For more than a month, President Biden has skillfully led a global alliance supporting the Ukrainian people’s resistance to Putin's war of aggression. He has been firm, thoughtful, and effective in building, holding together, and guiding a disparate coalition of nations that includes the frontline-states on Russia's border, who would bear the brunt of any wider war, and the major powers of Europe, whose economies are still dependent on fossil fuels controlled by Putin. Biden has done so despite the partisan sniping of Republican opportunists, whose only interest is regaining political power for themselves and their cronies, and the efforts of war hawks who recklessly demand actions that would inevitably escalate into a potentially catastrophic direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia.
Meanwhile, runaway inflation is becoming a threat to our economic stability and security. The causes of inflation are many, including pandemic-caused supply-chain problems, increased demand for goods, services, and living wages, a nationwide housing-shortage, the various climate crises, rising oil prices, and corporate greed. Of all these, the major drivers of inflation are housing costs and rising energy prices. Oil prices have been spiking ever since last December (long before the Ukraine war) bcause oil-exporting nations (OPEC and Russia) and the big energy ecartels deliberately set out to raise prices for their own profit and power.
Republicans and their corporate backers want us to believe that the only way to tame inflation is to cut domestic social spending; weaken health, safety, and environmental regulations; give the fossil fuel cartels more subsidies (ostensibly in order to increase oil and coal production), strangling efforts to shift to a green economy; and grant the wealthy even more tax breaks. This is what the Republicans call "energy independence," but it's just their same old dogma of wealth-for-the-wealthy, power-for-the-powerful, and Wall Street over Main Street.
Health care is also a significant inflation-driver. Up to now, pandemic medical costs have been mostly covered by the federal government—as is appropriate and necessary in a nationwide emergency. But those funds are gone, and Republicans blocked renewal of funding for COVID-19 testing, vaccines, and treatment. So American families now have to pay those costs themselves, which is a form of inflation (even if the economists and pundits don't call it so).
Join us in telling President Biden and our Members of Congress to use these effective ways to bring down inflation:
- As called for in a letter from Senators Markey, Warren, and others, use the Defense Production Act (DPA) and Biden's executive powers to increase production and use of green technologies that reduce fossil fuel demand and costs.
- Use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to impose price controls on gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil, similar to what Trump did in 2020 to reduce price-gouging by medical equipment companies during the pandemic.
- Pass an emergency supplemental funding bill that combines additional humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine with restoration of the COVID-19 relief funding that Republicans blocked.
Ask President Biden to fight inflation by using the Defense Production Act and his executive powers to increase production and use of green technology and to impose price controls on the cost of fuel.
Ask your Members of Congress to propose and pass an emergency supplemental funding bill that combines additional humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine with restoration of COVID-19 relief funding.
Updated: Ways to help Ukraine
Putin’s attack has now forced a horrifying 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — 3.5 million who have fled to other countries and an estimated 6.5 million who are displaced within Ukraine. It’s a massive humanitarian disaster that’s only growing as Russian troops terrorize Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine needs our help in every respect: humanitarian aid, military assistance, and governmental support.
With so much need, even the smallest donation can make a difference. Here’s our current list of organizations worth supporting:
Razom For Ukraine: 501(c)(3) general humanitarian support for Ukraine (Donate)
Libereco Partnership for Human Rights: reputable European organization with partners in Ukraine, providing general humanitarian support (Donate)
Ukrainian-American Coordinating Council: 501(c)(3) American coalition that is buying supplies and aid for refugees, civilians, and defenders in Ukraine. (Donate)
Direct Bank Transfer to the National Bank of Ukraine to support Ukrainian armed forces
USA for UNHCR: the UN Refugee Agency (Donate)
Meduza: Independent journalism based in Latvia. Now that there is no free press in Russia, Meduza is one of the few remaining ways to reach ordinary Russians and dispel Putin propaganda. (Donate)
Kyiv Independent: Local journalism in Ukraine (Patreon/GoFundMe)
Doctors Without Borders: Field medical aid (Donate)
The Voices of Children Foundation: Ukrainian NGO that aids children traumatized by war (Donate)
Order more free COVID-19 test kits
The Biden Administration is offering a second round of four free COVID-19 tests through the USPS. If you haven’t ordered yours already, do it now! And if you haven’t claimed your first free set of home tests, you can place two orders.
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If you’re interested in participating in activities like drafting letters to our Members of Congress and developing our strategy for influencing them, the Indivisible SF Federal Working Group is where it happens. Join us at our next meeting on Thursday, April 14. Details on how to register below.
ISF Federal Working Group meeting: Thursday, April 14, 7:30–9 PM. Register here to join our regular Zoom meeting, where we work together to develop strategies for influencing our Members of Congress and the Biden administration to support a progressive agenda. All are welcome to participate and contribute, even if you’ve never attended an ISF meeting before.
Wednesdays and Saturdays: Bay Area Coalition Phone Banks: Our friends at Swing Left need your help talking to voters about the upcoming primaries and midterms. Every Wednesday at 5 PM and every Saturday at 10 AM, join Swing Left & the Bay Area Coalition to make calls to voters in California and around the nation. Sign up for a shift here.
- Wednesday, April 6, 5–7 PM.
- Saturday, April 10, 10 AM–12 PM.
- Wednesday, April 13, 5–7 PM.
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. Today’s image is a cartoon from 1882 depicting the corporate greed of railroad magnates.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
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