Welcome to the CAN Library
Browse through our easy-to-read bill summaries.
As a registered CAN member, we will call your Congress Representatives on your behalf once you vote and take a stance at the bottom of any bill summary. Once your call(s) are delivered, we will reach back with details of your call via email.
Most recent bill summaries
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H.R.35 - Emmett Till Antilynching Act
To amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching as a hate crime act.
You might favor this bill if:
► You believe existing civil rights law should extend protections against racially motivated lynching crimes. Even though the Senate has apologized for failing to make lynching a federal crime, Americans who exist in vulnerable communities need anti-hate-crime protections written in the law to protect them from extreme violence and to ensure those who commit these acts are subject to sufficient justice.
You might oppose this bill if:
► You believe that current federal law prohibiting violent crimes is already enough to prevent race-based lynching, making it unnecessary. Federal antilynching legislation is infringing upon state rights.
Civil Rights
H.R.35 - Emmett Till Antilynching Act
To amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching as a hate crime act.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe existing civil rights law should extend protections against racially motivated lynching crimes. Even though the Senate has apologized for failing to make lynching a federal crime, Americans who exist in vulnerable communities need anti-hate-crime protections written in the law to protect them from extreme violence and to ensure those who commit these acts are subject to sufficient justice. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that current federal law prohibiting violent crimes is already enough to prevent race-based lynching, making it unnecessary. Federal antilynching legislation is infringing upon state rights. |
Immigration
H.R.2820 / S.874 - Dream Act of 2019
A bill to significantly lower prescription drug prices for patients in the United States by ending government-granted monopolies for manufacturers who charge drug prices that are higher than the median prices at which the drugs are available in other countries.
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| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe the 780,000 “Dreamers” protected under DACA deserve to remain protected and free from the fear of being deported since they have followed the rules granted to them. The courts have blocked several attempts of disbanding the program, which validates the legality behind the program and proves it was not an executive overreach to begin with. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe the U.S. is a nation of laws and any individual who breaks such laws, as dreamers did when they entered the country illegally, should not be protected, regardless of age. The program was an executive overreach to begin with. |
Gun Rights / Gun Control
H.R.167 - To prohibit the transfer of a firearm at a gun show by a person who is not a licensed dealer
To prohibit the transfer of a firearm at a gun show by a person who is not a licensed dealer.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that it should be unlawful for a person to transfer a firearm at a gun show unless the person is a licensed dealer. Gun control laws save lives and reduce crime, and access to the possession of, or use of firearms, should be restricted to ensure safer communities. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that minimal restrictions should be placed on guns to ensure that individuals have adequate means for self-defense since they will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms. A wider distribution of firearms will result in safer communities. |
Taxes
S.309 - For The 99.8 Percent Act
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reinstate estate and generation-skipping taxes, and for other purposes.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that the fairest way to reduce wealth inequality, invest in the middle class and preserve the democracy is to enact a progressive estate tax on the inherited wealth of multi-millionaires and billionaires. A tax system should ask the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes which in turn reduces the level of wealth inequality in America and creates an economy that works for the 99.8 percent and not for the wealthy and the powerful. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that the billionaire and multimillionaire class is already paying its fair share of tax income, this is just another scheme to soak the rich and collect more… |
Wages
H.R.134 - Unpaid Intern Protection Act of 2019
To protect unpaid interns from workplace harassment and discrimination.
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| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that workplace harassment and discrimination of unpaid interns, if left unchecked, can have serious consequences on their lives and careers. Ensuring safe and healthy workspaces for unpaid interns must be addressed, it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an intern on the basis of race, sex, age or disability. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that an employer should have the right to treat an intern in whatever way the employer feels is best. An employer should have the right to refuse/reject an intern with a disability even though such an intern is qualified. |
Health
S.102 / H.R.465 - Prescription Drug Price Relief Act
A bill to significantly lower prescription drug prices for patients in the United States by ending government-granted monopolies for manufacturers who charge drug prices that are higher than the median prices at which the drugs are available in other countries.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that Americans shouldn’t pay more for prescription drugs than the median price of the following five countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. You believe that prescription drug prices for patients in the United States should be significantly lowered by ending government-granted monopolies for manufacturers who charge higher drug prices. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that the prescription drug prices for patients in the United States is at an affordable price and should not be lowered. |
Environment
H.R.34 - Energy and Water Research Integration Act
To ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department of Energy’s energy research, development, and demonstration programs to help guarantee efficient, reliable and sustainable delivery of energy and clean water resources.
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| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe in the advancement of energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices that help to minimize freshwater withdrawal and consumption, increase water use efficiency and utilize non-traditional water sources with efforts to improve the quality of the water from those sources. An Energy-Water Subcommittee needs to be established in order to promote and enable improved energy and water resource data collection, reporting and technological innovation. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You do not believe in the establishment of an Energy-Water subcommittee since you consider it to be unnecessary and a waste of resources. The technology and other practices used by the Department of Energy is sufficient and there’s no need for any form of advancement. The use of brackish or oilfield waste is necessary to help guarantee efficient, reliable or sustainable energy. |
Cannabis Reform
H.R.1456 / S.597 - Marijuana Justice Act
To amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide for a new rule regarding the application of the Act to marihuana, and for other purposes.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that marijuana should be decriminalized at a federal level while incentivizing states which disproportionately arrest low-income individuals and people of color for marijuana-related offenses, to legalize marijuana through a reduction in federal dollars. Those currently imprisoned for marijuana use or possession crimes should be allowed to petition a court for a resentencing. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that marijuana should not be removed as a Schedule I drug (Defined as having no current approved medical use in treatment in the U.S.) Marijuana does not offer any medical benefits and should continue to be criminalized. |
Foreign Finance
H.R.133 - United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act
To promote economic partnership and cooperation between the United States and Mexico.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe America’s economic relationship with Mexico should be reaffirmed in order to bolster both countries’ academic institutions, entrepreneurs, infrastructure, and medical training which will benefit both nations. America needs to strengthen its economic ties with Mexico, aiming to improve the relationship with them and encourage more cooperation and diplomacy throughout the world. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe economic and academic exchanges between the U.S and Mexico already exist, making the legislation unnecessary. Other aspects of the U.S-Mexico relationship needs more attention. Mexico's interests do not align with those of America, therefore all foreign aid should be cut off. |
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Foreign Policy
H.R.549 - Venezuela TPS Act of 2019
To designate Venezuela under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit nationals of Venezuela to be eligible for temporary protected status under such section, and for other purposes.
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| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that Venezuelans living in the U.S. who have fled the country's repressive government should be allowed an extension of the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. This would give Venezuelans a legal status in the U.S. and grant them work permits. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe that Venezuelans should not receive an extension of TPS benefits. Venezuelans can already apply to the asylum program. |
Government
H.R.115 - Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act
To require the Department of State to establish a policy regarding the use of location-tracking consumer devices by employees at diplomatic and consular facilities, and for other purposes.
| You might favor this bill if: ► You believe that diplomatic and consular staffs serve in some of the most dangerous areas of the world, and it is necessary to update technology policies to keep them as safe as possible. This includes shielding them from the threat posed by location-tracking consumer devices that can reveal their physical locations and movements. |
| You might oppose this bill if: ► You believe this is a major invasion of diplomatic and consular staff autonomy and privacy. Governing their private cellular and internet use is dangerous territory that could lead to overreach into government employees’ personal lives. |
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