Dear friends,
I hope it’s been a good week for you. I began the week by asking for alternative names to the so-called ‘lame duck’ session, since the current name includes a problematic ableist term and a libelous smear of ducks.
Unwittingly, the author also offered an alternative name; the bold is mine:
[T]he post-election weeks have become a unique political grace period for lawmakers leaving Congress to try to forge bipartisan compromises that eluded them in tenser times. And re-elected lawmakers may feel freer to act after securing another term.
Who doesn’t love a grace period? Grace is such a beautiful gift. I’m hoping that the term will appeal to both the religious and secular, and that the spirit of good will will suffuse the political grace period.
Congress averted a government shutdown (good job!) with a temporary spending bill. Now, they’ve got another week to haggle over what to do with our tax dollars.
Here are some quick repeat actions to focus the attention of legislators during the grace period:
Tell Congress to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit. This quick action is co-sponsored by lots of progressive groups.
I hate the phone, but sometimes, only a call will do. Taking action to prevent gun violence would be the ultimate act of political grace.
I only reached Schumer yesterday, so I just called Gillibrand’s office again. Her DC phone was malfunctioning, so I’ve included her NYC phone number.
Call your US Senators and talk to a staffer about the Assault Weapons Ban.
Schumer is still trying to attach the Electoral Count Act to the spending bill.
The House version of the legislation, the Presidential Election Reform Act, was sponsored by Democrat Zoe Lofgren and cosponsored by Republican Liz Cheney; it passed the House in September in a near-party-line vote.
Lofgren and Cheney sent a letter late last week to [bill sponsors] and the Senate leadership seeking to clarify two outstanding issues. First, there’s the concern that the grounds listed for objecting to Electoral College ballots—that the ballots were not “lawfully certified” or “regularly given”—are not explicitly defined in the Senate version of the bill. The House version of the bill is very explicit and narrow about the grounds for legitimately objecting to electoral slates. Second, Lofgren and Cheney note that some decades-old federal court rulings hold that the federal judiciary must not get involved in cases determining which candidate in an election has won the most votes. The House version of the bill clarifies that federal courts do have jurisdiction in litigation relating to the certification of presidential elections; the Senate bill does not.
Call on your Senators to support The Presidential Election Reform Act.
Yesterday, I was thinking about young people and today, I’m thinking of older people, or the term I prefer: experienced people. I adopted the language from Th!rd Act, a group of people pooling their resources and experience to improve the world that we will some day leave behind.
Watch Bill McKibben offer his take on how we work together for climate action. Then, support Th!rd Act as it celebrates its first birthday!
One resource that some of us have in our third act is more time. The Environmental Voter Project emailed an urgent request for volunteers!
On Monday, a special Democratic primary was announced for this coming Tuesday to fill Virginia's vacant 4th Congressional District seat! That's right – an 8-day election. This is a big impact opportunity — we'll likely be one of only a handful of groups mobilizing voters for this congressional election.
This election is called a ‘firehouse primary,’ which apparently has to do with it being run by the party rather than the state (and not because it has the character of an emergency). It’s a Democratic district; the candidates are both state senators and the winner of this primary will likely win the seat in the February special election.
As we know, all Democrats are equally admirable, and environmental voters will recognize the differences!
Please sign up with the Environmental Voter Project to phone-bank on Monday 12/19 at 6 PM. Let’s get out the vote in Virginia!
I updated the wiffij gift guide because I found the right gift for a young person I love.
Have a great weekend!
with love,
L