Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/16

A Friday short one!

Hi, all, and happy Friday!

I’m at the airport waiting for a very delayed flight into—you guessed it!—Newark airport! God help me! I’m going to dash this off rather quickly so I can get it out before we take off, so pardon any typos.

In response to yesterday’s discussion about getting more people involved in taking action, a few of you shared excellent, self-created documents; I want to share them now with all of you! There’s some awesome stuff!

Here’s one from reader Carole M., who said:

I wrote this document to get more people involved. Sent it to hundreds of people who are now forwarding it. Some folks just don’t know where to start so I hoped this would be helpful.

It’s terrific!

Here are two version of cards to be handed out at protests.

From subscriber Susan G.:

Two sided protest handout

3.79MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

And from subscriber (and friend) Katy H.:

Copy Of Be A Catalyst For Change Blackandwhite (2)

458KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Finally, someone else—I’m sorry I can’t remember who— shared a great document called “Breaking the Fourth Wall” that suggests ways to start conversations with strangers who might like to join our movement.

These are all terrific resources! Please use any or all of them, or steal the ideas to create your own!

On a related note, several people responded in the comments to yesterday’s post that they don’t feel comfortable RSVPing to protests for privacy reasons. That’s fine. The important thing is that you go! Organizers like to have an idea of how many people they can expect, but they’re well aware that many will show who didn’t sign up. It isn’t a big deal. The important thing is our attendance—not whether we commit to that attendance ahead of time, and in writing.

Now on to today’s news. We’ve got a big headline! As many of you have likely heard, the House Budget Committee voted down Speaker Johnson's reconciliation bill this morning, dealing at least a temporary setback to Trump and Johnson’s agenda.

Why did five Republicans—Reps. Ralph Norman, Chip Roy, Josh Brecheen, Andrew Clyde and Lloyd Smucker)— all vote against the bill? Have they found their humanity? Summoned some common decency?

Not at all! These far-right members of the Republican House Caucus are appalled that the bill doesn’t cut Medicaid enough. They say they won’t support it until deeper cuts are made, and until Biden’s clean energy tax credits are gutted more thoroughly.

Nice people, these.

Now, the delay—and the humiliation of Mike Johnson—are encouraging news, but I just learned (via Punchbowl) that “the House Budget Committee is planning to reconvene Sunday at 10 p.m. to vote again on Republicans' reconciliation package. That's the goal as long as the House GOP leadership is able to come to a deal with four conservative holdouts who blocked the bill in today's committee vote.”

So there’s a lot more to come. My guess is these hardliners will cave when Trump leans on them, and that the bill will eventually pass in Committee as currently structured. But who the heck knows? Either way it’ll then have to go to the Senate, where it faces a whole new set of hurdles. We have, in short, a long way to go in this fight.

Our job, fortunately, remains the same. We’ll keep calling relentlessly to make Republicans understand that if they vote for this bill they’ll be out of a job in a year and a half—or whenever they’re next up for re-election. We know that lives are at stake. We know that Republicans should be more afraid of us than they are of Trump or Musk. We know our ever-expanding power.

It’s time for them to know it, too.

And they will, if we stay unified and don’t let up.

So let’s get to work one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that some House Republicans have rejected the reconciliation bill because it doesn’t go far enough in cutting Medicaid. I’m going to tell you why I reject it, and why the Senator should, too. Because it’s cruel. Because it’ll ravage our healthcare system. Because it cuts 300B in nutritional assistance for the poorest families. Because it commits 60B to terrorizing immigrants. Because it sells off our public lands, reverses clean energy credits that are creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, gives AI free rein over American workers, devastates student borrowers, makes $50 billion in cuts to the Federal Employee Retirement System and decimates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It sucks, Americans hate every part of it, and the Senator needs to oppose it. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

I understand that some House republicans have rejected the reconciliation bill because it doesn’t go far enough in cutting Medicaid. I’m going to tell you why I reject it, and why the Congressmember should, too. Because it’s cruel. Because it’ll ravage our healthcare system. Because it commits 60B to terrorizing immigrants. Because it cuts 300B in nutritional assistance for the poorest families. Because it sells off our public lands, reverses clean energy credits that are creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, gives AI free rein over American workers, devastates student borrowers, makes $50 billion in cuts to the Federal Employee Retirement System and decimates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It sucks and the Congressmember needs to oppose it. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Apparently Hakeem Jeffries is trying to block Jasmine Crockett from gaining the ranking Democrat position on the House Oversight Committee. Let’s call him and tell him to back off. She’s the right person for the job.

‭(202) 225-5936‬

‭(718) 237-2211‬

‭(718) 373-0033‬

We can say something like:

My name is ____ and I”m calling Rep. Jeffries in his capacity as Minority Leader. I understand he’s trying to elevate Rep. Stephen Lynch over Rep. Jasmine Crockett to be the new ranking member of the Oversight Committee. THIS is exactly what makes everyone so mad at the Democratic party. Voters want Rep. Crockett in that position. This shouldn’t be hard. Elevating an older, white man over Jasmine Crockett in this moment would be a political mis-step of epic proportions. It’s also just wrong. Don’t do it. Thanks.

Stop a bad crypto bill!

The GENIUS Act is back, and it’s got to be stopped. It’s a catastrophic bill that would allow billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk to create, market, and profit from risky stablecoins, all with barely any federal oversight. You can get a taste of how bad it is by reading this blog.

The key Democrats supporting this bill are GILLIBRAND, GALLEGO, AND ALSOBROOKS. Yuck! They need to hear from their constituents. So if one of them represents you please tell them you oppose the GENIUS Act and they should, too.

And everyone can use this Action Network campaign to send a letter to their Senators.

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

[To: all three reps] [H/T 5 Calls] [Text SIGN PGRDAM to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

Please vote NO on the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), H.R. 833/S. 292, a bill that would divert $10 billion per year from public education to fund private school vouchers through a 100% tax credit scheme.

This unprecedented tax break allows the wealthy to fully offset their donations to scholarship-granting organizations, effectively turning public funds into private school subsidies.

ECCA lacks accountability measures. It allows funds to flow to private institutions that can discriminate against students and ignore curriculum standards without having to report educational outcomes. This will exacerbate educational disparities, particularly affecting students with disabilities and those from low-income communities. Public schools, which serve 90% of American children, will lose critical resources, leading to larger class sizes, program cuts, and school closures.

The bill’s structure also opens new avenues for tax avoidance, such as donating appreciated stocks to evade capital gains taxes. It’s terrible, and I expect you to oppose it. Thanks!

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

Talk soon.

Jess