Last Chance for Our Climate & Our Democracy
Joe Manchin wants to cut the two essential climate provisions out of the reconciliation bill. We must not let that happen. We’re on the verge of a future in which clean, cheap, abundant energy drives the world’s successful economies. That energy will be from renewables, whose cost is falling exponentially, and it will power a combustion-free, completely-electrified country. If we take the steps to move to this future – all the elements of which are here now, ready to go – quickly, we can prevent catastrophic climate change, stay one of the world’s main economies, and live better, healthier lives (because fossil fuels kill people). If we don’t, we’ll destroy our planet, our competitiveness, and our well-being.
That’s the context in which we need to view Joe Manchin’s threats to cut the two elements of the “Build Back Better” reconciliation bill that will drive our move to that future: the clean energy payment program and clean energy tax credits. Taken together, they will get us to the clean grid we need by 2030 and keep us competitive on the world stage. If Manchin is allowed to kill them to protect his own coal business, it will cause massive damage to our country and our planet. We can’t let him get away with it.
NO CLIMATE, NO DEAL
We need both our Senators and our Representatives to make it clear: if the Clean Electricity Payment Program (CEPP) and the clean energy tax credits are removed from the reconciliation bill, they will withdraw their support. Yes, we want the reconciliation bill to succeed. But not at the expense of destroying our planet. This is likely our last chance to finally take essential steps towards a carbon-free future. We have to fight for it.
Please call your Members of Congress and say:
I’m asking the Senator/Congressman to commit to voting NO on the Build Back Better Act unless both the Clean Electricity Payment Program and the clean energy tax credits are kept in the bill. This is our last chance to save our climate and our economic competitiveness. We can’t blow it. 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
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, it will be literally impossible for Democrats to win in states which have been rigged by the Republicans. Which means it will become impossible to control either the House or the Senate, or to keep the White House.
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, and Democrats aren’t doing the work to get them passed.
Democratic leadership is distracted, focusing instead on the infrastructure bill fight, and is 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, and we will become an autocracy with a democratic veneer.
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 NOW 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
KEEPING OUR PROMISES ON 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) ‘reconciliation’ bill. 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. A small group of House Democrats tried to kill the bill by decoupling it from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and passing that first (so they could then withhold their support for the BBB and kill it). They failed, but the fight continues.
Now negotiations are underway to finalize the provisions of the BBB and to secure the votes of all 50 senators, which means getting Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema to join with their caucus and get the bill passed. It will likely fall to President Biden to negotiate the details with them, because Sinema won’t talk to anyone else. (Yes, that’s insane.) But it’s also critical that our senators and representatives make it clear that they won’t let the bill be stripped of it’s provisions. If the need to compromise on the overall size of the package, it should be by shortening the time frame for funding some or all of the programs, not by cutting them. They need to hear from us.
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. If you must compromise, please keep all of the programs the bill contains and shorten their funding time frame, rather than cutting programs. And, please under no circumstances vote on the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill until both houses of Congress have passed the reconciliation bill.
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
DEMOCRATS MUST REBALANCE THE SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court has been fully corrupted by dark money interests and the Republican Party, which has cheated in order to stack the Court in their favor. President Biden, instead of advocating to redress the obvious illegitimacy of the Court, appointed a special commission to investigate the situation.
They did, and their report is a farce – probably what Biden, who would rather not act, wanted. This cannot stand. A corrupted Supreme Court can and will strike down any legislation or executive order they want to, without legal justification. That’s what they were put there to do. The only solution is to rebalance the Court.
Please call your Members of Congress and say:
The President’s Commission on the Supreme Court is a farce. I need the Senator/Congressman to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021 (S. 1141 / H.R. 2584), 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
We’re on the verge of a clean, abundant, and cheap energy future in which rooftop solar installations will provide about 25% of all of our power. The quicker we move to that future, the safer and better off we will all be. And with solar panel prices continuing to plummet, we can make good on the promise.
But we have to stop PG&E first. 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. So they’d rather keep us locked in their high-cost, high-danger grip than take the steps needed to modernize for the future.
We defeated the utilities’ attack on rooftop solar 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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