Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/9

Rep. Don Beyer says CALL!!

Hi, all, and happy Friday!

I thought you might enjoy the above video—it’s a short clip of my conversation with VA Rep. Don Beyer (sorry I misspelled his name in yesterday’s newsletter). I asked him not just whether our calls work, but also what methods of outreach are most effective. I think you’ll find his answer fascinating!

In unrelated news, we have a new Pope! And MAGA hates him, which is all I need to know. It seems there isn’t an election we can’t win with Trump in office—even a Conclave! These continuous victories put a tiny silver lining on the horrific clouds we’re facing. The world rejects Trump and his minions as thoroughly as we do. A small comfort indeed.

Now on to what’s happening with Republicans’ disaster of a bill: They’re fighting, y’all! A lot. We’ve got the SALT Republicans fighting against the Non-SALT Republicans, the moderate Republicans, who are resisting Medicaid cuts, fighting the “fiscal hawks” who prefer slashing Medicaid to adding to the deficit, and, now, the “tax billionaires” guy (Trump, weirdly, for now) vs. essentially everyone else in the Republican party.

It’s a mess for them, and that’s good for us.

Still, we can never underestimate Republicans’ determination to coalesce eventually under the banner of “whatever Trump wants,” so we’ll keep operating under the assumption that, when push comes to shove, they’ll agree on something we hate.

So here are a few key reminders from the awesome folks at Fair Share America (I can’t block quote them because Substack won’t let us block quote bullet points, so I’m putting a dividing line at the beginning and end of their words:

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Intel Update

House Republicans have had to delay their previously scheduled committee markups for three key committees—likely to next week but TBD.

• House Agriculture Committee → jurisdiction over SNAP

• House Energy and Commerce Committee → jurisdiction over Medicaid

• House Ways & Means Committee → jurisdiction over Taxes

Their goal is still to pass the bill through the House by May 22, after which they go on Memorial Day recess.

While we don’t yet have the details of what Republicans plan to include in their bills, we know they are meeting behind closed doors this week to discuss specifics. But they are doing so without input from their constituents or the public, meaning that we may not know the specifics of how they will cut Medicaid and SNAP to fund tax giveaways to billionaires until the day before the markups.

What we can do: DIVIDE & DELAY

• Encourage moderates to stand up to budget cuts

• Encourage fiscal hawks to stand on their principals and not vote for deficit financed tax cuts

• Amplify and tell as many constituent stories from constituents as possible

• MAKE NOISE

Key reminders:

• Committees will have to post legislative text at least 24 hours before they mark up legislation.

• We’re still in a preliminary phase here—whatever these committees pass then has to then be passed by a majority of the full House on the floor and then that bill will ultimately likely need to be reconciled with whatever bill the Senate might ultimately pass.

• The Senate is on their own path and they’ve yet to formally begin compiling the bill, but they are meeting behind closed doors and many have said they don’t like what’s coming out of the House.

• While attention is on the House right now, it’s important we also continue weighing in with Senators who can serve as a counterweight to their House colleagues. We know the Senate needed different instructions for compiling a bill because they didn’t want to follow the House’s blueprint, so if we can maintain irreconcilable differences between the House and Senate, we could potentially drag this out deep into the summer.

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See the strategy, here? Divide, delay, and disperse information to everyone we know about how awful this whole package is. Don’t forget to send friends the tool to look up how many people in their district will be affected by Republicans’ desired cuts—it’s so helpful!

One last thing—a bit of great news: A federal judge has just ordered the release of Rumeysa Ozturk! Bravo! I like to think that public outrage—including yours—helped with this.

Progress, folks. It’s everywhere, if we look for it.

So, knowing how effective our advocacy is, let’s go do it one more time!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I’m calling for a couple of reasons:

First, what is the Senator doing about our air travel crisis? Because the Trump administration’s rank incompetence is going to lead to catastrophe. This is literally all their fault: first, the FAA was left without leadership after Musk forced the Administrator to resign. Then Trump fired TSA’s leadership and dismantled the Aviation Security Advisory Committee. Then Trump offered air traffic controllers buyouts even though we had a nationwide staffing shortage. And now Americans are terrified to fly. Congress needs to act.

Also, I’m seeing increasingly alarming footage of ICE arrests around the country. These officers wear masks, show no ID, are often brutal when conducting arrests, and seem accountable to no one. What the hell is happening in this country?Abusing immigrants doesn’t make us safer—it just makes us evil. We need hearings into ICE’s unlawful behavior. Will the Senator call for them?

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

[If GOP do both parts. If Dem part 1 is optional]

1. I am calling to ask the Congressmember to oppose ALL cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other vital programs in the Republican reconciliation bill. In our district alone, (FIND YOUR DISTRICT STATS HERE), [X] people rely on Medicaid and [X] on SNAP. Selling these folks out to pay for tax cuts for billionaires is horrific. Don’t do it. Thanks!

2. I’m alarmed by the Washington Post’s new reporting that Elon Musk and DOGE are creating a single database in which to gather ALL of Americans’ most sensitive and personal data. This is a disaster in the making and Congress needs to stop it NOW. Cyber security experts are horrified by this plan and so am I. Do your job. Make it stop. Keep DOGE out of my personal data. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

The Trump Administration has issued a new policy that would make it easy to fire hundreds of thousands of federal employees and replace them with political loyalists. This would make it easier to purge the government of the people and services that hold corporations accountable, protect labor rights, ensure clean air and water, provide healthcare and Social Security benefits, and enforce the safety regulations that took Americans out of the Gilded Age.

Use this AMAZING guide to submit a comment by May 23. It’s really important.

Get Smart! 📚

On Monday, May 12 at 10:30am ET please join the Center for American Progress for a conversation with Sen. Chris Van Hollen. He will discuss the Trump administration’s violations of due process and lay out a path forward that involves pushing back and leading with values.

The conversation will be moderated by CAP President and CEO Neera Tanden. It is the second event in CAP’s new series, “What’s Next: Conversations on the Path Forward,” which will bring leaders to CAP to offer ideas on how to respond to this moment.

RSVP here.

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

A great new organization called Defend America launched this week. I love them already. They send out multiple messaging emails a day—something I’ve wanted our side to do for a while—and their framing is GOOD. They’ll be a really handy tool in our arsenal going forward.

Here’s their messaging sheet on Trump’s new “trade deal” with the U.K. (Spoiler alert: it’s not really a thing.) They come with receipts.

Stop Bad Bills! 🗳

Join a virtual phone bank on May 15 to call North Carolina voters about opposing the GOP reconciliation plan!

Senator Thom Tillis will be one of the nation's most vulnerable Republicans in the 2026 midterms, so we’re urging NC voters to turn the temperature up on Tillis as we fight Trump’s Tax Scam. The virtual phone bank is open to volunteers nationwide via Scale To Win and includes training for those who need it.

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

[To: your Senators] [H/T Coleman Rogers] [Text SIGN PZMGXQ to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

The proposed nomination of Casey Means as the next Surgeon General raises significant concerns about her qualifications and fitness for such a critical public health role. As an influencer with a lapsed medical license, Means has promoted dangerous misinformation and unsubstantiated claims, including the assertion that the childhood vaccine schedule is linked to conditions like autism and Alzheimer's disease. These unfounded allegations directly contradict established medical consensus and could dangerously undermine public trust in vital immunization programs that protect children and communities.

Furthermore, Means' endorsement of pseudoscientific practices like communicating with "spirit mediums" and using psychedelic mushrooms as "plant medicine" calls into question her ability to uphold evidence-based policymaking as Surgeon General. Her close alignment with controversial figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has espoused anti-vaccine rhetoric, raises additional concerns about her potential to prioritize ideological agendas over sound public health guidance.

The role of Surgeon General demands an individual with impeccable medical credentials, a demonstrated commitment to scientific integrity, and the capacity to navigate complex health issues objectively and responsibly. Means' background as a wellness influencer who abandoned her medical training, coupled with her dissemination of misinformation, renders her wholly unfit for this esteemed position.

I urge you to oppose her nomination to protect the integrity of the office and ensure the nation's public health policies remain grounded in rigorous scientific evidence rather than unsubstantiated claims or ideological biases.

The American people deserve a Surgeon General they can trust to safeguard their well-being without compromising principles of medical ethics and scientific consensus.

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

Talk soon.

Jess