March 11, 2025 - 3 Days to Shutdown

House vote on Trump blank check today, breaking promises to veterans, the right to protest at risk, 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!

SHUTDOWN UPDATE: JOHNSON ATTEMPTS TO JAM THROUGH BLANK CHECK FOR TRUMP THEFTS

With government funding set to expire midnight Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson is attempting to force Congress into passing a blank check for Trump. He plans to put his continuing resolution for government funding – a slush fund without even the standard checks on administration action of a normal appropriations bill – up for a House vote today, and then send his members home on recess before the Senate can change it. This way, if Senate Democrats vote against letting the Trump-Musk thefts continue, he feels he is better positioned to get the public to blame them for a shutdown instead of the folks actively tearing down our government.

Let’s reach out to our House members before the vote and urge them to vote no on this power grab – Johnson will need almost every Republican on board to send this measure to the Senate, and we must remind them they are fully endorsing Trump’s corruption and cuts with a yes. And let’s also let them know we see through their little games, and we will hold them accountable for backing the blank check. We can find scripts and language here and send this Resistbot message by texting SIGN PZOBQT to 50409. Lastly, let’s check on this tally from Talking Points Memo to see what our senators are saying about where they stand.

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RESIST PLANNED LAYOFFS OF VA STAFF

Yet another department set to face savage cuts that will badly hurt the people who depend on them: the Department of Veterans’ Affairs is set to fire 80,000 workers, with mass layoffs starting in June. Secretary Doug Collins insisted “this administration is finally going to give veterans what they want” at the same time as announcing the upcoming loss of 15% of total staffing, along with cancelling 600 contracts and promising more contract cancellations in future. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the cuts a “gut punch”: “They’re laying waste to the VA in the name of cutting waste, and they’re doing it with a meat axe.” These job cuts will start hitting vets right from the start, as more than 25% of VA employees have served.

This is not the only sign the Trump administration will no longer pretend to care for veterans. Trump advisor Alina Habba recently suggested some veterans being laid off weren’t actually working: “perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work.”

Let’s contact our reps to protest these betrayals of those who fought for this country. We can use language from this Resistbot petition from

Jessica Craven

or text “sign PHZABO” to 50409 to send that petition to your reps. (h/t subscriber Kristin E!)

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ATTACKS ON ONE PROTESTER…

Mahmoud Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent married to an American citizen who is currently eight months pregnant. He has been arrested by ICE without a warrant or a charge, briefly disappeared, and is now being detained and threatened with a legally dubious deportation in spite of his green card. Why? Because he organized peaceful political protests against the war in Gaza, speech now disfavored by the state. This is a classic suppression tactic of repressive governments, and as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns us: “if the federal government can disappear a legal U.S. permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear U.S. citizens too.” Trump is already threatening more to come. We need to speak up for free speech, and our leaders do too. Let’s join more than 1.8 million people in endorsing this call for Mahmoud’s immediate release (and members of the Jewish community can also sign this similar petition from Bend the Arc). We should also contact our members of Congress to demand they do the same – we can use scripts and language provided by

Qasim Rashid, Esq.

here.

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…AND ATTACKS ON THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

The enforced disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil is part of a broader attack on our First Amendment-guaranteed freedom of speech and right to protest on campus. Trump has posted that he will end federal funding for any school that allows “illegal protests” and that student protesters will be expelled, imprisoned and deported. Protesting the war on Gaza is being branded as inherently “anti-Jewish racism.” Almost immediately, the ACLU sent a letter to universities, asking them to protect freedom of protest for their students. Let’s reach out to any universities we’re associated with and tell them we agree with the ACLU and they need to step up. We can also donate to support the ACLU here. The National Coalition Against Censorship has a flyer with a guide to students’ rights to protest we can share here. And let’s keep an eye out on activity in our state legislatures – there have been numerous efforts to restrict the First Amendment passed into state law in recent years, and lawmakers in Colorado have introduced an attack on civil liberties we already need to push back against (language and Resistbot here)

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WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT DEBATE TOMORROW NIGHT

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Democratic-supported Judge Susan Crawford and former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel will decide the future of abortion rights, collective bargaining rights, and voting rights in the state – and recent polling indicates it’s anyone’s race. A Marquette University Law School poll showed a huge number of voters don’t know enough about either candidate to have an opinion. Tomorrow night at 7PM Central will mark the first and only debate in the race, a great opportunity to start swaying the undecideds. Let’s consider watching and posting along in support of Judge Crawford – it will be livestreamed on WISN’s YouTube channel, and we can find sample social content here, here, and here. And let’s take this moment to sign up for a volunteer shift to help her win – we can find a guide to ways to phonebank, textbank, postcard or door knock here.

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STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS:

KS – REPUBLICANS WANT MORE BARRIERS TO THE BALLOT BOX

Republicans have introduced more than two dozen election-related bills in Kansas this year, a number of which are making real progress. Unsurprisingly, they’re focused on making voting that much harder. They’re banning ranked-choice voting, putting new burdens on returning mail-in ballots and fearmongering about noncitizen voting. Let’s read up more here and oppose these bills by calling our legislators.

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KEEPING AN EYE ON…

• Solidarity sip-ins at non-union Starbucks continue through today

• Next congressional recess starts Saturday

• Tesla Takedowns this weekend and every weekend, national day of action April 5th

• Target Fast boycott in effect through April 17th, Latino Freeze boycotts on resegregation supporters continuing

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