calls to action & updates 08/20/2025

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Election rigging in Indiana:
“Indiana’s entire House GOP congressional delegation pledged support Monday for President Donald Trump’s plan to craft new federal district maps in an attempt to pick up one to two additional Republican seats in 2026.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
From MadVoters:
Hoosiers, we’re on the frontlines of defending democracy right here, right now. Trump’s got his eyes on us, and we’ve got to demand that our legislators stand strong in the face of his coercion. Contact your legislators today to remind them that they represent Hoosiers, not Trump and the MAGA regime. Hoosiers don’t want to be pawns in Trump’s expensive and corrupt election-rigging scheme. 
State Rep: 317-232-9600
State Senator: 317-232-9400
Gov. Braun: 317-232-4567
MADVoters.org/contact-your-legislator

1. Utilize our Stop Election Rigging Toolkit. You can download, print, and share our educational resources. Repost on your socials, share with your organization, and more. Education is activism, so let’s get the information out there!
2. Follow our messaging strategy: 
– Instead of saying ”gerrymandering” or “redistricting” – say “rigging the election,” “cheating,” or “exploiting loopholes.” Call it what it is. Gerrymandering implies it’s “just politics.” Redistricting legitimizes it. This is an unprecedented power grab. 
– Emphasize expense to taxpayers ($30,000 per day for a special session just to pay the legislators).
– Emphasize that our role is the resistance: do not give MAGA the privilege of our apathy. Be the firewall. Slow their takeover. If IN Republicans cave to Trump’s demands, the fight isn’t over, and it will go to the courts.
3. Write Letters to the Editor. Help inform your community about the dangers that Trump’s election rigging scam poses. Check out their writing tips at madvoters.org/madvoices. 

PROTECT TITLE FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS
Indiana is seeking to change how it utilizes federal Title funding, which could ultimately divert this money away from vulnerable students and to private interests. Take action by submitting your comments here by next Friday, August 22. This affects $3 billion in federal funding for Indiana schools.
Indiana is asking the U.S. Dept. of Education to

  • Turn federal education programs into block grants.
  • Redirect $25 million in school improvement funder from “low performing” public schools.
  • Give districts flexibility to spend across different programs
  • Use only Indiana A_F grades (not federal accountability)

Indiana wants to waive requirements required by the ESEA, the Elementary & Secondary Education Act
The ESEA
Has been the major federal funding law for public schools since 1965

  • Provides extra money for the public schools in low-income communities. (Title 1)
  • Requires states to test students and track progress.
  • Currently has strict rules for how money is spent
  • Ensures support for vulnerable student groups.

In addition,

  • Indiana is seeking flexibility to redirect funds away from programs including “state assessments, education of migrant children, prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth, English acquisition instruction, and academic enrichment programs.”
  • $25 million could flow away from traditional public schools. The proposal openly states that it would give ESEA funds to any school “actively seeking to serve students that would have otherwise enrolled in the eligible school, including microschools, charter schools, and “partnerships with industry or postsecondary institutions” using federal dollars to advance state policy preferences.
  • The proposal seeks to use only Indiana’s A-F grades instead of federal accountability, in the name of reducing administrative burden, but with no info on how the state would track spending or monitor effectiveness, monitor violations, or remediation processes.

Public comment period is now open through Aug. 22: Click here.
What to ask

  • How will you monitor and fix violations with less federal oversight?
  • Who decides which charter schools and industry partners get our tax dollars?
  • How will Indiana ensure money reaches ALL the students it’s meant to serve?
  • If federal funding can be allocated to any school “serving students,” what safeguards are in place to ensure that public schools—which are required to follow federal laws—do not lose funding compared to voucher programs or private schools that have less oversight and fewer obligations for federal monitoring?
  • Without federal oversight, how will parents know if schools are misusing federal funds meant for vulnerable students/

The ACLU of Indiana has a petition to tell Governor Mike Braun to reject the plan to hold up to 1,000 immigration detainees at Indiana’s Miami Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Bunker Hill, Indiana.  You can sign the petition here.

Take action against the military takeover of Washington D.C.: https://freedcproject.org/allies

“On July 29th, Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to repeal the 2009 “Endangerment Finding”, the legal and scientific foundation for the government’s ability to combat climate change. After a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the EPA can only regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act if it’s proven that pollutants threaten human health and welfare, the 2009 science-backed Endangerment Finding concluded that they do, forming the legal basis for emissions regulation.”
A repeal of the Endangerment Finding bucks decades of scientific research and would completely strip the EPA of its legal authority, leading to widespread deregulation of fossil fuel use, power plant and vehicle emissions, and other major sources of pollution. 
Read more at 5call.org and then make your voice heard:

Trump’s “approval rating sank to 38% while his disapproval rating soared to 60%, Pew Research reported on Friday. Also revealed was that if Trump is relying on Hispanic voters to pull off his Texas re-redistricting, he might re-evaluate, given that 70% of them nationally disapprove of his performance; only 27% approve. On virtually every issue, Americans are not happy with what they are seeing.
Nevertheless—and perhaps all the more—Trump’s dictatorial spasms may increase as he becomes more desperate to disguise blunders and seek revenge on a country that rejects him. Will Trump or our democracy disintegrate first?” (Jennifer Rubin,The Contrarian)
Activism matters more now than ever!
MadVoters Conversation Guide is a terrific resource for all of us. Check it out.

Congress

Congress is out of session until after Labor Day. It is, however, important to keep contacting your Members of Congress. 5calls.org is a great source for info, scripts and contact numbers.

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

In other news

“Texas Republicans advanced their mid-decade gerrymander Monday, as a House committee voted, 12-8, to send the measure to the full chamber for consideration.” (Democracy Docket)

Trump appeared to give Putin everything he wanted on Friday, indicating that Ukraine would have to cede a great deal of their land in order to end the war. Then European leaders along with President Zelinsky arrived for discussions at the White House on Monday which seemed to sway Trump more to their hope for a united  Ukraine against Russia. Read a brief synopsis of events at Politico.

The New York Times has reported that “through the Every Kid Outdoors program, any fourth grader can get a pass that admits their entire family into national parks, preserves, or historic sites for an entire year, for free.”

“A day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review.” (AP News)

“Newsmax will pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems for spreading false claims that the company’s voting technology had been rigged to give the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.” (NPR)

Climate and the environment
“The EPA is attempting to repeal a scientific finding — one which enables the agency to regulate harmful emissions under the Clean Air Act.
EPA disclosed plans to “revoke” the 2009 Endangerment Finding, citing a non-existent “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” as policy enabled by it.
The “Endangerment Finding” refers to a December 2009 acknowledgment by the EPA’s then-Administrator, “a prerequisite” enabling the Agency to regulate harmful emissions. The EPA’s adoption of the Endangerment Finding followed a 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts vs. EPA, identifying greenhouse gases as a form of pollution subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.” (Yahoo News)
“The Trump administration’s plan to unravel many of the nation’s climate policies hinges on rescinding what’s known as the endangerment finding. But its strategy for doing that appears to run afoul of several federal laws.” (The Conversation)
Public comments are open until Sept. 22: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194/document?withinCommentPeriod=true

Courts
A federal District Court judge struck down the Education Department’s Anti-DEI guidance.  The judge ruled that it discriminated against viewpoint based speech and used vague language.  [it is unconstitutional to ban speech based on viewpoint and the law, or guidance in this case, cannot be so vague as the individual has to guess what it means.] (Higher Ed Dive)

“A federal judge in Maryland ruled Friday that the Education Department cannot terminate funds for two congressionally mandated programs that conduct research to close educational achievement gaps.” (Politico)

“A federal judge ruled Friday to deny the Trump administration’s request to end a policy in place for nearly three decades that is meant to protect immigrant children in federal custody.” (Associated Press)

Judge halts administration’s directive to take over the DC police.  The judge stated that Bpndi likely violated federal law when she appointed the DEA administrator to take over as Chief of DC police.  Bondi said she would rewrite her directive.  She did and removed DEA administrator but the Chief will be subject to conditions which make the police department help with ICE efforts, comply with database requests and evict the homeless. (Democracy Docket)

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore some of UCLA’s research funding that it had pulled last month. The ruling is expected to apply to 300 of the 800 grants cut. Okay, judges of America, 500 more to go!

“The DC appellate Court lifted a district court injunction which cut foreign aid grants issued by USAID (and already appropriated by Congress).  The court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing and only the Congress can sue a presidential administration, not private parties.  It was 2-1 with the two judges appointed by Republican presidents and the dissent filed by a Biden appointee.  Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor, said, “It’s difficult to imagine that the full D.C. Circuit won’t want to rehear this ruling.  If it stands, Congress is only going to sue when it’s adverse to the president. The real problem is the court is taking a textbook violation of the Constitution and minimizing it.”” (CNN)

“The federal appeals court for the fourth circuit lifted a temporary injunction blocking DOGE from accessing sensitive personal information from the Departments of Education, Treasury and Office of Personnel Management.  The decision was 2-1, with the two judges appointed by Republicans, Trump and George W. Bush.” (The Guardian)

An appeals court blocked contempt proceedings against Trump officials over deportations”  it was a 2-1 decision by the Court of Appeals in DC, with the two judges voting against the contempt proceedings appointed by Trump. The dissent was by a judge appointed by Obama. (NBC)

A federal judge in Maryland blocked the executive order which banned birthright citizenship.  The case was filed as a class action suit and the judge extended it to a nationwide injunction.  (The SC previously ruled that a nationwide injunction could be used if a class action suit was filed. )
(NC Newsline)

SCOTUS
“The  US Supreme Court set oral arguments for October 15, 2025 to determine the constitutionality of an electoral map out of Louisiana which created two minority districts.  The SC asked the parties to answer the question of whether the drawn districts violate the 14th and 15th Amendments prohibition of using race to draw the districts.  They will also decide if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 allows private parties to sue for discrimination in the creation of electoral districts.  It is believed they will strike it down and only let the Justice department bring suits alleging discrimination.” (Louisianna Illuminator)

US Supreme Court allowed Mississippi’s law which allowed restrictions on minors’ access to social media to go into effect while litigation plays out. (SCOTUS Blog)

Economy
“A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the Producer Price Index—wholesale costs that will likely show up later in consumer costs—jumped 0.9% in July, the largest jump since June 2022, when the U.S. was mired in post-pandemic inflation. The wholesale price of vegetables jumped 38.9% in July.” (NPR)

Healthcare
“On Friday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that the budget reconciliation bill (called by Republicans the OBBBA, for “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act”) that adds $3.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade will trigger cuts of up to $491 billion in Medicare (not a typo) from 2027 to 2034 in addition to its cuts of almost a trillion dollars to Medicaid over the next ten years. The 2010 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (S-PAYGO) automatically triggers cuts to government programs if the budget deficit increases as it is expected to under the new law, and Medicare spending would be on the chopping block.” (Heather Cox Richardson)

POTUS
Trump’s family crypto business has generated $4.5 billion since the president took office this year — more money than any other Trump family venture has made, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

“President Donald Trump on Monday railed against mail-in voting and vowed to “lead a movement” to eliminate the practice ahead of the 2026 midterms.” (Politico)

Indiana

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