In Response to the Presidential Administration’s “Gag Rule”

I don’t know if Congress with its largely male composition can imagine what it would be like to be a young single teenage girl who is pregnant or a mature married woman who is pregnant and for whatever reason didn’t want to go forward with that pregnancy. Perhaps the young girl is terrified and traumatized by the prospect of carrying a baby to term.  Perhaps the mature woman has a husband newly dying of cancer and three children already on the ground who need her help.  There are many possibilities.

Regardless of one’s opinion about abortion, women and girls need access to reproductive healthcare, whatever their circumstances.  One half of babies are born with their deliveries paid for by Medicaid.  We need to do a better job for our people, and that means making reproductive healthcare a priority. Punishing people by making it hard to access reproductive healthcare not only is cruel to the people in need of it, it hurts all of us.

Friends for Civil Action, not an endorser in primaries, sends out a salute to all who campaigned on the inclusive values we support. Below is communication between me and Chris Perri, as he prepares to back Julie Oliver.

Dear Chris,

Thanks to you and your family for the remarkable energy and focus you gave to your campaign.  I know the misstep of the last couple of weeks must be very painful; I thought the email from your wife that followed that was full of humanity. I had given my small contribution to both yours and Julie’s campaigns.  I had been, as a friend said, dithering back and forth between voting for you or Julie Oliver, looking for who was most likely to have a bit of a chance in the race against Roger Williams.  I think Julie probably does, just because if there is a wave that will bring out non-traditional voters, in most cases, it’s likely to be the wave of women.  That said, in the end, I cast my vote for you – because the email sent under your wife’s signature after the dodgy business of taking on Julie’s campaign the way your campaign did– spoke to me of the hard, hard work you two undertook (appearing in many living rooms and at many doorsteps to talk with people, including my doorstep where you spoke with my adult son and in a neighbor’s living room where I heard you speak things I believe).  The reality is when we are working fiercely hard we all sometimes make mistakes.  Most, however, don’t apologize, even if  it is through a woman; and sometimes it just takes a woman in our society to offer the human face.  Thanks to you and your wife for your courage and stamina, and I plan to join you in campaigning for Julie.

All best,

Mary (Molly) Sharpe

 

Friends for Civil Action website: https://mollysharpe.wordpress.com

 

From: Chris Perri <info@chrisperrifortexas.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 9:34 AM
To: molly@mollysharpe.com
Subject: With Gratitude

 

Dear mary, Obviously, we’re disappointed in last night’s close results. It’s hard to take in the loss after all we’ve poured into this. That said, I’m deeply thankful to everyone who’s given their time, money, and support. Together, we helped shape the conversations in this race, and that positive impact will continue on. Shannon sent me this Teddy Roosevelt quote, and I agree he says it best: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Together, we all dared greatly, and for that we should be proud. The best news is that two strong campaigns gave it their all, and if we come together, the people have a real chance of flipping this district. I encourage everyone to get behind our nominee, Julie Oliver. She’s smart, dedicated, and hard working, and she now needs our support against Roger Williams. You can visit her website here: www.oliver2018.com. Runoffs are incredibly hard as candidates work to differentiate, but in the end, she’s got a great progressive platform, and we must all unite to help her win the real fight in November. Once again, to our staff, our volunteers, our friends who cooked us dinner and walked our dog – thank you. I don’t think I can ever fully express my gratitude. To my family for their encouragement, I’m so grateful. I’m especially thankful to Shannon, who poured her heart and soul into this campaign, giving every fiber of her being to spreading our message of hope. She was out knocking on doors until the very last minute yesterday. She has supported me in every way throughout this crazy challenge I took on. For us, it’s time for a little break with our furry and feathery pets, but we’ll be back fighting the good fight soon. In solidarity, Chris www.chrisperrifortexas.com     Paid for by Chris Perri for Congress Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Chris Perri for Texas , please click here.

 

A Bipartisan Postcard About Gun Safety

Senator John Cornyn| Senate Majority Whip| 517 Hart Senate Office Building| Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Cornyn, as a person of considerable power, please enact universal gun checks now for the safety of our school children. Some people are just not equipped to handle guns.

Sign your name and provide your address and zip code to have your opinion counted.

Messages for Your Elected Officials to Send or Call this Week

Re: Separating Children from Parents as a Deterrent Tactic is Wrong

Whether or not we agree on immigration policy, we should be able to agree that as a tactic to deter immigration, it is wrong to separate children from parents. John F. Kelly said on NPR last week most of the people who cross the border illegally “are not bad people. They’re not criminals. They’re not MS-13” gang members.”  Stop this immoral separation.

Re: A Culture of Bad Behavior is Bad for Us All

Whatever our political preferences, we should not overlook bad behavior in our elected officials and those who represent them.  Firing by tweet is wrong. Offloading blame is wrong. Disrespect of human dignity is wrong. Calling people names because they are affiliated with a different political party is wrong. Those in power need to protest on all their constituents’ behalf.

Re: Ignoring Environmental Hazards is Bad for Us All

Fifty years ago, the Stanford Research Institute delivered a report titled, Sources, Abundances and Fate of Gaseous Polluters. While what to do is a matter of debate, ignoring the impact of pollution puts us all in peril. Pay attention to pollution.

Re: Costly Facts to Ignore

Internet searches quickly reveal from multiple, credible sources:  1. More than half of households in the U.S. lack $500 for an emergency and 2. Approaching half of children born in the U.S. have their deliveries paid for by Medicaid, because their parent(s) are below the poverty line.  Yes, we can improve our social services network, but not by cutting it back. The reality of poverty and fragility in our country isn’t going away without government paying attention to our environment, our health, and our public education system.  Do what is right, and invest in your people.

Re:  Choosing Who to Help is Morally Wrong

For those who have a faith or secular life practice that respects the call to love our neighbor, we don’t have the choice of helping only those who behave as we think they should. In other words, it’s not right to only give health care to those who will work.  It is right, however, to improve conditions so that more people will be equipped for work.  Less government isn’t a reliable option when more people than ever need help in America.

Interested in helping spread positive political action? Give friends and family a political engagement tool they can use, regardless of the party affiliation.  The Postcard Storm, Ten Outcomes We Should All Want can be ordered online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Eating Well

Something we all do is eat.  Getting food safely to the table involves a chain of people and complex legislation.  To learn more about what’s involved, check out:  www.FarmAndRanchFreedom.org.  Once again, the Episcopal Public Policy Network proved to be for me an excellent resource on how to act.  The information below shows you how to join the Episcopal Church in urging the U.S. House of Representatives to reject their current farm bill draft and develop a “bipartisan, evidence-based bill.”  The quotes are mine, highlighting how valuable and needed legislation that is bipartisan and evidence-based (YES!) is.

Farm Bill: Wait for Evidence Dear Mary (Molly), The Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, commonly known as “the farm bill,” is one of the most important pieces of legislation that Congress develops, and the programs under it have a national and global impact. As occurs roughly every five years, Congress is in the process of renewing this bill. The following information will help you to navigate what’s being proposed and take action. What’s in the farm bill? Contained within the bill are provisions for international food assistance, conservation and environmental measures, research, and domestic food assistance, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides assistance to 1 out of every 8 Americans. The SNAP program, at less than a $1.75, per meal, supports working individuals and families and helps those who rely on the program to keep food on their plates. Are there plans to improve SNAP? In 2014, Congress funded a series of pilot programs to learn more about how people transition into family-supporting jobs. This bipartisan plan provided hundreds of millions of dollars in ten states to test a variety of methods to encourage or speed a family’s transition to more consistent and reliable higher-paying work. These pilot programs will begin providing data and real-world results in the coming years, data that can be used to make evidence-based reforms and improvements to SNAP. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives is trying to move forward with reforms prior to receiving findings from the pilot programs. Instead, the currently proposed reforms would significantly increase SNAP’s bureaucratic barriers; change the age that full-time parenting is permitted to only cover up to seven years old; and revoke the right of states to make adjustments to the program based on local conditions. These changes are expected to result in more than one million families losing food assistance. The funding that currently goes to feed hungry families would be redirected to workforce development programs, although the funding would be insufficient to meet demand among those who rely on SNAP. The Congressional Budget Office determined that even after ten years, the money would fall short to provide training to all those in need. Families will lose access to food assistance, yet there will not be enough resources for individuals to earn associates’ degrees or other industry recognized credentials necessary to earn family supporting wages in the modern economy. Further, the program would require more paperwork and bureaucracy for families and government. Those who were part of the program would need to verify employment monthly, rather than once every six months, increasing the likelihood of errors or simply not managing to submit paperwork on time and losing access to food as a result. Does SNAP work? The SNAP program, at less than a $1.75, per meal, supports working individuals and families. Demand for SNAP increased during the Great Recession, but demand has decreased since 2014. SNAP provides critical support to working families, as wages remain stagnant and insufficient public investment in public education contributes to a growing skills gap. In fact, most non-disabled, non-elderly adults receiving SNAP are working within a month and 74% are working within a year, for households with children 65% work within a month and 87% within a year. Take Action! The Senate is moving forward with a bipartisan farm bill, and they already said they do not want to consider the House bill as written. Join the Episcopal Church in urging the House to reject their current farm bill draft and develop a bipartisan, evidence based, bill. Additional Resources Episcopal Church policy: Advocate for a Just Food System Episcopal Church policy: Affirm Support for Government Funding of Social Safety Net Programs Episcopal Church policy: Advocate for Safe Food Production and Farm Labor Policies In Case You Missed It Join our free immigration webinar May 16! Registration required. Urge Congress To Invest in Job Training, and Workforce Development Programs Support Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Thank you, Episcopal Public Policy Network for your outcome advocacy work. To learn more about about this resource previewed below, visit their website and sign up for their newsletter.

Defend Access to Asylum! Dear Mary (Molly), This week, migrants attempting to draw attention to the dangerous conditions in Central America arrived at the U.S. border. These migrants, the majority of whom are asylum seekers, call us to engage in dialogue and advocacy around protections for asylum-seekers. The Episcopal Church has longstanding policy affirming the universal right to seek asylum, and we recognize the need to protect vulnerable individuals. These policies are rooted in our faithful understanding that immigration policies must be just and humane. We recognize the need to have appropriate security measures in place to prevent human trafficking, drug smuggling, and other criminal activities, but these measures must not undermine our legal and moral obligations to those seeking protection nor come at the detriment to human life or our legal obligations to those seeking protection. Learn more and take action today! 1) Read our blog on the issues of asylum, detention, and our humanitarian obligations. 2) Join our free immigration webinar May 16! Registration required. 3) Take action to defend access to asylum! Additional Resources Multimedia experience on seeking asylum in the U.S. “The Refugee Caravan: Misconceptions and Inaccuracies” “Trump Administration Tries to Curb Asylum” Summary: Episcopal Church Policy on Immigration and Refugee Issues In Case You Missed It Urge Congress To Invest in Job Training, and Workforce Development Programs Support the Global Food Security Act Support Historically Black Colleges and Universities