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The Gov Hub Newsletter: February 12, 2024

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Gov Hub
February 12, 2024

Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, & quick links to civic engagement tools & topics. Find a typo? Congrats, today is your lucky day.

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THE ACTION ITEMS

Jump right in

ACTION 1 – BROADBAND ACCESS

The Ask: Tell Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The Action: Send Congress this note here via the ALA.

The Background: 23 million Americans are able to access broadband to work, do homework, improve their quality of life, and beyond because of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which came by way of Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program helps qualifying households save on monthly internet bills and access needed equipment. Funding for the program needs to be extended in order for the access it’s provided to continue. 

ACTION 2 – GAS STOVE POLLUTION

The Ask: Tell the Biden-Harris Admin to take on pollution emitted from household appliances.

The Action: Sign the petition here from Evergreen Action.

The Background: Whatever you say Stove is what you can say to the gas industry that’s been rebranding gas [stoves] for decades to seem safe. You can also tell ‘em that buildings are the FOURTH largest source of U.S. climate pollution, AND they also emit hazardous pollution - mostly caused by fossil fuel appliances – classic Stove. AND then you can hit ‘em with these deats on how bad gas stoves are for our health, ya know like being responsible for 13% of all childhood asthma.

ACTION 3 – SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME PENALTY

The Ask: Tell Congress to pass the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act.

The Action: Send this note from the Democracy for America Advocacy Fund.

The Background: SSI or Supplemental Security Income is a federal program that provides financial assistance to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. The basis for an individual or a married couple to qualify is their existing financial means, and currently the limit is so low that it prevents those enrolled from being able to take on promotions, better paying jobs, savings, inheritance, or any additional financial holding that exceeds $2,000 in value for an individual or a combined $3,000 for a married couple [a disincentive to marry the person you love]. That means people right over the line can’t qualify and those that do qualify can’t raise their income or they’ll lose the benefit. The bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act would increase the asset limit to $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a couple. It would also exclude retirement savings from countable assets.

ACTION 4 – FOOD INSECURITY

The Ask: Tell Congress to increase funding for SNAP and The Emergency Food Assistance Program [TEFAP] in the next farm bill.

The Action: Send your [federal] reps this note from Feeding America.

The Background: 44 million people in the US are food insecure, including 13 million children. There’s not a county in the US that doesn’t have a food insecurity issue. Two programs that help to alleviate food insecurity are SNAP and TEFAP. Ensuring that they’re not just funded but that their funding is increased, provides a way to reduce food insecurity.

Looking for more action items? Check our library of past Gov Hub’s.

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Just about guaranteed to make it to the group chat

  • Colin Jost will be the comedian-in-charge at the White House correspondents’ dinner and we will be trying to figure out how we get an invite to this shindig… wait actually, consider this formal thirsty AF ask for an invite TYSM.

  • Trump’s reputation for disrespecting our troops stood in stone when he took a verbal swing at Nikki Haley’s husband for ‘not being on the campaign trail…' when he’s literally serving [literally serving, not serving looks] our country overseas. Biden stepped into the chat with this response.

  • Meanwhile, these two bald dudes in government could be easily confused for identical twins, Turns out they’re not, one is a US Senator and one is the German Chancellor; classic gov guys.

  • Oh, & sorry to start your week off this way but Trump is saying that if elected he would encourage Putin to attack NATO members. So yea…not just terrifying, but certainly sheds more light on the point and purpose of the Tucker Carlson x Putin collab.

  • Buttttt if you want to upgrade your week, check out the new job drop in The Gov Club and network with political besties. Plusss check out the latest ~ random recs ~  and cute animal stories in Hot Mic’d.

SUPER WHAT? BOWL

Highlight reel, political coach edition

VOTER PREP

Resources for a wild & wacky (but v important) 2024

  • CALIFORNIA GIRL[IE]S → This CalMatters voter guide has all the dates you need to know, including an upcoming voter registration deadline that’ll be having you text your besties to remind them to get on it. 

  • GIVE YOUR TWO CENTS → Glamour & YouGov wants to know what issues are pushing you to the polls this year. Play share and tell here.

  • GO TO A CONCERT → No, literally with HEADCOUNT and register concert-goers to vote. See the line up and get the deats here.

BOOKMARK IT

Don’t lose the link, bookmark it

FEEDING AMERICA’S MAP THE MEAL GAP MAP: If you skipped past the action items, circle back to number four on food insecurity. Kay, you back? Great. Feeding America has a Map the Meal Gap map, which is an interactive tool that showcases food insecurity across the country, searchable by demographic, region, and year. It also shows the average meal cost per an area and how much money would be needed to meet the food needs of an area’s population. Explore it, then bookmark it.

ON THE POD

“Abortion will save democracy” - Mini Timmaraju

The GOP is coming for birth control. For real, for real – and it’s a part of a 50+ year plan that brings distinct clarity to the phrase ‘politics is a long game.’ And it’s this particular long game that the gals get into with Mini Timmaraju, the President & CEO of Reproductive Freedom For All on the latest pod. The scaries, from the criminalization of miscarriages and pregnant people, and beyond are discussed, so are actions that can be taken – like voting this year – that can help right the ship in the direction of progress, not backslides. Tune into the convo via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

Bills, bills, bills

SOUTH DAKOTA: A bill is making its way through the state leg that would allow Native Americans in SD, that are a part of a federally recognized tribe, to register to vote using a tribal identification card. Currently, tribal identification cards can be used as proof of ID when voting, but are a no-go at the point of registration. If passed, the resulting law would create an agreement between the tribes in the state and South Dakota’s secretary of state. 

IDAHO: On the stranger end of the billsh*t category is one brought to the table by Idaho State Rep. Heather Scott focused on expanding the state’s cannibalism ban. The bill comes out of what the Idaho Statesman reports as the rep’s fear that ‘cannibalism will become a normalized phenomenon,’ and generally that the practice of people eating people is ‘possibly’ happening. That fear turned bill would add to the cannibalism ban by also banning the exercise of “giving someone else “the flesh or blood of a human being” without that person’s “knowledge or consent.” All we can say is it’s giving horror movie all around.

OKLAHOMA: A State Senator who somehow connects abortion with ‘hiring a hitman to kill one’s child’ has filed a bill that would charge pregnant people who get an abortion with murder. Senate Bill 1729 introduced by Senator Dusty Deevers proves why he’s named Dusty – he doesn’t think abortion qualifies as healthcare, nor does his proposed Abolition of Abortion Act include exceptions for rape and incest.

WASHINGTON: A bill that’s giving solutions, that’s giving good governance, that’s giving listening to constituents was introduced by Washington State Senator Sam Hunt. The bill would require semi automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in fitness centers. The bill came to life via a family that lost a loved one due to a heart attack while working at their gym. 

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

EPA RELEASES FINAL RULE ON SOOT POLLUTION; WILL SAVE LIVES: The EPA went Mary Poppins vibes and released a new rule that strengthens the National Ambient Air Quality Standards [NAAQS] for soot or as we presume Bill Nye The Science Guy would refer to it – fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Via the rule, the EPA is setting the level of the primary PM2.5 standard at 9.0 micrograms per cubic meter. While visually that’s hard to digest, there are other numbers that aren’t so hard to digest, which include the 4,500 premature deaths the EPA estimates will be avoided as a result; the 800,000 avoided cases of asthma, and the 290,000 lost workdays circa 2032 calculations. The EPA will lend a helping hand to states and Tribes to implement the new standard.

PA GOV SHAPIRO + BILL WOULD AX UP TO $400M IN MEDICAL DEBT: Move over ballot measures, axing medical debt is the new hot topic in town. Have we made this joke before? Probably, but instead of dwelling on it let’s get into this dual-proposal. PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s latest budget proposal includes wiping out up to $400 million in medical debt held by residents. The idea, similar to this initiative that’s moving ahead in Connecticut, would help families and individuals get back on their feet who are being weighed down by insurmountable medical debts for necessary, lifesaving care; it would also help providers recoup costs and pass on savings to other patients who sometimes end up getting passed higher service amounts as a result of others’ unpaid bills. The proposal plays copy cat to a bill brought to the table by state Rep. Dr. Arvind Venkat, that would, according to Spotlight PA, “direct the state Department of Health to contract with a medical debt relief coordinator, such as RIP Medical Debt, to find and buy outstanding bills. A debtor would qualify if their annual income is at 400% or less of the federal poverty limit, or the amount owed is 5% or more of their income.” The proposal has gotten an array of support, however does face a divided [party-wise] government so YAY but TBD.

NY HOSPITAL TRANSPARENCY BILL MOVES TO HOCHUL’S DESK: Those in favor of NY state’s Hospital Transparency Act are just calling [Taylor] Governor Kathy Hochul up to sign it after it passed both the State Senate and Assembly. The bill takes aim at policy-based exclusions and healthcare deserts. FYI, policy-based exclusions are “healthcare services that hospitals are licensed to deliver but choose not to provide” – an example would be gender-affirming care. If it becomes law, the act would require the State Department of Health to track and publish a list of policy-based exclusions from all NY general hospitals on its website [this is where that transparency piece comes in] annually. It would also require hospitals across NY to disclose all exclusions as part of a hospital’s Patients’ Bill of Rights. The Department would also be required to serve up impact reports on service denials. The healthcare desert element comes to fruition through this data collection, enabling policy makers to create and fund legislation that helps fill critical gaps. Hospitals are about as transparent as your average fuck boy on just about every bit of the care and pricing spectrum, and this bill knocks at accountability’s door.

STORIES TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR

Stories from around the USA

  • Politico: DC is Having a Crime Wave. The Centrist Political Class Is Freaking Out.

  • Axios: Inside Trump’s plans to deport millions from the U.S.

  • The Hill: Hawley proposes adding new radiation compensation amendment to foreign aid supplemental

  • LA Focus: Controller Malia Cohen Sets 25% Goal for Small and Minority Businesses Contracting

  • Missouri Independent: Republicans block attempt to add rape incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban

ATLAS

Stories from around the globe

  • CNN: How Indonesia’s future is in the hands of young voters, in 5 charts

  • Semafor: Barclays to stop directly financing new oil and gas projects

  • NPR: Cheap, plentiful and devastating: The synthetic drug kush is walloping Sierra Leone

  • AP: Hundreds of protesters opposed to allowing same-sex marriage rally in Greek capital

  • NBC: Sudan war is ‘world’s largest child displacement crisis’ with millions facing malnourishment, UNICEF says

BEFORE YOU GO….

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