OFIR Alerts and Updates
Plan to attend a very special Grassroots Rally in support of your 2nd Amendment Rights, limited government, less taxes, getting tough on crime, Official English and E-Verify
Join the crowd Saturday, June 27 from 3 - 5pm on the steps of the Oregon State Capitol.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Arizona will be the featured speaker at the rally.
Sheriff Arpaio has been profiled in over 4,000 national and foreign newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs. His leadership and the excellent work of his staff have catapulted the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office into the ranks of elite law enforcement agencies.
Invite your friends and bring your children. Bring along an American flag - large or small and a patriotic sign, if you can!
To help offset costs of this event a special raffle will be held.
$5 gets a door prize ticket for the cool and even collectible items described below (multiple tickets can be purchased).
DOOR PRIZES
1. A pair of Maricopa County’s PINK inmate shorts.
2. Book written and signed by Sheriff Arpaio.
3. Sheriff Arpaio personal coin.
4. Book written and signed by Sheriff Arpaio
5. Private Dinner with Sheriff Arpaio at Representative & Mrs. Greg Barreto’s home in Keizer, OR.
While OFIR is a non-partisan, single issue organization, we appreciate the ORP's focus on the immigration issue and the visit of their very special guest.
The so-called free trade bill is being pushed again in the House, with all its harmful features expanding Presidential control of immigration, bringing in unlimited numbers of immigrants.
We are forwarding the alert from the Citizens Trade Campaign which targets Representatives who continue to support these bad trade bills. Please call or email again. Thank you!
Call Representative Earl Blumenauer: 202-225-4811, or in Oregon: 503-231-2300
Webform for email: Click Contact on the homepage of his website: http://blumenauer.house.gov
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from Citizens Trade Campaign, June 17, 2015:
Fast Track Vote Imminent: Please Contact Your Rep Again Now
Apparently, some politicians didn’t get the message after last week’s vote blocking Fast Track legislation from moving forward in the House. As I write this, the House Rules Committee is meeting to discuss a new scheme that would allow Fast Track to be voted on again this Thursday.
TAKE ACTION: Please tell Congress again now to vote NO on Fast Track.
There’s a reason we were able to block Fast Track in the House last week: you and countless others keep telling Congress in no uncertain terms that you want "No Fast Track for the TPP!" We can't let up now.
Corporate lobbyists' and certain political elites' attempt to try ramming Fast Track legislation through again so soon after last week's failure � possibly as early as this Thursday � is a desperate movmove. I have every confidence we can stop them again, but we need your support once more.
Tell Congress enough is enough, and to say NO to Fast Track for the TPP.
You know as well as I do that the stakes here are very high. If passed, Fast Track would create a virtual rubber-stamp for dangerous trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that threaten jobs, wages, the environment, public health and more in your community and communities throughout the world.
As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote recently in USA Today, "As we look to the future, it is clear that this debate on the trade authority is probably the last of it’s kind. The intense debate of the past few weeks has further convinced me that we need a new paradigm."
Fast Track legislation really did take a major blow last week. Winning this vote should knock Fast Track out for good. Please take action now.
Sincerely,
Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director
CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN
http://www.citizenstrade.org/
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From the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign:
We just found out that a stand-alone Fast Track bill for the TPP is going for a vote in the House tomorrow.
Congresswoman Bonamici has said publicly that she would not vote for Fast Track without Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). TAA helps workers whose jobs have been displaced by trade. We need to make sure she keeps her word and votes NO on Fast Track this time.
We need tons of constituent calls telling her to stand by her word and stand with Oregonians by voting NO on Fast Track when it comes for a vote tomorrow (Thursday). Please call her offices as soon as possible, and spread the word!
DC Office: (202) 225-0855
Oregon Office: (503) 469-6010
Script:
Hi, my name is ______ and I’m calling from __[City]__. Congresswoman Bonamici has said publicly that she would not vote for the Fast Track bill without Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). I’m calling as a constituent to ask her to keep her word and vote NO on the stand-alone Fast Track bill tomorrow [THURSDAY, JUNE 18].
Thank you! Let’s win this!
Elizabeth Swager & Robyn Gottlieb
Oregon Fair Trade Campaign
Senate Bill 932 would let those students — who must be Oregon high school graduates — receive state-funded, need-based college scholarships through the Oregon Opportunity Grant program. The scholarships are up to $2,000 per student per year.
The Ways and Means Committee will be having a hearing Monday morning at 8:30am.
If you can't make it to the hearing, please consider submitting testimony, so that the Committee will understand how many people oppose such a bill. There IS an emergency clause on this bill, as well. Designed to prevent citizens from referring the bill to the ballot - as OFIR did with SB 833 - the driver card bill.
Read the article in the Register Guard for possible ideas for testimony.
Send your testimony to Ways and Means: WaysandMeans.EducationSub@state.or.us
Senator Wyden has announced upcoming town hall meetings to be held soon in Polk, Yamhill, and Tillamook Counties. Please attend if you can, and speak to him about immigration issues.
Below the schedule, there is background information that may help you formulate your comments and questions.
Polk County town hall »
May 29 2015 10:00AM
Nesmith Readiness Center
12830 Westview Drive
Dallas, OR
Yamhill County town hall »
May 29 2015 1:00PM
McMinnville High School
615 NE 15th St
McMinnville, OR
Tillamook County town hall »
May 30 2015 10:30AM
Port of Tillamook Bay Officers Mess Hall
6825 Officer's Row
Tillamook, OR
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YOU CAN PRINT OUT A REPORT CARD FOR SEN. WYDEN AND GIVE IT TO HIM:
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/print/my/congress/667/printreportcard/congress/
Senator Wyden is graded F- by NumbersUSA based on his voting record on immigration issues in 2015. This year alone he voted 7 times in favor of measures supporting amnesty for illegal aliens: 6 times for funding President Obama’s amnesties and once to confirm a Presidential appointee for U.S. Attorney General who is openly in favor of amnesty.
Also, he has been a prominent advocate for Trade Promotion Authority that would fast-track international trade agreements without adequate examination by Congress or citizens, and including allowing unknown numbers of foreign workers to take jobs from citizens. See this report on Sen. Wyden’s role and the status of the fast-track bill in Congress now: http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/alerts/2015-archives/fast-track-passes-senate.html
Sen. Wyden has been in Congress for over 30 years. His overall career grade by NumbersUSA is F for his votes on immigration issues.
Tell Sen. Wyden politely but firmly - that U.S. immigration policies should put the interests of U.S. citizens first, not the interests of corporations that profit from cheap labor, and not the interests of illegal aliens and other foreign nationals.
Tell him that our country’s future is in grave danger from overpopulation which is primarily due to excessive immigration now and in recent decades. Furthermore, much of current immigration comes uninspected, allowing easy entry for persons who wish to harm us.
FAIR sends this urgent Action Alert about a bill to be voted on soon in Congress with a section allowing illegal aliens who are DACA recipients to join the military, at a time when the military is downsizing and citizens' applications to join are being turned down.
Worse still, the language used implies Congressional approval of amnesty. An amendment by Rep. Mel Brooks would strip out this offensive section.
Please read FAIR's description of the problem and make the call to your U.S. Representative.
Contact information for Oregon's U.S. Representatives is on the OFIR website at: http://www.oregonir.org/how-contact-oregon-congressional-delegation. or you can call the Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative.
Sometimes it seems that nothing we do works in stopping elected officials from moving in the wrong direction. But, this time it worked. You and your calls and emails stopped it. Read all about it - then pat yourself on the back!
If you quit - you lose for certain. If you stay and fight, you may lose...but, you just might win!
The Senate is scheduled to vote on TPP on Tuesday. It is very important that it NOT be given fast track.
OFIR members: Here are direct-dial numbers for Oregon Senators.
Capitol Switchboard -- (202) 224-3121 or direct dial numbers below.
When you call - you could say:
I urge you to oppose S.955, the bill that would grant fast-track trade authority to Pres. Obama. I believe Congress should retain its power to review and amend any trade agreement that the United States enters into, and by granting Pres. Obama fast-track authority, Congress would be giving up that power.
As Sen. Jeff Sessions from Alabama pointed out in his 5-page memo, free trade agreements have been used by past administrations to bypass Congress and make changes to existing immigration laws. Given this president's track record on immigration, I don't understand why you would want to give him such broad authority. Please tell the Senator to read Sen. Sessions' memo and oppose TPA.
Senator Ron Wyden – 202-224-5244
Sen. Wyden is a major supporter of the trade bill. Please call him first.
***Senator Jeff Merkley – 202-224-3753
Sen. Merkley recently sent a letter to constituents critical of the fast-track trade bill. The letter included this statement: “The Senate Finance Committee recently considered a bill that would provide fast-track trade negotiating authority, and it is expected to be debated by the full Senate in the near future. The current bill does not meet the standards I have described, and I will oppose it in its current form.”
Please thank him for his position and urge him to stand firm in opposition to the fast-track trade bill.
Should both chambers of Congress pass "fast-track" legislation, Pres. Obama, and future presidents, can ram through international trade agreements that expand guest worker programs without any public debate.
For further understanding - please read:
There are numerous serious, significant consequences to passing the TPP. One is that it can open immigration floodgates. And unlike other trade agreements, a future president may unilaterally change the terms of the agreement as she sees fit.
Furthermore, ceding such powers to Barack Obama guts the constitutional objection to Barack Obama's Executive Amnesty. After all, if Congress doesn't feel itself capable of reviewing legislation on something as important on trade, why should it have any input on immigration?...
What's worse, only two Republican Senators (Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Lee of Utah) have confirmed that they bothered to read the trade deal they will be voting on this week...and have declared they will vote against it....
Please take action this week to convince Representative Bonamici that Fast Track is a bad deal for Oregon. Legislation to enact Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may head to the House floor next week. But our opponents don't yet have the votes to pass Fast Track, and they're scared of the immense public opposition they’ve seen from folks like you. That’s why they’re pulling out all the stops.
This Thursday, the President is flying all the way to Portland to woo Oregon’s Members of Congress at a fundraiser and try to gain their support for Fast Track and the TPP. He will continue his Fast Track and TPP promotional tour on Friday when he visits Nike headquarters. But the President and multinational corporations are not Rep. Bonamici’s constituents -- it’s up to us to make sure she knows that the people who she was elected to represent adamantly oppose Fast Track. The “Drop-In Hang-Out” lobby day is designed to do just that!
Here's the drill: Go into the office and ask to speak to the Representative; if she is unavailable, share your concerns about Fast Track with the staff and give them our Fast Track opposition letter to hand to Rep. Bonamici (see below); and then just hang out until the hour is up (or as long as you can). This is a peaceful demonstration designed to keep the consequences of a vote for Fast Track in the forefront of Rep. Bonamici’s mind all day!
** Rep. Bonamici seems to be leaning toward supporting this year's Fast Track legislation. But with enough pressure we can get her to oppose it, just as we did last year! **
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Wed. 5/6 |
10:00am-5:00pm (~1 hr. shifts) |
“Drop-in Hang-out” Lobby Day at Bonamici’s office |
12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton |
Click here for the Fast Track opposition letter to leave behind with the staff.
The letter is pretty thorough, but if you want more info to prepare for your visit, Click here for the latest talking points on the Ryan-Hatch Fast Track bill. You can also Click here for a few quick common rebuttals to Fast Track proponents.
Thank you!
If you have any questions, please contact ORFTC Trade Justice Organizer Robyn Gottlieb at robyn@citizenstrade.org.
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OFIR President Cynthia Kendoll will address the Polk County Republican Women Wednesday, April 8th at 11:30am at the Oak Knoll Golf Course on Hwy. 22.
