Incredible trump energy and turn it into effective longterm progressive organizing that creates tangible wins and victories on capitol hill. So Everybody Knows how its going to work. Im going to do a brief introduction and each of our panelists are going to provide a brief interinstruction and inter comments. Saying, werep by in an uncredible moment of energy and activism where americans in political stripes are speaking out and looking for ways to resist the trumpryan agenda. Saidvey from march democrats are twice as likely to say they have engaged in activism the past two months that extends to being more likely to have shared on social media, written to congress , and attendedy local meetings. They are fired up and engage and now we can figure out how to turn the energy into effective lobbying. I thought first i will start with ezra levine. He is the cofounder of the invisible project, a hill staffer who lived through the a former hill staffer. [laughter] ezra and a group of 30 former Congressional Staffers lived through the 2009 Tea Party Wave and i think one of the things they have done with invisible has taken the scarring process and turned it around and progressives using twoparty tactics to lobby congress. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Can you hear me ok . Ill briefly give some background on what indivisible is. We started as a google doc seven months ago. We were going through after the election like a lot of progressives word. Progressives work. Ere. We were both, as mike said, former Congressional Staff and i worked for the congressman from austin. She worked for a progressive from virginia and we were trying to figure out the details and there was already a ton of energy coming out back in november. We saw that, it was immediate and people were coming together in living rooms, hey, what should we do . Talking to some of our friends who were newly involved in this activist space, one we were back home and at an old bar and salei was part of this group called bledores army. It was a resistance. Do we sign petitions or make a call . How do does any of this go to how does any of this go to the Trump Administration . We saw the tea party taking away racism and violence, they were smart on strategy and tactics. They knew that local defensive congressional advocacy works. They knew its not rocket science, its going to events and at work, and change whats possible at the national level. Not saying we always won, we got the Affordable Care act, doddfrank, there were victories. But they did change what was possible. We put out a google dock to explain how it works. Whats the constituent power, but in the legislative process and thats what the guy is about. We thought maybe six months later somebody would come back and say, hey, we used your guy at a town hall and asked some questions and we would be psyched. That was our measure of success. Thats not exactly what happened. Within a couple of hours i tweeted it out to my dozens of followers. [laughter]. While [laughter] while eating soup at the Kitchen Table after work one day. Within a couple of hours, it was crashing. Too many people were trying to get to the document. We put our thoughts on saving american democracy, its not normally what happens. So, the response we got was overwhelming, it was focusing, i saying, i was in despair and didnt know what do. And now were indivisible or aurburn. I think we have auburn in the crowd. We made an unexpected choice in we say were not professional january. Advocates, our bosses dont really know about this. We are we are not starting an organization, thats the last thing that progressives need is another nonprofit. And we had votes and thats not why we exist. We exist to support this communitylevel foundational progressive infrastructure and from that flows everything else. Now we have shockingly about 6,000 groups that registered and thats every single Congressional District in the country. How many . 6000. So this is not just east coast or west coast, this is in the red states, in rural places. Some of our strongest groups, indivisibleee, oklahoma and the crowd. What theyre doing is organizing work and theyre building up leadership and power in the local level and affecting change. Ill stop there, and either the individual organization has developed. Awesome. Thank you so much. Next well hear from jan, congresswoman representing illinois Congressional District. She serves as a deputy whip and Steering Committee policy in the house and most importantly a vice chair and leader who was pushing back in one of the situations similar to what were facing today when president bush tried to privatize social security, its a moment of insideoutside that she led on. Love to hear your insights. Qwest thank you. Im happy to be here. Ezra, i want to thank you, all of our panelists. I guess i have to be in the category with mark as a member of congress, but both of us are comfortable in the organizer category. I was an organizer for over 40 years. My husband bob cramer who is here who is a great organizer, a great, great organizer. [applause] i have never in my lifetime seen anything as big as this right now. I lived through the civil Rights Movement, the vietnam protests all big, all effective, but nothing like this. There are more people engaged than i have ever seen and the other great thing, and i think it was demonstrated by the womens marches the day after the election, that there was this sense of unity despite, it was under the banner of women but there were all of these organizations and signs, of course, reproductive rights, economic justice, immigration, lbgt, war, peace, science, truth, earthquake health care, case, buthealth everybody felt as if it were one thing. One of the points i want to make is that unity is so incredibly important. Yes, you can follow your passion and get through a. C. L. U. As an Environmental Organization or something that may focus in your community on some particular thing. But understand that we need to maintain this unity and intensity. Intensity really matters, i was the target of one of those town Hall Meetings by the tea party in 2009, and i will never forgot it. And those were happening all over the country. Were bigger than the tea party was and is right now. So, feel so, feel your power and note your power. Showing up really matters. You you heard from ezra, the idea of the phone calls. The idea of the town Hall Meetings. The idea of going to the members offices that one would that wont have town Hall Meetings. The idea of inviting members like me to go to a republican district and do a town hall meeting and that district. Some of us are actually willing to do that, but we need to be invited and also, we need a sense of victory that builds confidence. Victories, beget victories. And everyone should feel that on health care. [applause]. What a feel that on health care. [applause] what a tremendous victory that was. Everything was in place. I mentioned the phone calls and town Hall Meetings and going to offices and doing press events and days of action and if youre with an organization, you have tv spots run in the district and massive social media you can do with your 12 friends, i love that. And now millions of people. That that when we fight, we win. The people from move on know that every rally that i go to, i like to say at the end, when we fight we win. You try it. When we fight we win. And when i say how do you feel today, you say powerful. How do you feel today . Powerful. We want that kind of feeling and the health care fight showed that happened. That doesnt mean you can relax now, they will try to come back. I do want to give a special shout out as an example of what can be done to the Disability Rights Movement and adapt in this fight. The images of people being pulled out of their wheelchairs is not unlike the images during the civil Rights Movement of fire hoses being turned on children in the childrens marches or john lewis getting his head cracked. Its those kind of vish sues are those kinds of visuals are very, very important to our commitments. One other thing, elections, we have to be able to transform all of this energy and also into elections. Its not too soon to do voter registration. One thing i want to emphasize is candidates. Think of yourself as candidates, all who started individual indivisible groups. Ill go to some of the women, most are women by the way, and men and to say why arent you , running for local office. Some are. Some are, i know, but we need to convince more and more people to think of themselves as candidates to be talent scouts, to decide if you can pull an organization together, an invisible organization or whatever, you should be members of planned parenthood and all of the different organizations. We we need those candidates at the local level not just as a pipeline, but because a lot is happening at that lowlevel. Raising minimum wage and what the insurance of the lowlevel covers. We need to have those candidates coming and stepping forward, even as we register voters to get ready for 2018. I will stop there. Thank you. [applause] fantastic. Next we have a representative for human rights at Friends Organization ive worked with. Yasmin for many years with human rights torture and how we have a progressive important policy. Its been a leader since trump rolled out his infamous muslim ban in terms of trading an important grass roots organizing moment fostering the program and thank you for joining us. Yasmine thank you so much. Thank you to my copanelists and all of you for joining us today. So, i wont take too much of your time for my opening remarks. I want to make sure we leave plenty of time for discussion. I i want to take a couple minutes to talk a little bit about the work that our partners have been doing in terms of pushing back against this administrations heinous, unconstitutional and unconscionable policies when were talking about the muslim and refugee ban and this administration in terms of great communities. Hopefully most of what im talking about in terms of best practices and what has been working the last eight months or so during this administration is, you know, things that you already know, but i want to highlight a couple of points and let you know what has been working for us in terms of the fights that have come across our path and what weve been doing in terms of working with our partners and ensuring that we continue to push back against policies. So as mike mentioned one of the issues i work on a pushing back that i work on is pushing back against the administrations muslim and refugee ban. This executive order first was issued on a friday around 5 00. M. On january 27 are i a lot of the things that this administration does, you know, does so in terms of hoping that folks wont notice or folks wont care. As many of you remember, that friday when that executive order was issued, immediately the following morning airports across the country were flooded with thousands and thousands of americans showing up with signs saying refugees are welcomed here. My muslim neighbors, amazing, amazing incredible response that i personally have never seen,. For me as iranian american muslim, i immigrated in Elementary School and i was welcomed here and my family was welcomed here. Seeing the policies that this administration is it pushing which i see as completely counter to what our country upon, for it is founded for me, that is incredibly ofrtening to see thousands folks and the dead of winter. There were thousands outside in 30degree weather. And my mom, i remember that weekend when i spoke with her, she called me, she was like yasmine, i dont even know what to say. So many people care about our families and for her to think our communities wouldnt stand up under attack, a part of me felt happy to hear that, but also sad that she was surprised to see that. I was like, well, i was like, well, thats what i expect. That is who we are as americans. So, initially, you know, whee hen we saw the mobilization around the issue and a lot of it was due to the work that all of you were doing collectively. One of them comes out of the election of trump, aside from this movement that weve seen, this Immense Energy and interest in getting involved, its really the recognition that we, as communities, cannot work in silos. We need to be supporting one another. We need to make the concerted effort if were not already working in coalition, to build from groups we havent previously worked with on these issues. So on the muslim and refugee ban, for instance, the rallies and washington, d. C. , the protests in january, march and june, we had previously never worked with some organizations , hrc came out with something for it. They served volunteers and members and with protests, sierra club, so many, so Many Organizations that previously have not really been working on issues related to either islamophobia or refugee issues were there with us, were there with us protesting. Were there with us rallying. The the first protest we held at the white house in january when nearly 20,000 people showed up, that to me is so incredibly critical when we talk about how to effectively organize and turn this energy, this movement into success not just in terms of victories on capitol hill, but again in showing this administration that we will continue to show up. We will continue to stand up for communities anytime he tries to single any of our Community Members out, whether its lbgt community, whether its women, whether its muslims, and you name it. So, i think that one of the things i wanted to, again, emphasized the need to always show up. This executive order has come out in multiple iterations and each time it comes out we have been protesting every time the executive order came out and the Supreme Court decision that came out on june 26 when a partial portion of the ban was in effect, we were there, we want trump to know that he can try as many times as he wants and trying to propose against discrimry policies, but we will continue to show up and let him know that our country is a welcoming country, that we while welcome refugees, we dont turn anyone away. Especially those who are being persecuted because of conflict. I think what ive seen in terms of the work weve been doing around this issue, i think that in terms of Coalition Building in terms of working with , unlikely allies. Some of the other organizations weve been working with, libertarian groups or even members on capitol hill. We worked very closely and aggressive will with the members of the congressional caucus, theyre amazing and always there supporting us at rallies, on the floor, making public statements, holding press conferences. Introducing bills. You name it. But what weve been recognizing is because were dealing with a republican administration, republicancontrolled congress, we need to build alliances with moderate republicans, its a reality, something that we have to do if were in making any interest on our progress and issues. Thats something that weve been working on this year reaching working on this year reaching out to republicans that did not support, did not vote for trump, did not support a repeal of aca and more than three dozen republicans in the house and senate that we have been meeting with open to have conversations about knowing what these policies that this administration is it pushing or has advanced. What they mean, how they impact constituents. Once we actually sit down and meet with them and have faith leaders and reach out and bring those from their a district, all of these ways to build a relationship i think is incredibly important when were talking how to work with this administration. So ill leave it at that, but i to echo the comments and remarks that have already been made. Quite awesome. Think you so much. Next we have sarah, the colead at the Progressive Congressional Campaign Committee sorry, Progressive Change Committee who will talk a little about some of the strategic organizing and sort of operates alone in this space, in addition to leading trump resistance, you do a lot of Strategic Organization lovering the party to the left in strategic ways and were happy to have you here and gear up on that. Thank you for everyone to be for being here today. Like mike said, were a National Grass grassroots organization, and when mark and jan are in office, partnering with them on the hill to push our progressive vision to the center of what the caucus is campaigning on , legislating on, and bleeding on. Easier said than done, right . A couple of things i wanted to touch on our places where pccc has found success in doing this with organizing partners inside the democratic caucus. One of the things weve learned the last several years coming specifically out of the 2014 election, when you go to a member of congress with an idea and you want to talk with them about the way that theyre changing. One thing we talked about as Higher Education and goals of making college debtfree. Where do you start . People want Community College and low Interest Rates and how do you get the people on the same page and still aim for a bigger goal. . Thats the lesson, when you talk with them say we have the shared goal, lets aim for this big goal together. Take a big tent approach and leave the policy debate within the umbrella. All aiming for debtfree college and successfully the last couple of years we saw secretary clinton in the campaign. There is this idea that the policy you are working on is about payment toward the bigger goal. When we free Michael Purves goal when when we frame it goal first, it works. That is one thing we found success for over an over again. But as a moment to say, let us reinforce our shared vision and worry about the policy specifics later. So much of lobbying in this moment is about getting our democratic duc