Indivisibles,

Our focus this week is, you guessed it, impeachment, impeachment,
impeachment. 

Trump’s second impeachment trial starts tomorrow (February 9) and will
likely be much shorter than his first. Here are some impeachment FAQs to
help you get through the week: 

 1. What is the charge the Senate is considering? Last month, the House
voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” Now, it’s up
to the Senate to convict and disqualify him from ever holding public
office again for the same reason. 
 2. What's the precedent for impeaching an official who's already left
office? [ [link removed] ]Experts agree that it’s perfectly constitutional to convict
a president after they’ve left office -- otherwise, why would the
Constitution allow the Senate to permanently disqualify former
officeholders if a vote to convict and remove is the first step in
that process? The founders included disqualification as a common-sense
solution to prevent someone like Trump from running for office and
cheating again. It’s also important to remember that in an impeachment
trial, senators are jurors NOT judges, so any lingering questions of
constitutionality will be resolved by the courts. 
 3. What are the odds that Trump will be convicted and disqualified?
Recently, Rand Paul led a failed effort to declare the impeachment
trial unconstitutional. What this vote showed us is that we’re close
to the numbers we need to convict but that our fight isn’t over. In
total, we need just 17 Republicans to join us if we are to meet the ⅔
threshold to convict. We’re just shy of that number, but there’s still
time to apply pressure on senators to do the right thing. 

This could be our last chance to ever hold Trump accountable for his
attack on our democracy. [ [link removed] ]According to a recent poll, 56% of Americans
believe Trump should be convicted and barred from holding office again. We
can still have an impact on the outcome of this trial -- but only if we
keep applying pressure on senators all week. [ [link removed] ]Do your part by calling
your senators all week long so they know their constituents want them to
vote to convict and disqualify Trump. Then, tell your friends and family
to do the same:

[ [link removed] ]Call your senators >>

We expect that Trump’s defense team will make the argument that Trump was
within his First Amendment rights to cast doubt on the election -- even
after his statements were proven false by his own Justice Department. The
speech Trump gave just before his supporters attacked the Capitol was
primed by months of doubts and fear-mongering. He spent most of his
campaign -- even before any votes were cast -- planting seeds of doubt on
the legitimacy of the election and encouraging his supporters to "defend"
their country. Trump had a duty to protect the country as president, and
inciting violence and lying to the American people removes his right to
free speech. 

[ [link removed] ]So what exactly did Trump say? Here are a few quotes from his speech on
January 6: 

“We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to
have a country anymore.”

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our
brave senators ...and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for
some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness.
You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

If these statements still infuriate you, it’s probably because they’re an
act of treason. The Senate has a chance to hold Trump accountable for his
words and actions -- [ [link removed] ]make calls to let your senators know you’ll be
paying attention to how they vote this week.

With that, here are your weekly to-dos:

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 Your weekly to-dos 

 1. [ [link removed] ]Make the most of February Recess (Feb 13-21) with our Democracy
Defenders Toolkit. It’s not always easy to be heard by members of
Congress -- but from February 13 to 21 they will be back in their home
districts talking to constituents. This is our opportunity to do two
things: 1) make sure MoCs are feeling the pressure and 2) build a
national narrative for action. We’ve put together a Democracy
Defenders Toolkit to help you get them on record supporting our asks
for bold democracy reform and start a movement with other Indivisibles
to get media attention. 
 2. [ [link removed] ]Call your members of Congress to demand they pass meaningful
COVID-19 relief without watering it down. Last week, both chambers of
Congress voted to pass a budget resolution that puts us on the path of
passing a final COVID-19 relief package (for more details on this
process, jump down to “Policy Updates”). This is just the first step
in the process, so we can’t get comfortable until Congress passes a
package that takes this crisis seriously. 
 3. [ [link removed] ]Tomorrow marks the start of Trump's second impeachment trial --
apply pressure on senators to remove and disqualify. Many Republicans
are still promoting “unity” over accountability and would rather not
disturb Trump’s base by voting to convict him. This is a fight we
believe we can win -- but only if we bring enough pressure. 
 4. [ [link removed] ]Make calls for democracy reform. Now that we have a Democratic
trifecta, we have to move quickly to unrig our democracy so all of our
other priorities can be within reach. We’re setting our sights on
passing H.R. 1/ S. 1, the For the People Act, a robust reform package
that targets voter suppression, gerrymandering, money in politics,
corruption, and more. Also on our agenda, passing H.R. 51/ S. 51 to
make D.C. the 51st state. Both of these bills represent critical
structural democracy reforms and racial justice priorities. They’ll
make our democracy more equitable and representative of the people,
and empower the long-term progressive goals that we’ve been fighting
for. [ [link removed] ]Click here to read more about the For the People Act and D.C.
statehood.

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 Policy Update 

Last week, after an all-night vote-a-rama, the Senate narrowly passed the
budget resolution with Vice President Harris casting the deciding vote. 

With this from the Senate, the committees of jurisdiction in the House
(Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Oversight
and Reform) will start the process of writing legislation for COVID-19
relief. Speaker Pelosi has said she hopes to pass the full package about 2
weeks from now to send it to the Senate after they’ve wrapped up
impeachment proceedings. That timeline gives the Senate enough time to
pass the package prior to the expiration of some key programs (like
enhanced unemployment insurance). 

Congress needs to build on Biden’s plan with meaningful improvements to
pass a package that takes this crisis seriously. That’s why we’re
following the lead of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to make these
our top 5 priorities for the final relief package: 

 1. Include Joe Biden’s promise to start increasing the federal minimum
wage to $15 an hour,
 2. Expand health care access for the uninsured or unemployed through an
emergency public plan,
 3. Treat immigrants and their families with dignity by ensuring they have
access to all benefits under the bill,
 4. Increase the financial aid to state and local governments on the front
lines of combatting the pandemic and delivering public services, and
 5. Provide robust direct cash assistance in the form of survival checks
to help families meet their basic needs and weather this emergency.  

Since the committees are in the process of drafting legislation, we still
have a path to winning on each of our priorities. You can help by making
calls to both the [ [link removed] ]House and [ [link removed] ]Senate to let your members of Congress
know you want them to pass a relief package that meets the moment. Or, if
your MoCs are on any of the committees of jurisdiction, [ [link removed] ]you can use
this template to send them an email. Generally, if a member has a public
email address, their office may list a public email address or provide a
form directly on the [ [link removed] ]member's website.

Reminder: the budget resolution is the first step of the reconciliation
process, it is not the final relief package. It is effectively an empty
shell with a set of instructions that committees will fill with the actual
legislation, based on those instructions, and then pass the entire package
together. If you want more details on what the process is and how it
works, [ [link removed] ]check out our budget reconciliation resource here.

P.S. -- We rely on your support to keep these call pages up and running,
fund ads to get the word out, and continue all the work we’re doing this
year. [ [link removed] ]If you’re able, click here to donate to help fund our work.



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 National Events 

POC (People of Color) Caucus Monthly Call 
Join with staff of color from Indivisible National to talk and connect
around issues that directly affect POC, the work that we do, and the world
in which we try to create lasting change. Please note that this is a space
specifically for people of color/indigenous group leaders and members.
Feel free to email [email protected] if you have any
questions! 
Date: Tuesday, February 23rd, 7:30 pm ET -- [ [link removed] ]Register here.

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 Black Futures Month 

This week, we thought we’d share some extra content that relates to our
mission and Black Futures Month. Here’s what we’re reading and streaming: 

📝 [ [link removed] ]Stacey Abrams: Our democracy faced a near-death experience. Here’s
how to revive it. In this opinion piece, Stacey Abrams recounts the pain
of the last few weeks and explains how democracy reform will put us on the
road to recovery. She explains some of the topics we care most about, like
D.C. statehood and the For the People Act, to provide a clear picture of
the issues we should tackle first. (The Washington Post, February 7) 

🎧 [ [link removed] ]Podcast: The Lasting Power Of Whitney Houston's National Anthem.
This episode reflects on the cultural impact of Whitney Houston’s National
Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl and what it meant in that political context.
Even though it was 30 years ago, this moment of Black history still
resonates with us today and is worth revisiting time and time again. (It’s
Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, February 5) 

📖 Haymarket Books, a nonprofit book publisher, is offering 40% off a
selection of books on the history and politics of the Black freedom
movement. This offer is only valid for the month of February, [ [link removed] ]so make
sure to check out their options here. 

We hope these selections motivate and inspire you to take action -- we
need all hands on deck to pressure our members of Congress to convict
Trump, secure meaningful COVID-19 relief, and pass the first of many
democracy-saving reforms.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

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