That’s what one of Rep. Rod Blum’s constituents told him at a town hall meeting yesterday. “You voted for this bill in a rush. There was no committee hearings. This is my life,” she said. That is just one example of the heat Rep. Rod Blum felt over his vote to support Trumpcare, despite having prescreened the attendees allowed into the town hall. Earlier in the day, Blum stormed out of a TV interview after refusing to explain why his office was vetting attendees.
Rep. Blum is one of only 14 House Republicans who voted for Trumpcare that have scheduled a town hall meeting during this week’s recess. In the absence of a forum to address their representatives, people are calling on other representatives to “adopt a district” to hold a town hall to discuss the healthcare vote. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) will be the first Representative to adopt a district. He has plans to hold a town hall in Kingston, New York in place of Rep. John Faso (R-NY). Speaking of unconventional town halls, former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt, will be holding town halls this week to talk health care and the House vote.
In the words of Rep. Blum, “this is not law yet.” The fight to protect our care is far from over. Let Congress know we’re paying attention. Find town halls and other resist events near you at ResistanceNearMe.org and go to TrumpcareToolkit.org for all the tools you need to hold Congress accountable for Trumpcare.
ACTION OF THE DAY
#CutMethane. Congress is looking to overturn a rule that prevents oil and gas companies from releasing unlimited amounts of methane pollution when drilling on public lands. Wiping out these standards at the behest of oil and gas industry lobbyists is environmentally reckless and would cost taxpayers $330 million a year. Tell your senators not to sell out to the oil and gas industry and to oppose attempts to roll back the Bureau of Land Management natural gas waste rule.
WHAT’S TRENDING
“Total Hoax.” Your daily reminder not to listen to the President about the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation. Yesterday, we learned that Sally Yates warned the White House about Michael Flynn a whole 18 days before he was fired. And apparently, Team Trump wasn’t too concerned that Flynn was subject to blackmail by the Russians. Upon learning this information, Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee didn’t seem so concerned, either. This puzzling, because (to quote Sally Yates) “to state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised by the Russians.”
Delays. Not just on Spirit. The meeting to decide whether the United States will stay in the Paris Agreement has been delayed again. Key White House officials were scheduled to meet today to discuss the future of the agreement but now timing on the decision is unclear. What is clear? The only person who would benefit from withdrawing from the deal is Steve Bannon.
#NoMuslimBanEver. Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0 isn’t dead yet. Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments for the second version of Trump’s Muslim ban and next week the Ninth Circuit will hold a hearing to decide whether to uphold the nationwide injunction against the ban. This week, is a national week of resistance to the Muslim ban. Tune in to a Twitter town hall today at 2pm EST using #NoMuslimBanEver.
Learning from mistakes. Emmanuel Macron’s victory has a lot of people making speculations about the future of the populist movement. But the other story of the French election is emails. The takeaway: Russian hackers can’t swing an election without the media’s help.
UNDER THE RADAR
Nepotism. Jared Kushner, top advisor to Donald and husband to Ivanka, seems to be doing a great job at innovating new ways to profit off his White House job. The latest evidence is that the Kushner family will likely benefit greatly from the first major piece of legislation Donald Trump signed into law, which renewed a program that offers permanent residence here for wealthy foreign investors who fund real estate projects in the United States. Immediately after the legislation was signed, Kushner’s sister, who has taken over the business, was seen urging wealthy Chinese investors to put money up for his family’s real estate projects, creating yet another conflict of interest in the Trump White House.
GOOD NEWS
Go FCC yourself. John Oliver, net neutrality crusader, is at again making boring things fun (and, in this case, protecting American privacy). The Last Week Tonight bought the domain Go FCC Yourself to encourage people to directly comment on the controversial practice. The FCC reportedly crashed site.