February 20, 2025

Trump endorses cutting Medicaid, save us from the SAVE Act, stalling the deportation machine, 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:

• usa.gov/federal-agencies

If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!

• TRUMP BACKS THE HOUSE GOP BUDGET – WHAT IT MEANS FOR US

  Less than 24 hours after promising again that Medicaid would not be touched, Trump endorsed the House GOP’s budget which would require as much as $880 billion in Medicaid cuts. The proposal would also cut $230 billion from food stamps, add $110 billion in new funding to the deportation machine and give us a trillion-dollar defense budget – all to pay for a $4.5 trillion tax giveaway that will mainly benefit the billionaires and big corporations. Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and tell them we say hell no – no cuts to Medicaid, no cuts to food stamps, no sweetheart deals for Elon Musk and other defense contractors, no tax cuts for billionaires, and not one cent to the deportation machine. We can use these resources:

  • Call script from 5Calls, email tool from Families USA opposing Medicaid cuts

  • #HandsOffSNAP call scripts, email tool and sample social media posts from the Food Research and Action Center

  • Stats for the budget’s impact by state from the Center for American Progress

  • Stats for the budget’s impact by congressional district from the House Democrats

  • Resistbot petition opposing funding for mass deportation and mass detention – text SIGN PJIXGI to 50409 to send directly

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• SAVE OUR VOTES
  The so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. What it would really do, if passed, is disenfranchise millions of citizens at home and abroad: "Americans would need to appear in person, with original documentation, to even simply update their voter registration information for a change of address or change in party affiliation. These impacts alone would set voter registration sophistication and technology back by decades." Let’s read more here, and urge our senators and representatives to vote NO on H.R. 22. We can use this script for our calls.

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• TRUMP CONTINUES TO BREAK FEDERAL LAW ON DISMISSALS

  Trump is using many strategies to try to monopolize power. One is firing the officials whose job it is to hold the executive branch accountable. The administration is working hard to get rid of inspectors general and other watchdogs – despite being it being a requirement of federal law “to provide 30 days’ notice to Congress before firing an inspector general and provide case-specific reasons for getting rid of watchdogs.” So far the administration has fired without due process 17 inspectors general in one “purge” on January 24th, including those with oversight over the Departments of State, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Labor, Defense, and Energy; the Small Business Administration; and the Environmental Protection Agency, along with USAID inspector general Paul Martin on February 11th. In doing so they are blocking and punishing critics and investigations already underway – Martin was fired one day after his office released a report condemning Trump’s actions in trying to shut down the agency and as Rep. Greg Casar has revealed five of the removed IGs were investigating Musk companies. Eight of the watchdogs fired in January are suing over their illegal dismissals to get their jobs back. One fired official, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, has already won reinstatement – although Trump is challenging that in the Supreme Court and a federal judge has rejected a plea that they be returned to work immediately. More than 30 Democratic senators have signed briefs backing the inspectors general’s lawsuit, and even Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has acknowledged the firings do not follow the law. Let’s contact our reps in Congress and our state attorneys general, who we can locate at this website, and ask them to condemn the illegal firing of these vital watchdogs and demand they get their jobs back. We can use language from this statement by the New York City Bar Association. And for our senators, let’s be sure to thank those who signed on to the lawsuit and ask who haven’t join the effort to get these watchdogs back on the job. We can also sign this petition from Public Citizen, who are leading the legal and political pushback.

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• WE ARE THROWING A WRENCH IN THE DEPORTATION MACHINE

  Trump’s deportation raids are wrecking lives, breaking up families, burdening our economy and sweeping up citizens. They are also falling far short of what MAGA promised. One reason, as Trump’s “czar” Tom Homan has made clear, is that activist efforts to ensure we all know our rights in dealing with immigration enforcement are preventing miscarriages of justice. Homan has gone as far as making wild threats to prosecute Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for holding an immigrants’ rights webinar which covered such basic protections as the right to an attorney if detained and the Fifth Amendment safeguards against self-incrimination. Clearly this is work that we need to continue and expand. Let’s join United We Dream in learning how to host Know Your Rights trainings in our communities, with their next webinar for new volunteers coming WEDNESDAY, February 27th at 7 PM with sign-ups here. We can also find groups already doing the work to support immigrants in our area on this spreadsheet, continue spreading the word about Know Your Rights resources from the Immigrant Defense Project and the ACLU and NAKASEC’s Know Your Rights app for Apple and Android, and keep distributing the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s pocket-sized “red cards.” Lastly, we can take a moment to write a quick note via snail mail thanking Rep. Ocasio-Cortez for being a leader for immigrant communities.

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• WAYS TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR TRANS PEOPLE WE LOVE

  Trans Americans are under attack in Washington, in our state capitols (Kansas legislators overrode Governor Kelly’s veto of a trans kids care ban this week) and in our communities. The right-wing agenda aims to effectively shut them out of public life – permitting and encouraging discrimination against them, blocking their access to the health care they need, even keeping them from using the bathroom. This is a time for active allyship, in politics and in daily life. Let’s check out this list of 25 ways trans allies can take action for the community today (h/t

  Jessica Craven
  ) and see what we can put into practice. And if we want to follow item #16 and donate to trans serving organizations near us, here’s a list of local-level groups fighting for LGBTQ+ justice and survival in all 50 states we can back and get more involved with.

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• HELP VULNERABLE VOTERS MAKE IT TO THE POLLS IN FLORIDA – LETTER WRITING TONIGHT

  Special elections are coming up quick for two vacant House seats in Florida. These will be very tough races for Democrats to win, but it remains important for us to ensure everyone can make their voice heard against the burdens of voter suppression in the Sunshine State. VoteRiders is holding a virtual event TONIGHT at 7PM Eastern to write letters to those most at risk of being disenfranchised to let them know what ID they need to vote and what help is available to them. We can sign up to join in here.

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KEEPING AN EYE ON…

House recess events with Indivisible… phonebank and postcard to hold our majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court… Patel floor vote this week… support for Kentucky flood victims… keep distributing Know Your Rights cards… 8 days until economic blackout, respect the Latino Freeze…

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