Chop Wood, Carry Water 1/30
We've got this.
Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!
I’m running a bit behind today so I’m going to keep this short.
There’s a lot happening, and by the time I hit send on this newsletter much of it will have changed. So I won’t say much about the news of the day except that, as always, it’s a lot. It’s overwhelming; a lot of it is distressing. So please remember to breathe, to rest, and to eat, and remember we’re not going to solve all—or even much—of this in a day. This is a long process, so let’s pace ourselves accordingly.
I leave you with this bit of wisdom from Sarah Longwell, the Publisher of the Bulwark: "You cannot roll up your sleeves when you're wringing your hands!"
So let’s do the former, and leave the latter for another person, or at least another time. For it is through action—not agonizing—that we’ll overcome the obstacles before us.
We’ve got this, my friends. Alone, we are tiny. Together, there is nothing we can’t do.
P.S. — After much inner wrangling, I’ve decided to start a separate email newsletter, Chop Wood, Carry the World, for very occasional actions around foreign policy—including (but not exclusively) the Middle East. If you’d like to join me you can sign up here. If you don’t want to hear about that subject or you feel this newsletter is enough no worries! We all need to stay friends—that’s why I’ve arrived at a separate newsletter as a good course to take.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I am calling to urge the Senator to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program. If Congress fails to fund this program, millions of households already on tight budgets will lose their internet subsidy and possibly lose internet access entirely. Please don’t let that happen. [H/T and petition]
Also, we need Ukraine funding now! Global stability is at stake. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I am contacting to urge the Congressmember to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program. If Congress fails to fund this program, millions of households already on tight budgets will lose their internet subsidy and possibly lose internet access entirely. Please don’t let that happen. [H/T and petition]
Also, please ask the Representative to vote “yes” on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act due to the bill’s improvements to the Child Tax Credit. I’d like it to go even further—by making the CTC fully refundable and making it available on a monthly basis—but this is a good start.
Finally, we need Ukraine funding NOW. Global stability is at stake. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
Patriotic Millionaires sent me a petition this morning that I’m turning into a call to action. As in, literally: let’s make a call instead. Why? Calls are more effective, it’s easy to look up the Committee’s phone number, and signing petitions always gets me on a million new email lists so I do it very sparingly. (You can feel free to sign it, of course.)
So I called the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at 202-224-0411 and left a voicemail. I said:
My name is ____ and I’m calling from ____. I’d like the Committee to hold public hearings with Boeing executives to get to the bottom of what caused the blow-out earlier this month and also what has gone wrong at the company overall. Americans rely on the safety of Boeing’s products, yet we know that, despite their spending billions of dollars on enriching their shareholders and millions of dollars lobbying the government for beneficial policies, they are skimping when it comes to safety and production. I want to know how they’re going to fix it. Please schedule these hearings now.
Spread the Word #1 📣
[H/T
]BIDEN FACT CARDS TO PRINT/SHARE
Looking for Biden facts that can easily be printed and shared? One of Heather Cox Richardson’s readers has developed a set of cards just for that purpose. These cards can be printed at home or at a copy center and either used as talking points or simply distributed where you think they will do some good. Included are PDF template files and PDF instruction documents. Let’s check out this Google doc and start printing and sharing!
Spread the Word #2! 📣📣
Today the House Homeland Security Committee will be holding a hearing to mark up the bill on the articles of impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Here is a social media toolkit that includes talking points for you to use if they are helpful. Please get out the word about the racism and xenophobia behind this impeachment!
Give 💰!
Flip the Vote is a great organization that’s sort of a cross between Movement Voter Project and Focus4Democracy. Like MVP, it raises money for grassroots organizations in swing states, but it’s got a sharper focus—it tends to pick just a few and then fundraise heavily for them. Like F4D they’re big data geeks—they do a LOT of research into which organizations to back. I love their work.
Anyway, they’re having a 2024 kickoff virtual house party today at 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET. If you’re looking to give to a small number of highly effective grassroots groups I recommend attending! Register here. You can also check out FTV’s website and sign up for their mailing list here.
Win Races! 🗳
Remember, we have two opportunities to move the democracy needle forward in key legislative bodies over the next two weeks! Two Special Elections will be held on February 13th—in NY and PA— and they will have impact nationally and in the existential state of Pennsylvania. So…here are some ways you can help! [H/T Abe Team]
In NY:
PHONE BANK FOR TOM SUOZZI, running in NY-03, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays @ 6-8pm ET / 3-5pm PT REGISTER HERE
POSTCARD FOR SUOZZI on Mondays 10am-12:30pm ET REGISTER HERE
And in PA:
PHONE BANK FOR JIM PROKOPIAK: Monday, Feb. 6 @ 6-8pm ET REGISTER HERE or Monday, Feb 12 @ 6-8 ET REGISTER HERE
PHONE BANK FOR JIM PROKOPIAK: Tuesdays 6-8pm ET and Sundays 12-2 ET REGISTER HERE
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: all 3 reps] [H/T Coalition on human Needs] [Text SIGN PXFDTO to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
As your constituent, I am urging you to vote for the passage of S. 2767 / HR 5408 the bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act.
When the SSI program was created in 1972, the asset limits were $1,500 in savings for individuals and $2,250 for couples. The limits were gradually increased between 1985 and 1989 to what it is today. If the asset limits had been indexed to inflation beginning in 1972, it would be $9,929 for an individual and $14,893 for a couple in 2024.
Due to these onerous asset limits, SSI recipients can’t have much of anything in cash, bank accounts, retirement accounts, whole life insurance policies, investments, and certain types of personal property to be eligible for the benefit, which keeps them stuck in a life of poverty.
The bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act would increase the asset limit from $2,000 to $10,000 for an individual and $3,000 to $20,000 for a couple, and it would exclude retirement savings from the countable assets.
The limits on assets for SSI beneficiaries are truly unfair to families. They often prevent family members from seeking promotions, accepting new jobs, or saving money for fear that their loved one will lose their benefits.
The workforce is also impacted by the draconian asset limit. It keeps qualified workers out of the job market for fear of losing access to benefits or health insurance.
Will you join Senators Brown (D-OH) and Cassidy (R-LA) and Representatives Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Higgins (D-NY) as cosponsors of the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act? Thanks!
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Thank you for the scripts for calling our congresspeople!
They can hold hearings, but the answer to the Boeing question is simple. Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas merged and the accountants at M-D took over the company displacing the engineers whose focus on quality and safety had made Boeing the foremost civil aviation company in the world. Everything else follows from that. Full disclosure, I don't now and have not in the past owned stock in either company and don't have a horse in the race.