Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
Yesterday I went to my weekly Sunrise phonebank for Jessica Cisneros. I talked to dozens of voters—it was incredible. Once again—and I know I sound like a broken record—I left so unbelievably uplifted. Y’all, I really can’t emphasize enough how vital it is to my spiritual and emotional wellbeing to be working to help good Democrats win right now.
Yes, I meant to write that: to my spiritual and emotional wellbeing.
The news is a fire hose of infuriating and/or anxiety-provoking headlines right now. It can literally make us sick. Sitting and reading it, scrolling through social media, getting email after email telling us “we’re sunk”—it can really wear a person down. This, in turn, makes us want to give up. Which dooms us to more bad news. It’s a cycle we cannot afford.
The antidote? Getting OFF of the news and into action. Helping elect decent humans—and oust the poisonous, greedy jerks they’re running to replace—is the medicine that heals.
Calling my reps is also critical, but at a time when Congress feels so stalled, the additional action of working to FIX it feels really vital. And it does what calling my reps doesn’t—it puts me around others doing the same work, and gives me HOPE!
So please, try it. Make no mistake, this is the battle of our lives. We can win it, but only by moving those feet and working to win elections. (Need a full on, no-holds-barred pep talk about this? I talked at Big Tent this week and, if I do say so myself, gave a pretty good summary of why we’re NOT sunk if we do the work. I’ve got it for you here! Starts at 2:45.)
Thanks for all you’ve done and all you will do, my dears. YOU are the heroes of this story. Every one of you.
Now let’s get to work.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling because it’s Earth Week, and Congress is essentially doing nothing to address the climate crisis. I’m furious about it. I want the Senator to immediately sign on to co-sponsor S.3167 the Fossil Free Finance Act, and S.1115, the Keep it in the Ground Act.
Beyond that I want us to start acting like this is the emergency that it is. We need to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industry, stop drilling on public lands, and get ourselves onto renewables as soon as humanly possible. To do anything less is like sitting in a burning building and saying “a few more bundles of wood won’t hurt.” It’s insane. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling because it’s Earth Week, and Congress is essentially doing nothing to address the climate crisis. I’m furious about it. I want the Congressmember to immediately sign on to co-sponsor H.R.2519, the Keep it in the Ground Act and H.R.5253, the Fossil Free Finance Act.
Beyond that I want us to start acting like this is the emergency that it is. We need to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industry, stop drilling on public lands, and get ourselves onto renewables as soon as humanly possible. To do anything less is like sitting in a burning building and saying “a few more bundles of wood won’t hurt.” It’s insane. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
Send this to President Biden through his comment form. (You can also call the switchboard for a short time today at 202-456-1111.) Be sure to personalize! [H/T]
When you campaigned in the New Hampshire primary you promised: “No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.” Now you are offering new leases to Big Oil on federal land, when you should be using this emergency to accelerate a crucial Democratic goal since the days of the Carter administration: to shift away from fossil fuels towards green, renewable energy.
To combat Ukraine-war-related inflation, call the heads of all the oil companies to the White House and demand that they explain why their profits are at record levels. When the price of oil goes up, we see immediate increases in the price of gas, but when the price of oil goes down, we don’t see gas prices decrease. If they won’t meet with you, then go after them on the stump. Go out to Exxon headquarters and talk about it. If they refuse to stop their price-gouging, use the Defense Production Act to impose price controls. We MUST aggressively move off of fossil fuels now! Thanks.
Get Smart! 📚
Did you miss the Daniel Squadron States Project event last week? Guess what? There is an encore event on Sunday, May 1 at 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
In this webinar Squadron lays out the vital importance of state legislative races in every aspect of our lives and explains why they’re critical to protecting our elections and democracy.
Come hear how The States Project is laser-focused on helping protect the integrity of our national elections. Squadron is truly amazing. You won’t want to miss this.
You can click here to register.
Win Races! 🗳
Activate America has two easy GOTV campaigns you may be interested in!
In North Carolina, they’re texting voters for the next four Mondays to remind them that early voting is underway, and urging them to vote for Cheri Beasley, the Democratic consensus candidate in the North Carolina Democratic Senate primary. This is an important open seat, and Beasley is an inspiring candidate who actually outperformed Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Sign up here.
In Georgia, they’re postcarding voters urging them to vote when early voting starts on May 2nd. There, U.S. Senator Ralph Warnock, who we helped elect in 2020, is on the ballot again (he won in a special election), and we must do everything we can to hold this hard fought seat. Sign up here.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps and President Biden] [adapted from Robert Hubbell’s newsletter] [Quick send: Congress: text SIGN PALYWD to 50409 and Biden: text SIGN PLIRTL to 50409]
I understand that there is nearly $100 billion of frozen Russian government funds currently sitting in American banks. I’m writing to demand that President Biden repurpose this money for the benefit of Ukraine.
Because the funds have been frozen, Putin will never be able to access that money. The option of “repurposing” the money is available to Biden under current law without further action by Congress.
To quote Laurence Tribe:
“It is a scandal for that vast sum to remain frozen rather than immediately melted down into both swords and plowshares to help rescue and rebuild Ukraine, turning Russia’s largely ill-gotten gains against that government’s cruel and barbaric rape of an entire nation… Liquidating [the funds] now would not only be likely the fastest way to increase American aid to Ukraine without further burdening and fatiguing American taxpayers. It would also send a potent signal that the United States is committed to making even the world’s most powerful states pay for their war crimes.”
Although the idea may seem radical, the U.S. has used similar measures against Iraq (2003), Iran (2012), and Venezuela (2019). Putin’s brutal war against the Ukrainian people justifies using Russian government assets to rebuild Ukraine and compensate its people for the illegal actions of Russia.
This single action may change the course of the war and preserve Ukraine’s status as a sovereign nation. The President needs to do it now. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess