News from the Frontlines of the Political Revolution!
IN THIS ISSUE: The Battle Over Bernie’s Budget | Our Revolution vs. Corporate Democrats | US Rep. Pramila Jayapal | Jim Hightower | Upcoming Elections | & MUCH MORE!
★ ★ ★
A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR READERS:
THE URGENCY OF THIS MOMENT
In the coming weeks, we have a chance to bring about transformational change, enact major pieces of our policy priorities into law, and secure a foothold to move our agenda forward and build a more progressive America.
For years, our movement has been fighting and organizing to create a political moment like the moment we are in. Our hard work is coming to fruition and we have the ability to deliver huge wins through Bernie’s $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill — the biggest investment in the working class and the environment since the New Deal.
The Budget Bill is not only good policy, it’s good politics.
It would tangibly improve people’s lives in ways that they’ll remember in the voting booth. Our ability to elect more progressives in the midterms, and maintain or expand slim majorities in Congress, depends on passing the boldest possible version of this landmark legislation.
But corporate Democrats and the powerful special interests who back them are doing everything they can to thwart
Bernie’s Budget Bill and cut out the best parts.
This issue of The Revolution Report is dedicated to winning the Battle over the Budget. Now more than ever, we must fight.
[MAKE THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION HAPPEN!]
★ ★ ★
Join us for our National Organize to Win Call this
Monday at 8:30p ET/5:30p PT
As we prepare for the fight ahead, we’ll be joined by US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and US Rep. Joe Neguse, who will give us
the progressive playbook for making sure our priorities stay in the $3.5 Trillion budget bill as Congress finalizes this historic piece of legislation.
We’ll also get the latest from Buffalo Mayoral Candidate India Walton about her insurgent campaign to fend off an “independent” bid by GOP backed incumbent Democrat Mayor Byron Brown, who she beat in the Democratic primary.
DON’T MISS MONDAY! RESERVE YOUR SEAT!
★ ★ ★
Our Revolution is doing the concrete organizing work necessary to make Bernie’s vision a reality. Help fund our work by becoming a recurring donor now.
Any amount makes a huge difference.
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★
OUR STRATEGY TO WIN THE BATTLE OVER THE BUDGET
THIS WEEK Our Revolution, Indivisible, Sunrise and other leading progressive organizations called for a unified action strategy – both inside and outside of Congress – in response to Sen. Joe Manchin’s demand for a “strategic pause” on Bernie’s $3.5 Trillion Budget proposal.
As corporate Democrats like Manchin seek to obstruct the bill, our letter declared that “We must continually call their bluff on the specific programs they are unwilling to deliver for the American people, rather than allowing them to get away with vague concerns about spending.”
Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal summed it up best in her Tweet clearly aimed at Manchin:
With critical votes scheduled for the end of September, we are urging progressives to up our game in the face-off against corporate America. “We are in a powerful, but precarious place – we passed the budget resolution with all our progressive priorities still on the table, but still have a race to the finish line as major corporations invest millions in a major lobbying blitz.”
Our Revolution is standing firm with our allies to implement key elements of our strategy, which include:
- Keeping the Congressional Progressive Caucus united;
- Keeping up the pressure on conservative Democrats; and
- Supporting progressives in negotiations over the budget.
Read below for the latest news about how Our Revolution is taking the fight directly to corporate Democrats …
★ ★ ★
REVOLUTION RECESS: WE’RE PLAYING TO WIN
As corporate lobbyists and big money groups team up with the so-called “Problem Solvers,” “New Democrat” and “Blue Dogs” in Congress to sabotage Bernie’s $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill,
Our Revolution groups across the nation are holding “Revolution Recess” actions at their local offices to make sure they understand that their constituents want the legislation to make it to the President’s desk intact.
US vs. THEM: Our Revolution Florida members held a nationally live-streamed protest outside the office of US Rep. Stephanie Murphy, who has emerged as one of the leading opponents of the Budget Bill; Our Revolution New Jersey kept up the pressure on US Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the leader of the “Nefarious Nine” corporate Democrats trying to tank Bernie’s Budget Bill; Our Revolution Texas called out three corporate Dems aligned with Gottheimer and Murphy – US Reps. Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, and Filemon Vela; Our Revolution Oregon took on yet another of the “Nine” – US Rep. Kurt Schrader; Our Revolution Maryland delivered a message to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who wields significant power in the negotiations; and Our Revolution Massachusetts demanded US Rep. Richie Neal – the chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee – keep our progressive priorities in the final version of the legislation.
Through grassroots mobilization, Our Revolution members are driving home the message to corporate Democrats who get their marching orders from Big Pharma, Big Oil, the Big Banks: You will pay a hefty electoral price by trying to subvert progressive demands for Medicare expansion, union empowerment, climate action — and paying for it by negotiating down drug prices from Big Pharma, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and restoring taxes on the wealthy & corporations.
Corporate lobbyists saw how we fought to move Bernie’s budget resolution through the House, and they are going all out to weaken it before it becomes law. Become a recurring donor to Our Revolution now to help us build a powerful people-powered movement to pass Bernie’s budget and restore a democracy of the people!
★ ★ ★
Our Revolution isn’t just hitting the streets, we’re also hitting the airwaves by launching a new ad aimed at House Ways and Means Chair Richie Neal.
WORD ON THE STREET is that Neal’s Committee is considering raising much less revenue than is needed to fund Bernie’s $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill – potentially as little as $1.5 trillion, which would not even recoup the $1.9 trillion lost from the Trump-GOP tax cuts that largely went to the rich and corporations. This is unacceptable – It’s time the rich and corporations paid their fair share. Polling shows that the public strongly supports this agenda – as does Our Revolution and more than 700 other national and state organizations. We have to close the Billionaires Loophole, also known as the stepped-up basis loophole, that allows a lifetime of capital gains – by Jeff Bezos and his peers – to go forever untaxed; stop profitable multinational corporations from dodging tens of billions of dollars a year in taxes by shifting profits to offshore tax havens; and fund the IRS so that rich tax cheats and corporations are no longer able to illegally evade hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes every year.
Our Revolution kicked-off an ad blitz calling on Neal to end federal fossil fuel subsidies. Fossil fuels are responsible for the climate crisis, yet big fossil fuel companies receive $15 billion every year in direct government subsidies. The US government has propped up the coal, oil, and gas industry for decades even though a majority of voters want to end these taxpayer handouts and invest the money in our progressive priorities.
★ ★ ★
As Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Bernie Sanders included a measure in the Budget Bill that would empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma — generating massive savings to go toward Medicare Expansion.
On Thursday, the Biden administration revealed its plan to lower prescription drug prices through direct government negotiation with Big Pharma — backing our progressive priority of doing just that in the Budget Bill.
The consensus is with the progressives on this one, and so is the White House. It’s the corporate Democrats who are out on their own, toeing the line for Big Pharma — even if it means harming the American people as well as the Biden presidency and the Party’s outlook for the midterms.
Blue Dogs and New Dems aren’t just trying to cut our priorities from the Budget Bill, their primary aim is to drastically reduce the $3.5 Trillion price tag to eliminate funding sources that hurt their donors’ bottom lines.
Corporate Democrats don’t want funding for the bill coming from reduced profits to Big Pharma due to drug price negotiation … or out of Big Oil’s pockets due to ending fossil fuel subsidies … or from their own pockets when the wealthy and corporations are made to pay their fair share in taxes.
Because of our grassroots organizing, Bernie and the Congressional Progressive Caucus have the support of President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in the fight to expand Medicare to include dental, hearing, and vision. This would be of immense benefit to seniors like Our Revolution Ohio’s Diane Morgan – who wrote this recent op-ed in Newsweek – as well as a big step toward publicly funding healthcare as a human right in this country.
Once again, it’s the corporate Democrats standing in the way.
Improving Medicare to be more comprehensive means less coverage gaps and less need for private supplemental insurance plans. This is key to strengthening the appeal of extending Medicare for ALL — which remains our ultimate goal as progressives.
Another big healthcare fight in the budget bill is playing out over our proposal to lower the Medicare age to 60. This week, Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Joe Neguse introduced legislation to do just that. Significantly, a majority of House Democrats – both conservative and progressive – support this measure.
Progressives, of course, remain steadfast in our goal of lowering the age all the way down to zero through a Medicare for All single-payer program. But, lowering it by even just five years as Biden proposed would give coverage to 23 million more Americans, saving many lives while setting the stage for additional eligibility age reductions moving forward.
★ ★ ★
If you’ve ever considered becoming a member of Our Revolution, we humbly ask you to do so today. We hope you will invest in Our Revolution as we fight to get Bernie’s Budget Bill over the finish line.
Every dollar has the potential to tip the scales and deliver a return on your investment in the form of that better world we all know is possible.
JOIN US FUNDRAISING BUTTON
★ ★ ★
WORKERS UNDER ATTACK! STAND UP & FIGHT BACK!
Our Revolution Board Chair Larry Cohen joined Sara Steffens of CWA and Our Revolution Board member Jim Hightower on his YouTube show on Tuesday for a “righteous happy hour of
rabble rousing” about the Labor Movement.
As Hightower put it: “American workers are fed up with low wages, terrible working conditions, minimal benefits and so much more in their jobs. From tech to warehouses to retail to journalism, people are getting together, and fighting together, for workplace justice.”
Larry – a former union leader – brought special attention to the urgent need to pass the PRO Act and update America’s broken labor laws so these low-wage workers have a shot to unionize and get ahead. “Without workers rights, we have no rights. We can’t leave it up to workers to just do it alone. We need to do our part and fix the law.” Larry also noted that Our Revolution is working to make sure key parts of the PRO Act – like increasing penalties on union busters – makes it into the final Budget Bill.
★ ★ ★
IS BIDEN DOING ENOUGH FOR WORKERS?
This week, Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese told The Hill that President Biden should do more to champion the PRO Act in Congress or otherwise go it alone and issue executive orders to increase union membership.
“He’s talking pro-union and he’s delivering a pro-union message much more consistently then he did in the past. The fundamental question is this: Is he just talking the talk or is he walking the walk? The one metric that is the most important is union density: Is the union movement growing in members or not under Biden?”
Unfortunately, the answer is NO. Union membership in the private sector now hovers around 6% – the lowest level since the Great Depression.
Joseph called on the President to “do whatever it takes – whatever arm twisting is necessary – to get the PRO Act passed,” noting that Biden has yet to take “bold leadership on this critical legislation.”
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★
Did you know our unstoppable grassroots political campaign operation has a 70% win rate during the 2021 election cycle?
CHECK OUT THE STATS !
As these stats show, Our Revolution is on the frontlines electing the next generation of progressive champions – the majority of whom are women and people of color. From school boards to mayors, we’re taking on the Democratic establishment and transforming politics from the bottom up!
Next week, our members are organizing to win critical elections in Ohio and Massachusetts – READ MORE BELOW!
★ ★ ★
GROWING PROGRESSIVE POWER IN SOMERVILLE!
Our Revolution Somerville, MA is organizing to elect three candidates in this Tuesday’s primary election. Will Mbah, who we helped to elect to serve Somerville’s first black City Council member, is now our pick for Mayor. On the Council, Will led the fight to increase teacher assistant’s pay by 20% and pushed for more affordable housing and a Green New Deal for Somerville that would make municipal buildings and new construction net zero and divest city funds from fossil fuels. Our slate also includes two other devoted progressive fighters — Tessa Bridge and Becca Miller, who are running for City Council.
★ ★ ★
BETTING ON PROGRESSIVE BUCKEYES
The future of cities across northern Ohio are up for grabs in Tuesday’s election, starting with the race for the next Mayor of Cleveland. Our Revolution Ohio is backing Justin Bibb in his run for Mayor of Cleveland. Bibb has pledged to re-imagine policing in Cleveland and he was the first mayoral candidate to endorse the Citizens For A Safer Cleveland Ballot Initiative, which is a priority for our members.
Our Revolution Ohio is also organizing to elect a slate of progressives including Kahlil Seren, who is running to be the first-ever elected Mayor of Cleveland Heights, and others running for Mayor and Council in Garfield Heights, Cleveland, Lakewood and Toledo. You can watch our recent town hall with these candidates HERE.
★ ★ ★
Help us elect the NEXT GENERATION of progressive champions and take out the political establishment by becoming a 2021 Movement Builder with recurring donation of just
$10 or more a month!
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★
PROGRESSIVES WIN PARTY REFORMS
IN MASSACHUSETTS!
Part of our mission at Our Revolution is to transform the Democratic party into a more inclusive and progressive party. To that end, Our Revolution Massachusetts members are proposing two amendments to the 2021 Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform.
The first includes changes to the climate and environmental justice part of the platform, calling for a reduction of fossil fuel consumption and gets specific on ending taxpayer support of the fossil fuel industry – including ending tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief and other loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry.
The second amendment is proposed to the Health and Human Services section of the platform, which already calls for high quality, accessible healthcare for all through a single payer government sponsored program, but also calls for expanding current Medicare coverage now by lowering the eligibility age and including dental, hearing and vision benefits, and lowering the price of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for all Americans.
If these amendments sound familiar, it’s because it’s the same issues we are fighting for in Bernie’s Budget Bill, and reflect the inside/outside approach we are taking not only within Congress, but also within the Democratic party.
Thanks to the work of Our Revolution activists in Massachusetts, each Amendment received enough signatures of support and will be debated and voted on by the Massachusetts Democratic Convention delegates, who will be voting on the amendments via electronic or telephonic ballot between September 14th and 5 PM EDT on September 20th. The virtual convention starts on Sept. 25th.
ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE PARTY?
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★
GET INVOLVED IN “REVOLUTION RECESS” AND HELP US WIN THE BATTLE OVER THE BUDGET!
Our Revolution Massachusetts is mobilizing to get US Rep. Richie Neal to stand up to the fossil fuel dinosaurs and climate criminals. Join us on Monday at Richie’s office!
★ ★ ★
Our Revolution New Jersey is also rallying on Monday to demand Rep. Bill Pascrell uses his power as a Ways and Means Committee member to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
★ ★ ★
Join Our Revolution Texas as we hold an action at the Laredo office of Rep. Henry Cuellar – one of the “Nefarious Nine” who tried to undercut Bernie’s Budget Bill in the House – to show him that his constituents are demanding Medicare expansion, protections for workers, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies!
★ ★ ★
9/11: MEMORY ETERNAL
As we close this edition of The Revolution Report, we remember that 20 years ago today our nation faced a terrible attack. As the towers fell in New York City, many of us began to question our foreign policy, and even more of us got involved to stop the military industrial complex from launching a new war. Last month, the longest conflict in our history came to an end, with not much to show for it.
As we mark this somber anniversary and remember all those we lost since 9/11 – including all the innocents – Our Revolution is recommitting to reducing taxpayer funding for the military industrial complex and its undue influence on our lawmakers and our national security policy.
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★