Once Again: Stand Fast, Don't Surrender to Shutdown Blackmail
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
We strongly support your continued rejection of Republican poison-pill demands in appropriation bills or Continuing Resolutions (CR). Their threat to shut down the government if we do not surrender to extreme demands is a form of political blackmail and hostage taking. Rewarding them with policies and provisions that they cannot enact through the normal legislative process will result in even more blackmail threats.
Background
This is yet another rerun of the Republican blackmail and intimidation strategy. Their goals remain clear:
Reduce taxes on the very rich and the big corporations
Support, subsidize, and expand the fossil fuel industry
Oppose unions, roll back wage increases, and take away public health care and housing
Demonize and scapegoat people of color to energize their white-nationalist base
Further restrict abortion access to gain votes from religious extremists
Suppress and restrict voting by people of color, the poor, and students
Suppress, silence, and eliminate ideas that don’t fit into their extreme right-wing ideology
They know that they cannot enact these and similar anti-people, anti-democratic policies through normal legislation, and they’d never win an election if they honestly campaigned on their true agenda. So they try to ram it through with backroom deals, disinformation, and political blackmail.
Since appropriation bills require Democratic votes to pass the House and Senate, Democrats have the power to stand fast against any further cuts to domestic spending or inclusion of any MAGA poison pills—if they have the backbone to use that power. We must urge them to stand fast.
References
Lawmakers race to avoid looming shutdown as blame game begins, The Hill, 2/26/24
Spending Impasse Persists Amid G.O.P. Resistance as Partial Shutdown Looms, NY Times, 2/26/24 (hopefully no paywall)
Republican Demands and Divisions Drive Impasse Toward a Shutdown, NY Times, 2/27/24 (hopefully no paywall)
This Week's US Congressional Call Scripts:
