UCDI’s Citizen Bulletin for January 15–21

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Good morning. Our highlights from this week include: Mayor Rahm Emanuel reaffirmed his commitment to convince Amazon to open their second headquarters in Chicago after it was announced that Chicago is on the shortlist of potential locations for the new headquarters; Democratic congressmen criticized congressional Republicans and President Trump for the government shutdown and called for a deal on DACA; President Trump announced that his administration would rescind Obama-era guidance that made it more difficult for states to defund Planned Parenthood.

CHICAGO CITY GOVERNMENT

Alderman Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) ~ call your alderman! (773) 324-5555

• Jan 17—Criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel for proposing subsidies for Catholic healthcare provider Presence Health over the objections of “right to choose” campaigners

Alderman Willie Cochran (20th Ward) ~ call your alderman! (773) 955-5610   

• [No News]*

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) ~ call your mayor! (312) 744-3300

• Jan 15—Defended the new commissioner of the Department of Water Management after employees testified that the Department’s “racist culture” has not shifted since the leadership change six months ago
• Jan 17—Won city council approval for $5.6 million in subsidies for Catholic healthcare provider Presence Health, and gave a speech criticizing the dissenters
• Jan 18—Announced that Chicago will bid to have Apple build their new campus in Chicago
• Jan 18—Reaffirmed his commitment to convincing Amazon to open their second headquarters in Chicago after it was announced that Chicago is on the Amazon headquarters shortlist

COOK COUNTY BOARD

President Toni Preckwinkle ~ call your Cook County board president! (312) 603-6400

• [No News]*

ILLINOIS STATE GOVERNMENT

Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (D–District 25) ~ call your state rep! (773)-667-0550

•  [No News]*

Senator Kwame Raoul (D–District 13) ~ call your state senator! (773) 363-1996

• [No News]*

 Governor Bruce Rauner (R–IL) ~ call your governor! (312)-814-2121

• Jan 18—Signed an executive order preventing lawmakers from from appealing state tax assessments on behalf of constituents

U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Representative Bobby Rush (D–IL1) ~ call your representative! (773) 779-2400

•  Jan 19—Introduced the Child Marriage Prevention Act, which would “clarify” federal child marriage laws
• Jan 19—Introduced legislation directing the Department of the Interior to conduct a study on the possibility of Fort Pillow becoming a national park
• Jan 20—Issued press statements blaming President Trump and GOP congressional leaders for the government shutdown, calling for a deal on DACA

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D–IL) ~ call your senator! (312) 886-3506

•  Jan 16—Warned, in accordance with past support of legislation restricting presidential access to nuclear warheads, against the potential costs of war with North Korea
• Jan 19—Criticized DHS for its long delay in releasing a report detailing an investigation on the constitutionality of the implementation of the President’s first travel ban, in which DHS allegedly violated multiple court orders
• Jan 20—Called out the President for Friday’s government shutdown, citing, among other problems, potential danger to deployed military personnel

Senator Richard Durbin (D–IL) ~ call your senator! (312) 353-4952

• Jan 16—Questioned DHS Secretary about the President’s plans for Dreamers, as well as for her apparent denial of his “vulgar” comments about African nations last week
• Jan 19—Criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans for refusing to vote on the bipartisan DREAM Act

President Donald Trump (R) ~ call your president! (202) 456-1414

• Jan 16—Suspended, through the State Department, more than half of U.S. funding for a U.N. humanitarian agency that supports Palestinians, two weeks after tweeting that he would do so
• Jan 19—Extended, through HHS, the emergency declaration for the opioid crisis, allowing federal health agencies to quickly hire more treatment specialists and reallocate money to strengthen the response to the epidemic
• Jan 19—Announced that his administration would rescind Obama-era guidance that made it more difficult for states to defund Planned Parenthood
• Jan 19—Requested the Supreme Court’s intervention in a federal case to allow him to terminate DACA
• Jan 20—Signed the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 into law, which permits the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General to gather information on anyone outside of the country

*Our research process involves searching for press releases from the elected representatives, Google News stories, and any Twitter and Facebook posts. If no information is displayed in the Citizen Bulletin, then our research process turned up nothing new from this past week.

The Citizen Bulletin is a product of the University of Chicago Democracy Initiative (UCDI). UCDI is proudly supported by Andrew Goodman Foundation’s nonpartisan Vote Everywhere project. In addition to the UCDI website, you can find past versions of the bulletin here. For news closer to campus, subscribe to the twice weekly newsletter produced by our partners at the Chicago Maroon.

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