Thu – 2/21: Keeping on the pressure.

Thanks to the over 200 protesters who showed up Monday, Presidents’ Day! (KEYT)(VC Star)(VCStar)(VC Star images) You were amazing! And we were not alone!

Action #1 – Call your friends and family in Red states & ask them to call their legislator’s offices.

Why should we have all the fun? Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) introduced a joint resolut ion of termination to end Trump’s national emergency declaration and already has 92 cosponsors. So these are the rules: If this passes in the House, the Senate has to vote on it within 18 days. If the resolution passes both chambers and the president vetoes it, then a two-thirds majority is necessary to override it. So how do we get from here to there?

In the House, Democrats have a 235-197 majority . For a veto-proof 2/3rds vote with all members present, we would need 53 Republicans to join in.
In the Senate, Democrats/Independents are down by 47 to 53. We would need 4 Republican votes to pass and 22 Senators who’ve relocated their civic duty to be veto-proof.

Who are the most persuadable?
For senators, those listed below are the best bets, but try them all. Really, all they want is to get re-elected, so have your family and friends prove to them that they are active voters.

“Oppose” -At least eight GOP senators have said they oppose the national emergency declaration – which doesn’t guarantee a vote but it’s a start. They are: Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Collins (MN), Murkowski (AK), Paul (KY), Rubio (FL), Sasse (NE), Thom Tillis (NC) and Toomey (PA)

“Concerns/doubts” are recorded for Sens: Barrasso (WY), Blunt (MO), Cornyn (TX), Cruz (really?) (TX), Gardner (CO), Grassley (IA), Isakson (GA), Johnson (WI), Landlord (OK), Lee (UT), McSally (AZ), Moran (KS), Portman (OH), Roberts (KS), Romney (UT), Rounds (SD), Sullivan (AK), Thune (SD), Wicker (MS), Young (IN)

Scripts for your friends and relatives to use: I’m calling from [zip code] and I’m horrified that Trump just abused his power to declare a fake emergency. What is [Republican member of Congress] doing to stop this antidemocratic power grab? Will [he/she] commit publicly to supporting a resolution to terminate this false emergency? Will they also publicly call for investigations into this abuse of power?

I will be closely watching for [R-MoC]’s statements and actions on this. Donald Trump is the national security risk and I am looking to [MoC] to stop him.

Contact Information: Who is my representative/senator – How do I reach them?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com

Action #2. Call again. Yeah, us. Our calls make Democratic legislators braver.

For those of us with Democratic legislators, we need to encourage them to vote for this law… Rep.: HR 1214/Senate: S.534 “Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act” – A bill to prohibit certain funds from being transferred or reprogrammed to plan, develop, or construct a new physical barrier along the southwest border, and for other purposes.

Rep.-Check: Carbajal and Brownley have NOT signed yet
Sen.-Check: Thank Harris, ask Feinstein.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] [I’m a member of Indivisible Ventura]. I want to [thank [Harris] for cosponsoring/ask [___] to cosponsor] Rep.: HR 1214/Senate: S.534, the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act as well as the new joint resolution of termination to end the emergency status under the National Emergencies Act.

Action #3 – Thank our AG Xavier Becerra for leading the lawsuit!

Thank California Attorney General Xavier Becerra! He’s leading the coalition of 16 states in filing a federal lawsuit to block Trump from diverting money that Congress designated for other purposes, in violation of constitutional separation of powers. Call AG Becerra at (800) 952-5225, or send an email.

(Background from MoveOn:)

The only crisis on the US-Mexico border is the one caused by the Trump Administration’s cruel policies towards families and children seeking asylum—ripping kids from their parents, locking them in jails, changing the rules and criminalizing the legal right to seek asylum, and tear-gassing women and children.
This budget deal already expanded Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, and the National Emergency declaration only deepens the threat to immigrant communities, refugee communities, Muslim communities and our democracy. A National Emergency declaration gives Trump exceptional powers to undermine the foundations of our democracy and continue attacking marginalized communities.
This is an undemocratic power grab from an man who cares nothing for the rules of democracy.
The National Emergency is Trump’s second attempt to force his racist wall against the will of Congress and the American people. Workers have still not recovered from the #TrumpShutdown, which was the longest government shutdown in history at 35 days. Over a million federal workers and contractors went without pay and crucial government services like tax refunds were set back months by the closure. Congress finally stood up to his temper tantrum, and we need them to act immediately again.
Trump’s fraudulent national state of emergency and cruel government shutdown flies in the face of the will of the American people. In the 2018 election Trump and his Republican allies ran on a platform of building a wall – and lost by millions of votes.
Republicans were negotiating for the budget in bad faith all along—and Congress failed by not choosing to stand up to Trump and oppose his racist agenda. The failure of Congress to stand up to Trump’s tantrum and allow him to once again threaten funding for the government and 800,000 workers paychecks hostage in an effort to fulfill his campaign promise on the wall’s funding is shameful—and created a real crisis for 800,000 working families and their communities.