usernamesAreTricky @ usernamesAreTricky @lemmy.ml

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Going to repost my comment from another crosspost of this:

They have already pledged to do similar?

First, I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner.

https://democraticleader.house.gov/media/press-releases/dear-colleague-re-ongoing-house-democratic-caucus-activity

And note that the dems only have power on this if republicans fight each other like last time. Reconciliation means it only requires a strict majority on spending bills (but can only be used a couple of times per year)

They have already pledged to do similar?

First, I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner.

https://democraticleader.house.gov/media/press-releases/dear-colleague-re-ongoing-house-democratic-caucus-activity

And note that the dems only have power on this if republicans fight each other like last time. Reconciliation means it only requires a strict majority on spending bills (but can only be used a couple of times per year)

However, Trump doesn't generally seem to care about how much someone has helped him in the past if one minor slight shows up. If Musk can't help him at this very instance, he'd be open to throwing him under the bus. He abandons people fast

Added that to the title now

Then don't make it easy for them. Make them have to take the time to revoke everything rather than just letting them go on to the next person

Resistance doesn't mean winning every fight, but to delay, delay, delay everywhere you can. The more time they have to spend putting up with you is less time they can spend messing with other people who can fight back during that whole time

Do note that elections are run at the state level - including for federal office. There are still state & local attorney generals to pursue cases, though obviously would be better to keep the federal government doing investigations too

This is also to say to make sure to vote in those local and statewide races. They are a critical path of resistance. They are still happening, and they are still winnable. Some states have elections this year, with a few states even having a couple regional / local elections this Tuesday

A week ago, Dems pull off an upset win in a deep red state senate seat in Iowa. Don't assume your district is guaranteed to go any way

https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar

Fetterman is inconsistent. He sometimes votes the right way. Other times doesn't. There's still issues he can be pressured on

Remind him that you'd support a primary challange to him

Some dems have recently pledged to block unanimous consent for nominations, but I haven't heard about quorum calls

Call your senators and tell them that to do that if either/both are dems! They've been starting to put up a lot more of a fight recently after more and more people have been calling

If either/both are Republicans, call them and tell them to vote no for the nominees

Call them and keep up the pressure then. They have been getting a flood of calls these past few days and notably have started to really up thier action in turn

AOC got into office by successfully primarying an establishment dem. Plus Fetterman is burning a ton of bridges compared to the person AOC primaried

It's hardly some hopeless endeavor

Slight correction, the 800k figure was a figure for new cases in a year (including ones that are no longer pending). Total pending cases is still pretty close at around 1.1-1.5 million depending at which exact time period you're looking. That's total pending cases

Here's it listed in a congressional report

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12492

There aren't that many asylum claims in total. In 2024, there were 800,000 pending asylum claims

Media coverage about immigration is wildly skewed from reality

They commit fewer crimes than US citizens on average. Even the Right-wing CATO institute found undocumented immigrants were 37% less likely to be convicted of a crime

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

They pay more in taxes on average than they recieve from any government services

https://www.cato.org/blog/fiscal-impact-immigration-united-states (again a right wing source)

Notably they actually did try to barge in. From the article

Minutes earlier, a handful of lawmakers, including Crockett, Pressley, Frost and Jamie Raskin, had attempted to get inside the treasury department before being rebuffed.

They also tried to get into USAID yesterday

Notably they have no majorities in either the house or senate. They can slow things down - and they have pledged to use some of the tools to do so until Musk stops his insanity - but they cannot do a ton directly more without Republican support

Yep, and they're already making demands, but its in March, and note dem power is limited there. Reconciliation allows budgets to pass without a filibuster, so dems only have power if Republicans infight. There's decent odds of Republicans infighting like the other prior times, so Dems still are planning to use their votes to get some protections against Trump's actions

In a letter to House Democrats, Jeffries hammered the administration for issuing an order — since rescinded — to freeze federal aid that Congress had previously allocated. Jeffries suggested Democrats will oppose any federal spending bill that doesn’t explicitly prevent Trump from freezing, slashing or otherwise altering those programs, including Medicaid, which saw its services disrupted amid the chaos over the freeze.

The Democratic leader said he’s already delivered the message to House GOP leaders that, absent those assurances, Republicans will be on their own to prevent a shutdown.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5123216-jeffries-government-shutdown-trump-orders/

Fighting in courts and grinding congress to slow way, way down is what they have the power to do federally. They don't have any majorities in either the house or senate

They can try and go in to stop people physically - like what they also just tried doing by entering the building

What specific action from them do you have in mind that they have the power to do?

Not actually performative, it's one of the few things they really have power to do without republicans support. They can drag specific types of nominations out to end to taking something like almost a year to get through all of them. And take up limited senate floor time for other bills, legislation, etc in the meantime

There are hundreds of nominations they need to get through

My understanding, is that historically, the minimum debate times thresholds for nominations have been waved away via unanimous consent - especially for minor positions. If one senator objects, then you have to go the whole time

Another thing they can do is force quorum calls to waste time counting people present. Usually quorum is assumed

That's not necessarily true. Often in situations like this you'll start with one simple demand and then if they cave, move on to the next

Think it's more so a matter of finally realizing the threat of the moment here

This is one post in a live thread so maybe something got weird there

The gist of it is that after speaking to around 100 protestors, various dem senators and house reps tried to get into the building. They got inside technically but ended up being blocked at the main entrance

Unsure if they are still there

They spoke about how insane Musk & Trump's plans are and how they plan to fight in courts. I believe they also spoke about plans slow down senate nominations with the procedural tools they can (or that might have been said outside of the protests)

Headline is poor, he's using procedural tools to slow things way down. From the article

“I will oppose unanimous consent. I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved