Legislation Alert

I've touched on a number of pieces of legislation over the past couple of weeks, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with them myself, so I wanted to summarize them for you, at least as of the last time I looked at them.  Here you go:

Early Treatment for HIV Act
This is an effort by Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to rake in big bucks for some of her pharmaceutical constituents.  Not only should the bill be stopped, but it should raise some serious questions about Pelosi's ethical standards and behind-closed-doors deals.
Action to take: contact your Reps to oppose the bill, and ask questions about Pelosi

SAVE Act
This is a legitimate effort to establish enforcement at our borders and crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens.  Amazingly, it was proposed by House Democrat Heath Shuler, and has huge bipartisan support.  The amnesty crowd, however (led by Pelosi herself), is stone-walling a vote on this bill because it does not include any form of amnesty.  There is currently a petition circulating to force a vote on the bill.
Action to take: contact your Senators and Rep and ask them to support the Act and the petition to force a vote on it.

Stupak bill
In a last-ditch effort at circumventing the SAVE Act, House Democrat Bart Stupak has recently begun shopping around a bill (there is no number for it yet) that would grant amnesty and increase foreign worker visas.
Action to take: contact your Rep and ask them to oppose the Stupak amnesty measure, and reinforce the SAVE Act.

The Merida Initiative
This is an effort by the White House to send $1.4 billion to Mexico to help them secure their southern border.  I hope you realize the incredible hypocrisy here!  To top it off, Mexican President Calderon is demanding the money with no strings attached!
Action to take: call your Senators, Rep, and the White House and demand the Merida Initiative be stopped, then suggest they secure our own borders before sending money to Mexico for theirs.

Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus
This is a new group within the Senate that intends to bring forward about a dozen bills for real immigration reform that would focus on enforcement and border security.  Several bills have already been proposed that would truly revolutionize our immigration system, and would be very good for our country.  McCain and many Democrats (as well as too many Republicans) may talk a big game, but until they support these measures, their hypocrisy will be evident.
Action to take: call your Senators and encourage them to join the Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus.

Hammering oil companies
The House just passed a bill that would remove a tax break for American oil companies.  The bill is now being sent to the Senate for a vote.  In addition to literally targeting a specific American industry (which will cause you to pay more for its services and products AND potentially lose American jobs), this bill would give an added benefit to foreign competitors.
Action to take: call your Senators and tell them to oppose this bill.

Call and e-mail on all of these, then pass this information on to people you know.  It will only take a few minutes, but it could make a big difference.  Contact information is as follows:

Capitol Switchboard number: 202-224-3121
Senate contact website: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
House contact website: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

There's my two cents.