Hi <<First Name>>,
Much of the news coverage over the past week has centered around President Trump pressuring Ukraine's government to investigate and prosecute those connected to Joe Biden. As an incentive, Trump was dangling $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that it needed to fight Russian encroachment on its territory.
This is a flagrant abuse of power and clear evidence that Trump is using the powers of the presidency to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.
As we stated in our case for impeaching Trump, "The best mechanism we have to safeguard our elections is impeachment. A public record of Trump acting against the interests of the United States is the best pressure to limit his abuse of power." House Democrats must stop their tiptoeing around impeachment and stand together to safeguard our country and our elections.
Impeachment does not require public support nor does it require Republicans. Impeachment requires Democrats who, in the face of brazen corruption and subversion of the government, choose to uphold their oath to the Constitution and refuse to accept the unacceptable.
Congress must act, and it must do so quickly.
The September Indivisible Montgomery meeting is this coming Saturday, Sep. 28, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Kensington Park Library. We will talk about the events of the week and month and what we have to look forward to. Then, we have blocked out a fair amount of time for attendees to write voter registration and get-out-the-vote letters. Come fired up to get some good work done!
In this newsletter:
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This week! (Indivisible Montgomery events in bold)
- Monday, Sep. 23: Shut Down D.C. -- Global Climate Strike 2019. More information here.
- Tuesday, Sep. 24: Indivisible Montgomery day of action. Scripts in your inbox tomorrow morning!
- Saturday, Sep. 28: The Indivisible Montgomery monthly in-person meeting at Kensington Park Library from 10:30am to 12:30pm.
Upcoming notable events
- Sep. 30: What is Ranked Choice Voting forum hosted by the Association of Black Democrats at the Rockville Library from 7 to 9pm.
- Oct. 3 - Oct. 8: Bend the Arc will sponsor Days of Awe and Action for Immigrant Families with 20+ actions to urge our members of Congress to defund hate. More information here.
- Oct. 15: Fourth Democratic presidential debate.
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The Hearings and Events committee leads Indivisible Montgomery delegations to the Hill to attend various hearings and other events. Originally the Conflicts of Interest committee, this group still focuses on issues around corruption in the administration and is branching out to take advantage of other opportunities to attend important Hill briefings and events.
Hearing Watch:
Note: This is a small subset of the hearings scheduled for the week of September 16. For a complete and updated list, refer to the main Senate and House pages for hearings.
- Monday, Sep. 23: The House Committee on the Judiciary will host "Emoluments and profiting off the presidency" at 2pm in 2141 Rayburn.
- Tuesday, Sep. 24: The House Committee on the Judiciary will host "Oversight of the Trump administration's Muslim ban" at 10am in 2141 Rayburn.
- Tuesday, Sep. 24: The House Committee on Natural Resources will host "Fossil fuel development: Protecting taxpayers and eliminating industry giveaways" at 10am in 1324 Longworth.
- Tuesday, Sep. 24: The House Committee on the Judiciary will host "Congressional authority to protect voting rights after Shelby County v. Holder" at 2pm in 2237 Rayburn.
- Wednesday, Sep. 25: The House Committee on the Judiciary will host "Protecting America from assault weapons" at 10am in 2141 Rayburn.
- Wednesday, Sep. 25: The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will host "Hearings to examine United States policy in Mexico and Central America, focusing on ensuring effective policies to address the crisis at the border" at 10:15am in Dirksen 419.
- Thursday, Sep. 26: The House Committee on Homeland Security will host "Oversight of ICE detention facilities: Is DHS doing enough?" at 2pm in Cannon 310.
- Thursday, Sep. 26: The House Committee on Natural Resources will host "The Department of the Interior's failure to cooperate with Congressional oversight requests" at 2pm in 1324 Longworth.
What we're reading:
- NYT: Manhattan prosecutors subpoena Trump tax returns (Axios)
- Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao faces investigation over ‘troubling’ ethics allegations (The Washington Post)
- Intelligence whistle-blower law, explained (The New York Times)
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The Regulatory Changes committee, formerly the Environment and Science committee, has extensive experience responding to the Trump administration's all-out assault on environmental regulations. Now they are expanding their scope to cover regulatory changes across the federal government. This committee will write responses to proposed regulatory changes that all Indivisible Montgomery members can use to push back against Trump's regulatory rollback.
Stay tuned for actions coming out of this committee. Want to get involved, either in suggesting regulatory changes we should respond to or to volunteer to write them yourself? Contact Angela H.
What we're reading:
- California sues Trump administration over revoking authority to limit car pollution (The Washington Post)
- Meet the lawyers beating back Trump’s reckless environmental policies — and winning (Rolling Stone)
- EPA signals retreat from controversial ‘secret science’ rule (Science)
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The Elections committee is the focal point of all of Indivisible Montgomery's elections activities. This committee also collaborates with other resistance groups in the community to ensure we are using our volunteer energy in the most efficient mechanism possible.
The Montgomery County area is buzzing with elections work, and here are some of the ways you can get involved in making a difference for 2019. Questions about these activities? Contact Steve.
Letters to voters
Write letters to spur voters into action! Indivisible Montgomery is hosting DO THE WRITE THING house parties (and other events) where we write to voters with the forms to register and urge them to get out and vote on November 5th. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved!
- Friday, Sep. 27: 2pm to 4pm in Silver Spring
- Saturday, Sep. 28: 10:30am to 12:30pm at Kensington Park Library
- Friday, Oct. 4: 2pm to 4pm in Rockville
- Sunday, Oct. 6: 3pm to 5pm in Clarksburg
- Thursday, Oct. 10: 2pm to 4pm in Silver Spring
To sign up, go here and scroll down to these Indivisible Montgomery events. Once you sign up, we'll send you the details you need. We'll be adding more dates and locations on that signup page soon. Please sign up as soon as possible and bring your friends and family.
Also, we need hosts and leaders! If you're interested, contact Steve.
Shout-out to our great Indivisible Montgomery volunteer hosts: Tamara Prince and Alan Crane, Jane Barbara and Eric Seidman and Lonni Millman and Ken Morse. Thanks!
Turn Virginia blue!
The Virginia election is just 42 days away! Please consider signing up for a Virginia canvass or phone bank. With your help we can flip the Virginia legislature and prevent Republican gerrymandering for the next decade. Sign up here.
You can make a difference by driving college volunteers from DC and Maryland to northern Virginia canvasses on Saturdays. You don’t even have to canvass yourself. To volunteer, sign up here. And if you have questions, contact Julie Greenberg of 31st Street Swing Left.
You can also help win tight legislative races in Virginia by donating to one or more of these great candidates who really need money to win: Wendy Gooditis, Hala Ayala, Shelly Simonds, Dan Helmer, Sheila Bynum-Coleman and Ghazala Hashmi. Just a few dollars can have real effect on a low-turnout, off-year state election. Please consider going online to their websites and donating.
Texting
Texting parties will start soon! These are intended for people who have never texted voters, as well as experienced texters. These events will be posted soon here. Questions? Contact Stacey.
Some elections reading
- American migration patterns should terrify the GOP (The Atlantic)
- Democrats lead in fundraising for Virginia's hard-fought legislative races (Washington Post)
- Republicans don't believe in democracy (New York Times)
Other elections work
In-person voter registration
Write letters to swing state voters (Voter Registration or Get Out the Vote)
Canvass or make phone calls to Virginia
Write postcards
Text voters
All best,
Chris Pickett
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