Spotlight

Democrats Stand Up for Veterans!

Democrats Succeed in Passing the PACT Act for Veterans’ Healthcare

The PACT Act (the “Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022” bill) had been heavily anticipated by Veterans to cover medical and mental health care for exposure to toxic substances during their military deployments.

In June 2022, PACT passed the Senate 84 - 14, bypassing filibuster. The House passed the bill, and it went back to the Senate for a revote to correct a technical error in late July.

Unfortunately, more than 25 Republican Senators inexplicably changed their votes to NO -- causing a 55 to 42 vote that doomed the bill under filibuster.

Read on to find out what happened when the Senate Democrats persisted with the bill. (Spoiler alert -- a happy ending for Veterans!)

Rep. Joe Neguse - Wildfire Response & Drought Resiliency Act - July 29

With wildfires and drought becoming increasingly existential problems for Colorado and neighboring states, the House took action at the end of July, passing a package of nearly 50 bills that Rep. Joe Neguse says “meets the moment for the West.”

Neguse is a lead sponsor on the package, known as the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act, as well as the author of some of its specific provisions. It passed the House on a nearly party-line vote of 218-199.

“We need to apply a ‘whole of government’ approach to recovery — creating and funding several programs that support community rebuilding and bolster environmental resiliency,” said Neguse at a press conference ahead of the vote. He said the provisions in the bill would do that, as well as make improvements to working conditions for federal wildland firefighters.

Standing Up To Lies & Hate Speech - McMorrow

On April 27, 2022, we published an amazing story about Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Democratic State Senator, who was targeted with serious lies and disinformation by a Republican State Senator.  

Senator McMorrow decided to stand up to those lies and hate speech with an articulate, honest, and emotional speech expressing her outrage on the floor of the Michigan State Senate.  Her response went viral and made national news.  We first published her speech because it was extremely impressive.

However, now we know the overwhelming and great result -- check it out!  Finally, see poetic justice when you stand up to lies and disinformation.

President Biden Signs Order Restoring Reproductive Healthcare

President Biden Signs Executive Order Restoring Reproductive Healthcare

In response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade (and its confirming decision Planned Parenthood v Casey), on July 8 President Biden signed an Executive Order to protect women's lives concerning reproductive healthcare.

This Order takes significant steps to safeguard access, safety, and security regarding reproductive healthcare, and is explained in this article from our July 11 Newsletter.  It also explains that permanent codification requires passage of legislation in the U.S. House and Senate -- only possible with electing Democratic candidates in 2022.

The Case for Electing Democratic State Level Officials and Legislators

In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the Federal Constitutional right for safe abortion access established in Roe v Wade 49 years ago.  This Supreme Court ruling now sends abortion decisions to the states.  Ironically, the Roe v Wade case arose in the first place due to state-level bans and unreasonable state restrictions on safe abortion access.

We already see extreme restrictions on women's healthcare being imposed in states with Republican controlled officials and legislatures.  To protect women's reproductive healthcare choices, we must elect Democratic candidates to our state offices and to our state legislatures. 

Detailed January 6 Timeline

The Washington Post published a detailed timeline of January 6, 2021, specifically covering Trump's actions.  

This is quite revealing and exposes the 187 minutes (over 3 hours) of the attack and Trump's chose to take no steps to stop the attack on our U.S. Capitol by the mob that he invited.  He took no actions to get troops to support the police and to stop the violence.  He took no actions to save the lives of his own Vice President or the Senators and Congresspersons who were performing their Constitutional duties.