Questions to ask your MoCs about Trump’s Executive Orders

The Washington Post’s 5-minute fix has a write-up of the difficult corner into which Trump’s executive orders have backed your members of congress (MoCs). It includes questions that MoCs now have to try to answer or deflect:

  • Do you agree that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in November?
  • Do you support a proposal to revive secret CIA prisons, and possibly torture?
  • What about a draft ban on resettling refugees? 

Here in Texas, we would add:

  • Do you support building a wall across the entire U.S./Mexico border?

(The Texas Tribune asked this question of all 38 Texans in Congress and none of them endorsed it. So it’s an especially interesting question to ask in light of Trump’s position.)

Give them a call and report back in the comments.

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15 Comments

  1. I called Cruz and Cormyn’s offices but was not able to get through to anyone, so I left a message saying that I opposed Trump’s opinions on the four issues above. I got a staffer at Lamar Smith’s office who would not tell me his opinions on any of the questions, so I also let her know I disagreed.

  2. Called Cornyn’s office. Initially spoke with a young lady – likely an intern. She was nice but did not have much detail. Clearly I needed to ask for a specific staffer. After a few minutes she transferred me to Tara, staffer for immigration issues.
    We discussed the wall, border security and sanctuary cities.
    General stance was Cornyn is an advocate for strong borders but is more focused on technology and other options. Did not stay definitively what his stance was on the “wall” but did not embrace it. In discussion about sanctuary cities she stated his voting record is clear that he opposes sanctuary cities.

    regarding millions voted illegally – looking into it. (from intern)
    immigration ban – looking into it but believes immigrates should be more strictly vetted ( from intern)
    No answer re torture because that was not Tara’s area of expertise.

  3. I spoke to a staffer at Cruz’s office and asked the first 3 questions. She said that Cruz had issued no statement on any of those. The closest she had was his opposition to sanctuary cities. I briefly expresses my stance on those issues and she said she’d share it with the senator.

  4. Called Cornyn’s office and spoke to a nice staffer named Will. I voiced my opposition to the border wall and the enormous cost it would bring. I appealed to his fiscal conservatism to not endorse a project that would have low impact on illegal immigration (as most people here illegally have overstayed their visas). I asked about Cornyn’s position on this and Will said he does not have one to state right now.
    I also voiced my deep concern about Trump’s comments about voter fraud and the need for us to defend democracy by avoiding voter suppression. I again appealed to Senator Cornyn to not waste taxpayer money on a distraction. Will said that Senator Cornyn did think voter fraud was worth looking into, and I asked him to remind Senator Cornyn that multiple studies have looked into the issue and failed to find significant instances.

  5. I called Cornyn, Cruz, and McCaul. Spoke to a McCaul staffer (Chris; probably intern) about my concerns over ACA dismantlement. No staff answered at either Senators’ office; was able to leave a VM for Cornyn but not for Cruz. I addressed concerns over Pruitt heading EPA in message to Cornyn.

  6. Called Cruz offices in Houston, Austin, and Dallas, voicemail full in all three. Spoke with (male) staffer in San Antonio office. This was my first time speaking with a human in one of MoC’s offices so I kind of froze up, but I managed to get through the questions:
    Do you support building a wall across the entire U.S./Mexico border? Cruz has no statement.
    Do you agree that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in November? Cruz has no statement.
    Do you support a proposal to revive secret CIA prisons, and possibly torture? Believes in “following the constitution.”
    What about a draft ban on resettling refugees? Has sponsored a bill in the past to ban resettlement.

    I let him know I disagreed with all four, but I’m pretty sure he did not take note. Maybe next time I’ll do better. That was terrifying.

  7. Talked to a staffer in Rep. Bill Flores’ DC office and asked what the congressman’s stance in the border wall is. Staffer said, I haven’t talked to him.

  8. I called Lamar Smith’s San Antonio office yesterday before I saw this post, so I only asked the first question. I was told that the Congressman would have no statement before all the facts came out. When I said that the facts were out — that these five million illegal votes didn’t exist and were a lie perpetuated by the President — the staffer said that the Congressman wasn’t perpetuating anything, and repeated that Rep. Smith had released no statement. When I followed up, he told me that while Texas has very strict voting laws it’s “possible” that in other states people could vote more than once. I said that there was no evidence to suggest this.

  9. Just called San Antonio Cornyn office (my personal favorite office) and talked at length with director there. Below is the report, not fact checked or anything, just what I was told. Cornyn supports a mix of tech and limited physical expansion (based on actual reports from people enforcing on the ground). Simply, not a full physical wall. Regarding refugee ban- they are waiting to see what the executive actions are before making a comment. That said, he categorically opposes restricting purely based on religion. Cited Carter immigration bans are precedence. About illegal voting- Cornyn is focused on cabinet confirmations and ACA replacement. He has passed more bills across Obama’s desk than anyone, the Regional director reports. Finally, about torture… Cornyn supported the June 2015 outlawing of torture back in 2015. He has made no public comment in past 36 hours, so any potential change in position would be merely speculative.

    I love that the San Antonio office really seems genuinely interested in sharing information with the public. They are a staff of two people, it’s amazing that they manage to get anything done. Still, if you want real answers to your Cornyn questions, this office might be the first to try.

  10. I spoke with Will at Senator John Cornyn’s office and he logged an opinion tally indicating that I opposed the executive orders.

    I also spoke with Sabrina at Paul Workman’s office (House Representative in my area) who also logged an opinion tally.

    I have not been able to get through to Senator Ted Cruz’s Austin office today, I only receive a busy signal. However, I was able to leave a voice message at his Washington office.

    Will and Sabrina were both extremely nice and professional.

  11. Just called both Cruz and Williams. Cruz is no comment/statement for all issues here. None- according to Austin office.

    Williams (according to Austin) supports a wall (but not a fully physical one) with more troops on ground. He is appealing to his veterans and military base, due to Fort Hood being in his district. The Austin office was not sure where Williams stood on any other issue. So, I called Cleburne office and they very helpfully offered past statements and noted the DC office has the most up-to-date info if people want policy-specific questions like these. The current GOP retreat makes communication a bit challenged but DC has most up-to-date info. District offices are great for voicing our concerns, support and finding out some answers but DC has the most current info, I was told. I really like the Cleburne office.

  12. Got through to Cornyn, Cruz, and McCaul. Did not state my opinions, just that I was collecting information. The staffers didn’t seem to know which side I was on.

    Illegal vote:
    Cornyn – no doubt voter fraud exists but said there wasn’t evidence “yet” of voter fraud in November – would like to see the facts.
    Cruz – No official statement.
    Rep. McCaul – no official statement.

    Reinstating CIA torture:
    Cornyn – No official statement.
    Cruz – No official statement.
    Rep. McCaul – No official statement.

    Resettling of refugees, particularly from predominantly Muslim countries:
    Cornyn – No official statement.
    Cruz – in 2017, supported mandate that federal gov. give a state notice > 21 days prior to resettling refugees in that state. But no other comment.
    Rep. McCaul – supports slowing of immigration of “certain peoples” until proper vetting in place. When asked if current vetting was inadequate, staffer just said there is always room for improvement.

    Building the wall:
    Cornyn – In favor of securing but not for a wall across the whole border.
    Cruz – “supports action”. His quote sounded like a lot of nothing – stuff about working together with Congress on this.
    Rep. McCaul – more into improving technology and personnel as opposed to a physical wall.

  13. Called and talked to an intern named Kaley at the Conryn office S. Central.
    1. Do you support building a wall across the entire U.S./Mexico border?
    No.
    2. Do you agree that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in November?
    No. Definitely not/
    3. Do you support a proposal to revive secret CIA prisons, and possibly torture?
    She did not know Cornyn’s position on this. Said that she would call me back. I mentioned that the CIA doesn’t believe that torture works to get info.
    4. What about a draft ban on resettling refugees?
    She did not know Cornyn’s position on this. Said that she would call me back. We talked about executive orders and she mentioned that they’d have to be repealed. I said that I hope that John Cornyn would be a leader in helping the orders get repealed and that they were of questionable legality.
    Ted Cruz-
    1. Do you support building a wall across the entire U.S./Mexico border?
    No public statement.
    2. Do you agree that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in November?
    No public
    3. Do you support a proposal to revive secret CIA prisons, and possibly torture?
    Supports the Constitution and is against CIA torture. Asked if he would stand up against Donald Trump’s plans to start torture back up, very dodgy. I can’t tell you what Ted Cruz would do.
    4. What about a draft ban on resettling refugees?
    Referred me to the State refugee Act of 2017, bill that Cruz is proposing.
    Williams:
    1. Do you support building a wall across the entire U.S./Mexico border?
    Supports putting physical people
    2. Do you agree that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in November?
    No position…I don’
    3. Do you support a proposal to revive secret CIA prisons, and possibly torture?
    No position
    4. What about a draft ban on resettling refugees?
    No position

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