Welcome to week 21! We’re ten days from hitting the debt ceiling. The House did pass a debt ceiling raise, but loaded it with poison pills that our members are protesting as you’ll see below. Here are the top trending campaigns over the past seven days. Thanks for being a part of our Substack!
1️⃣ Do Not Support Rollbacks to the Inflation Reduction Act
As part of the effort to cut spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, the GOP is looking to rollback parts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that incentivize the transition to clean energy. The IRA has already resulted in the creation of around 100,000 manufacturing jobs, mostly in red districts, and $150 billion in clean power capital investments. The GOP is looking to replace this with their own bill that relaxes rules around fossil fuel extraction.
2️⃣ Pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of '23
According to Brady, “approximately 1 in every 5 gun sales is completed without a background check. The passage of this legislation would expand background checks to virtually all firearm purchases, ensuring that guns are kept out of the dangerous hands of prohibited buyers.” Background checks, Brady notes, is supported by over 90% of Americans. The fact that it is still pending is a failure of democracy.
3️⃣ No Red Tape for SNAP, TANF, Medicaid
The GOP is trying to expand means testing for SNAP (food stamps), TANF (temporary assistance for needy families), and Medicaid (health care) again as part of their negotiations for raising the debt limit. All this will do is make life more miserable for struggling Americans. “These changes would put approximately 1 million older adults at risk of losing their SNAP benefits — despite extensive research showing that this work-reporting requirement does not increase employment or earnings and just cuts people off benefits,” according to CBPP. Similarly the University of Illinois found, “SNAP participation does not appear to impact employment nor serve as a disincentive to work,” but this is a GOP project that is happening nationwide in state legislatures as well as Congress, regardless of the facts on the ground. Fight for those who can’t.
Others gaining steam: Pass the Supreme Court Ethics Act, Enact the 14th Amendment, Enact Assault Weapons Ban & Ethan’s Law, Stop Billionaires from Buying Our Elections
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