The Gov Hub: October 2, 2023

Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, and quick links to civic engagement tools and topics to inboxes far and wide. Typos are included free of charge. PS if you’re new here and you’re curious about our political leanings - we’ll let this paint the picture.

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THE ACTION ITEMS

Jump right in

ACTION 1:

The Ask: Tell your state attorney general to hold big oil accountable [sue them] for the climate crisis they’ve taken a huge part in causing – and the lies they’ve told along the way.

The Action: Sign this petition and let them know.

The Background: Georgia Santos isn’t the only liar being called out on their shit this year – big oil is at the top of the list too, with California suing big oil over its lies. California specifically claims that the five biggest oil and gas companies knew that the use of their products would lead to climate change and instead of being like Hillary Duff and coming clean, they spent decades misleading the public. So, some would say “boys are cheats and liars, they’re such a big disgrace” – California Attorney General Rob Bonta has said quick edits folks, “big oil companies are cheats and liars, they’re such a big disgrace.” Anyways, the full claim is that the oil companies have cost billions of dollars in damage to the state by fueling climate change which in turn has created extreme weather. CA doesn’t have to be the only state with the call out – get yours on board too.

ACTION 2:

The Ask: Call on your electeds to modernize and democratize our voting system with automatic voter reg and more.

The Action: Sign this petition from the Alliance for Youth Action.

The Background: Some people and groups make it their passion project to prevent people from voting. Others go a different route. That route, the route that democratizes the most democratic act – voting – is key. And while there’s nothing common sense about common sense, this list of asks certainly hit all the right common sense marks:

• Automatically register every citizen at state agencies like the DMV

• Automatically update voters’ addresses when they move

• Allow citizens to register and update online

• Allow pre-registration at the age of 16

• Give citizens a secure opportunity to register & vote on Election Day

• Guaranteed full-service voter registration on college campuses

• Mail every voter a ballot with return postage paid and lots of convenient drop-box locations

• Voters can cast ballots anywhere in the country at user-optimized vote centers

• Voters have several weeks of early voting, including Saturday and Sunday

• In-person voting locations are convenient for all voters, including having polling locations on college campuses

• Legal history does not affect a citizen’s right to vote

• Politicians are blocked from enacting policies that curtail the right to vote

ACTION 3:

The Ask: Tell your [federal] representative to fully fund libraries.

The Action: Send them a note here via the American Library Association – and see if they’ve signed on for ‘24 or not, here.

The Background: Libraries provide safe havens, learning opportunities, and endless ways to explore and grow. Funding for these magical beacons on a hill are more important than ever, especially as attacks on these institutions continue. This week is Banned Books Week, so it’s an even more perf time than usual to tell Congress that funding libraries to the fullest extent every year under the sun is key for all communities.

Looking for more action items? Check our library of past Gov Hub’s.

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Just about guaranteed to make it to the group chat

• Put the pedal to the nonpartisan metal and fly through this seven question quiz on the USA - today ;) Then compare scores with your friends to see who is the winner, winner, chicken dinner. Dare we suggest this for the lowest scorer? We kid.

• Steve Kornaki, the man that makes the math math on election night, and boosts khaki sales, did not know who Taylor Swift was. We are devastated to have to bring you this troubling news.

• We thought there was a 0% chance we’d ever agree on something that GOP Congressman Timothy Burchett of Tennessee had to say – until this happened.

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett left absolutely no crumbs with this. We’ll take a shirt with “looks like in the shitter to me” on it plz and thank you.

• Congress is going so active these days [in the sports department] – first trying to become Travis Kelce’s with football, and then trying to become lords of the court with pickleball.

BOOKMARK IT

Don’t lose the link, bookmark it

MORE PERFECT UNION’S ELECTED OFFICIAL X AUTOWORKER TRACKER: Okay, so this tracker doesn’t have an offish name, so we apologize for the wonky title. However, the meat and potatoes of the tracker is super helpful. It shares which Congress members are speaking up for striking autoworkers, AND shares what they’ve said about them. It clears up who is pro-union, who is using the strikes to come @ Biden, and who is silent sally. Bookmark it here.

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political reads and achievements [yes, those do exist]

MICHIGAN BANS CHILD MARRIAGE: It’s offish, Michigan is now the 10th state to have signed a ban on child marriage into law. The bill that finally got Big Gretch’s signature was the final bill in a larger package of legislation designed to protect minors. The new law raises the minimum age of consent to 18 with no exceptions. The win is the third at the state level this year thanks to the work of organizations like Unchained At Last.

804,000 LONG-TERM BORROWERS WILL HAVE THEIR STUDENT LOANS FORGIVEN: Hugely positive, almost a million long-term borrowers will have their student loans forgiven and/or hit zero dollars. The forgiveness comes via a one-time adjustment granted by the Biden administration for people that have been on income-driven repayment plans who’ve been paying back loans for 20-25 years and did not receive credit for late or partial payments. According to AP, “It also credits borrowers for periods before the pandemic when they were allowed to pause or reduce payments due to financial hardships. To correct mistakes by loan servicers, the Department of Education is retroactively adjusting accounts, resulting in forgiveness. The department says 95% of those who qualify have now been informed of the cancellation.”

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WAIT, WAIT UPDATE ME

ICYMI, droppin deats, ‘dates, & top stories

REP. BOWMAN PULLS FIRE ALARM IN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING: Of all of things to pop up as a news notification this weekend, this one was certainly the most perplexing. NY Congressman Jamaal Bowman was seen on camera pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Sat causing the whole building to be evacuated. If we’re looking at timelines, this happened approx an hour before the House decided ‘eh, ya know what, let’s fund that government of ours.’ The conspiracy theories are going back and forth, with some saying that he was trying to delay the vote with the intrusive thought turned illegal move, which were then countered with a bizarre statement from him and his camp. The math isn’t mathing all around, and it’s safe to say they did not teach the answer to this equation in pre-calc.

SEN. FEINSTEIN DIES AT 90; EMILY’S LIST PRESIDENT, LAPHONZA BUTLER TO BE APPOINTED: The California Senator and longest woman to serve in the Senate, passed away late last week. At the age of 90, the Senator’s most recent years were colored with conversation around term limits and the need to pass the baton to younger generations. Despite those conversations and controversies, she will also be remembered as a trailblazer for gun reform, having forged the path for the first national assault weapons ban, and for breaking a few glass ceilings along the way. Now, the conversation has shifted to who will be appointed to replace her, and CA Governor Newsom is in charge of that decision, which he made last night. He picked EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler!!!

READ: Get to know Laphonza Butler here

LISTEN: Get the scoop on EMILY’s List here and here

GOV FUNDING CONTINUES FOR NOW: If we were betting people we’d have lost this one hard, but honestly we are so freakin’ glad we did because the government will remain open for biz, workers will be paid, benefits will be accessible, so much more. At literally the last possible moment, the House and Senate passed a “clean” stopgap spending bill. This does not mean the bill only drinks green juices or is a fan of Goop, okay?! It means that none of the negotiables or attachments for lack of a better term were a part of the CR. Oh, wait another term – a CR is a ‘Continuing Resolution’ which are temporary and speedily passed spending bills that fund government operations while negotiations over the final overall spend is worked through. Some would call it a bandaid and they wouldn’t be wrong. In this game of chicken with the lives of hard working Americans, these were the political winners and losers – Matt Gaetz is taking being on the losers list SWIMMINGLY well and has said he will seek to oust McCarthy from his role as Speaker. And because what is the GOP without drama, other House GOP members are saying uno reverse and are looking to remove Gaetz from office over the constant headaches he’s been causing… but not George Santos who has done how many INSANE things [tbt to when a team member of his admitted over email to impersonating a Kevin McCarthy staffer?!]. Anyways – YAY Funding. See you all in less than 45 days to do this all over again.

SEA LION LETS LOOSE WHILE MAYOR ADAMS DOES…? WE’RE NOT SURE: What’s a day without a catastrophic weather event? Couldn’t tell ya especially after last week’s NYC flooding mayhem. What’s Mayor Adams done about climate resilience, improving infrastructure, and responding to a changing environment? Well he’s been seen here, also here in the Hamps this summer, and giving the thumbs up to an astronomically expensive RoboCop known for malfunctioning that literally no one asked for…. So yea… at least you can give him a text and tell him how you really feel…or you can be like this Central Park Sea Lion and take a HGW around town to try and make something of the insanity.

MORE KEY STORIES TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR THIS WK:

NPR: Trump’s NY business empire is ‘greatly at risk’ from judge’s fraud ruling

Roll Call: Menendez told colleagues he’s not quitting. Now what?

AP: Grant program for Black women entrepreneurs blocked by federal appeals court

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

Bills, bills, bills

FEDERAL: Whoever was tasked with figuring out this acronym to make the VISIONS Act, the VISIONS Act got so close – SO CLOSE. VISION stands for “Validating Independence for State Initiatives on Organic Natural Substances'' Act of 2023. Tough. But mushrooming right along to the meat of the bill – it was just introduced by Congressman Garcia [CA-D] and if passed, would protect “legal psilocybin/mushroom use from federal law enforcement intervention in any state or locality where psilocybin is legally permitted.” For context, the medical treatment is currently legal beagle in CO and OR, and is en route to becoming so in CA. Part of the argument for the bill is that it would clarify contradictions in law between federal versus state/local laws on psilocybin/mushroom use, making way for expanded research opportunities and better processes for distro and use in a medical lens. Perhaps it’s all best understood with the VISION that this TikTok is.

@robertgarcia

Dont Criminalize Shrooms for Medical Use. #democrat #dems #congress #congressman #fyp #mushrooms

THE ICK LIST

The rotten eggs of politics and pop culture

MIKE PENCE: The former VP turned once-again presidential wannabe dropped that he’s slept with a teacher for 38 years, and all we have to say is why weren’t the cameras zoomed in on Mother for the reaction?! Talk about a missed opportunity to capitalize on the cringiest thing we’ve seen since…five minutes earlier in last week’s GOP debate.

RFK Jr: The conspiracy theorist who jumped into the Democratic primary despite literally every family member with a conscious saying “don’t do it” has been teasing an election switch-up. The tease is that he’s going to be running as an Independent instead – something that definitely will have many of us losing sleep at night [if you don’t have nightmares about this, congrats, you’re still a spring chicken].

FWD, SUBSCRIBE

Inbox musts and mentions

THE NEXT 50: It’s all in the name, and The Next 50 really takes that mentality and runs with it, working to elect 50 candidates running for office under 50. Their iconic 80% success rate is gorgeous, glowing, amazing, and they drop all the deats on how to get involved with bringing the next generation of candidates into office in their newsletter – from events, to endorsements, to everything in between. Get on the list here.

KEEPING IT CURRANT: This newsletter from GATG x Social Currant goes out monthly to creators and their teams. It’s focused on sharing insights and tips n’ tricks for creators finding themselves at the intersection of content and politics. The first edition went out last week – but you can get on the list for October’s edition here.

NEW ON THE POD

The latest and greatest

Did somebody say term limits? We did and so did the pod’s latest guest, Congressman Ro Khanna. This eppy gets into why term limits are needed for both SCOTUS and Congress, and how to get that shit done. Big hint: the solution includes a five point plan, which you can get into by listening in here on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Podcasts – and of course watching the eppy on YouTube:

ALL THINGS GIRL AND THE GOV®

THE GOV CLUB: Focused on political networking and community amongst civically engaged besties, The Gov Club provides members access to free virtual networking events, 1v1s, and connections with one another. The Gov Club has also made moves from its old Slack channel home to the Geneva platform to make connecting with one another easy as pie. Sign up for the Gov Club, here.

#VIRAL, THE NEWSLETTER: Skip the meeting, make it an email – subscribe to Girl and the Gov®’s paid newsletter, #VIRAL, dedicated to providing the 411 on the social media trends, tricks and tips, and how-to’s for politicos is hitting inboxes with a splash, weekly. A sample of the newsletter, which we dub ‘social media consulting to your inbox,’ can be viewed here, and interested humans can subscribe here.

PODCAST AUDITS: Girl and the Gov®’s Podcast Audit service provides a comprehensive review of the client’s existing show with the goal of identifying areas of improvement. This is for clients with existing podcasts at any stage that wants to bring their show to the next level. Start the process with a Discovery Call.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDITS: Think it’s time for a social media audit? Girl and the Gov® can help with that. Get up to speed on what needs to stay, and what needs to go on your social media accounts for it to go from zero to hero. Book a Discovery Call to learn more about what an audit can do for your accounts.

Other *things* of note on the comms front:

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