Making Progress Against The Slush Fund (6/2/26)
Plus objecting to slashing food assistance, a mass call on Delaney Hall, texting to register voters and more
TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ
On Capitol Hill: White House indicates they’ll drop slush fund, opening door for CBP-ICE bill - tell senators to kill the pay-offs for good, oppose money for the deportation machine; oppose food assistance cuts in the House
Hunger strike day #16: demands for Mikie Sherrill, some electeds to thank, and a mass call on what we can do to help tomorrow
Textbank throughout the month to help Field Team 6 register new voters
Deliver petitions to local congressional offices demanding consequences for DOGE
If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!
SOME (MOSTLY) GOOD NEWS (MAYBE): TRUMP IS INCHING AWAY FROM THE SLUSH FUND
It was unclear how Senate Republicans were going to be able to move forward with the ICE-CBP funding bill with the shadow of Trump’s slush fund looming over them. Yesterday afternoon, we might have gotten our answer, as sources within the White House indicated to the DC media that they will drop, “for now,” their efforts to pay off Trump’s foot soldiers with our money.
This should be a reminder to us all that congressional Republicans have had the power to stop every single cut, abuse and crime of Trump’s. The only thing that’s different this time is that they’re bothering to use it.
Now for the less good news: even the leakers have been very careful not to rule out the possibility of this theft bring put back on the agenda at some point when it’s more politically palatable, and so far the only public statement from the administration is that they’ll abide by last week’s court ruling halting disbursements, which is only effective through June 12th. Moreover, if it’s off the table, the road to pumping billions more into the deportation machine has been cleared of its most significant obstacle. So we still have plenty of work to do.
Let’s reach out to our senators and let them know we want them to pass a measure permanently blocking the use of taxpayer money to reward Trump’s foot soldiers. Let’s also remind them that conditions in ICE detention are so awful hundreds of immigrants are on a hunger strike in protest, and it would be outrageous to appropriate even more money to the camps without a single restriction to bring the deportation machine in line with the Constitution and the law.
We can find call scripts and language here, or send this message via Resistbot by texting SIGN PIOYQB to 50409.
Meanwhile on the House side, we are set for a vote this week on their version of the agriculture appropriations bill, which would cut $200 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, usually referred to as WIC. This program helps provide nutritious food, counseling on healthy eating, breastfeeding support and health care referrals to more than 6 million new and expectant parents and young children. Around 5.4 million people would lose access to fruit and vegetable benefits if these cuts go through.
🗣️ The National WIC Association has made it easy for us to email our members of Congress to oppose these cuts. Let’s put their email tool to work here. We can also use this as base language for calls to let them know “we want you to oppose any agriculture spending bill that cuts WIC.” We can see how many people would be harmed by these cuts here. 🗣️
16 DAYS OF HUNGER STRIKES
The hunger strikes by immigrants held in detention in Delaney Hall are on Day 12. In Adelanto, California, they’re on Day 16. They refuse to back down in demands for adequate medical care, safe food and water, due process, to be able to communicate with their families, freedom for vulnerable elderly, young and pregnant women, and freedom for everyone. And we can’t let anyone forget them.
We have seen some positive developments since yesterday. Family visitation has been restored at Delaney Hall, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has pledged to roll out a new plan to attempt to shut down the facility. At least one hunger striker and several pregnant women were released in Newark.
We also saw more of our members of Congress showing up to do their jobs, with Reps. Frank Pallone and Analilia Mejia (both D-NJ) conducting an unannounced inspection of Delaney Hall and Reps. Judy Chu, Pete Aguilar and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) able to visit with some of the hunger strikers in California.
We can continue to find a running list of actions to take in solidarity with the strikers here. Some additions for today include:
📢 Sharing this messaging guidance on how to talk about the strike from the Inland Coalition for Immigration Justice 📢
Thanking Reps. Aguilar, Chu, Gomez, Mejia and Pallone for helping keep the spotlight on these protests, and asking our own electeds when they’re planning on inspecting ICE camps themselves.
We can call and email New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill in endorsement of these demands via the Sussex Visibility Brigade, and share their call to action here.
Finally, Make the Road is holding a mass call TOMORROW at 8PM ET to give us a chance to hear from immigrant rights activists on the ground in Newark and learn what we can do to support their efforts. We can register to join them here.
MASS VOTER REGISTRATION BY TEXT WITH FIELD TEAM 6
Americans are feeling the consequences of Trump’s disastrous policies every time they need to buy something, and we’re fed up. This could be a great opportunity to get folks off the sidelines and registered to vote. That’s the work of Field Team 6, a grassroots volunteer army doing partisan voter registration at large scale. 💬 This month, they’re going to be hosting a series of textbanks to reach unregistered likely Democrats in key states and swing districts and try to get them activated, starting this Friday at 6PM ET and continuing on Thursday the 11th, Saturday the 13th, Friday the 19th and Saturday the 27th. Let’s sign up for a shift here. 💬
WE WON’T FORGET WHAT DOGE DID
DOGE personnel, many of whom were never subjected to a proper background check, shredded core functions of our government. DOGE fired masses of dedicated federal workers – many of whom are still out of a job. DOGE officials and staff appear to have exposed the sensitive personal data of nearly every American in violation of the law. These folks need to be held accountable for the damage they’ve done.
Tesla Takedown, Communications Workers of America, and Stop The Money Pipeline have gathered tens of thousands of signatures on a petition demanding congressional investigations and real consequences for DOGE’s attacks. ✊🏻 The week of June 15th, they’re going to be delivering them to the district offices of our members of Congress, and they’re seeking volunteers to lead these deliveries. Let’s find more information about what these events look like here and sign up to be part of one here. ✊🏾
TRUMP PROPOSES GAG ORDER FOR GOVERNMENT WORKERS WITH NDA RULE
Leaks from within the Trump Administration have revealed unprecedented levels of corruption, abuses of power and systematic violations of our constitutional rights, along with controversial policies they intended to impose with minimal public debate or even without the public knowing. So now the regime is trying to make it official public policy to silence and prosecute the folks who have opened the door to accountability.
Last week, they proposed a new rule that would require federal employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement, pledging not to share “non-public, confidential or proprietary information.” While signing it is ostensibly voluntary, workers can be fired and barred from future government jobs for not signing. As Catherine Rampell put it, this is essentially a gag order for every single federal worker.
There are already extensive secrecy requirements in place for government information that’s supposed to be secret. This is intended to keep information from the public that the public needs and deserves to know, stopping folks from exposing wrongdoing.
✍🏾 Let’s make our voices heard against this chilling move. We can submit public comments in opposition to this proposed rule through June 26th here. We can find guidance on how to comment effectively here, and find arguments to work from via Don Moynihan here. ✍🏼
👀 KEEPING AN EYE ON… 👀
NEWS: As hurricane season arrives, FEMA workforce is down by 20%, state aid requests backlogged
NEWS: Jared Polis vetoes bill to make it easier for Colorado unions to organize, again
NEWS: Pete Hegseth blocks Black, female officers from military promotions
FEATURE: I sat down with L O L G O P for a Substack Live on the midterms, moving up the ladder of engagement and the challenges ahead of us - check it out here!
Upcoming fights in Congress: we’re on the verge of passing an Iran war powers resolution, House to vote on Lebanon war powers resolution, June 12th deadline approaches on warrantless wiretapping authority, Senate GOP continues work on drafting farm bill that would preserve SNAP cuts
Reps. Gregory Meeks, Nydia Velazquez introduce new war powers resolution aimed at blocking attacks on Cuba in the House - tell our reps to support it
Looking for ways to get engaged in the midterms? Here’s a full list!
Tell blue state Dems to fight fire with fire in countering gerrymandering
De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition day of action at branches nationwide SATURDAY - find a protest near us or organize our own, or join the Visibility Brigade for overpass actions here
Hold community organizing meetings to counter-program Trump’s cage fight on June 14th
Apply to train as a tenant union organizer by June 15th - next info session TOMORROW at 7:30PM ET
Get Free, 50501 hold All of U.S. 250 mobilizations nationwide June 27th
Submit public comments to oppose barring trans folks from emergency shelters by June 29th
Good Trouble Lives On voting rights weekend of action July 17th-19th - register events here
My comment on NDA proposal submitted to.the Federal Register today.
"Federal Employees swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America, not to their bosses and not to political appointees.
Requiring a Non-Disclosure Agreement will chill every employee's free speech.
“non-public, confidential or proprietary information.” is an imprecise criterion, subject to personal interpretation. Enforcement may be arbitrary. Employees may not be able to distinguish what is non-public. After all, if the media has reported on a subject, it is no longer non-public by definition.
Confidential and proprietary information should be restricted to documentation clearly marked so, under current classification rules.
And what about whistleblower protections. Will this NDA forestall these? Federal employees have a duty to inform when there is wrongdoing. The NDA is an implied threat against whistleblowers.
And how does this affect Offices of Inspectors General? Are they no longer able to publicize their findings because some of the content is non-public.
As written, signing the NDA is not mandatory, creating even more uncertainty for employees and agencies.
I agree with this statement from the AFGE: “OPM claims the form will be ‘optional’ for agencies to use and merely restates existing law. We know that will not be true,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said Tuesday. “OPM will pressure agencies to make the NDA mandatory and then fire employees who refuse to sign it.”
This is just one more Authoritarian move by the Trump Regime.
I ask you to withdraw this rule for revision and clarification at a minimum, and optimally for cancellation of this unnecessary requirement."