Background: We wrote in Action 183 and its addendum, that the Department of Education is planning to reduce the amount that people entering certain professions can borrow at advantageous rates, so that they can afford the necessary education and training. They plan to do this by downgrading those professions into non-professions. It should be widely recognized by now that the real purpose for this action is not to save the government money – the loans are overwhelmingly repaid with interest(92% either fully repaid or on track) – but to drive those motivated borrowers into the arms of predatory lenders, just the kind of people this administration seems to like to “pal around with”.
It’s now surfaced that the profession of architecture is also no longer to be recognized as a qualifying profession (along with the medical professionals (1). The result will be that fewer students from non-affluent backgrounds will be able to enter the architectural profession. Also, downgrading architecture to non-professional status, in addition to being absurd on its face, will result in loss of respect for the profession, which adds to the discouragement of young people from joining. This is apparently just fine with the plutocrats, but is a huge loss to our nation, a wanton destruction of our intellectual capital, which after all is what has made America truly great.
The new rules are set to go into effect July 1, so there is time to build a groundswell if we all get started right away in our particular spheres of influence. Let’s talk to all the architects we know. Are they aware? What are they doing? Can they join with the other professions that are affected, to get our elected legislators involved? Our legislators need to demand that regular procedures be followed for all these reclassifications, with formal hearings (congressional as well as administrative) and opportunity for public comment. This is a good time to build on the new erosion of trust in the Trump government (“by and for the billionaires”).
Action: Forward this action item to the architects you know, and/or write to AIA Maine. Also alert our delegation on all the DOE’s stupid and ignorant reclassifications in the service of predatory lenders. They need to hold hearings!
Background: As you know, the Big Ugly Bill deep six’d the subsidies that made Affordable Care Act premiums actually affordable for a lot of folks (like around 22 million of our fellow citizens). After a lot of hemming and hawing, the Congress is finally (apparently) going to take a vote on extending “enhanced ACA premium tax credits” past their expiration date of December 31. A current bipartisan bill, HR 6010, the Fix It Act, (1) proposes a two-year extension of enhanced ACA premium tax credits, paying for it by cracking down on Medicare Advantage fraud and insurance broker misconduct. This would prevent a significant premium increase for millions of Americans, while the bill would also implement new income caps and fraud safeguards. The Coalition on Human Needs- CHN – (2) has sent a request that we pressure our delegation into signing on to this measure or at least vote for it. It’s not a complete answer to the problem, but at least it’s something. Just don’t let the media fool you into thinking it’s the whole answer. We need a complete overhaul of the medical insurance situation (like, single payer health care nationwide…which should be a plank in the Democratic party platform!)
Action: Write a letter in your own words and send to our delegation, or phone them! This is much more effective than sending a “canned” letter. You don’t have to lard your letter with statistics or rationale – they’ve heard all that. Just tell them what youwant them to do! And ask for a reply.
A message (and addendum) from the Hancock Country Democrats:
Background: It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the MAGA/Republican/Christian Nationalist method of keeping the human population numbers down is to first create more people in their own image, then kill off as many other living people as possible. Consider that
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed (including by Susan Collins). He aims to destroy life-saving vaccines and espouses other crackpot medical theories.
US Aid funding was destroyed, resulting in millions of deaths in other nations.
The Supreme Court eliminated most abortion care, risking women’s lives.
Medical insurance is about to become unaffordable, so people won’t get care until it’s too late.
And now, Trump has defined advanced nursing as not professional-degree worthy, creating a huge barrier to entering into these badly needed professions. (1)
Friends in the nursing profession had this to say about the latest Trump travesty: Not classifying graduate nursing as a profession “could seriously limit federal borrowing for graduate nursing students. It affects other careers too, but for nursing, all CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) programs are doctorate programs. The total program usually costs over $150k, and you are out of work for 3 years. That’s a rough total cost estimate of around $300-350k to obtain the degree, which includes lost wages and tuition. Professional degree seekers can borrow up to $200k, but now that nursing is to be excluded from the professional class, borrowing at decent rates would fall under the normal $100k cap for a graduate degree. DNP (doctor of nursing practice) and NP (nurse practitioner) programs would be similarly restricted. This would be a massive roadblock for the vast majority of prospective students, (as) most private lending for graduate degrees is incredibly predatory.”
Action: Alert your legislators and protest this absurd development. We need more well-trained medical professionals, not fewer. It shouldn’t be impossible for talented Mainers of modest means to enter these life-saving professions. Ask our legislative delegation to “pay attention to this matter” and do something about it. Talk to your nurse friends and ask them to share their stories with nurse.org (See Extra Credit item 2)
Urgency: The sooner the better, at least by year end. July 1, 2026 is when the new standard will go into effect if nothing is done, and it takes time to get matters like this acknowledged and addressed.
I love it when you write to amplify the action items! This is from Veronica: “Just FYI, it seems to be more graduate degrees than just nursing (I checked with Snopes fact checker). Social work (MSW), public health (MPH, Dr.PH), Physician Assistants (PA), Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), Speech and Language Therapists, and many types of Counseling Programs will fall under this removal from Professional status at Dept of Ed (if it passes). What does it mean “if it passes”? That’s hard to tease out. The process (per Snopes) is “negotiated rulemaking, a public comment period, and a final proposal before a rule becomes law.” I don’t trust this administration to follow ordered normal steps.” Agreed, Veronica! This administration will ignore public comments, unless there is an overwhelming public outcry. The whole scheme looks like a giveaway to those predatory lenders, and part of Project 2025’s destruction of public education. Becoming an MD also will be unaffordable except for the already wealthy.
Background: We previously suggested that Janet Mills should sign LD 1971. (1) The title of the bill is “An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities” and the text of the bill can be found here.
Last Friday night, at the Maine Dems Gala in Portland (an excellent event BTW!) she sat at the same dinner table with Governor Pritzker, had a private audience with him prior to the dinner, and listened to his keynote speech where he gave a blistering takedown of ICE actions in Illinois. After the dinner, I asked her if listening to Pritzker might have moved her to reconsider her reluctance to sign LD 1971. Her reply? “I think about it every day”, and then she went on to say that she was thinking of crafting an alternative, involving the law enforcement community.
All well and good, but this is an emergency. Maine law enforcement should not be put in a position where they are acting as an arm of the federal DHS/ICE, no matter how much the feds try to sweeten the deal with offers of equipment, funding or other inducements to local law enforcers. LD 1971 passed the Maine legislature on the 18th of JUNE “to be enacted”, but was HELD by Governor Mills on JULY 8. She has had lots of time – almost half a year – to craft her proposed alternative. We have seen NOTHING. This is unacceptable. She touts her resolve to stand strong against Trumpian overreach. She needs to follow her historic “see you in court” statement with proof that she means it.
Action: Call Janet Mills. Ask her to sign the legislation. As with any other legislation, if it needs to be modified after some experience in the field, that is always an option.
Background: When Trump was first elected, Republicans fantasized about alternatives to the Affordable Care Act but have produced nothing in the nine years since. (1) The recent government shutdown, which was fought over the extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidy, has made health care the #1 issue in American politics at least through the 2026 elections, if not beyond. Democrats need to embrace this as their central issue and propose to DO something about it that will make a profound difference for all Americans. That “something” has been clear for some time, which is to incorporate a Medicare option as an amendment to the ACA, a measure supported by the vast majority of Americans according to numerous polls.
Americans balk at mandates, but embrace options, and are especially likely to do so in response to the compelling economics of a Medicare option. Gradual, but probably inevitable, adoption of a Medicare option by most Americans will put us on the path toward a sensible health care policy enjoyed by the rest of the developed nations. Compared to those countries, we bear on average almost twice the cost for health care as well as shorter life expectancies. (2) With a Medicare option open to all, personal bankruptcies due to medical costs (the primary cause of such bankruptcies (3) would become a thing of the past. In addition, companies which currently provide commercial insurance for their employees would be able to lower their costs and/or increase wages. (4)
The primary objection to the Medicare option is purported cost. However, that cost would not be born entirely by the government. People under age 65 (the current age of eligibility) opting to enroll in Medicare would presumably pay premiums, but ACA subsidies would still be available to offset those costs. In addition, the initial cost of the premiums is expected to be considerably lower than currently paid to commercial, profit-driven insurance providers simply due to the lower cost of Medicare administration – about 2 % for Medicare vs. 17% for private insurance. (5)
Putting this proposal on the table NOW by the Democratic Party would send a clear message to the American voters of Democratic intentions once returned to the majority, and provide a stark contrast to the Republicans who, by their actions, obviously could not care less about the well-being of average Americans. It should be a litmus test for Democratic aspirants to elected office and a core tenant of party identity into the future.
The recent budget bill passed with only a “pinkie promise” from Republicans to vote sometime in December whether or not to extend the ACA tax credits. If they are not extended, insurance costs will rise to unaffordable levels for millions of us. (6) Since the Dems are supposedly going to write the terms of the ACA extension bill promised by Republicans, NOW would be a good time to include the Medicare option. It is high time for Democrats to make a few, big, transformative promises like this and commit to sticking with them until victory is achieved, even if it takes decades. Think of it as building a new party identity with a foundation in the party’s past.
Action: Write to your Democratic representatives and all the aspiring Democratic candidates at any level of government, as well as to the party leadership, and urge them to declare publicly that they are in favor of the concept of a Medicare Option Amendment to the Affordable Care Act. Let’s change the focus from the ongoing Trumpocalypse and get something positive going, starting with health care. We’ve had enough of letting Republicans set the terms of debate! Golden could leave office as a champion of the Medicare Option Amendment. King could somewhat restore his badly tattered reputation by doing the same.
National Candidates: For Democratic candidates for office, a simple online search for their campaigns should give you contact info. For Matt Dunlap, see Amy Fried’s article about him here.
Current state legislators and party leaders: The state party chair is Charles Dingman, devon@mainedems.org. You already have your current Democratic state legislators in your files. If you have a Republican legislator, you might want to skip over them. Other Maine state legislators outside of Hancock County to contact could include:
(2) AI says “Healthcare costs and outcomes vary across the developed world, with the United States spending significantly more per capita ($13,432 in 2023) than other high-income nations, while often experiencing worse health outcomes like lower life expectancy and higher infant/maternal mortality rates. For comparison, the average spending in other developed countries was around $7,393 per capita in 2023, with countries like Switzerland ($9,688) and Germany ($8,441) having high costs, but still lower than the U.S.” See also:
(3) AI again: “Medical costs are a primary driver of personal bankruptcies in the United States, with a widely cited 2019 study reporting that 66.5% of people who file for bankruptcy blame medical bills as a key reason. This makes medical debt the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., exceeding credit card debt and mortgage problems.”
(4) Advantages include reduced cost, simplified administration, and improved competitive ability to attract employees by directing the cost savings into higher wages.
ALSO: Subscribe to Emanual Pariser’s almost daily action item emails! emanuelpariser@gmail.com There are enough actions described therein to keep you at work full time, helping to save our democracy.
Contact:
The names of our senators and representatives listed below are links that go right to their official congressional contact form pages. The telephone numbers are links that should open your phone app to call that number.
Background: As you know, before they will end the government shutdown, the congressional Republicans are holding hostage the extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. (They need Democratic votes to overcome the filibuster and pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.) Most Democrats are insisting that the extension be approved before they will vote to end the shutdown, because they are sick and tired of “falling for Lucy with the football”(1). If the extension is not approved, health insurance premiums will more than double for 22 million of our fellow citizens. Republicans are hard at work persuading Angus King, Jared Golden (still in office), and a handful of other congressional Democrats (and of course Collins) to capitulate.
Yes, the shutdown is painful. But we should have “learned our lesson” by now. We cannot trust the Republicans to do the right thing. They have the power to simply extend the tax credits first, then end the shutdown. Or, include the tax credits as part of the “continuing resolution”. Republicans have the power to do that, now. The fact that they are not doing it speaks volumes about their lack of trustworthiness, their callous indifference to millions of Americans who need the tax credit to be able to afford health insurance, and their adherence to the Project 2025 playbook (which, in a nutshell, is a blueprint for destroying the social safety net).
Action: Call King, Collins and Golden today. Demand that they NOT CAVE to the demand to pass a continuing resolution to end the shutdown without including the extension of the ACA tax credits.
Contact:
The names of our senators and representatives listed below are links that go right to their official congressional contact form pages. The telephone numbers are links that should open your phone app to call that number.
IF the capitulation has already happened, call in protest.
Extra Credit:
(1) https://slate.com/culture/2014/10/the-history-of-lucys-pulling-the-football-away-from-charlie-brown-in-peanuts.html AI overview says: “”Falling for Lucy with the football” is a metaphor for repeatedly being deceived by someone or falling for the same trick over and over, despite previous negative experiences. It represents a cycle of dashed hopes and a naive belief in a person who consistently betrays trust, often symbolizing the conflict between optimism and cynicism.” In this instance, Republicans have touted for many years that they will propose a better alternative to the ACA, but they have proposed absolutely nothing. There is no reason to suspect that they will in the future, because the only sensible alternative is “medicare for all”, which is anathema to their privatization agenda.
(2) For more in-depth info, check out this Google document here. Thanks to Emanuel Pariser for this action item.
Background: The legislature is not in session and won’t be until January 1, unless Governor Mills calls it back into session to deal with the impending crisis of loss of SNAP benefits for our most vulnerable citizens. (1) There is $1 Bn in the “rainy day fund”, part of which could be established as a contingency if Trump continues to dither about reinstating federal funding. Likewise with the fuel assistance – LIHEAP – program. To do this, Mills just needs to decide this is more urgent than campaigning to replace Susan Collins. In other words, she needs to continue to do the job as Governor, until the end of her term.
If our state Republican legislators prefer to follow the MAGA cult rather than cooperating to provide life essentials for our most vulnerable citizens, a roll call will tell the voters who is willing to sacrifice our people on the altar of their MAGA ideology. It will tell us a lot about who to vote for/campaign against in 2026, right? Next November, Mainers will elect a Governor, U.S. Senator, two Members of Congress, and every single member of the State House (151 seats) and State Senate (35 seats).
Action: Contact Governor Mills and demand that she calls the legislature back into session to deal with the emergency caused by the Trump administration’s cutoff of SNAP and fuel assistance. Contact your legislators and demand that they cooperate with this effort.
Find your State Representative: By name: Here By district: Here
Find your State Senator: By name: Here By district: Here
Urgency: Do it today. It’s going to take them time to get their act together, and meanwhile people are in danger from hunger and cold. Plus, Thanksgiving is around the corner, fer god’s sake!
Background: Earlier this year, the Hancock County Dems acquired hundreds of used road signs from candidates who no longer needed them. Using white paint and long handled rollers, we converted the signs to “blank canvas” for future use, ready when the inspiration strikes. Recycling not only saves money, but is probably better for the environment. Plus, you get to use your creativity on a road sign you make. The Deer Isle/Stonington Dems were particularly effective in this effort, making excellent use of those plastic signs that have channels for inserting metal stakes. That type of sign needs to be painted, or have poster board stapled to it to cover the existing text. Unfortunately, plain ordinary poster board is not waterproof.
It will be easy to recycle the red “No on 1” and similar waterproof poster board signs. No paint required! Simply remove the sign from the stake, gently pull apart the glued edges, flip the sign inside out, and glue, staple, or tape the edges shut again. Voila! A blank canvas which will accept various kinds of permanent, waterproof markers or paint! There will be significant scarring along the edges where the original glue was. You can cover this up with a strip of dark paint, or a strip of duct tape (which now is available in lots of colors and patterns). If you are careful, you can use the duct tape also to seal the edges at the same time. Store the signs with their original metal stakes inserted, but wait to staple the bottom shut until after you have finished decorating the sign, because that’s easier to do without the stake inserted. Check with your town Democratic Committee about where the signs can be stored. Share your signs!
Action:After 8 pm November 4 (or for safety sake, first thing in the morning November 5) go around and pick up all the outdated “No on 1” signs you placed before someone else does! Then prepare them for recycling!
Extra Credit: (more on sign prep and placement)
Remember the law requires that signs IN THE ROAD RIGHT OF WAY have to have a contact name and address, and a date the sign was placed. (It’s also a good idea to write the date 6 weeks later when the sign must be removed.) Signs lacking this information can be confiscated by the highway department (not by some random person). There are a LOT of nonconforming signs out there, particularly the black “resist” signs and signs for various candidates. Campaigns: please take note of the rules, before your signs get confiscated! It’s also a good idea to place a warning against vandalism on the sign. Print out a small version of something similar to the text shown below, and affix it to the sign. You can put the warning on one side of the sign, and the contact info and date on the other side. You can use printed labels, but remember not all printers use waterproof ink. Ifyour ink runs in the rain, cover the labels with clear packing tape.
When can you place your signs? IF IN THE ROAD RIGHT OF WAY, you get 6 weeks from January through June, and another 6 weeks from July through December. If you are making a sign for a candidate, the best time to place the sign is probably 6 weeks before the election. The primary is June 9, 2026 and the general election is November 3, so plan on placing your signs April 28 and September 22. If your signs are not for a candidate, you can place them for any 6 week period during the half year. You could even place them for one week each month of the year – 12 weeks total. But be sure to remember to change the date label. This could be a great way to keep your candidate in the public eye all year.
Signs fully on your own property and outside of the right of way don’t have to follow these rules for labeling and dating.However, there are setback requirements for signs on your property. Check MRSA Title 23 Chapter 21 Section 1914 for those requirements.
How do you know if your sign is inside or outside of the right of way? It depends on the classification of your road, and there are lots of special circumstances. Always check with your town office, road commissioner, or the State highway department for the right-of-way width at your location. As a general rule, a typical residential “two rod road” has a right-of-way width of 33 feet. To find where that is on your property, measure the width of the road where you would like to place your sign, find the midpoint, and then measure 16 ½ feet from that point into your property. That’s the edge of the right-of-way for a typical, uncomplicated two-rod road. That may not describe your road! Always check.
Print something like these labels and place them on your signs. Fill out the dates and contact info with a sharpie, when you are ready to put the sign out.
Recycled and ready for a message!
~~~~~
Find your State Representative: By name: Here By district: Here
Find your State Senator: By name: Here By district: Here
Background: In the wake of his ballroom fiasco, Trump has fired the entire Commission of Fine Arts (1). Their website is still up, but we can expect that it will be substantially revised to reflect the “Trump aesthetic and priorities”, which have been described as “dictator chic” (2). This aesthetic is repugnant to many of us, particularly those of us raised in New England, with our “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” values (3) and the restraint shown by our “old money” residents and institutions against flamboyant display (4). From destroying the Rose Garden, to the gilding of the oval office, to the Big Ugly Ballroom, to Trump’s notional “Arc de Trump” (5), “dictator chic” style has infested Washington at breakneck speed. It’s a direct, parvenue, “nouveau riche” affront to our citizens who are increasingly struggling just to get by. Trump claims that his excesses are being paid for by his private sector cronies. News: all of those cronies expect something in return, something that will benefit them personally or the companies that have made them obscenely rich. And it’s something we citizens are most likely paying for with our tax dollars, should we care to “follow the money”. This is not American government under our Constitution and the rule of law. This is the government of a banana republic, satisfying the childish and venal whims of an arrested-development tyrant. How much longer are we going to put up with it?
Action: Other than throwing your body in front of a wrecking ball or a bulldozer (definitely not recommended!) ridicule and satire may be the best remedy here. We know it gets under the thin skin of the megalomaniac (6). The technical term for this type of protest is “tactical frivolity” (7), but serious art also has always been a means of protest expression (8). One could envision a traveling “Maine rebels” art exhibit – maybe something like that is already developing “under the radar”. Let us know. If your art is musical, join Jesse Welles in creating memorable contemporary protest songs (9). Or, write a protest poem. Whatever your art form, you are sure to come up with something, either as a creator or a promoter.
Urgency: Ongoing until the nightmare is over, and then for years afterward. We need to keep factual history from going down the “memory hole” (10).
(3) This saying is the title of a page on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website, which we predict will go dark soon, along with much of the rest of the publicly-accessible National Archives. Better do any planned research now, and archive as much as you can, before the Trump censors go to work.
(4) “New money, Bobby, is old money that got away” – cartoon by William Hamilton, New Yorker, 1988. Pride in restrained style used to include Republicans – see Nixon’s comment about his wife’s “cloth coat” https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/richardnixoncheckers.html
Background: No, not the year 1975! LD 1975 is a bipartisan bill in the Maine Legislature that proposes to clean up some “redundancies” between the Maine Connectivity Authority enabling legislation, and previous legislation creating ConnectME, a predecessor agency (1). Sounds innocuous, right? Who could be against cleaning up redundancies? If you have super-duper, high speed internet now (possibly thanks to a ConnectME grant), you probably aren’t focused onthis issue, but you might want to wade into the policy weeds to help create a better internet future for those less fortunate than some of us – including our beloved Heather Cox Richardson, who mentioned today while talking with Joyce Vance, that her internet is terrible!
LD 1975 as currently written is premature. In a nutshell: when the MCA was created, it took on ConnectME’sresponsibilities, contracts, people and budget. But some of that prior work was federally and state funded, and the funding is targeted to ConnectME as an entity. ConnectME currently serves as a subsidiary to MCA. Its funding cannot easily be transferred to a now-parent organization. Full integration of the two agencies is part of the plan, but not until 2027 when all “legacy” programs will be finished. Terminating its “legacy” programs and their funding prematurelywill damage MCA, which has already lost $35M from Trump’s slashing of Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. ConnectME’s budget provides MCA with matching funds for grants, funds for technical and policy studies, and funds for community education and outreach (e.g. digital literacy). The $2 M that MCA receives annually from ConnectME’s “assessment fee” (1) leverages over $100 M in federal funding and $25 M in private investment.
Action: Send a note to the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee (on which our senator Nicole Grohoski sits) opposing LD 1975 in its current form. The full name of the bill is “An Act to Eliminate the ConnectMaine Authority by Repealing the Advanced Technology Infrastructure Act”, the text of the bill is here (2) . For a refresher on how to submit testimony, see this link (3). Be sure to send a copy to Senator Grohoski.
Urgency: The public hearing is at 10 AM October 30
Extra Credit:
(1) The fee consists of a 0.0025 % assessment on a communications service provider’s state revenues, plus a surcharge of 10 cents per phone line or number each month. This fee is applied to both wired and wireless services.
