Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise and Fighting Back Day 59
I am intentionally not posting what went viral. Rep Jason Crow (CO-06) was amazing in the Signal Gate hearing and Robert Garcia (CA-42) was so great in the PBS/NPR hearing, but they both went viral, so, today, they actually got the amplification they so rightfully deserve.
Unfortunately, that can’t be said for most of those listed below. The goal of this series is to cover those who wouldn’t get covered otherwise. And hopefully, if we lift up all our Dems, media (mainstream or otherwise) will have to pay attention.
ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)
There were two new episodes of the House Dems’ WTF Show. Garcia was in conversation with Steven Horsford (NV-04) and Derek Tran (CA-45) was in conversation with Maggie Goodlander (NH-02)
Sens Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Peter Welch (VT) held the “Cures in Crisis: What Gutting NIH Research Means for Americans with Cancer, Alzheimer's, & Other Diseases.” shadow hearing
And that’s just the five stories that I’m not going into detail about. So already you can tell Dems are doing the work.
Onto the stories I am going into some detail about.
Repping the Rep: Mark Desaulnier (CA-10)
Held a video town hall today. Yes, it was only live on Facebook, but, I tested it, and you can absolutely watch, and read the comments without an account.
I can’t get over how transparent he is. He is the chair of the Ethics Committee, and my god, does it show. He even broke won why he can’t talk about anything that isn’t legislative on a government town hall. There is supposed to be a strict separation between campaign work and legislative work, and some Reps care about that more than others. I’m so thrilled to hear him explain the difference. Please give this a listen if you can (he doesn’t talk very fast, so 2x speed is great, meaning this won’t take you too long.)
Ranking Member on Intelligence Committee Rep Jim Himes (CT-04)
Gave today’s Democratic Daily Download. It won’t be at all surprising, or I certainly hope it’s not, that today’s episode is all about Signal Gate. Republicans want us to forget all about this, but this is the second day Signal Gate is the subject of an episode, and I suspect this is the first two of many. This will not go away just because they will it to.
Sens Chuck Schumer (NY), Ron Wyden (OR), Maria Cantwell (WA) and Chris Van Hollen (MD)
Held a press conference. This is the second Senate Dem press conference in two days. It was about the nominee to oversee the Social Security Association and how he’s really bad news.
Wyden even discusses how he had a whistleblower reach out about how bad he is and the whistleblower was confirmed as credible by the Washington Post a few days ago.
Van Hollen’s speech is also great, as always. So if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, at least listen to them.
Minority Leader Rep Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
Was on Morning Joe and gave exact actions that need to be taken involving #SignalGate. This is one of the strongest interviews I’ve seen him give in a long time. There was no mention of Republicans being willing to work with us, or trying to work with them.
Schumer is absolutely not doing what he needs to be, but Jeffries is and I think the calls for him to step down need to stop. It’s time to start thanking him and lifting him up.
Also, seeing Chris Matthews was a total jump scare.
And speaking of Jeffries…
Rep Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37)
Had him as the guest on this week’s “Is This Shit Legal?” My absolute favorite series of any Dem.
She ran through a list of wild stories that happened in our government this week and asked Jeffries if they were legal. It’s brilliant. Everything about this series and this woman is brilliant. I don’t understand why she isn’t everyone’s favorite member of congress, honestly.
Rep Becca Balint (VT)
Posted a bts of either an interview or a video town hall where she says that Dems need to stop playing by the rules, not in the sense of breaking laws or anything, but rules that are respected because the three branches of government respect each other and their equality, which is very much not the case right now.
I love the sentiment and I love the style of the video as well. It makes us feel like we’re in the room with her, which I think is really clever.
Rep Greg Casar (TX-35)
Gave a beautiful speech in the most laughable hearing of the day, the NPR/PBS hearing. MTG is trying to prove that PBS is evil, so many Dems used Sesame Street for their argument. Casar used the characters to expose the ridiculous lie that the admin actually cares about getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse.
This is only 2 minutes and you don’t want to miss a second of it.
And finally…
Rep Eric Swalwell (CA-14)
Has a monthly series called “Under the Dome” which is basically the behind the scenes of his month. He goes through where he’s been, what he did, and what interviews he gave, and shows clips of each. It’s not short, clocking in at about 7 minutes, this isn’t a quick “what I did in a week” kind of thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love those too, but this is way above and beyond. Definitely worth a watch.
That was exhausting. It’s one of those days where it feels like everything happened all at once. So I hope at least a few things stick in your brain. Also, because it was such a long day, I’m going to take tomorrow off. That means that I will be posting both series posts, but it will be up to you to fill them in, so start looking for stories now, so that you can include them tomorrow!
As always, please amplify all the amazing Dems I highlighted. And if you made it to the end of this post comment with🐷 (the pig face) cause they don’t have Sesame Street emojis
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
🐷 I’m doing my best to amplify everyone!
🐷!