In this issue:
- Stop the GENIUS Act, which would enable massive crypto corruption
- Medicaid Cuts, Budget Reconciliation, Tariffs, and what YOU can do
- Oppose ICE Detention Center at FCI Dublin
- Keep pushing for a People’s Budget, Fund the Public Defender's Office and nonprofit arts
- Submit Your Comment to Stop Federal Worker Firings
- NO KINGS! Info and volunteer signup
- Want to help us do this work?
- Upcoming events
Stop the GENIUS Act, which would enable massive crypto corruption
Cryptocurrencies—digital assets that can be traded anonymously—have enabled massive increases in grift, graft, and other corruption. These crimes require the use of specific cryptocurrencies called “stablecoins” to exchange digital assets for real money such as US dollars.
Both our Senators voted to advance a bill called the GENIUS Act that claims to “regulate” stablecoins. As happens all too often, “regulate” here means “legalize.” This bill would enable illicit uses of cryptocurrency, open the door to blatant frauds, and imperil financial stability.
Call your Senators and tell them: Vote no on final passage of this bill!
Update on Medicaid cuts and Budget Reconciliation
The “Big Ugly Reconciliation Bill” was voted out of committee late Sunday night, May 18. The House Rules Committee will meet May 21 at 1AM Eastern time—that’s not a typo—to set the parameters for House debate on the megabill. At this point, we could also see Republican leadership unveil changes to the bill to appease the various GOP factions that aren’t happy with the current product.
This is an enormous and obscene redistribution of wealth from the bottom 90 percent of Americans to billionaires and corporations who are cooperating with Trump in illegally dismantling the government and intentionally hurting working American families. Bottom line: people earning from $17,000 to - $51,000 could lose around $700 on average in after-tax income in 2026 and more thereafter. But those with incomes over $4.3 million will gain on average more than $389,000 in after-tax income in 2026.
Call your Members of Congress and tell them: vote NO on cuts to Medicaid and tax cuts for billionaires!
Trump tariffs are making prices go up. He doesn’t want you to know that.
You deserve to know why prices are going up.
Last week, Walmart announced that it would raise prices because of Trump tariffs. Trump responded on Saturday by beseeching the retailer to “eat the tariffs”—that is, absorb the cost itself, not pass it along to consumers, and definitely not blame Trump tariffs for the price hikes.
Walmart is at least partially doing that already, according to its CFO. The ability to absorb these sorts of price shocks is something only large corporations that make billions of dollars in profit can do; smaller businesses can’t absorb Trump tariffs like Walmart can. Thus, “eat the tariffs” is one more weapon for giant corporations to use to crush smaller retailers.
The opposite approach would be what we recommended in our blog post last month: Retailers should maintain their pre-tariff prices, and show the Trump tariffs as a surcharge, along with the total cost to you. This would make it clear to consumers such as yourself that your costs are higher because Trump is inflating them.
Read our tips for how you can prepare for and endure Trump tariff impacts on our blog.
Tell voters in red states: Pressure YOUR Congress members to vote NO on the budget.
With Indivisible National and the California Democratic Party, phone bank to red states with vulnerable electeds, and tell them to vote NO on Medicaid cuts:
Phone Bank to California CD 22 (Representative Valadao’s district): RSVP on Mobilize
Phone Bank to California CD 40 (Representative Kim’s district): RSVP on Mobilize
Phone Bank throughout the nation: RSVP on Mobilize
Take Action: Oppose ICE Detention Center at FCI Dublin
ICE is considering reopening the notorious FCI Dublin federal prison as an immigration detention center. FCI Dublin was shut down last year after survivors exposed years of staff sexual abuse, retaliation, medical neglect, and unsafe conditions, including exposure to mold and asbestos. Before its closure, non-citizens were especially targeted for abuse because of their immigration status.
Handing this facility over to ICE—an agency with its own history of mistreatment—would only perpetuate harm. Research shows that communities with ICE detention centers experience increased ICE activity and arrests, making everyone less safe. Three Northern California ICE detention centers have closed in recent years, improving community safety.
Join us in urging our representatives to publicly oppose reopening FCI Dublin as an ICE detention center and to support its permanent closure.
Our community deserves better.
Keep pushing for a People’s Budget: Ask Mayor Lurie and your Supervisors to prioritize the people and tax Airbnb!
A budget is a moral document and an expression of values. We know that all people, no matter where they live, what they look like, or who they love, deserve safety and well-being.
Our city’s next budget is currently being crafted. But contrary to our values, our communities are on the chopping block. Year after year, we see more and more cuts to needed services while the budget for the police gets more and more bloated—especially with massive overtime spending. The Board of Supervisors published an audit of police overtime last year, but they have yet to take action.
We are still fighting for a People’s Budget. Our Local and State Action Team began reaching out to collaborate with others to fight for our values right here in San Francisco. We learned about The People’s Budget Coalition, a part of SF Rising. We continue to meet with Anya Worley-Ziegmann and the People’s Budget Coalition, which convenes 150 nonprofit organizations, unions, and advocates who work to democratize the city budget by making sure every voice is heard. ISF stands with them in building lasting change and political power for working class people of color in San Francisco.
Here’s what you can do.
- Call the Mayor and your Supervisor to make sure they know what we stand for. We want a city where our budget protects the freedom and future thriving of all our people and families.
- Email the Board of Supervisors to oppose $90 million of additional police overtime.
- Email Airbnb, which is refusing to be a good neighbor and pay what it owes in taxes.
- Join the People’s Budget Rally on Wednesday, June 4, at 12 PM on the stairs of City Hall.
Talking points and scripts on our website.
URGENT BUDGET ACTION: Due Friday: Tell the Mayor and your Supervisor to Increase Funding for SF Public Defender’s Office
The Public Defender’s Office is often the only line of defense for some of our most vulnerable neighbors—Black, brown, immigrant, and low-income residents who are over-policed, over-incarcerated, and underserved. The Public Defender's Office is the sole department that fulfills a constitutional mandate to provide legal representation to people who cannot afford it. Yet its budget is a fraction of what other criminal legal departments receive: 60% of the District Attorney’s budget, less than 17% of the Sheriff’s budget, and less than 7% of the police department’s budget. The Public Defender’s Office remains underfunded despite a 25% increase in arrests by police and 31% ramp up in cases charged by the District Attorney.
Here is what you can do to increase funding for the Public Defender’s Office:
- Email the Mayor and SF Supervisors by Friday, May 23.
- Post on social media by Friday, May 23.
- Provide public comment on Monday, June 23 at 10 a.m. at City Hall, the city’s public comment day.
Link to Public Defender Toolkit with emails and social media scripts http://bit.ly/SupportPublicDefense
Help secure funding for the arts! Ask the governor to maintain support for nonprofit arts.
This call to action is based on information from Adam Maggio at SFBATCO:
Gov. Newsom’s May budget revision proposes cutting all $11.5 million from the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAEPF), a vital program created by SB 1116 to help small nonprofit arts organizations comply with AB 5. This fund was introduced to address the disproportionate burden that AB 5 placed on arts organizations—while massive corporations like Uber and Lyft poured millions into Prop 22 to avoid the law entirely, nonprofits like SFBATCO were left to absorb the full impact.
The PAEPF was supposed to be a remedy, helping organizations like SFBATCO pay the employees they’ve hired to comply with the law. Now the Governor is pulling this rug out from under them—and it's a clear example of how our government can fail those without corporate power. SFBATCO spent weeks applying for PAEPF support and qualified for over $150,000 to directly support jobs for artists, technicians, and staff. If the fund is eliminated, they’ll be forced to make some very difficult decisions. Add to that all of the other Bay Area organizations that qualify for PAEPF funding, and it adds up to hundreds of lost jobs in the sector.
Call your Governor, State Assemblymembers, and State Senator and tell them: Protect the economy by protecting public arts funding.
Take Action by Friday: Submit Your Comment to Stop Federal Worker Firings
Our friends at the Federal Unionists Network (FUN) are asking us all to make a public comment against a worker-hostile regulation by May 23rd. The Trump Administration has issued a proposed regulation that would make it far easier to fire federal employees: Schedule P/C. But we can take this regulation down—and you can help.
Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required to solicit and review comments on the proposed regulation. Here’s FUN's toolkit for submitting comments; note that the commenting period ends May 23rd.
NO KINGS: June 14 March and Rally from Dolores Park to Civic Center
Answering Indivisible National’s call for mass mobilization, Indivisible SF and 50501SF are hosting a No Kings event on June 14, 2025.
We have now finalized our plan for the event. We will march from Dolores Park promptly at noon to Civic Center, where we will have a rally from 1-2 PM. Gather at 11:30 AM.
We are gathering our coalition now. Spread the word to your friends, family, union, book club, or anyone who will listen! We will soon have flyers available for download, so you can print and post them.
To sign up for our event, use our Mobilize page.
To stay posted on protest materials, and other events going on around the Bay Area, check out our No Kings landing page.
Interested in volunteering? Sign up via our Google form.
Want to help us do this work?
We will plug you in where your skills can do the most good to resist this administration.
If you would like to join and do important work with us, we welcome you! Currently we are in need of volunteers to help with the following:
- Editing submissions to our newsletter (Mondays and Tuesdays)
- Publishing our newsletter with MailChimp and helping update our website on Newsletter Night (Tuesdays at 5 PM).
- Making short-form videos to help educate people on our topics in an accessible way.
- Tracking federal, state, and local legislation and working with our state and local legislatures and Mayor Lurie.
- Organizing our protests and other in-person actions and scheduling our in-person meetings.
No experience is needed; we will train you and provide everything you need. If you would like to help us, please contact us at [email protected].
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TODAY: Picket the Paul, Weiss Law Firm’s San Francisco office, Wednesday, May 21, 12-1 PM, 535 Mission Street. Demand that Paul, Weiss end its cowardly deal with the Trump Administration. Join us to picket their office. Sign up here.
TODAY: Hands Off Our Healthcare: Phone Bank Week of Action, Wednesday, May 21, 11-1 PM. Join Working Families Power to talk directly with voters and send a message to Republican representatives: Hands Off our Healthcare! RSVP on Mobilize.
TODAY: Don't Starve California: One-Day Solidarity Fast Wednesday, May 21. On May 19, Orange County and Bakersfield residents and members of the We Are California movement began a five-day fast to continue to demand that Congress and billionaires keep their “hands off our healthcare!” Congress is threatening to cut funding for critical life-saving programs in health care, food assistance, education, and more to fund tax breaks and handouts to the wealthiest. The week of action will call attention to how Congressional budget proposals will devastate and starve our communities of vital healthcare, food assistance, and other resources that children, seniors, and working families rely on and urges representatives to protect California families and children. More info here, and a fasting toolkit can be found here.
Fight for Our Healthcare Phonebank: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, May 21-23 from 12:30-1:45 PM and 5:30-6:45 PM. The Republican-led Congress is proposing to make devastating cuts to health care programs that could impact 15 million Californians, including children and people with disabilities. To stop the cuts and save lives we need to get a handful of Republican Congressmembers to vote NO on the proposed health care cuts. The California Democratic Party will be making calls to voters in CD-40, Congresswoman Young Kim's district, encouraging them to call her office and patching them through right then! RSVP on Mobilize.
Tell the Billionaires: Hands off our money, weekly phone bank with People’s Action Institute, Thursday, May 22, 3-6 PM. Join People’s Action Institute for Tax & Budget Fight Phone banks, to talk to constituents in key congressional districts and have deep, meaningful conversations about how these tax breaks for the wealthy hurt all our local communities. Together, we’ll take action to pressure Congress to stop these cuts and ensure the rich pay their fair share. No experience? No problem! We provide training at every phone bank to set you up for success. Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer or making your first call, you’ll be supported every step of the way. RSVP on Mobilize
Phone Bank with Common Cause to stop the SAVE Act: Thursday, May 22 from 2:30-4:30 PM and Tuesday, May 27 from 3-5 PM. Join Common Cause for an important phone bank as we mobilize voters to take action against the dangerous SAVE Act and advocate for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. RSVP on Mobilize.
Meet District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood at concert in Hayes Promenade, Friday, May 23 4-8:30 PM. Join Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association to enjoy live music, activities, and remarks from Supervisor Mahmood. More info here.
People over Profit: Saturday, May 24, and (almost) every Saturday at 12 PM. Join this weekly, peaceful protest at the SF Tesla Dealership at 999 Van Ness to speak out against Musk’s takeover of the federal government. Details on Mobilize.
Stop the Attack on Federal Workers: Monday, May 26, and every Monday at 12 PM. This weekly protest at the SF Tesla Dealership at 999 Van Ness is organized by Federal Workers United to stand with federal workers. Details on Mobilize.
National Day of Action: San Francisco March for Health Care for All, Saturday, May 31 at Harry Bridges. Join us in San Francisco for a National Day of Action for Health Care For All march to put National Single Payer Healthcare on the nation’s agenda. March from Harry Bridges Plaza (Embarcadero) to BlackRock, 400 Howard St., SF, organized by National Single Payer Health Care Coalition. Learn more here.
March for a People’s Budget: Wednesday, June 4 at 12 Noon at San Francisco City Hall. Thousands could lose jobs and services in an historic year of the City budget process. Join the People's Budget Coalition to say: Don't Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Working Class. More info here.
No Kings Mass Protest: Saturday, June 14 from 11:30-2 PM from Dolores Park to Civic Center Plaza. Indivisible SF and 50501SF are hosting a No Kings mass mobilization. We will gather at Dolores Park at 11:30 AM, and march at 12 NOON SHARP to Civic Center Plaza via Market St. There, we will have a rally showing our commitment to democracy and the power of We the People. Details on Mobilize.
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This Week’s Social Media Graphics
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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 graphics are promoting defending Medicaid, preparing for Trump tariffs, and opposing the so-called “GENIUS Act,” as well as upcoming events.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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