We are still on a tight Deadline for Democracy. It is long past time for Senator Manchin to admit that although he thinks “our ultimate goal should be to restore bipartisan faith in our voting process,” members of Congress who condone, minimize, or ignore vigilante violence and intimidation in service of The Big Lie no longer share those goals. That includes “friends across the aisle” who are actively shunning investigation of and accountability for the January 6 insurrection. We need President Biden and our senators to remind their colleague Senator Manchin (and the other holdout, Senator Sinema) that creating a filibuster exemption for voting rights is far less dangerous than the sustained and increasing threats and violence we are seeing from Republicans insisting on denying election results. It is time for decisive action in defense of our democracy.
There is more that our senators and President Biden can do. Pressure Senator Feinstein to co-sponsor the Freedom to Vote Act, and tell our senators and president that the filibuster must not get in the way of this Deadline for Democracy.
Contact your Senators and President Biden and tell them: Pass the Freedom to Vote Act ASAP.
We all know prescription drugs in the US cost double or triple the price consumers in other countries pay for the exact same medications. That’s why allowing Medicare to negotiate drug pricing is one of the most popular provisions of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). It has been a top priority for Democrats for years, so when Speaker Pelosi introduced the Lower Drug Costs Now Act in October of 2019, it was HR 3. We know that if Medicare was given the power to negotiate prices, our government would save billions of dollars that could fund other critical parts of the Build Back Better Act, such as finally adding vision, dental, and hearing coverage to Medicare.
All our members of Congress know this too. But there are two lobbyists from the pharmaceutical and health product industry for every member. The lobbyists argue that lowering drug profits will reduce the incentive for pharmaceutical innovation, even though the pharmaceutical industry profits enormously from worldwide sales, including sales in countries paying far lower prices.
The cruel reality lobbyists prefer not to discuss is that as of 2016, Medicare recipients spent an average of $650 per year out of pocket on prescription drugs, with no cap on what they could be asked to pay. We need our members of Congress to resist lobbyists’ pressure and insist on finally giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug pricing.
Contact our Members of Congress and tell them: Negotiate drug prices for Medicare!
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ISF Federal Working Group meeting: Thursday, October 14, 7:30–9 PM. Register here for a Zoom meeting to help us develop strategies to influence our members of Congress and the Biden administration to enact a progressive agenda. All are welcome to join our events!
Show up for Haitians seeking safety! Rally at San Francisco City Hall TOMORROW, October 14, 11 AM–12 noon. Join local immigrant rights, racial justice, and community advocates on Thursday for an emergency solidarity rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to protest the Biden administration’s deportations of Haitian and other Black asylum seekers. More information here.
Fight Back Fridays: Friday, October 15, 5–6 PM at 1 Post Street. Join a coalition of local Indivisibles every Friday for FIGHT BACK FRIDAYS. We gather at 1 Post in SF (in front of Sen. Feinstein’s office building; at one of the Montgomery Street BART exits) every Friday until the Freedom to Vote Act is passed! More information here.
Get out the vote in Virginia! Sister District San Francisco & Friends Virtual Phone Bank: Sunday, October 17, 12–2 PM PT. It's time to Get Out The Vote in Virginia to protect Democratic control of this key Southern state. Join Sister District San Francisco & Friends and collaborators in the Bay Area and around the nation to help reelect Lashrecse Aird and Alex Askew to Virginia’s House of Delegates. Sign up for a shift here.
Get out the vote in Ohio! Virtual Phone Bank for Ohio’s 15th Congressional district with OPAL: Sundays, 1–3 PM PT, and Tuesdays, 3–5 PM PT. Sundays and Tuesdays, get trained to phone bank and then phone bank at your convenience with OPAL (Ohio Progressive Action Leaders) about the upcoming OH-15 special election in support of the amazing candidate Allison Russo! We have a mission: to reach folks who share our progressive values in every corner of the district and make sure they have a plan to vote by Nov. 2. Sign up for a shift here.
About this week’s photo
If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on Twitter and Facebook, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue. This week’s graphic is a Deadline for Democracy media image provided by Indivisible National.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
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