No Ban, No Wall, No Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
Senator Dianne Feinstein
SF Office: (415) 393-0707
DC Office: (202) 224-3841
LA Office: (310) 914-7300
Fresno Office: (559) 485-7430
San Diego Office: (619) 231-9712
If you can't get through to one office, try another. There is no benefit to calling one office over another. Leaving a voicemail is as good as reaching a live person.
Senator Kamala Harris
SF Office: (415) 981-9369
DC Office: (202) 224-3553
Sacramento Office: (916) 448-2787
LA Office: (213) 894-5000
San Diego Office: (619) 239-3884
Call the SF office first, but try the other offices if you can’t get through. If you can’t get a live person, leave a voicemail and also send a follow-up email written in your own words.
Note: only one of the following two Congresswomen represents you. To find out which one, click here.
Leader Nancy Pelosi
SF Office: (415) 556-4862
DC Office: (202) 225-4965
Call the SF office first, but try the DC office if you can’t get through. If you get voicemail, hang up and try a few more times to talk to a real person. Don’t give up! Short direct messages are most effective.
Rep. Jackie Speier
San Mateo Office: (650) 342-0300
DC Office: (202) 225-3531
Keep calling if you don’t get through. Voicemails are logged daily into a central report across offices.
Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Thank you for holding firm against Republican efforts to poison the Farm Bill. I’m keeping a close eye on the bills still in front of Congress that must pass before December 21 to avoid shutdowns. I’m asking you to stand strong by:
1. Rejecting any DHS funding bill that adds new money for Trump’s border wall, ICE enforcement, family separation, or immigrant detention camps.
2. Rejecting any funding bill that includes tax cuts for the wealthy or undermines worker rights, or includes stealth attacks on the environment.
If Republicans threaten to shut down the government to get their way, stand firm! Don't give in to their threats.
Background:
Negotiations on the last “must pass” legislation of the 115th Congress are taking place behind closed doors and we the public will only learn of poisonous riders that get added at the last minute.
We need the promise of our MoCs that they will fight to pass clean bills that protect our families, communities, and the environment. If Trump or his Republican enablers threaten to shut down the government in order to ram through their cruel and hate-filled agenda our MoCs must stand firm.
Continuing Resolutions
The federal government’s funding runs from October 1st through September 30th of the following year. This is called the fiscal year. If September 30th comes and Congress hasn’t passed all of its appropriations bills, some portions of the federal government (or all of it) shuts down until they get their act together.
If Congress is taking too long and the September 30th deadline is looming, MoC’s can give themselves an extension called a continuing resolution (or “CR”), maintaining current funding levels until they can actually pass spending bills. That is what they did this year, extending funding until December 21.
CRs, like any spending bills, are magnets for poisonous policy riders—often-nasty amendments that members try to attach to spending bills, both to enact bad policy and to obstruct the appropriations process.
Learn more about Continuing Resolutions and poisonous policy riders.
Funding Bill
Congress has a choice to make. Right now, Democrats have two options on the table: help pass a full year of funding for DHS with at least $1.6 billion for the wall and enforcement, OR refuse to pass anything but a funding bill that keeps the government running and has no new funding for the wall and enforcement. They should make sure Trump’s shutdown showdown strategy is not rewarded with the building of his costly, unnecessary wall and instead pass a funding bill with no new funding.
Learn more about DHS and the Funding Bill.
Farm Bill
Every five years Congress enacts a Farm Bill. It's primary purpose is to subsidize and (to a degree) regulate the agriculture industry. The Farm Bill bill is enormously important to rural America. The behemoth piece of legislation will cost $867 billion over 10 years, according to House committee staffers.
Both House and Senate have passed different versions of the bill. A conference committee is trying to hammer out a compromise version that will then be voted up or down in each chamber with no amendments allowed. The House version (HR.2 Agriculture and Nutrition Act) which was rammed through by a razor-thin, two-vote margin over the objection of every single Democrat and 20 Republicans contained a number of policy changes that most Democrats fiercely opposed. The Senate version did not include those sections. Both versions contained corporate-welfare provisions.
Late on December 10, a compromise Farm Bill was reached that eliminated draconian changes to food stamps (yay!). It looks like the worst of the poison trojan horses have been killed, but it's still not clear what environmental alligators are hidden in its depths. So we need ask our MoCs to be vigilant.
The bill must still pass both the House and the Senate and be signed into law by the president, but that could come as early as this week.