The Our First Vote FACT-HUB is a compilation of reputable sources that provide data, statistics, and current news updates to young voters who wish to become informed on issues that face our country. It is your job as a voter to decide whether or not you agree with current governance, and vote to promote policies you support.
Millions take to the streets as climate strike protests hit cities across Asia, Europe
September 20, 2019
"Crowds of children jammed the streets of major cities Friday in a global show of force to demand action on climate change, with many young people skipping school in protest and sharing a unified message aimed at world leaders."
- Linda Givetash, David Ingram and Farah Otero-Amad, NBC NEWS
Students are rising up against gun violence in the aftermath of the Florida shooting
February 20, 2018
"In the days after the shooting, students and activists have called on their peers around the country to demand action. This has so far culminated in two planned events: the National School Walkout on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24."
- German Lopez, VOX
Threatens to Abandon Puerto Rico Recovery Effort
October 12, 2017
"Declaring the U.S. territory's electrical grid and infrastructure to have been a “disaster before hurricanes,” Trump wrote Thursday that it will be up to Congress how much federal money to appropriate to the island for its recovery efforts and that relief workers will not stay “forever.”
Three weeks after Maria made landfall, much of Puerto Rico, an island of 3.4 million people, remains without power. Residents struggle to find clean water, hospitals are running short on medicine, and commerce is slow, with many businesses closed."
- BY Philip Rucker and Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post
EPA to propose repealing Obama-era rule on greenhouse gas emissions
October 7, 2017
"Under President Barack Obama, the EPA estimated the Clean Power Plan could prevent 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks on children. In April, Tump signed an executive order to review and possibly eliminate the EPA's plan to cut power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. The order rescinded previous analysis of the plan's benefits."
- BY Miranda Green and Rene Marsh, CNN
Betsy DeVos rolls back Obama-era guidelines for investigating campus sexual assault
September 22, 2017
"The original Obama-era policy, which was announced on April 4, 2011 by then-Vice President Biden, required schools to notify the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights when harassment or sexual violence was found to have occurred and to designate a “reasonably prompt time frame” for investigating such matters, among other things. In her speech at George Mason University on September 7, DeVos said the Obama administration had “weaponized the Office of Civil Rights to work against schools and against students.”
- Melanie Schmitz, ThinkProgress
Trump Pardons Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Who Illegally Targeted Latinos
August 25, 2017
"President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned a notorious former Arizona sheriff who willfully violated a federal judge’s order by unlawfully detaining individuals his officers claimed might be in the country illegally."
- Ryan J. Reilly, THE HUFFINGTON POST
The Trump Administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change
August 20, 2017
"The Trump administration has decided to disband the federal advisory panel for the National Climate Assessment, a group aimed at helping policymakers and private-sector officials incorporate the government’s climate analysis into long-term planning."
- Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post
Trump Dramatically Changes US Approach to Climate Change
March 29, 2017
Do you care about the protection of the only planet we have to live on? Click the "Check It Out" button to read how President Trump plans on harming the environment through reintroducing the coal mining industry to America. For more on how coal mining dangerously impacts the environment, click the image to the left with a link to Greenpeace International.
By Dan Mercia, CNN
Trump Order Drops Pesky Regulations On Equal Pay, Sexual Harrasment
March 27, 2017
Does this sound like a "man of the people?" Click the "Check It Out" button to read a Forbes article describing the push back from women after President Trump signed an executive order revoking the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order issued by former President Obama. Decide where you stand on equal rights from this factual source.
By Janet Burns, Women @ Forbes
Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice
May 17, 2017
Do you care about affording a quality education? Click the "Check It Out" button to read Betsy DeVos' plan to systematically destroy public school by privatizing unaffordable "school-choice" vouchers.
By Emma Brown, Valerie Strauss, and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post
The Equal Rights Amendment May Pass Now. It’s Only Been 96 Years.
November 06, 2019
"The amendment was ratified by only 35 of the necessary 38 states before a 1982 deadline. Nearly four decades later, in 2017, Nevada became the 36th. In 2018, Illinois was the 37th. Now, Virginia’s incoming Democratic leaders have promised to take it up immediately when the legislature convenes in January"
- Maggie Astor, The New York Times
Comedy Writer Calls Out GOP In Blistering Replies to "Prayers" After Florida Shooting
February 14, 2018
"Lawmakers sending “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are getting slammed for their financial ties to the gun lobby."
- Ed Mazza, The Huffington Post
TOM PRICE BILLED TAXPAYERS $300,000 FOR PRIVATE JETS BECAUSE HE DOESN’T LIKE BEING INCONVENIENCED
September 22, 2017
"Way back in 2009, when fiscal austerity was still in vogue, Congressman Tom Price was among the most hawkish lawmakers on the issue of government spending. “This is just another example of fiscal irresponsibility run amok,” he cried on CNBC, denouncing the use of private jets by Congress...after he was nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, reports emerged that Price had “traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.”
- Bess Levin, Vanity Fair
Democrats press GOP to scruntinize rise in white supremacy
August 14, 2017
"House Democrats are calling on their GOP colleagues to hold congressional hearings on the rise of white supremacy and domestic terrorism following Saturday’s deadly outburst in Charlottesville, Virginia."
- Rachael Bade, POLITICO
The Night John Mccain Killed the GOP's Healthcare Fight
July 28, 2017
"Mccain returned...the third "no" vote...the vote concluded, and the results were announced — the bill was voted down, 51 to 49. Just days before, McCain had fired a warning shot with a lengthy floor speech that criticized the rushed, secretive process that led to “skinny repeal.”
- By Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post
NOTE: The termination of the '"Skinny Bill" by Sens. Mccain, Murkowski, and Collins' deciding votes saved roughly 16 million people from losing their healthcare.
Health Care Debate: Turmoil in the Senate as House Republicans Threaten "Skinny Bill"
July 27, 2017
"The Republican Party's seven-year-long effort to repeal Obamacare fell into turmoil Thursday evening, when four key GOP senators demanded guarantees House will enter negotiations or they'll scuttle the bill."
- By MJ Lee, Lauren Fox, Ted Barrett, Phil Mattingly and Ashley Killough, CNN
Trump Bans Transgender Individuals From U.S. Military Service
July 26, 2017
"President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Wednesday that the U.S. military will not allow transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity,” reversing an Obama-era policy while sparking bipartisan criticism from some of the the nation's most prominent lawmakers on military issues."
- By Louis Nelson, POLITICO
The Voter Purges are Coming
July 19, 2017
"The Trump administration will undertake its enormous voter suppression campaign: through voter purges. The voter rolls are the key. Registration is one of the main gateways to political participation. It is the difference between a small base of voters pursuing a narrow agenda and an electorate that looks like America."
- By Vanita Gupta, NY Times
I'm A Scientist. I'm Blowing the Whistle on the Trump Administration
July 19, 2017
"I am a scientist, a policy expert, a civil servant and a worried citizen. Reluctantly, as of today, I am also a whistleblower on an administration that chooses silence over science."
- By Joel Clement, The Washington Post
