct: 414-276-7282
- DC: 202-224-5323
Claire McCaskil (D-Mo.) – Ranking Member
- Direct: 816-421-1639
- DC: 202-224-6154
John McCain (R-Az.)
- Direct: 602-952-2410
- DC: 202-224-2235
Rob Portman (R-Oh.)
- Direct: 513-684-3265
- DC: 202-224-3353
Thomas R. Carper (D-De.)
- Direct: 302-573-6291
- DC: 202-224-2441
Jon Tester (D-Mt.)
- Direct: 406-252-0550
- DC: 202-224-2644
Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
- Direct: 270-782-8303
- DC: 202-224-4343
James Lankford (R-Ok.)
- Direct: 405-231-4941
- DC: 202-224-5754
Heidi Heitkamp (D-Nd.)
- Direct: 701-258-4648
- DC: 202-224-2043
Gary C. Peters (D-Mi.)
- Direct: 313-226-6020
- DC: 202-224-6221
Michael B. Enzi (R-Wy.)
- Direct: 307-739-9507
- DC: 202-224-3424
John Hoeven (R-Nd.)
- Direct: 701-250-4618
- DC: 202-224-2551
Margaret Hassan (D-Nh.)
- Direct: 603-622-2204
- DC: 202-224-3324
Kamala Harris (D-Ca.)
- Direct: 916-448 – 2787
- DC: 202-224-3553
Steve Daines (R-Mt.)
- Direct: 406-245-6822
- DC: 202-224-2651
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