Indivisibles,

It’s only Monday, and one refrain we’ve heard a lot is that this week is
going to be worse than last week. The coronavirus continues to spread and
people are anxious and afraid that their government isn’t going to meet
the urgency of this moment.

To be totally honest, we didn’t start writing this draft of this
newsletter until 5 pm because things on the Hill have been changing so
rapidly. There’ve been fireworks on the Senate floor all day as senators
have debated what the third bill -- a potential stimulus package -- will
look like. Democrats again voted against the GOP corporate-bailout bill as
they demanded Congress put #PeopleOverProfits. Things are still uncertain
as the Senate, the House, and the Trump administration negotiate the best
next steps for the country.

There’s some good news though: the House Dems released their version of a
stimulus plan, and it’s much stronger than the Senate -- which means they
have a real chance to use their leverage and demand that the stimulus bill
address the issues that folks are facing. 

The bill includes payments to families, expands paid sick leave and
unemployment insurance, contains money to pay for election security and
vote by mail support, contains more federal aid for Medicaid, and places
restrictions on industries that would take federal money (such as
airlines, hotels, etc.).

While we’re not sure what the rest of this week will hold, we know one
thing: we need to keep demanding that Congress put people over profits.
That’s why we created a new ‘People Over Profits’ landing page for all of
our coronavirus resources and asks, [ [link removed] ]which you can find here. As more
and more Indivisibles shelter-in-place and social-distance to avoid
spreading the coronavirus, we recognize that organizing on the ground has
suddenly shifted drastically. That’s why all of our asks are digital asks,
which you can find below.

One more thing -- take time for yourself to decompress. Cook a meal.
Practice some self-care. Breathe deeply. And let’s be thankful for the
things in our life that we have and can control. The coming weeks might be
scary as hell, but we’re in this together, as a movement.

And now, our digital to-dos:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Your 6 weekly to-dos 

 1. [ [link removed] ]Call your Senator and tell them that the next coronavirus package
must include these critical provisions. Last week, Senate Republicans
released their bill for the next coronavirus package. Disappointingly,
it prioritizes corporations over people, giving corporations a $500
billion “slush fund” while leaving out some of the most vulnerable
Americans. We must prioritize direct assistance to the people who we
know are most impacted by this pandemic by mandating universal paid
sick leave, expanding unemployment benefits, and providing cash
payments to everyone. That also means establishing requirements for
corporations who take taxpayer-funded bailouts -- any taxpayer money
they receive goes directly to workers, not to CEOs and shareholders.
Call your senators now to demand they support these provisions be
included in the next coronavirus relief package.
 2. [ [link removed] ]Call your Representative and tell them the same. The previous
coronavirus bill that passed originated in the House, and it didn't go
nearly far enough in protecting folks most directly affected by this
pandemic (millions of workers will be denied the protections in that
bill). The new package might even walk back some of the inadequate
protections from the previous package! The House needs to make this
right. Call your representatives now and demand that they support the
above provisions be included in the next coronavirus package.
 3. [ [link removed] ]Demand your Senators ensure safe, secure elections during the
coronavirus outbreak. We know that the coronavirus is scary, and we’re
all making sacrifices to minimize any further spread of the virus. We
have seen some states make the very difficult decision to postpone
primary elections in an effort to reduce community spread of
coronavirus. But we can’t let this public health crisis impede the
functioning of our democratic processes. That’s why we’re recommending
states start now to build alternatives to in-person voting so that
nothing will put the administration of the November presidential
election at risk. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden have introduced
a bill to assist states in expanding vote-by-mail for this November’s
election. Call your senators to demand that the Natural Disaster and
Emergency Ballot Act be included in the next coronavirus relief
package.
 4. [ [link removed] ]Sign up to join the next Indivisible National Activist Call on
April 2 at 8pm ET! We're planning to have a special guest and will
also be talking about organizing while social distancing in the
coronavirus era. 
 5. [ [link removed] ]If your group has endorsed a candidate locally, nominate that
candidate for a national endorsement! We have five more waves of
endorsements planned in April, June, July, and October. We’ll accept
nominations on a rolling basis throughout the election cycle. If you’d
like to submit for the next round, groups have until 11:59pm PT on
Thursday, February 20, to submit candidates for the third round of
endorsements.
 6. Text PAYBACK to 977-79 and join the Payback Project right now. Even in
the three weeks since we launched this [ [link removed] ]project to take back the
Senate, we’ve already seen twists and turns and had to drop everything
to respond to new Republican schemes. We know that’s not going to
stop, which is why we need even more folks texting, donating, and
joining local groups as we continue to get payback now until the
election!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 2020 Update 

In case you’d forgotten (we wouldn’t blame you if you had!) there’s a
Presidential primary taking place! Many states are working on creating
contingency plans for their primaries in the midst of coronavirus, with a
handful making the call to postpone their contests until later in the
primary season. Here’s the delegate count as of 12:30 pm on Monday, March
23: [ [link removed] ]Former VP Joe Biden has 1,201 delegates, Sen. Bernie Sanders has
896, and 176 delegates have gone to candidates who have since dropped out
of the race. Read on to learn about what’s happened over the past seven
days, plus a special update on a very important Congressional race in
Illinois.

* [ [link removed] ]441 delegates were up for grabs last Tuesday as Arizonans,
Floridians, and Illinoisans cast their votes for who should be the
next Democratic nominee for president. Biden swept all three states,
pulling in 286 delegates, with Sanders capturing 140. Fifteen
delegates have yet to be allocated. [ [link removed] ]Turnout in both Arizona and
Florida was up from 2016, but down in Illinois. We'll be keeping a
careful eye on the remaining primaries and what steps states are
making to protect voters and poll workers while also ensuring that the
democratic process continues.
* [ [link removed] ]Sen. Tulsi Gabbard dropped out of the primary race on March 19 and
endorsed Joe Biden for president. Over the course of the primary to
date, Gabbard won two delegates, both from American Samoa. 
* [ [link removed] ]On Tuesday, progressive challenger Marie Newman unseated
eight-term conservative incumbent Dan Lipinski in Illinois’ third
district! And her opponent wasn't any old Blue Dog -- he is
anti-choice, anti-LGBT, voted against the ACA, voted against the Dream
Act and opposed DACA. Newman ran on an unapologetically progressive
platform and was pushed to victory thanks to a grassroots coalition
that Indivisible was a vital part of. Local Indivisible groups were
among the first to endorse her longshot 2018 bid and have been
knocking doors for her ever since. You might remember that Newman was
one of our first nationally-endorsed candidates this election cycle,
and we invested heavily in the race. Our volunteers sent out 130,000
texts for her, we sent over 100,000 pieces of mail to voters' homes
urging them to vote for her, and we ran digital ads viewed by tens of
thousands in the district. Her victory shows us that when progressive
candidates engage with the grassroots and understand the needs of
their constituents, we win.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 The GOP is throwing us under the bus -- again 

Senate Republicans are still fighting to make sure government assistance
goes to huge corporations -- not the everyday people who need it. As the
Senate debates another massive coronavirus package, the GOP is arguing for
corporate bailouts instead of serious relief for working people. 

It’s always been clear they don’t care about their constituents, but this
is egregious. It’s time to send them home. We started the Payback Project
a few months ago to do just that -- and it’s becoming more and more
critical by the day. [ [link removed] ]Can you chip in $10 to support the Payback
Project and fund all our work this year?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 IndivisWin -- make a video this week 

With social distancing it might seem hard for groups to
make their voices heard -- that’s why we’ve come up
with tools to help make the transition into digital
organizing. First stop? Check out our Soapboxx tool and
make a video demanding your member of Congress put
people over profits. [ [link removed] ]Click here to record a video.

We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as we continue to learn more
information about the coronavirus and how it impacts our work and
community. Stay safe and healthy.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

[ [link removed] ][IMG]



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]