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ACTIONS FOR Monday 5/12/2025 – 5/18/2025
RESIST
Calls to U.S. Congress
1. Keep up the Pressure Against MAGA Budget
Republicans in Congress and the administration are beginning to realize that they cannot continue to cut taxes and reduce the national debt and avoid funding cuts to Medicaid and other popular social programs all at the same time. Negotiations in the House over the budget reconciliation bill are failing despite Johnson’s goal of passing a single big bill by May 22 before the next Congressional recess.
Take action: Continue to call and email our Representative Salud Carbajal and tell him we want House Democrats to stay united in voting against any budget bill that includes tax cuts for the rich and funding cuts for vital social programs. And while attention is on the House right now, it is important that we also continue weighing in with our senators who can serve as a counter to House actions. If we can maintain irreconcilable differences between the House and Senate in specifics for a budget bill, we can delay action on a potentially disastrous budget plan well into the summer.
2. Promote Democratic Resistance in the Senate
Two wins this past week demonstrate that Democrats in Congress can have an impact when they unite in resistance to Trump’s agenda. First, a cloture vote in the Senate failed to advance the so-called GENIUS Act that claims to regulate a strand of cryptocurrency called “stablecoins,” but in actuality would enable the corrupt uses of cryptocurrency that Trump is now employing to advance his own wealth. Thanks to NO votes from Democrats, the bill was blocked last week but is likely to be reintroduced soon.
Second, Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin for US Attorney for the District of Columbia was withdrawn after hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee prompted by our California Senator Schiff’s commitment to place an indefinite hold on the nomination.
Take action: Contact our senators Schiff and Padilla and thank them for their vote against the Genius Act and tell them to continue to vote against this bill unless it includes provisions barring members of the executive branch from owning or trading cryptocurrency and other anti-corruption provisions as stipulated in the End Crypto Corruption Act.
Be sure to also thank Senator Schiff for his role in blocking the nomination of Ed Martin and demand that both Senators continue to vote against ALL of Trump’s nominees, particularly his current nomination of Casey Means for surgeon general. Means is an influencer with a lapsed medical license who has promoted dangerous misinformation and unsubstantiated claims about pseudoscientific health practices.
3. Protect the Power of the Federal Judiciary System
Federal judges across the country have been consistently ruling against the Trump administration’s many unlawful actions. In efforts to hamper the independent power of the federal judicial system, Republicans in the House have passed the No Rogue Rulings Act (H.R. 1526) which would severely restrict judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions against unconstitutional executive orders. The bill has now moved to the Senate where passage would require 60 votes in favor.
Take action: Contact our Senators Schiff and Padilla and demand that Democrats in the Senate filibuster to prevent passage of the NORRA bill.
ASSIST
Santa Barbara Community
4. Support La Casa de la Raza
For fifty-five years, La Casa de la Raza, located in an historic building on East Montecito Street in Santa Barbara, has been a Hispanic cultural center and the community’s hub for services provided to migrants and immigrants. Services include basic needs (such as food, diapers and household supplies), information and education, relocation assistance, and advocacy in city and county government.
On Friday afternoon, the City of Santa Barbara’s Code Enforcement division ordered the closure of the La Casa building maintaining that the building was unsafe for occupancy. However, city officials have failed to communicate anything but the most summary description of the problems and have given no clue about how they might be remedied. In the face of an unprecedented assault by the Trump administration on our immigrant community, the city’s action has shut down a critical community resource.
At our rally at the TRUTH Forum during the Santa Barbara County Supervisors Board meeting last week, more than two hundred Santa Barbara community members demonstrated their commitment to defending our immigrant neighbors from illegal actions of ICE and the threat of deportation. The folks at La Casa are asking for that kind of support now.
Take action: Plan to show up at the next city council meeting on Tuesday, May 13 to demand answers and insist that the city move quickly to get La Casa operations up and running at a new location. The Council meeting, which begins at 2:00pm, is held at Santa Barbara City Hall (735 Anacapa Street). To give public comment at the session you must submit a “request to speak” form on site prior to the start of the meeting. You can also attend the meeting and give public comment remotely, using Zoom. (https://santabarbaraca-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-tbNSuHPTmquCwDEP9hNaQ).
Even if you do not choose to speak, you are encouraged to attend the meeting as a show of support to those who comment.
Upcoming Events
5. Fighting Disinformation
The date for the virtual meeting on combatting disinformation being planned by Indivisible Santa Barbara has been moved to Wednesday, May 21. An announcement will be sent out next weekend with details about how to register to attend.
CALL YOUR REPS DAILY!
Senator Adam Schiff Washington, DC: (202) 224-3841; San Francisco: (415) 393-0707; Los Angeles: (310) 914-7300; San Diego: (619) 231-9712; Fresno: (559) 485-7430; Email
Senator Alex Padilla Washington, DC: (202) 224-3553; Sacramento: (916) 448-2787; Fresno: (559) 497-5109; Los Angeles: (310) 231-4494; San Francisco: (415) 981-9369; San Diego: (619) 239-3884; FAX: (202) 224-2200 Email
Congressman Salud Carbajal Santa Barbara/Santa Maria: (805) 730-1710; San Luis Obispo: (805) 546-8348; Washington, DC: (202) 225-3601; Email
CALIFORNIA Senator Monique Limón (D), CA State Senate, District 19 Sacramento: (916) 651-4019; Santa Barbara: (805) 965-0862; Oxnard: (805) 988-1940 Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D), CA State Assembly, District 37 Sacramento: (916) 319-2037; Santa Barbara: (805) 564-1649 Program your representative’s local AND DC phone numbers into your phone. Republicans outnumber Democrats in calling 4-1, and 11-1 on hot button issues. If you are still grappling with how Obama’s administration were not able to get anything done, this is how they did it. We MUST constantly call and continually exert pressure. If you can’t manage daily, pick a day, mark it recurring on your calendar, and call weekly.
DAILY CALLS:
- Call your senators about an issue of concern EVERY DAY.
- Always provide your ZIP CODE,
- Call about ONE subject only, per call.
- Call once per day, or multiple times per day with one ask for each call.
- Leave a message if you can’t speak to a person.
- If you can’t get through, try again later.
Failing that, DO send an email, one ask per email. Both Butler’s and Padilla’s offices have said they tally emails as well as phone calls.
CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS
In the House of Representatives, Congress continues to debate funding and pass bills. It is helpful for our Representatives to hear a large outpouring of support from his constituents. Our Representatives become bolder when they hear from a lot of us. To see what is happening on the floor throughout each day, bookmark the Office of the Clerk. This site also has a live video stream of floor proceedings, and guides about how the legislative process works. It’s an amazing resource. Govtrack is a website that makes it easy to track certain legislation, you may sign up for alerts. It also can help you find your representative. Their twitter account @govtrack posts all the legislation as it passes, live. congress.gov is an incredibly useful resource, which has every position on every bill.
GRAB YOUR WALLET
#GrabYourWallet was a movement that began during the election, started by Shannon Coulter. The Grab Your Wallet boycott began on October 11, 2016 and ended on November 8, 2020. It lasted exactly 1,489 days. The boycot was a peaceful, nonpartisan protest of the cruelty and divisiveness of the Trump administration. It has been credited with over 70 large companies cutting financial ties with the Trump administration (see “Dropped Companies” tab). The retail boycott was so effective that by August 2019, just 12 companies remained on the list. As a postscript, The Grab Your Wallet spreadsheet now includes an archived special section to track which U.S. officials are backing Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the outcome of the 2020 election, along with their contact information. Find it here.
THERE IS A NEW @WHITEHOUSE ON TWITTER!
Follow the new official Biden administration Twitter accounts, which started from zero and need to build followers. @PresElectBiden is now the @POTUS account. @FLOTUSBiden is now @FLOTUS. @SenKamalaHarris is now @VP. @Transition46 will become the new @WhiteHouse. Douglas Emhoff’s official account is @SecondGentleman. Note that the previous administration’s archived account is at @WhiteHouse45.
DAILY ACTIONS
Resistbot (text your number to automatically write your Member of Congress) 5 Calls (provides numbers and scripts for issues)
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
MoveOn.org ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union
