Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/20
Hi, all, and happy Monday!
Hope you had a great weekend.
This morning I want to “turn the floor over” to subscriber Sherry F.
Sherry wrote to me a few weeks ago to tell me she’d attended her first-ever meeting with her NY state legislators; she added that it had been a really satisfying experience. As most of you know, I’m a huge advocate of attending meetings with our lawmakers, both state and federal, so I asked Sherry if she could write a brief description of her experience with the hope that it might encourage the rest of you to try it.
Here it is:
The League of Women Voters arranged visits to lobby our state reps ahead of the passage of the annual budget since great ideas don’t go anywhere without funding. New York State has a State Senate and a State Assembly. My delegation met with Assemblymember Deborah Glick (Dem., 66th AD) and an aide to Senator Brian Kavanagh (Dem., 27th District). Our discussions were entirely focused on local issues. In both meetings we discussed League priorities for funding: expanding our bottle deposit bill, increase funding to county Boards of Elections to allow them to expand voting sites, modernize equipment and train Election workers, campaign finance reform, digital equity to expand broadband throughout the state, and funding to create a state-wide database that would make election and demographic data readily available and transparent. New York is one of only five states that has passed a Voting Rights Act.
This is the first time I participated in these kinds of meetings and at first I was disappointed that our conversations were structured by the League of Women Voters rather than a spontaneous discussion of legislation I, as an individual, might want to see New York State to enact. But it was very rewarding and instructive to see how legislation actually gets passed. In both meetings we had a very constructive give-and-take with our representatives and got their sense of what is achievable and how we can work with them to move needed legislation forward.
Wonderful! Sherry highlights a few important things: first, how granular the topics of these meetings can get, depending on which organization—if any— helps organize the meeting. If you go with an organization focussed on voting rights that is all you will talk about. If you go with Moms Demand Action, as I have many times, you will talk about gun legislation, period. If you put together your own group, however, you can devise your own agenda!
Sherry also reminds us how educational such meetings can be for learning how “legislation actually gets passed.” Yes! It’s fascinating!
Finally, she tells us how her lawmakers actually invited her into the process. That will happen more often than you think if you express interest. It’s quite thrilling!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: meeting with our legislators (or their staffers) is extremely educational, can really move the needle on issues we care about, and is something available to all of us. Put together a group of likeminded people, call your representatives’ offices and ask to set something up!
Remember, democracy is like a potluck party—we’re all attendees, but we’re also all hosts! And we all need to bring something to the table. That’s what makes it delicious!
That’s also what makes it work.
Speaking of which, let’s do a bit of work right now.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling as we learn of yet another school shooting in Texas.
I understand Senator Bob Menendez has reintroduced the Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act, which would require the ATF and FBI to collect, preserve, and disclose gun records and gun tracing data. It also amends appropriations laws like the Tiahrt Amendment to remove limitations on the authority of the ATF to conduct activities related to the administration of federal firearms laws. This will help stop shootings and it’ll help stop crime—every Senator should support it. Will the Senator sign on as a co-sponsor? Its bill number is S. 598.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling as we learn of yet another school shooting in Texas.
I understand Rep Barbara Lee is reintroducing the Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act, which would require the ATF and FBI to collect, preserve, and disclose gun records and gun tracing data. It also amends appropriations laws like the Tiahrt Amendment to remove limitations on the authority of the ATF to conduct activities related to the administration of federal firearms laws. This will help stop shootings and it’ll help stop crime—every Congressmember should support it. Will the Congressmember sign on as a co-sponsor? It doesn’t yet have a bill number in the House but in the Senate it is S. 598.
Extra Credit ✅
Today let’s join the Newton Alliance and call House and Senate Democrats who have not yet co-sponsored the Assault Weapons Ban (S.25 / H.R.698). We can call just one of them, three of them, or all of them! Anything you can do will help—especially if they happen to be your rep! We’ll make them aware that this Friday, students from across the country are rallying at the Capitol for the passage of the Assault Weapons Ban Act. These lawmakers’ names are on a list of lawmakers student advocates will be calling out and we are urging them to cosponsor the AWB before Friday’s rally.
Senate holdouts are here and House holdouts are here.
Say:
Hi, My name is _______________ and I am a (gun violence survivor/gun owner/veteran/faith leader/educator/practitioner/law enforcement family member and) advocate with Newtown Action Alliance.
I’m calling as we learn of yet another school shooting, this time in Texas.
Today’s youth have grown up under the shadow of gun violence. And this Friday, students across the country will rally at the Capitol for the passage of the assault weapons ban.
I urge Senator/Congressmember _______ to take action to remove him/herself from the list of lawmakers these young advocates will be calling out by cosponsoring the Assault Weapons Ban before Friday.
[If Senator:] Your office can contact Sean Nadel in Senator Feinstein’s office to cosponsor today.
[If House rep:] Your office can contact Larson Binzer in Congressman Cicilline’s office to cosponsor today.
[H/T and much more info here. There’s also a spreadsheet in this doc where you can record the outcome of your calls if you like.]
Get Smart! 📚
For those of you who are newer to my newsletter I wanted to put in another plug for the Climate Action Now app. It makes it incredibly easy to take effective action on climate every day, and the actions it provides are smart, often specific to your locale, and *very* well curated.
Watch this short video tutorial about how the app works, and then download it here. You’ll love it, I promise!
Spread the Word! 📣
The White House is going on a weeklong “offensive” to highlight different awful provisions in the budget put forward by the far-right House Freedom Caucus (this is, so far, the only GOP budget proposal we have). They would appreciate your help amplifying their attacks:
House Freedom Caucus' Extreme Proposals Would Endanger Public Safety:
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus has made their priorities clear: imposing devastating cuts to public safety and increasing costs for working- and middle-class families, all to protect and extend tax breaks skewed to the wealthy and big corporations. Combined with other commitments extreme MAGA House Republicans have already made, the extreme Freedom Caucus proposal would be a disaster for families. See full talking points below and help us lift this key coverage:
NBC: White House to counter GOP's soft-on-crime attacks by targeting far-right budget plan
Fox News: White House blasts House Freedom Caucus budget plan, claims it would hurt border security and cut CBP staff
Win Races—TRAVEL! 🗳
Are you interested in traveling to Wisconsin to knock on doors for the April 4th election, but unsure of where to stay or with whom to canvass?
Well, I just met with the Fieldwork Coordinator of Common Power, and I’m really excited about what they’re doing. Basically, they organize field(work) trips to battleground states to go canvass in groups, and they’re organizing such a trip right now into Wisconsin for the 4/4 election! They’ll be there election week (March 30th - April 5th) and they’d love you to join them.
Here’s their blurb:
A Common Power fieldwork trip is a political learning experience consisting of voter engagement, political education, and leadership development. That’s why our travel into communities to talk with voters includes learning about local history from experts on the ground, and building understanding across race and age differences within our team. At Common Power we go further together.
To learn more about Common Power and how you can travel to Wisconsin with us, we invite you to join our online community here.
To sign up for travel to Wisconsin go here.
If you have any questions reach out to Pouya Souri: pouya@commonpower.org
This seems like a really great organization. If you can’t go to Wisconsin this time but want to be kept in the loop about future trips signing up here will put you on their list.
Win Races—Send Texts! 💻
All On The Line’s Voter Mobilization Text Bank
TODAY, Monday, Mar 20th, 6:00pm-8:00pm CT
All On The Line is a brilliant, fantastic and important pro-democracy organization on a mission to end gerrymandering.
This text bank will remind voters to get to the polls. All the responses are pre-written and you’re partnering with All On The Line volunteers. They provide the numbers, the platform and all the inspiration you’ll need.
Sign up here for today or for a future Monday. This textbank is occurring every week between now and April 4th!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to President Biden] [H/T and H/T] Quick send: text SIGN PWRWDG to 50409]
I’m writing in deep alarm that an extremist judge in Texas is signaling his readiness to ban one of the two safe and effective medications that comprise a medication abortion protocol.
As I’m sure you’re aware, 53% of all abortions in the US are medication abortions. This is a safe and effective procedure that’s been used for over 20 years in the US. These medications are safer, in fact, than Tylenol or Penicillin. Without this access to medication abortion, even in states where it’s still legal abortion access will be greatly reduced. This is a devastating possibility.
It also represents a chilling moment for our country. Those of us who are capable of getting pregnant—or who love someone who is—are terrified. Our rights are being systematically stripped away. We need to hear from you!
How will you restore women’s access to medical abortion when Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk takes it away? What will you do to safeguard reproductive rights? Half of America is under attack. We need to know what you’ll do to protect us.
I look forward to a strong and immediate response. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
In addition to phoning and visiting the local office of your legislator, one can even set up a zoom call with the representative or staff member, allowing more constituents from a wider area to attend, especially those who still need to isolate to keep well. One of our local political groups has a quarterly zoom meeting with one of our US Senators. Mostly it is a staff person or two talking to the group, but occasionally, when available, the Senator drops in for a brief visit by joining the zoom call from their office in DC.
When you set up a regular schedule with your representative, they become very aware of you and really listen to what you want. Several dozen local women formed a group over 15 yrs ago to work on local issues, and some of us would drop into our County Board of Supervisors meetings any time they were discussing something we were interested in. It was always so fun for the group to enter the Board chambers and watch all the Supervisors suddenly sit upright and snap to attention as we entered. They knew who we were, and they expected us to present well thought out opinions and options to the issue at hand. And they knew the influence we had with other voters because of our years of work in the community. So our opinions always carry a lot of weight with them.
As more and more dark money flows to our Congress Critters, and their personal wealth increases, doesn’t it seem like an extreme conflict of interest for them to be voting tax breaks for the wealthy while the “average” American bears the burden of taxation??
I see this system as fundamentally flawed, and should be called out.