Over the past week, the House and Senate successfully negotiated a package of six out of twelve appropriations bills, partially funding the government, and President Biden has signed it. Here’s a quick list of what’s funded by the package (which you can read in full on Congress.gov):
- Veterans Affairs and Military Construction
- Agriculture, the FDA, EPA, and rural development
- Departments of Commerce, Justice, Interior, Energy, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development
According to Rep. Rosa DeLaura via AP, our Members of Congress were able to defeat “the vast majority of extreme cuts and hundreds of harmful policy riders” that MAGA extremists were holding the bills hostage for. This is a great victory for us.
The fight continues into bill number two, as this bill does not fund several other critical branches of government, including the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security. That package of bills is still being negotiated. Failing that, the unfunded parts of the government will shut down on March 22. So, we must continue to keep pressuring our Members of Congress to stand firm against MAGA poison pills.
Tell President Biden and our Members of Congress: Stand fast, don’t surrender to MAGA Republican shutdown blackmail!
San Francisco Election Results: Here’s what you voted for
Votes are still being counted in the February–March 5 election, but here’s what we know so far.
State Prop 1: YES is very narrowly in the lead, but with barely over 29,000 votes between yes and no, we still don’t know for sure. Prop 1 would fund a $6.4 billion bond issue to build 10,000 in-patient and residential treatment beds in our state. A portion of this funding would also be set aside for permanent supportive housing.
In San Francisco, every local proposition, except Prop B, passed. Prop B promised to rapidly expand police spending upon the passage of a hypothetical future tax measure. We did a deep dive on Prop B on our blog.
Graphic taken from SF Public Press’ article on the results of the election.
President: As we expected, it’s Biden vs. Trump. With nobody else credibly running for either nomination (and with the RNC, now co-chaired by Trump’s daughter-in-law, having declared Trump the nominee already), we now know for sure who our candidates will be on the fall general election ballot.
How are you feeling about the results? One of the things that we found interesting was the turnout of this election. The turnout is about 42 percent in San Francisco, and 30 percent statewide.
We also took a look at the ballot challenges this election cycle and found that 2,453 ballots so far in San Francisco have been reported as returned or postmarked late. Those were mailed after March 5 or on March 5 but too late for pickup. That’s 2,453 people we need to remind to vote early and drop off their ballot in time!
The final canvass of the results will be certified in April.
Over 65? It's time for your spring COVID-19 shot
If you're 65 years of age or older, you need to renew your protection against COVID-19 more frequently than younger folks. So last week the CDC recommended that you get another COVID-19 shot if it's been more than four months since your previous COVID-19 vaccination.
Folks who've had a rough time with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines may want to try Novavax, as some recipients have reported less severe side effects than with the mRNA-based vaccines.
Whichever COVID-19 shot you go with, it should be covered by your insurance. If you're uninsured, the CDC's Bridge Access Program covers the cost at participating pharmacies. For a pharmacy near you that's offering COVID-19 shots, visit https://vaccines.gov/.
Volunteers welcome: We’re looking for an Editor and a Social Media Person!
This year is going to be a busy time, and we’d love a few more volunteers on board to help with editing our weekly newsletter and publishing ongoing social media posts.
Our newsletter team meets every Tuesday night, and our editor helps us make sure everything looks professional, all the links work, and all the commas are in the right places.
Several members of our team post on various social media websites (Twitter, Mastodon, Instagram, etc.). This is more of an ad-hoc role. We especially would like someone to help us create, schedule, and monitor posts on the Meta Suite (Facebook and Instagram) and Threads. No prior knowledge required—we can train you!
If you’re interested in volunteering, let us know at [email protected].
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TODAY: Bay Area Coalition Phone Banks to CA, NV, and AZ: Wednesday, March 13, 5–7 PM (and every Wednesday thereafter). Join to help elect Adam Gray in CA-13 and Rudy Salas in CA-22. This phone bank also calls into swing states Nevada and Arizona. RSVP here.
Field Team 6 Register Democrats Summit: Thursday, March 14, 8 AM–5 PM. At this all day event, Field Team 6 will host engaging presenters and informative panels on how partisan voter registration can help win elections for Democrats in this election and in elections to come. RSVP here.
Activate America and Swing Left East Bay Canvas for CA-13 (in Lathrop): Sunday March 17, 9:30am-1pm. Join Activate America and our partners at Swing Left East Bay to knock on doors to get people to pledge to vote in 2024. More info and RSVP here.
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If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on social media, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s graphic is a photo of President Biden signing a continuing resolution on March 1st, 2024, from the White House flickr.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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