Inclusion We first urge you to approach the problems that face our country using an intersectional equity lens. Challenges compounded by race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability are present at every level from health care to housing to climate change to education. Addressing these needs must be at the center, not the sidelines, of our government’s policy goals. We also point to Senator Warren’s—and Secretary Castro’s—practice of bringing activists with direct knowledge of and experience with these needs to the table. We ask that you not only follow that example and use these on-the-ground experts to help shape your policies, but also that you appoint them to key roles in your administration. Personnel is policy. Corruption Senator Warren framed her campaign around dismantling the corrupt channels that perpetuate structural inequity and prevent any meaningful reform. Your plan to establish the Commission on Federal Ethics aligns with Senator Warren’s proposed U.S. Office of Public Integrity, which would oversee efforts to restore transparency to our government. We ask that you go further: support a ban on professional lobbying by any former president, vice president, cabinet secretary, federal judge, or member of Congress. We ask also that you make passage of a constitutional amendment to limit campaign contributions—nullifying Citizens United—a top priority. We must have trust in our government, and that begins with ensuring our officials and elections cannot be bought. Immigration We applaud your commitment to a moratorium on deportations during your first 100 days as president, but further action is needed to eliminate the cruelty and abuse perpetrated in the name of immigration enforcement. We need comprehensive reform of our immigration justice system, and we must start with decriminalizing immigration. To prevent future abuses, we urge you to commit to the establishment of professional, independent Article I immigration courts, and to provide access to counsel in all immigration courts. You have condemned the horrific actions of the Trump administration at the border. We urge you to adopt Senator Warren’s plan for a Department of Justice task force to investigate and prosecute all reported crimes committed against detained immigrants. Student Loan Debt The rising cost of tuition across the country means that many students are crushed by student loan debt—and it’s impacting our entire economy. Black students are particularly affected: they are more likely to have federal student loans and owe more than their original debt 12 years after finishing college. We are supportive of public service, but strongly believe that across-the-board college loan debt reduction is the best approach, especially for those with increased barriers (poor and working-class students, students with family obligations, and working students). We ask you to adopt Senator Warren's approach and cancel student loan debt through executive action, immediately enabling 95% of student loan debt holders to pursue their dreams. Universal Child Care Universal child care is an investment in working parents. It provides millions of children with access to quality care and early learning. It also creates millions of well-paying jobs for child care workers and early education teachers, many of whom are women of color. Research shows that every dollar spent on quality early education saves seven dollars in the long run. We encourage you to adopt Senator Warren’s plan, which mandates that universal child care be free to any family that earns less than 200% of the federal poverty line. Crucially, the plan also establishes a partnership between the federal government and local providers to offer a network of early childhood options—including child care and preschool centers—to every family. Equality for Americans with Disabilities You have a strong history advocating for Americans with disabilities through your work on the ADA, the ADAAA, IDEA, and VAWA. It is critical that you collaborate with disability rights leaders and advocates moving forward to form a comprehensive disability rights plan. We ask that you use Senator Warren’s plan for Protecting the Rights and Equality of Americans With Disabilities as a model. This includes our ask that you to commit to combating discrimination in the labor market and workplace, ending the subminimum wage, fully funding the Office of Disability Employment Policy, improving SSI and SSDI programs, breaking down barriers to marriage, providing national paid family and medical leave, improving critical elements of the long-term services, and supporting coverage to enable the right to live in the community. We also urge you to protect the civil rights of all Americans with disabilities, including decriminalizing poverty, addressing language deprivation for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and enforcing the ADA everywhere that it is applicable. We urge you to work with the disability rights community to incorporate key priorities relating to employment, housing, opioid medications, disaster preparedness, healthcare, education, equity in criminal justice, deinstitutionalization, and other key civil rights issues into your platform. Wealth Tax These plans have a price tag. We believe in fiscal responsibility—every American should pay their fair share. We believe ultra-millionaires, who benefit most from our country’s infrastructure, should invest a little more in our country. Therefore, we ask you to adopt Senator Warren’s two cent wealth tax, which requires those Americans lucky enough to have vast fortunes to pay a two cent tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million. Over 10 years, this tax will raise an estimated $3.75 trillion that we can reinvest in working families by supporting education, childcare, family leave, and more. --- We invite you to join us in signing this letter to Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden.

It is our responsibility to come together to protect the lives of those around us by limiting the spread of this disease as much as possible and caring for the tens of millions whose health, jobs, families and communities will be impacted. Utility companies must not cut off essential resources including water, power, and gas to ensure everyone has the ability to take care of themselves and their families. There are thousands of people already hit with the financial burden of missing work for a quarantine, to care for a loved one or children when school is cancelled, being laid off, and many more as this crisis grows. COVID-19 has revealed the interconnectedness of our country and our world -- that the health and well being of one is intimately bound to the health and well being of all. Now, we must rise to the occasion and care for each other and support one another.

The most effective way to stop the spread of Coronavirus is for all working people to be able to stay home. Unfortunately, economic pressures, not the least of which is housing, force workers, even when sick, to continue to go to work every day. For this reason, we insist that ALL people in this country are empowered to practice social distancing and self quarantine as soon as possible. To make that possible, we must relieve economic pressure that forces people to go to work sick. The surest way to do this is through mortgage and rent suspension for families, individuals and small businesses. This is how we #FlattenTheCurve [https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation]. UPDATE: In a major intervention into financial markets, the Fed will inject $1.5 TRILLION dollars. It’s a move designed to prevent a sharper economic contraction than what may already be underway. It's time to bail out the people, not the banks!

One of the most pressing needs in managing the spread of coronavirus is to understand not just the number of new cases but also the number of tests administered. Across the country, there is confusion over how many tests are being conducted by public health labs and private ones. New York state has stopped providing data on the number of tests performed, and daily Governor Andrew Cuomo addresses issues around the volume of testing and getting insights. This can be fixed. The governor could require all testing entities in New York State to report the number of tests performed each day by a certain time to a central body. This petition calls on the Governor to issue this demand, create a simple system for reporting and make this data available to the public urgently. We can't take necessary actions if we don't have the right data.

Closing down the school is important because this virus is really contagious and I believe that students shouldn’t be at risk nor should they put themselves at risk due to this virus. Having on line classes for the students would help the students still complete their school assignments and still have passing grades

People who are in a hurry vote for the candidate who is ahead. It is spurious to not show the true delegate count.

We, the Black, white, Latino and Asian Democratic voters who will assure your nomination and election to be President of the United States of America, hereby urge and insist that you nominate US Sen. Kamala Harris, a highly respected and universally revered Democratic Black political leader, to be your vice presidential running mate in 2020. We, voters of all colors and heritages, rejoiced when the Obama-Biden tickets received the highest Black voter turnout of any Democratic tickets in the last 100 years. We also watched in silent frustration as the last three all-white Democratic tickets received insufficient Black turnout to win the Electoral College (e.g. down 7% from 2012 to 2016), with less than optimal Black turnout contributing *in some measure* to the election and reelection of George W. Bush and the dubious and regrettable inauguration of Donald J. Trump. Had Democrats received just a combined 200,000 more Black votes in five 2016 swing states, then Dems would have won MI, WI, PA, Ohio, FL, the Electoral College and the White House. Nominating Kamala Harris for VP will assure that additional Black turnout, not just in swing states but in *all* states with Black voters. Facing relentless GOP efforts to suppress and prevent Black votes, Kamala Harris is committed to energizing and maximizing Black turnout. We know intuitively, and also because of turnout for Obama-Biden in 2008 and 2012, that diverse Democratic tickets emerge victorious. We understand that of the 13 all-white tickets nominated by the Democratic Party since 1960, only 5 (38%) have won office. Eight all-white Dem tickets (62%) have lost since 1960. Ticket diversity is essential to Democratic victory. Just two diverse Obama-Biden tickets won fully 28% (2/7ths) of the seven Democratic White House victories since 1960. Black Americans are a proud people, striving over 400 years for equality and voting overwhelmingly for Democrats. Yet, the Democratic Party has *never, ever* nominated a Black person for vice president. White Americans who recognize, as you do, the toxic impact of racism and racial oppression, also want to see the backbone and the living heart of the Democratic Party, Black America, reflected again in the Biden-Harris partnership. We, the undersigned, urge and insist that Joe Biden nominate Kamala Harris, a uniquely qualified Black US senator, to be vice president of the United States of America. References: https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/florida-president-clinton-trump https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/michigan https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/ohio https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/pennsylvania https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/wisconsin https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/12/black-voter-turnout-fell-in-2016-even-as-a-record-number-of-americans-cast-ballots/ https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/cb17-tps45-voting-rates.html https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/block-the-vote-voter-suppression-in-2020/

The US government's incapacity to conduct widespread testing has slowed diagnoses, thereby creating chains of infections. Also, this has deprived epidemiologists of a map that could tell how far and how fast the virus is traveling and where the US should concentrate our efforts to slow it down.

While there have been many great steps taken to afford those with health insurance support during this outbreak by the President, Congress, state governments and the Health Insurance industry in the form of reduced or no copay on COVID-19 testing and care, there have been no such provisions made for those without health insurance. This is important because it will leave millions of uninsured people to foot a bill of an untold amount in a time that they are likely to be out of work should they contract COVID-19, which will inevitably result in people being forced to make the decision to get medical care or to go without. This could end up resulting in even an wider spread of COVID-19 as people who cannot afford medical help go un-diagnosed and untreated. Such an action would speak volumes to the commitment to the health of not only the currently insured but also the uninsured people of the country. Please open up a special enrollment for health insurance in this trying time, people should be able to get covered immediately without having to wait until November. Should this happen it would not only be of benefit to the uninsured, but to all Americans. Please tell the leaders of the nation, and health insurance companies to open up enrollment for health insurance so that all might get treatment during this outbreak.

For the citizens of Mississippi. This is to get loved ones out of horrible prisons and back into society. When these men and women get out, they will get jobs and start paying taxes. We can get our prison systems in order and up to code. We can get our loved ones back in our lives every day and not just four hours one day a week. We can get guards that care and are not overworked or just needing a job. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance.

Giant restaurant chains have a public health responsibility to do what they can to stop the spread of Coronavirus to their customers and employees. But Applebee's, IHOP, Denny's, and Chili's don't offer Paid Sick Days to their employees. That means that their servers and cooks are more likely to work sick, threatening to fuel the spread of this pandemic. The Olive Garden's parent company took a big leadership step in responding to the COVID-19 crisis by announcing a new policy of Paid Sick Days for their employees. The largest restaurant chains, serving the most customers and employing the most servers and cooks, have the responsibility to do everything they can to make their restaurants help stop the spread of COVID-19. The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (@ROCUnited) is leading the demand for these restaurants to offer Paid Sick Days to their employees. We're hoping to amplify their voice by supporting their call to action for Applebee's, IHOP, Denny's, and Chili's, to do their part to #StopTheSpread!

For many COVID-19 is a life threatening illness. Given the current situation with coronavirus I think FCPS should do the right thing and close the schools for a few weeks. It is clear from the numbers in the rest of the world that if we shut things down now we have a much better chance of containing the virus. I know that we have several snow days already built in to the school year. We can use them now and help stop the spread of the virus. I could keep my own children home but it’s not going to help unless everyone keeps their children home. Below are links to a few articles I’ve found defending this idea: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/ And https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca If we take things seriously and “quarantine” now we can prevent this virus from overwhelming our medical system like it seems to have done in Northern Italy. But we need our leadership to guide us. I promise I will defend you when other parents complain that closing the schools is an over reaction. Believe me when I say I don’t look forward to spending weeks at home with my children (even though I love them very much!)