How to Get Involved
We rally every Saturday, 12-1, at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge and 41.
Click here to learn more and to register.
Please note: Sat., Oct. 18, the time will change to 3pm for our NO KINGS rally!
Sat. Oct 18, at 3pm, join us, along with veterans groups and the Highland and Munster Democratic organizations and be part of the 2nd nationwide No Kings rally. We’ll have a few speakers at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge and 41 in Highland. Parking is limited, so we expect protesters will also gather on the NW corners of Ridge and 41, just like during our last No Kings event. Bring your passion and your signs. Across the nation we will show this administration that we want our freedoms back and this chaos to end.
Please let us know you’re coming and sign up here.
Your phone calls are working–the decision to call a special session has not yet been made. Governor Braun may be leaving the decision to call a special session to House Speaker Huston and Senate Pro Tempore Bray. Call them–and your state rep and senator:
Speaker Huston: Phone: 317-232-9677; Senator Bray: Phone: 317-232-9400
Contact your state representative and senator: https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators
Check out our web page for more info and a script: https://indivisiblenwi.org/2025/08/take-action-against-redistricting/
Let’s keep up the pressure!
Congress must approve a budget by Sept. 30 or the government will shut down. Democrats have real leverage to demand concessions—like funding healthcare, food programs and stopping inhumane ICE raids. If you have a democratic senator, Indivisible is urging you to call your senators. They’ve made it easy by providing phone numbers and a script: https://indivisible.org/resource/call-now-tell-your-democratic-senator-fight-hell-budget-season
For all of us in Indiana, Indivisible has provided phone #s and a script to urge our senators to work for a bipartisan funding bill: https://indivisible.org/resource/call-now-demand-your-gop-senator-commit-bipartisan-funding-process
Congress (from GovTrack.us unless otherwise noted)
House
H.R. 5371: Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026
The House passed its version of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded past September 30. The vote was mostly party line at 217-212 with two Republicans voting no and one Democrat voting yes. The bill includes the “D.C. Fix” which restores funding the House took away in the last CR. It also includes extra funding for member security in light of the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Indiana representatives Mrvan, Carson and Apartz voted no; Rep. Shreve did not vote; all other IN reps voted yea.
A resolution setting the parameters of debate on a set of unrelated bills also included a prohibition through January 31 against the House voting to limit the President’s ability to issue tariffs. The rule passed 216-210. This was a slight modification from a rule earlier this week which set the prohibition though March. All democrats voted no.
“The House voted on a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. This resolution is a bit different from the Senate’s in content, but the same in legal force: none at all. All Republicans voted in favor while Democrats were split between Yes votes (95), No votes (58), Present votes (38) and Not Voting (22). In addition to the difference in content, the split among Democrats also represents different conclusions about the political utility of going along or not.” Rep. Mrvan voted yea; Rep. Carson voted no. View the vote.
While all of these bills still have to pass the Senate and are therefore a long way from becoming law, the House voted to force a number of changes to Washington, D.C. criminal laws and judge selection. For all of these bills Indiana representatives Mrvan and Carson voted nay; all other Indiana reps voted yea.
- H.R. 5143: District of Columbia Policing Protection Act, which according to The Hill would overrule the Metropolitan Police Department’s rule curtailing high-speed chases and permit law enforcement to pursue suspects without as much restraint, passed 245-182.
- H.R. 4922: D. C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2025 which would lower the age of a youth offender from under 25 to under 18, passed 240-179.
- H.R. 5140: To lower the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult for certain criminal offenses in the District of Columbia to 14 years of age passed 225-203.
- H.R. 5125: District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act, which would end the D.C. Judicial Nominations Commission and allow the President to nominate judges for the District, passed 218-211.
Senate
The Senate voted on two versions of a continuing resolution, one that matched the House’s (H.R. 5371: Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026)
and one proposed by Senate Democrats (S. 2882: Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026).
Both failed, but the Democratic one failed by slightly less (47-45) than the Republican one (44-48).
“The Democrats’ version extended expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, beefs up security funding for members even more and puts up guardrails against the president requesting funding rescissions, among other things.” (NOTUS)
“The Senate passed a resolution to approve a Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk via unanimous consent. This can be read as “every Democrat voted for it” as in the embedded post in this Bluesky link or as “no Democrat thought a resolution without any legal force was worth fighting about” as in the post commenting on the first one. We generally assume the latter – that a successful UC vote is not so much true unanimity as it is that, for whatever reason, no Senator thinks it’s worth objecting to. Outcome is the same, but the rationale might matter politically.”
More on the likely government shutdown from Punchbowl News:
A string of missteps has provided Democrats a boost in the back-and-forth battle over who would be responsible for a shutdown if federal agencies run out of money in seven days.
Trump Tuesday abruptly canceled a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, giving Democrats an opening to paint him as indifferent to finding the votes he needs to keep the government open.
House Democrats also are jumping on Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to keep the House on recess beyond the start of a shutdown as proof that the GOP isn’t taking the crisis seriously.
Hill Republicans and the White House want to pass a clean bill to fund the government until Nov. 21. The House passed the measure on a near party-line vote, but Senate Democrats blocked it.
Schumer and Jeffries have offered their own Oct. 31 CR that calls for permanent extension of Obamacare subsides, rolls back the huge Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill — Trump’s signature legislative win — and restricts the White House’s ability to rescind funding.
Instead of giving appropriators another seven weeks to make progress on the FY2026 spending bills, Democrats are instigating a fight now. And they have the power to do it, since Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate and the GOP is well short of that threshold.
Democrats have the political incentive to push hard. Since Schumer kept the government open in March in the name of stopping the White House from enacting harmful policies, Trump has pushed a rescissions bill, enacted pocket rescissions and impounded money appropriated by Congress.
Trump canceling the meeting along with the House remaining in recess even though
funding to keep the government open expires at midnight on September 30. This is the height of irresponsibility and further evidence that Republicans are determined to shut the government down.
Folding here isn’t really an option for Schumer or Jeffries. It would be disastrous internal and external politics with very little upside for them or the party…
The longer this impasse continues, the more Democrats will be able to remind the public that health care premiums will skyrocket for millions of Americans at the end of the year absent some congressional action on Obamacare subsidies.
And a new Washington Post/Ipsos poll had troubling numbers for congressional Republicans, showing that Americans want to elect a Democratic-run Congress as a check on Trump.”
To find and contact your Members of Congress: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
In Other News
Read about Trump’s speech at the U.N., “a dark fantasy of narcissism and Christian nationalism…” from Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson. Read Politifact’s fact check of the speech.
“The Pentagon said it would revoke press credentials for any journalists who gather information, even unclassified information, that the Pentagon has not expressly authorized for release.” (Letters from an American)
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is ending its annual report on household food security. Those reports began in the 1990s to help state and local officials distribute food assistance.” (Letters from an American)
“Trump signed a proclamation Friday requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee to obtain H-1B worker visas…The proclamation-signing is a win for immigration hardliners on Capitol Hill, but is likely to rankle tech executives seeking qualified workers from abroad.” (NBC)
“U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned his position Friday amid pressure from Trump administration officials to bring a criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James… Trump officials had pushed Siebert to bring charges against James, despite investigators failing to find clear evidence that she committed a crime…” (ABC)
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday postponed the release of a key annual report central to future inflation data.” (Axios)link between Tylenol and autism
Health authorities such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say there is no link between Tylenol and autism despite Trump’s recent claim that there is. Trump’s claim that the Amish “don’t take vaccines” and “have no autism” is also false. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency now under Kennedy’s leadership, still states on its website, “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder.” (NewsGuard)
“Argentina’s president is set to meet with Trump. The Argentine leader, Javier Milei, [a conservative ally of Trump] is expected to pitch greater U.S. investment in his country, leaning on his close ties to Trump. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that “all options” — including bolstering the flailing peso and buying some of its debt — were being considered, suggesting that Argentina could get preferential treatment in time for the country’s midterm elections next month.” (DealBook)
The courts
“U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday threw out the $15 billion lawsuit President Donald J. Trump filed on September 15 against the New York Times for defamation. The judge, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, called the complaint “decidedly improper and impermissible” and took Trump’s lawyers to task for using a legal complaint as a public forum for abusive language.” (Letters from an American)
An appeals court lifted a stay from a district court and ended legal protections for about 430,000 Haitians, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and Cuban migrants. (AP News)
An appeals court upheld a ruling by a district court that prevented the administration from firing Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve member. The Trump administration will more than likely appeal to the Supreme Court. (Reuters)
SCOTUS
“The Supreme Court lets President Trump fire an F.T.C. commissioner. The justices allowed, for now, the president to fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner. (Trump first ordered that Slaughter and another Democratic member, Alvaro Bedoya, be fired in March.) The court is also set to decide on whether to revisit a previous court decision that established limits on executive branch authority over independent agencies.” (DealBook)
State of Indiana
A Ball State University employee who lost her job after she posted about the late Charlie Kirk will “use Indiana’s courts to litigate the case. Suzanne Swierc’s firing and other retaliatory actions — against educators, media columnists, comedians and more — have alarmed free speech advocates in the wake of Kirk’s targeted assassination…
The ACLU is seeking an injunction that would expunge any record of the termination from Ball State’s archives, alongside damages. Swierc isn’t looking to go back to the university…
The Chronicle of Higher Education, in a Sept. 17 story, cataloged more than two-dozen disciplinary actions against faculty, staff and students nationwide for posts related to Kirk — including firings, suspensions and expulsions. The count doesn’t include Ball State…
Attorney General Todd Rokita has dedicated a section of his “Eyes on Education” portal to posts about Kirk, posting cases — including Sweirc’s — online. There were 19 flagged posts as of Monday afternoon, with potentially “hundreds” more being submitted. “ (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sent a six-page memo to all Indiana school superintendents and university administrators Monday night saying that schools are “wrong” for not disciplining or firing teachers who make comments about Charlie Kirk’s death… “As a matter of good government and sound public policy, schools would be wise to remove from the classroom teachers who express support for or attempt to excuse political violence…,” Rokita wrote… Since Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination, Republicans have sought to punish those who “celebrated” the assassination. In Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun has threatened teaching licenses, arguing that “calls for political violence are not freedom of speech and should not be tolerated.”” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Applications opened on Tuesday to join the powerful body that regulates Indiana’s utility companies — and sets their rates.
Gov. Mike Braun is seeking “entrepreneurial” candidates to fill three vacancies on the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and take on rising customer bills…
The application announcement came as Citizens Action Coalition launched a utility affordability campaign targeted at Braun — dubbed “Stop Mike’s Hikes.” It includes digital, outdoor and radio advertising, according to a Tuesday news release.” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“Holladay Properties plans to invest $5 million in new industrial space in Michigan City.
The South Bend-based developer plans to build the Aldridge Building at 6101 Cleveland Ave. to lure new industrial buildings to town.
The speculative 54,000-square-foot building will be built with no tenants lined up in advance. It’s directly west of the Haskell Building just off U.S. 30.” (NWI Times)
To find and contact your Indiana legislators: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/
