All On the Line
It’s crunch time for passing critical legislation. It’s debatable whether Biden’s strategy of letting Manchin and Sinema draw out the process of negotiating the infrastructure bill was a good idea – I don’t believe that it was – but that’s the route he took and now here we are: Congress will soon be out of time to get critical legislation passed. Although the infrastructure bills are getting most of the attention, the most important bills are those that will protect our elections. Without their passage, we will become a democracy in name only.
THE SLOW-MOVING COUP
As I say, a screaming, hair-on-fire emergency. If we do not pass a voting rights law that stops voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering, dark money, and election subversion, our democracy will die. Not in centuries: now. The 2022 election will just pronounce the corpse.
– Heather Cox Richardson, Twitter, Sept. 30, 2021
Republicans are conducting a slow-moving coup. Over 425 bills in 48 states have been introduced this year to change the way elections are handled. Many of them are Republican bills and they have one thing in common: they are designed specifically to ensure that, next time around, neither Trump nor any other Republican can possibly lose. They are doing this by making voting harder, making it easier to intimidate voters, making it easier to challenge results, and making it easier to overturn them. If they aren’t stopped, future elections in Republican-controlled states will be unwinnable by Democrats. And that means the federal government will fall under permanent Republican control.
Democrats can’t stop this going forward by “out-organizing”. The only thing that can stop these attacks is federal legislation that overrides the undemocratic laws Republicans are passing in red states. We have the legislation – the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – to thwart the attack but both bills are sitting in the Senate.
Democratic leadership is distracted, focusing instead on the infrastructure bill fight, and letting both bills languish. Neither Schumer nor Biden is fighting for the voting rights bills, nor are they willing to attack the filibuster, an archaic rule that gives Republicans a veto over everything. THIS HAS TO CHANGE. NOW. If our democracy fails, everything else will fail with it.
Please call President Biden and say:
Mr. President, we can’t “out-organize” voter suppression – not when the results of elections can be overturned on false pretexts. We must have legislation and we need your help to get the job done.
Please make getting the Freedom to Vote Act your top priority and do everything in your considerable power to unite Senate Democrats to pass the bill by any means possible, including by abolishing, reforming, or providing an exception to the Senate filibuster.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
(The White House phone number is 202-456-1111, Tues - Thurs, 11-3 EDT.)
At all other times, write to the President: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
(or better yet, use: resistbot.io)
And please call your Senators, who need to keep the pressure on their colleagues to get the job done quickly, and say:
If we lose our democracy, we will lose everything. Please push for the immediate passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and be willing to modify, reform, or abolish the filibuster to get the job done. There is no time to lose! This must be your top priority!!
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
DC phone: (202) 224-3841
SF phone: (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
DC phone: (202) 224-3553
SF phone: (415) 981–9369
HOLDING THE LINE FOR CLIMATE, HEALTH CARE, THE CARE ECONOMY,
HOUSING, PATHWAYS TO CITIZENSHIP, AND EQUITABLE TAXATION
The House Progressive Caucus did the work to save President Biden’s agenda, nearly all of which is contained in the ‘Build Back Better’ Act (BBB). The $3.5T measure has key provisions to address climate, drug prices and expanded Medicare, the care economy, housing, a pathway to citizenship, and reducing wealth inequality by making the rich pay their fair share.
The President’s plan has been to pass his agenda through this bill and a bipartisan infrastructure deal (BIF) that contains money for ‘hard’ infrastructure, like roads and bridges. The strategy calls for both bills to be passed together, because conservative Democrats, on behalf of their donors, prefer the do-less, cost-less BIF, while liberal Democrats – the overwhelming majority of the caucus – would like to see the President’s promises to the American people honored and recognize that this is a rare chance to do just that. The deal, in other words, is a trade-off, where each side gets what it wants in exchange for letting the other side get what it wants, too.
But nine “Blue Dog” Democrats in the House broke this pledge and tried to pass the BIF first so they could then kill the rest of the President’s agenda. This was an attack on the President’s plan, on their own party, and on the American people, both of whom overwhelmingly support the provisions of the Build Back Better Act. It also actively harmed Democrat’s electoral prospects next year – damage that must be undone.
A word about the spending: Republicans and their enablers in the Democratic Party and the media are claiming that the $3.5T price tag is “too expensive” without saying what they actually want to fund. This is a ruse. The important question isn’t “is it too expensive”, as if that was something that can be decided by itself. The more relevant questions are: what do we need? What will it take to get that? What will it cost? And how can we pay for it?
By those standards, the Build Back Better act is already a compromise – and, unless the provisions taxing the rich are removed, it will pay for itself. (Not to mention the enormous costs of not addressing these problems). And there’s the rub: the protests about cost are actually being made on behalf of the rich, who are lobbying like crazy to not have to pay more. It’s natural to think that a moderate position is usually best, but in this case the idea that we should find a number “somewhere in the middle” for its own sake is mistaken. Instead, it’s wealthy interests manipulating you so that they don’t have to pay their fair share.
The fight isn’t over. And, depending on where you live in the county, your representative is either one who fought hard to preserve the bill or one who, while not a saboteur himself, is in the Blue Dog Coalition with the people who tried to hold the rest of the Democratic caucus hostage.
Please call Congressman Jared Huffman and say:
I’m so proud of your work with the House Progressive Caucus in keeping the Build Back Better Act alive. You were one of the public faces of the fight and you did a great job. Please continue to hold the line. You must pass the fully funded Build Back Better bill. Our country needs it desperately. Thank you!
CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN
Phone: (Petaluma) 707-981-8967
Please call Congressman Mike Thompson and say:
I’m asking you to stand with the House Progressive Caucus and continue the fight to deliver the fully-funded Build Back Better Act. I’m well aware that all of the saboteurs who tried to kill the Act last week are in your Blue Dog Coalition and I think it’s time you find another group to caucus with – preferably the Progressives, who are the ones doing the President’s work. The Blue Dogs have shown themselves to be defenders of dark money interests at the expense of the voters. That goes against everything I stand for.
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
NO CLIMATE, NO DEAL
The Build Back Better Act contains two climate provisions that MUST PASS if we are to have any hope of averting climate catastrophe: the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) and Clean Energy Tax Credits. It’s absolutely critical that the final bill contain both and that they not be watered down by fossil fuel interests, which Joe Manchin is trying to do on behalf of Exxon and others. They must be a deal-breaker.
Please call your Members of Congress and say:
The final Build Back Better Act MUST CONTAIN the full Clean Electricity Performance Program and Clean Energy Tax Credits. I’m asking you to vote NO if they are not included. NO CLIMATE, NO DEAL.
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
DC phone: (202) 224-3841
SF phone: (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
DC phone: (202) 224-3553
SF phone: (415) 981–9369
CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN
Phone: (Petaluma) 707-981-8967
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
DEMOCRATS MUST REBALANCE THE SUPREME COURT
The illegitimate Supreme Court demonstrated, in its ‘Shadow Docket’ action that let the draconian Texas anti-abortion, bounty hunter law stand, that it will stop at nothing to promote the agenda of the wealthy donors who stacked the Court. It’s time for Democrats to fight back. The Court must be expanded.
Unless the Court is rebalanced, the radical GOP will use their ill-gotten Court to force their anti-majoritarian agenda down Americans’ throats for the coming decades. This cannot be allowed to stand. If you care about abortion rights – or gun restrictions, elections, climate, you name it – it’s time to pressure Democrats to finally use the power we worked so hard to give them.
Please call your Members of Congress and say:
I need [the MOC] to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021 (H.R. 2584 / S. 1141), which will expand the Supreme Court by four justices. Nothing less will protect us against the illegitimately-stacked radical, right wing Court that McConnell has installed. Please co-sponsor the Act and work hard to make it law.
CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN
Phone: (Petaluma) 707-981-8967
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
Phone: (San Francisco) (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
Phone: (San Francisco) (415) 981–9369
PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The House has passed the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) of 2021, which will protect the right to access abortion across the United States. As abortion attacks intensify and the Supreme Court colludes with them, the Senate must step up now and pass the WHPA. And they must be willing to kill the filibuster to do it.
Please call your Senators and say:
Equal access to abortion care—everywhere—is essential for social and economic equality, reproductive autonomy, and the right to determine our own lives. I’m asking the Senator to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 as quickly as possible – and to be willing to abolish the filibuster to do it
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
DC phone: (202) 224-3841
SF phone: (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
DC phone: (202) 224-3553
SF phone: (415) 981–9369
FIGHT TO PROTECT ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER IN CALIFORNIA
PG&E and other California utilities are trying to kill rooftop solar by raising fees on those who have installed it, including public schools, hospitals, and others. Local, rooftop solar power undermines their antiquated, fire-causing, climate-killing business model and cuts into their profits. It also hardens our communities against blackouts, gives people more control over their own power, and enables us to fight the climate crisis.
We defeated the utilities in the State Assembly, so now they’ve taken their case to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and found a compliant audience. We must defeat them there, too, to protect rooftop solar and to battle the climate crisis. The members of the CPUC aren’t elected, they’re appointed – by Governor Newsom. So we need to pressure him.
Please call Governor Newsom and say:
Utilities are asking your CPUC to stall rooftop solar installations and harm those financially who have installed solar panels. Local solar power generation is critical to Biden’s goal of decarbonizing our grid by 2035. It protects and hardens our fire-endangered communities. It is an essential tool to slow the climate crisis. Please stand up for rooftop solar and tell the CPUC to reject the utilities’ request.
GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
(916) 445-2841
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