August’s Activist Homework

THE ISSUE:

House Republicans quietly attached a voter ID mandate to a weak insider-trading bill (H.R. 7008). It already passed the House.

THE ACTION:

Call your senators and tell them to oppose H.R. 7008 before it reaches the Senate floor.

TOTAL TIME: 5 Minutes

How to call your Senators

Step 1: Find your senators

Go to congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Click “Find your member by address”
Enter your full address — your two senators will populate

Or, you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell the operator which members you’d like to reach. They’ll connect you directly.

Step 2: Make the call

Call between 9 AM–6 PM in your local time zone, Monday through Friday, and read the script below.

Here’s what to say: “Hi, I’m a constituent from [your city]. I’m calling to urge Senator [Name] to oppose H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act. It lets members of Congress keep trading and voting on stocks they already own, and it quietly attaches a voter ID requirement that makes voting harder. Please vote no.”

Why this matters:

Banning members of Congress from trading stock is a good idea. The problem is H.R. 7008 doesn’t actually do that. It lets current members keep every stock they already own. It doesn’t touch the executive branch at all, meaning Trump and Vance can keep trading and profiting exactly as they have been. It does not stop lawmakers from voting on legislation that affects their own portfolios. On top of that, Republicans quietly attached a voter ID requirement that has nothing to do with insider trading and everything to do with making it harder to vote.

Last Month's Activism

Last month, you reached out to your representatives and told them to vote no on the SAVE Act. The bill still hasn’t passed — but Trump hasn’t dropped it.

He’s now holding a wildly bipartisan housing bill (which passed 358-32 and 85-5) hostage, refusing to sign it until Congress revives the SAVE Act, calling the whole thing a “national emergency.” House Republicans have also just attached the SAVE Act to a must-pass defense bill, betting the Senate won’t strip it back out before sending it through. Voter ID and citizenship-paperwork requirements keep coming back in one bill after another — which is exactly why this month’s fight over H.R. 7008 matters.

We’re hosting a comedy and cabaret fundraiser hosted by the inimitable and iconic Mariam T!

If you already bought your tickets, please note the location AND time change: Saturday Aug 22nd at 4PM at San Diego’s Urban Mo’s in Hillcrest. If you have not bought your tickets yet, let’s do this!

Last month, you saw our promo video, this month check out the blooper reel!

6 Facts To Give You Hope

Trump’s approval rating is stuck at 39%, and a new Emerson College poll has Democrats leading the 2026 generic congressional ballot by 11 points, 53% to 42%.
A Fox News poll found 68% of Democrats say they’re extremely motivated to vote this November, compared with 57% of Republicans — a strong early signal for turnout.
Georgia’s legislature adjourned its special session without passing any new redistricting maps, after sustained pushback from residents and advocacy groups — keeping the state’s congressional lines, and its weight in the fight for the House, intact.
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill that would have required photo ID to vote by mail, proof that voting-rights fights are being won at the state level too.
The Institute for Justice is challenging a citywide license-plate surveillance network in federal court, pushing back on unchecked government tracking of everyday people.
Solar power in California generated more electricity than natural gas on 82% of days between January and May 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — up from just 21% of days the two years prior.