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 The ACLU of Indiana will join the August Indivisible NWI Public Meeting alongside Planned Parenthood for an important presentation and panel discussion on maternal health and reproductive access.Join us to learn more about the barriers facing Hoosiers, the policies shaping access to care, and how communities can help protect reproductive freedom across Indiana. Whether you’re a new parent, a healthcare provider, someone still forming your opinion, or simply looking to better understand what’s at stake, this event is for you. Join us on Thurs.,08/27, at 6pm at the Merrillville Library. Please register here. Rally With Us Join us Saturdays, 12-1 We’ve partnered with veterans groups to fight for democracy and all our rights every week. Our weekly Saturday vigil will also focus on ICE Out protests–Justice for Lorenzo, Justice for Johan. We’ll be in Highland on the SE corner of Ridge and 41 at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial. Limited parking, along with handicapped spots, is available behind the memorial. If the lot is full, park at Wicker Park and rally on the NW corner of Ridge and 41. Or park in the old Ultra parking lot and rally on the NE corner. Bring your signs and your passion! And please bring nonperishable food items. We donate to a different pantry each week. To let us know you’re coming, please sign up here. Our rally on Saturday, Aug. 29, will be in solidarity with Indivisible groups across the state calling for the end of ICE detention at Miami Correctional Facility. Please let us know you’re coming and sign up here.  Our next Indivisible NWI Book Club meeting will be September 19 from 9:30 to 11 at Grindhouse Coffee, 3805 Ridge Road in Highland. We’ll be talking about Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st Century Minds by Sarah Stein Lubrano Please let us know you’re coming and sign up here. Join us on on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6pm at the Merrillville Library. We will hear from the CEO of Raindrops Rising, an organization that helps victims of sex trafficking. Raindrops Rising is a rare agency that performs extractions of sex trafficking victims across the country, of any age, providing safe escapes and fresh starts, often with legal name changes to protect survivors from their former captors. Learn about the surprising and horrifying presence of sex trafficking in NW Indiana. Learn how victims are groomed, drawn in and sold, even babies. Learn what we can do. Read more here. (gift article) And here. (gift article) Registration is coming soon. Your voice matters! Email & call–take easy action with Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/get-involved/take-action/ And make calls with 5calls.org. Hands Off Our Vote is Indivisible’s national program to ensure all eligible voters get to cast their ballot, and that those ballots get counted. We’ll help you be ready to respond to any attacks, and we’ll shine a light on the bad actors threatening our basic constitutional rights. Sign up here to get started and join the Hands Off Our Vote movement. A Senate committee on Thursday voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week focused on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP News) Let your senators know that you don’t appreciate holding an American hero in contempt! Senator Todd Young: (317) 226-6700; Senator Jim Banks: (260) 321-7130 The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 was designed as a blueprint for a conservative presidential administration, particularly for a second Trump term. Although Trump distanced himself from the document during the campaign, so far over 50% of its policies have been implemented. Read an overview of policies not yet enacted that conservatives still plan to implement under republican leadership. Many of these policies are draconian actions that will strip freedoms and more from women. We need to be informed and prepared. Read about it on our webpage here. Congress House From GovTrack.us: The House is now out until August 31st. Future Funding Because of various additions to each of these bills for SAVE America Act provisions and other Republican priorities, these bills will, once the Senate considers them, almost certainly be amended and have to come back to the House for another vote. They are not anywhere near becoming law. H.R. 9770: Making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2027, which will provide federal funding for all agencies that need it through December 4, passed 220-205. H.Con.Res. 113: Establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2027 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2028 through 2036, which is step one in yet another reconciliation bill process, passed 216-214. H.R. 8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, which provides the framework for what Congress would like to see done with national defense appropriations, passed 216-212. Other Votes H.R. 6955: Main Street Capital Access Act, a bank deregulation bill, passed 270-155. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay. This bill lessens and otherwise modifies banking regulations, including those regarding institution formation, supervision by federal financial regulators, and bank merger requirements. (GovTrack.us) H.R. 7008: Stop Insider Trading Act passed 232-198. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. Per Roll Call, it would “prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying new stocks. It would allow them to keep the ones they already own, as well as buy and sell diversified investment funds.” Allowing members to continue selling existing holdings—even with a brief advance notice period—fails to eliminate conflicts of interest or the appearance of trading on non-public information. (Campaign Legal Center) Opponents note the rules do not restrict top officials in the executive or judicial branches under the primary House bill version, leaving broader government-wide trading unaddressed. The bill falls well short of what the most vocal advocates of a congressional trading ban have called for. (CNBC) Tacked onto the end of the bill is a provision to require photo ID to vote nationwide. This bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, especially with the voter ID provision added to it. H.R. 8884: Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, which would (per CBO) reauthorize the Social Security Administration (SSA) to conduct Disability Insurance (DI) demonstration projects through calendar year 2031 and allow SSA to temporarily change how benefit amounts are calculated for participants in demonstration projects, passed 232-188. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep Carson who voted nay. H.Con.Res. 89: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran, which does not force any action from either the Senate or the President, passed 214-208. All Indiana representatives voted nay except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. Senate The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess. Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote. Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year. The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch. (Politico) The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a year after the last permanent director was fired in a dispute over vaccine policy with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (NPR) Schwartz was confirmed by a 51-44 vote that broke largely along party lines, with Tim Kaine of Virginia the sole Democrat to support her nomination. (The Guardian) S.Res. 608: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Ghislaine Maxwell should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. This simple resolution was agreed to on July 29, 2026. That is the end of the legislative process for a simple resolution. S.J.Res. 180: A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress, which would (if it passed the Senate) have potentially forced the President to act, did not make it through a procedural vote, failing 47-49. Todd Blanche’s confirmation for attorney general is back on track. Blanche in writing formally killed the “anti-weaponization” fund to appease GOP senators who had demanded he do so in writing and were holding up his nomination in committee, clearing the way for a vote on his confirmation. Another key provision for President Trump: an order offering broad immunity to him, his adult children and their business for past conduct remains intact.(The Hill) On the Nomination PN1092: Walter Clayton, of New York, to be Director of National Intelligence passed 51-47. (GovTrack.us)In other newsThe Trump administration is ending subsidies that helped keep costs down for Medicare drug coverage. The change could mean higher Medicare Part D premiums for millions of beneficiaries in 2027. (NPR) In Other News Donald Trump is now offering early access to his Truth Social posts in a move that has been seen as corruption benefitting a sitting president. Trading firms and other paying subscribers can now access the posts earlier than other users – for a fee of up to $100,000 per month. Critics argue the service is blatant evidence of market manipulation and insider trading. (The Guardian) The National Park Service (NPS) found that President Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch would adversely affect dozens of historic sites around Washington, D.C. (The Hill) Indiana Hundreds of demonstrators marched through downtown Fishers Saturday, as they protested a nearby rally promoting mass deportations that featured Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and former U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino. (Statehouse File) The Indiana Election Division has determined that Greg Ballard has submitted enough signatures to be on the November ballot for Secretary of State. Ballard, who was elected as a Republican to be Indianapolis mayor in 2007 and 2011, attached his campaign to the Lincoln Party label shortly after launching his bid in March. There will now be a four way race for Secretary of State—Republican Max Engling who won that party’s nomination over the current office holder, Diego Morales; Libertarian Lauri Shillings; Lincoln Party Greg Ballard; and Democrat Beau Bayh. (Indiana Capital Chronicle) For the third straight summer, over 350,000 Hoosier households with children will go hungry because Governor Mike Braun has opted Indiana out of the SUN Bucks program for 2027. This program would only cost Indiana $1 for every $10 they get back from the federal government. Braun and the GOP turned it down despite the state’s $4 billion-plus surplus and reserves. (Fox 59) |
