UCDI’s Citizen Bulletin for April 2–8      

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Good morning. Our highlights from this week include: Illinois governor Bruce Rauner convened a bipartisan “Public Safety Working Group” to brainstorm policy approaches to gun violence, a couple weeks after vetoing a gun licensing bill; U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth succeeded in gathering enough support from her colleagues to stymie GOP plans to scale back the Americans with Disabilities Act; President Donald Trump sent hundreds of national guard troops to the Mexican border to crack down on recently increased border crossings; the troops may only be used for surveillance and reconnaissance
 

CHICAGO CITY GOVERNMENT

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

• [No News*]

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

• [No News*]

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

• Apr 5—Announced Chicago’s partnership with 15 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to properly control methane emissions

• Apr 6—Nominated Sydney Roberts, director of the Illinois Secretary of State police, to be the head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability

COOK COUNTY BOARD

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

• Apr 6—Held a series of “community conversations” to inform her policy agenda for her upcoming term

• Apr 7—Attended 50th annual Hoffman Estates remembrance dinner to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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

• Apr 6—Convened a bipartisan “Public Safety Working Group” to brainstorm policy approaches to gun violence, a couple weeks after vetoing a gun licensing bill

• Apr 7—Signed a bill that softens licensing rules for out-of-state teachers

• Apr 7—Agreed to release $5 million to state soil and water conservation districts, less than the $13.5 million sought by legislators

U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

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

• Apr 2—Criticized the Trump administration’s rollback of EPA automobile fuel efficiency standards, claiming it would negatively impact air quality and respiratory health

• Apr 3—Condemned the Trump administration’s “militarization” of the U.S.-Mexico border

• Apr 6—Penned a letter to Facebook asking them to disclose which privacy standards they are willing to commit to following

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

• Apr 3—Succeeded in gathering enough support from her colleagues to stymie GOP plans to scale back the Americans with Disabilities Act

• Apr 3—Urged the Trump administration, along with 20 other Senate Democrats, to not remove LGBTQ-related questions on evaluation surveys used to assess the effectiveness of government programs

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

• Apr 4—Condemned President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods which led to Chinese tariffs on U.S. soybeans and pork, since Illinois is a top producer of these commodities

• Apr 7—Met with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, urging him to ensure fairness in the upcoming presidential election and attempting to initiate dialogue between the US and Venezuela

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

• Apr 5—Approved a $1.3 billion sale of U.S. artillery to Saudi Arabia

• Apr 6—Imposed new sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials, barring them from traveling to the U.S. and from conducting business with major Western companies

• Apr 7—Sought authority to intercept drone communications to help prevent domestic attacks

• Apr 7—Deployed hundreds of national guard troops to the Mexican border to crack down on recently increased border crossings; the troops may only be used for surveillance and reconnaissance

• Apr 7—Granted the license needed to sell submarine technology to Taiwan, allowing the nation to build its own submarines

*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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