You can make a difference
Join us for our next public meeting at the Portage Library on Feb. 6 at 6pm. Hear important updates and plan actions in our working groups. (learn more about our working groups here. You can join one at any time!)
Sign up here–and bring a friend!
Save the date: Thursday, Feb. 13 via zoom for a self-care event.
Save the date: Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6pm at the Merrillville Library. State Representative Earl Harris Jr. will speak and discuss how a bill becomes a law in Indiana. He’ll also share updates about the current session.
More info and registration for the above two events is coming soon.
Calls to action:
The hearings for some of the worst of the worst cabinet nominations are this week, with votes to follow quickly. If you haven’t already done so, contact your senators; Indivisible has made it easy. Just go to https://www.nixthenoms.com/ and follow the prompts.
Indivisible National has made it easy for all of use to fight back against the pause on federal aid: https://indivisible.org/omb. Read about how it will affect sooo many Americans. Then at the bottom of the page take easy action. As a result of public pressure, the administration rescinded its order to pause all federal aid. However the administration has said that although the order has ban rescinded, the policy remains in place. We must continue the fight. Those of you with democratic senators note that they can grind the Senate to a halt with their actions and pressure all senators to act in the best interest of us all—and to follow the law. Those of us with republican senators—there’s a message for them too. They must take responsibility for what Trump is doing and they must understand that they are complicit in causing completely unnecessary suffering. Take action now: https://indivisible.org/omb
The news is too much for many of us right now and many of us feel frozen and helpless because we don’t know what to do. Covering our heads in a blanket and not emerging again for 4 years may sound appealing, but most of us want to do something, so that’s not an option. The answer may be not even trying to read about everything–delegate and prioritize. Here at Indivisible NWI we are doing that with our Working Groups, each tackling different areas of interest and concern, but individually we need to do it too.
Lawfare has provided excellent tips for less stressful ways to consume the news. nonbiased news source. Find a shortened version on our website but I strongly urge you to read the whole article.
“The bottom line is that consuming information, not unlike consuming food, is a matter that requires a certain amount of deliberation and strategy.
Otherwise, you feel gross.” (Lawfare)
National
Administration orders:
- Freed even the most violent of the rioters who assaulted the Capitol in his name four years ago. Stripped former advisers facing credible death threats of their security details.
- Allowed the Chinese-owned TikTok app to remain in use in the United States despite serious national security concerns, disregarding a law passed with bipartisan support and upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
- Ordered government workers to snitch on anyone suspected of not going along [with eliminating DEI] or face “adverse consequences,” a practice familiar to anyone of a certain age who lived in Russia.
- Fired at least a dozen inspectors general who monitor departments for corruption and abuse in a late-night purge on Friday, ignoring a law requiring him to give Congress 30 days’ notice and provide specific reasons.
- Decided to rewrite the 14th Amendment to the Constitution as it has been understood for more than a century to declare that it does not guarantee automatic citizenship to all children born in the United States. (It took just three days for a federal judge to step in and temporarily block the move, which he called “a blatantly unconstitutional order,” but the issue will surely go to the Supreme Court.)
- Declared that the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America
- Exploited his political celebrity to make enormous amounts of money in a scheme that could potentially be fueled by investors with a stake in federal government policies.
(NYT)
NBC had provided a list of many of Trump’s executive orders: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/what-has-trump-signed-so-far-full-list-of-executive-orders-actions-taken-in-1st-week-of-presidency/3655184/
Note that holding money already appropriated by Congress is illegal. His orders have done just that with money appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and will cost 1000s of jobs and manufacturing projects while contributing greatly to the climate crisis. (Associated Press)
More on DEI: On Jan. 21, Trump issued an executive order titled, “Ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity.” The order targeted several diversity, equity and inclusion policies that Trump’s order called “illegal,” including executive order 11246, a landmark order signed Sept. 24, 1965, by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson’s order prevented federal contractors from hiring discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. Employees hired by federal contractors make up about a fifth of the U.S. workforce, the Labor Department said.” Johnson’s order set goals and timetables, not quotas. (Politifact)
More on ending birthright citizenship: The order applies to children of both parents here legally and illegally. (Politifact)
And more
- “Trump administration told agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services — including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — to pause all public communications until February 1, including weekly scientific reports, social media posts, and public health data releases.” (Vox)
- As of Thursday afternoon, the administration rescinded the order for a pause on federal aid. It was a vague order that left agencies and individuals scrambling for information, unable to access funds, and scared. Later, however, the administration said although the order was rescinded, the policy was not. Nevertheless, there was a response to public pressure. We need to keep it up. This action has been attributed to public outcry and pressure on the White House and Congress. Indivisible National launched a very effective campaign, which many of you received in your inbox this morning. Good for all of you. Public pressure works. Keep it up.
- He signed an order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” which directs the secretary of defense to update Pentagon guidelines on the medical standards required for military service. The order targets transgender service members in particular by asserting that a “false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service” and that “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” It rescinded Biden’s order, “Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform,” which was a 2021 Biden administration order that allowed transgender members of the military to serve openly.” (Lawfare) “Two organizations that promote LGBTQ rights — Lambda Legal, which sued over a previous iteration of the ban in 2017, and the Human Rights Campaign — announced Monday that it will challenge the executive order in court.” (Vox)
- He signed an order mandating all transgender women be transferred to men’s prisons. A lawsuit has been filed. (NBC)
- “The administration offered buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed.
- A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, also said it would begin subjecting all federal employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and ominously warned of future downsizing. The email sent to millions of employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about eight months of salary, but they have to choose to do so by Feb. 6…Even a fraction of the workforce accepting buyouts could send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole, triggering wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.” (Associated Press)
- Immigration officials can raid churches and schools to arrest undocumented immigrants after the Trump administration scrapped a policy thatprotected sensitive spaces. (Axios)
An excellent source for many of the lawsuits filed against this administration comes Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse from the University of Michigan: https://clearinghouse.net/ and specifically against Trump. https://clearinghouse.net/post/1175/ .
The pardons
Pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters and violent offenders is unpopular. Republican lawmakers must be asked to respond everyday to the release of violent offenders who were responsible for the deaths of 5 police officers and injury to 140 more. Those injured received serious and life threatening injuries, including traumatic brain injury and many can no longer work. Republicans must be reminded every day that their president did not support law enforcement in his act and be asked about their support of his actions against police officers and the rule of law.
Trump “licensed political violence and all but painted a bullseye on the backs of any police officers who try to enforce the rule of law when it applies to the current president of the United States or his supporters.
He established—clearly, unmistakably—that he and his devotees are above the law.” (Statehouse File)
Good words of advice as we navigate these actions and share them: The biggest news story right now isn’t Trump per se, it’s Trump’s impacts on ordinary people in the U.S. and beyond.
(The New Yorker)
The truth matters
Nearly all evidence collected by the January 6 committee has been saved and archived. “Committee members — seven Democrats and two Republicans — said some videos and sensitive material were not included in the archive to protect witnesses, but that everything else was properly saved, including more than 100 testimony transcripts, depositions and documents that remain publicly available online.” (Politifact)
The fires in Los Angeles were caused by the climate crisis and resulting fierce winds and extremely dry conditions. Read the truth from CalMatters: https://calmatters.org/environment/wildfires/2025/01/la-fires-donald-trump-fact-check/
Congress
Passed the House and Senate, president next
S. 5: Laken Riley Act
GovTrack.us: “This bill would detain people unlawfully in the United States if they are arrested for shoplifting or other more serious crimes, likely followed by deportation. The individual would not need to be either charged or found guilty. The bill would also allow states to sue the federal government if it fails to do so.
The bill’s main provision, as originally introduced (see also H.R. 29), would change the Immigration and Nationality Act to read:
Detention of criminal aliens. The Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who is inadmissible … and is charged with, is arrested for, [or] is convicted of … burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting offense
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 already made serious crimes deportable offenses if the person was convicted. This bill would change the law so that [neither] a conviction [nor charges] are necessary to detain the individual.”
Passed Senate with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 64 – 35. View the vote.
Passed the House 263-156; all Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay and Rep. Mrvan who did not vote. View the vote. This is the identical sister bill to H.R. 29 Laken Riley Act
Read what’s in the bill from Vox.
House
Passed the House
H.R. 28: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025
GovTrack.us: “To amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Passed 218-206. Indiana representatives Mrvan and Carson voted nay; all other Indiana reps voted yea. View the vote.
H.R. 471: Fix Our Forests Act
GovTrack.us: “To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes.” The bill would primarily allow logging companies to bypass environmental reviews. There are a number of provisions in the bill and differing attitudes towards its central provisions. The Oregon Capital Chronicle provides a good overview of the bill’s contents.
Passed 279 – 141. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay and Rep. Mrvan who did not vote. View the vote.
This bill reads as reasonable legislation, but environmental groups vehemently oppose it and for good reason:
- Under the guise of forest restoration and wildfire prevention, the Fix Our Forests Act aims to undermine core environmental protection laws, namely the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the environmental impacts of all major federal actions—whether a new highway, mining project, or the clearing of a forest—to be considered before implementation, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which protects endangered plants and animals from extinction and conserves the ecosystems on which they depend.
- This bill proposes to exempt a sweeping range of “vegetation management activities” (aka logging) from environmental review on millions of acres of federal land, leaving forests at risk from reckless logging projects. Not only can inappropriate logging destroy habitats and ecosystems, but it can also increase the risk of wildfires by increasing direct sunlight to the forest floor, accelerating wind speeds and leaving behind combustible dead surface vegetation that fuels flames.
- The Fix Our Forests Act seeks to prevent citizens from holding federal agencies accountable by limiting their ability to file lawsuits that would undergo review by a judge. This review is an important check and balance in our government that enables citizens to participate in decision-making and express environmental concerns. This bill would also reduce the ability of members of the public, including scientists and experts, to participate in the review processes.
Forest management practices should support ecosystem resilience, not compromise it.
(Environment America)
H.R. 21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
GovTrack.us: “To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
“This bill has come up repeatedly in the last decade. This article from Fact Check notes that reports of this situation are extraordinarily rare. Some states go years without a single instance reported despite tens of thousands of abortions.” (GovTrack.us)
Passed 217 – 204, 1 Present. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay and Rep. Mrvan who did not vote. View the vote.
Our own Senator Young is an original sponsor of this bill:
S. 6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, the companion bill to the nearly identical House bill that has passed in that chamber.
On Jan. 22 the bill failed cloture—not gaining enough democratic support to make it to the Senate floor. All Democrats were opposed and 6 democratic votes are need for a bill to move forward. View the vote.
But it’s not dead yet. Sen. Young and others reintroduced this bill on Jan. 29.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposed this bill when it passed the House in 2023. “The offensively named ‘born-alive’ legislation is another cruel and misguided attempt to interfere with evidence-based medical decision making between patients and their physicians. This bill is not based in science or medicine. It is meant to incite emotions, rather than reflect the reality of evidence-based clinical care. This legislative interference will harm families and hinder the ability of physicians to practice such evidence-based medicine. Abortions later in pregnancy are the result of complex decisions, and patients make these health care decisions thoughtfully, carefully, and painstakingly. These incredibly difficult medical decisions should be made by patients in consultation with their physicians and without any external interferences. Instead, this bill takes decision making out of the hands of families in crisis and limits the freedom of our patients to make the decisions that are right for them.
Laws that ban or criminalize evidence-based care and rely on medically unsupported theories and misinformation are dangerous to families and their clinicians. This bill negatively affects all obstetric and gynecologic care.” (ACOG)
Senate
Confirmations
Marco Rubio for Secretary of State , who was confirmed unanimously
John Ratcliffe for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who was confirmed 75-25. View the vote.
Peter Hegseth, of Tennessee, to be Secretary of Defense, confirmed 51-50 with all democrats and 3 republicans opposed. View the vote.
Kristi Noem, of South Dakota, to be Secretary of Homeland Security, confirmed 59-24. View the vote.
Scott Bessent, of South Carolina, to be Secretary of the Treasury, confirmed 68-29. View the vote.
To find and contact your Members of Congress: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
In other news
Climate crisis
“The world’s average temperature over the course of 2024 was 1.6°C above preindustrial levels, the European Union (EU) climate monitoring service said today. The metric—reflecting a new hottest year on record—reveals how close Earth has come to blowing past a main goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, in which countries pledged efforts to limit warming to an average of 1.5°C (2.7°F). That target is generally accepted to refer to a measurement over the course of two decades. The consequences of this heating trajectory in 2024 included “unprecedented heatwaves and heavy rainfall events, causing misery for millions of people,” a deputy director of the EU monitoring service said. “ (The Guardian)
The courts
A NY appeals court ruled Thursday that Fox Corp must face Smartmatic‘s mammoth defamation lawsuit over 2020 election lies, Marshall Cohen reports. (CNN)
SCOTUS
“The Supreme Court let Maryland’s handgun licensing regime stand, turning away a long-running Second Amendment challenge in a brief order issued Monday…The court on Monday also turned away a Second Amendment challenge to Delaware’s ban on certain semiautomatic weapons. But the court is still weighing a second request to hear the dispute over Maryland’s ban. Unlike the other cases, the justices took no action on that petition in Monday’s order list.” (The Hill)
Immigration
“The ACLU and immigrant rights groups sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire shortly after Trump signed the birthright citizenship order. On Tuesday, 18 state attorneys general also sued over the order… Within hours of Trump taking office, a popular app that migrants used to make appointments with asylum officers, known as CBP One, was shut down, canceling all future appointments. The ACLU has already sued over that as well.”
(Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“A collection of Quaker groups sued the Trump administration Monday over a policy allowing federal officials to arrest undocumented immigrants in “sensitive” spaces, like houses of worship.” (Axios)
“Chicago organizations that advocate for the national sanctuary city movement sued the federal government over its decision to conduct mass deportation raids in the city, saying that the policy violates their First Amendment rights.” (Bloomberg)
