Chair’s Corner
We must all unite behind the Harris-Walz ticket, and ensure that Donald Trump does not become President again. His Project 2025 is anti-Seniors, and it must be stopped. So please do all you can to make sure a Democrat occupies the White House.
2 Major Points for Seniors
- Under Project 2025, insurance companies would again be able to deny coverage for "pre-existing conditions"
- Medicare Advantage - Project 2025 would make this a for-profit version of Medicare, and significantly reduce the quality of care for seniors - if we could even afford to buy it.
Read more about Project 2025 from MoveOn:
Here’s Why Project 2025 Is a Dire Threat to Senior Citizens
— Betsy Ettorre, Chair of the Seniors Caucus
from the Editor
Won’t you please come to Chicago?!
Democrats Abroad’s delegation will be at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from 19 - 22 August to vote on our Democratic ticket for President/VP.
To keep up with it all you can subscribe to this newsletter. To watch DNC speeches - click here.
It’s a new day, and the energy on the campaign trail is off the charts! Harris-Walz is taking America by storm and we cannot be happier. Our new nominees are true progressive leaders. A few things Tim Walz has done as Governor of Minnesota -
In March 2023, Tim Walz signed a bill to provide free school meals—both breakfast and lunch—for Minnesota students at participating schools, regardless of their family’s income. Also in 2023, Minnesota Governor Walz signed one of the most progressive transportation bills in U.S. history, requiring the Minnesota Department of Transportation to mitigate or outright cancel highway expansion projects that increase emissions. It also sets an ambitious goal of reducing driving miles by 20% by 2050. These sustainable transportation and climate initiatives could serve as a model for national policy. As we thank President Biden for his leadership, and for making this historic decision, we welcome the incredible energy and HOPE that the Harris-Walz ticket has brought to the race!
Unions are back at the table!
We can support unions again without being attacked for being a socialist. Just look at what unions have give us.
Watch Kamala and Tim talk to the UAW and get their endorsement! Happy Labor Day - September 2nd!
Follow their campaign on YouTube.
Our Coffee Chats are back! Join us on 30 August to catch up on Election 2024.
We wish you a happy World Senior Citizen’s Day - August 21.
MEDICARE | SOCIAL SECURITY | WEP
Happy Birthday to Social Security!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935 - 89 years ago. He said, “We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”
We are still fighting to defeat WEP
WEP Committee Chair, Brendan Read has continued to stay in touch this summer with a group in Washington DC who are leading the fight to pass the Social Security Fairness Act (HR.82/S.597) - legislation that will repeal the WEP, and allow all Americans to receive their full Social Security benefits.
The latest news is that to force a vote on HR.82, a Discharge Petition will be filed (by Graves and Spanberger), ready for co-sponsors to sign when they return to the House floor on 10 September. Although this legislation has enough co-sponsors to pass, it must come to the floor for a vote. It is being held by Ways & Means official Richard Neal (D-MA) who has a "competing" bill - one that does not eliminate WEP for overseas Americans.
We need YOU!
We need to URGE our Reps before 10 September to urge them to sign the Discharge Petition so the House can vote on it before Graves and Spanberger leave Congress at the end of the year.
We have prepared a Call to Action - please contact your House Reps to URGE them to sign the Discharge Petition. If HR.82 passes the House, it will be sent to the Senate. With 62 Senate co-sponsors, there is a very good chance this will pass!
Please please do this TODAY! It’s our best chance in decades to repeal the WEP. Thank you!!!
Senator Sherrod Brown holds field hearing on protecting public workers’ Social Security benefits
"U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, has spent several years trying to repeal two federal provisions that reduce retirement income for many public servants. Friday, he held a Congressional subcommittee field hearing in Columbus to discuss the issue.
The audience of mostly union members hoisted signs and supplied a steady chorus of ‘yeah’s, ‘mm-hmm’s and ‘that’s right’s. Packed to the gills matching t-shirts or buttons, the Columbus Firefighter’s union hall felt a bit closer to a rally than a congressional hearing."
Read more. (Thanks to Karen Lee for sharing this with us.)
Senators Brown and Collings Call on Senate Leadership to put the Social Security Fairness Act on the Senate Floor for a Vote
August 7 - "Today, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to immediately put Brown and Collins’ bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act on the Senate Floor for a vote. The legislation would restore full Social Security benefits for law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other public servants by repealing two provisions of current law – the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) – that unfairly reduce the Social Security benefits that public employees receive.
In addition to Brown and Collins, the legislation has 62 Senators as bipartisan cosponsors.
'Across the United States, millions of public servants find that their Social Security benefits are cut through no fault of their own. Our Social Security Fairness Act now has a total of 62 bipartisan cosponsors, indicating it is strongly positioned to overcome a filibuster and move quickly. For this reason, we urge you to put the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 597) on the Senate floor as soon as possible,” wrote Brown and Collins in their letter to Senate Leadership.’
H.R.82 - Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (118th Congress) has two new Cosponsors - 325 total. If they are your Reps, consider writing to thank them:
- Cosponsor:08/13/2024: Rep. Rulli, Michael A. [R-OH-6]
- Cosponsor:08/13/2024: Rep. DesJarlais, Scott [R-TN-4]
Last but not least
It was announced by the White House on Thursday, 14 August that President Biden has negotiated with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs for 10 treatments that effect Seniors.
“When these lower prices go into effect, people on Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “It’s a relief for the millions of seniors that take these drugs to treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and more ― and it’s a relief for American taxpayers.” - President Biden
Security Today and Tomorrow
Securing today and tomorrow starts with being informed. Learn more about Social Security Administration tools, online services, and how our programs benefit people just like you. Sign up here.
Social Security Works!
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has created online tools to help us apply for Social Security & Medicare, however the best way to get started is on our Seniors Caucus SS/Medicare website and on our U.S. Benefits page.
Have you joined Social Security Works yet? You’ll receive updates on their work, be able to take direct action, and sign petitions to protect Social Security. Watch our webinar here.
VOTING
Need help registering to vote or requesting your 2024 overseas ballot? Not sure if you are registered, or can register to vote in the U.S.?
Vote from Abroad provides every U.S. citizen abroad with the information and tools needed to VOTE,assisting voters from all 50 states, plus District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Our online tool makes it simple to fill out and send in a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). We highly recommend that each voter file this form annually.
Have questions about voting? We provide one-on-one voter assistance - on voter status, never voted, or anything about voting as an American overseas. You can ask online, check our FAQs (Frequently asked questions) page, or come to a Voter Assistance Session. Voting made easy!
Vote from Abroad phonebanking began last week with calls being made in Battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. We are putting our money where it is needed most.
If you like to chat with people phonebanking is fun. You’ll need to be able to answer voters questions, then you pick up the phone and start dialing. And meeting new friends.
Five Senators
These five Senators - Jacky Rosen (NV), Jon Tester, MT, Sherrod Brown (OH), Bob Casey (PA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI) must keep their seats in order for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate. They are all being targeted for defeat - let’s help them win their races this November!
POLITICAL ACTION
Equal Right Amendment - ACTION Request
We still need the ERA published as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Wouldn’t it be great to announce that had been done during the upcoming DNC!
You can help! Tell President Biden to Publish the ERA.
Grab your phone and text President Biden at 302-404-0880
Personalize your note and please feel free to use any of this to get started:
- Please publish the 28th Amendment (Equal Rights) in our Constitution.
- Gender equality is really important to me because _____________. Please ensure publication of the 28th Amendment (Equal Rights) in our Constitution.
- The American Bar Association urges implementation of our 28th Amendment (Equal Rights) and it is time for the National Archivist to fix the historical gender gap in our Constitution.
Thank you!
Shari Temple, DA ERA Task Force Chair
Bizarrely, the latest GOP tactic
is to try to block people from getting a divorce! And guess who’s leading the charge - Vice Presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, is among the prominent voices pushing to limit divorces by eliminating no-fault divorce. And you know it will get stranger before 5 November. Trump is already gearing up to call it a fake election - he attacked a photo of Kamala’s event in Michigan calling it a fake - as if no video exists of the entire event.
Project 2025
Project 2025 would remake every nonpartisan government agency into an arm of the MAGA agenda. Some of Trump’s worst ideas -- like having the military shoot protesters, or seizing voting machines to overturn the election -- were stopped because sensible leaders refused to go along. In a second term, there would be no sensible leaders left.
Robert Reich made this explanatory video to save us time reading the 1,000 page document.
Historian Thomas Zimmer spoke with Democrats Abroad about Project 2025. You can watch the replay on Facebook or DA’s YouTube channel.
Thanks to the DNC
Democrats abroad will receive financial assistance which will be used to find more Democrats living overseas and help to get them to register to VOTE in this vital election.
And thanks to Vote From Abroad for building the platform to make it easy to vote!
Impeach Thomas and Alito
This week we found out about the newest Supreme Court scandal. Yet another undisclosed trip by Justice Clarence Thomas, on Harlan Crow’s private jet in 2010, this time from Hawaii to New Zealand and back.
It seems this steady drip, drip, drip of undisclosed gifts is never ending.
This is just one of multiple scandals of bias and undue influence involving Justices Clarence Thomas, but he’s not the only justice with issues. Samuel Alito’s conflicts of interest are numerous too. Both Thomas and Alito and their wives have shown public support for the January 6 insurrection, but both justices failed to recuse themselves from the related cases involving Trump, the 2020 election, and the insurrection.
This repeated failure to recuse themselves is the primary basis on which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed articles of impeachment against both justices. Now we are calling on the House to follow through with the next step: impeachment.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said impeachment is necessary due to the justices’ “pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements” -- failures which, she writes, “constitute a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed.”
This unchecked crisis of corruption on the Supreme Court has spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy across the board, and Congress should not wait another day to Take Action!
TAXATION
Quotes from Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith
Continuing with Chairman Smith’s worst quotes - now he’s against Direct File with the IRS! Whose pockets is he in? Here’s a quote from him:
“Congress did not authorize the IRS to create a Direct File program because the American people neither want nor asked for it. Only at the IRS would authorization for a study, using cherrypicked data from a liberal group, get twisted into a pilot program for 140,000 taxpayers, which has now turned into a bizarre justification for creating a permanent nationwide government tax program. The IRS cannot even justify its own cost estimates for the program, according to a Treasury Inspector General report last year, which found that the agency had no documentation to support the underlying data, analysis, or assumptions about the cost to taxpayers. The IRS has proven itself time and again to be a poor steward of taxpayer information. This latest attempt to circumvent Congress and establish a new tax program only serves to further undermine the fraying trust between the agency and the public. It is clear that making this program permanent and appointing the IRS as tax preparer, filer, and auditor, instead of delivering for taxpayers, has been Democrats’ plan all along.”
Click here to sign up to receive Ways & Means newsletters.
Tax Filing for Americans Abroad
15 October is our extended and final tax filing deadline, so be sure to have yours postmarked by then. If you’ve just moved overseas and want to learn about tax filing, Americans Overseas created a FAQ section at the bottom of this page that will walk you through the basic information.
TECH CORNER
Political Action Committees (PACs) are under attack
from Katie Porter
For years, I’ve been ringing the alarm bell about con artists who create fraudulent political committees that pretend to support grassroots causes but actually funnel money directly into consultants’ pockets.
Now, the problem has gotten so bad that the Harris campaign is taking note.
Scam PACs lie and mislead to take in millions of dollars from well-meaning donors to line their own pockets. It’s wrong, it’s immoral, and it’s harmful to our democracy.
That’s why I’ve introduced two bills to hold these cheaters accountable. Read on…
TAKE ACTION
What can we do?
Repeat - Send a letter to CEOs of Major Banks
"Inequality Media Civic Action has created a letter that we can all send to the CEOs of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase demanding that they denounce Project 2025 which calls for purging nonpartisan experts from every government agency, and replacing them with loyal Trump foot soldiers who will commit to carrying out the most extreme policies ever laid out in such detail.
The Heritage Foundation is already vetting resumes and interviewing applicants to build a white, Christian nationalist government, to fill the positions of the 50,000 government employees Trump intends to fire -- on day one. They plan to eviscerate the Environmental Protection Agency, eliminate the Commission on Civil Rights, and close down any agency that protects consumers or fosters diversity and inclusion.
This is not America. They must put all Americans first!"
Join a State Group on Facebook
Help connect voters to their state voting information. Through our actions we’ve attracted new members and leaders to DA.
If you’re curious about your voting state group, or would like to meet people from “back home” who live abroad, find your state group here.
State Teams
DA’s State Teams continue to have huge impacts on laws and lawmakers back home. More teams are being built which will tackle issues of importance state by state. If you haven’t joined a team, or if you have questions, email the organizers today.
Phonebankers needed!
Thank you for the enthusiastic response to the VFA Voter Assistance Trainings. Nearly 200 people became certified Voter Assistants! We can always use more help. Click here to sign up.
EVENTS
Coffee Chat
We hope to see you on Friday, 30 August. RSVP to get the Zoom link, and add it to your calendar. We’ll see you there!
DA Events - Quick Links
VOLUNTEERS
We need you!! Volunteers are the backbone of our organization. Email us for details on our volunteer opportunities.
You can find the list of positions our caucus is looking to fill on our Volunteer page.
- We are looking for members of a new "Social Security Committee". Please email our Chairto let her know that you are interested.
- We are also looking to fill our Secretary
- The Global Black Caucus is searching to fill more positions. Get in touch here.
- The Global Communications Team is also looking for volunteers as they ramp up for the 2024 election! Do you have a communications background? Are you interested in helping? If so, please fill out the Global Communications Team Interest Form.
Final Thoughts
"One Team, One Fight."
- Kamala Harris
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It all goes to helping us Get Out The Vote!