EXAMPLES OF THE HUMAN TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration is making us less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will increase deaths. So will weakening gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration’s war on children is harming children and will increase deaths for them too.

The Trump administration is making us all less safe in many ways, including less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare health care programs will increase deaths. So will the weakening of gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration is engaged in a war on children that is harming the well-being of children and will increase deaths for them as well.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

STORY #1: The expansion of Medicaid by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obama Care) has saved 27,400 lives. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently published an analysis of 37 million Americans since the passage of the ACA in 2010. The low-income adults who got Medicaid coverage under the ACA expansion were 21% less likely to die each year than those who did not have Medicaid coverage. Deaths also fell for 20 and 30-year-olds. Overall, the analysis estimated that 27,400 lives were saved by the Medicaid expansion. This is one of several studies that have found that having Medicaid coverage saves lives. These findings are particularly relevant now, given that the Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would end Medicaid coverage for roughly eight million people who now have it. [1]

STORY #2: The Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would increase the deficit so much that it would trigger mandatory spending cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The cuts would include a roughly $50 billion a year reduction in Medicare spending. Explicit cuts to Medicaid (health coverage for low-income Americans including many seniors in nursing homes) are specified in the Republican budget. The cuts to Medicare (health coverage for all seniors) are not explicit in the budget but are forced by the budget’s sizable increase in the annual federal budget deficit. The CBO’s non-partisan analysis estimated that the Republican budget would increase the deficit by about $230 billion a year. Therefore, under the 2010 Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO), the White House Office of Management and Budget would have to reduce spending (i.e., sequester authorized spending) by $230 billion a year. About $50 billion of this would come from cuts to Medicare, according to the CBO. [2]

STORY #3: The Trump administration is weakening multiple facets of gun violence prevention efforts. This makes us all less safe. On day two as President in 2025, Trump closed the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Despite Trump’s promises to keep Americans safe and reduce crime, this and other actions that weaken gun violence prevention will do the opposite. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, created by President Biden, brought a coordinated, government-wide approach to gun violence prevention for the first time. It coordinated the federal response to mass shootings and community violence. Its cross-agency, public health approach to the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence contributed to a 13.5% decline in the homicide rate in 2023, the largest annual decrease ever. It also contributed to a significant drop in the number of untraceable “ghost” guns, i.e., guns without serial numbers. It worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to close down 644 gun dealers who had engaged in illegal sales. [3]

The Trump administration has also:

Legalized the sale of devices that convert ordinary guns into automatic weapons, i.e., machine guns,
Advocated for a nationwide right to carry a concealed weapon,
Cut Centers for Disease Control funding for studying and analyzing gun violence,
Promoted policies that would make it easier and more profitable to sell gun silencers, and
Facilitated re-licensing of gun dealers who had their licenses revoked for illegal activity.

Three hundred Americans are shot every day on average. Weakening gun violence protection efforts puts the interests and profits of the gun industry above the safety of children and all the rest of us.

STORY #4: The Trump administration is putting children at risk and making them less safe in multiple ways. The risks start at birth and continue through adolescence. The lack of federal regulations and enforcement for the health care of pregnant and post-partem women has led to significant increases in maternal and infant mortality.

The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers who run programs that help children and their families. They have also cut funding or plan to cut funding for many of these programs. For example, the staffs of programs that help families keep the electricity and heat on have been fired en masse. The staff that provides enforcement for child support payments has been decimated. Funding has been terminated for investigating child sexual abuse, responding to internet crimes against children, preventing youth violence, and following up on reports of missing children. Billions of dollars for school meals and school safety have been suspended or delayed. [4]

Trump wants to eliminate funding for Head Start, which provides hundreds of thousands of low-income children annually with high quality early education along with meals and family support. The federal staff that oversees Head Start programs and processes their federal funding has been decimated, which may force some programs to shut down.

The Trump administration’s cutting of funding for food assistance, gun violence prevention efforts, and the suicide hotline will all disproportionately harm children. It’s ignoring the harm that social media does to children. And last, but by no means least, its targeting of immigrants, who frequently are parents of children (who may well be U.S. citizens) is doing untold and immeasurable harm to children.

[1] Kliff, S., & Sanger-Katz, M., 5/17/25, “Medicaid expansion saved 27,000 lives, study finds,” The Boston Globe from The New York Times

[2] Johnson, J., 5/21/25, “‘They’re not just cutting Medicaid’: GOP bill would trigger over $500 billion in Medicare cuts,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/cuts-to-medicare)

[3] Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, retrieved from the Internet 5/27/25, “Press releases,” (https://www.bradyunited.org/press)

[4] Hager, E., 4/23/25, “The Trump administration’s war on children,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse)

MUSK AND DOGE ARE FAILURES

Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are failures. They haven’t even managed to reduce federal spending, let alone reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, or increase government efficiency – according to Jeff Jacoby, a quite conservative columnist for the Boston Globe.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are failures. Don’t take my word for it, according to Jeff Jacoby, a quite conservative columnist for the Boston Globe (with whom I almost never agree), they have failed at the most basic of their goals: reducing federal government spending. [1]

It may be debatable whether Musk and DOGE had any intention of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, or of increasing government efficiency, or even just cutting government spending. However, the results are clear: they accomplished none of these things. (See previous posts about their successes in benefiting Musk and his companies, as well as their failure to focus on the places where waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency are widespread, namely the Defense Department and private, for-profit government contractors.)

First, Jacoby recapitulates Musk’s own statements. Initially, Musk said he would cut at least $2 trillion in government spending. In March, he said DOGE would deliver $1 trillion in spending cuts by the end of May. At an April 10 cabinet meeting, he said he was anticipating savings of $150 billion. The DOGE website lists only $71 billion in spending cuts.

However, the Treasury Department’s report on federal spending says that spending in February and March was $86 billion MORE (up 7%) than in the same months last year. Jacoby notes that Musk and DOGE have not touched programs that account for three-quarters of the federal budget: Social Security payments (as opposed to staff), Medicare and Medicaid health care, the Defense Department, veterans’ benefits, and the interest on the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office reported separately that the federal budget deficit for this fiscal year has increased by about $200 billion in the first seven months of the year.

Although DOGE appears to have reduced or planned reductions of 121,000 federal employees, the cost of the entire civilian workforce of the federal government is only $336 billion. Given that there were three million government employees when Trump took office, assuming these reductions occur, this would reduce the workforce by only 4%. Ignoring severance and any other separation costs, this would save only about $13.5 billion – nowhere near the $2 trillion of promised savings.

Jacoby states that Musk and DOGE have “not made a dent in the vast amount of money the government annually loses to fraud and abuse – as much as $521 billion … It has not clawed back any of the improper payments disbursed by Medicare and Medicaid, which amounted to $101 billion in 2023.” (My bolding.) Trump, Musk, and the Republicans in their party platform, in the campaign, and once Trump was in office promised to slash wasteful government spending. Jacoby closes by noting, “That’s a promise the GOP always makes when it’s out of power and never keeps when it regains control.”

I couldn’t have said this better myself!

[1] Jacoby, J., 5/18/25, “Why Musk flopped,” The Boston Globe

WHAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO DO Part 2

Democrats need to be more dramatic, effective, and consistent in opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. They need to step up their resistance while promoting and committing to enact policies that would support everyday Americans.

(Note: If you find this post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Correction. In my previous post asking you to contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to oppose elements of the proposed Republican budget, I wrote that the proposed cuts to Medicaid were “$700 – $800 million.” As many of you know, that should have been $700 – $800 BILLION.)

This previous post made the case that Democrats need to be more dramatic, effective, and consistent in opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. It identified policies that Democrats should be promoting for our economy and the economic well-being of all Americans. This current post focuses on policies in the social services arena, including health care reforms, drug price reductions, enhancements to Medicare, and ensuring long-term funding for Social Security.

Here are some specific policies Democrats ought to be promoting and committing to enact in the social services arena when they are back in power:

Ending wasteful and dangerous privatization of health care. Here are two examples;
- Private equity firms should be banned from the health care industry. The example of Steward Health alone should be enough to seal this case, but there are plenty of other examples as well. (See this previous post for more information.)
- End the Medicare Advantage program, which privatizes Medicare and results in huge, often fraudulent, wasteful costs to the Medicare program. For example, in 2024, illegal overbilling by Medicare Advantage providers (i.e., big insurance corporations) was estimated to be $83 billion. Medicare Advantage is estimated to cost Medicare $140 billion more per year than if all individuals were on traditional Medicare. [1] (See this previous post for more details.)
Strong regulation of drug prices. President Biden took some initial steps to regulate and reduce drug prices, but President Trump is undoing them. In 2022, U.S. drug prices were two and three-quarters times (178% more than) prices in 33 other industrialized countries. This means that our federal, state, and local governments (i.e., taxpayers) and all of us pay over $200 billion a year extra, which fuels exceptionally high profits for drug makers (when compared to other sectors of our economy). [2] (See this previous post for more details.)
Enhance Medicare. If the Medicare Advantage program was eliminated and Medicare was allowed to negotiate prices for all drugs (see the above two bullet points), the savings would be sufficient to pay for the addition of dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare, as well as to cap out-of-pocket spending by Medicare enrollees.
Ensure Social Security funding for the rest of this century. Currently, workers pay taxes into Social Security only on the first $176,100 they earn in a year. This means that someone making a million dollars stops paying into Social Security after February 15 and someone making ten million dollars stops paying into Social Security after the first week of January. Simply eliminating this cap would increase Social Security’s revenue by roughly $100 billion per year. This would provide about 75% of the funding needed to allow Social Security to pay out its full planned benefits for the rest of the century. The rest could be raised by taxing investment income, estates, and gifts or a variety of other strategies. [3]
- NOTE: The Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act in Congress would require taxpayers with over $400,000 in income in a year to pay a bit more into Medicare and Social Security. This would fully fund planned Medicare and Social Security benefits for at least the next 75 years. [4]

There are plenty of other policies that Democrats should be advancing to demonstrate that they would better serve and support workers and everyday Americans than Trump and the Republicans. Examples include housing; early education and child care; supporting workers and their unions; effective regulation of businesses for worker, consumer, and public safety; and strong enforcement of antitrust laws including the breaking up of monopolistic companies.

If any of your members of Congress are Democrats, I urge you to contact them and ask them to step up their resistance while promoting and committing to enact policies that would support everyday Americans. You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Dayen, D., 1/27/25, “We found the $2 trillion,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-27-we-found-the-2-trillion-elon-musk-doge/)

[2] Dayen, D., 1/27/25, see above.

[3] Dayen, D., 1/27/25, see above.

[4] Conley, J., 5/9/25, “Democrats’ bill would extend Social Security and Medicare solvency ‘as far as the eye can see’,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/social-security-medicare-2671925476)

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

Contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to oppose the draconian measures, including major cuts to Medicaid, in the Republican budget the House is considering. Its spending cuts will harm millions of Americans while it gives tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations.

ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to do everything they can to stop the draconian measures, including major cuts to Medicaid, in the roughly 400-page Republican budget the House is now considering. In addition to spending cuts that will harm millions of Americans and tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, it includes many other very objectionable measures.

(Note: If you find this message too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading and acting!)

Note that the big spending cuts are driven by the need to avoid exploding the federal budget deficit due to the lost revenue from the big tax cuts for the wealthy. Here are some key things the proposed budget would do:

Take health care away from millions of Americans by cutting spending on Medicaid by around $700 – $800 million. Medicaid provides health insurance for millions of low-income families, including students and families of low-pay and unemployed workers. It also covers nursing home care for millions of seniors.
Take food assistance away from millions of low-income households, including many new mothers and their babies, as well as students and families of low-pay and unemployed workers. It would dramatically cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. It would also cut the Farm to School program that supports local, small farmers and provides healthy, fresh food to school lunch programs.
Prohibit state and local governments from regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI) for ten years. State laws (often bipartisan ones) are currently regulating AI. (Note: The federal government is doing nothing to regulate AI and protect us from its abuses. Elon Musk and other AI entrepreneurs have been very supportive of Trump. They want AI unregulated and are on the current Mideast trip with Trump as the Saudi Arabian royalty is very interested in investing in AI.)

For example, state laws currently block deepfake pornography, election disinformation, use of discriminatory algorithms (e.g., in hiring decisions), AI-enabled price fixing (e.g., rents), and abusive targeting of children. State laws also protect consumers from AI abuses, including privacy violations, deceptive marketing, price manipulation, and harmful health care decision making. Millions of residents in these states would lose protections from AI abuses if this provision passes as part of the budget bill. California and other states are also cracking down on AI companies using copyrighted material without permission, payments, or attribution. In 2025, at least 45 states’ legislatures are considering 550 AI-related bills. [1]
Grant the Trump administration broad authority to take away tax-exempt status from non-profit organizations it deems to be supporting terrorism. It’s already illegal for non-profits to support terrorism, so this is a ploy to allow the administration to take away the tax exemption from organizations it doesn’t like. Moreover, the language doesn’t give the non-profits any effective way to challenge the administration’s decision and action. As I imagine you know, the Trump administration is already attacking non-profits it doesn’t like (e.g., Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Harvard University) and threatening to take away their tax-exempt status. [2] (Note: It’s a crime for the President to ask the IRS to target a specific taxpayer, for example, to remove its tax-exempt status.) [3]
Defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Cut renewable energy funding.
Limit judges’ ability to hold the Trump administration accountable.
Cut student financial assistance.
Cut federal workers’ retirement benefits.
Increase funding for the Defense Department, including for Musk’s companies, when the Defense Department is where there’s more waste, fraud, and abuse than in any other government agency.

Pick a few of these harmful effects of the Republican budget (or others you know of) that are most meaningful to you and ask your Representative to oppose them and the budget overall. Also, let them know you oppose tax cuts for the wealthy, especially when they are paid for by cutting programs that benefit everyday working Americans.

Moreover, tell them you support tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations to reduce the high levels of economic inequality in the U.S. and so the wealthy pay their fair share for all the benefits our society and economy provide them.

THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

(Note: Republican presidents and Congresses have cut taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations multiple times since President Reagan did so in the early 1980s. The economic boom, increased tax revenue, and trickle down of benefits to everyday Americans they have always promised have NEVER materialized. Most recently, they did not happen after the Trump and Republican tax cut of 2017. Extending these tax cuts and adding others will not increase economic growth, will not increase tax revenue, and will not trickle down to working Americans. They will balloon the deficit by around $500 billion a year – unless spending is cut to make up for the loss of revenue.)

[1] Conley, J., 5/13/25, “‘Gift-wrapped favor to big tech’: GOP sneakily pushes ban on state AI regulation,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/regulating-artificial-intelligence)

[2] Johnson, J., 5/13/25, “‘We need calls now!’ Republicans slip nonprofit killer bill into tax package,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/nonprofit-killer-bill)

[3] Gleckman, H., 4/25/25, “Why Trump’s efforts to revoke tax exemptions so dangerous for democracy,” Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2025/04/25/why-trumps-efforts-to-revoke-tax-exemptions-are-so-dangerous/)

WHAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO DO

Democrats should be loudly and consistently opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. But they aren’t doing so. Furthermore, dramatic ACTION is needed. Democrats also need to put forth a powerful and coherent vision and agenda for America. They should establish a shadow cabinet to critique the Trump administration, promote a Democratic agenda, and explain how it would benefit everyday working Americans. They should promote policies that provide economic security for all and that require the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes.

(Note: If you find this post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Democrats should be loudly and consistently opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. But they aren’t doing so. Some of them supported passage of the continuing budget resolution, voted to confirm Trump nominees, and are poised to pass a bill leaving the cryptocurrency industry largely unregulated, among other things.

Speaking out against the actions and agenda of Trump and the Republicans is important but it’s not enough. Dramatic ACTION is needed. Senator Corey Booker’s (D-NJ) 25-hour filibuster was excellent – both in content and in the action itself. Senator Booker’s and Representative Hakim Jeffries’s (D-NY) 12-hour teach-in on the steps of the capitol was great – again both in content and action. The Fighting Oligarchy tour by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is powerful in content and as action.

Democrats need to be taking more dramatic actions and using outside-the-box strategies. Perhaps they should undertake:

A sit-in in the House or Senate chamber to bring legislative action to a halt.
A march by veterans from Congress and the public to the Pentagon demanding that Secretary of Defense Hegseth resign.
A protest blocking access to the White House demanding the return of Abrego Garcia and others who have been illegally deported and the release of Khalil and others who have been illegally detained.

There is a war going on for the attention of the public and the mainstream media, but Democrats are fighting a machine gun with a cap gun. (By the way, the mainstream media are NOT liberal. Can you imagine the headlines if President Biden or any other Democrat did the things that Trump and his administration are doing?)

To win the attention war and the support of the public, as well as to energize voters, the Democrats need to do more. In addition to opposing Trump, they need to put forth a powerful and coherent vision and agenda for America. They should establish a shadow cabinet that is holding a press conference every day critiquing the performance of Trump cabinet members AND stating what they would do differently and how the Democratic policies and actions would benefit everyday working Americans.

Here are some policies Democrats ought to be promoting and committing to enact when they are back in power:

America 250: The Money Agenda put forth for America’s 250^th birthday by the group Patriotic Millionaires. It calls for four pieces of legislation:
- A Cost of Living Exemption (COLE) Act that would mean that no individual would pay federal income tax if their income was under the median cost of living for a single adult. Currently, this is about $42,000 and a single person with this income now pays about $2,500 in federal income tax. This tax cut would be paid for by increasing the income tax on those with over $1 million in income.
- A Cost of Living Act establishing a federal minimum wage of $21 per hour, which would be about $42,000 per year for full-time work. This would provide a living wage to a single individual working full-time.
- An Equal Tax Act that would have those with over $1 million in income pay the same tax rate on capital gains (i.e., profits from investments) as workers pay on ordinary, earned income, rather than the preferential, lower rate they now pay. In addition, it would eliminate the ability of the wealthy to pass on investments to heirs without anyone ever paying any tax on the gain in the value of the investments.
- The Anti-Oligarch Act that would tax the investment gains and wealth of the ultra-rich.
A clear, concise critique of how corrupt our system of capitalism has become and how it harms everyday working Americans. (See previous posts for some details here, here, here, here, and here.) They should promote and commit to enacting when they’re in power: [1]
- The Accountable Capitalism Act that would require any corporation with over $1 billion in revenue to 1) responsibly serve ALL stakeholders including employees, consumers, the public, and the environment; 2) have at least 40% of its Board of Directors be employees; and 3) get a vote of 75% of shareholders for any political spending over $10,000.
- The Stop Wall Street Looting Act that would end the vulture capitalism of private equity firms. It would 1) stop the use of huge amounts of debt to acquire control of corporations; 2) make private equity owners liable for losses at firms they control and stop their abuse of bankruptcy laws; 3) prohibit exorbitant payments to private equity owners that often push firms they control into bankruptcy; and 4) prohibit private equity firms from selling the property of hospitals to real estate investment trusts, which is a common technique used to enrich themselves and push hospitals into financial distress.
- Better management, accountability, and oversight of government contractors. Private, for-profit contractors are a growing portion of the federal budget, especially in defense and health. Multiple studies have found that government employees are more efficient than contractors, and they are more accountable and transparent. For-profit contractors are looking to maximize profit, so they charge the government as much as they can and deliver the cheapest (which generally means lowest quality) goods and services they can get away with. Therefore, strong management, oversight, and accountability measures are necessary to ensure taxpayers are getting good value for their money. (See this previous post for more details.)

Stopping tax cheating by wealthy individuals and corporations. President Biden provided needed funding to the IRS to increase enforcement of our tax laws and make sure that wealthy individuals and corporations pay what they owe. Such IRS funding is estimated to bring in $2.50 in revenue from tax cheats for every $1 spent. Republicans in Congress immediately began working to remove the additional enforcement funding from the IRS and the Trump administration has accelerated this defunding of the IRS. In 2022, the IRS estimated that the over $600 billion in taxes owed was not paid with the wealthiest 1% of individuals responsible for over a quarter of this amount. [2]

These are policies Democrats should be promising for our economy and the economic well-being of all Americans. My next post will highlight some polices that Democrats should promise in the social services arena including health care reforms, drug price reductions, enhancements to Medicare, and ensuring long-term funding for Social Security.

If any of your members of Congress are Democrats, I urge you to contact them and ask them to step up their resistance and to promote these policies. You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Kuttner, R., 2/6/25, “Corrupted capitalism and dithering Democrats,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2025-02-06-corrupted-capitalism-dithering-democrats/)

[2] Dayen, D., 1/27/25, “We found the $2 trillion,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-27-we-found-the-2-trillion-elon-musk-doge/)

RESISTANCE: PEOPLE’S PROMISE LETTER, USPS, NIH, ETC.

Trump is taking so many illegal, cruel, and objectionable actions that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Most important is to regularly raise your voice and take actions to resist, protest, and push back. For example, ask Congress to support the NIH and USPS. Sign the People’s Promise letter.

The Trump administration is taking so many illegal (many are unconstitutional), cruel, and objectionable actions that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Most important is to regularly raise your voice and take actions to resist, protest, and push back, regardless of the issue or specific action you’re focused on.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Contact your members of Congress regularly so they know you’re paying attention, watching them, and that you care; that you want them to take strong actions to resist, protest, and push back. Thank them when they do good things; they need to hear this and feel supported. Criticize them when they do wrong things and urge them to do the right things, vigorously.

Ask them to take visible and powerful actions as Senator Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Jeffries (D-NY) did on Sunday with their 12-hour teach-in on the steps of the Capitol. [1] They highlighted the values and moral principles of Democrats, drawing from their religious faith.

While this post focuses on some perhaps less dramatic, but nonetheless very important issues – the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), as well as the People’s Promise letter – we shouldn’t lose sight of critical, on-going targets of protest including:

The return of Abrego Garcia and others who have been illegally shipped to prison in El Salvador,
The release of Ozturk, Khalil, and others who have been illegally detained,
The cessation of foreign aid by USAID that will cause millions of avoidable deaths worldwide and here in the U.S. (see this previous post for more detail),
The SAVE Act in the Senate, which would dramatically increase voter suppression (see this previous post for more detail), and
The slashing of staff and funding, as well as disruption, at multiple government agencies and programs including the Veterans’ Administration, Social Security, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Head Start, the Labor Department, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, and other government agencies. These actions will jeopardize the health, safety, and well-being of tens of millions of Americans in the short-term and all three hundred million Americans in the long-term.

Feel free to mention any of these when you contact your members of Congress – or contact them multiple times and mention all of them!

ACTION #1: Please contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to do everything they can to stop the sabotage of research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the largest sponsor of biomedical research in the world. The firing of thousands of workers and the blocking of funding for hundreds (probably thousands) of on-going research projects endangers our short-term and long-term health. For example, research on detection and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer are being brought to a screeching halt. Drug research and development are similarly being blocked. The impact of all of this cannot be overstated. For example, from 2010 – 2019, 99.4% of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were developed with NIH funding support.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. (Note: Many offices only accept messages on a voice mail system. In most cases, you can call outside of regular business hours and leave a message.)

ACTION #2: Contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to oppose the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The USPS is a vital public service. It delivers mail to everyone, any place in the U.S. It is not profitable to deliver mail to isolated, small, and/or rural communities, so with privatization these places would lose mail service. This is exactly what happened when the airlines and railroads were deregulated – service to small, unprofitable communities ended or became prohibitively expensive for most people.

Ask your Representative and Senators to support the bipartisan resolutions opposing Trump’s USPS privatization scheme: Resolution 70 in the House and Resolution 147 in the Senate.

ACTION #3: Please sign the People’s Promise Letter sponsored by Common Cause and others. It’s a response to Trump’s first 100 days in office. It calls for an alternative course of action that delivers:

An economy that works for everyone including livable wages, the right to unionize, affordable housing, quality healthcare, and quality early education and child care.
A government for the people including quality education for all, a strong safety net, and the wealthy paying their fair share in taxes.
Equal rights and opportunity for all including legal due process for all; voting for all that is easy, protected, and accurately counted; and freedom from hate and discrimination for all.

Click on “Sign The Letter” in the upper right of the People’s Promise website to sign. Scroll down to read about the harm that the Trump administration has done in its first 100 days.

[1] Rubin, J., 5/2/25, “Undaunted,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-57a)