The Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2023 will establish that it is the policy of the United States that no first-use nuclear strike should be conducted without an official declaration of war by Congress.

First filed by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), this bill currently has 16 co-sponsors. It has not been introduced into the Senate yet this session, though it has been in the past. Please contact your US Representative and Senators; tell them to cosponsor the bill in the House and introduce it into the Senate.

HR669 would prohibit using federal funds to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless Congress expressly authorizes such a strike pursuant to a declaration of war. A first-use nuclear strike is an attack using nuclear weapons against an enemy that did not first launch a nuclear strike against the US, its territories, or its allies.

A first-use nuclear strike by the US would constitute a major act of war. A first-use nuclear strike conducted without a Congressional declaration of war would violate the US Constitution, which gives Congress the right to, or not to, declare war. Congress has not officially declared war since World War II, therefore the US could not use nuclear weapons as a first strike military operation. The only situation in which the US could use nuclear weapons would be in response to a confirmed nuclear attack on itself or its allies. 

Here's a downloadable flier to print and share. Thanks for taking action!

Please call your Representative and Senator and ask them to co-sponsor HR 1134, the People Over the Pentagon Act of 2023. 

The People Over the Pentagon Act of 2023 is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would reduce the amount authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2024 by one hundred billion dollars.

First introduced into Congress by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), it has 13 co-sponsors as of March 2023. The bill has not been introduced in the Senate yet. Please ask your Senators to introduce it now. And ask your Representative to co-sponsor the bill.

Bill purpose: This bill would affirm the desire of the American people to reprioritize our financial resources to build a budget that works for people like you and me instead of weapons contractors or war-hawks. By the end of this decade the annual Pentagon budget could be as high as a trillion dollars. This bill would cut the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2024 by one hundred billion dollars ($100,000,000,000).

Application of the funding cuts: The Department of Defense shall take into consideration the findings and recommendations contained in the Congressional Budget Office report entitled "Illustrative Options for National Defense Under a Smaller Defense Budget," dated October 2021.

Funding cuts will not apply to: The Defense Health Program, each military personnel account and each account providing for pay and benefits for persons appointed into the civil services should be funded at the level provided for in fiscal year 2024. 

Call your state and federal legislators and demand funding for an accurate, comprehensive 2020 census and the removal of the citizenship question.

Last December, the Department of Justice requested addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 Census. They claimed this data was needed to make sure all voting-age citizens are counted under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Yet this question hasn’t been asked since 1950—five years before the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s announcement that the citizenship question would be included lead to a storm of protests and lawsuits by states, cities, and citizen groups. Despite reassurances that people who don't answer the citizenship question will still be counted, the question's inclusion, plus the threat of fines for returning false or incomplete forms, will doubtlessly discourage migrants from responding. In turn this undermines the government’s constitutional responsibility to count every person every 10 years.

In a recent two-hour hearing, legislators emphasized migrants' legitimate fears of deportation could lead to a serious undercount. Other problems with the census include lack of permanent leadership at the Census Bureau and of funding shortfalls, which could also impact a reliable census.

Why do we need an accurate count? Redistricting, based on total resident population, occurs after every census, so it’s important to have accurate numbers of citizens and non-citizens alike. Combine an inaccurate count with gerrymandering and you can deliver a district to one or another major party. Plus, the census determines state government share of federal dollars for vital programs including healthcare, housing, and emergency planning and relief.

Please call your Representatives and Senators to ask that the 2020 Census be fully funded and that the citizenship question be dropped. You can find contact information for the House here and the Senate here.

Thank you to our members and supporters who responded to yesterday's Giving Tuesday appeal. If you're not on our mailing list, you missed our "ask," but it's never too late to join or contribute. Please take a look at our spring and fall newsletters; they highlight some of the work we've done over the last six months.

With your support, we can do even more. Your contribution or membership dues—whether one-time or as a monthly sustainer—will go right to work advancing our campaigns on corporate globalization and trade, water, local food, voting rights and election protection and public banking. You’ll be helping us focus public attention on NAFTA renegotiation and the need to #ReleaseTheText... to get copies of our People’s Vote Must Count issue of Justice Rising out to voting rights groups... to spread the word about the new Grassroots Institute and its work on educating for an end to corporate rule. 

Join us as we replace corporate rule with true democracy and a sustainable and equitable economy. 

Drop in on the 17th to your Representative's district office, or take action any time during the Congressional Thanksgiving Recess

On Friday, November 17, your Representative returns for the Thanksgiving Congressional Recess. We are asking you to invite friends, maybe from groups you work with, to join you in a visit to your Rep's District Office that day to talk about NAFTA renegotiation. If November 17 is not convenient for you, the recess runs through November 27.

This mobilization coincides with the first day of the next round of NAFTA negotiations taking place in Mexico City, and in solidarity with the “Inter-Continental Days of Action on NAFTA.” 

Alliance for Democracy asks you to please deliver these two items
to your Representative…

● This letter with Citizen’s Trade Campaign’s NAFTA demands. Please edit the template letter to add your Congress member’s name and Washington office address, and your contact information.

● A factsheet about NAFTA’s impacts on your state. Click here for “50 Reasons Why We Need to Replace NAFTA.” On the map, click on your state and then click on the statement or statements that pop up for a link to a detailed factsheet. These well-researched handouts give you the information to talk effectively about local and state impacts that must not be repeated in NAFTA-2. 

● Here’s a general NAFTA factsheet to keep your Representative well informed.

We are at a crossroads. NAFTA renegotiation is moving rapidly. The outcome could still go in multiple directions.

We must push Congress members to support OUR DEMANDS for a NAFTA replacement, while we can make a difference. If our demands are not met, we will work to defeat a TPP-style NAFTA-2 that is worse than NAFTA-1. We want:

√  ISDS secret trade courts eliminated

√  Enforceable labor and environmental standards: TPP must not be the basis for NAFTA-2

√  Release draft chapter texts now. 

Corporate lobbyists are demanding the renegotiation deliver a TPP-style NAFTA 2.0 that would be worse for people not just in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, but across the planet. Meanwhile, there are proposals on ISDS (the secret trade courts), labor rights, environmental protections, Buy Local/Buy American, and possible sunset or 5-year review of NAFTA. Some proposals have been tabled by negotiators from one or another of the NAFTA countries. The prospect of a US NAFTA withdrawal by Trump hangs over the negotiations.

Mexico’s President wants negotiations completed by March 2018 to avoid NAFTA being a contentious topic in the country's presidential election, which takes place in July. Remember, we defeated the TPP by delaying negotiations into the 2016 election year.

Here are excellent summaries of where negotiations stand to date: “NAFTA Talks:  What’s the Deal?” and “NAFTA Talks Falter: Time to Increase Pressure,”  and a Citizen Trade Campaign’s Letter to President Trump Detailing Civil Society NAFTA Demands.

It's possible that you might be able to make an appointment with your member of Congress or with an aide, but if not don't be deterred from a quick visit on the 17th. Show up, be friendly, introduce yourself and ask if you can speak to your Representative or to the District Director. Bring the letter and relevant fact sheets, stress your demands for an end to ISDS, enforceable and strong labor and environmental standards, and a release of the text.

Here are some more office visit tips. Don't forget to take pictures—share them online if you're a social media user, and email them to us at afd *at* thealliancefordemocracy *dot* org, and to photos *at* citizenstrade *dot* org. Then let the Citizens Trade Campaign know how the meeting went by filling out this online form. Groups working nationally and in district on trade justice will use the information you report to plan next steps in the campaign.

Thank you for taking action!

Nancy Price and David Delk, Co-Chairs

​If July 4th left you hankering after some real democracy, come make the connections, hear the ideas, and share the skills that will invigorate your movement-building at the Democracy Convention III, August 2 – 6, at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis. 

The Alliance for Democracy will be there, organizing the Earth Rights and Global Democracy Conference linking global work to defend Mother Earth and the rights of communities and ecosystems to thrive and survive to the issues important to us in the US, such as: fair trade, water, food and agriculture, climate.

Read the Earth Rights and Global Democracy statement here. AfD’s Co-chair, Nancy Price is organizing a series of panels. Here’s a partial list of Convention presenters; the full program will be posted soon. 

Here’s just a taste of the Earth Rights & Global Democracy panels: the Renegotiating NAFTA panel will add a gender and racial justice analysis; and panels on the false solutions to global warming of cap and trade and carbon tax, stopping GE Eucalyptus forests slated for our southeastern states responsible for the terrible fires in Chile and Portugal, on bottled water,  frac-sand mining and more. 

Ronnie Cummins, International Director of the Organic Consumers Association, will speak on “Connecting the Dots: Bringing the Food, Climate, Natural Health and Democracy Movements Together in a Powerful Force for Revolution.” The great line-up of Convention Plenary speakers will be posted soon. 

Earth Rights and Global Democracy is one of eight distinct, yet interrelated conferences at this third Democracy Convention. You can also connect with Representative Democracy, Racial Justice for Democracy, Peace and Democracy, Media Democracy, Education United for Democracy, Democracy and the Constitution, and Community and Economic Democracy. In addition, two tracks, on Overcoming Oppression, Building an Inclusive Movement, and Skills and Arts provide a toolkit for activists seeking to broaden their allies and impact. 

Register Now: The Democracy Convention website has all the information you need on registration, lodging and meals (including affordable options on campus), and getting to and from Minneapolis. You can also donate or sponsor the convention. 

As conference organizers at the 2013 and 2015 conventions, we are excited to be working again with so many sharp and committed people. Previous conventions were a tremendous coming-together of activists across the issues and the miles. 

We look forward to seeing you again – this time in Minneapolis, August 2 – 6. Look for our table! 

From DC to almost everywhere, join a Tax March this Saturday, April 15. Find one near you here—more than 35 events have been added in the 24 hours, so check this listing for the latest information and locations.

These marches are more than just a demand that the 40-year tradition of presidential candidate tax disclosure be continued. It's a call for a fairer tax system as part of a policy shift to promote economic justice and a halt to the growing national divide between haves and have-nots. No more tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the rest of us. 

If you march, share photos online with us on Facebook and Twitter, and with @TaxMarch on Twitter using the #TaxMarch hashtag.

We hope to see you out on Saturday, marching for tax justice and disclosure.

Nancy Price & David Delk, Co-Chairs
PS…If you or friends are in Washington, the DC Tax March is in need of volunteers there to ensure the day goes smoothly! Please fill out this form and let organizers know you're able to help.