Chop Wood, Carry Water 4/14
The ICE funding fight is coming / last day to call about FISA / Call out DoorDash/ pass the BETS OFF Act / pass the PEACE Act / The Virginia Election is ONE WEEK AWAY!
Hi, all, and happy Tuesday.
Hope you’re all hanging in there.
I wanted to give you an update on what’s coming next with the budget fight. I’m going to do so by first sharing some information from an organization called Caring Across Generations. They advocate for Medicaid, and once again that program is in Republicans’ crosshairs, so they’re paying close attention.
From them:
Congress is considering the possibility of another reconciliation bill, following the massive reconciliation bill last year, H.R. 1, that gutted more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA in order to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest and big corporations and to fund the Administration’s mass deportation and detention agenda.
Some members of Congress are moving very fast, hoping to draft a proposal for a reconciliation bill by the week of April 20. This time, some members of Congress are considering going through reconciliation to provide even more mandatory funding to ICE and CBP, continuing to pour billions of dollars into immigration enforcement that inflicts violence and harm in our communities, or to further fund the war in Iran instead of investing in human needs. At this point, details on exact amounts that Congress could be looking to fund are up in the air, but some members of Congress, like the chair of the House Budget Committee, have voiced interest in paying for war and ICE by making even further cuts to Medicaid and other critical needs programs…
On timing, the House and Senate Budget Committees are negotiating right now to determine what they will include in their potential reconciliation. Everything is very fluid, so this timing could change. The anticipated timing is below:
—The Senate wants to introduce and pass a budget resolution, the first procedural step to moving forward a reconciliation bill, the week of April 20th.
—The House would take up the resolution the following week, the week of April 27th.
—Congress will recess the week of May 4th.
—The Senate is aiming to pass a reconciliation bill the week of May 11th.
—The House would aim to pass the reconciliation bill the week of May 18th.
—June 1st: The President’s self-imposed goal to have a bill on his desk.
So that’s the basic situation. Republicans can’t force Democrats to vote to fund DHS the old-fashioned way (through appropriations) because Democrats are demanding changes to ICE in exchange for those votes. So Republicans will try to get that funding via reconciliation. Once they feel confident of success, they claim, they’ll pass a bill to fund the rest of DHS through regular order. It’s not the way things are supposed to work—at all—but it’s how they’re doing it because, well, they don’t care about anything but pleasing Trump.
That’s why we’re going to vote so many of them out in November, friends.
In the meantime, our next big job is in front of us: to try to make these ICE and DOD expenditures—and their coincident cuts—so costly electorally that Republicans won’t pass them. We’re going to have to make a huge amount of noise to achieve this, though, as it’s difficult to get Republicans to split from Trump. As his approval ratings continue to tank, however, and the economy continues to go with them, we may stand a chance.
Either way, I wanted you to have a brief synopsis of what’s likely to happen over the next few weeks, and when. It’s going to be a scramble, as well as an uphill climb, but we’ve got a real chance of stopping them if we organize and work together.
So let’s do that! Starting by making our calls right now!
Oh, also, the FISA reauthorization vote is TOMORROW in the House. Please make those calls, too! We really could prevail, but it’s going to be close! More on that below.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
First, I know that Congress is starting to put together a new reconciliation bill, to pass more funding for ICE, CBP, and Trump’s illegal war. The plan seems to be to pay for this by cutting Medicaid further. This is an absolutely terrible idea and a complete non-starter for me. I expect the Senator to oppose any more funding for ICE, CBP, or the Pentagon, and any more cuts to Medicaid. I’ll be watching this vote closely. Thanks.
Second, please ask the Senator to support S. 4115, the BETS OFF Act, to regulate prediction markets and block insider trading. Political wagering on prediction market platforms can be easily abused, and restrictions need to be enacted to stop government insiders from manipulating political events for personal profit. Thanks. [H/T]
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
First, please ask the Congressmember to oppose a clean reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA. Section 702’s numerous loopholes allow for unwarranted government surveillance and can be easily manipulated at the expense of Americans’ civil liberties. The Congressmember should only support its extension with significant reforms. [H/T]
Second, I know that Congress is starting to put together a new reconciliation bill, to pass more funding for ICE, CBP, and Trump’s illegal war. The plan seems to be to pay for this by cutting Medicaid further. This is an absolutely terrible idea and a complete non-starter for me. I expect the Senator to oppose any more funding for ICE, CBP, or the Pentagon, and any more cuts to Medicaid. I’ll be watching this vote closely. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
DoorDash inserted themselves into politics yesterday by participating in a PR stunt involving Trump and a DoorDash driver (who may or may not have been a paid plant) in a photo op. I personally deleted the app this morning. They had a choice about participating in anything havong to do woth this adminstration. They chose wrong.
If you feel like contacting them to tell them how you feel about it it seems like Threads or Instagram is the best place (they’re not on Bluesky and on FB they have no messaging enabled). You can also do it through the app before you delete it.
Say something simple like:
Allowing DoorDash drivers to take part in government propaganda is wrong. Participating in any kind of PR for an administration that is lawless, vicious, and dangerous is disgusting. I will spend my dollars where my values are respected. I won’t be using DoorDash again.
Get Smart! 📚
I did an interview with Drop Site News yesterday about tomorrow’s FISA vote and the dangers of passing a “clean” bill. It’s not long, and there are two super smart privacy advocates on the panel with me. Please watch and/or share! We MUST stop this re-authorization until FISA has been fixed!
Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣
Americans For Tax Fairness has put together a great social media toolkit for tax day (tomorrow). There are a ton of well composed posts, and a lot of good graphics below those that you can download and share (one is at the top of this newsletter). Please use this toolkit liberally to remind people of how rigged our system is right now.
Win Races! 🗳
Activate America is hosting two final phone banks into VA, both focused on reaching registered Black women voters and ensuring they have accurate information and a clear plan to vote ahead of the April 21 special election. Both also feature very special guests.
You can join them:
Friday, April 17 at 3:00–4:30 PM ET / Noon-1:30 PM PT featuring Rep. Jennifer McClellan. RSVP HERE.
Monday, April 20 at 3:00–4:30 PM ET / Noon-1:30 PM PT featuring Rep. Lauren Underwood. RSVP HERE.
This could be a very close election, and as they so often are in American politics, polls indicate that Black women might be the margin of victory. They’re also among the demographics most likely to be shared misinformation by nefarious actors. Please help if you can.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: all 3 reps] [H/T Mary on Resistbot] [Text SIGN PMDFZG to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]
(Note that for the most effective RESISTBOT it’s best to personalize this text. More about how to do this here. But if you’re short on time just send it as is using the above code.)
Senator Mark Kelly's PEACE ACT: S4278—please sponsor it, please vote for it.
Trump's ongoing usurpation of congressional powers is an abomination. Congress needs to reassert those powers, item by item and issue by issue if necessary.
"Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced the Prohibiting Expenditures for an Accountability-Circumventing Entity (PEACE) Act to prohibit federal funding for the Board of Peace—an unaccountable international organization with President Trump as chairman that he is using to funnel over a billion dollars in American taxpayer money with no congressional oversight, treaty, or guardrails.
The Trump administration designated the Board of Peace as a public international organization in January 2026 and has since transferred $1.25 billion in federal funds meant for international disaster relief and peacekeeping operations—without congressional authorization or appropriation.
Unlike every other international organization the United States funds, U.S. participation in the Board of Peace was established by neither treaty nor act of Congress, meaning that it is not accountable to the American people."
This bill helps to rein in illegal executive expenditure. It should not be be necessary to legislate to defend the constitution, but it is: this legislation is necessary, appropriate, and aligned with your sworn oath to defend the constitution.
Please declare your support and vote for it.
A vote against it would be a betrayal of your oath and duty.
OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
BUT if he keeps the war(s) going and he will, he can cancel elections, so I hear.
Sadly, my House Rep couldn’t care less. He literally compared the J6 pardons to Biden pardoning his son. It’s a complete joke calling or writing, I’ve been doing it for a Year!