Amid uncertainty, vast uncertainty, Senate Democrats are frantically writing a national budget. It will be an anemic version of Biden’s 2021 Build Back Better wish list. That financial blueprint died when Sen. Manchin walked away from White House negotiations. He is now working with Schumer’s office, but even a “Manchin budget,” if there is one, will face an uncertain future.

The far-right — a combination of the MAGA rabble, the extreme Christian Right, and billionaires — this week celebrated their capture of the Supreme Court. A stunning series of SCOTUS decisions announced that, after failing to win the Congress and White House, the extremists on the far right now have six of nine votes on the high court. Despite testimony during confirmation, the runaway Justices revealed they were not going to be bound by precedent nor the Constitution in its rush to remake America.

A recent set of judicial rulings concerning gun control, reproductive freedom, and the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) as well as several cases set to be heard next year about voting rights and affirmative action all negatively impact or outright attack the freedoms of BIPOC and women in the US.

After the Supreme Court struck down abortion, it turned its attention to the regulating agencies that issue rules to fight climate change, to ensure drugs are safe and effective, and to protect worker safety. For years, corporations have been losing to the regulators, but the Supreme Court has just taken away that authority, thereby threatening the health and safety of everyone. As Lincoln once said when facing another runaway Supreme Court: “(T)he people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”

This week, Indivisible Oregon prioritized three issues:

1.ABORTION AND GUN CONTROL GUTTED BY ILLEGITIMATE SUPREME COURT

2. ON JAN. 6, TRUMP PHYSICALLY ATTACKED HIS SECRET SERVICE DRIVER WHO REFUSED TO TAKE HIM TO THE CAPITAL

3. PASSING REVISED BUILD BACK BETTER ACT

All are extremely important for the future of our democracy. While Trump is no longer in office, the damage he’s caused will remain, unless Congress acts to protect our rights. His appointment of three Supreme Court Justices created an MAGA supermajority that’s imposing on the country its retrogressive policies. The most recent January 6 hearing demonstrates clearly Trump’s intention to use his armed followers to prevent certification of Biden’s win. And the economic problems exacerbated by Trump’s mishandling of COVID continue to hurt our citizens, requiring passage of a revised Build Back Better Act.

These clearly show how elections have consequences—which makes the upcoming midterms extremely important. Electing the right people will enable Congress to undo the policies imposed by the MAGA supermajority, ensure the peaceful transfer of power, and assist those in need.

The lying, MAGA extremists now in control of the Supreme Court are misreading history and the Constitution, ignoring well-settled legal precedents, and imposing their personal, unpopular views on us all. In back-to-back rulings last week, they held that states can force women to birth unwanted babies but they cannot protect their citizens from deadly weapons. Welcome to the “Trump Court.” We cannot allow the tyranny of the minority to destroy our rights, our safety, and our multiracial democracy. SCOTUS must be structurally rebalanced to limit the power of this illegitimate supermajority—by adding 4 justices, limiting its jurisdiction and making it harder to find federal laws unconstitutional.

The lying, MAGA extremists now in control of the Supreme Court are misreading history and the Constitution, ignoring well-settled legal precedents, and imposing their personal, unpopular views on us all. In back-to-back rulings last week, they held that states can force women to birth unwanted babies but they cannot protect their citizens from deadly weapons. Welcome to the “Trump Court.” We cannot allow the tyranny of the minority to destroy our rights, our safety, and our multiracial democracy. SCOTUS must be structurally rebalanced to limit the power of this illegitimate supermajority—by adding 4 justices, limiting its jurisdiction and making it harder to find federal laws unconstitutional.

This week, three issues rose to the top of our Indivisible Oregon priority list:

1. TODAY’S GOP PRESENTS A DANGER TO DEMOCRACY
2. TRUMP ATTACKED ELECTION OFFICIALS AFTER REALIZING HE LOST
3. JUNETEENTH: A FEDERAL HOLIDAY FOR ALL AMERICANS

Overshadowing everything, however, was the unfolding saga of how Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican co-conspirators almost succeeded in subverting the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election—a conspiracy that began before November and continues until today.

As these hearings demonstrate, elections have consequences—which makes the upcoming midterms very important. Electing the right people will affect the peaceful transfer of power,..

This week Indivisible Oregon focused on three ongoing issues:

• The need for rational gun control

• Our duty to combat insurrectionists at home and to continue helping Ukraine protect its fledgling democracy

• The Supreme Court’s continued assault on our rights and institutions.

Overshadowing everything, however, was the unfolding saga of how Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican co-conspirators almost succeeded in subverting the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election—a conspiracy that began before November and continues until today.

As these hearings clearly demonstrate, elections have consequences—which makes the upcoming midterms very important. Electing the right people will affect the peaceful transfer of power, whether Congress passes meaningful gun reform or is able to blunt the efforts of the Supreme Court’s ultraconservative supermajority to take us back to the 1950s.

If you do nothing else over the next several days, you must find a way to watch the first public hearing of the January 6 Committee which was held Thursday evening. For two riveting hours, the Committee presented an overview of the substance of this and future hearings and provided video, recorded and live testimony. Even though you may have watched the events unfold last January and followed news reports about the Committee’s activities, the hearing refocused us on the horrendous attack on our Capitol and those whose jobs it was it defend it and the Congresspeople inside who were trying to do their jobs. It also presented new compelling evidence of the coordination between President Trump and his supporters.

Other than urging our representatives to publicize the January 6 Committee hearings, this week Indivisible Oregon again focused on the continuing carnage being caused by guns that should be outlawed in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and the ongoing war in Ukraine—all of which require additional calls to our representatives.