EPA Director Nomination, Pesticide Protections, And Farm Bill Markup: What You Need To Know Today
Time to get loud... again
It’s official, we’ve got a new job. After this week’s environmental shenanigans, it has become clear that our new call of duty is to call and write Congress every day to oppose the consistent assaults on our public land and water.
We can just count on them trying a new tactic when we defeat their last one.
This week, we have a few important land-steal attempts to block. And we have to say no with the same determination as always.
First up, a bogus nomination
Trump has picked Congressional failure Steve Pearce to direct the Bureau of Land Management. His nomination is up for a vote in the Senate today, Wednesday, February 25th.
A consummate advocate of selling off public land, Pearce lost elections for New Mexico Senator and Governor before taking a job as chair of the state’s Republican Party.
There are ample reasons why Pearce should be disqualified from leading the BLM. Accusations of organizational mismanagement, close ties to the oil and gas extraction industry, and a history of working against the explicit wishes of the people he represented, are just a few glaring highlights of his career.
But, like most of Trump’s top bureaucrats, a propensity for destruction and corruption only makes him more desirable to greedy Republicans.
Call and write your Senators TODAY to reject this nomination.
Boundary Waters vote still pending
Public pressure led to a delay on the vote on House Resolution 140 in the Senate, and it is now expected to be on the docket this week.
The matter is just as important as ever, with the health of our public land and rights of people to their public land on the line.
Call your Senators TODAY and urge them to vote NO on H.J. Res. 140.
Snow delay on fast-tracked Farm Bill edits
The Senate was set to hold a vote on a hastily marked up Farm Bill on Monday, but lucky for us, the vote was delayed until next week.
Two brazen adjustments make it nearly impossible to ensure consumer and environmental safety. One restricts state rights to regulate animal living conditions— something likely targeted at California.
The other mandates that pesticide labels be uniform across state lines and only include definitive EPA approved warnings. This would mean that pesticide companies could not be held liable for not informing customers about risks they know their products hold, and states would not be allowed to protect people with life-saving information about dangers they know exist.
Starting Thursday, call your Senators and urge them to vote NO on the Farm Bill edits.
More presidential privileges for poisonous industries
Speaking of protections for hazardous corporations, Trump went one step further with his advocacy of Round Up.
In an executive order issued late last week, Trump asserted that the chemical glyphosate—the active ingredient in Round Up— is crucial to our national security. He ordered increased protection and extended a blanket protection for manufacturers against lawsuits.
For context, glyphosate producer Monsanto is in the middle of a slew of costly lawsuits brought forth by consumers. Just last week they proposed paying 7.25 billion dollars to settle current and future lawsuits, with the condition they don’t have to admit that their product causes cancer.
Trump’s advocacy for this pesticide is so unpopular that Republicans are outraged. MAHA moms are speaking up against it on news shows. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie is introducing a bill to essentially undo the order. And RFK Jr. is struggling to toe the loyalty line.
Just a reminder to the GOP: Your ideas are NOT popular
Coming off of a raucous self-aggrandizing State of the Union, some Republicans may feel empowered to do whatever they like. But outside their toxic bubble, they are not popular, and nothing showcases their lack of popularity like these public land and health issues.
That makes this the perfect time to get loud about our objections and bring them back to reality.
Keep up the good work, stay determined, and wear out those congressional phone lines (see example script below). We got this.
With love and hope for the future,
Stephanie
CONTACT: Your two U.S. Senators (Switchboard: 202-224-3121)
Hi, my name is [Your Name] and I’m a constituent from [City/Zip Code]. I am calling today to urge the Senator to take a stand for our public lands and public health by voting NO on three critical items:
NO on Steve Pearce for BLM: His confirmation hearing is today. His history of advocating for the sale and privatization of our public lands makes him unfit to lead the Bureau of Land Management.
NO on H.J. Res. 140: This resolution is an unprecedented attack on the Boundary Waters mining ban. We must protect this wilderness from toxic copper mining and reject this misuse of the Congressional Review Act.
NO on the Farm Bill Pesticide Edits: I urge the Senator to reject the current Farm Bill draft unless the sections stripping states of their right to regulate pesticides and protect consumers from toxic chemicals like glyphosate are removed.
Can I count on the Senator to vote NO on all three of these measures? Thank you for your time.
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