This is urgent. By the time you’re reading this, the new administration has already launched a brazen attack on critical programs in what amounts to a kind of coup: overnight, they began cutting off grants that Congress had already appropriated, claiming they contribute to “Marxist equity” or “green new deal social engineering”—whatever that means.
This, of course, is causing confusion and cruelty—reports today are showing that Medicaid payment portals have been frozen, potentially putting the healthcare of millions in limbo. Meals on Wheels deliveries have also been disrupted, and every one of us knows friends and neighbors who depend on those. Since foreign aid grants have been halted, lifesaving medicine to hold HIV infection at bay has simply been stopped—doctors and nurses have had no choice but to lay down their stethoscopes.
These steps amount to an effort to change the way power works in our government; it represents, as some scholars were saying this morning, the biggest power grab in American history, one that would sideline Congress. It is the largest step yet towards a totalitarian future. We must make our voices heard.
There are already court cases being filed and just now a federal judge blocked the funding freeze until Monday. But we need sustained people power to persuade our Senators and Representatives to speak out against this in the strongest possible terms: Please contact your congresspeople right now, and tell them to immediately protest this attack on democracy and on Americans.
A single call or email might feel like a small action, but when thousands join in, we can drown out the powerful few who seek to silence us. We must work together to defend the heart of our democracy.
In the words of Third Act advisor Rebecca Solnit, “it will be our job to make sure everyone connects the dire consequences with the cause: this administration.” Thank you for taking action and doing your part to protect the rights of millions of Americans.
TAKE ACTION NOW