Hi, all, and happy Friday!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a meeting with a staffer from Senator Feinstein’s office. It was put together by Indivisible Sonoma County, whose leaders invited me, along with several other Indivisible members and California activists, to participate.
I mention it because this is something I do fairly regularly—not just with ISC, but with several different groups I belong to.
I learned about doing so from Indivisible, who advised in their original guide that any constituent can—and should—request a meeting with their elected officials if they have an issue they want to see action on. They explained that it’s an extremely powerful form of advocacy—like a phone call on rocket fuel (that’s my language, not theirs. I’ve been unable to track down a digital copy of the original guide).
So I started—at first with members of my own Indivisible group, and then with a coalition of Indivisible group leaders. That same group has been attending quarterly meetings with our two U.S. Senators’ staffers ever since.
I’ve attended several similar meetings with my Congressman’s, State Senator’s and Assemblymember’s offices.
How does one “get” such a meeting? Simply ask for it! Oh, it may take a couple of emails back and forth, but since these lawmakers work for us, they or their staffers are supposed to be willing to meet with constituents on request. And most of them are!
I can’t encourage you enough to try it! Whether it’s to urge your Republican rep to vote to increase the debt ceiling or to ask your Democratic Senator to stop supporting Manchin’s dirty permitting deal (looking at you, Senator Feinstein!), telling a representative or their staffer about it in person packs a powerful punch! You’ll want to put together a small group of like-minded people—I find about a dozen works best—and make sure to create an agenda in advance. Then have fun! THIS is democracy at work!
The squeaky wheel gets the oil. And nothing “squeaks” more effectively than bodies in chairs at a representative’s office. Think about it!
You have more power than you know. All that’s left is for you to seize it!
So do that!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
In light of the Republican uproar over the debt ceiling increase, I wanted to point out that one of the reasons we need an increase in the debt ceiling is that the 2017 Trump tax cuts, especially the cut in the corporate tax rate, dramatically increased the deficit without promoting growth. At the time the CBO found that those cuts would increase the deficit by about $1.9 trillion over 11 years.1 In light of that, it seems like repealing the 2017 tax cuts should factor into discussions of addressing the deficit. Will the Senator support this? Rich people can afford to pay much more, and Americans support them in doing so by wide margins. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
First, I know that Adam Schiff has introduced an amendment to reduce the corrupting role of money and corporate wealth in our politics. Since the increasingly huge flood of dark money into our politics is one of the key sources of weakness in our democracy2 I want the Congressmember to support this amendment. Will s/he?
Also, I want the House to vote to raise the debt ceiling with no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or any other programs that help vulnerable Americans. We want a clean debt ceiling increase, and we want it immediately. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
I learned recently that the ever-amazing Resistbot has a prompt that enables folks to send a letter to the general mailbox of the Supreme Court. Awesome! In light of the release of the report about Chief Justice’s sham investigation, I thought: Why not try it? (If you ever want to do this on your own send the word COURT to 50409.)
So I sent this letter, created almost entirely with text from Jay Kuo’s excellent new post on the subject (his newsletter
is really worth subscribing to). You can send it too by texting text SIGN PGNSRZ to 50409. (I just got a confirmation email from the SCOTUS Public Information Officer, so we know it works!)Again, you can read the letter here before sending it. Or write your own!
Get Smart! 📚
On Wednesday, January 25, from 7:00-8:00pm ET Force Multiplier is having another great webinar as part of their ongoing “Community Conversations” series. This one will feature Melissa Morales and Bobby Clark, creators of the Winning Jobs Narrative Project.
Come learn about the tools they’re using to communicate effectively to working Americans about the progressive movement, jobs, and the economy.
Spread the Word! 📣
President Biden, Democrats mark two years since inauguration:
While President Biden and Democrats used their first two years to deliver for working families, Trump and Republicans used their time during 2017 and 2018 passing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and big corporations, caving to Big Pharma and doing nothing to lower prescription drugs costs, failing to deliver on their promises like passing infrastructure legislation, and trying to rip away Americans’ health care. See this White House cheat sheet on Biden-Harris Administration’s accomplishments. And we’d appreciate your help lifting this tweet.
Read Polls!
This new Navigator polling contains some fascinating tidbits and can really help frame the way we talk about issues to our right-leaning acquaintances.
For example, did you know that voters support the Inflation Reduction Act by a 43-point margin (66% support / 23% oppose) after reading a brief, one-sentence description of it? BUT Navigator also found that nearly half of voters haven’t heard much or anything about the bill. That one sentence description should be something we all memorize and use constantly (see it below). And if you want to receive Navigator polling in your inbox, SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Win Races! 🗳
We have less than a week left to send postcards to Wisconsin Democrats reminding them to request their VBM ballots for the critically important April 4th election. All cards must be mailed by the 26th of this month.
Voting by mail makes a lot of sense in Wisconsin in February, and the state requires voters to sign up again each year to do so. There is only a short window for voters to request a ballot, so we want to get these reminders out to them as soon as possible.
Request addresses here (you must provide your own cards).
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to your House rep] [H/T Americans For Tax Fairness] [Quick send: text SIGN PDMLKH to 50409]
We now know that among other concessions Kevin McCarthy made in exchange for the Speaker’s gavel, he’s agreed to hold a vote on a bill that would abolish the IRS and abolish the entire federal tax code, from income taxes to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, to estate and gift taxes only paid by the very wealthy.
How will the federal government afford anything―from natural disaster responses to healthcare to nutrition assistance―with none of these taxes? The answer is, a new national sales tax of at least 30%, which would require everyone, no matter how poor or rich, to pay the same tax rate. However, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), it would require a national sales tax of at least 60% to make up for the lost revenue.
Furthermore, this GOP-tax on everything we buy—groceries, cars, homes, healthcare―would disproportionately impact middle-class and low-income people and families. Another ITEP study shows that the top 1% pays just a 0.9% average share of their income in state sales taxes compared to a 7.1% share for the lowest-income households. So, this new Republican bill would shift who pays taxes by A LOT. It’s an absolutely terrible idea and I oppose it wholeheartedly. Congress should focus on keeping the IRS funded so it can pursue rich tax cheats and make them pay what they owe. Period. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
This infographic shows what the GOP 30% Sales Tax scheme shows how the richest pay almost no taxes and everyone else pays more. https://thedemlabs.org/2023/01/20/goptaxscam-lets-billionaires-dodge-taxes-working-americans-forced-to-pay-more/