Part of a series of background guides, talking points, and phone scripts for a coordinated defense of the Affordable Care Actby Patrick O'MahenRelevant Policy Background: The Individual Mandate The individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act is an important linchpin that keeps premium prices under control. How? Think of the ACA as a three-legged stool. First, it offers anyone not covered by an employer plan or other public insurance the ability to buy a plan on an insurance exchange (guaranteed issue) at the same price as anyone else (community rating). This is great, but healthy people will tend not to buy insurance, which leaves the pool sicker, which causes prices to increase. Then more healthy people leave the pool, causing the pools to keep getting sicker, which causes prices to go up more. This eventually causes a death spiral.[1] The individual mandate plays a critical role in keeping healthy people in insurance pools by charging them a fee if they do not enroll...

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Right now, Trump and the Republicans are trying to increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion dollars to cut taxes for the rich. Republicans in the House and Senate are working overtime to push a huge tax bill through Congress by the end of the year, at Trump's direction. They've approved a budget resolution that will allow them to increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years in order to reduce taxes. The House is hoping to pass their bill this Thursday (November 16) Almost all of the benefits of the tax cut will go to the very wealthy; only 50% of households making less than $100,000 will get a tax cut at all, and their average annual tax cut will be roughly $350. Households making more than $100,000 will get an average tax cut of $3,821, not including the benefits of the lower business tax rate and the estate tax repeal (which will almost all go to high-income households).[1] A tax cut for the rich will do very little to help the economy right now....

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GOP Tax Plan Puts Wind Power at Risk. The House Republican tax plan released last week endangers wind power projects by retroactively rewriting Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance on the meaning of "construction." Wind projects often rely on the production tax credit (PTC), which provides a tax credit based on electricity production from the facility. Projects that qualified for the PTC by beginning construction in 2016 are currently slated to receive the full amount of the PTC ($24/MWh), which is being phased out in the next several years. The bill would make it more difficult for projects that qualified for the PTC in 2016 to maintain their qualified status. As a result, many wind projects currently in development would likely lose an important tax credit and may be scrapped. The bill also threatens to reduce the incentive amount for wind projects qualifying for the PTC from $24/MWh to $15/MWh. Leaked DOI strategic plan favors oil and gas companies, ignores climate science. A...

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Three Actions to Take This WeekHelp track down provisional ballots in VA//spread the word!Attend an ActLocal event in your community.Check the Trump Tax Toolkit and make those calls!http://mailchi.mp/risestronger/us-resistance-11-10-17 Election RoundupThank you to everyone who volunteered, donated, and voted their time to a campaign. It's been a long, hard year for our country. Tuesday, the mobilization of millions resulted in some major victories. Take a moment to soak it all up. Tomorrow, keep working. At RISE Stronger, we believe the work has to happen 365 days out of the year...not just in the months leading up to an election. Stay active, stay informed, and stay engaged. Congratulations to every candidate who ran -- win or lose, your efforts made a difference. Here's a quick overview of wins -- if we missed a major victory, please know that it was not intentional. Daily Kos has a scorecard of election results here.Statewide: Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillesp...

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What you can do We will be holding a webinar for our Op-Ed Project (Building a Better Society Through Science) this Thursday, November 9, at 1 pm EST/10 am PST. See details here.If you have an advanced degree in earth, environmental, or health science, click here to sign an open letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists opposing Scott Pruitt's removal of scientists from EPA advisory roles (see article below). Pruitt removes scientists from EPA advisory boards On October 31, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt announced that scientists currently receiving grant money from the EPA would be immediately barred from its advisory boards. Many of the scientists were removed without warning, some learning of their ouster via text messages or news reports. Pruitt also named new heads of the EPA's three advisory panels: industry consultant Tony Cox replaced University of Iowa professor Deborah Swackhamer; waste-disposal executive Paul Gilman replaced Drexel Universit...

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Three Actions to Take This WeekVote on Tuesday, November 7. Check out VOTE411.org for more info.Call the Office of Refugee Resettlement near you and demand that 10-year old Rosa be released from detention. Here's How.Submit a Comment to the FEC by November 9 about funder disclosure for online political ads. http://mailchi.mp/risestronger/us-resistance-11-03-17?e=2d5fe13cb0

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What you can do We will be holding a webinar for our Op-Ed Project (Building a Better Society Through Science) on November 9 at 1 pm EST/10 am PST. See details here. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is preparing to prevent scientists who have received EPA funding from serving on EPA scientific advisory committees, and replace them with industry representatives--a dangerous and unprecedented move. If you have an advanced degree in earth, environmental, or health science, click here to sign an open letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists opposing this move and urging Congress to hold oversight hearings into science at the EPA. The deadline to submit a public comment to the FCC on the proposed takeover of Tribune Media by the controversial Sinclair Broadcast Group is this Thursday, November 2. Comments can be submitted here (see more instructions here). Tech companies face hearings on Russian election interference Representatives of Facebook, Google, and Twitter ...

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In July 2017, RISE Stronger, 500 Women Scientists, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), and the Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy (ESEP) Coalition joined together to launch our Op-Ed Project: Building a Better Society Through Science. We called on individuals to speak up for science by writing an op-ed in support of government funding for science, technology, and the programs that help build our society, support our local communities, and make the world a better place. You can view the original announcement here and view the original op-ed prompt here. Many concerned citizens answered the call, and they helped get the word out about the importance of non-defense discretionary spending for their local communities. To date, 15 op-eds from this project have been published in local papers across the U.S. (updated February 15, 2018). Published Op-Eds Below is a list of all op-eds published to date. Click on the title of each op-ed to read it in ful...

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Political corruption is a term that broadly refers to acts by elected officials that benefit themselves at the expense of the country or their constituents. The Supreme Court has recently taken a much narrower view of the legal definition as only including acts using the official powers of public office or of attempting to influence others to use their official powers for personal gain. Political corruption can include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling, and graft. Corruption may facilitate other crimes such as money laundering, fraud or embezzlement or it may be subtler. More subtle forms of corruption may involve changing regulations to benefit a campaign donor or providing access to decision makers in exchange for patronizing a business owned by someone related to a politician.

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What you can doFor anyone interested in participating in our Op-Ed Project (Building a Better Society Through Science), we will be holding a webinar on November 9 at 1 pm EST/10 am PST. See details here.The FCC has extended the period for public comments on the proposed takeover of Tribune Media by the controversial Sinclair Broadcast Group. Comments can be submitted here (see more instructions here). Comments must be submitted by November 2.Senate passes budget resolutionOn Thursday, October 19, the Senate narrowly passed its budget resolution. The House passed its own version earlier in October, and will now consider the changes in the Senate's version. In principle, the budget resolution serves as the first part of Congress' budget process, setting the spending limits for the appropriations bills that lay out the federal budget in more detail. However, because it is happening so late in the process, this year's budget resolution is seen as not being about the actual federal budge...

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