A Senate Republican may have engaged in an absolutely shameful -- and possibly criminal -- insider trading scheme around the COVID-19 crisis, according to new reporting. Senator Kelly Loeffler received briefings about the coronavirus as a member of the Senate Health Committee. And publicly, she downplayed concerns about an outbreak -- saying that the Trump administration was “doing a great job working to keep Americans healthy and safe.” But in private, Loeffler was selling off her portfolio -- unloading up to millions in stocks right before they lost huge amounts of market value. She also invested in a teleconferencing company, which has already seen a bump in its stock price due to the current public health crisis. That means Loeffler’s inside information as a senator let her dodge the market crash that’ll shrink millions of Americans’ retirement savings. Profiting off of a pandemic is despicable. If the allegations are true, instead of serving the American people in a moment of crisis -- Loeffler used her position as a senator to enrich herself. Common Cause has filed official complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee, the Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to demand an investigation into Loeffler -- as well as Senators Richard Burr, Jim Inhofe, and Dianne Feinstein, who did a similar stock sell-off earlier this year. If Loeffler engaged in this outrageous self-serving conduct, she has no right to continue to serve in the U.S. Senate. Add your name to demand a full investigation immediately.

Our medical personnel are facing this crisis head on figuratively and literally - the least we can do is to try and protect them from this dangerous virus - if they get sick then who will take care of the tens of thousands of Americans that will be sick?? We must take care of these people so they can take care of us!! It's the least we can do!!

During the COVID-19 crisis, we all have a responsibility towards our communities to keep ourselves healthy and avoid situations that can spread the virus. As of March 17th, the state of Florida will close all gastronomic companies and others companies close for health and safety in order to help us uphold that responsibility. While this is a step in the right direction regarding public health, the effects of these sweeping business closures affect the livelihood of thousands of Florida residents that depends exclusively of theri salaries and tips to live. Without a plan in place to supplement the income of these workers, and with no guarantee that unemployment benefits will provide the relief people need, we demand a moratorium on all the items mentioned above NOW. Hard-working people are going to suffer at the expense of the greater good. While we don't deny the importance of instituting these closures, we would be ashamed and heartbroken to watch our government let people who may face evictions, blows to their credit, or be backed into a corner financially through no fault of their own. As a full-time worker in the Turism industry this is my sole source of income. For so many of my friends and family in the industry and all the industries who maybe affected, as well, this only salary are their MAIN source of income. Simply providing people with an unemployment payment or temporary paid leave at minimum wage would not be enough to cover their typical expenses. We need Hollywood and Florida as a whole to put a moratorium NOW in order to preserve the livelihood of so many hardworking people in any industry affected during this time of crisis.

A leading Senate Republican may have engaged in an absolutely shameful -- and possibly criminal -- insider trading scheme around the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new report by ProPublica. Senator Richard Burr received daily briefings about the coronavirus as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. And publicly, he downplayed concerns about an outbreak -- saying we were “better prepared than ever before.” But in private, Burr was selling off his portfolio -- unloading up to $1.6 million in stocks right before they lost huge amounts of market value. That means Burr’s inside information as a senator let him dodge the market crash that will shrink millions of Americans’ retirement savings. It does seem as though Burr kept some in the loop about the impending crisis, behind closed doors -- his wealthy donors. Profiting off of a pandemic is despicable. If the allegations are true, instead of serving the American people in a moment of crisis -- Burr used his position as a senator to enrich himself. Common Cause has filed official complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee, the Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to demand an investigation into Burr -- as well as Senators Kelly Loeffler, Jim Inhofe, and Dianne Feinstein, who did a similar stock sell-off earlier this year. ProPublica’s report implicates Burr in a clear-cut violation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK) Act. If Burr engaged in this outrageous self-serving conduct, he has no right to continue to serve in the U.S. Senate. Add your name to demand a full investigation immediately.

We built a relief package that is centered on workers and saves our economy from the ground up. Our plan provides government aid to keep people in their jobs so they keep their paychecks and their healthcare. This isn't the corporate bailouts of the past. Every dime of federal grant money under our plan goes directly to people on the frontlines and prevents mass layoffs. At the same time, we hold corporations accountable by enforcing strict rules that will help balance our economy in the future. For aviation, the coronavirus pandemic is creating a financial catastrophe that dwarfs the economic cost of the Great Recession and September 11th combined. Washington is gearing up to save aviation, but we can't have another "no strings attached" bailout where corporations and executives get payouts while workers lose our jobs, our benefits and our pensions. We won't let that happen again. Aviation will be critical for restarting our economy. But nearly all aviation workers need background checks and security training that can take weeks or even months. If workers are laid off and lose their clearance, we will have long delays getting planes back in the air. That will create a bottleneck in our recovery just as we need to get going again. Unions representing workers across aviation have put forward a plan that puts people first, holds corporations accountable AND keeps aviation ready to fly. We need Congress to support it. Our plan starts with keeping people on the payroll with no furloughs or layoffs through direct federal grants so every aviation workers stays on payroll. Airlines and other corporations helped create this crisis by using their cash to buy back their own stock. That's why our plan also bans stock buybacks for companies receiving help, and says no company receiving help can hand out executive bonuses or stock dividends until long after the money has been paid back. It's a model that can be expanded across industries to keep people on payroll and hold corporations accountable. Tell Congress to support the People First package championed by aviation unions.

During this time, we need to help every worker in this country who are now left with no resources to pay their bills and keep the economy stimulated. Not just big, medium, small business.. but also the Sole Proprietors.

It is imperative that we have a common-sense approach that protects we the people and not corporations. In terms of potential deaths and the impact on our economy, the crisis we face from coronavirus is on the scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly. We must begin thinking on a scale comparable to the threat, and make sure that we are protecting working people, low-income people, and the most vulnerable communities, not just giant corporations and Wall Street.

With Governor Andrew Cuomo waiving mortgage payments for 3 months, landlords should be required to pass the savings on to their tenants. The most vulnerable in our society and those of the “gig” economy don’t have mortgages. They pay rent on a monthly basis.

I am a 64 year old Registered Nurse Manager working in an acute care hospital in the state of Washington. I have witnessed a heroic response to this pandemic; front line nurses, patient care technicians, physicians, pharmacists, laboratory techs, imaging personnel, and other licensed staff have reported to work and cared for COVID-19 patients for the past three weeks. We are now running low on personal protective equipment. On my 14 bed unit, three staff members are currently awaiting test results as they have become ill while caring for patients. They are unable to report to work, thus the rest of the staff are overworked - but they are showing up. Management has maintained a 24 hour per day Incident Command Center while continuing to run their units. Most of us have not had a day off in three weeks, yet we continue to report to work because we are committed to caring for our patients. Although we have put all elective surgeries on hold, staff from surgery are now working at each entrance to the hospital, screening every one who enters for their temperature and COVID-19 symptoms. We are making an extraordinary effort to reduce exposure to and transmission of this virus and at this point have received little to no support from the Federal Government. Student loans are regularly forgiven for healthcare workers who agree to work with underserved populations. Those who continue to care for patients in the current healthcare environment are entitled to reward for placing themselves at risk during this unprecedented crisis. Yes, we did commit to provide quality care to the population we serve, however, we did so assuming that our Federal Government would support us by ensuring that we would have adequate supplies to do our jobs without placing our own lives at risk.

1. It’s safer than smoking: Just ask the Royal College of Physicians. They’re a prestigious organization representing over 35,000 doctors worldwide. They have stated that vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking based on their extensive research. Since there’s no combustion, tar or ash associated with vaping, switching to it from smoking enables the user to experience health benefits from being smoke-free. That means better oral hygiene, skin health, circulation, lung capacity and an improved sense of smell and taste. 2. No noxious odors: One of the biggest advantages of vaping is that you and your environment won’t smell of smoke. Vaping may have an aroma from the flavors used, but it’s not the smoke from dead tobacco leaves! To some people, the smell of vapor is barely noticeable. Sometimes you might even get a few complements on the aroma. Even if you vape tobacco flavors, it won’t smell like the rank fumes that come from burning tobacco leaves. 3. Control over nicotine intake: Vaping gives you full control over your nicotine dosage. E-juice is available in a variety of strengths, ranging from nicotine-free to high-strength nicotine. You can choose exactly how much nicotine is in your vape, if you decide to use any at all. Most vapers tend to start off with high nicotine levels, and gradually work their way down to lower levels, or eliminate it completely. Banning flavors for vape devices will only cause minors and adults to resort back to smoking or to start smoking tobacco products, which is more harmful to your health, than vaping, which has been proven. No illnesses have been linked to legal, nicotine vaping products. Yet lawmakers are taking sweeping actions with unintended consequences. Vitamin E Acetate and illegal additives purchased from the black market are the cause for the epidemic. Why ban flavors for vape devices, when vaping isn't the issue? Makes no sense! Your targeting the vaping industry for something that is out of their control. Why not go after the illegal parties responsible for the sales of illegal items purchased from the black markets, such as (Vitamin E Acetate)? Banning flavors will NOT stop people from vaping. Go after the culprit that's selling the illegal additives to minors. Don't destroy the vaping industry just because you have a theory. Let's be realistic here. Vaping helped save my life. No illnesses have been linked to legal, nicotine vaping products. Yet lawmakers are taking sweeping actions with unintended consequences... In September, investigators with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office raided a home being used to manufacture and distribute cannabis oil. Law enforcement confiscated more than a thousand “Dank” packaged vape cartridges, which have been connected with the recent spate of vaping-related illnesses and deaths around the country. Despite growing evidence that these illnesses are the result of vaping illicit products – like the ones confiscated in this raid – state and federal lawmakers continue to target legal vape products with bans, like the ones imposed in Michigan, New York and Massachusetts. But why won’t lawmakers and public health officials be honest with the public about what’s behind these respiratory problems? Why continue to point fingers at legitimate products like the ones sold at chains of vape shops in the U.S.? And why are officials not considering the unintended consequences of their impulsiveness? Illnesses involved THC, not nicotine Alabama reports its first vaping death on Oct. 2. The death toll across the nation now stands at 17. The hundreds of illnesses – and now twelve deaths – associated with vaping are alarming. But the overwhelming majority of these cases are the result of individuals vaping products with THC, the psychoactive drug found in marijuana. None of the cases reported have yet to be linked to legal, nicotine vaping products. And it’s unlikely they will. Despite this, lawmakers are taking sweeping actions that are likely to have serious unintended consequences. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced a public health emergency and a four-month statewide ban on all vaping products in the state. California announced that residents should stop vaping right away. And, of course, the Trump administration has declared it will move to ban all flavored e-cigarettes. While politicians want to show a swift response, these bans are going to have the wrong effect. Nicotine e-cigarettes can help smokers quit. E-cigarettes are a critical form of harm reduction. The Royal College of Physicians found e-cigarettes to be 95% less harmful than smoking. And e-cigarettes are nearly twice as effective at helping adult smokers quit than other nicotine replacement therapies like patches or gum. In fact, some hospitals in the United Kingdom have started making available e-cigarettes to patients as an alternative. Nicotine e-cigarettes have been on the market for a decade. Had they truly been a danger to users, it’s fairly likely a serious respiratory illness would have emerged before now. "STOP THE DISTRIBUTION OF BLACK MARKET SALES, INCLUDING VITAMIN-E ACETATE" "NOT VAPE PRODUCTS OR FLAVORS". THE VAPE INDUSTRY IS "NOT TO BE OF BLAME!" HELP US STOP THE ENACTMENT OF "HR 2339!" Let your voice be heard. Sign this petition today!!!!!!

So families in this crisis don’t lose their homes

My husband is currently detained at the El Paso Service Processing Center. My husband is currently detained. We have children born in the US. I have constant communication with my husband as this COVID-19 pandemic has increased. We both find ourselves more concerned and panicked to say the least. In the borderland where we live there is already community spread. It is only a matter of time and pretty much inevitable that this virus will be introduced and spread into the center. The conditions are already poor even in their best circumstances. I know that ICE has the discretion to release people from custody and I feel like there is no better time than now. Those in detention who have families here need to be with them, especially in these dire times. Everyone in detention deserves the right to be in the best conditions to protect themselves from the virus. I am asking for your help for people in ICE custody to be heard. I am asking for a louder voice. I would like to reach the people in charge of the Detention Center as well as the ICE field office director to push them to release everyone in detention. The Country has been declared to be in a State of Emergency. Gov. Greg Abbott on 3/19/20 sent executive orders to prohibit crowds of 10 people or more. The El Paso Service Processing Center is housing more than 60-70 people per barracks, making the center contradict orders given by Abbott. The facility has made NO changes in the way they handle possible contact contamination, no hand sanitizer, no antibacterial wipes, no deep cleaning! My husband is relying on “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi....” to wash his hands with no antibacterial soap, and using tissue paper to avoid touching anything as his tactic to protect himself. We are in a crisis and I am begging for the life of my husband and for the lives of everyone detained by ICE, please help us be heard. Our country needs to unite and what better way than to have people unite with their families! The number of people with COVID-19 in the country is increasing. Those detained in close quarters, like at El Paso Service Processing Center, are particularly susceptible to contracting and rapidly spreading this highly contagious virus. Medical care at ICE facilities in Texas, especially at El Paso, are inadequate, and proper measures have not been taken to ensure the safety of detained people or facility staff during this outbreak. It is impossible to practice social distancing in a detention facility.