Indivisible
Members of Congress are debating their bills now

Indivisibles,

It’s only Monday, and one refrain we’ve heard a lot is that this week is going to be worse than last week. The coronavirus continues to spread and people are anxious and afraid that their government isn’t going to meet the urgency of this moment.

To be totally honest, we didn’t start writing this draft of this newsletter until 5 pm because things on the Hill have been changing so rapidly. There’ve been fireworks on the Senate floor all day as senators have debated what the third bill -- a potential stimulus package -- will look like. Democrats again voted against the GOP corporate-bailout bill as they demanded Congress put #PeopleOverProfits. Things are still uncertain as the Senate, the House, and the Trump administration negotiate the best next steps for the country.

There’s some good news though: the House Dems released their version of a stimulus plan, and it’s much stronger than the Senate -- which means they have a real chance to use their leverage and demand that the stimulus bill address the issues that folks are facing. 

The bill includes payments to families, expands paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, contains money to pay for election security and vote by mail support, contains more federal aid for Medicaid, and places restrictions on industries that would take federal money (such as airlines, hotels, etc.).

While we’re not sure what the rest of this week will hold, we know one thing: we need to keep demanding that Congress put people over profits. That’s why we created a new ‘People Over Profits’ landing page for all of our coronavirus resources and asks, which you can find here. As more and more Indivisibles shelter-in-place and social-distance to avoid spreading the coronavirus, we recognize that organizing on the ground has suddenly shifted drastically. That’s why all of our asks are digital asks, which you can find below.

One more thing -- take time for yourself to decompress. Cook a meal. Practice some self-care. Breathe deeply. And let’s be thankful for the things in our life that we have and can control. The coming weeks might be scary as hell, but we’re in this together, as a movement.

And now, our digital to-dos:


 Your 6 weekly to-dos 

  1. Call your Senator and tell them that the next coronavirus package must include these critical provisions. Last week, Senate Republicans released their bill for the next coronavirus package. Disappointingly, it prioritizes corporations over people, giving corporations a $500 billion “slush fund” while leaving out some of the most vulnerable Americans. We must prioritize direct assistance to the people who we know are most impacted by this pandemic by mandating universal paid sick leave, expanding unemployment benefits, and providing cash payments to everyone. That also means establishing requirements for corporations who take taxpayer-funded bailouts -- any taxpayer money they receive goes directly to workers, not to CEOs and shareholders. Call your senators now to demand they support these provisions be included in the next coronavirus relief package.
  2. Call your Representative and tell them the same. The previous coronavirus bill that passed originated in the House, and it didn't go nearly far enough in protecting folks most directly affected by this pandemic (millions of workers will be denied the protections in that bill). The new package might even walk back some of the inadequate protections from the previous package! The House needs to make this right. Call your representatives now and demand that they support the above provisions be included in the next coronavirus package.
  3. Demand your Senators ensure safe, secure elections during the coronavirus outbreak. We know that the coronavirus is scary, and we’re all making sacrifices to minimize any further spread of the virus. We have seen some states make the very difficult decision to postpone primary elections in an effort to reduce community spread of coronavirus. But we can’t let this public health crisis impede the functioning of our democratic processes. That’s why we’re recommending states start now to build alternatives to in-person voting so that nothing will put the administration of the November presidential election at risk. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden have introduced a bill to assist states in expanding vote-by-mail for this November’s election. Call your senators to demand that the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act be included in the next coronavirus relief package.
  4. Sign up to join the next Indivisible National Activist Call on April 2 at 8pm ET! We're planning to have a special guest and will also be talking about organizing while social distancing in the coronavirus era. 
  5. If your group has endorsed a candidate locally, nominate that candidate for a national endorsement! We have five more waves of endorsements planned in April, June, July, and October. We’ll accept nominations on a rolling basis throughout the election cycle. If you’d like to submit for the next round, groups have until 11:59pm PT on Thursday, February 20, to submit candidates for the third round of endorsements.
  6. Text PAYBACK to 977-79 and join the Payback Project right now. Even in the three weeks since we launched this project to take back the Senate, we’ve already seen twists and turns and had to drop everything to respond to new Republican schemes. We know that’s not going to stop, which is why we need even more folks texting, donating, and joining local groups as we continue to get payback now until the election!

 2020 Update 

In case you’d forgotten (we wouldn’t blame you if you had!) there’s a Presidential primary taking place! Many states are working on creating contingency plans for their primaries in the midst of coronavirus, with a handful making the call to postpone their contests until later in the primary season. Here’s the delegate count as of 12:30 pm on Monday, March 23: Former VP Joe Biden has 1,201 delegates, Sen. Bernie Sanders has 896, and 176 delegates have gone to candidates who have since dropped out of the race. Read on to learn about what’s happened over the past seven days, plus a special update on a very important Congressional race in Illinois.

  • 441 delegates were up for grabs last Tuesday as Arizonans, Floridians, and Illinoisans cast their votes for who should be the next Democratic nominee for president. Biden swept all three states, pulling in 286 delegates, with Sanders capturing 140. Fifteen delegates have yet to be allocated. Turnout in both Arizona and Florida was up from 2016, but down in Illinois. We'll be keeping a careful eye on the remaining primaries and what steps states are making to protect voters and poll workers while also ensuring that the democratic process continues.
  • Sen. Tulsi Gabbard dropped out of the primary race on March 19 and endorsed Joe Biden for president. Over the course of the primary to date, Gabbard won two delegates, both from American Samoa. 
  • On Tuesday, progressive challenger Marie Newman unseated eight-term conservative incumbent Dan Lipinski in Illinois’ third district! And her opponent wasn't any old Blue Dog -- he is anti-choice, anti-LGBT, voted against the ACA, voted against the Dream Act and opposed DACA. Newman ran on an unapologetically progressive platform and was pushed to victory thanks to a grassroots coalition that Indivisible was a vital part of. Local Indivisible groups were among the first to endorse her longshot 2018 bid and have been knocking doors for her ever since. You might remember that Newman was one of our first nationally-endorsed candidates this election cycle, and we invested heavily in the race. Our volunteers sent out 130,000 texts for her, we sent over 100,000 pieces of mail to voters' homes urging them to vote for her, and we ran digital ads viewed by tens of thousands in the district. Her victory shows us that when progressive candidates engage with the grassroots and understand the needs of their constituents, we win.

 

 The GOP is throwing us under the bus -- again 

Senate Republicans are still fighting to make sure government assistance goes to huge corporations -- not the everyday people who need it. As the Senate debates another massive coronavirus package, the GOP is arguing for corporate bailouts instead of serious relief for working people. 

It’s always been clear they don’t care about their constituents, but this is egregious. It’s time to send them home. We started the Payback Project a few months ago to do just that -- and it’s becoming more and more critical by the day. Can you chip in $10 to support the Payback Project and fund all our work this year?


 IndivisWin -- make a video this week 

With social distancing it might seem hard for groups to make their voices heard -- that’s why we’ve come up with tools to help make the transition into digital organizing. First stop? Check out our Soapboxx tool and make a video demanding your member of Congress put people over profits. Click here to record a video.

We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as we continue to learn more information about the coronavirus and how it impacts our work and community. Stay safe and healthy.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team


Paid for by Indivisible Action (indivisible.org). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Indivisible Action is a Hybrid Political Action Committee fueled by the grassroots movement to win elections and build local, independent progressive power nationwide. Read more about the formation of our PAC here.

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