Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise and Fighting Back Day 31

I am thrilled to say that most of the stories are viral on Threads or Instagram! Now, that doesn’t mean that you necessarily heard about them, but there’s a much better change that you did than usual.

And there are always a lot of today’s fighters that I missed, so please share them in the comments!

Reps Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Sylvia Garcia (TX-29)

Reintroduced the Bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act which would create a pathway to citizenship for DACA, Deferred Enforcement Departure, and Temporary Protected Status recipients. It is co-sponsored by 201 members of the House including Republican Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), one of the co-leads on the bill.

It is so important for our Democrats to get Republicans to sign on to their bills as much as possible and tout them as bipartisan even when there’s only one Republican signing on. Some Republicans still have values and we need to hold them to those values as often as possible.

Senate Dem Leadership

It doesn’t get a whole lot of attention, but Senate Dems do hold a leadership press conference every Tuesday. Today that consisted of Chuck Schumer, Patty Murray and Tammy Baldwin.

Patty called EM “the leader of the Republican Party” which I’m sure would piss DT off, if he heard it. She also gave ideas on what we need to do to fight back, especially in our communities.

Tammy said that she got more than 5000 calls this week from scared and angry constituents who are losing their jobs and healthcare and everything in between. That’s a great number, but we need to have even more people calling!

And Schumer was asked for details about the meetings pressuring Republicans, which he would not give but, he insisted they are happening consistently and we’ll know more when it’s helpful to the situation for us to know more.

Please watch these press conferences. I got a comment saying there should be more, and I agree, but it’s not helpful to have more if no one is watching the weekly one to begin with.

DNC Chair Ken Martin

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he has thrown out the DNC rulebook, and I am so excited about it.

He’s not doing a swing state strategy. He’s not even doing a 50-state strategy. He’s doing a 3,244 county strategy. And that is how we are going to take back this country.

I can’t wait to see which state are on the next leg of this tour!

Rep Mark Pocan (WI-02)

Is thinking outside the box. He is inviting Republican WI reps to debate him at public town halls.

And I hope he doesn’t just wait for Republicans to take him up on it, but rather plans the town hall on a date and time that he knows they could make, if they wanted to, and shows up regardless.

While I think the debate would be phenomenal, just hearing him talk to a crowd who is expecting to also hear from a Republican no show, is great too.

If Mark isn’t consistently on your list of Democrats, who are fighting, your list is not complete.

New Democrat Coalition

Is a group of Democratic House members who believe that most Americans fall closer to the center than either far left or far right. They’re probably right about that.

They held a press conference announcing their vision and policy plans for this session, as well as their nine working group and who will chair them. Right now we, as a country, are so far right on everything, getting us back to center is a really important start, and you’ll find, no matter how far left you are, all of these policies are at least headed in a direction you support.

It’s also important to remember that we are a big tent party, and we need to find ways to convince more centrist Republicans to leave their party. some of these policy ideas will do just that.

And I also want to add that while, no, they don’t explicitly mention anything in regards to diversity, inclusion or equity, the coalition does include reps like Sarah McBride, Shontel Brown and Emilia Sykes, to name just a few. Even though it’s not mentioned directly in their plans, I promise you, they are focusing on protecting and supporting Trans Americans and Black Women as well as every other diverse minority in this country. And I hope that one day soon, the vast majority of Americans want to hear these phrases again.

You don’t have to love everything they have to say, but, this is “doing something”

There were three Democrats on leave who we were all sure wouldn’t be voting on the budget blueprint last night. They should be allowed to proxy vote, but Speaker Johnson took that option away. Turns out, two of them found a way to show up anyway.

Rep Brittany Pettersen (CO-07)

Brought her one-month-old son to the House floor so she could vote no on the budget blueprint:

I rise today with my newborn Sam, who’s just four weeks old. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the opportunity to vote remotely after giving birth, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from being here to represent my constituents and vote no on this disastrous Republican budget proposal…

reppettersen

A post shared by @reppettersen

Rep Kevin Mullin (CA-15)

Has been in the hospital with a blood clot and knee infection for the past 10 days and showed up to the vote using a walker:

I’ve spent the last 10 days in the hospital back in the district, was able to be released, I went straight to the airport with my wife, and flew to Washington DC yesterday and now on Capitol Hill today, I could not miss this vote, this crucial budget vote, this draconion budget that Republican house majority prefers…

repkevinmullin

A post shared by @repkevinmullin

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries

As Kevin said, he flew into DC on Monday. The press was saying, up until the vote happened, that there were four Dems on leave and they weren’t making the vote. We the voters were angry and panicking that they would dare miss this vote. But, it’s clear from Kevin’s post that was the goal. The goal was a misdirect, and though the blueprint passed by one vote, only one Democrat ended up missing the vote. You can feel however you want about Hakeem Jeffries, but this was plan, and we had to be ignorant for the Dem leadership to pull it off. It was executed flawlessly by Jeffries and the rest of the leadership, and that definitely qualifies as fighting back.

Finally,

Sen Jon Ossoff (GA)

Sent a letter. A lot of people ask why Democrats are still sending letters to the administration. “They aren’t listening, so why bother?”

Well, sometimes they work.

And this is one of those times. The Admin got rid of funding for the HBCU agriculture program, so, Ossoff sent a letter:

The Trump Administration’s suspension of funding for Georgia HBCU students who support Georgia agriculture is wrong and hurts our state.

This program has been a lifeline for HBCU students in Georgia, providing learning opportunities at Fort Valley State University and empowering young Georgians who are excited and committed to contribute to our agricultural industry’s growth and innovation.

I urge the Trump Administration to immediately reinstate this funding to ensure that Georgia HBCU students receive the support Congress directed to them.

It’s very short and I’m sure there were some other steps, that we aren’t privy to, involved as well, but, it worked. The program is being funded again. So yes, sometimes letters do have an impact, and Jon Ossoff made sure this one did.

So yes, our Dems are fighting back every single day. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!