Action Items from the Bold Coast Civic Alliance to choose from (or do all of them: your choice!) Scroll down to the matching number of your option:
1) Keep the power of the purse away from Russ Vought
2) Contact family and friends in places where there are important elections coming up this November
3) Stop Trump from invoking the Insurrection Act
4) Urge our Senators and House Representative to support Voting Rights
5) Contact Jared Golden to ask him to demand the House be brought back into session
6) Boycott Spotify
7) Join a Zoom discussion of No Kings and what comes next
8) Maine-Specific Action (public health)
Reminder: When you call vs when you email via our reps’ websites (best way to contact them in writing), don’t forget to begin with: “Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent calling from [zip code]. That is important, because if they don’t know you’re actually a constituent, your opinion will be ignored.
Contact info: Angus King
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292
Susan Collins
DC: (202) 224-2523
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417
Chellie Pingree
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019
Waterville: (207) 873-5713
Jared Golden
DC: (202) 225-6306
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767
Find your State Representative:
By name: Here
By district: Here
(Please note that for those of you receiving this email who are not represented by Senators or House members in our district, I have to leave it up to you to find the contact info for your own representatives.)
Actions
1) Keep the power of the purse away from Russ Vought, Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget and one of the primary architects of Project 2025:
Contact Senators King and Collins to strongly oppose the piece of Trojan-horse legislation set to be introduced in the Senate this week by Senator Ron Johnson. It’s called the “Shutdown Fairness Act” and it’s anything but fair. It’s supposedly about getting our military troops paid during the shutdown, but what it actually does is give Russell Vought vast new power to disburse funds where he chooses during the shutdown and cut off departments and services with which he disagrees. This is a terrible idea, for obvious reasons. If they wanted to get the troops paid during the shutdown, why not just propose a bill to pay the troops? We have to make sure our representatives in Congress see just how sneaky and wrong this bill is.
For Susan Collins: Remind her that without the extensions to the ACA Premium Tax Credits, a Maine family of four making $126,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $8,358. A 45-year-old Mainer making $62,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $2,133 to hit a yearly high of $7,403. A 60-year-old Maine couple making $82,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $20,858 to hit a yearly high of $27,828. [This data is from https://www.protectourcare.org/] She must see how insane and punitive that is. She has got to work with the Democrats to get those ACA tax credits extended so the government can be reopened.
For Angus King: If you agree with the Democratic Senators’ negotiating demands for the reopening of the government (I do), urge him to stand firm with them and not to cave to his natural concerns about the harm the shutdown is doing to a lot of American citizens. Those harms are nothing compared to the hard times the Republicans are promising will someday turn around and usher in a new age of prosperity for everyone. King knows perfectly well that it’s a lie, and that the Republicans’ plans will bring prosperity only to the top 1%–and of those, only the ones who bend the knee to him. Tell our Independent Senator that he has our backing to stick to a firm stand against this unfair bill.
2) Contact family and friends in places where there are important elections coming up this November:
Send them messages by email or text, or even phone them, to make sure they are aware of the races, how they should consider voting, and why they should vote that way. No November 4th is fast approaching, so do this now ! Jess Craven of “Chop Wood, Carry Water” has put together a document to help with this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ERIgqnUmLqaBkccaXYguq5xEB4TQzukOa2trgIQYH6I/edit
3) Stop Trump from invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in American cities:
Trump wants to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to federalize National Guard troops—which, in ordinary times, are under the orders of State Governors—and order our military to enforce the law against American citizens on U.S. soil. His goal is to override the power of State Governors and continue to try to suppress the rights bestowed on U.S. citizens by the First Amendment: the right to speak freely without government censorship, the right to assemble publicly in peaceful protest, the right to dissent, the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the right to a free press.
Contact Senators King and Collins and Congressman Golden to demand that Congress update the Insurrection Act to add controls to prevent Trump or any other President from abusing the power of the office to police or otherwise attack the citizens of the United States on U.S. soil. You can read more here: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/tomorrow-and-forever-no-kings-in, and write your letter here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-rein-in-the-insurrection-act-and-end-trumps-war-on-cities/, or you can use whatever method you usually use to contact our representatives in Congress.
4) Urge our Senators and House Representative to support Voting Rights:
It’s looking like the Supreme Court is getting ready to gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act. But per the Constitution, it’s Congress, not the courts, that has the power to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment’s promise of fair voting. Tell Senators Collins and King and House Rep. Golden to support the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (the Senate version is S. 4; the House version is H.R. 14). This Act would restore preclearance, reinforce Section 2 protections, and guarantee that every American has an equal voice in elections.
5) Contact Jared Golden to ask him to demand the House be brought back into session:
Mike Johnson is playing games with the lives of all Americans by refusing to call the House of Representatives back into session. What he’s doing is not governance. It’s a craven abdication of responsibility. He was elected to be a lawmaker, not a liar and a rulebreaker.
6) Boycott Spotify:
If you are Spotify user and object to their running at least one ICE recruitment ad on their streaming service, consider canceling your subscription. (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/spotify-ice-recruitment-ads/)
7) Join a Zoom discussion of No Kings and what comes next:
Tomorrow night, October 21st, from 8pm-9pm Eastern time. If you’re interested in hearing or participating in a discussion with movement leaders and other activists across the country, sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/858246
7) Maine-Specific Action (public health):
Contact Janet Mills and ask her why she’s not part of the new multi-state public health alliance:
Back in September, 10 states—including Maine–announced a voluntary coalition called the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, designed to break with public health guidance from the Trump administration and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of U.S. Health and Human Services and instead form their own, science-based guidelines. Now 15 Democratic governors have formed another new public health alliance. This new group, called Governors Public Health Alliance, differs from the Northeast Public Health Collaborative in scope, membership, and specific goals. While the NPHC is more focused on regional public health guidelines and regional readiness, the GPHA is more focused on cross-state coordination and data sharing.
If you agree that Maine could benefit from participating in both groups, contact Janet Mills and tell her so. You can email her through her website (https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/contact), call her at 207-287-3531, or send a snail-mail letter to Governor Janet Mills, 1 State House Station, Augusta, Maine, 04333.
Yours in Civic Action,
Bold Coast Civic Alliance
