April 8, 2025 - #KillTheCuts Day of Action
Plus: saber-rattling towards Iran, funding for schools held hostage, holds in the Senate, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!
#KILLTHECUTS DAY OF ACTION TODAY – EVENTS, PHONEBANK, CALL TOOL
This has been a devastating few months for education, health care, and science and research, as the Trump-Musk chainsaw has slashed away at the National Institutes of Health and our universities and laboratories with cuts and “freezes.” It’s bad for our health, bad for our economy, bad for our nation’s future – although it’s good news for billionaires who know the money “saved” is going to them.
Scientists, teachers, and labor are coming together TODAY to shine the spotlight on the NIH cuts with a #KillTheCuts day of action including events across the country. Let’s find and attend an action near us, map here. If there isn’t one in our area, we can join a phonebank to put pressure on Congress at 3PM here and use their tool to send a message to our own reps here. We can find out more at killthecuts.org.
EVEN WHILE ANNOUNCING NEGOTIATIONS, TRUMP SUGGESTS WAR MAY BE COMING AGAINST IRAN
Trump claimed yesterday that direct talks are underway between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program, with a meeting expected Saturday in Oman. The Iranians have suggested the talks will be high level but indirect. He then promptly followed up by saying Iran would be “in great danger” if talks weren’t successful.
This is increasingly familiar rhetoric, coming days after he threatened Iran with “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” without a deal. In the middle of March he wrote to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing negotiations with an ultimatum: two months to reach an agreement or there would be “other ways” to resolve the dispute. In recent days, the Pentagon has announced we are deploying additional troops in the Middle East.
While a diplomatic resolution is still very possible, it will not be easy to achieve – after all, Trump never delivered the “better deal” he promised in his first term after blowing up President Obama’s successful agreement with Iran. The risk of war is very real, and the time to start raising our voices against it is now.
Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and make it clear to them we do not support Trump dragging us into another Middle Eastern war. They should be pushing for a negotiated agreement to address Iran’s nuclear program, both publicly and privately, and they should be insisting that any strike on Iran be submitted to Congress for approval. We can use scripts and language here.
TRUMP HOLDS FUNDING FOR LOW-INCOME STUDENTS HOSTAGE
Title I funding is crucial for helping provide a better education to kids who go to school in low-income areas, and it's helped keep 180,000 more teachers on the job nationwide. Now Trump is trying to use this support our students depend on as a weapon to force schools to censor ideas he doesn’t like and promote resegregation.
On Thursday, his Education Department announced they will deny Title I funds to schools that refuse to certify they are not putting diversity, equity and inclusion practices to work. They were given 10 days to comply.
This is taking our kids’ education hostage. Cuts would devastate schools that badly need the money. And obeying will kill programs and policies that help all our kids get a fair shot and feel like a welcome part of our community. They are trying to ensure teachers and principals are afraid to stand up for students of color or LGBTQIA+ students or students with disabilities, to make Trump’s ideology and desires mandatory.
Some local leaders are pushing back hard. The New York State Education Department bluntly told the Education Department they did not have the authority to make that demand, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to sue if funds were stolen away. We need to encourage our own policymakers to follow their example.
Let’s reach out to our state education departments and local school leaders, along with our state and local politicians, and tell them they need to fight the Trump Administration instead of giving in to their threats. We can find scripts and language to use here.
SHADOW HEARING AND MORE NOMINATIONS HELD
Yesterday saw multiple encouraging developments from congressional Democrats. Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) held a “shadow” hearing on Trump’s attacks on the rule of law – an unofficial event conducted without the usual congressional powers, but one that still earned headlines and drew the spotlight to the administration’s misconduct. We also saw Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) announce he is expanding his holds, now blocking fast approval of more than 300 Trump nominees and multiple foreign affairs bills, and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) indicating he would hold all nominees before the Judiciary, Armed Services, Homeland Security and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. These are the kinds of efforts we need to see more of and a major step forward.
There are, however, still plenty of tools left on the table, and the threats to our economy, our democracy and our health and safety are only growing. We need to continue to push our elected officials to do everything in their power to slow Trump’s agenda, unprecedented procedural hardball to match the unprecedented danger. Let’s call them again to urge them to use every weapon in their arsenal, with scripts and language here.
SAY NO TO FORCED REGISTRATION FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS - COMMENTS DUE BY FRIDAY
The Trump Administration is setting another trap for undocumented immigrants, attempting to force them to “register” with the U.S. government. If these folks fail to do so, they are now threatened with criminal charges along with detention and deportation – but if they give ICE their personal information, they’re easier for them to imprison or remove.
Like so much of their anti-immigrant work, this reeks of the more shameful episodes in U.S. history like internment and the state-sponsored harassment of American Muslims after 9/11. Folks are already afraid to go to work, to send their kids to school, and to live their lives because they might be snatched off the street, and this will make matters even worse.
This new rule takes effect FRIDAY. The National Immigration Law Center is asking us to speak up against it beforehand. We can learn more here, submit a public comment here, and NILC has a form here we can sign on to here. Let’s get as many folks as possible to put their names on it. Lastly, NILC has built a Know Your Rights guide for undocumented folks on this new requirement here – let’s be sure to share it with our communities.
KEEPING AN EYE ON…
Budget maneuvering continues in the House; votes restoring predatory bank fees, punishing judges, suppressing votes on the docket this week
Detention Watch Network’s Communities Not Cages Day of Action April 17th
Target Fast boycott in effect through April 17th, Latino Freeze boycotts on resegregation supporters continuing
Resistance Rangers rallies at national parks for Earth Day April 22nd
Join the federal workers #SaveOurServices rapid response network here
Also, I read last night that Trump was arranging with Putin a hockey game of the Russian team with the NFL team. So far the NFL has not said that will not happen.
If they go through with it , which ultimately I doubt because they're not stupid, I'm sure they're figuring out how to quietly duck and say no, they can be sure the demonstration will be gigantic. Not against the players persay but against Putin and the Invasion and terror and destruction in Ukraine.
I think we need to demonstrate outside the Supreme Court who actually upheld the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 though with restrictions. The Venezuelans are actually, believe it or not, entitled to due process they said. But the young man who everyone agrees was sent there "by mistake" can't come home yet because these arrogant judges who hide any humanity under their robes need time to review says Roberts. And BTW there are many more Venezuelans who have been unjustly sent to that torture prison. Men packed into cages without beds without time outside and as someone who worked at Rikers Island for several years I know will be abused, both physical and sexually.And now that 250 of them are in that hellhole how are they going to get Due Process?