Tell your Senators and President Biden: Reform the Filibuster and Protect Our Constitutional Right to Vote
Call BOTH of your Senators.
Call the White House to contact President Biden
Email (use your own words): Web Contact Form
White House Comment Line: 202-456-1111.
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Call Script for Senator Padilla
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Senator Padilla, thank you for everything you do to ensure voting rights legislation is passed in the Senate. Please continue to work with your fellow senators, including Senate Majority Leader Schumer, to call for an end to the filibuster and pass this legislation.
Call Script for Senator Feinstein
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Senator Feinstein, Without new voting rights legislation, our democracy is in real and immediate danger. We urge you to support effectively reforming or abolishing the filibuster to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate without delay.
Call Script for President Biden
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
President Biden, you know our democracy and our republic are at an existential crossroads. We urge you to use the power of your office to advocate for filibuster reform, so that Senate Democrats can pass S1 and/or other voting protection legislation. Republicans will not support any version of such legislation, which is critical to ensure all eligible Americans can vote and the administration of elections remains a nonpartisan, fair process in every state.
Background
The Republican Party’s ongoing assault on government, voting rights, women’s health, economic justice, and civil rights continues to escalate, increasing the urgency of enacting the For The People Act (or some version of it) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act with every passing day. Just last week, when Texas' Democratic legislators returned home after their dramatic protests, Texas Republicans in the State House finally passed their gigantic voter suppression bill.
The Democratic senators can and should reform the rules to ensure that civil rights and voting rights bills are given a chance to pass. Given the Senate’s ugly history of blocking such legislation, there is ample justification for targeted filibuster reforms to ensure that civil rights bills receive (simple) majority votes.
If President Biden does not get behind the effort to reform the filibuster in the Senate, he will have left intact the system of legislative segregation that preserved Jim Crow.
References
Text of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech, hosted at the Civil Rights Movement Archive, which is created and maintained by veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement, which includes Bruce Hartford, member of Indivisible San Francisco
Voting rights: Activists plan nationwide marches in DC, August 12, 2021, Washington Post
Thousands March in DC for Voting Rights, August 28, 2021, NPR
Texas House lawmakers pass GOP-backed voting restrictions bill, August 26, 2021, Texas Tribune
Opinion | When Will Biden Join the Fight for Voting Rights?, August 29, 2021, New York Times, by Adam Jentleson, former Chief of Staff of Senator Harry Reid, author of Kill Switch, on the history of the filibuster
2021 Round-Up: Efforts to Restrict Voting in the States, Democracy Docket, May 21, 2021
This Week's US Congressional Call Scripts:
Our Members of Congress need to stand up for Senator Padilla, themselves, and our democracy.
As a facility on federal land, congressional opposition is crucial to ensure FCI Dublin doesn’t reopen as an ICE detention center. Organizers maintain it’s easier to shut down a detention center before it opens so it’s urgent to ACT NOW.
Republicans will be voting on the buget bill that cuts Medicaid as soon as tomorrow. We must tell our MoC’s - stay strong!
Budget negotiations are stealing our Medicare, while DOGE is stealing our money. Tell your MoCs to add an amendment to the budget bill to prohbiit all money from going to DOGE.
Trump and his MAGA regime are assaulting our democracy and threatening our economic security. To fund massive tax cuts for their billionaire buddies, they are massively cutting funds for the domestic social-safety net while increasing defense and police-state spending to historic highs.
Trump may introduce a rescission bill making his cuts to the federal workforce legal. Our MOCs must say NO!
Urge your Representative to publicly oppose RFK Jr.’s harmful misinformation about autism and his proposal for a national autism registry!
Limiting or eliminating freedom of speech, has and will continue to be a prime target in authoritarian governments. We have to protect this right in order to protect all of our rights.
Urge your Members of Congress to join Sen Van Hollen’s delegation to El Salvador to stand up for Kilmar Abrego Garcia and protect the US Constitution
Trump/Musk have been furiously slashing and gutting the federal government so that they can extend Trump's 2017 tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy before they expire at the end of this year. Tell your Senators and Representative to defend Social Security against Trump and Musk
Our Members of Congress need to stand up for Senator Padilla, themselves, and our democracy.
The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin, located near San Francisco, has become infamous nationwide for its history of rampant sexual abuse and unsafe conditions. Our allies at Bay Resistance are asking Indivisible SF members to reach out to more state officials to oppose the reopening of FCI Dublin as an ICE detention center.
Join Faith in Action Bay Area in calling / writing to Governor Newsom to Oppose Medi-Cal Cuts for Undocumented Californians.
As a facility on federal land, congressional opposition is crucial to ensure FCI Dublin doesn’t reopen as an ICE detention center. Organizers maintain it’s easier to shut down a detention center before it opens so it’s urgent to ACT NOW.
San Francisco has reinstated a controversial 90-day policy limiting family stays in homeless shelters, which has sparked widespread concern among immigrant families and advocates. Demand that Mayor Lurie overturn the 90-day Homeless Shelter Eviction policy.
Republicans will be voting on the buget bill that cuts Medicaid as soon as tomorrow. We must tell our MoC’s - stay strong!
The Mayor has proposed devastating budget cuts to community services. Tell the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and Uber/Lyft/AirBnB: SAVE OUR CITY’S BUDGET! NEED NOT GREED! DROP THE LAWSUITS!
Governor Newsom wants to reallocate voter-approved state money away from reproductive healthcare and the MAGA Murder Budget would revoke federal funding for it entirely. Call your reps to defend these vital services!
Contact your Supervisors and Mayor Lurie and demand a budget that protects the freedoms and future thriving of all people in San Francisco. ‘WHEN IS A BUDGET DEFICIT NOT A DEFICIT? : WHEN CORPORATIONS AREN’T PAYING THEIR TAXES.”
Ask your supervisor to hold a Board hearing to determine the extent of the practice of the DA collaborating with the Federal Government - we need to stop the DA from handing more people over to ICE.