Update & legislative report

You can make a difference

Join us at our next public meeting on Thursday, July 10 at 6pm at the Merrillville Library. We’ll have updates and discussion. Learn what our different groups have been doing and how you can help. 
Our volunteer group is helping us all help our communities. This month we are helping Fairhaven Rape Crisis Center. If you can, please bring some new items: M-XL unisex sweatpants and T-shirts; women’s underwear, sports bras and socks; men’s L underwear and socks; flip-flops and slippers; feminine hygiene products pads and tampons; travel sized deodorant and toothpaste; antibacterial wipes, tissue and paper towels.
Please register here—and bring a friend!

We have partnered with veterans groups to hold a rally every Saturday from 12-1 in Highland near the Veterans Flags Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge and 41. There is a small parking lot behind the memorial on the SE side of 41. There are a few handicapped spaces in that lot. You can stand or sit to rally. Bring your signs and your passion as we fight for democracy. Bring non-perishable food too. We donate to a different pantry each week. 
Please let us know you’re coming and sign up here.

Indivisible has made it very easy to contact our congress members about the draconian budget bill: https://indivisible.org/stopthecuts. Call, email, write; scripts and numbers provided. All of us MUST let them know what we think.
Read about the bill on our website—which also includes numbers and scripts: https://indivisiblenwi.org/2025/06/budget-reconciliation-bill-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act/ Scroll toward the end of the post for a great summary from Indivisible Central Indiana includes an outline of the most egregious non-fiscal provisions that may be lesser known.

H.R. 4: Rescissions Act of 2025 as passed the House and needs only a simple majority to pass the Senate. It will end most foreign aid and  federal funding for public media. (CNN)—https://cutt.ly/1rnF2c4Z

The recission package also codifies billions in cuts that Doge has made to foreign aid.
As a result of the dismantling of USAID and cutting most foreign aid:

  • 109,345 adults have died and
  • 228,165 children have died.
  • 103 people die/hour.

(www.impactcounter.com Click on impact dashboard—the number increases daily)

Make your calls ASAP! Pick different provisions and call multiple times:

  • Senator Todd Young, 202-224-5623
    Local office numbers:
    • 812-542-4820 – New Albany, IN
    • 317-226-6700 – Indianapolis, IN
    • 219-747-7780 – Valparaiso, IN
  • Senator Jim Banks, 202-224-4814
    Local office numbers:
    • 260-321-7130 – Fort Wayne, IN

Go to www.5calls.org on your computer or download the app to your phone. It’s easy! Urge your senators to vote no. Scripts and phone numbers are provided.

 To save public media: Take easy action here: https://protectmypublicmedia.org/

The United States may be on the brink of entering the Israel-Iran war. Members of both the House and Senate have introduced resolutions that invoke the 1973 War Powers Resolution and require congressional authorization or a declaration of war for U.S. forces to take action against Iran: H.Con.Res. 38 and S.J.Res. 59. Passing these resolutions could slow or prevent our entry into the Israel-Iran war. Five calls has background info, scripts and phone numbers: https://5calls.org/issue/iran-israel-war-us-involvement/

Congress

Passed the House and Senate, president next

S. 160: Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025
A bill to amend the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996 to reauthorize the sale by the Department of Defense of aircraft and parts for wildfire suppression purposes, and for other purposes.
 
S. 331: HALT Fentanyl Act would automatically and permanently place all fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (CBO)
Passed the House 321 – 104. Passed 84-16 in the Senate
“This bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances (FRS) on schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) based on a flawed class definition. Additionally, it imposes mandatory minimums and fails to provide an offramp for removing inert or harmless substances from the drug schedule.” (Leadership Conference on Civil and Humar Rights) 
  

Passed the House, Senate next (From GovTrack.us)

H.R. 4: Rescissions Act of 2025, would cut some or all funding from USAID, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other State Department programs, passed 214-212
Take action ASAP. Read about the bill above. Passed with no democratic support.
 
H.R. 2056: District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of 2025 would require the Washington government to comply with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to share information and detain undocumented immigrants. Under current Washington law, local authorities do not work with federal immigration officials unless they have judicial warrants. (NBC)
Passed 224 – 194. All Indiana representatives voted yea, except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. View the vote.
 
H.R. 2096: Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act which would, according to CBO, modify Washington, D.C.’s police disciplinary procedures by (1) striking a provision that prohibits collective bargaining on matters of police discipline, and (2) affecting the statute of limitations for when members of the public can bring claims against the DC Police Department, passed 235-178. All Indiana representatives votes yea except Rep Carson who voted nay and Rep Baird who did not vote. View the vote.
 
H.R. 884: To prohibit individuals who are not citizens of the United States from voting in elections in the District of Columbia and to repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 passed 266-148. All Indiana representatives votes yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay and Rep Baird who did not vote.
 
H.R. 2966: American Entrepreneurs First Act of 2025, would require proof of citizenship for certain Small Business Administration loans, passed 217-190. All Indiana representative voted yea except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. View the vote.
 
H.R. 2987: CEASE Act of 2025 would limit the number of non-bank lenders (who provide government-backed loans to small businesses that are new or are in underserved areas) that the SBA regulates to a number which the SBA should be able to manage effectively. (The Committee Report from which we derived this summary). The bill passed 214-198. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Reps. Mrvan and Carson who voted nay.
 
H.R. 2931: Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025, which would direct the Small Business Administration to relocate offices out of cities it deems “sanctuary cities”, passed 211-199
All Indiana representatives voted yea except Reps. Mrvan and Carson who voted nay.
 
H.R. 2966: American Entrepreneurs First Act of 2025
GovTrack.us: To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to require an applicant for certain loans of the Administration to provide certain citizenship status documentation, and for other purposes.
Passed 217-190. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. View the vote.
 
Noncontroversial, passed with little opposition

Passed by Voice Vote so no record of votes was taken

Senate

Billy Long, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service was confirmed 53-44 by the Senate despite a history of aggressively marketing fraudulent tax credits.

Passed the Senate, House next

S. 1582: GENIUS Act provides for the regulation of payment stablecoins, and for other purposes.
Passed Senate with an amendment. 68 – 30

  • the GENIUS Act establishes the first federal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins, granting sweeping authority to the Department of Treasury and opening the door to banks, fintechs, and retailers.
  • Democrats failed to secure a provision barring the president from profiting, even as Trump disclosed earning $57 million from token sales in 2024 alone…The final legislation only bars members of Congress and their families from doing so. (CNBC)

 Passed by Unanimous Consent so no record of votes was taken:

To find and contact your Members of Congress:  https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials 

In other news

“Federal research funding cuts pose an “existential threat” to academic medicine that will have repercussions for patient care in the US, according to a new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, highlighting what it calls significant damage already done to the nation…As of June, more than 1,100 NIH grants have been terminated since the beginning of the second Trump administration, according to the report. These include at least 160 clinical trials to study HIV/AIDS, cancer, mental health conditions, substance abuse and chronic disease.” (CNN)
 
Steel imports were hit with a 50% tariff last week—and that includes aluminum products.
““Theoretically you’re going to be able to hire some people, but in reality, the tariffs just raise the average price of steel,” Kolb (of Furman University in South Carolina, who is an expert on the local impact of industrial transitions.)  said. “And when the price of a commodity like that goes up, businesses just buy less and sideline investment.”
Trump claimed that 75,000 jobs would be created as a result.
A study found that while Trump’s 2018 steel tariffs created 1,000 new direct jobs, it cost downstream industries that rely on steel to make their products as many as 75,000 jobs because they became less competitive thanks to higher costs.” (NBC)
 
SCOTUS
“The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teenagers. By a vote of 6-3, the justices rejected an argument by three transgender teens (along with their parents and a Memphis doctor) that the law violates their constitutional right to equal protection and should be scrutinized using a more stringent standard than the one used by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati.” (SCOTUSblog) 
 
 Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Court struck down a circuit-court ruling that had threatened to place a heavier burden of evidence on members of majority groups than on members of minority groups in bringing discrimination suits. “By establishing the same protections for every ‘individual’—without regard to that individual’s membership in a minority or majority group—Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone,” wrote Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for the unanimous court.
In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the Court found—unanimously again—that a Catholic charity could not be denied a tax break for religious institutions simply on the grounds that its work of caring for the poor was, in the judgment of state regulators, “charitable and secular.” (The Bulwark)
  
And in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, the Court unanimously ruled that a lawsuit from the Mexican government seeking to hold U.S. gun manufacturers liable for cartel gun violence could not move forward. Setting aside the issue of moral culpability, the Court ruled that a 2005 law designed to shield the gun industry from lawsuits concerning misuse of guns was applicable here: “Mexico’s suit,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “closely resembles the ones Congress had in mind.” (The Bulwark)

Indiana

“The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning announced it would cut preschool programming from 6,000 seats statewide to 2,500 total children, citing a need for financial sustainability. Additionally, rates for providers would fall and eligibility would be narrowed. 
On My Way Pre-K will also be decoupled from the Child Care Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for impoverished families. The changes come after Holcomb’s administration introduced a waitlist for CCDF vouchers and OMWPK at the end of his term. 
Data from Brighter Futures Indiana, a partnership between the state and Early Learning Indiana, estimates that 328,271 Hoosier children under the age of 6 may need care in addition to 173,529 schoolchildren. 
But the state’s 4,000-plus programs only have the capacity to serve just under 200,000 children. That doesn’t consider whether the program will be high-quality enough to impact a child’s learning outcomes — though early education is tied to better reading scores, another hurdle for Indiana’s children. Nor does this metric consider affordability, which disproportionately shuts women out of the workforce. 
Indiana’s House Democrats, in a caucus release, noted that some of the most populous counties will see their providers’ rates fall by 50%, tying the cut in state funding for preschools to the Republican supermajority’s decision to fund universal “school choice” vouchers for the wealthiest Hoosiers.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
 
“An analysis from the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute found that total federal funding flowing into Indiana is $177 billion — equivalent to more than $25,000 for each Hoosier resident. 
Indiana is the third most reliant state on federal cash – behind Louisiana and Mississippi…” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
 
At least a dozen No Kings protests were held across Indiana with 4,000 or more in attendance in Indy. (Indiana Capital Chronicle) (Indy Star)
Our rally in Highland drew 700-800 protestors. Check out our Facebook page for pictures. It was an amazing and inspiring day!

To find and contact your Indiana legislators: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/