Friends --
I'll
get right to the point: Donald Trump's nominees are the most
anti-government, sexist, racist, anti-public lands, pro-polluter,
climate-denying group of misfits he could find and it's hard to imagine
any way this works out well for New Mexico as a whole.
With
these nominees out front and an alt-right, white-supremacist drafting
the agenda behind the scenes, the people, places and values New
Mexicans hold dear are under threat.
No
matter who Trump wants, they still have to go through the US Senate for
confirmation and it looks like our Senators are gearing up for a fight.
Here's a preview of our new report on Trump's impact on New Mexico, and the first step in the plan to fight back:
PROGRESSNOWNM: Here’s what Trump’s, racist, sexist, anti-lands, anti-poor nominees mean for New Mexico
Just
like Gov. Martinez let Dairy lobbyists rewrite enviro rules in their
industry, Trump’s EPA pick let Republican donors and oil company
executives write his environmental policies as Oklahoma’s attorney
general.
Now
he’ll be in place to roll back EPA enforcement of coal and gas powered
power plant rules and oil industry practices that helped create a
methane cloud so big you can see it from space! (See it here). Not to mention clean air and water rules statewide. Read more.
Dr. Ben Carson, who thinks poverty is a choice, to lead Housing & Urban Development.
To borrow an old phrase, putting Ben Carson in charge of HUD is like putting the arsonist in charge of the fire department.
Carson
told the Baltimore Sun that poverty is a choice and he thinks that
desegregating housing was a “failed experiment.” As HUD chief, he’ll be
responsible for enforcing housing discrimination.
A
loss of HUD programs or funding for people who "choose" to be poor
would be devastating for a state like New Mexico. In just the past three
months alone, HUD provided $2.8 million for Cochiti and Zuni tribal housing and infrastructure programs and $500,000 in low-income job training for underemployed New Mexico workers. Read more.
Sen.
Jeff Sessions, once deemed too racist by the US Senate to be a federal
judge, will now lead our entire federal justice system as Atty. General
He was so racist that Republicans voted down his confirmation for a federal judgeship.
As
A.G., the war on drugs wouldn’t end – it would expand. And it “could be
used as a weapon to spy on, investigate, incarcerate and deport
immigrants, Muslims and other targeted groups. Already, President-elect
Trump has said he will try to deport any immigrant who commits any kind
of criminal offense, no matter how minor, including drug offenses.”
That's
just one reason among many that immigrant rights groups are now so
concerned that Jeff Sessions is about to inherit access to the country's
most powerful domestic intelligence and law enforcement network. Read more.
Hardee's
CEO Andrew Pudzner, a leading opponent of minimum wage and promoter of
"put it in your mouth" and "burgers and bikinis" ad campaigns, for Labor
Secretary
If you are looking for a raise, you are out of luck. If you are a woman looking for a raise, you are doubly so.
Trump's
pick to run the Department of Labor (another of those anti-poverty,
workplace safety, balance-the-scales) agencies is a national leader in
corporate efforts to oppose minimum wage hikes because he would “lose
$6,000” per worker. He makes over $2 million a year as CEO.
He's also a good 'ol boy who sees nothing wrong with telling women in bikinis to "just put it in your mouth" to sell hamburgers.
New Mexicans could use a wage boost. A 2014 study found that 90,000 children in New Mexico depend on a minimum wage worker. Read more.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a proponent of selling public lands for development, for Interior Secretary
Rodgers is a strong proponent of selling public lands to mining and development companies, but don't take our word for it.
“She
has voted in favor of expanding fossil fuel development on public lands
and in federal areas off-shore. She opposes efforts to change the
royalty rates on federal coal mining, something pushed hard by Obama’s
Interior Department, and voted for a GOP budget that would allow the
sale of public lands to mining companies.” - The Hill
Here's what Senator Martin Heinrich had to say about her appointment and the impact on New Mexico:
"I
have concerns with her history of support for auctioning off Western
public lands--including more than 1250 square-miles in New Mexico--and
allowing for the destruction of a site sacred to Apache nations across
the southwest."
It's time we start organizing around a strategy to take a stand: Pledge to support Sen. Udall & Heinrich against Trump's extreme nominees.
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