Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/8

Jess Craven

Oct 08, 2024

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Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!

Once again, I’m running quite behind this morning, so I’ll keep this quick. I’ve already been on two calls today—one about the devastating economic consequences of mass deportation and the other with my friends at the HUB Project War Room.

The former call, hosted by the American Immigration Council, was absolutely fascinating. The toplines of the study they’ve just released are that Trump’s mass deportation plan would cost around $315 billion for a one-time operation (deporting 13M people in one year—not super feasible) and $967.9 billion to deport the same number of people over ten years (the more likely scenario). None of that, furthermore, takes into consideration the staggering economic or human rights impacts. Mass deportation would exacerbate the U.S. labor shortage. It would hurt several key U.S. industries that rely heavily on undocumented workers, including agriculture, construction, and hospitality. It would deprive federal, state, and local governments of billions in local tax contributions from undocumented households and lead to a loss of 4.2 percent to 6.8 percent of annual U.S. GDP. Worst, it would separate 4 million mixed-status families, affecting 8.5 million U.S. citizens with undocumented family members (5.1 million of whom are U.S. citizen children).

It’s a disastrous, stupid, and cruel plan, and we need to be talking about it more. You can read the full report here, and if anyone is interested in seeing the recording of the call email me and I’ll send it to you when I get it.

My other call was a weekly one in which we get briefed on the doings of Republicans in the House. In today’s briefing the presenter talked about Project 2025 and its approach to FEMA—it wants to defund it—and disaster funds in general. He reminded us that Project 2025 calls for ending FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program and shifts the financial burden of disaster recovery onto state and local governments—states, in other words, would be on their own after a Helene or a Milton. Lovely.

The speaker also reminded us that a day before Helene hit the House GOP voted against including additional FEMA funding in the CR bill. That’s why they’re now in danger of running out of money. We also learned that Speaker Johnson still doesn’t intend to call Congress back into session to vote on emergency funding. Why? The Republican caucus has a history of voting against natural disaster funding—Johnson would need Democrats’ votes. He “doesn’t want the headache.”

But there’s another, more sinister reason: Johnson, Trump, and MAGA at large want Democrats to be blamed if there are budget shortfalls. They want to sabotage the recovery process. It’s the same thing they did by killing the border bill. The GOP approach is to sabotage progress even if people die. This while Milton could be the worst natural disaster in 100 years. It’s unfathomably cynical and cruel. Make sure you spread the word.

In more upbeat news, the Vice President just proposed a historic new Medicare at Home benefit to help families with caregiving needs. Under her plan, Medicare would cover home care for the first time ever for all of our nation’s seniors and those with disabilities on Medicare, in addition to vision and hearing benefits to help seniors live independently for longer.

These plans are common sense. They can help family caregivers work and save both families and the federal government money by allowing seniors to stay in their homes instead of being sent to nursing homes, which are often more expensive. Medicare at Home will also reduce hospitalizations. Vice President Harris will also call on Congress to stop a practice in which seniors’ homes are seized following long-term Medicaid care. Amazing!

How would we pay for this? To quote the press release, “The large majority of this cost will be paid for by expanding Medicare drug negotiations, increasing the discounts drug manufacturers cover for certain brand-name drugs in Medicare, and cracking down on pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) to increase transparency, disclose more information on costs, and regulate other practices that raise prices.”

You mean, Kamala Harris will continue to lower our drug costs and use the money saved to pay for more healthcare for our seniors and Americans with disabilities?

It’s almost as if Democrats know how to govern for the people—and want to!—while the Republicans want to seize and hold power by any means, only to abuse it.

But that’s why we’re here, right? So let’s get to work making sure the “good guys” win!

P.S. — As Milton approaches I’m praying hard for those of you in the Florida area. Stay safe. 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

[If you have a Republican representative]

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I am really getting frustrated that Speaker Johnson hasn’t brought the House back into session to pass more FEMA funding. Since we know that Milton is going to be a once-in-a-hundred-year disaster, that several states are already reeling from Helene, and that the funding is badly needed, the only conclusion I can draw about Republicans’ refusal to return to DC is that they don’t want to help for political reasons. This is unbelievably selfish and awful. I will make sure everyone knows that when the chips were down the GOP tried to exploit our suffering for political purposes while the Democrats worked in good faith to help us. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Please post this on your social media. I just did so on Threads.

With communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene, one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the US, further pain in the form of Hurricane Milton is about to hit Florida. Experts warn such disasters will be deepened if Donald Trump is elected and follows the policy plans of the controversial rightwing Project 2025 manifesto.

#HurricaneMilton

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/08/trump-project-2025-hurricanes

Virtual Pep Rally Time!

Join the fun Wednesday, October 9th at 7:00PM ET, as BigTentUSA, in partnership with Comics for Kamala, Fair Fight, and Sister District hosts a Virtual Pep Rally of laughs and action. This high-energy event features a stellar lineup of speakers, including comedian George Wallace, Fair Fight's Executive Director Lauren Groh-Wargo and Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-D). They are coming together to discuss why getting out the vote (GOTV) is crucial for electing Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.

Following the pep rally, attendees will have the opportunity to engage in breakout rooms led by grassroots experts. Choose from letter writing, phone banking, or voter protection efforts in Georgia, led by Fair Fight and Sister District, and take direct action to get out the vote!

Don't miss this empowering event – your voice and your actions matter in this critical election! RSVP here.

Get Smart! 📚

Len Lubinsky has published a great post outlining Kamala Harris’s policy proposals and comparing them with Trump’s. Highly recommend! It’s a great read for those of you talking to voters at the doors or on the phones, and excellent to send to someone saying “But what’s she going to DO?”

Need Some Buttons?

Maine artist Mark Wethli has been designing postcards and yard signs for several election cycles, and this year's designs really convey the spirit of joy of the Harris-Walz campaign. You can see them at the top of this page and below. Mark's fellow artist Jeanne Heifetz, based in NYC, got his permission to turn his designs into buttons, which she's having printed at a union shop (with union bug and artist credit). Now her goal is to get them to canvassers and campaign offices in swing states.

If your group would like to order buttons, please contact her: jeanneheifetz@gmail.com by Friday, October 11th, with BUTTONS in the subject line. Jeanne will send them as in-kind donations to campaign offices for as long as she can afford to do so. All other groups will be asked to cover the costs of the button printing & shipping -- any additional contribution will go to defraying the costs of sending them to campaign offices.

More Rallies! Rallies! Rallies!

Here’s the invite for Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally in Phoenix, Arizona on October 10th! 10.10 Phoenix Rally Mobilize link.

Tim Walz is holding an online rally with Out For Harris on the 10th. Sign up here: I’m in Gov. Walz!

Spread the Word! 📣

Early voting has started in some states, and key states including Montana, Ohio, and Arizona will start this week. Voting early is Democrats’ superpower. Get-out-the-Vote targets are updated every day. When you vote early, powerful Democratic field campaigns—all of us—will skip over you and contact potential voters further down the list, driving turnout as high as it can go. Share custom videos about the power of early voting to help Democrats win in English or Spanish @ www.voteonday1.org or www.votaeldiauno.org. Also at https://www.youtube.com/@SwingLeftPeninsula/playlists and https://www.tiktok.com/@swingleftpeninsula.

Give 💰!

People have been asking me where my Strategic Giving document is so here’s your friendly reminder that it’s pinned to the top of every email! But it’s also here. This is a great time to send it out to friends and family who are looking for a good place to give. I know that Movement Voter PAC in particular is still quite underfunded. But really giving to ANY org on this doc is better than sending more money to Harris-Walz. I love them, but sheesh—they don’t need more funds. These groups do. Spread the word!

Win Races—Text!! 🗳

First, my friend Will Baum has put together a great textbanking master doc with lots of opportunities to get texting. Find it here.

Second, early voting has started in many states, and Activate America is launching their get-out-the-vote texting campaign. They need your help!

Starting today and Wednesday, and running through October, they’re texting over one million people to boost Democratic turnout in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. With mail ballots already in hand for many voters, this is our chance to remind them to fill out and return their ballot, or to beat Election Day lines by voting early in person.

Interested? Sign up HERE.

Win Races—Call new Voters in PA!

Join Red2Blue phone bankers and reach out to Pennsylvanians—especially young first-time voters - to encourage them to check that their registrations are in order and urge them to vote early by mail-in-ballot. Red2Blue’s auto-dialer, Scale to Win, is easy to use, there’s plenty of training for inexperienced callers, and these phone banks are friendly and fun! Best of all, the people we call appreciate our help.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Phone banks will include training through October 20, after which we begin our intense get-out- the-vote phone banks that will run through Election Day! Signup HERE to phone bank—training included through October 20!

Win Races—Dial-a-Thon!

Spend 2 hours phonebanking on Oct. 14 with Broadway for Harris, Swifties for Kamala, Women for Harris, White Dudes for Harris, Musicians for Kamala, Queers for Kamala, and others for a Kamala Dial-a-thon to help get out the vote. The goal is to make 1 million calls! Kamala Dial-A-Thon · The Democratic National Committee (democrats.org)

Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥

Help us win Arizona Corporation Commission races—one of the most important statewide clean energy races you probably don’t know about!

Dem candidate Joshua Polacheck spent nearly 2 decades serving America overseas with the United States Department of State, seeing first hand how dependency on fossil fuels is a threat to America.

Now he is running for ACC along with two other strong fighters for the middle-class: Jonathan Hill and Ylenia Aguilar. They’re up against three MAGA Republican challengers: all vying for seats currently held in a 4-1 GOP majority. With 5 seats total, winners will serve alongside Republicans Kevin Thompson, a former natural gas lobbyist, who will remain until 2027.

If they make it in, they can flip the Commission & lead the way not just for Arizona but the entire country. Arizona is one of the minority states that get to elect their commission overseeing their state’s utilities.

Endorsed by AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Jane Fonda Climate Pac, Sierra Club, Stonewall Dems and more, this scrappy but important campaign needs our support! Every small dollar donation counts! You can donate here or sign up to phone bank.

See: Arizona’s Solar Future Tied to Corporation Commission Election

These races are so important! There’s a great piece from Movement Voter Project about them that just came out today.