Rogan's List for February 12, 2024: Phonebank for Tom Souzzi

GOTV and smart donations, taking on overdraft fees and medical debt, celebrating Black History Month, and more!

FEB 12

Contact all members of Congress:

Contact White House or other federal agencies:

TURN THE SANTOS SEAT Tomorrow’s special election in the New York Third District will determine which party controls a crucial additional seat in a deeply-divided House, and as this Politico article demonstrates will also shape media narratives about November for weeks to come. With battles actively ongoing over government spending, the child tax credit and support for Ukraine as we move towards a pivotal moment for our nation’s future, this race looms large. Let’s help get voters out to the polls by signing up to phonebank today and tomorrow here.
SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT AGAINST OVERDRAFT FEES
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed new protections against exorbitant overdraft fees, part of the agency and this administration’s ongoing effort to take on junk fees. They’ve estimated this new rule will save consumers $3.5 billion or more a year (JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America alone reported $2.2 billion in overdraft fees in 2023) – so the banking industry is working hard to lobby against it. Let’s use this tool from Americans for Financial Reform to submit our comments on the proposed new rule in support of the crackdown on abusive overdraft fees.

ASK GOVERNORS TO RELIEVE MEDICAL DEBT
In the past few weeks, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and even Alabama have taken steps to relieve medical debt. This is an important and necessary action to help working families who did not ask for illness and can often find their life savings completely drained due to the extreme costs of certain medications and treatments that are not always covered by insurance. Let’s ask our governors to take similar actions in our state.
BLUE TENT: GUIDANCE ON DONATING TO ELECT DEMOCRATS AND DRIVE CHANGEWhether we wish to donate $5.00 or $5,000 to elect Democrats in 2024, we may want guidance on how to be strategic and effective in our political giving. Blue Tent is an organization that offers this assistance, focusing on grassroots organizations pursuing progressive causes. Blue Tent explains how it chooses which organizations to support here, and offers its top 2024 recommendations here. Let’s explore Blue Tent’s website and consider using it to guide our political donations.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH We’re about half-way through Black History Month, and if we haven’t been intentional about noting it as we go about our February days, there’s still time! Great suggestions on how we can celebrate can be found here; we can visit Black heritage sites and trails through the National Park Service; and we can read books about Black history and heritage, perhaps choosing from this reading list from the AFL-CIO. And let’s work to eradicate voter suppression of African Americans and other voters of color by signing up with the Center for Common Ground.

STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS

NM – KEEP FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY NOT DETENTION
We had disappointing news from Santa Fe last week as the state senate once again failed to pass the Dignity Not Detention Act (SB145), which would ban New Mexico governments from entering detention contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Let’s contact our state senators, let them know how we feel about their vote on this measure and urge them to keep pushing until this standard is law. We can also sign up for updates on this effort and more like it from the New Mexico Dream Team, our state’s largest immigrant youth-led organization.

AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS