Democratic Brothers and Sisters,

Another year gone, another full agenda on our activist radar. So what’s been happening and what can you expect the Hispanic Caucus to be involved in? Please keep reading for answers…

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

There are four relevant bills currently pending in Congress that affect DACA enrollees, one of which, the Dream Act, is the ideal legislation Democrats have been pushing Republican leaders to hold a vote. Protecting Dreamers is simply the right thing to do, and their stories are indisputably and uniquely pro-American. To summarize the issue, Obama created DACA through executive order, Trump utilized his presidential authority to rescind the program, and now the fate of nearly 800,000 Dreamers lies in the hands of congressional Republicans. We must not stop fighting for these individuals. Why is passing the Dream Act critical? Gracias to our DNC rep, Orlando, for passing along this great video explaining it.

Keep in mind that comprehensive immigration reform is still urgently needed, but don’t expect Republicans to work in a bipartisan manner anytime soon as their go-to policies include “build the wall,” “no funding for sanctuary cities,” “increased border patrol,” “ban refugees from Muslim countries,” etc.

Tax Reform

Unfortunately for many Americans and indeed for all Americans living abroad, the GOP Tax Scam is now law (P.L. 115-97). Don’t be misled – the new law is a massive giveaway to millionaires, billionaires, Republican campaign donors, and corporations already sitting on massive record profits. Instead of actually helping America’s working-class, congressional Republicans voted to put America over a trillion dollars in yet more debt, open up drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, kill the health care mandate in the Affordable Care Act which essentially means healthier people will not voluntarily pay for coverage and therefore destabilize the insurance market and increase everyone else’s health premiums, and the list goes on and on. The absurdity alone of this new tax law is enough to justify booting out every single Republican in the next election.

Other Important Issues

Sheriff Joe Arpaio – President Trump pardoned this highly-controversial Arizonan. From blatant racial profiling to false accusations about President Obama’s birth certificate to total abuse of power in office, Arpaio is a symbol to many Americans of who should be jailed, not entrusted with elected office and enforcing the law while disrespecting civil rights.

Charlottesville, VA – The president of the United States failed miserably to adequately denounce the hateful rhetoric and detestable violence of Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists.

Cabinet – Pitifully, there is only one high-ranking person of Hispanic descent in the Trump White House: U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta.

Virginia’s House of Delegates – Latinas were elected for the first time, increasing much-needed diversity in the commonwealth’s legislature representation.

Puerto Rico – The devastation from the summer’s hurricane season led to mass dysfunction from the White House leadership and—quite despicably—rolls of paper towels being thrown by our Commander-in-Chief to fellow U.S. citizens desperately pleading for help. Keep an eye on Carmen Yulín Cruz, currently mayor of San Juan, as a rising Democratic star.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus – The CHC consists of all Democratic members of Congress. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) attempted to join the caucus but was rejected after it was determined he was doing it simply to appear more “bipartisan” in his own tough congressional race. The Democratic Party does not have an official position on this particular issue, but several persons I’ve spoken with have mixed feelings on this occurrence. Perhaps this topic merits further discussion if anyone is so inclined..?

Congressional Legislative Scorecard for 2017

Please take a few moments to see how your members of Congress voted on key bills affecting the Hispanic community.

(Methodology: How is this scorecard determined? Only items voted on by the full House or Senate chamber are included. Not included are other congressional actions or inactions such as co-sponsoring particular bills, speaking out on an issue, committee votes, or condemning Republicans.)

House of Representatives

6/29/17 – H.R. 3003, No Sanctuary for Criminals Act. This bill is an extreme enforcement proposal which blurs the lines between federal immigration enforcement and local police.
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your representative voted.

6/29/17 – H.R. 3004, Kate’s Law. This bill is another unnecessary measure which expands already-severe penalties for immigrants who re-enter the U.S., and thus waste resources and simply lead to an increase in the prison population without addressing other aspects of overdue immigration reform.
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your representative voted.

9/14/17 – H.R. 3697, Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act. This bill creates new rules for preventing entry to or deporting immigrants based on the mere suspicion of gang affiliation.
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your representative voted.

12/20/17 – H.R. 1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This bill is possibly the worst to come out of Congress in a decade. It would have been more accurate to call it the “Tax Cuts Only for the Wealthy, No Tax Reform for Americans Abroad, and Massive Giveaway to Corporations Act.”
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your representative voted.

Senate

2/7/17 – Confirming Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education

Democratic position: VOTE NO. She was and still is completely unqualified, is simply a long-time Republican donor, does not believe in LGBT fairness and equality in schools, and remains unclear as to whether she even believes in wanting the U.S. public education system to succeed.
Click here to see how your senators voted.

2/17/17 – Confirming Scott Pruitt as U.S. Administrator to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your senators voted.

4/7/17 – Confirming Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court
Democratic position: VOTE NO. Gorsuch is an arch-conservative who has consistently sided with corporations over workers, and has an overall record of unpopular judicial decisions.
Click here to see how your senators voted.

12/20/17 – H.R. 1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Democratic position: VOTE NO.
Click here to see how your senators voted.

There were many other issues of importance which were also voted on in the first half of the 115th Congress – raising the debt ceiling, the continuing resolution, appropriations, the numerous attempts to gut ObamaCare and more, but for the sake of keeping the above list short, I just focused on those bills.

Of course, there were some happier moments from 2017 which brought pride to the Hispanic community and raised awareness of Latinos. Disney’s “Coco” was (and still is) a box office smash, “Despacito” rocked the air waves, the Latino cast of Broadway’s “Hamilton” toured the U.S., and other notable moments happened in politics, the arts, and education.

Things to do in 2018

The new year brings a few special congressional elections, must-pass spending bills to keep the federal government operating, reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, “entitlement reform” (this is GOP code for slashing Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and Social Security—expect several take-action items from us on this), possibly another #GOPTaxScam v. 2.0 in April, and likely a huge transportation-infrastructure bill in Congress. Although transportation is not necessarily an expat issue, it is massively relevant to the Hispanic community which deserves its fair share of public transportation service with taxpayer dollars. Expect Congress to work on a massive “farm bill,” too. We will keep an eye on these and all other issues that could pop up which directly affect us living abroad. In addition, we will continue to closely monitor issues affecting the U.S. Hispanic community.

Starting with winning gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, Democrats all across the country—with our help—have been winning state legislative seats, local races, and even a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama—something unthinkable to political experts even a year ago. We will need to carry on this momentum and redouble our efforts in 2018 in order to take back Congress. This starts with repealing and replacing Republicans.

For items shown below which pertain to you, please mark these dates on your calendar (hopefully you’re now using the fantastic DA Women’s Caucus calendar!).

* Jan. 2018 – Every single member of the DA Hispanic Caucus should triple-check and update your voter registration status to ensure your eligibility to vote, and also request a ballot for the upcoming several primary elections. Please don’t delay this action! And similar to changing the battery in your ceiling fire detector, it’s that time of the year where you should log on to the DA web site and update your details if anything’s changed, such as your U.S. voting address and which newsletters you want to subscribe to.

* Jan. 2018 – Please consider answering our chair’s call for assistance in either writing a testimonial or recording a short video about why you plan to vote. Contribute in either English or Spanish!

* Jan. 30, 2018 –Trump will make his first official State of the Union address. (Last year was an “address to the nation” type of speech.)

* Feb. 27, 2018 – Primary for special election for Arizona-8 congressional seat.

* Mar. 13, 2018 – Special election for Pennsylvania-18 congressional seat. The Democratic candidate is Conor Lamb – let’s get him some support!

*Apr. 24, 2018 – Special election for Arizona-8 congressional seat.

* May 2018 – The DA Hispanic Caucus will turn 1 year old. Pat yourself on the back and eat some “Freedom Fajitas” or “Tío Sam Tamales.”

* May 24-27, 2018 – DA international annual general meeting (open to all members of DA). Are there any Hispanic Caucus members planning on attending? Please let Ana and I know!

* June 2018 – U.S. expat taxes and FBAR forms due.

* Aug. 7, 2018 – Primary for special election for Michigan-13 congressional seat.

* Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, 2018 – Hispanic Heritage Month

* All throughout 2018 – Always a great cause if you can spare any donation is to contribute money on the DA web site. No other organization supports both the work of U.S. Democratic interests and the interests of Americans living abroad.

* Nov. 6th (Tuesday) – ☆☆☆ ELECTION DAY ☆☆☆

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I will resist, rise, organize, and commit to vote. Will you join me in this New Year’s resolution?

Michael Ramos
DA Hispanic Caucus