PUSH BIDEN’S AGENDA IN CONGRESS: PROTECT THE BIDEN-MCCARTHY BUDGET NEGOTIATION AND FILL ALL JUDICIAL VACANCIES

Daily Action
Written By Barbara Isaacman

QUICK READ:  Our MoCs must continue pushing Biden’s agenda in Congress. In the Senate, that means ending blue slips so Biden can appoint district court judges in red states and supporting or improving on the Biden-McCarthy budget agreement. In the House, it means preventing MAGA Republicans from successfully ignoring that agreement. 


CONTENTS:

BACKGROUND

Just two weeks after the Biden-McCarthy budget agreement became law, McCarthy bowed to MAGA Republican demands for billions of additional cuts to non-military spending on education, childcare, the environment, and other disfavored programs.

MAGA Republicans then hijacked the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), loading it with culture war provisions doomed in the Senate:

  • Blocking access to abortion and gender-affirming care;

  • Eliminating diversity initiatives;

  • Prohibiting DOD, a major polluter, from utilizing clean energy;

  • Precluding affirmative action, teaching racism, or acquiring “radical gender ideology books”

A similar dynamic’s playing out in other House appropriation bills.

Maintaining the Biden-McCarthy framework and keeping “culture war” issues out of the budget legislation will take considerable Senate time, as will filling judicial vacancies—which faces a different impediment.

So far, Biden’s appointed 35 Circuit Court and 102 District Court Judges (almost all in blue states). Over half the vacancies without nominees are in states with two GOP Senators. The Judiciary Committee Chair’s refusal to consider nominees unless both home-state Senators approve with “blue slips” limits Biden’s ability to continue reshaping the federal bench. 

This remnant of the Jim Crow-era, which creates two different systems of justice and allows the judge-shopping that’s stymied Biden’s popular policies, must be stopped.

ACTION One: Call the Senate.

Script for Oregon Senators

SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753

My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

During the remainder of this session, I expect you to work tirelessly supporting and improving on the Biden-McCarthy budget agreement and keeping out of the final budget bills MAGA Republicans’ “culture war” language. The other part of the Biden agenda—that of filling all federal judicial vacancies with progressive jurists—requires convincing Judiciary Chair Durbin to get rid of the “blue slip” requirement, a remnant of the Jim Crow era that results in two different systems of justice depending entirely on the political party of that state’s Senate delegation.

*SEN. WYDEN:* Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

During the remainder of this session, I expect you to work tirelessly supporting and improving on the Biden-McCarthy budget agreement and keeping out of the final budget bills MAGA Republicans’ “culture war” language. The other part of the Biden agenda—that of filling all federal judicial vacancies with progressive jurists—requires convincing Judiciary Chair Durbin to get rid of the “blue slip” requirement, a remnant of the Jim Crow era that results in two different systems of justice depending entirely on the political party of that state’s Senate delegation.

Script for Republican Senators

D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].

Congress approved the Biden-McCarthy blueprint for the 2024 budget, and I expect you to honor it in the budget bills the Senate produces. I also demand that you vote to exclude the extreme right-wing measures which do not belong in the NDAA or in other budget bills.

ACTION TWO: Call the House.

Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)

Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

Thank you for opposing the MAGA agenda which McCarthy allowed to be appended to the NDAA. Please continue doing so in the other budget bills you will consider and work to include as many Democratic initiatives as you can. When these bills return from the Senate (hopefully without the culture-war amendments), I expect you to work hard to convince your more reasonable Republican colleagues to vote for them, thereby avoiding a government shutdown in October.

Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)

Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

That you allowed the NDAA to be used to push a far-right agenda is a disservice to your constituents. It should instead be limited to helping our servicemembers, bolstering our allies, and protecting us from threats abroad. When the NDAA and the other budget bills return to the House for reconciliation, I expect you to work for their passage. Permitting a government shutdown is not an option.

Script for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)

Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

Thank you for opposing the MAGA agenda which McCarthy allowed to be appended to the NDAA. Please continue doing so in the other budget bills you will consider and work to include as many Democratic initiatives as you can. When these bills return from the Senate (hopefully without the culture-war amendments), I expect you to work hard to convince your more reasonable Republican colleagues to vote for them, thereby avoiding a government shutdown in October.

Script for Val Hoyle (OR-04)

Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

Thank you for opposing the MAGA agenda which McCarthy allowed to be appended to the NDAA. Please continue doing so in the other budget bills you will consider and work to include as many Democratic initiatives as you can. When these bills return from the Senate (hopefully without the culture-war amendments), I expect you to work hard to convince your more reasonable Republican colleagues to vote for them, thereby avoiding a government shutdown in October.

Script for Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05)

Salem office: 503-588-9100 | DC office: 202-225-5711

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

That you allowed the NDAA to be used to push a far-right agenda is a disservice to your constituents. It should instead be limited to helping our servicemembers, bolstering our allies, and protecting us from threats abroad. When the NDAA and the other budget bills return to the House for reconciliation, I expect you to work for their passage. Permitting a government shutdown is not an option.

Script for Andrea Salinas (OR-06)

Salem office: 503-385-0906 | DC office: 202-225-5643

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

Thank you for opposing the MAGA agenda which McCarthy allowed to be appended to the NDAA. Please continue doing so in the other budget bills you will consider and work to include as many Democratic initiatives as you can. When these bills return from the Senate (hopefully without the culture-war amendments), I expect you to work hard to convince your more reasonable Republican colleagues to vote for them, thereby avoiding a government shutdown in October.

FURTHER READING

Barbara Isaacman
Previous

Mother Nature is Screaming at Us, but we are Tone Deaf
Next

SCOTUS Is Flouting The Rule of Law. How Ironic.