Tell Your Representative to Reject Congress’ Ruthless Giveaway to Billionaires
Tell Your Representative They Were Wrong to Support Congress’ Ruthless Giveaway to Billionaires
It’s time to take action and call your representative in Congress.
That’s because, in the dead of night, Congress passed a sprawling and ruthless bill that guts and dismantles services, programs, policies, and laws that rural communities depend on for their health and wellbeing – so billionaires and corporations can get richer and pay less in taxes.
But the fight isn’t over, the bill now goes to the Senate, where it will likely change. We’ll want to make calls to our Senators later when they start haggling over it. But in the meantime, it’s essential that we let our Representatives know that we are paying attention and are outraged they voted for this bill. (Of course, if your Representative voted against this bill, you should call and thank them.)
Not sure how your Representative voted, click here.
We have to remind our Representatives that the wellbeing and livelihoods of our families, neighbors, and communities are on the line with this bill, and that the provisions are deeply unpopular with their constituents.
The most effective way we can deliver that message is through phone calls because congressional staff must listen to and account for every call they receive (whereas emails don’t receive the same level of attention).
What to expect when you call:
- When you call the capitol switchboard, the operator will ask which member of congress you would like to be connected to. Tell them the name and district they represent. (Don’t know who your member of congress is? Find out here.)
- Most of the time you will be leaving a voicemail. That’s not unusual, especially if you call outside business hours in D.C.
- If you get someone on the phone, keep it short and be polite, but firm. These are often junior legislative assistants who cannot speak to the representatives’ views on legislation and can only take note of your viewpoint.
Make your call to Congress
Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Here is what you can say to your member of Congress:
My name is [NAME] and I live in [CITY / STATE]. I am calling to voice my outrage in regards to the Budget Resolution because it would cut taxes for billionaires and corporations at the expense of the rest of us.
I’m especially concerned that this bill would:
[We encourage you to choose one or two from the list of bullet points below that outrage you the most and make the most sense for where you live. You can always call the following day or week to voice your objections to more of what’s included in the bill.]
- Severely diminish Americans’ lawful right to have a say on federal decisions involving fossil fuel development and other projects on public and private lands.
- Give federal agencies the power to rubber-stamp fossil fuel development and pipeline construction projects, allowing companies to pay to avoid any legal review.
- Assure American taxpayers do not receive a fair rate of return on the development of public lands and minerals, depriving state and local governments of funding they rely on for rural schools, roads, and basic infrastructure.
- Eliminate clean energy tax credits, a move that would kill jobs, drive up the cost of electricity, and pull the rug out from underneath homeowners and rural electric co-ops who were counting on those credits
- Continue the extremely expensive and wasteful carbon capture tax credit that is driving carbon pipelines and injection proposals across the West – something that could cost taxpayers at least $30 billion over the next 10 years.
- Sell off 500,000 acres of public lands in Utah and Nevada, setting an extremely dangerous precedent for future sell offs in other states.
- Cut Medicaid by $715 billion, leaving 8.6 million people without healthcare.
- Cut $290 billion from SNAP by shifting costs to states, which they can’t afford and would take food away from eligible children and families in need.
I’m requesting that X vote against this bill.
Thank you and have a nice day.