Happy Tuesday, Activists!
We hope you had a wonderful weekend. We are trying out something new today. This newsletter includes mostly just our Calls To Action and a few other timely actions. Then, on Friday, we’ll have the lineup of our consistent, regular events. We thought this would streamline the newsletter and make it more readable.
We’re sure there will be some diversions from this strategy as the need arises, but we’ll see how it goes. Let us know what you think! Of course you can see our event lineup in our earlier newsletters at this link.
The negotiations in Congress are really heating up. The next seven days are crucial for passage of a big, bold, inclusive recovery package that prioritizes all the progressive issues we care about most. As we described in an earlier newsletter, Indivisible has been navigating the shifting terrain on Capitol Hill, pivoting to meet the urgency of the moment, and we’ve got one week left to sway the last House Dems to pass the reconciliation package before the September 27 deadline. Plus we need to hold our progressive Dems accountable to vote YES. Don’t forget – the September 27 deadline was forced on us by ten conservative Democrats who wanted to water down the recovery bill and instead pass the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
We believe we can make a real impact on this piece of legislation, but it takes consistent, applied pressure on our elected officials. Whether we’re talking about recovery or the upcoming democracy reform showdown in October, we have to use all of our tools to win.
CALLS TO ACTION
Rep. Evans – D.C. office 202-225-4001; Phila office 215-276-0340; email link
Rep. Boyle – D.C. office 202-225-6111; Phila office 215-335-3355; email link
Sen. Casey – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. office 202-224-6324 email link
Sen. Toomey – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. offfice 202-224-4254; email link
For outside PA: Find your Senators’ phone numbers and emails at this link.
1. Reconciliation package. Call and demand our members of Congress pass the reconciliation package. We’ve only got a few days left to make this recovery as big and bold as possible, so call your representative now. Then call our senators and demand they pass the bill immediately after the House sends it over.
2. Tell your representative to stand up for Roe v. Wade. The House is set this week to take up Rep. Judy Chu’s (CA-27) bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, to override the harmful anti-abortion state laws that have come to pass by preempting them federally. Make sure your representative hears loudly and clearly that we expect them to vote YES on this bill when the House takes it up this week. Then call Senator Casey and tell him to co-sponsor the bill and vote YES as soon as it comes over from the House.
3. Filibuster. As we saw last week, Senate Democrats have released a new version of their democracy reform bill called the Freedom to Vote Act. Negotiated by nine Democratic senators, the Freedom to Vote Act builds on the For the People Act to bring us closer to passing transformational democracy reform this Congress. We know there is only one way this is going to be passed into law – by ending the filibuster. Call our Senators and tell them you want them to eliminate the filibuster now to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.
COMING UP SOON!
Tomorrow's Meeting – Redistricting and Gerrymandering
The Census report is out and redistricting our state and federal districts is under way. Now what?
Join us to hear from Fair District PA’s Carol Kuniholm. She’ll give us the scoop on Pennsylvania’s redistricting process – where it stands now, and what we can do to advocate to prevent gerrymandering of the new districts. This will affect our voting for the next 10 years! So find out how to use your power to ensure fair districts.
When: TOMORROW, September 22, 4:00 pm
Where: Zoom
LAST CHANCE to give our Senators a Report Card!
Here's your chance to tell our senators what we think of the job they are doing. Add your personal comments and send them back to us. We'll deliver them to their offices.
Here’s how the Report Cards work:
1. Click this link or the image above to open the document.
2. SAVE the document to your computer.
3. Fill out the two report cards – one for each senator.
4. SAVE again to save your message.
5. Email the document back to us at this link. We'll deliver them to the offices.
IMPORTANT ELECTION DATES
October 18 – Last day to register to vote
October 26
– Last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot
November 2 – Election Day, polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
November 2 – Mail-in ballots must be received by the county election board by 8:00 pm