Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise and Fighting Back Day 224
You're not going to have Dem wins beamed into your head, you have to seek them out
Today I had a lot of conversations with a lot people who think that Dem communication sucks. But here’s the thing, these posts are the communicating. It doesn’t matter how good the messaging is, if the algorithm doesn’t want you seeing them, you won’t, unless you seek them out.
To find what Doomerella thinks of all these stories, scroll to the bottom of the post!
Repping the Rep: Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Is a centrist. I just want to acknowledge that I know that and you know that, before we spend the week with him. The goal of this segment is always to show who is doing the work even when they don’t get credit for it. Do I like everything he does? No, but the most successful way to get someone to do better is by praising them when they do the right thing, and he does, a lot more than you probably think. Okay, now that that is out of the way.
He seems to have a series where he answers questions from his constituents, and today he was asked if he will pressure his colleagues on Oversight, even though he’s not a member of the committee to release all the Epstein files.
Instead of just saying yes, and explaining his pov, he gave a bit of a history lesson, which I really like cause a lot of the younger generation was barely alive when Epstein was first arrested. In fact, I was in high school, and I don’t really remember it.
He begins:
The Epstein Story goes back to the early part of this century. In 2008, when he was charged in Florida…
Congressional Democratic Doctors Caucus
Wrote a letter to RFK Jr. demanding his resignation.
As physicians and Members of Congress, we are deeply concerned that your tenure at HHS undermines the core mission of the Department: to protect and promote the health of the American people. Your actions have not only eroded public trust but have actively endangered lives. We demand your resignation to safeguard the health and safety of our communities.
Obviously, this won’t be the thing that gets him to resign, it’s not like he could care less what these six doctors think. However, it will help encourage medical organizations that haven’t yet, to do the same. And it is a written record of where these members stand.
BlueSky | Instagram | Facebook
Rep Janelle Bynum (OR-05)
Discussed some of the things she did during the August recess.
Met with those on the frontlines of the wild fires
Learned about the clean drinking water projects in her district so she can better advocate for them
Talk to rural small business owners, because they are really hurting right now
Talk to those who work in solar to understand the risks of the cuts to clean energy
Talked to constituents about their concerns, especially around SNAP and Medicaid cuts.
I love this formatting. It really showcases why it’s so important for our electeds to spend half their time in district.
BlueSky | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | YouTube | TikTok
Rep Lori Trahan (MA-03)
Posted about the importance of the HONEST act, the Senate congressional stock ban bill. In the House they have a separate bill that was just introduced called the Restore Trust In Congress Act.
Now, passing this bill won’t fix everything in Washington, but it will send a powerful message that your reps work for you and you alone.
It really seems like it might happen this time around. With two bills, both bipartisan, it’s going to be a lot harder for Republicans to try to kill it before it gets a whole lot of attention. It might not pass, most bills don’t for many years, but this time it might actually change the conversation. That’s the hope anyway.
And I really love how transparent Rep Trahan is being. It’s not going to fix everything, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.
BlueSky | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | YouTube | TikTok
Sen Richard Blumenthal (CT)
Attended the Norwich Labor Day Rally last weekend. I wouldn’t normally include this, except this post is how I found out my cousin is a member of the Feisty Four Stringers.
So on a personal level I love that he shouted them out, but on a professional level I love that he’s giving attention to this vital way to resist.
Music and protest can’t exist without each other. I think a lot of people would do well to remember that.
Finally,
(CA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV) and Gary Peters (MI)
Wrote a letter to Lonnie Bunch, who runs the Smithsonian giving him added support to not bow down, after he wrote a letter to the White House saying the museum’s “independence is paramount.”
The more support he gets, the more likely he’s going to continue to stand his ground and not give in.
Our Senators used this moment to remind him that Trump has absolutely no control over the institution:
As you know, the Smithsonian Institution is a national treasure, and it is also a public-private partnership managed as an independent federal trust. It is not an executive agency over which the President can exert unilateral control over its historical, scientific or artistic content. The Institution was created by Congress to care for the bequest of James Smithson and to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge."
Part of the way we make sure those standing up, continue to do so, is through actions like this. And we can all help. Anytime we see people, companies, institutions or organizations standing up, we have to let them know we see them and we have their back.
So those are some of today’s fighters. I hope you learned a thing or two.
If you made it to the end of this post, comment 🧑🚒 (firefighter) because I really appreciate how Rep Bynum explained what she did during recess.
And if you watched or read any of these stories, comment with what you learned, and 🗽(statue of liberty) because a model lives at the Smithsonian and our Dems are fighting with everything they have to keep the institution independent.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
My experience with people who say that Democrats messaging is poor is that they're expecting to see them on whatever news media the follow. They also seem to be unwilling to follow them on social media or even their YouTube channel.
It's my belief that they've latched onto that tired explanation instead of understanding the electoral map, and landscape. Forgetting that our elections have been under attack by russia since at least 2016, that republicans are gerrymandering their states and have been for a long time, and passing voter suppression legislation while republican secretaries of state are throwing people off the voter roles.
👩🚒 🗽
It's good to keep an eye on what's happening in congress and share it