Sen.
Rubio May
22, 2018
In
your recent interviews and Senate testimony you recognize that China poses a significant
threat to US leadership and has a detailed timetable and strategy to overtake
the US militarily and economically by 2050.
A plausible and troubling scenario is outlined in this Axios article. In short, China
has made this effort its national priority and is rapidly developing the
resources and infrastructure this effort requires.
Regrettably,
the US has no long term strategy and relies on short term knee jerk responses
driven by partisanship and the mistaken notion that this country can act in
isolation from the rest of the free world.
Here is a partial
list of elements and action items for inclusion in a national strategy and
commitment that we encourage you and members of Congress to pursue.
·
Encourage
and develop the talents and commitment brought to our shores by immigrants and
refugees to reflect the fact that the US birth rate is declining
·
Address
the threats to our democracy posed by racism, xenophobia and religious
intolerance
·
Confront
human rights abuses and empower women and children
·
Address
the destructive influence of special interests and their money to influence
elected representatives, appointed officials and public policy for personal
gain
·
Rebuild
a crumbling infrastructure
·
Address
our culture of guns and violence
·
Balance
expenditures on defense with adequate funding for health, education,
environmental protection and infrastructure improvements
·
Preserve
the independence and impartiality of our system of justice and preclude
political and media influence and meddling
·
Preserve
and protect our threatened environment
·
Focus
our economy on new technologies, renewable energy, robotics, efficient mass
transit, artificial intelligence and healthcare
·
Strengthen
our relationships with other nations through free and fair trade partnerships
·
Develop
the political will to enact a fair and equitable tax policy to sufficiently
fund the above and reduce our national debt
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Regrettably,
school shootings continue to dominate the news. More than 1,600 mass shootings
have taken place in America since the Sandy Hook massacre.
We
applaud your support for ‘red line’ mental health evaluations before granting
weapons ownership permits. However, Federal
action is still needed on
- universal
background checks
- limits on assault
weapons, magazine capacities and bump stocks
- prohibitions
on proposed interstate recognition of concealed carry permits
None
of the above would have prevented last week’s shooting in Texas but this
tragedy underlines our concerns over the national addiction to a culture of
unregulated and irresponsible gun ownership.
We encourage you to renounce the
NRA and refuse and return campaign contributions you received from this
organization that has denied its role to ensure public safety.
——————————————————————————————————————
Our
previously submitted questions and concerns regarding the 2020 Census have gone
unanswered.
·
We
fail to understand how asking a question about one’s citizenship is “necessary
to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and to protect against voting discrimination”. Please
clarify and explain the logic or justification behind this claim by the Census
Bureau and U.S. Department of Justice.
·
Two
of three trial surveys have been canceled for lack of funds and staffing and
the third trial did not include the question about citizenship. How
can you be confident that asking the question about citizenship won’t inhibit
responses from immigrant communities out of fear of deportation and reprisal
against family and friends?
——————————————————————————————————————
Your weekly newsletter reports you
introduced S.2856 - A bill to reform the requirements regarding the safety and
security of families living in public and federally assisted housing in
high-crime areas. When will the text be available for posting on Congress.org?
The
Wall Street Journal reported that
·
“Mortgage
rates this week jumped to their highest level since 2011, signaling a shift
from a period of ultracheap loans to a higher-rate environment that could slow
home price appreciation and squeeze first-time buyers,"
·
"The
spike this year has been faster than many economists predicted as a surging
economy, the prospect of wage gains and a steep rise in prices for commodities
such as lumber and gasoline stoke inflation worries."
·
"A
one percentage point increase in [mortgage] rates can lead to a reduction in
home sales of 7% to 8%."
·
Rising
interest rates are the market’s reaction to the ballooning Federal deficit
caused by the ill advised and ill timed Tax Cut Act.
·
Premiums
for health insurance plans sold on the federal marketplace are expected to
increase by nearly 16.9 percent in Florida next year due to changes in the
Affordable Care Act, according to a new analysis released Friday.
What is your
response for bringing relief to middle class Americans who will be forced to subsidize tax cuts with higher consumer
prices and health care costs caused by inflation?
——————————————————————————————————————
On
May 7, Donald Trump sent Congress a list of $15 billion in proposed cuts to
previously approved congressional spending, including a staggering $7 billion
from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Another $2 billion in cuts
would come from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, which sets aside
emergency funds for state CHIP programs in case of unexpectedly high
enrollment.
These
cuts were proposed as part of a process called rescission, where the government
reverses spending authorization decisions after the fact by simple majority
votes. Trump is expected to use this process frequently in the wake of the
massive deficit generated by Republicans’ fabulously unpopular tax bill.
We urge you to
oppose cuts to healthcare for children, tightening requirements for SNAP
eligibility and reductions in other essential public services.
——————————————————————————————————————
We encourage you to support a clean and sustainable
environment for the sake of future generations.
Plastic Pollution - The Facts Are Overwhelming
The proliferation of plastic products in the last
70 years or so has been extraordinary; quite simply we cannot now live without
them. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half
of which is for single use. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into
our oceans every year.
Plastic is cheap and incredibly versatile with
properties that make it ideal for many applications. However, these qualities
have also resulted in it becoming an environmental issue. We have developed a
“disposable” lifestyle and estimates are that around 50% of plastic is used
just once and thrown away.
Plastic is a valuable resource and plastic
pollution is an unnecessary and unsustainable waste of that resource.
•
Packaging is the largest
end use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage.
•
Annually approximately
500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are
used every minute.
•
A plastic bag has an
average “working life” of 15 minutes.
• Over the last ten years we have produced more
plastic than during the whole of the last century.
Beverage Bottles Alone
•
According to the
Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold
in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person.
•
57% of those units were
plastic water bottles: 57.3 billion sold in 2014. This is up from 3.8 billion
plastic water bottles sold in 1996, the earliest year for available data.
•
The process of producing
bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in
the container.
• 14% of all litter comes from beverage containers.
When caps and labels are considered, the number is higher.
The Pacific Institute estimates that in 2006:
•
Producing the bottles
for American consumption required the equivalent of more than
17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation
17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation
•
Bottling water produced
more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide
Invisibles The Plastic Inside Us By Chris Tyree & Dan Morrison
Recent studies have shown the shocking extent of
plastics in the world’s oceans and lakes. Orb Media followed with a new
question: If microscopic plastic is in oceans, lakes, and rivers, is it in
drinking water as well?
In the first public scientific study of its kind,
we found previously unknown plastic contamination in the tap water of cities
around the world.
Microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps
from New York to New Delhi, according to exclusive research by Orb and a
researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. From the
halls of the U.S. Capitol to the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, women,
children, men, and babies are consuming plastic with every glass of water.
More than 80 percent of the samples we collected on
five continents tested positive for the presence of plastic fibers.
Microplastics — tiny plastic fibers and fragments —
aren’t just choking the ocean; they have infested the world’s drinking water.
Why should you care? Microplastics have been shown
to absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses, and then
release them when consumed by fish and mammals.
Marine Plastic Debris and Microplastics Source
United Nations Environmental Programme
Global
Lessons and Research to Inspire Action and Guide Policy Change
Synthetic
Polymer Contamination in Global Drinking Water
——————————————————————————————————————
We express our deep concern over the actions taken
by President Trump to limit expression of free speech and impose a gag rules
designed to block access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood health
centers. These centers serve more than 40% of the four
million patients who rely on Title X (the nation's program for affordable birth
control and reproductive health care).
These gag rules include two unprecedented attacks on patients and
doctors:
1.
Doctors and nurses
across the country are forbidden from referring patients for abortion. Even if
someone asks for information, even if their health is at risk, even if a safe
and legal abortion is their best option.
2.
There's no guarantee
that you're getting full and accurate information about your health care. If
someone discovers they're pregnant after being diagnosed with cancer, for
example, their health care provider may not tell them that abortion is even an
option.
Respectfully,
on behalf of Northeast Florida Indivisible
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