Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/10

A flyer about an MIA Republican rep from the group The Daily Lawler

Hi, all, and happy Monday,

I hope you had a great weekend.

There’s a lot going on. Tons of news, as usual, dropped over the weekend. We had Trump’s ghastly Executive Order to decimate our national forests, the introduction of Republicans’ terrible Continuing Resolution budget proposal, Marco Rubio’s announcement that USAID is all but dead, the new, alarming revelations about Social Security, and more. I can only address so much of it in this post. So if you don’t see a script about your top issue today come back tomorrow!

I had back issues this weekend, so could only attend one protest after all, briefly—a “Boycott Target” action taken in Eagle Rock, CA on Sunday. It was small but mighty, and it was, as always, so gratifying to hear the many, many honks from motorists driving by.

It kills me to not be able to attend every rally happening in my area, so I’m asking you to give me vicarious enjoyment by posting about the protests you attended this weekend in the comments. And I mean across the country! Let’s hear about all of it!

I have to attend a bunch of meetings this morning, so I’m going to keep this opening short. I am, however, going to do my first solo Substack Live tonight at 5PM PT / 8PM ET, so if you want to hear more from me come check it out! We’ll talk about the crisis at Social Security, Republicans’ funding CR, and what we have in store this week. If you want to attend just hop on the Substack app at that time and the Live should pop up. If it goes well I may make it a regular thing.

Either way, let’s get to work!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

First, I want the Senator to fight back against the Trump administration’s executive order to increase logging in our national forests. He wants to to bypass important environmental laws to destroy our public lands, harm wildlife, and mess up our air and water quality, all so the timber industry can profit. No way!

Also, there’s new evidence that Musk and his team of college students are accessing Americans’ most private data at the Social Security Administration in ways that are both dangerous and wildly inappropriate. It’s the largest data leak in American history and all of us are at risk. Even worse, people who’ve worked at the agency for decades are testifying that DOGE’s access is endangering the entire system and that it could soon collapse. I’m furious and scared. What is the Senator doing to get Musk and DOGE out of the Social Security Administration? And out of our government!

Thank you for your time.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

First, I want the Congressmember to fight back against the Trump administration’s executive order to increase logging in our national forests. He wants to to bypass important environmental laws to destroy our public lands, harm wildlife, and mess up our air and water quality, all so the timber industry can profit. No way!

Also, there’s new evidence that Musk and his team of college students are accessing Americans’ most private data at the Social Security Administration in ways that are both dangerous and wildly inappropriate. It’s the largest data leak in American history and all of us are exposed. Even worse, people who’ve worked at the agency for decades are testifying that DOGE’s access is endangering the entire system and that it could soon collapse. I’m furious and scared. What is the Congressmember doing to get Musk and DOGE out of the Social Security Administration? And out of our government!

Thank you for your time.

Extra Credit ✅

From

Rogan's List

:

Over the weekend Speaker Johnson rolled out a Trump-approved appropriations bill to keep the government operating through September 30th, the end of the current fiscal year. We could see a vote as soon as tomorrow. Even with the current deal set to expire midnight Friday, it’s an absolute non-starter.

Democrats have been demanding provisions to ensure that Trump actually spends the money he’s legally required to. Instead what we’ve gotten is a blank check for Trump, a slush fund without even the standard checks on administration action of a normal appropriations bill. This is a go-ahead to let the Trump-Musk thefts continue.

Republicans can pass this bill in the House without a single Democratic vote – but they’ll need almost total unanimity. And in the Senate, they’ll need all of their members plus seven Democrats to break the filibuster. Let’s contact our members from both parties and tell them to reject this power grab and any appropriations deal that does not end the Trump-Musk coup. We can send this Resistbot message by texting SIGN PZOBQT to 50409.

Get Smart! 📚

DemCast will host a call today at 7 p.m. ET, with Rina Welch and John Foti from Americans for Tax Fairness to discuss the spending bill currently making its way through Congress. I’ve heard John speak before—he’s awesome.

• What is the process to get it passed?

• What are they proposing to cut?

• How big are these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans?

Register for the call here.

Birddog the GOP! 🐕‍🦺

You know how indivisible is encouraging us to hold “Absentee Town Halls” for our Republican reps who refuse to meet with us? Or at least to dog them relentlessly for not holding a Town Hall? I want to show you how two Indivisible groups are doing it.

First, one of my activist buddies, Michelle Manire Fowle, created this flyer for her MIA Rep. Andy Harris in Maryland. (She actually turned it into a template for anyone to use. You can access the template here and customize it for your representative.)

And my sisters in upstate NY are part of a group who are holding an absentee Town Hall for Rep. Mike Lawler. They are posting these (as well as the flyer up top) everywhere:

In Wisconsin constituents of GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden created an online petition with similar imagery. It demands that he hold a Town Hall as well.

Arizonans have invited their representative, Congressman Juan Ciscomani, to attend a town hall on 3/15 to hear from them directly. We’ll have to wait and see if he shows up.

If you live in a district with an MIA rep it’s time to get on the bandwagon! Indivisible has a toolkit for how to hold an “Empty Chair Town Hall” here.

Give 💰!

We are at $107,993.85 in my Movement Voter Project fundraiser! WOW! I am still committed to getting to 125K, and as such I will keep posting the donation link here until we make it. If you’re a new subscriber looking for the best place to give money right now I’m telling you, MVP is it!

Want to learn why they’re so great? Come to their upcoming event! It’s on Sunday, March 23 from 7-8pm ET | 6-7pm CT | 5-6pm MT | 4-5pm PT.

They’ll be uplifting their Comeback Campaign, with a spotlight on the frontline groups working in Wisconsin for the Supreme Court race and beyond. I’ll be speaking at this event briefly, too.

Register here.

Messaging messaging messaging! 📣

Dan Pfeiffer believes we can and should use Trump’s chaos against him relentlessly. I agree. This post is a quick read and well worth it.

Chaos Theory: How Trump is Destroying the Economy

Protest! Protest! 🪧

1. On March 12 there is a Mobilize to Save Our Healthcare March and Rally in Washington DC from 12-2pm ET. It’s sponsored by Popular Democracy. Please join if you’re local! (Oh how I wish I lived in the DC area!)

2. Also, mark your calendars now for a Nationwide Day of Action on Saturday April 5th In DC and in cities across the country organized by 50501, Indivisible, and other national partners. Details to come!

Win Races! 🗳

[H/T NOPE Neighbors]

Help protect voting rights in Wisconsin by supporting Judge Susan Crawford, the progressive candidate for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.

Wisconsin Dems are sponsoring two phone banks with training in every session. Sign up here to tell voters about this important election. Sign up here to recruit volunteers to make more calls.

You can also write and send letters to Wisconsin voters through the mail deadline of March 25, urging them to vote in this important election. Learn more details and download letters here. (If there are no letters available now, check back later in the week.)

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To: all 3 reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PPEWFT to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Rosa DeLauro have just re-introduced Ethan’s Law—S.726 / H.R.1564—a bill that would mandate safe storage of firearms when youth are present. Please strongly support it.

A 2019 survey by APM Research Lab found that:

—A 2/3 majority of gun-owners supports mandated locked gun storage, including the 45% who strongly support such a mandate.
—Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support mandating that guns are stored with a lock in place.
—83% of women and 74% of men supported a gun storage mandate.
—Nearly 7 in 10 Republicans, 8 in 10 Independents, and 9 in 10 Democrats support a locked gun mandate.

Guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teens; 76% of school shooters get their guns from their homes or from their relatives. There are at least 4.6 million unsecured guns in homes across the nation and eight children are shot every single day due to unsecured guns. This is a problem we can solve!

Please cosponsor Ethan's Law today to protect our children from preventable tragedies. Thanks.

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OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess