thisfinecrew | Entries tagged with congress

Democrats Successfully Strip All Anti-Trans Riders From Final Appropriations Bills.

Now would be a great time to tell your Democratic representatives that you saw the party protecting trans people, and that you approve and want them to keep doing that. If your reps are Republicans, I guess tell them to stop putting discriminatory clauses in the budget?

gingicat

Well, the government shutdown happened. What resources are out there for those dependent on the services that just disappeared?

Current Mood: angry

watersword

H.R.5106 - Restore Trust in Congress Act is bipartisan legislation that aims to ban Members of Congress and their families from engaging in insider trading. The supervising ethics office will impose penalties and issue any additional guidance, as well as publicly disclose fines that will be set to 10% of the stock’s asset value, plus disgorged profits.

The STOCK Act of 2012 has helped expose the extent of potential conflicts of interest and provided the public with transparency into lawmakers’ financial activities, but a lack of enforcement has stopped it from achieving the goal of curbing insider trading.

(In related anti-corruption legislation: Close the Revolving Door Act of 2025, legislation that would impose a lifetime ban on former Members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.)

Contact your representative.

watersword

The Don’t Stand for Taking Employed Americans’ Livings (Don’t STEAL) Act is being reintroduced to Congress; it would make wage theft a felony nationwide.

Wage theft costs American workers more than $50 billion annually. That is more than the value of all robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts combined.

Contact your representative and tell them to co-sponsor and commit to voting yes on this.

fabrisse

I no longer live in the District of Columbia. But, in more ways than I can say, the District is home. The District in my opinion (and per my vote in 2016) deserves statehood. I hope in my lifetime to read about the election for the first governor of Douglass Commonwealth.

The President's imposition of martial law -- which is what using military for police functions is -- in the District is made possible by racism. DC is majority-minority. Although the black population is below 50% of the total these days, the white population is still under 40% of the total population of the District.

As a former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (an unpaid, non-partisan, local elected position), I can tell you that the crime rate went up during the 2008-10 recession, but was still nowhere near the rates found from 1975-1995. Violent crimes have continued to decrease. Robbery and theft go up when unemployment goes up, but the overall rates are still low. Rarely are tourists affected by any crime, though there was a spate of purse snatchings in the early 2010s.

What Trump and his supporters detest is the fact that most DC police are black. It's a disconnect for them. For too many, black=criminal and white=police. By calling in the National Guard and the other police forces associated with the District (Capitol Police, Metro Police, the US Marshalls, FBI Police...), Trump is attempting to make the optics match his expectations. There are indications that New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Oakland (all of which have minority mayors, all of which are in states whose electoral votes went to his opponents) will probably be next if he gets away with it in DC.

The President also resents that DC's electoral votes have gone to his opponents in all three elections. Even people who loathed Hillary Clinton voted for her in DC because we recognized that she was a fundamentally serious person and our current president is not.

I am asking everyone to call or email their Senators (or Congress people) and object to this blatant misuse of the military. If you can object as a veteran who recognizes that this isn't the military's purview, that's great. If you want to object on Constitutional lines, before DC had home rule, Congress -- mostly the Senate -- had the right of rule over the District of Columbia. Even Republican Senators should be willing to guard their own rights to shape and control the District. That power has never really belonged to the Executive.

For anyone who's interested, DC voted in favor of statehood in a 2016 referendum. Among other items, it gave us the potential future name of Douglass Commonwealth so that we could retain DC for postal services. If you think we're too small, by area to be a state, we're larger than the three smallest countries in the world. If you think we lack population, we have more people than Vermont or Wyoming, and we're within spitting distance of Alaska.

Overall, DC paid income tax of $45,243,625 (in thousands of dollars) in Fiscal 2024. North Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont, and Puerto Rico combined paid income tax of $44,810,347 (in thousands of dollars). The District of Columbia deserves a say in how U.S. tax dollars are spent.

Please call your Senators and/or Representative to object to the deployment of the National Guard in DC.

fabrisse

There are 17 medical professionals in the current House of Representatives. 11 are Republicans. Trying to argue on most issues with the bill is difficult with such a tight deadline, but the one item most people -- including Congressional Representatives -- are reacting to negatively is the closure of Rural and Regional hospitals. This should be a negative for all of the Republicans, but the ones who understand what lack of medical provision can do should be especially ripe to listen, perhaps even be persuaded.

I live in Georgia. Rich McCormick is Georgia District 6, and I live in District 1. But he's more likely to respond to someone from the same state, especially if he has Senate or Gubernatorial ambitions in the future.

The list I found is through The Patients Action Network. If you are in a District with one of these Republican representatives, particularly if they specialize in Emergency or Family medicine, start calling and/or emailing. If you are in the same state, email them and let them know you have a long memory if they're thinking of statewide offices.

In the meantime, send support to the few Republicans in the House who have already voted against it and continue to oppose it. At the very least, let's make them miss their deadline for vacation.

petra

HR 9495 Again - Republicans want to label not-for-profits as terrorist orgs

This bill was defeated on 11/12/24, but it's not gone.

An article in the Intercept from 11/15 says they're bringing it up again ASAP.

I recommend checking to see whether your Representative opposed it the first time, praising or chiding them accordingly, and encouraging them to either keep doing what they're doing or change.

chestnut_pod

The Affordable Connectivity Program, which subsidizes Internet access and therefore makes Internet connections possible for many people, is set to run out of funding in about a week. The end of this program will cause many low-income people to lose Internet access; in my state alone, 1 in 5 households get rebates from the ACP, and many of them would be unable to continue to afford Internet without that support.

There is a very easy call and email script set up here:
https://dontdisconnectusday.good.do/dontdisconnectusday2/callacp2/

tanaqui

toastykitten left a great comment on our last check in post about two actions you can take to support pediatric cancer care.

Quoting from the post:

As pediatric cancers are very rare, there is often very little research and funding available, leaving many families stranded for support and care. [...] There are a few things that this community is asking support for:

1. Renewal of the Gabriella Miller 2.0 Kids First Research Act - this is the year it sunsets. This act supports funding and data gathering for kids with pediatric cancers and rare diseases.
2. Co-sponsor/support the Give Kids a Chance Act, HR3433, which provides for combinations of new cancer drugs for kids with cancer. This one does not cost taxpayers any money.

Both of these have been supported by both Republicans and Democrats, but there is a lack of awareness, as it's not an easy topic to broach for many people. My House Rep Swalwell, has pledged his commitment. So if you are so inclined, please send a message to your legislators!

tanaqui

satsuma left a comment on our sticky post flagging up S.2767 - SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act.

This legislation would change the amount an individual on SSI can save from $2,000 to $10,000, and the amount a family can save from $3,000 to $20,000. It would also adjust the limit for inflation in the future and exclude retirement savings.

This would ensure people on SSI aren't always teetering on the edge of disaster if they have just one unexpected expense, such as needing a repair to their assistive technology or needing to move home, as well as helping family members move into work or accept better jobs (or marry their long-term partners!) without risking the loss SSI benefits in the family.

There's more information in this article.

redbird

I saw via a Mastodon link that Republicans in Congress are trying to stop the federal government for paying for any gender-affirming health care. The person who posted about this urged people to write to our representatives, but I didn't see a link or suggested text.

So, I used my congresswoman and senators' web sites to write to them. This could probably be better written, but I think it's good enough. Slightly different phrasing for the House and the Senate. What I sent my senators is:

Republicans, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House, are trying to insert sweeping anti-trans language into must-pass funding bills. They want to stop the federal government from paying for any gender-affirming care. These anti-trans provisions are already in the House versions of the Health and Human Services and military appropriations bills.

This law would have a horrible effect on transgender people. People die by suicide when they can't get the care they need.

I suspect that's not a bug for them, but a feature--they literally want my friends dead. Please work to block this in the Senate.

What I sent Rep. Pressley is:

Republicans including Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to insert sweeping anti-trans language into must-pass funding bills. They want to stop the federal government from paying for any gender-affirming care. These anti-trans provisions are already in the House versions of the Health and Human Services and military appropriations bills.

This law would have a horrible effect on transgender people. People die by suicide when they can't get the care they need.

I suspect that's not a bug for them, but a feature--they literally want my friends dead. Please work to stop this.

Depending on whose district you're in, it might or might not be a good idea to emphasize that the cruelty is part of the point.

tanaqui

Has everyone enjoyed watching the red wave not arrive?

The Senate looks to have remained under Democrat control (assuming no Republican troublemaking over the races that have been called) but there's still a run-off in Georgia. Winning that would mean Senate business would suffer less from being held hostage by the usual suspects. So let's keep moving forwards with that!

Warnock's fundraiser is at:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/socialrunoff22

You can find links for the posts that were made for the 2020 run off at the comm's Georgia tag:
https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/tag/state:+georgia
(I haven't checked the links in the posts to see which still apply.)

The House looks like it will end up in Republican control — just. Which somewhat limits their ability to introduce and progress bad legislation. (Although I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty about Hunter Biden's laptop and other similar nonsense in special investigation committees.)

At this point, it looks like the main need for House races is any remaining ballot-curing work, so please leave links for that if you have them.

And, of course, please let us know about any other actions we can take.

Finally, let's celebrate those governor and state legislature wins, the rejection of abortion restrictions at state level and all the other good stuff that happened!

chestnut_pod

The EARN IT Act is the latest threat to open expression and privacy online. It is yet another anti-LGBT, anti-sex-worker, anti-privacy bill that supposedly aims to protect children, while actually making the situation worse. In this case, it would remove ability to send end-to-end encrypted messages: the end to privacy online.

Despite purporting to protect children from sexual exploitation, the EARN IT Act in fact will make online platforms less able to report and remove child pornography. Making platforms liable for content hosted on them actually makes companies less willing to do anything that involves trying to seek out, take down, and report CSAM, because of the greatly increased liability that comes with admitting that there is CSAM on the platform to search for and deal with. In the meantime, it will destroy Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the part that the ACLU regards as “foundational to modern online communications.” In destroying end-to-end encryption, EARN IT will also destroy the Internet as we know it, and continue chipping away at the right to privacy. It will also encourage platforms and far-right interest groups to label anything having to do with sexual health and sexual expression as dangerous pornography, ushering in an era of censorship and repression under the name of keeping children safe, all the while actually making the Internet less able to cope with the very real problem of CSEM. The EARN IT Act has been roundly condemned by nearly every major LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights organization in the country, and for good reason. It is based on fundamental misunderstandings of the law and reality.

Tumblr user

fullhalalalchemist has a much longer and more comprehensive description of the bill's aims and failings, as well as a bibliography of news analysis of the bill; I encourage you to go read it.

In order to contact your senators to prevent this bill's passing, you can:

- Call the Congressional hotline at: 202-224-3121
- Email your representatives in the House and Senate
- Send a Resistbot text-letter already written for you. Text SIGN PVLKLV to 50409.

beatrice_otter

Currently, in the US, federal law allows disabled people to be paid sub-minimum wages under certain conditions. That's right, disabled people can be paid less than the minimum wage, and it's perfectly legal! This exception was carved out of the minimum wage back when it was first implemented, because obviously nobody would ever be willing to pay disabled people a living wage, amirite? And they should be grateful to have any job at all, amirite? 😱

There is currently a bill before congress called the The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (TCIEA), which would end the discriminatory practice of subminimum wage, and give states and service providers the resources they need to create better employment support programs.

If you would like to contact your members of congress to encourage them to support TCIEA, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network has a handy widget to help you email them.

beatrice_otter

There are several bills in congress right now that affect US treatment of immigrants and refugees, and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee service has a handy-dandy widget to email or call your Senators/Representative in support of fair and just treatment. LIRS is a Christian organization, but it's easy enough to delete the one line stating your religious affiliation if you wish.

First up, we have the US Citizenship Act of 2021, Biden’s immigration reform proposal. Among its many provisions, it provides DACA and TPS recipients with green cards, setting them on a path to citizenship, improves the family reunification process by reducing visa backlogs, and creates a pathway to earned citizenship for approximately 11 million immigrants in the country without legal status. If you would like to support the Citizenship Act, contact your elected officials.

Second is The Protection of Kids in Detention Act, or PROKID Act, which would provide a critical layer of oversight and ensure transparency, protection, and accountability for all immigrant children in any type of government custody. It would create a permanent Office of the Ombudsman within the Department of Human and Health Services to act as an advocate, subject-matter expert, and independent authority responsible for ensuring that the rights afforded to children by the Flores Settlement Agreement, the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), and other relevant statutes are properly recognized, applied, and enforced. To support the PROKID Act, use this email widget to contact your elected officials.

Third, we have the The Guaranteed Refugee Admissions Ceiling Enhancement Act, or GRACE Act, would protect and restore the U.S. resettlement program by setting a minimum refugee admissions goal of 125,000 and increasing congressional oversight over the administration's operations of the resettlement program. To support the GRACE Act, use this email widget to contact your elected officials.

On a related note, if you would like to put pressure on your elected officials to move left, but don't know how, the website 5calls.org/ is an easy way to do it. They always have a list of issues at a national and state level, with information on the issue and a script to call with and a widget to get the right phone numbers for your elected officials.

beatrice_otter

If you have any desire to see either Native Americans' voices amplified, or oil companies' voices minimized, or both, and you are a US citizen, now is a great time to send a message to your US Senators asking them to confirm Rep. Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior is the department in charge of things like energy and environmental policy, and it's ALSO the department of which the Bureau of Indian Affairs is part. Having an Indigenous woman in charge of that department would be huge. Here's what the Lakota Law Project has to say about it:

[Today] is a huge day for Indian Country. At 9:30 a.m. EST, the United States Senate will begin deliberations on whether to confirm Indiegnous congresswoman Deb Haaland, President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior. Predictably and unfortunately, as a strong advocate for the environment and the first Native person nominated for a Cabinet-level position, she faces strong opposition from conservative senators who fear she’ll prioritize the protection of public lands over the oil companies who line their pockets at our expense.

That’s why it’s critical — right now — that we continue putting all the pressure we can on every U.S. senator to confirm her nomination. Please use this link and let your senators know it’s high time to put a highly qualified Native woman at the helm of the Interior Department. It’s time to protect sacred lands and water and make sure the federal government’s relationships with tribal governments are overseen by one who deeply understands all the issues we face.

The link leads you to a page with a widget to email your senators. It only takes a few minutes--please take this opportunity to push for things to keep moving in the right direction!

gingicat

From Patch.com:
Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is urging voters to hand deliver their mail-in ballots to drop boxes and election offices around the state, instead of dropping them in the mail, in an effort to ensure they arrive in time and are counted for the Sept. 1 primary.

The announcement comes as communities across the state are rallying to show support for their local post offices.

"If you are able to do so, the best way to ensure that your ballot is counted is to deliver it in person," Galvin said.

Ballots can be dropped off at early voting locations, and drop boxes outside of town halls and city halls around the state. But they must reach each voter's local election office by 8 p.m. on Sept. 1 in order to be counted.

The directory is here: Find My Election Office

There's also a form to see if your mail-in ballot has been received: Track My Ballot
Two of our three household ballots have been received.

tanaqui

Nancy Pelosi has called for confederate statues to be removed from the Capitol Building. In many cases, this is actually "up to the states", because each state can send up to two statues to be included in the National Statuary Hall Collection to "honor persons notable in their history."

You can find out which statues are representing your state and whether you need to contact your representatives to push for their removal at this site:

https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/national-statuary-hall-collection/nsh-location

gingicat

I was working at the polls yesterday. ( Read more... )

Now I'm writing to remind everyone that there is another primary in Massachusetts on September 1, for statewide offices and Congressional seats. The deadline to register or change your party affiliation is August 12. Among other offices, the US Senate seat is contested in the Democratic primary. There are not (yet?) early voting dates. See sec.state.ma.us for more information.

Current Mood: hopeful

tanaqui

As a big focus in 2020 will be on various kinds of elections, I've pulled together voting-related resources from the last three (!) years of

thisfinecrew. Many thanks to all the people who originally brought these links and organisations to the attention of the comm.

Targeted support for progressive candidates

SwingLeft (Lets you volunteer to support progressives in Swing Districts, no matter where you live)
Flippable and Local Majority (Both focused on targeting state legislatures where flipping a few seats can turn them blue -- putting Democrats in charge of the next round of redistricting in 2021)
Get Mitch or Die Trying (Donate to the eventual Democratic nominee in 10 seats that could be flipped and one that needs protecting)
Sister District (Matches volunteers in safe blue places with strategic state elections throughout the country)
Emily's List (Helping pro-choice Democratic women around the country run for office and win.)
Get Her Elected (arranges for volunteers to offer their skills pro bono to progressive women candidates running for office at all levels of U.S. government)
Run for Something (Recruiting and supporting young progressives)
314 Action (Encourages scientists to stand for office and helps them win)
Higher Heights (Investing in a long-term strategy to expand and support Black women’s leadership pipeline at all levels)
The Collective PAC (Supporting African American Candidates)

Get Out The Vote, voting suppression and voting reform

Postcards to Voters (A grassroots organization that sends hand-written postcards to potential progressive voters in competitive districts)
Vote Forward (Send letters to traditionally under-represented voters to encourage them to voite)
National Voter Registration Day (not until September 20, but they need money as well as volunteers)
Moms Vote (Engaging women, especially mothers, to vote through activities like postcard campaigns and phonebanking)
Multiply Your Vote (Volunteering opportunities to encourage people to vote)
ACLU (Various activities and campaigns around voting rights)
Fair Fight 2020 (Helping staff, fund, and train robust Democratic voter protection operations in battleground states)
VoterRiders (Helping every eligible voter to get the ID - and confidence - to vote)
866-OUR-VOTE (Works to advance and defend the right to vote and offers on the day support to people having trouble voting. See this post for details of how speakers of various languages can contact them)
Woke Vote (A collaborative of grassroots organizers in the South registering voters and canvassing neighborhoods)
League of Women Voters (Campaign to fight voter suppression)
Voto Latino (Provides culturally relevant programs that engage, educate and empower Latinos to be agents of change)
Color of Change (Working to raise the level of Black community involvement in the next election cycle)
#Knockeverydoor (Helps volunteers start door-to-door canvasses to help build a majority of voters for progressive causes)
Press for adoption of the National Popular Vote proposal

Keep an eye on your voter registration

Some states are very good at dropping eligible voters off their rolls during "normal" updates, so keep an eye on your registration (and remind others to do so).

You can use Vote.org to check your registration or use this awesome post on US Voter Information put together by

sathari to find links to a range of election information for your specific state.

Get involved locally

Why you should join your local political party
Find Democraic Events near you

If you know of any other organisations you think are worth supporting, let us know in comments.

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Never Give Up, Never Surrender

March 2026

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watersword - (no subject)
gingicat - government shutdown
watersword - H.R.5106 - Restore Trust in Congress Act
watersword - Tell your reps to support the Don't STEAL Act.
fabrisse - The National Guard in DC
fabrisse - Ideas to block the current bill
petra - HR 9495 Again - Republicans want to label not-for-profits as terrorist orgs
chestnut_pod - Call Congress to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program
tanaqui - Actions: support for pediatric cancer care
tanaqui - Action: Contact your reps about S.2767 - SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act
redbird - federal funding for transgender health care
tanaqui - Post-election post/Georgia Run-Off
chestnut_pod - Blocking the EARN IT Act
beatrice_otter - End sub-minimum wages for people with disabilities
beatrice_otter - US Politics: Immigration Issues
beatrice_otter - A Native American to head the Department of the Interior?
gingicat - MA: Drop off your mail-in ballot
tanaqui - Action: Ask for confederate statues to be removed from Congress
gingicat - thank you for voting yesterday!
tanaqui - Election Resources Roundup

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Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Links and Positive Action for the next Four Years

Entries tagged with congress

(no subject)

government shutdown

H.R.5106 - Restore Trust in Congress Act

Tell your reps to support the Don't STEAL Act.

The National Guard in DC

Ideas to block the current bill

HR 9495 Again - Republicans want to label not-for-profits as terrorist orgs

Call Congress to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program

Actions: support for pediatric cancer care

Action: Contact your reps about S.2767 - SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act

federal funding for transgender health care

Post-election post/Georgia Run-Off

Blocking the EARN IT Act

End sub-minimum wages for people with disabilities

US Politics: Immigration Issues

A Native American to head the Department of the Interior?

MA: Drop off your mail-in ballot

Action: Ask for confederate statues to be removed from Congress

thank you for voting yesterday!

Election Resources Roundup

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March 2026

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