Dear Dick,

Welcome to Food & Water Action!   4-10-20

I want to let you know that you're doing something great. By taking action with Food & Water Action you're part of a movement of people standing up to greedy corporations that put our food, water and future at risk just to turn a bigger profit.

There's nothing we value more than supporters like you.

Here's what you can expect from us:

·  We'll keep you updated on the local and national issues that impact your food and water, that threaten your climate, and that put the future of our planet in danger.

·  We'll give you the chance to take more actions — signing petitions, calling your legislators, donating, spreading the word on social media and even volunteering in your community — to make it easy for you to make a difference.

·  YOU can send us your feedback by replying to any of our emails — we'd love to hear from you!

Right now, I hope you'll take another step with us and say NO to Trump's scam of a plan to privatize our public resources!

Donald Trump's proposal to "fix" America's infrastructure is actually a huge threat to our country.^1,2 He wants to sell our water systems, bridges, roads and schools to the highest bidder — big business wins, we lose.

Trump's privatization scam only benefits his Wall Street billionaire friends and foreign corporations. They'll put their profits before your well-being — hiking water rates and tolls.

Keep Wall Street away from our public systems — sign now to REJECT Trump's plan!

Trump's plan would hurt working families across the country and disproportionately impact low-income and rural communities and communities of color. We consistently see that when big corporations take control of our infrastructure, taxpayers carry the costs.³

Take our crumbling water systems, for example:

The American Society of Civil Engineers' report card for water infrastructure gives the United States a D. It's not just communities like Flint that are suffering. Already, 12% of househds can't afford their exorbitant water bills.⁴ Unless we do something to fix this problem, it’s likely to get worse: by 2019, nearly 36% of U.S. households could be unable to afford their water service!

American communities need help fixing water infrastructure, but privatizing our water systems is NOT the answer.

Privatizing water means higher water rates, job loss and little accountability to customers like you. Food & Water Action studied water rates of the 500 largest U.S. community water systems and found that large for-profit, privately owned systems charge 59 percent more than large publicly owned systems.⁵

On top of that, privatization will not help communities like Flint address their water problems. Private investors would cherry-pick service areas to avoid cash-strapped neighborhoods where households can’t afford to pay the cost of privatized service.

We need public investment in water systems, roads and schools, NOT a Wall Street giveaway!

That's why Food & Water Action is fighting alongside hundreds of other organizations and unions to ensure that our infrastructure is public and has the resources necessary to keep everyone safe. That’s why we support the WATER Act to provide dedicated federal funding to improve and maintain our aging water systems and pay for it by making sure corporations pay their fair share.⁶

It's up to us to demand the right thing from the people who represent us.

Call on your members of Congress to REJECT Trump's Wall Street giveaway and instead support the plan for public investment!

The American people deserve a fix to our infrastructure that puts people first — NOT Wall Street.

Onward together,

Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch

1. Trump pivots to infrastructure as he enters bruising week, Politico, June 3, 2017.
2. Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Is a Corporate Giveaway, Food & Water Watch, June 14, 2017.
3. Public-Private Projects Where the Public Pays and Pays, New York Times, June 6, 2017.
4. How Many People Can't Afford Their Water Bills? Too Many., Food & Water Watch, March 21, 2017.
5. The State of Public Water in the United States, Food & Water Watch, February 16, 2016. 
6. Water. Jobs. Justice. The Case for the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act, Food & Water Watch, April 25, 2018.