You can make a difference
Join us at the La Porte Library on Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 6pm as we welcome Congressman Frank Mrvan for a Community Forum. He is our U.S. representative for all of Lake and Porter Counties and for most of La Porte County. He will update us on issues and legislation that impact us nationally and locally Bring your questions—and a friend!
Please register here.
The Indivisible Indiana Statewide Convention will be on Saturday, September 14, 10:30-3:30, at the Merrillville Library.
Learn, network, and get energized for activism with Indivisible! Hear from great speakers, including one of Indivisible’s founders, along with statewide candidates. We’ll have sessions on effective messaging, Get Out the Vote and more. Join us!
Registration is required and ends Sept. 9. Please sign up here.
Join Indivisible and Vote Forward to write letters to voters! Link to the site for instructions. From Indivisible National: “We know that even a small impact on turnout can translate into thousands of votes at scale — and those thousands of votes can ultimately make a huge difference in elections. That’s why we’re writing letters to voters in key House races.
These letters are part of The Big Send — our collective effort to write 10 million letters to voters this year. We’re writing letters and sending them between October 1 and October 29, to ensure they arrive when they’ll have the most impact on turnout.”
Indivisible has endorsed Kamela Harris for President. Indivisible NWI and National will be holding many opportunities for action. Sign up with Indivisible here.
You can also sign up directly with her campaign here.
Jump in and take action. We can win our freedoms back and create a better future for everyone—and defeat MAGA permanently!
Building Bridges for America is a grassroots organization that grew out of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign. They train people in a variety of areas to help them be better activists. “Conversations that Break Through” is their next training, but it’s during our forum with Valerie McCray.
You can watch on video and download course materials. It will help you have those difficult conversations about politics that we all need to be having.
Check out their website for other great trainings and opportunities to take action: https://www.buildingbridgesforamerica.com/
Voters of Tomorrow has posted a terrific outline of Project 2025, the MAGA plan of autocratic governance–& end of democracy–should Trump be re-elected. It’s organized by categories and breaks down the nearly 1000 page document into readable categories. Read it here and then talk about it. Spread the word!
We have more on Project 2025 on our website: www.indivisiblenwi.org
Enacted, signed into law by the President
S. 227: Improving Access to Our Courts A
S. 3706: Victims’ VOICES Act This bill would allow someone acting on behalf of a victim of crime to receive restitution.
Congress
House
“The House [has] established a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump…” (Punchbowl News)
Passed the House, Senate next
H.R. 8998: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 and passed 210-205. It had two successful amendments: H.Amdt. 1145 (Brecheen) to H.R. 8998: To prohibit funding for any diversity, equity, and inclusion program or office which passed 211-202 and H.Amdt. 1170 (Perry) to H.R. 8998: To prohibit funds made available by this Act to be used for environmental justice activities which passed 210-204
All democrats but one voted nay. View the vote.
H.R. 8812: Water Resources Development Act of 2024 passed 359-13. This bill “authorizes, deauthorizes, and modifies various water resources feasibility studies and projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”
Passed the Senate, House next
S. 2073: Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act
Senate concurred in the House amendment to S. 2073 with an amendment (SA 3021) by Yea-Nay Vote. 91 – 3. Record Vote Number: 221.
Explanation: This bill has been passed in the House and the Senate, but the Senate made changes and sent it back to the House on July 30, 2024.
“Legislation aimed at protecting children online sailed through the U.S. Senate Tuesday, marking what could be the first update since the late 1990s for companies who interact with minors on the internet.
Senators approved the package of two bills in a 91-3 vote, a rare bipartisan landslide in the tightly divided body, despite loud and fervent opposition from civil liberties and LGBTQ organizations that say the measures would hand the government power to subjectively censor content.
The package contains two bills moving together: the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, which is mainly targeted at regulating the collection of personal data, and the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill that has been a lightning rod of criticism from outside groups.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Numerous reports indicated that the bill will not be brought up in the House. So, despite its big majority in the Senate, it’s likely dead for this Congress.” (Punchbowl News)
Passed with no to little opposition by Unanimous Consent or by Voice Vote:
S. 134: Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act
S. 133: NAPA Reauthorization Act
S. 3574: National Fossil Act
S. 2781: Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024
S. 211: SMART Leasing Act
S. 4199: JUDGES Act of 2024
S. 4235: Reauthorizing Support and Treatment for Officers in Crisis Act of 2024
S. 4367: Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024
Failed cloture—60 votes required to move a bill forward
H.R. 7024: Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would provide tax relief in various forms for both businesses and families. It failed 48-44. Senators Braun and Young voted nay. View the vote. This bill passed by a large margin in the House.
GovTrack.us: “After it became apparent, they could not pass their appropriations bills, the House of Representatives recessed a week early and won’t be back until September 9th. The Senate is in though and will join the House in recess later this week, also returning on the 9th.
The House gave up on passing the appropriations bills before October 1st, the start of the new fiscal year, and will instead spend the few weeks back working with the Senate on a continuing resolution. If they fail to agree, the government will shut down, but that is unlikely to occur. The resolution likely will keep the government funded at current levels until Congress can hammer out a deal, most likely after the election.”
“When lawmakers return to Washington in September, they’ll have just a handful of legislative days to figure out how to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month. The prevailing view is that both chambers will pass a stopgap running through mid-December, potentially with a disaster relief supplemental riding alongside it. None of this has been ironed out yet, of course.
Despite calls from lawmakers in both parties to fix the appropriations process, not a single individual spending bill has cleared both chambers. If there’s divided government again next year, it could be just as bad — or even worse. And there’s the debt limit to worry about in December, ahead of the Jan. 2 deadline.” (Punchbowl News)
To find and contact your Members of Congress: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
In other news
“Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva are on U.S. soil after a historic, multi-country prisoner swap. Vladimir Kara-Murza, also released, was flying to Germany. There has been some tremendous journalism detailing the ordeal, especially from the Wall Street Journal.” (Punchbowl News)
“The first delivery of F-16 fighter jets from NATO allies has arrived in Ukraine, in a long-awaited move that may boost the war-torn nation’s ability to repel Russian attacks.” (Bloomberg)
Economy
“The US labor market cooled off far more than expected last month, underscoring concerns that the economy has slowed down too quickly and could end up in a recession.
Businesses added just 114,000 jobs in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday and the unemployment rate unexpectedly leapt to 4.3%, which is the highest since October 2021.” (CNN)
Trump
“Yesterday, Judge Tanya Chutkan received clearance from the appellate courts to get back to work in the Special Counsel’s election interference case in Washington, D.C. She did not waste any time. First, she denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the entire case on presidential immunity grounds. She also directed the parties to file a joint status report by August 9, not even a week away, and she set a scheduling conference for the following week on August 16 at 10 a.m. She also denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment on statutory grounds without prejudice, which we took a look at back in November of 2023. He can refile it if he wishes to after she is finished with the immunity issue.” (Civil Discourse)
Indiana
“Purdue University’s president says Indiana’s proposed changes to high school diplomas do not meet the school’s admission standards in math, social studies and world languages… JULY 30, 2024
The letter from one of the state’s flagship research universities comes as IDOE seeks revisions to its initial plan for diplomas. The department closed its first wave of public comment on Tuesday.
Education Secretary Katie Jenner previously said a revised draft of diplomas will be made public in August after the State Board of Education weighs in.
A 2023 state law tasks the state board to adopt new requirements by the end of the year. The department pushed back its timeline by a few months but expects to meet the deadline…Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers), who hosted informational events in her Hamilton County district, said parents and educators have shared an “outpouring of concern” about the new model.
Garcia Wilburn called for the state’s Honors diploma to be reinstated in the next draft. She said the laws passed by lawmakers did not call for a complete rework of the high school diploma system.
“They just called upon you to add a workforce training-based diploma,” Garcia Wilburn said.
Jenner said the new rule needs to be passed by December, but that even more work will come after that.” (WFYI)
“For close to a decade, policy makers in Indiana have been concerned about a growing skills gap in the workforce. This is realized in the data — a recent national study from the Georgetown University Center on Education finds that economic opportunity will increasingly favor workers with higher levels of education and training.
The report forecasts the number of good jobs for workers ages 25–64 and finds that 85 percent of good jobs will go to workers with some form of postsecondary education and training by 2031. However, only about one-third of Indiana’s graduates earn a 2- or 4-year college degree.
(Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Some of Indiana’s nonprofit hospitals appear to have stalled when it comes to providing charitable care, though health care systems continue to send thousands of Hoosiers to court over unpaid sums as small as $250…
Analysis for this story reviewed court filings in 75 counties by 30 hospital systems, including Deaconess, Powers Health and Franciscan Alliance. Over the last decade, nonprofit hospital revenue has increased while spending on free and discounted care has remained stagnant, according to government data aggregated by the National Academy for State Health Policy” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Tuesday celebrated the city of East Chicago’s repeal of its “welcoming city” ordinance — just three weeks after he initiated a lawsuit alleging the policy runs afoul of a state ban.
His office dismissed the lawsuit in response.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“A statewide coalition is calling on the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to address its equity and accessibility concerns with a plan to incentivize EV chargers in Indiana.
In a Tuesday press release, the Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities — an alliance of Black organizations across the state — said INDOT should address several gaps in its draft National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
