Never Give Up, Never Surrender

UPDATE: News sites are reporting that Puzder has withdrawn himself from consideration.

Alert for people in MAINE, ALASKA, SOUTH CAROLINA and GEORGIA: Four Republican senators in your states -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Johnny Isakson of Georgia -- are holding off on expressing support for Puzder. All four sit on the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions committee which is holding the hearing into Puzder's nomination. Please call them if you can to voice your objections!

Nomination of Andrew Puzder to serve as Secretary of Labor

When: Thursday 16 February 2017 from 10.00am

( Committee Members, what the committee should be concerned about and calling script )

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.

Housekeeping note: There is a third hearing scheduled for Thursday 16 Feb at 10am, in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, into the nomination of David Friedman to be Ambassador to Israel. I don't feel qualified to comment on the issues around that appointment, so I won't be making a post. If anyone else wants to make a post, please feel free to do so.

Every day I wake up, check the news -- and come across at least one thing that has me asking myself, "How can this be the world we're living in now?!" While it can be exhausting at times (and it's important for us to take care of ourselves and still have joy in our lives), I think it's a good thing that none of this has become "normalized" yet, and that we still have a sense of outrage at what's happening to keep us fighting back.

So what has been happening?

Muslim Ban

A temporary restraining order suspending the Executive Order has been issued. The Department of Homeland Security and State Department have officially confirmed they'll obey the TRO, honoring visas and resuming refugee programmes. The White House appealed the TRO on Saturday and lost.

To the surprise of nobody, Trump threw a tantrum on Twitter, attacking the judge and failing civics 101.

So let's all take a moment to celebrate the (judicial branch of the) U.S. government working as it should!

I'm sure there will be plenty of new actions relating to the ban to be taken during the next week, but here are some we've already posted that are still relevant -- especially as there are still ongoing legal cases for some of the people affected by the ban, and we can't be sure all the front-line staff at airports will respect the TRO:

Resources for those harrassed/detained (check the comments)
Checking how your representatives responded to the Muslim Ban
Donate to organisations working with those affected by the ban (Last week's check-in post -- scroll down for the list)

Get involved

URGENT -- Confirmation Hearings -- Call your senators about Betsy DeVos
The nomination of Betsy DeVos will be considered again by the full senate tomorrow (Monday). Some Republican senators have said they will vote against her confirmation, or are considering doing so. Please call your senators, whether they're Democrats or Republicans. We need make sure all the Democrats DO vote against DeVos, so that if some Republican senators vote against her, she won't be approved because of Democrat votes.

Other Confirmation Hearings
So far, the only business meeting in committee to vote on a nominee scheduled for next week is that of David Shulkin, to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. You can check out how your Senators voted on the nominations that have been confirmed -- and whether they deserve praise or a rocket -- through the links in this post. You can keep up-to-date with what's going on with the other hearings through our confirmation hearings tag.

Other Actions
Let the Army know what you think about the Dakota Access Pipeline (Deadline: 20 Feb)
Upcomimg Flippable Elections
From the latest Re:Act
Get Bannon off the National Security Council (From one of snickfic's link roundups)

Get educated
Curriculum with links for 15-week political science course
Congressional Tracker
Background on Lyft vs Uber

Last but not least, don't forget to check out snickfic's terrific link roundup posts. Remember that you can use the comments of those posts to add more links, especially if they're for information and background reading rather that a call to action.

The U.S. Senate has now confirmed several nominations - and there have been some frankly disappointing votes from Democrats. (Tim Kaine voting for Mike Pompeo as Director of the CIA? Shame on you, Senator Kaine!)

If you have the resources to make yet more phone calls (yes, I know - so many to make!) about nominations, you can check how your senators voted at the Recent Senate Roll Call Votes page, and call them to thank them or express your disapproval. The "Vote (Tally)" links take you to the pages detailing how the senators voted (sorted in various ways) and the "Issue" links take you to the detail of each resolution.

You can quickly see what the Senate has been up to and which nominations have been confirmed by going to the "Highlights" section of the Daily Digest for the Congressional Record. (The link goes to the most recent issue. You can see links for all the issues on the browse by date page.)

Hearing to Consider the Anticipated Nomination of The Honorable Tom Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services

When: Tuesday 24 January from 10.00am

There is a second hearing into the nomination of Tom Price to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. This one is in front of the Finance committee, which is responsible for funding healthcare programs under the Social Security Act, including Medicare and Medicaid.

This is particularly important, as one of Trump's first acts on inauguration day was to sign a (very unclear) Executive Order giving the Department of Health and Social Services a lot of latitude for unwinding ACA and other healthcare programs without legislation. Read this link (provided by snickfic in the 22 Jan roundup) for a full explanation.

We've already laid out the reasons the committee should be concerned about Tom Price in this post for the hearing last week in front of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Please check the comments, where j00j provided some additional information on Price's insider trading, together with an excellent revised script.

( Committee Members )

UPDATED on 2 February 2017

Business meetings to vote on the nominations from the earlier confirmation hearings are now being scheduled.

Once committee hearings are closed, most committees have a set amount of time before a vote is taken on whether the nominee is reported to the Senate favorably, unfavorably or without recommendation. They also have the option not to take action on the nominee. If action is taken, the committee notifies the executive clerk. The nomination is then given a number and added to the Executive Calendar of the Senate. (source: Ballotpedia)

This is another opportunity to call your senators or the committee members to object to the nominations and ask them to report "unfavourable" to the Senate.

Current list of Business Meetings

Thursday 2 February

10:25am Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs - nomination of Mick Mulvaney, to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget

10:45 AM Environment and Public Works - nomination of Scott Pruitt, to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

11:00am Budget - nomination of Mick Mulvaney, to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Tuesday 7 February

TBA Veterans Affairs - nomination of David Shulkin, to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

I'll update this post as more business meetings are added to the U.S. Senate schedule

Nomination hearing of the Honorable Rick Perry to be Secretary for Energy

When: Thursday 19 January from 10:00am

( Committee Members, what the committee should be concerned about and calling script )

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.

Nomination Hearing - Nominee The Honorable Nikki R. Haley

When: Wednesday 18 January from 10:00am

( Committee Members and what the committee should be concerned about )

Suggested action:While Governor Haley is a weak candidate compared with previous nominations to this post, she does appear to be far more moderate and international in outlook than most current Republicans. I didn't see any evidence that there's any strong reason to oppose her, apart from her lack of relevant experience, so it's probably not worth calling about this one. But please let us know in comments if there are strong reasons the committee should reject the nomination.

Nomination Hearing - Wilbur Ross

( Committee Members, what the committee should be concerned about and calling script )

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.