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I am disgusted that the House of Representatives passed that travesty of a bill, the AHCA, yesterday. While I know it has a long way to go to passage in the Senate, it still feels like a slap in the face the Congressional reps would put something like this together and pass it.

I’ve been angry since yesterday. I live in a blue state with a very blue rep (thank goodness for @RepRaskin) and blue Senators. When I’m mad about how Congress is acting, I have no one to call who doesn’t already share my feelings.

I was even more appalled watching @RepFredUpton, who was my rep when I was younger, putting forward an amendment to this bill that he knew did not give enough money to cover pre-existing conditions, even in high-risk pools. He has voted for many other bills that I do not agree with, but this might be his most striking vote. He can stand up for the health of our Great Lakes, particularly Lake Michigan (which is a point in his favor) but he can’t stand up for the health of his constituents? Many of my family members are still his constituents. Not all of them can access health insurance through an employer. Some of them, under this bill, would face exclusion due to pre-existing conditions. This is disgraceful.

I am mad. I felt like I did not have an outlet except for ranting on Twitter and a bit on Facebook. So I decided that my monthly donations this month would go toward pushing back against the GOP politically.

I donated through ActBlue.com to campaigns in swing districts. I also donated to VoteRiders.org. I felt it was important to push back against voter disenfranchisement. VoteRiders’ mission statement is noted below:

VoteRiders is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides practical assistance and information to ensure voters have the right kind of ID to vote in their state. VoteRiders is the leading organization focusing exclusively on voter ID.

Our current priority states, which have or are poised to enact stringent laws about which IDs are acceptable to vote, are: AL, AZ, FL, GA, IN, KS, MI, MO, ND, NH, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA and WI. Some of these states’ voter ID laws leave to others’ discretion whether a resident’s vote will count, or require documentary proof of citizenship to even register to vote. (Source: http://www.voteriders.org/what-we-do/)

I’m going to keep pushing. I’m going to keep showing up to say “This is not right! This is not ok!” I will not accept these things are normal. I will not condone them.

I am mad. And I’m going to do what I can to do something about it.