TUESDAY 6/27/17 CALLS TO ACTION: With Senators like these, who needs enemies?

FEDERAL:

I will refer you to yesterday’s call to action for the list of who to call, because nothing is more important than letting our Senators know this bill is unacceptable. Everyone should still focus mainly on the list I posted yesterday, but it is important that we also let Burr and Tillis know we disapprove.  We absolutely cannot let this “healthcare” bill stand as it is. It is cruel and heartless and the losses in coverage for 24 million Americans will literally mean the death of thousands. These are the death panels Sarah Palin (remember her? lol) warned us about.

They’re calling this “plan” BRCA, the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Personally, I think BRCA sounds more like the noise your stomach makes after seeing your new insurance premiums.

This link from the Kaiser Family Foundation is a helpful one from which we can discern approximately what the rate of change will be under BRCA.

Premiums and Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act vs. the Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act: Interactive Maps – “This map includes premium and tax credit estimates by county for current ACA marketplace enrollees at age 27, 40, or 60 with an annual income of $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $75,000, $100,000, or 351% of the federal poverty level (which is just above the cutoff for tax credits under the BCRA). The map includes estimates for premiums, tax credits, and premiums after tax credits for bronze and silver plans in each county in 2020.”

SPOILER ALERT: Premiums are going up! Thank goodness the Senate has our best interests at heart. (I really need a font that denotes sarcasm.)

 

STATE:

Here’s an excellent summary of what’s going on that we should be concerned about in the NCGA this week. Kill the Bill

Republicans in the General Assembly just can’t help tinkering with the courts. If they can’t stack the benches, they’ll fiddle with funding just to make a mess. This most recent budget they’ve floated includes significant cuts to the Attorney General’s office, which means  AG Josh Stein will have to lay off about 1/3 of the employees in NC’s Justice Department

State Senator Terry Van Duyn breaks if down for us. AG budget cuts will cost constituents

And lest they forget sticking it to the poor and indigent, the General Assembly has added a new paragraph to the budget which will make if harder for judges to waive court fees for indigent defendantsRepublicans in the GA have been looking at these waivers for years and have now decided, while everyone is reeling from all the other indignities visited upon us by our Republican controlled state and federal governments, that this is the time to drop the hammer. Maybe they should have dropped the meat cleaver instead, and chopped off a whole lot of the pork in the bill.

“Most defendants are indigent, and this procedure “sort of ties the judges’ hands,” according to Cristina Becker, who fought the language on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. Forcing people who can’t afford fines to pay is “essentially trying to draw blood from a stone,” she said.”

“When they can’t pay … they’re being jailed for it,” Becker said.

In other words, we’re bringing back debtors’ prisons. Good job, North Carolina, good job.

Call your State Senators as well as your State Representatives to let them know that this pork-laden budget which punishes state employees, the poor, the indigent and so many other groups of North Carolinians is unacceptable and that we, as citizens, expect them to do a better job for us than they are currently doing.

Midterms are coming up next year. Let’s get rid of these rubber-stamping zombies in Raleigh and find some real Senators and Representatives, who will work to repair the damage our Republican-led legislature has done to our citizens and our reputation.

Representatives: Allen McNeill, Pat Hurley

Senators: Jerry Tillman, Rick Gunn

 

INDIVISIBLE

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SIGN THE 6TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ PETITION FOR NON-PARTISAN REDISTRICTING

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Protest Sen. Tillis: Spin the Trumpcare Wheel of Misfortune! –  Tuesday June 27 12:15 – 2:00PM, 310 New Bern Ave, Raleigh – We, as North Carolinians who value quality, affordable health care for all, do not accept the Senate’s cruel health care bill / tax cut for the wealthy. Join concerned citizens as we protest in front of Senator Thom Tillis’s office in Raleigh—and spin the Trumpcare Wheel of Misfortune!

Informational Session from Asheboro Indivisible – Join the folks from Asheboro Indivisible for an informational session and postcard avalanche Thursday July 13, 2017 at 6:30PM in the downstairs meeting room of the Asheboro Library.

NCDP Unity Dinner (Formerly Jefferson-Jackson Dinner) July 15, 2017 – Details TBA