"*" indicates required fields Issue topic*-- select --Oppose ADF Hate AgendaFair TaxesHealth CareClean Solar EnergyClean Cars and AirEPA BudgetAbortionSelect any provisions of the Affordable Care Act that affect you: ban on denying insurance for those with a pre-existing condition lifting yearly and lifetime caps dependents on insurance to age 26 reproductive and preventative care I can now afford insurance on the exchange Other Select constituencies you identify with (check all that apply):EducatorVeteran / Military FamilyYouth / StudentWomenSeniorSmall Business OwnerMedical ProfessionalElectedCommunity LeaderCoalition PartnerFarmerSportsman / HunterPerson of FaithFirst Time VolunteerLong Serving VolunteerLaw Enforcement / First ResponderAfrican AmericanLatinoImmigrantClergyBecause of the perspectives you selected, below are some optional questions to consider addressing to strengthen your letter to editor. What is your business? When and why did you start it? 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What was it like when you first started?How does your perspective of a sportsmen influence the issue you're writing about?Can you give a specific example?How long have you had a relationship with the issue you are writing about?As a senior, how has this issue influenced you the most?How does your perspective of a senior influence the issue you're writing about?Can you give a specific example?As a woman, how have you been influenced by this issue?Can you give a specific example?When did you know you wanted to come to America? What led you to that decision?Can you give a specific example?Show tips to help write your letter to editor* No Yes TIPS FOR GREAT LETTERS TO EDITOR Make it personal, like sharing how you or someone you know has been impacted. Talk about the values behind your motivations to support . Address the elected official directly with the action you want them to take. Show Key Facts & Message Points* No Yes Message Points Every child regardless of race, background, or zip code should be loved & live in a supportive family. But, the national group, Alliance Defending Freedom, is getting in the middle of Tennessee adoptions and they’ve now blocked a child from receiving two welcoming and loving parents, just because their Jewish faith. (source: Alliance Defending Freedom’s involvement in Tennessee-based adoption agency refuses to help couple because they're Jewish | Knoxville News Sentinal) This is the same group deemed a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center (source) and the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (source) Whether we worship at a church, mosque, synagogue, or temple, America has no second-class faiths. All are equal under the U.S. Constitution. Throughout both the Old and New Testament, Scripture calls on Christians to care for widows and orphans. Alliance Defending Freedom in choosing to punish loving families who take this commandment seriously, and denying a child loving parents, is contradicting to the values of our faith and desecrating the Word of God. They are also spreading hate that should have no home in our community. I'm calling my local elected leaders to do their part to prevent this anti-Semitic attack on family and freedom of religion from spreading further in Tennessee by adopting a "Hate Has No Home Here" resolution calling on Alliance Defending Freedom to stay out of our community with their hateful agenda. Remember: use your own words, feel free to use some of this messaging as a guide! As a person of faith, I believe that everyone, across race, place and faith, deserves privacy and the dignity of making their own reproductive decisions with their doctors, pastors, and with God, along with the freedom to follow their moral conscience. Many of us have had to make complicated medical decisions for ourselves and our family members, and know the importance of listening to God in prayer, as well as talking to trusted voices in our lives to help us walk through hard choices. What we need when making these decisions is understanding, compassion, and empathy, not judgment or policies that restrict our ability to make the decision that is best for us and our family. Parents know what’s best for their families, and patients and doctors need to work together without politicians getting in the way of personal and medical decisions. Elected leaders who erect barriers and interfere with this personal decision show a complete lack of empathy and appreciation for the basic humanity and dignity of all God’s children who are created in God’s image. If our legislators who are advancing these bills truly cared about the sanctity of life, they would instead be focused on supporting policy that actually supports healthy families, which would include making sure all children are fed, all families have healthcare, and that working parents have access to affordable childcare. Instead these politicians have been opposed to expanding Medicaid, refuse to take appropriate COVID-19 precautions to prevent the spread of a deadly disease, and fail to support our public schools. Further restricting abortion in Tennessee would put more lives at risk. It is imperative that we keep abortion as a safe and legal option, so that everyone has the opportunity to feel confident and faithful in their own personal decison. We are committed to creating communities where our loved ones are able to receive the abortion care they need—whenever they need it—and decide if, when, and how to grow their families. Ask: [name of politican], will you stop opposing Christian values in Matthew 25, and commit to expanding Medicaid, something that is already funded and already working in other states so that our hospitals stop closing and hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable begin to get the care we as Christians called to stand for? ”Medicaid expansion is a moral imperative for people of faith who take Jesus words seriously to care for the least of these within our State.” God calls us to care for our neighbors and provide help for the vulnerable. As Christians we are called to support the needs of our brothers and sisters. Medicaid expansion will help meet the goal of providing health care for every person in our state. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that whenever we care for the sick, we care for Jesus; and whenever we fail to do this for the least of these, we fail to do this for Him. (Matthew 25: 34-45) We believe that these words Jesus spoke are neither vague nor empty spirituality, but are a clear commandment for how we as Christians should act both in our private lives and as members of the public. To be followers of Jesus means we should act to meet the real physical, medical needs of the sick and vulnerable among us. Here in Tennessee, we have heard a great deal of praise for Jesus and the Bible from the Christian men and women sitting in our State’s Halls of power, and yet there are still hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans without adequate access to healthcare, for whom a single medical emergency would bring financial ruin. It need not be this way. We call upon our State government leaders, upon our legislators and upon you as our elected leader and a person of faith, to join us in following the example of Jesus as he calls us to do. (Matthew 16:24) Solutions to the state's health care crisis have been promised for years and all we have been left with is closed hospitals and hundreds of thousands without care. Medicaid expansion is working in other states. Will you commit to expanding Medicaid, and accepting federal dollars our state has been throwing away so that hospitals stop closing and hundreds of thousands in our Tennessee flock can finally get health coverage? Less than a year ago, agencies worked together to complete a thorough evaluation, which consisted of thousands of man-hours of research and analysis, evidence gathering for more than a year, an extensive comment period in which all stakeholders, including the auto industry, were deeply involved and to which the EPA responded. Based on thisextensive scientific record and stakeholder involvement, EPA made the decision to keep the standards – as they are – out to 2025. A rollback of the clean cars standards would take America backwards, endangering public health, forcing Americans to spend thousands of dollars more on gas (instead of on their families) and putting jobs at risk. By 2025, vehicle efficiency and clean car standards are expected to (all numbers are total benefits from2012-2025): Nearly double vehicle efficiency; Save 6 billion metric tons of dangerous tail-pipe pollution; Save America 12 billion barrels of oil; Save individual consumers $1,460 to $1,620 in fuel costs by the time the standards are fullyimplemented; and Save Americans $67 billion to $122 billion over the lifetime of vehicles when the standards arefully implemented. Reversing vehicle efficiency and clean car standards will cost lives Americans deserve clean air and clean water. Rolling back vehicle efficiency and clean car standards will only increase pollution and trigger negative public health impacts like asthma attacks and heart attacks due to impacts from climate change. Weakening standards to cut tailpipe carbon pollution will further contribute to climate change, which can worsen asthma symptoms for the 24 million Americans – including 6.3 million children – who suffer from asthma. Rolling back clean cars standards would cost families real money Rolling back vehicle efficiency and clean car standards is a hidden tax on families – literally making everything they do more expensive. The vast majority of Americans support making cars and trucks run on less gas because it savesthem money. This matters the most to low and middle-income Americans who are hurting themost – because gas is a growing share of their household expenses. Lower-to- middle income households ($30,000 or less) report spending up to 10 percent of theirincome on gasoline. The average household spends about $1,500 a year on gasoline. When theprice of gas spikes, that figure multiplies. In 2025, consumers would save between $3,200 and$5,700 over the life of a new car. Existing clean cars standards ensure that Americans who need bigger vehicles for family or workhave fuel-efficient choices. New truck buyers will save, on average, about $4,800 to $8,200 overthe lifetime of a new 2025 truck. If corporate lobbyists succeed in rolling back these standards,those choices will disappear, and the Americans who need the savings the most will be hurt. 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