October 1st Red and Rural Call Canceled.
Hello Indivisibles of the Red & Rural Caucus!
Buckle up folks, this is a long one folks.
As most of you probably know by now, we find ourselves today in a situation where the Federal Government has shut down. Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have spent the past nine months selling out working families in order to give tax breaks to their billionaire friends. Now, they’ve taken us into a government shutdown because they refused to negotiate with Democrats and lower healthcare costs for our families.
For rural folks, there are many impacts that this government shutdown will have:
- USDA and Farm Service Agency offices will close and most loan/grant programs will be frozen, including bridge programs that farmers rely on for short-term support
- National Parks, which are huge financial centers for rural areas – $29 billion was spent in ‘gateway communities’ last year – could be shut down or have limited staffing.
- Rural hospitals could go without funding, possibly resulting in bed and care shortages.
- Tribal communities that rely on federal funding could see severe impacts: service providers and crisis centers like domestic violence shelters may not receive the funds they need, tribal public safety and police staff will either face furlough or be forced to work without pay, and a long shutdown could impact the ability of health clinics to stay open.
- Many federal workers deemed ‘essential’, like air traffic controllers and active-duty military personnel, will be forced to work without pay until the shutdown ends.
- FEMA’s long-term recovery work will slow or stop, and the National Flood Insurance Program was allowed to lapse at midnight on Sept. 30th, snarling real estate transactions by blocking any new policies from being issued for homes in flood zones.
- Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed, and permanent layoffs are threatened. Federal jobs can play an outsized role in rural communities — for example, around 3% of the entire workforce of Montana is employed by the federal government.
If there is anyone who understands just how bad this government shutdown can be, it’s folks in rural communities. Which is why we are canceling the September Red and Rural Caucus Call that was scheduled for tonight. Instead, we are inviting all of you to join a national call that includes not just your red and rural brothers and sisters, but people from across the country to stay informed and take action together.
MASS MOVEMENT CALL!
Tonight Indivisible and our partners are holding a Mass Movement Call titled, Healthcare Not Authoritarianism: Shutdown Showdown. On this call you can expect an update on the federal funding fight, and to be part of a discussion on how we can organize collectively to support and protect our communities in this federal budget showdown.
Indivisible is joined in hosting this mass call with our partners at: Fair Share America, MoveOn, Public Citizen, Working Families Power, People’s Action, Women’s March and many more. We hope all of you will join us tonight at 8:30pm ET for this call.
October Calls To Action!
The work doesn’t stop with just one call tonight though. Instead we come to you with your 3 monthly calls to action (CTAs):
Take action during the government shutdown!
1. Hold your Republican Senators accountable for their actions in trying to take away our healthcare, and tell your Democrats you have their back!
2. Protect your community by taking action through a mutual aid activity in October!
3. Join us on October 18th in saying we have no kings in this nation by holding your very own red or rural No Kings event!
Share your Events!
Are you attending a protest or rally, holding an online meeting with your members or another organization, writing a letter to your editor as a group or maybe sending postcards to voters? Send us photos to share with all the other groups throughout the caucus, and throughout the organization! We are all in this together, and sometimes seeing each other in action is a reminder of why this work is so important.
You can email your photos to: rural@indivisible.org
Together we can make a difference in our nation, more so now than ever before. We hope that you will join us tonight on the Mass Movement Call, and join us throughout the month of October by taking at least one of the actions above. We will be back on October 29th for our October Red and Rural Caucus Call!
– Indivisible’s Red and Rural Caucus
Indivisible Project
PO Box 43884
Washington, DC 20010
United States