In the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic, economic recession, threat of mass evictions, and the growing popular movement demanding justice for Black lives, our Members of Congress have skipped off to recess. They’ll be back July 20th to address (hopefully) the extremely urgent problems facing Americans right now.
But this isn’t necessarily bad news! The recess gives us a perfect opportunity to refine our priorities and fill up their emails and phone lines with our demands. This week we’re asking you to continue to pressure your senators to step up for Americans affected by the pandemic and its economic fallout.
First, tell your senators to enact a moratorium on evictions.
The CARES Act provided a temporary moratorium on evictions for most residents of federally subsidized apartments, including those supported by HUD, USDA or Treasury (Low Income Housing Tax Credit developments), and also a moratorium on filings for evictions for renters in homes and apartments covered by federally backed mortgages (FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac) for 120 days after enactment.
Now the 120-day moratorium is almost over and evictions are about to skyrocket, thanks to our federal government’s failure to contain and respond to the coronavirus. As is the case with infections, deaths, and job losses, people of color will be hit the hardest. In addition to the federal CARES Act moratorium, local eviction moratoria across the country are also expiring. And unless Congress steps in, the federal unemployment benefits will also run out at the end of July. Twenty percent of the 110 million Americans in rental households, including a disproportionate number of people of color, are at risk of eviction by the end of September. Few, if any, of them will have the financial means to obtain a new home, so many of them will become homeless.
It’s time for the Senate to act to help Americans at risk from the financial ramifications of COVID-19.
Call your senators and tell them: Pass the HEROES Act and extend a moratorium on evictions for those who lost their jobs in the pandemic!
Meanwhile, the fight for a better NDAA continues.
The defense budget accounts for more than half of all federal spending. It controls or influences every government action, from war and foreign policy to the militarization of local police forces and our strategy for addressing (or not) the climate and pandemic emergencies. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the key legislation governing defense matters. But Democrats in both the Senate and the House recently united with Republicans to advance a Republican-oriented NDAA. It raises rather than cuts defense spending at a time when funds are desperately needed to fight the pandemic, rescue a collapsing economy, and address the growing climate crisis. Inexplicably, Democrats did not even fight for the non-monetary oversight and fairness reforms that they tried to win in last year's NDAA.
We need to demand that our four Democratic Members of Congress (MoCs) stop surrendering to Republicans on Pentagon issues, begin shifting funds from a bloated defense budget to essential domestic needs, and perform their mandated oversight and control responsibilities. To this end we are drafting an extensive Legislative Letter outlining what we want to see in the final NDAA. Please review and comment on the draft letter here.
If you support the letter, please add your signature on our Google form.
Join us TODAY to support City funding for public services, not excessive policing
Today the Budget and Appropriations Committee will meet to discuss the budget of the San Francisco Police Department. We’ve seen the budget, and we have questions.
The City plans to slash millions of dollars from critical public services like the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the public libraries—while giving the SFPD $43 million MORE than last year. Why? Crime is down 30 percent from last year. In fact, the SFPD itself proposed a $23 million cut to its own budget, although the Police Commission rejected the proposal for being poorly prepared.
In a time of extreme need, the City should not be balancing its budget by eliminating much-needed public services to pour money into policing. That’s not the help San Franciscans are desperate for. Read our webpage on this for more details.
We demand that the Board of Supervisors amend the Budget to reallocate SFPD’s budget increase to services the City needs!
We have to act TODAY to oppose this budget. Submit a Public Comment on the budget right now by emailing the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Assistant Clerk at [email protected].
Then, at 12:30pm, watch the Budget hearing meeting live at www.sfgovtv.org and call in to 1 (408) 418-9388 and enter Meeting ID: 146 131 5200, then press #. There will be time for callers to speak their public comment.
We're not going to give you a script. The most effective public comment is original, well-informed, and topical. But we can give you some talking points to weave into your comment:
- Why are we already spending more than $700 million on policing?
- Why is the PD’s budget increasing by another $43 million?
- Muni is looking at a 90% drop in fare revenue—nearly $168 million—which will force the shutdown of mass transit lines and thus make the city far less livable for the average resident. Why are we allowing that to happen when we could cover that loss with less than a quarter of the $736 million this budget proposes to spend on policing?
- The mayor is cutting $40 million from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing even as she adds $43 million to SFPD. Make that make sense!
- The SFPD already proposed to the Police Commission a $23 million budget decrease. Why isn’t that reflected in this budget? Was that cut abandoned, and if so, why? We should not only keep that cut in the budget but expand it!
- The Police Commission voted down the proposed cut not because they opposed cutting the police budget, but because the Police Department presented only a scant and confusing summary. The Department should present the same cuts—or more—with enough detail for the Commission to approve it, as the Commission requested. Don’t let the Commission’s rejection of an ill-prepared presentation be an excuse for giving up on making needed cuts.
- Crime is down 30 percent from a year ago. Police don’t prevent crime, they respond to it. A 30 percent decrease in crime means a 30 percent decrease in the need for policing; we should free up that money for services that will actually prevent crime and keep this decline going.
NOTE: Thursday’s 9 AM BART Board Meeting has been CANCELED. There will, however, be two meetings of BART’s Police Citizen Review Board on Monday, July 13, at 3 PM and 4 PM. Both meetings will provide opportunities for public comment.
Gearing up for the general election!
Here in California, the general election starts in early October. That’s when the ballots go out, one month before November 3.
That means the election is a little over three months away – so now is the time to gear up. This election is a fight for the soul and integrity of our nation. We’re writing postcards and letters, phonebanking, and text banking furiously to reach voters all over America.
TODAY at 6pm, we’ll be holding another Virtual Pints & Postcards! Join us as we chat and write letters and postcards to voters! Register here.
And on Monday, July 13 at 6pm, we will have our Indivisible SF Text Team Recruitment Planning meeting. Join us on Zoom to help us plan to recruit as many people as possible to text bank with Indivisible National’s IndivisiText Team between now and November 3rd! RSVP here.
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ISF General Meeting: Sunday, July 19, 1–3pm via Zoom. Register here to join our online meeting. We are working on more ways to stay in contact with you online!
TODAY: Pints & Postcards: Wednesday, July 8, 6–8pm via Zoom. The pandemic might keep us from holding our popular Pints and Postcards event in person, but that just means we have to bring the event to you! Join us and our friends at Vote Forward for Virtual Pints and Postcards. RSVP here.
Wednesday, July 8th, 12:30pm: SF Board of Supervisors Budget Hearing. The SFPD will be presenting its budget at the Budgets & Appropriations Committee. You can watch live at www.sfgovtv.org, or call in to 1 (408) 418-9388 and enter Meeting ID: 146 131 5200, then press #. There will be time for callers to speak their public comments. The agenda with all the instructions for public comments is here.
Saturday, July 11th, 1–4pm: At Home & Together Phone Bank with DemAction SF. RSVP here.
Sunday, July 12th, 12–2pm: At Home & Together Phone Bank For Biden with DemAction SF. RSVP here.
Sunday, July 12th, 1–3pm: At Home & Together Phone Bank with DemAction SF. RSVP here.
Monday, July 13th, 3pm: BART Police Citizen Review Board Meeting (Policy Standing Committee). Join us to watch and give public comments on the Policy Standing Committee of the BART Police Citizen Review Board meeting. They will be discussing various police action policy changes, including new regulations on the use of force. Their agenda with all the instructions for public comments is here. Note that this meeting is one hour long and covers 16 policies, before the full CRB meeting scheduled for 4 PM. It’s not clear what will happen if the meeting runs longer than its scheduled hour.
Monday, July 13th, 4pm: BART Police Citizen Review Board Meeting. Join us to watch and give public comments on the BART Police Citizen Review Board meeting. The first draft of the review board’s agenda with all the instructions for public comments is here.
Monday, July 13th, 6–9pm: Indivisible SF Text Team Planning Meeting. During this meeting we'll discuss organizing and rolling out a plan to recruit as many text bankers as possible for the IndivisiText program to do voter outreach for the general election in November. RSVP here.
Tuesday, July 14th, 5:30–8pm: Tuesdays with Biden Phonebank with DemAction SF. RSVP here.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
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