March 5, 2025 - 27 Days to Wisconsin
Racing towards shutdown deadline, the last Secretary of Education, virtual rally for Medicaid, 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!
GOVERNMENT FUNDING EXPIRES IN NINE DAYS
The March 14th deadline to pass appropriations bills is now clearly in sight. At this point any sort of long-term deal looks to be off the table. Trump and the GOP, who control the presidency and both houses, are now attempting to find support for an extension of current funding through the end of September – with a few additions. But they will need Democratic votes to break a Senate filibuster and likely to pass anything in the House at all, and they are rejecting Democratic demands to include some sort of provision aimed at getting Trump to obey the spending bills – admitting they want their support to pass laws they know full well Trump and Musk will gleefully ignore. We need to come to grips with the reality of the continuing coup. There is zero reason any Democrat – or any public servant of good conscience – should play along with the GOP charade that Trump is going to spend what they agree to instead of “saving” it for billionaire tax cuts or that the rule of law is in effect. Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and tell them they should only support a brief, genuinely clean continuing resolution while the Trump-Musk steal goes on. We can find scripts and language here or send them this message via Resistbot by texting PZOBQT to 50409.
WE WILL STAND UP FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
Trump and Musk have made it clear they will try to realize the longstanding Republican dream of eliminating the Department of Education and funneling more money to corporate schools. Now Trump’s new education secretary, Linda McMahon, has been confirmed by the Senate on a party line vote, and immediately committed to making herself the last Secretary of Education – calling on staffers to join her in their “final mission.” Multiple reports suggest Donald Trump will sign an executive order this week calling on her to take a sledgehammer to the organization.
Dismantling the Department of Education would impact Title I funding for low-income school districts, Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) funding to support students with disabilities, anti-discrimination protections offered by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights, oversight for for-profit universities and the administration of federal student loans. Even if these programs are ultimately shifted to other departments, there will be plenty of chaos and ultimately less resources, less accountability, and less support making it to the kids who really need it – and we may be looking at massive cuts to federal aid for schools portrayed as “block grants.” The costs for America’s public school kids would be devastating, especially those in low-income communities and those with disabilities – reduced help for the most vulnerable, bigger classes, teacher layoffs. There are also serious concerns about whether or not students will be able to access financial aid next year if Trump and company continue their war.
Let’s contact our members of Congress and ask them to:
Use all procedural tools available to slow Congress and refuse to support government funding bills until the attack on the Department of Education stops
Do media events with teachers and students who will be hardest hit by eliminating the department in their own districts and those of their Republican colleagues, making the positive case for the department
Demand a floor vote in both the House and Senate on eliminating the department – so no member of Congress can escape accountability for it
OUR ECONOMIC ACTIONS ARE JUST BEGINNING - TARGET FAST STARTS TODAY
The #EconomicBlackout broke thoroughly into the mainstream, earning considerable attention from legacy media. It also may have produced some changes in consumer habits – website traffic on February 28th was down significantly for Target and Walmart, though sales at Amazon seem to have been unaffected. But one day is just a start, as this guide explains, and we’re on to the next push! In addition to Tesla Takedown and the still-active #LatinoFreeze movement, black faith leaders have called for a “Target Fast” for Lent, starting TODAY and running through April 17th – more information and pledge to take part here. Let’s check out these efforts and commit to continued economic action!
HANDS OFF MEDICAID VIRTUAL RALLY TODAY
While the focus on Capitol Hill has shifted to keeping the government funded, Republicans haven’t lost sight of their goal to destroy Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and neither can we. We must continue to speak up for the 1 in 5 Americans, including 40% of our children and 60% of all nursing home residents, who count on this program for health care. TODAY at 3:00 PM Eastern, the SEIU is holding a Hands Off Medicaid Virtual Rally, featuring Senators Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden along with medical providers and Medicaid recipients. Let’s RSVP to join in here. And if we’re among those who rely on Medicaid or love someone who does, let’s keep taking time to share our stories – through short videos and social media content, letters to the editor or directly with our congressional delegation. (h/t Deborah Stein)
SUPPORT ANTI-BOOK BAN BILLS
While there has been an astronomical rise in legislation targeting public institutions and targeting books held within them, there’s some good news. Several states have anti-book ban bills on deck as well. This up-to-date article has a comprehensive list, by state, of these bills so we can track and speak out in support of them! Let’s check out if our state has bills fighting book bans in our legislature this year, and if they do - call, email and show up in person to talk to our representatives. Let’s make sure they know these measures are crucial for protecting not only the freedom to read and institutions like public schools and libraries but also for protecting the rights, voices, and lives of marginalized people.
27 DAYS UNTIL HOUSE SPECIAL ELECTIONS IN FLORIDA
The Republicans are working with an extraordinarily thin majority in the House – winning by just a 220-215 margin and then immediately seeing Trump pick three House Republicans for jobs in his administration. On April 1st, Florida will host a pair of special elections to fill two of the vacancies, FL-6 left by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and FL-1 by failed attorney general pick and sexual predator Matt Gaetz. (The third, to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in NY-21, has not yet been scheduled as Stefanik has yet to resign.) These are both extremely tough seats for Democrats, and the GOP nominees are well-heeled Trump allies with histories of electoral success. But given the enormous gains of a potential blue sweep and the prospect of these votes going on two weeks into a government shutdown, we know a lot of folks are interested in doing what they can! Here’s what we can do:
We can phonebank for Democratic gun sense advocate and FL-1 candidate Gay Valimont on Mondays here, Tuesdays here and Thursdays here
We can make calls for Democratic public school teacher and FL-6 nominee Josh Weil any time every day here, and sign up to write postcards for him here.
We can use this link to split a donation between Valimont, Weil and NY-21 pick dairy farmer Blake Gendebien.
If we’re in one of these districts, we can find key dates for requesting vote-by-mail ballots and early voting here and more general information here. If we’re abroad, we can request a ballot and get help from Democrats Abroad here.
KEEPING AN EYE ON…
Senate blocks bill to bully trans kids on party lines, call Democratic senators to say thanks
27 days until the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, here’s all the ways we can help
Women’s March actions on SATURDAY for International Women’s Day
Tesla Takedowns this weekend and every weekend, national day of action April 5th