Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise and Fighting Back Day 17

Today I felt very doomery, not because of what was happening in the government, but because of how it was being ignored on social media. Hopefully, if you were in the same boat I was in, you can just share this with all those people, and it will help them understand.

Sen Ron Wyden (OR) and the Senate Dems

Dems are holding the floor again in a post-cloture debate against RFK Jr. This debate will last a full 24 hours. Please keep in mind that this is not a filibuster, this is only available for certain nominees which is why it wasn’t done for Gabbard. If you want more info you can check out this Senate Procedure article

Sen Chris Van Hollen (MD)

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know how much of a fighter Chris Van Hollen has been. He speaks at , and live streams virtually every DC rally, he’s on the Senate floor as much as possible, and he’s keeping us informed on social media as much as possible.

As I hope you know, every single Senate Dem voted to confirm Sec Rubio because they had worked with him before, and he had always been supportive of discussion and some bipartisanship. They were also getting calls from independents and Republicans at a much much higher rate than us (I am thankful that has now changed.)

But, even though he voted for Rubio on Jan 20, the day DT took office. They thought, at the time, that was the right thing to do, he has now admitted he fucked up. It takes a lot to not only change your own behavior but also admit when you make a mistake. He was on CNN this morning and said:

My one vote I cast for a member of the Trump cabinet was for now Secretary Rubio. I regret to say that I regret that vote, because, once installed in office, he is essentially abandoning the positions that he took here as a United States senator.

I commend Sen Van Hollen for saying this, and I hope other Democrats follow suit.

Rep Don Beyer (VA-08)

By now you’ve probably seen the Axios article that has made quick work of completely dividing the Democratic voters today. It had anonymous sources and altered quotes from representatives that suggests that our Dem House members don’t appreciate our calls.

Many people don’t know this, but the elected official is the face of their staff, but a lot of the work is done by the staff, not the elected. So I want to raise up Don Beyers Deputy Chief of Staff, Aaron Fritschner who heard about this article and immediately debunked it as the drivel it is. This is one of the rare examples we have of the man behind the curtain.

Rep Becca Balint (VT)

I have included quite a few Reps posting photos answering the phones recently. But Rep Balint went one step further and posted a video. I really love this.

Rep Robert Garcia (CA-42)

He showed dick pics on the House Floor today. Not those kind, no, dick as in asshole person, as in Musk, But he did word it that way, and it was so glorious.

Rep Ted Lieu (CA-36)

He had a town hall last night, but it’s okay if you are in the district and couldn’t attend, or outside of the district and just want to hear what he has to say, cause he posted the entire thing on YouTube. I hope other Reps follow suit.

I don’t love everything he said, but I do think it gives some very clear actionable items for his constituents to call him about, and that seems incredibly helpful. He’s one of the good ones, so I think he just really needs to hear from more constituents.

Secondly, I think it’s worth noting what he said about the administration listening to judicial rulings. It seems, at least for now, they might be saying they won’t listen to judicial rulings, but their actions are telling a different story. And given the five high level Republican Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Thune, who spoke out last night, I have a hard time seeing the Admin just flagrantly ignoring them.

DNC

They are continuing to post their “What Democrats Did Today.” But today I noticed, two of their five actions aren’t at the federal level. One is at state level and the other is at County. This is a DNC focused on the local in a way the previous leadership absolutely was not. If that’s not proof that this is a very different DNC, I don’t know what is.

Rep Joe Neguse (CO-02), Rep Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Rep Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Rep Jamie Raskin (MD-08)

And finally, we have the House Dem Rapid Response Taskforce and Litigation Working Group. Rep Neguse will be Chair, while ranking committee members, Rep DeLauro (Appropriations), Rep Connolly (Oversight) and Rep Raskin (Judiciary) will be co-chairs.

From my understanding, the idea behind the task force is to have a group of Dems focused on connecting with organizations and helping them file lawsuits using the information the House has that the organization might not have access to.

Rep Hakeem Jeffries put out a press release of an internal memo announcing the new taskforce. Given that it’s internal it’s not super clear how the taskforce will run, but given DeLauro and Raskin’s involvement, I have high hopes.

And those are just some of today’s Dems Doing the Work. The first one is probably the most important, so please make sure to spread it on every single social you have. It’s scary how few people even know it’s happening. And this is precisely why people don’t think Dems are doing anything, cause, they just don’t know.

Your voice is your superpower, but only when you use it!

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