5 Phone Calls

Politics can seem confusing and overwhelming; it's easy to not know exactly what to do. It's easy to want to give up and ignore it all. Instead, I made 5 phone calls about topics that are important to me. Why? My friend, Kat, has Howdy Politics on Instagram, FB, Substack, Threads, TikTok, and Bluesky. Her goal is to keep "Everyday Texans" informed and active regarding politics. She helps us understand what's actually going on in politics, what to focus on, and what actions we can take.

Recently, Howdy Politics made it clear that there was an immediate action to take:

HB 2 has to do with the basic financial allotment per public school student. If HB 2 isn’t passed as it was written by the House, public schools are likely to continue dealing with severe financial strains, potentially leading to:

• even more budget cuts,
• lower teacher salaries
• limited resources for students, including students with special needs.

The specific impacts would depend on the extent of the funding shortfall, but the HB2 provisions for increased per-student funding and teacher pay raises would not be implemented. 

Therefore, I called my two state senators using this script:

 “Hello, my name is _____and I’m a constituent in zip code_______. I’m calling to urge my Senator to reject the committee substitute for HB2 and instead request its passage as written and passed by the House. Thank you.“ 

During both phone calls, I made sure to be kind and thank the office person who answered the phone because I figured that they were having a long day. Plus, as a retired educator, I remember how much I appreciated parents being kind when they called me to discuss concerns.

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I called three more politicians. They were at the US Capitol and the topics had to do with the Affordable Care Act and  Enhanced Premium Tax Credits

Each time that I called the US Capitol switchboard (#202-224-3121) and asked to be transferred to one of my Senators’ individual offices or to my Representative's individual office, I left them a personal message using this script:

“Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State]. I’m calling to strongly urge [Senator/Representative Name] to vote NO on any bill that would weaken the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, I oppose the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits, the proposed Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Rule and any changes that would reduce Medicaid coverage. According to the CBO these changes could leave up to 13.7 million Americans uninsured by 2034. Please protect affordable health care access for all Americans. Thank you.”

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Those phone calls were well worth my time. At least I can say that I'm trying to do something. To be honest, I really dreaded making the phone calls, but after the first one, it was pretty easy because I had written out and knew what I was going to say. Plus, the office people really seemed to be surprised when I was kind and thanked them for taking the time to talk with me and for working so hard. In fact, they seemed relieved. I figure if nothing else, they will know that not all who disagree are hateful. If we’re going to get people’s attention, we need to let them know that we’re not monsters.

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Please consider contacting your senators/representatives for yourself, your children, your parents, grandparents, friends, your community, etc.

These are the links you can use to find your state and national senators and representatives: 

 https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member