11/23 – Continuing actions this week!

Update! We, along with 68 other CA groups, made the national news!

(theHill)“A coalition of nearly 70 California progressive grassroots groups urged Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) either to call for the “swift passage” of both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act by the end of this month or to resign.“ (Letter attached at the bottom of this post.)

Action #1: Dear Senator Feinstein, it’s time to drop the filibuster for the “Freedom to Vote Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” And postpone your holiday until AFTER the BBB Act is passed.
Action #2: Dear Governor Newsom, We need you to step up for solar…
Action #3: Write a comment to protect DACA recipients – DEADLINE November 29 at 11:59 pm EST

We’ve just had another infuriating episode of #WhiteTearsWin. Kyle “Property over People” Rittenhouse walked away with 2 dead and one permanently damaged body in his wake, along with what Anthony Huber’s parents stated is “the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street.” Hopefully his victims’ families will be able to sue him for damages in a civil trial, but that’s cold comfort. If an action comes from this, we will bring it forward.

Meanwhile, we need to take a moment to focus on some wins (see our header above), and the work we need to do next. Some of these you can do during business hours today or Monday, and all have an component you can do this weekend.

Action #1: Dear Senator Feinstein, it’s time to drop the filibuster for the “Freedom to Vote Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” And postpone your holiday until AFTER the BBB Act is passed.

We know from early on in our Indivisible movement that Feinstein will move if enough people flood her office with comments. (Yes, she was ready to rubber-stamp that horrid Jeff Sessions as Attorney General before we’all found out.) So make her phones ring in every office, it really only takes minutes to contact them all and say the short phone script. (Program your phone to save time! “MOC” = “Member of Congress”) Then fill up her email box over the weekend and make ourselves HEARD!

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Your voice is powerful. Use it to make a difference with these 5 actions!

5 actions! Seriously?! Yep! But they’ve all got easy scripts for you to follow and won’t take more than 30 seconds each.

Action #1: Federal Action – CALL the White House NOW and Urge President Biden to Use the Bully Pulpit to Pass S.1 – For the People Act
Action #2: Federal action – Call Feinstein EVERY DAY(!) until the S.1 – For the People Act passes the Senate.
Action #3: State Action – CALL your state senator to pass the VISION Act.
Action #4: State Action – CALL your state assemblymember to pass SB2 – Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021.
Action #5: State Action – Dark money smackdown – Call out two assemblymembers for misusing their power.

Action #1: Federal Action – CALL the White House NOW and Urge President Biden to Use the Bully Pulpit to Pass S.1 – For the People Act

Pick an option that works for you, or make your own…

Call script option 1: In his Philadelphia speech, the President told the country about the danger to our democracy: “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War” Since that’s the threat, he needs to do much more.
He needs to use the bully pulpit to push for filibuster reform so that the Senate can pass S.1. The choice is simple: keep the filibuster as it is, or save democracy. We elected him so he could make the right choice.

Call script option 2: (from Center for Common Ground)
Hi, my name is [NAME], and I’m calling from [CITY, STATE]. I’m calling to urge President Biden to do everything in his power to protect our freedom to vote by pressuring the Senate to overcome the filibuster and pass the S.1 – For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. These bills are common-sense reforms to unrig our political system and make sure the voices of the American people are heard. Thank you.

Call script option 3: (from Jessica Craven of Chop Wood, Carry Water):
I voted for President Biden, and am grateful for all he’s doing, but I’m calling to ask him to do much more to pressure Democrats in Congress to pass voting rights legislation—namely HR1 the For the People Act and HR4 the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. And I want him to vocally support abolishing or reforming the filibuster to get this done. If we don’t protect our ability to vote now we will never get this chance again.

Contact: 202 456 1111 (Open only Tues-Thurs, 11am-3pm Eastern)

Action #2: Federal action – Call Feinstein EVERY DAY(!) until the S.1 – For the People Act passes the Senate.

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This woman is bragging about how easy it is to destroy democracy from the inside out.

Tell your senators to work harder on getting “S.1” passed and the filibuster eliminated.

The woman’s boss and Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich bluntly articulated his radical views on voting rights. “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Democratic groups should be emulating Matt Sinovic, executive director of progressive lobbying group Progress Iowa, who plans to submit open records requests to determine if Iowa’s legislative leaders worked with Heritage.

“The governor and Republicans in the Legislature must release every bit of communication they’ve had with the Heritage Foundation, so we can know the truth about their work with this shadowy group.” (See their members here. Hi, Betsy!)

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The filibuster is unconstitutional. Pass it on.

Action #1: Call VP Kamala Harris and ask her to rule the filibuster unconstitutional.

Minimal Script: I’m [calling/writing] to ask VP Harris, as presiding officer of the Senate, to rule that the filibuster is unconstitutional. Its 60-vote supermajority requirement for the enactment of general legislation is in violation of Article V, the 17th Amendment and the constitutional presumption of majority rule as prescribed in the Constitution.

Email : http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switch Board: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD: 202-456-6213
Letters/postcards: The White House, Office of the Vice President,1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20500

Action #2: Tell your senators that we expect them to make changes now.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] to let Sen. [___] know that I’ve just finished (calling/writing) Vice President Harris to ask her to rule the filibuster unconstitutional. The American public is done with the Senate’s dysfunctional legislative graveyard. This procedure must either be abolished, or substantially reformed, as it’s anti-democratic for a minority to be able to permanently block bi-partisan House legislation, especially bills related to basic democracy, like voting access and equal rights. I’m asking [him/her] to immediately engage in collaboration to reform the Senate from the legislative bottleneck it is now to a functioning body, which may include time limits, the “talking filibuster”, and majority-vote carve-outs for bills that reform and protect democracy.

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Thurs 3/18: Wanted: Postcard writers! D.C. statehood and keeping immigrant families together.

Action #1: Washington D.C. is a living, breathing, racial and civil rights injustice and we need to fix it! DC statehood goes in front of the House Oversight Committee on Monday, March 22!

A member is printing up several thousand postcards!!! JOIN IN! If you’re unfamiliar with the hundreds of years that DC residents have been denied statehood, along with the rights we take for granted, like representation along with taxation, the ability to make laws without federal interference, and being able to call up the National Guard when they need it, here’s our post with lots of information and great videos. (Also 51 for 51 and DCstatehoodcoalition.org ) Both the House and Senate have reintroduced bills to fix this, H.R.51 & S.51– “Washington, D.C. Admission Act. Another important bill – H.R.1 – “For the People Act, declares, amongst many important voting reforms, “…that DC residents deserve full Congressional voting rights and self-government, which only statehood can provide.” (full text) (endorsements).

We need to get all Democratic representatives and senators onboard both bills as cosponsors quickly as possible! And the filibuster should be eliminated, at least for bills like this. There’s no reason the basic rights of the citizens of Washington DC should be held hostage to whether or not 60 Democrats are elected to the Senate.

DIRECTIONS:

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Wed 3/3: Wanted: Postcard writers! D.C. statehood and stopping deportation flights.

Action #1: Washington D.C. is a living, breathing, racial and civil rights injustice and we need to fix it!

DIRECTIONS:

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Friday 2/26: #FilibusterFriday! Both the $15/hr. wage and H.R. 5 – the Equality Act are in danger in the Senate.

The filibuster means that Mitch McConnell is still in charge.

We have less than 2 years before the next election and we have a lot to fix NOW! The GOP will use the 60-vote minimum of the filibuster to block progressive legislation from advancing in the Senate, keeping that chamber’s reputation as “the most powerful force for structural racism in American life.” (Great filibuster explainer video at the bottom of post.)
Today’s victims:

$15 minimum wage: The Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the $15 minimum wage hike is “extraneous” for budget reconciliation purposes; meaning it has to come out of the H.R. 1319 – American Rescue Plan Act if the Senate wants to use reconciliation to get around a filibuster. Over 60% of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
- Note: We’re waiting on the script on this issue, as it’s now in flux. It looks like Democrats are drafting new plans to penalize big corporations that pay their employees less than $15 an hour.

HR 5 – The Equality Act: This bill just passed the House and over 70% of Americans support laws like this, including 50% of Trump voters. (What the law includes, here and here.) However, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) has announced that he will oppose the Equality Act unless it includes language that would allow Christians to discriminate against LGBTQ people, essentially nullifying any civil rights gains, and the GOP will use the filibuster to stop it from coming to a vote.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to cosponsor and support HR 5 – The Equality Act and if necessary, remove the filibuster for this vote (even with a mini-nuke or carve-out), and for any other legislation that ensures equal civil rights for all Americans. The majority of voters want LGBTQ community members to be accorded the same rights and responsibilities as every other citizen. Allowing a minority to use the filibuster to maintain a legacy of human rights violations and discriminatory practices against a specific group of taxpaying Americans is both anti-democratic and morally wrong.

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Today is #FilibusterFriday! Call your senators!

Tell them WE EXPECT THEM to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enact bold structural reform on every issue we care about.

This is a great filibuster explainer:

We have less than 2 years before the next election and we have a lot to fix NOW! Mitch McConnell isn’t blocking every Democratic-sponsored bill from reaching the Senate floor, so we should be able to make progress, right? No. The GOP will use the 60-vote minimum of the filibuster to block progressive legislation from advancing in the Senate, keeping that chamber’s reputation as “the most powerful force for structural racism in American life.” While both parties have used the filibuster, it has been weaponized to a greater extent than ever before by Republicans in order to kill landmark pieces of legislation that the majority of Americans want, from civil rights bill like voting access, to gun violence prevention, the Dream Act, Medicare-for-all and more.

Washington DC statehood is another victim. The GOP is so fearful that a new minority-majority state would create two Democratic senators, this blatant vestige of systemic racism in the heart of our nation will remain until we get 60 Democratic senators or the filibuster is dropped. (Call scripts for legislators and postcard campaign information here.)

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to remove the filibuster and get on with passing the bills the majority of Americans want. Civil rights bills like H.R.1 – For the People, H.R. 5 – the Equality Act and H.R. 51- Washington DC Admision Act. Commonsense gun legislation. Legislation to address climate change, childcare, immigration and healthcare. Yes, I understand the risks you think we are taking, but we see greater risks to democracy in never getting these bills passed. We will NOT accept [him/her] coming back to us in two years saying there was nothing [he/she] could do to advance issues important to us because of an self-mandated procedural relic of the Jim Crow era. We know better now, and so does [he/she].

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