November 20, 2024

Protecting nonprofits, putting the Fed to work on climate, next steps with Black Voters Matter, and more!

Contact all members of Congress:

• By phone: (202) 224-3121

• By email: democracy.io

• By US mail: Representatives / Senators

• By fax: Representatives / Senators

• By Resistbot: Resist.bot

Contact White House or other federal agencies:

• usa.gov/federal-agencies

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• PROTECTING NONPROFITS AGAINST TRUMP

  Last week the House barely failed to fast-track a dangerous bill that would grant the Secretary of the Treasury unilateral authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit deemed to be a “terrorist supporting organization.” H.R. 9495 is ripe for abuse, requiring no explanation and no evidence for how Treasury officials concluded a nonprofit was “terror supporting.” It can be used without due process to kneecap 501(c)(3) groups, the heart of our civil society, just at the moment we need them most to counter Trump. Unfortunately, 52 Democrats joined with almost every Republican to support this legislation, and the House is now set to consider it again as part of H. Res. 1576 today or tomorrow. Our efforts to draw attention to the threat to dissent have paid some dividends - at least one of the previous Democratic yes votes, Rep. Gabe Vasquez (NM), will oppose the bill now. Let’s keep up the pressure and tell our House members to vote no, especially if we’re represented by one of the Democratic yes votes. We can use language from this message from the ACLU or send this Resistbot letter by texting PCDICI to 50409.

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• TELL THE FEDERAL RESERVE TO USE THEIR INDEPENDENCE TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE
  Trump cannot fire the head of the Federal Reserve. And the Fed has power to create incentives for renewable energy and ask banks to consider climate change when funding fossil fuel projects. We can remind them, as this petition does, that they spared no efforts to bail out the banks during the Great Recession, and let them know we expect just as much involvement in fighting climate change. In addition to signing the petition, we can contact them directly and leave a message by phone or on-line here.

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• CELEBRATE AND PLAN WITH BLACK VOTERS MATTER
  It may not feel like a wonderful time of the year, but holiday parties are already starting. Black Voters Matter will be hosting theirs on December 9th at 6:00pm, honoring the contributions of volunteers from the last cycle and welcoming those eager to get involved in the future. They’ll be discussing what the organization and its team members will take on next in 2025. If we volunteered with BVM or would like to in the months ahead, let’s sign up to attend here.

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• GET READY TO RUN FOR SOMETHING
  We don’t know what the next few years will bring. But we need to be prepared to win back seats up and down the ballot to stop the spread of Trumpism and start to rebuild. Folks across the country are hearing a call to arms - Run for Something reported more than 4,000 signed up at runforwhat.net to start considering a run for office in the week after the election. If we’ve ever thought about launching a campaign, or know someone who should, this is a great moment to get started. Those of us under 40 can can express our interest in being a candidate and connect with Run For Something for more information here. And all of us can pick up the tools, skills and knowledge necessary to get started at runforoffice.org here.

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• ADDRESSING THE OVERDOSE CRISIS IN NATIVE COMMUNITIES
  Even amidst the chaos of the transition, the work goes on. November is National Native American Heritage Month, and Dream.org’s Public Health is Public Safety campaign is marking it by focusing its monthly call tomorrow at 6PM Eastern on overdoses in the indigenous population. Activists will be discussing how best to take on the unique challenges of this crisis among Native Americans, and will be holding a more general conversation on how we can continue to prioritize overdose prevention over carceral strategies to substance abuse during the next administration. Let’s sign up to join the call and the fight here.

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STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS

• AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, NC, SC — STOP PUBLIC MONEY FOR SEGREGATION ACADEMIES

  In the 1960s and 1970s, during the era of school desegregation, private schools for white children only were established across the South. These “segregation academies” still exist, and, increasingly, they are receiving tens of millions of dollars in public funding through “rapidly expanding voucher-style programs,” ProPublica reports. For example, Northeast Academy in North Carolina is 99% white, while the county it sits in is 40% white. Last year, almost half of the school’s total tuition came from public funding. Let’s read “Segregation Academies Across the South Are Getting Millions in Taxpayer Dollars,” and then, if we are in AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, NC, or SC, let’s tell our state legislators and governor to end voucher programs that divert our tax dollars from our public schools to prop up racist segregation academies.

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