While Americans Die for Trump's War, Congress Considers Giving Him $73 Billion More For It
No to reconciliation 3.0. Plus two weeks left to the vote in Kansas and Missouri, organizing to end ICE, and more
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TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ
This week on Capitol Hill: House considers another reconciliation bill to fund Iran War, Senate Intelligence Committee will weigh in on DNI pick
Detention Watch Network kicks off its End The Ice Age campaign with call tomorrow at 8PM as we build towards nationwide vigils Saturday
Join La Resistencia for a training on how to support hunger strikers in ICE camps TONIGHT at 7PM ET
If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!
17 AMERICAN SERVICE MEMBERS NOW DEAD FOR TRUMP’S WAR OF CHOICE, AND HE’S ASKING FOR MORE MONEY FOR IT
Over the weekend, the exchange of strikes in Trump’s war with Tehran continued, and for the first time in weeks we lost American lives. 1st Lieutenant Tyler Feehan, 25 of Ewa Beach, Hawai’i and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19 of Carrollton, Texas were killed in Iranian attacks on a base in Jordan, and a third soldier who has not yet been identified was killed in a separate incident in Iraq. A fourth soldier is missing in action, and we’ve learned that by the official count nearly 100 of our young men and women in uniform have been injured this month. Our thoughts are with their families.
Meanwhile, gas prices have crept back up over $4 a gallon, we are no closer to any sort of diplomatic agreement, and reports keep cropping up that the administration is considering widening the war they’ve repeatedly insisted they won – including being open to boots on the ground, putting far more of our servicemembers at risk.
Against this backdrop, the House GOP this week will attempt to move forward the initial budget resolution to allow a third reconciliation bill – an up-to-$95 billion package including $60 billion for the Pentagon and $13 billion for the intelligence community to keep pursuing whatever Trump’s goals with Iran are, along with $12 billion in aid for farmers and $10 billion in grants to encourage states to adopt parts of the SAVE Act.
While we’ve been through this dance before and seen Republicans squeeze through terrible legislation even with narrow margins when Trump demands it, there are a number of pressures working in our favor. As noted, this is the first of two bills they need to pass, and we are running short on legislative days before midterms. We have managed to win enough Republican votes to pass war powers resolutions on Iran, and that opposition should be extended to spending on it. The supposed “fiscal conservatives” in the GOP caucus want this package paid for. Farm district Republicans and defense hawks alike think it’s insufficient. The SAVE Act provisions could easily fail to pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian, which could cause a rebellion on the right flank in the House. And there are some questions coming from supposed “moderates” (i.e. Republicans worried about reelection) about what precisely Trump’s plan is.
In short, we should be prepared to make some noise about this bill. 🗣️ Let’s reach out to our reps and tell them we’ve had enough of this war and don’t want another penny going to it – and we want to see a no vote on this resolution. We can find scripts to use here. 🗣️
On the Senate side, we are likely to see a committee vote today on U.S. attorney and former SEC chair Jay Clayton’s nomination to replace Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. We are anticipating he will successfully be moved forward to the full Senate, although it should be on party lines after Clayton’s refusal to acknowledge Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election pushed ranking Dem Mark Warner firmly into the no camp. With GOP margins narrowed by Mitch McConnell’s continued absence, it is worth continuing to make the case that his slavish loyalty to Trump, lack of any intelligence background and his efforts to turn government power on journalists for reporting that reflects badly on the regime are disqualifying. 🗣️ We can find call scripts to urge our senators to oppose him here. 🗣️
EARLY VOTING UNDERWAY IN FIGHTS OVER RIGHT-WING POWER GRABS IN KANSAS, MISSOURI
We’re now just two weeks away from votes on efforts by the conservatives and billionaires to remove checks on their power in two states. As we speak, folks are making the decision on whether to allow folks like Kris Kobach and the Koch network to impose partisan elections on the Kansas Supreme Court (and undermine reproductive freedom in the process) and whether to make it far, far harder to pass citizen-initiated ballot initiatives in the Show Me State. People will cast their ballots with the August 4th primaries, and early voting is now underway.
We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to stop these power grabs. ☎️ Let’s sign up for phonebank shifts with Kansans United for Impartial Courts Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays here and get updated on volunteer opportunities in Missouri here. ☎️
A CAMPAIGN TO END THE ICE AGE
As we mourn and seek justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva and Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran – four lives lost in the space of a week to ICE terror – it is worth remembering that this deportation force is not a long-standing American institution. An American born the same day as ICE still gets charged extra for rental cars. Abolishing ICE, a position that has reached majority support in recent polling, would be nothing more than ending a failed experiment that has caused heartache and bloodshed and made our communities less safe.
The Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Defense Project, and Immigrant Legal Resource Center are launching a new campaign to “end the ICE age,” providing roadmaps to take action at the local, state and federal level to shut down the detention centers, get these masked thugs out of our communities and redirect their funding to strengthen families and neighborhoods instead of breaking them up. ✊🏻 They’re holding a kickoff call for this effort TOMORROW at 8PM ET. Let’s sign up to join them here. ✊🏾
Meanwhile, vigils are now on the books in more than 150 cities for Lorenzo, Johan and all the victims of ICE for this Saturday as the Disappeared in America coalition holds its national day of action. 🪧 Let’s find one to join near us here or step up to host (or register) our own here. 🪧
LEARN HOW TO SUPPORT ICE DETAINEE HUNGER STRIKERS TONIGHT AT 7PM ET
The hunger strikes at Delaney Hall and Adelanto may be over, but they weren’t the first time folks held captive in ICE concentration camps used this protest tactic and they already aren’t the last. Two men who have been held by the deportation machine for more than three years just concluded a nine-day strike at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, having successfully earned their release from solitary confinement.
The support of those of us on the outside is crucial to this tactic succeeding, and we need to be prepared to help whenever they try in camps near us. The folks at La Resistencia, a grassroots organization led by undocumented immigrants and people of color who have been caught up in the system, has been providing solidarity to hunger strikers at NWDC since 2014. ⚙️ They’ve written up a guide based on their experience showing solidarity with detention center strikes, and they’re planning on holding a webinar for advocates and organizers who want to be ready on TODAY at 7PM ET. 🏫 Let’s check out the guide here and register for the training session here. 🏫
SOLIDARITY WITH STRIKING BUS SYSTEM WORKERS IN MISSISSIPPI
Transit workers in Jackson, Mississippi are entering their second week on strike against the private company contracted to operate the city’s buses. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1208 has been seeking fair pay, an end to mandatory overtime and increased sick leave protections, while MV Transportation has been looking to cut routes, shorten service hours and eliminate Saturday service, and start hiring drivers without commercial license to operate smaller vehicles. The union has also accused the corporation of unfair labor practices and bargaining in bad faith, and they’ve brought in unqualified replacement drivers while the workers have been on the picket line.
The local has indicated they will remain on strike until a deal is reached, and they’re going to need our support. 💵 Let’s consider a donation to their strike fund here. 💵
👀 KEEPING AN EYE ON… 👀
NEWS: Judge pauses Paramount-Warner Brothers merger after Democratic AGs sue
NEWS: Officer involved in murder of one-year-old Kohen Wiley previously accused of exaggerating risks vehicle posed to police - keep pressing Senatobia officials to release body cam, dash cam and Walmart surveillance footage of his killing
NEWS: GOP moves on quickly from latest Trump broadside of election lies
ANALYSIS: Economic Policy Institute finds tripling union membership would increase real wages for all, reduce number of uninsured - show solidarity with striking hotel workers in Seattle and warehouse workers in California, locked-out refinery workers in Indiana
Vigils nationwide SATURDAY to honor Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero and other ICE victims and demand justice - find one near us or host our own
VoteRiders holds letter-writing power hour THURSDAY, textbanking to at-risk voters July 28th and 30th
Looking for more ways to get engaged in the midterms? Here’s a full list!
Upcoming fights on Capitol Hill: Nomination of Todd Blanche for AG hangs in the balance in the Senate; continued pressure to block Trump’s slush fund and self-pardon with Rep. Raskin introducing new discharge petition; House stymied on vote cutting disability compensation for 1.5 million veterans; Senate still hoping to ram through giveaway to crypto bros before August recess; Senate GOP continues work on drafting farm bill that would preserve SNAP cuts; Congress still struggling with warrantless wiretapping authority; Senate to consider agriculture appropriations bill that cuts food assistance for newborns and pregnant women; Senate working on surface transportation funding bill that would punitively jack up fees on EVs; push for Senate to reject extremist Benjamin Flowers and all Trump judicial nominees; call on all reps to block military action against Greenland and Cuba
The Trump regime is trying to crush dissent and pro-immigrant advocacy - stand with targeted activists including VC Defensa, the Prairieland defendants, the Spokane 3, University of Michigan pro-Palestine organizers, the Minnesota 15, and lawyers for unaccompanied migrant children
Temporary protected status for Haitian, Syrian refugees expires Monday - let’s support our neighbors
National week of action against automatic license plate readers August 16th-22nd