“Democracy is most likely to break down through a series of incremental actions that cumulatively undermine the electoral process, resulting in a presidential election that produces an outcome clearly at odds with the voters’ will. It is this comparatively quiet but steady subversion, rather than a violent coup or insurrection against a sitting president, that Americans today have to fear most.” Washington Post

The Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021 addresses US food insecurity by ensuring that all school children receive free meals regardless of income. It expands U.S. food programs and makes successful plans permanent.

Despite Indivisible Oregon’s campaign to pass voting rights bills, the bills are still stuck in the Senate. We are now at democracy’s tipping point. The GOP’s commitment to undermine, not protect and strengthen, democracy, makes a filibuster carve-out imperative. The Senate must remain in session until these bills pass.

In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential election, states have rushed to pass laws that invite election sabotage by anti-democratic politicians. The Senate must pass the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts immediately before future elections are irreparably compromised.

Republicans are frantically redrawing lines to increase their advantage to ensure that every election’s result will be clear long before the issues are debated or voters consider their choices. Their goal is to make elections irrelevant so that no matter what the majority of voters want, Republicans will always be able to keep their positions and stay in power.

Please call your Member of Congress and let them know how you feel about protecting our democracy and making government work for the rest of us.

Tell them to stop chipping away at the best social infrastructure investment ever considered by Congress. Stop trying to appease the two corporate Democrats by sacrificing essential pieces of Biden’s Build Back Better Act. Then pass the stack of bills that have been piling up, and don’t leave town until that work is done. Start by making election day a national holiday.

The John Lewis Voting Rights act along with the Voting Rights Act have been sitting in the Senate for months. One way to remove an obstacle to make voting easier is to move the already existing Presidents day to the !st Tuesday in November, making the day to vote a federal holiday.

Poor scheduling and too many breaks have created a logjam of legislation and pending confirmations in the Senate. Congress must stay in session until the avalanche of issues--from keeping the government open to passing voting rights protections --is resolved, even if that cuts into or eliminates its weeks-long Xmas break.

The Build Back Better Act awaits action in the Senate, where 50 votes are needed. With no Republican support and a politically diverse Democratic caucus, every Senator can demand changes. Essential social and climate investments are endangered. We must insist the Senate pass BBB with these provisions intact.

We thank our Members of Congress for all their hard work turning campaign promises into progressive legislation. We are especially grateful that Build Back Better, which will improve the lives of all of us, appears close to passage in the Senate. The Senate must retain all its provisions and then pass pending voting rights legislation.

Our democracy is under siege and the Republican Party is using CRT as a weapon to foster racial and class divisions by instilling fear within the white community. This cynical ploy has gained traction during the past year and played a pivotal role in the Virginia elections. It has precipitated numerous conflicts between parents, students, and school boards.

It’s disturbing looking at America right now. But looking away won’t solve problems. This week’s Daily Actions began with a hard look at the Republicans ramping up their campaign of hate and violence, from the floor of the House to school board meeting rooms. Their goal is to push good people out and take their place. We are fighting for a better country, and part of that fight this week was pushing our Members of Congress to stand firm on the Build Back Better’s programs for children and families, including affordable child care, universal preK, a child tax credit, and paid leave. And then, in the chaos, we stopped to look at the fat defense budget rushing through Congress and we called for specific changes. Keep informed. The antidote to despair is activism.

Now that we’ve left Afghanistan, there’s no justification for maintaining, much less increasing, military expenditures. In debating the defense budget, our MoCs must ensure that taxpayer dollars support families, not military contractors; that our complicity in the Saudi’s brutal war on Yemen cease; and that existing presidential war powers be repealed.