Indivisibles,

In just the past few weeks, we’ve seen some major strides on our top
democracy reform priorities. From the For the People Act and the D.C.
statehood bill passing in the House to continued momentum on the
filibuster, court reform, and more, our movement’s work on democracy is
making a real impact on policy.

Today, we’re taking it back to classic Indivisible with a deep dive into
the status of some of our top democracy provisions, where we’ve made
progress, and where there’s still work to be done. Spoiler alert: we’re
going to ask you to support our work to get these bills across the finish
line. If that’s all you need to hear, [ [link removed] ]click here to make a $10 donation
to Indivisible right now, or read on for more on how we’re thinking about
our chances.

For the People Act

The Good
Bottom line: Growing sense of urgency helps build support for a Senate
floor vote.

The sense of urgency behind the For the People Act (also known as S. 1) is
palpable. With hundreds of disgraceful voter suppression bills being
introduced and passed in Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New Hampshire,
and more, the salience of the reforms in the For the People Act has never
been greater. And continued GOP attacks on the broadly popular reforms in
this bill are making our case for us -- as Republicans introduce more bad
legislation, the need for transformative reform is getting clearer and
clearer.

We’re expecting S. 1 to come to the Senate floor in the coming weeks --
which means we have to keep building urgency, driving calls to key
senators, and watching developments on the Hill and across the country as
they happen.

The Bad
Bottom line: Risk of senators getting distracted.

With the Biden Administration’s American Jobs and Families Plans released,
many members of Congress are fighting their hearts out for the strongest
recovery measures they can get. These plans to get the country back on
track post-COVID-19 can’t wait. Unfortunately, we’ve got ample evidence
that Congress struggles to do more than one thing at a time. Without much
time to spare, we have to ensure that senators move on the For the People
Act, and fast -- even while they’re fighting to win a robust and inclusive
recovery

Also recently, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the budget
reconciliation process (see [ [link removed] ]our resource for more on what that means!)
can potentially be used multiple times to bypass the filibuster on
legislation. This could be great for removing barriers on economic-related
policies, but it still doesn’t help us move democracy reform -- and it
could distract senators by weakening their resolve for reforms like
eliminating the filibuster.

We’ve built strong momentum for the For the People Act over the last few
months, and we know that defeating it is one of McConnell’s and the GOP’s
top priorities. That means making calls, running ads, building toolkits,
hosting virtual and safe in-person events, and more is all going to be
necessary to win this one -- and we need your help. [ [link removed] ]Click here to
donate $10 to support our For the People Project to pass S. 1 and other
key democracy reforms and fund all our work this year.

Filibuster

The Good
Bottom line: Pressure from Indivisibles leads key senators to go public
with their support for democracy reform.

Indivisibles’ work on the filibuster has gone a LONG way. Only a few years
ago, our talk about the filibuster sounded super wonky and on-the-margins;
now, fueled by anger at GOP stalling tactics, this arcane Senate rule is
in the news frequently. Indivisible groups’ activism has even led to new
anti-filibuster commitments from previously supportive or undecided
senators, like Bob Casey in Pennsylvania.

With continued pressure on folks like John Hickenlooper and Kyrsten
Sinema, we’re keeping this Jim Crow relic on the front burner and making
it clear that as long as it remains in place, our top priorities remain at
Mitch McConnell’s mercy.

The Bad
Bottom line: Manchin's public reluctance on the filibuster could slow
momentum -- even though we believe Manchin himself remains movable.

As you might have seen, Joe Manchin wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post
a few weeks ago about his stance on the filibuster. The headline -- “I
will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster” -- sounds bad, but
that’s actually not why this is down here in the “bad” section.

The content of what Manchin wrote isn’t actually new, just a
rearticulation of stances he’s already taken. And given his previous
statements in support of reforming the filibuster, where he lands at the
end of all this remains to be seen. But media coverage about his op-ed has
made it sound like this is the final nail in filibuster reform’s coffin.
While we know that’s not true (we’ve won so-called “unwinnable” fights
before!), these defeatist attitudes could put a damper on activist energy.
That’s why it’s on us to prove that we can organize to win this fight.

The filibuster is built into everything we’re working to accomplish this
year -- with this tool in his back pocket, Mitch McConnell can delay or
defeat nearly all of our top priorities. That means the community
engagement and activist work our organizers are supporting, the outreach
our policy experts are doing, and all the messaging it takes to keep the
filibuster front-of-mind are crucial to all our plans. [ [link removed] ]We need your
help: donate $10 today to enable all our democracy reform work and every
advocacy priority we’re fighting for.

D.C. Statehood

The Good
Bottom line: The bill's progress has already made history -- and we've got
solid grassroots engagement on our side.

Despite early worries that statehood was on the legislative back burner,
we’ve seen real movement here. From Republicans making fools of themselves
with nonsensical arguments in House hearings to the passage of the bill on
the House floor a few weeks ago, we’ve got both the narrative high ground
and genuine legislative momentum on our side.

And Indivisible activists across the nation are rallying around the cause
-- just [ [link removed] ]check out all the photos groups have sent in with their 51-star
flags! With outspoken advocates in already-represented states and D.C.
alike, the amount of media and movement engagement on D.C. statehood is
outstanding.

The Bad
Bottom line: Danger of being sidelined until it's too late.

The first hurdle for D.C. statehood: getting national leaders to treat it
like a priority. Statehood for D.C. -- a majority Black and brown city --
is a racial justice issue, it’s an issue of voter suppression, and it’s an
issue of equal representation. It’s absolutely a part of the fight for a
better, more participatory democracy. Yet many Democratic leaders give top
billing to the For the People Act, and either off-handedly mention
statehood as a nice-to-have bonus or even worse, don’t mention it as a
critical democracy reform at all. But we don’t have much time to make D.C.
the 51st state: even though we’re going to fight like hell to keep our
Democratic trifecta next year, history tells us that trifectas are
fleeting. We need to do as much as possible to fix our democracy with the
majority we have -- that means acting now on D.C. statehood.

What It’ll Take to Win

The integrity of our democracy is at stake as Republicans continue to work
to undermine it. Luckily, Indivisibles have everything we need to fight
back -- people power and activist know-how. From planning events and
making calls to sharing social media posts and writing letters to the
editor, Indivisible volunteers are making waves on all the biggest
democracy issues.

And we’re here to support those efforts every step of the way -- with
policy expertise and continually updated resources and toolkits, with
calling and texting tools, with ads to get the word out, and more. We know
a better democracy is possible, and we know it’s what the people deserve.
We’re here to make it happen. [ [link removed] ]And we need your help to do it: click
here to donate $10 to support our For the People Project for democracy
reform, pass our top priorities, unrig our democratic system, and fund all
our work this year.

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All the things we’ve accomplished in just a few months is nothing short of
incredible. Indivisibles are pushing new representatives and the old guard
alike to be bigger, bolder, and more inclusive than ever before. That
means it’s not time to rest on our laurels -- it’s time to fight even
harder because we can already see the impact we’re having, and we don’t
have any time to lose. Let’s go win this.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

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