First of all – great job on Monday with the #DayAgainstDenial events. Thousands of people rallied in all 50 states – marching, meeting with senators, demanding accountability for the least ethical, most racist, least qualified, and most climate-denying cabinet ever nominated. Those actions (which many of you attended) gathered media attention around the world – and they helped demonstrate a fierce resistance to Trump’s plans to govern in defiance of facts, science, and common decency.
But we can’t rest on our laurels – Trump and Republican leaders in the Senate are trying to ram through confirmation hearings on four nominees today. ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is testifying today and is probably the highest profile, but certainly not the only, dangerous nominee.
To stop Rex Tillerson, or any of these nominees, we need every Democrat in the Senate and at least 3 Republicans to vote against them.
There’s good news: Some Republicans like McCain, Graham, and Rubio have voiced hesitations about Tillerson. We can win, but we need to put pressure on these senators.
Call your senators TODAY: Call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell your senators to oppose the nomination of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, and ALL of Trump’s racist and climate-denying cabinet nominees. You can click here to tell us how it went, and also get links to more resources for contacting your senators.
We need to make sure every senator knows that the climate is changing and anyone who denies it should not be in the White House cabinet. Here’s who Trump has nominated:
- Attorney General: Senator Jeff Sessions is best known as a racist (he was once considered too racist to serve on a federal court). But he’s also a Climate Denier, and both facts matters in an Attorney General because the AG oversees a specific unit on Environmental Racism. And as our top cop, Sessions would also have the power to quash investigations of companies like Exxon that lied about climate change.
- Secretary of State: ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson, a top funder of climate denial and attacks on climate action who helped in Exxon’s cover-up of its climate science.
- Environmental Protection Agency: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has spent most of his time in office filing (and losing) lawsuits against the EPA. He even let an oil company write some of his official correspondence.
- Department of Energy: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is on the board of the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, and said he wanted to eliminate the agency altogether.
- Department of Interior: Representative Ryan Zinke, who has been fighting to dig up as much coal, oil, and gas from public lands as possible.
These men (and yes, almost all Trump’s nominees are white men) could do enormous damage in office. Big Oil would effectively be in control of our foreign policy, energy policy, and environmental policy. Senators should reject each of them.
The resistance to Trump is just beginning. In the coming weeks there will also be massive rallies in many cities on January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration. And there will be many opportunities to fight Trump’s nominees in hearings, and up to 30 hours of floor debate for each nominee. But today’s the day to call and tell your senators to vote no on Session, Tillerson and other nominees who are being given hearings they don’t deserve to serve in posts they are unfit for.
Thanks,
Drew and the 198 methods to stop Trump crew