Filibustered Voting Act; Productive rights rally Oct 2nd

Actions for Week of September 26, 2021

By Ruth Holloway, Blount County Huddlers

September 26, 2021,

ETE Politics/local, state

Support Freedom to Vote Act – This bill is a compromise offered by Sen. Joe Manchin in the place of the For the People Act. It contains a number of measures that make voting easier, for example:

1. Automatic voter registration with driver’s license
2. Election day registration
3. 15 days of early voting, including weekends
4. Vote-by-mail option for all voters
5. Requirement for paper ballots in every state
6. Partisan gerrymandering banned
7. Requirement for candidates & committees to report foreign contacts

Please contact our Senators and ask them to support the bill. For contact information click the link here.
Suspend the Filibuster – Sen. McConnell has already announced that no Republican Senators will vote for the Freedom to Vote Act. If this remains true and Sen. Manchin cannot find 10 Republicans to vote for it, then the filibuster must be suspended in order for it to pass. So far 2 Democratic Senators (Manchin, Sinema) say they won’t support suspension of the filibuster. How ironic if Manchin overseas the defeat of his own bill. Please contact them and request they change their view on the filibuster when it comes to voting rights bills, similar to how they suspended it for judicial confirmations.

1. WVa Sen. Joe Manchin: https://www.manchin.senate.gov/contact-joe/email-joe , 202-224-3954
2. AZ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact-kyrsten , 202-224-4521

Good News!

1. 1. The Women’s Health Protection Act that was on our action list last week passed the House. Now it needs to pass the Senate.
  2. A federal judge has ruled that Catholic schools can’t fire teachers for being gay.
  3. Pres. Biden has picked Alvaro Bedoya, founding director of Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology, to serve on the Federal Trade Commission.
  4. A bill passed in California seeks to protect workers at Amazon by requiring companies to disclose quotas that are used to track productivity and prohibit penalties for time off-task.
  5. Federal judges over-ruled Gov. Lee’s opt out mask executive order in both Knox and Williamson counties this week. Students, teachers, staff and visitors will have to wear face masks starting Monday.
  6. The National Cathedral in Washington DC will replace Confederate stained glass with racial just imagery.
  7. Veronica Rossman was confirmed as an appellate judge by the US Senate last week. She is a former public defender and members of this group are rarely chosen to be judges.

Educate Yourself

1. More than 400 economists want Congress to permanently expand the child tax credit.
2. Read about how taxi drivers in Thailand idled because of the pandemic have put miniature gardens on the roofs of their cars. Pretty cool!
3. Did you know that Facebook allows 99% of disinformation on climate change to go unchecked?
4. Read Democracy Docket’s op-ed on “A Dangerous Time in our Country’s History”.
5. Very sad to say that negotiations in the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act have failed. All those marches in June-July 2020 have produced little legislative action so far.

Members of Congress (MoC) Contact Information
A good way to fax these folks is to use ResistBot. Text “resist” to 50409 and follow the instructions. When contacting them in any form, always ask for a response. To contact your local elected officials, Rep. Tim Burchett, Sen. Bill Hagerty, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, as well as others across the state, click here for phone, email, and Twitter contact information.

Upcoming Events

Maryville College Southern Circuit Film Series: At The Ready. Sept. 26-29, Sun – Wed 12AM-11:30 PM. Home to one of the region’s largest law enforcement education programs, students at Horizon High School in El Paso train to become police officers and Border Patrol agents as they discover the realities of their dream jobs may be at odds with the truths and people they hold most dear. This film is free and can be viewed online anytime during these 4 days. Click on this link, scroll down to “purchase ticket”, register by entering your email address, create an account and click on preorder. A link to the movie will be sent to you.

Grand TN Divisions of TN Redistricting Hearing, Sept. 27th, Mon 7-PM. This meeting is an opportunity to learn more about the specific approach to redistricting in TN, as well as a way to provide input and perspective from the community. To attend virtually, register here.

National Voter Registration Day. Sept. 28th, Tues All Day. For more information visit this website.

BEAC Luncheon Zoom Meeting, Sept. 28th, Tues 11:30AM-1PM. Dr. Keith Bailey from Harmony Family Center will speak on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and building a trauma-responsive community. Contact bcecumenicalactioncouncil@gmail.com for Zoom link. Dues are $20 per year.

A Seat at the Table, Sept. 28th, Tues 7-9 PM, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 858 Louisville Road, Alcoa, TN 37701. ASATT brings people from diverse backgrounds together for conversation over a shared meal. Through a guided discussion, participants around the table share their stories and aspirations, listen closely to one another, form new friendships and discover how much they really have in common. Because of COVID, participants are expected to be vaccinated and wear a mask during the conversational part of the evening. Physical distancing guidelines will also be followed. There is no charge to attend, but participants need to sign up no later than September 24 by calling 503-894-0187 or emailing to ramaloha@hotmail.com .

Feminist Futures Webinar: Feminism in Practice, Sept. 29th, Wed 7-8:15 PM. Sponsored by Women’s March Coalition. For more information and to sign up visit here.

Maryville Huddle Meeting: Stigmas and Threats to Reproductive Health, Sept. 30th, Thurs 7-9 PM. Come learn about the advocacy work of Planned Parenthood in Tennessee. We’ll be talking about how SB8 and upcoming Supreme Court cases will have an effect on Tennessee, what to prepare for, and how to take action. Speaker is Ms. Max Carwile. After obtaining a degree in Women’s Studies at ETSU, Ms. Carwile has worked at Planned Parenthood in TN for more than 5 years, focusing on decreasing stigma around reproductive health topics, especially abortion, and helping the public be more informed and engaged around attacks on reproductive and sexual health care in the state legislature. Click here, join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 895 4588 8666, Passcode: 061690. Click for the Facebook event.

We Won’t Go Back Rally for Women’s Reproductive Rights, Oct. 2nd, Sat 2 PM, in Krutch Park, downtown Knoxville. Facebook event, click here to join. In the wake of the Texas law banning all abortions as of 6 weeks (including from rape or incest), and placing a bounty on abortion providers and anyone helping a women obtain an abortion, women all across the country will march today. Location for the march in Knoxville TBA. Watch the Women’s March Coalition ET FB page and this FB event for announcements. #DefendRoe.

Feminist Futures Webinar: Our Feminist Roots. Oct. 6th, Wed 7-8:15 PM. Sponsored by Women’s March Coalition. For more information and to sign up visit here.

Maryville College Southern Circuit Film Series: Not Going Quietly. Oct. 10-13th, Sun-Wed Midnight-11:30 PM. The story of how Ady Barkan, a man stricken with ALS, chances to meet a powerful Senator on an airplane while traveling to protest a bill that will cut into the healthcare programs he needs to survive. The conversation is captured on video, goes viral, and catapults him into the public eye. This film is free and can be viewed online anytime during these 4 days. Click on this link, scroll down to “purchase ticket”, register by entering your email address, create an account and click on preorder. A link to the movie will be sent to you.

To connect with Maryville Huddlers events, click here to bookmark the calendar.