Last week, a conservative magazine caught Iowa Rep. Steve King lying about calling immigrants “dirt” and released the audio to prove it.¹ It shows what we already knew: King is an open and unapologetic racist and white supremacist who has no place in Congress.

The House of Representatives code of conduct demands members act in a manner that “shall reflect creditably on the House.” Retweeting neo-Nazis, spewing their talking points and repeatedly demeaning Latinx immigrants and Muslims does not meet that standard.²

Republican leaders claim to oppose racism while coddling white supremacists like Donald Trump and Steve King and failing to take real action. Now is their chance to prove they oppose white supremacist movements by ejecting neo-Nazi standard bearer Steve King from the House.

Paul Ryan must expel racist Steve King from the House.

In recent weeks, some of King’s corporate boosters have dropped him. The head of the Republican House campaign committee denounced him and withdrew support. Even the Republican governor of his home state of Iowa questioned whether he represents the values of his district.³

King’s fellow House members cannot continue to support a man who:^4,5,6,7

• Was just caught on tape calling immigrants “dirt” by a conservative magazine whose editor replied to King’s criticism by saying “Our reporting wouldn’t focus on your bigotry if you weren’t a bigot”
• Repeatedly retweets Nazis and endorsed a far-right Canadian mayoral candidate who once promoted a book calling for the elimination of Jewish people
• Spouted white supremacist talking points about the threat of Muslims and immigrants in an interview with an anti-Semitic publication tied to an Austrian far-right political party founded by a former Nazi officer
• Claimed white people contributed more to civilization than any other group, accused immigrants of “undermining our culture and civilization” and drew praise from KKK leader David Duke for tweeting that “we can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies”
• Paved the way for Trump by proposing a racist birthright citizenship bill, an electrified border fence that would shock immigrants like “livestock” and banning Spanish in federal documents
• Said he would not change slavery or anything about American history, fought to keep slave liberator Harriet Tubman off the $20 bill and cast the only vote against a resolution recognizing that slave labor helped build the Capitol Building
• Said Somali Muslims should not be allowed to work in meatpacking plants in his district, called the obscene torture at Abu Ghraib “hazing” and asked anti-Muslim questions in a congressional hearing that were too offensive to answer

How can Republican leaders go on condoning this?

Paul Ryan must expel racist Steve King from the House.

Expelling King requires the votes of two-thirds of House members.⁸ After years of half-hearted statements denouncing King, Republican leaders have the chance to show their true colors. If Republicans won’t take a stand on their own, then CREDO members will unite in asking Democrats to try when the new Congress takes over in January.

Thank you for speaking out.

References:

1. John Bowden, “Conservative magazine posts recording of King using derogatory language against immigrants,” The Hill, Nov. 10, 2018.
2. Frank Dale, “The case to expel white supremacist Steve King from Congress,” ThinkProgress, Nov. 14, 2018.
3. William Petroski, “Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds bluntly tells Steve King to decide future amid racism allegations,” Des Moines Register, Nov. 13, 2018.
4. Bowden, “Conservative magazine posts recording of King using derogatory language against immigrants.”
5. Dale, “The case to expel white supremacist Steve King from Congress.”
6. Gabrielle Bruney, “Steve King, Congress’s Most Shameless Racist, Has Won Reelection in Iowa,” Esquire, Nov. 7, 2018.
7. Jane Coaston, “Steve King is a racist, and conservatives don’t want to talk about it,” Vox, June 28, 2018.
8. Dale, “The case to expel white supremacist Steve King from Congress.”

Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

Rob Wilcox, Everytown for Gun Safety

Friends —  

Our hard work paid off. Reports from Washington D.C. are that the federalgovernment will prohibit bump stocks.

More than a year after a shooter in Las Vegas used guns equipped with bump stocks to kill 58 people and wound hundreds more, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will take regulatory action to prohibit these gun accessories. Because you took action and put pressure on Washington, our government issued this common-sense regulation — a first step towards stronger action to prevent gun violence.

Our supporters submitted tens of thousands of comments urging the ATF to prohibit bump stocks. You helped make sure that 72% of comments — an overwhelming majority — asked the ATF to make the common-sense decision to prohibit bump stocks.

On the heels of critical elections victories for the gun violence prevention movement just a few weeks ago, this rule on bump stocks is a step in the right direction. We have momentum going into 2019 to take giant steps forward — starting with passing a strong background checks bill to help break the pattern of gun violence in America.

Thank you for being a part of this movement,

Rob Wilcox
Deputy Director, Federal Legislative Campaigns
Everytown for Gun Safety

• Identical comments are filtered out and don’t count! Write your own brief, customized comment in order to ensure your comment is read.
  
  
• Make it clear you oppose the rule change because it would hurt someone you love or your community. State your opposition and give a reason why in a couple of sentences.
  
  
• Name at least one part of the proposal specifically. Read more about the rule change below, and CLICK HERE FOR IDEAS AND INSPIRATION from our friends at Healthcare for America Now. There are so many aspects to how this would hurt immigrant families, from healthcare justice to women’s rights to labor to protecting children.
• Ask 3 friends to join you in making a comment by December 10th, 2018.

About the Rule Change Proposal

The Trump Administration is using every trick in the book to attack immigrant families. In September, Trump’s appointees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed change to the “public charge” rule, which states that government can reject a green card application if they think the applicant is likely to be wholly dependent on government assistance.

There are currently only two benefits considered in “public charge” evaluations: cash assistance (such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for low-income seniors and people with disabilities or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)) and government-funded long-term care in institutions. Plus, even if someone is enrolled in one or more of these programs, immigration caseworkers also consider factors like age, health, education, family support, and income-earning potential when deciding whether someone is likely to become a “public charge.”

The Trump Administration wants to make the bar for “public charge” significantly lower, which would make it harder for people to get green cards and legal permanent resident status:

• Programs considered expand to almost any type of assistance like Medicaid, food stamps, Medicare prescription drug assistance, support for pregnant women and infants, Section 8 housing vouchers, and more;
  
  
• Applicants who use $1,821 or more per year in monetizable benefits during the 3 years before applying would be disqualified from getting residency;
  
  
• New income requirements would mean that a family of four would need to earn about $63,000 annually to safely clear the “public charge” litmus test;
  
  
• The list goes on…  How to Write Your Comment  https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQmPW6RvJF-sN48vNQKCVqXGzurk18L7hM7oArI6AsMFVHoK0tvHPxRUmWGJJe8k6nPhpSCvMgIdAVW/pub

Indivisible on Offense

Two years ago, we wrote the Indivisible Guide because we knew that everything we hold dear was under threat. We’ve lost a lot since then, but we resisted, built a big blue wave, and ultimately retook power in one chamber of Congress. Now, with control of the House, we will band together to save our democracy.

Picture this: It’s January 3, 2019 and your new members of Congress (MoCs) are being sworn into the 116th Congress. There are four ways that their work, and ours, is changing:

Click to share this image and the Guides on Facebook and Twitter!

1. We define what Congress works on. House Democrats now have agenda-setting power. That means they can choose what bills get a vote, but it doesn’t mean they can enact laws unilaterally.
2. We go on legislative offense in the House. And with their new agenda-setting power, there are two big opportunities for Democrats to go on legislative offense in 2019 and 2020: messaging bills and must-pass bills.  
3. Oversight and investigation. Democrats will take control of committess and be able to shine a light on this administration through oversight and investigations (subpoena power, investigatory power, hearings, and more).
4. We play original Indivisible Guide-style defense in the Senate. Republicans still control the Senate, and they’ll keep pushing Trump’s agenda. House Democrats will play a critical role in defending against further harm, but demanding that your Senators listen and keeping up the pressure in your home turf is critical.

Let’s take a deep dive into offense

First up on exploring our strategy? Let’s start with the first two pieces: what can the new Democratically-controlled Congress do on Day 1 with agenda-setting power and messaging bills.

What is agenda-setting power?

With control of both the Senate and the House for two years, Republicans were the only party with the power to decide what legislation came up for a vote. That gave them what we call “agenda-setting power”.

Now, Democrats have partial agenda-setting power. And with that, they have fun new tools available to them. They have the power to shape the national discussion, focusing attention from press and the public on preferred issues.

But agenda-setting power in the house doesn’t mean Democrats can actually get legislation into law. We have to understand the risks and limitations of this new state of play. Most important, of course, is that Democrats can’t unilaterally enact laws. We can safely assume that the vast majority of good legislation passed in the House will die in the Republican-controlled Senate. Plus, we would still need Donald Trump to sign any bill that clears Congress in order for it to become law.

Democrats will feel enormous pressure to “play ball” with Trump and cut bad deals in the interest of getting stuff done. It’s critical to remind the Democrats you sent to Washington that you didn’t send them to negotiate with Trump and his Republican enablers on his racist, xenophobic agenda. We didn’t build a wave to let Trump build a wall, after all. So, let’s not mince words: your work to stiffen Democrats’ spines is more important than ever.

What are messaging and must-pass bills?

Messaging bills are proposed by MoCs and have a minimal chance of being signed into law, but show what our politicians stand for. Messaging bills allow Democrats to present an alternative vision for the country, get Republicans on the record on key issues, and settle policy debates and define the party’s agenda. Most of messaging bills won’t become law, since they’re not going to pass the Senate. But that’s not necessarily the point — we’re in this for the long game (think: 2019, 2020, and beyond).

Must-pass bills are those that … must pass. Unlike the thousands of messaging bills that get introduced every year, there are some bills that Congress has to pass every year. The most common of these are government funding bills, which are needed to prevent a government shutdown. But there will be other bills that must pass, like those extending authorization for important programs.

Since Republicans still control the Senate, they need some Democratic votes to pass these bills, and each of the “must-pass bills” presents an opportunity for Democrats to extract important concessions in exchange for their votes, or to protect against more harm from Trump and Republicans hell-bent on doing his bidding.

What’s next

None of this is automatic — we must demand Democratic MoCs push for messaging bills, organize around must-pass bills, and resist deal-making with Trums. And we must get Republican MoCs on the record about issues that matter.

This is where the second part of the Guides comes in. We take this road map and turn it into strategy. Here’s how we get ready for offense:

1. Find your group. The key to the Indivisible movement is building strong, local groups. And if you haven’t found yours yet, do this first.
2. Join our national activist call on December 6. Our organizing and policy teams will host our monthly national activist call next Thursday. They’ll discuss what legislation may be coming down the pike during the #First100Days and discuss our plans for the “Whose House? Our House!” national day of action on January 3.
3. Get ready for January 3. Check out our organizing toolkit to find everything you need to plan for the day of action!

We’re excited to see your “Whose House? Our House!” events come together in the next few weeks (and we even have some merch to help you get ready!). Get prepared to take action on the first day of the 116th Congress!

In solidarity,
The Indivisible Team