As a result of various policies, the United States is the world's leading jailor, housing about 25% of the world's criminals, yet only 5% of the world's population. Overly harsh sentencing laws, the misguided War on Drugs and the private prison industrial complex have all contributed to this, among other factors, and only by advocating for reform can we cause this number to decrease.

The Department of Agriculture is on the front lines of the climate crisis. Trump has appointed Sam Clovis as its chief scientist. But Clovis is a racist climate denier, not a scientist. Clovis has an ugly history of racist and anti-science rants.In a 2011 blog post, Clovis called progressives "race traitors." Just months before, he criticized Hurricane Katrina survivors, attributing their hardships to a “cultural” failure. Like Trump he believes climate change is "junk science." We can't have a bush-league Rush Limbaugh leading the USDA's science programs. The Department of Agriculture is on the front lines of the climate crisis, responsible for helping farmers deal with droughts and floods — and for cutting the huge amount of greenhouse pollution produced by industrial agriculture. Not only that, the USDA includes the U.S. Forest Service, which is responsible for dealing with a maelstrom of climate-change disasters devastating our national forests, from pinebark beetles to year-round wildfires. Furthermore, the agency feeds the nation and fights poverty and structural racism - its food-assistance programs provide food to over 40 million low-income and homeless people, including over 5.7 million black households with over 2 million black children. There are already signs that Sam Clovis is having a dangerous impact at USDA, where he currently serves as a senior advisor. In January, he signed off on a memo to the department’s scientists banning them from publishing fact sheets, documents, and press releases with their findings. United States Code requires that the USDA's chief scientist be chosen from "distinguished scientists with specialized training or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics." Clovis has no such experience. We have the power to stop Clovis' confirmation dead in its tracks. This is our chance to prevent this ugly racist from being elevated to a position with significant power over the future of our nation.

Medical bills that wind up in collections hurt your credit scores more than they should. That was the conclusion the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached after studying 5 million credit reports earlier this year. The federal regulator tracked how well credit scores predicted people's future creditworthiness after medical bills. The answer: Not that well. The C F P B says people with medical collections generally paid their other obligations on par with those whose credit scores were 10 points higher. And those who paid off their medical collections should have received scores 16 to 22 points higher on average. Remove the Medical Debt of Tens Of Millions of American Citizens and the country will flourish. With regard to wanting a change to OUR healthcare system, START HERE

For decades, the failed War on Drugs has locked up millions of nonviolent drug offenders—especially for marijuana-related offenses—at an incredible cost of lost human potential, torn apart families and communities, and taxpayer dollars. The effects of the drug war have had a disproportionately devastating impact on Americans of color and the poor. The Marijuana Justice Act is a bill ,that if passed, will legalize marijuana at the federal level and go even further in an effort to remedy many of the failures of the War on Drugs. This is the right thing to do for public safety, and will help reduce our overflowing prison population.

You may be surprised to learn that a quietly moving bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720/H.R. 1697), would make it illegal to boycott companies from certain countries for political reasons – a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Even more concerning, the bill has 43 co-sponsors in the Senate – including more than a dozen Democrats – and a majority of the House has signed on.1 It is already illegal for U.S. residents and companies to join a boycott of any country friendly to the United States if that boycott was launched by a foreign country.2 The Israel Anti-Boycott Act would expand this law to criminalize participation in boycotts launched by intergovernmental organizations, such as the European Union or United Nations. This is about the fundamental right to free speech and political dissent. J Street, a prominent Jewish advocacy group and an ally of CREDO, is opposing this bill in part due to First Amendment concerns.3 CREDO's friends at the ACLU have called on Congress to reject the bill because it "would impose civil and criminal punishment on individuals solely because of their political beliefs..."4 Restricting our freedom of expression and imposing criminal penalties for holding specific political views is unconstitutional. Any version of this bill that restricts Americans' rights to boycott and express dissent is unacceptable. We need to stand with our friends at ACLU and J Street to make sure that Congress forcefully rejects this bill and any other legislation that would limit our First Amendment rights. Tell Congress: Oppose S. 720/H.R.1697 and any other bill that would criminalize free speech. References: Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, "Israel Anti-Boycott Act," 115th Congress, introduced March 23, 2017. United States Code, "50 USC 4607: Foreign boycotts," accessed July 26, 2017. Zaid Jilani, "J Street, a reliable foe of BDS, urges Congress to oppose Israel anti-boycott act for now, The Intercept, July 20, 2017. Faiz Shakir, "ACLU letter to the Senate opposing Israel Anti-Boycott Act," ACLU, July 17, 2017. Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Grim, "U.S. lawmakers seek to criminally outlaw support for boycott campaign against Israel," The Intercept, July 19, 2017. Ryan Grim, "Senators promise to amend Israel boycott bill after backlash," The Intercept, July 25, 2017.

When Trump gave a speech encouraging police to brutalize suspects, the crowd of officers laughed and cheered. Police departments and law enforcement officials across the country responded by condemning Trump’s comments. But the Fraternal Order of Police -- the largest police union in the country -- defended Trump. So did the leader of Cleveland’s police union. Dozens of police unions across the country have remained completely silent, while their police chiefs speak out. Only two police unions have said anything that even comes close to disagreeing with Trump’s comments -- and their statements were weak and made excuses for Trump. Police unions have a long history of defending cops who brutalize, kill, and abuse their power. They fight against common sense reforms and any kind of accountability for police. Now, on top of that, they’re sending a dangerous message to the police officers that make up their membership -- that cops should be even more violent than they already are. It threatens the communities that police are sworn to serve and protect, and it puts officers themselves in more danger by further eroding trust in police. By calling them out, we can expose how police unions are cheerleaders and enablers of police brutality, and one of the biggest enemies of police accountability and reform. It’s the first step to reducing their political power, their ability stop the common sense policing reforms we desperately need, and their practice of shielding officers who brutalize, kill, and break the law.

On January 1, California, Maine, and Massachusetts joined the growing list of states that legalized recreational marijuana. Yet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions just announced that he will end the current policy of federal non-interference, so that the Justice department could crack down on marijuana in states where it has been legalized for recreational use. For decades, the failed War on Drugs has locked up millions of nonviolent drug offenders, especially for marijuana-related offenses. This has wasted human potential, torn apart families and communities, and squandered massive sums of taxpayer dollars. That's why I introduced the Marijuana Justice Act to call for the legalization of marijuana at the federal level. If passed into law, the Marijuana Justice Act would have an immediate impact on our criminal justice system, policing, our communities, and even the economy. This legislation would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances, making it legal at the federal level. The bill would also incentivize states to change their marijuana laws if those laws are shown to disproportionately affect low-income individuals and/or people of color. The Marijuana Justice Act would be applied retroactively for those already serving time for marijuana-related offenses, providing for a judge's review of marijuana-related sentences. That means that we could reduce our prison population—a goal that Democrats and Republicans alike have claimed to support. Add your name to show your support for national marijuana legalization. State governments have, so far, led the way in reforming our failed drug policy and in beginning to fix our criminal justice system. Unfortunately, the federal government isn't doing its share—and Sessions, among his many offenses, is working actively to undermine the progress in this area. We can't let Sessions roll back our progress, criminalize more Americans, and terrorize our communities by doubling down on failed drug policy.

Sen. McConnell has ignored his constituents for decades. His White House office has been unable to handle phone calls from constituents to express their concerns about Trumpcare.

My husband and I, and millions of other hard-working Americans, will once again be denied access to affordable healthcare due to pre-existing conditions and outrageous premiums if Congress allows the White House to stop ACA subsidy payments to insurance companies. Let's act now and remind our representatives that they work for us, and that their healthcare is paid for by our tax dollars. Denying us the same level of coverage is nothing short of a death sentence for millions of Americans. Tell them that you will remember their vote in 2018 and 2020 - if they want to keep their seats, they will do right by their constituents and stand up to the White House or lose their jobs!

The Trump Administration just found a new low in its attacks on science! In July, the top climate policy official at the Department of the Interior, Joel Clement, went public with a whistleblower complaint after he was demoted to an accounting office. Now his career is on the line, and the integrity of one of our Nation’s most critical defenses against climate disruption is at stake. Clement filed a formal whistleblower complaint and Senators on both sides of the aisle are now pushing for an investigation. His story is quickly gaining media attention, but with so much noise in the national conversation, we can help ensure that attention stays focused on Clement and the more than 50 others forced from their jobs at the Department. Sign the petition to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke demanding that he return Clement to his important work – and we’ll hand-deliver it to Department officials.

United States citizens deserve to have the support of their elected officials in protecting their privacy. As it stands today, everything you type, search, download, view, send and receive online is stored by your internet service provider. In March of 2017, 265 Republican Congressman were each paid an average of $47,908.62 by ISP's to vote "yes" in the matter of repealing internet privacy laws. The vote passed and ISP's now have the ability to sell all of your online information to whoever they please. This is a profound violation of your privacy and rights as a human being. Sign the petition if you support holding Washington accountable for selling out it's citizens. All of the money raised will go towards the purchase of every congressman/woman's private browsing data as well as their immediate family. If we are able to raise enough money to purchase the data, all of the findings will be made public.

Trump and his administration are discriminating against different groups (Muslims, immigrants, transgenders, and women) and now the administration is claiming that civil rights do not apply to gay people. Every being deserves to be treated fairly and without prejudice. When one group is attacked, we are all under attack and should stand up for each other and try to bring some civility back to this nation.