| | | | Good afternoon. While there is a lot of eye popping news in the country and the world right now, please allow me to briefly turn your attention to a major legislative event in the United Sates Congress.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a spending bill written by House Republicans, and endorsed by Donald Trump. The bill is ostensibly designed to avoid a government shutdown after March 14. However, avoiding a government shutdowns always requires a bipartisan vote, and this bill was not negotiated in any way, shape or form with Democrats. The bill funds the government through September 30, cuts about $13 billion in social safety net spending, and uses those spending cuts to increase military spending and immigration enforcement.
This bill was entirely Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson's idea. Their plan is to pass it through the House of Representatives tomorrow with only, or almost only, Republican votes, and then quickly leave town so that the Senate is forced to choose between passing that bill without any changes or deal with a government shutdown. This is exactly the kind of crude, power play, bad faith, my way or the highway, "negotiating" tactic that is the hallmark of Donald Trump.
As I wrote back in Thursday in my article "Another Look at the Politics of a Government Shutdown," I do not envy the situation that swing district Democrats, especially in the Senate, are in right now. Government shutdowns are bad for regular people, and do not have a history of resulting in policy changes. That said, just giving in to Trump's bullying also seems very bad, to say the least.
Below, I have put together three actions you can take in regards to the new Trump-Republican spending bill and possible government shutdown: - The first action is a simple Civic Shout page that provides more information about the spending bill that House Republicans will try to pass tomorrow, and allows you to add your name in opposition to that bill. Signing this petition might result in you receiving emails from allied Democratic and progressive organizations.
Add your name if you agree: Congress should reject Donald Trump's preferred spending bill. Instead, pass a clean funding bill to avert a government shutdown.
Click to add your name
- The second action is a petition to Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, letting him know that if Democrats in Congress do choose to stand up to Trump, even if it results in a government shutdown, that you will support them. I will deliver this petition to Rep. Jeffries office, via email, tomorrow morning, before the House vote. Signing this petition will not result in you receiving emails from anyone except Bowers News Media.
Please add your name to the petition supporting Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his vow to use the upcoming government funding negotiations to stop Donald Trump's illegal funding freezes.
Click to add your name
- The action third is a fundraising page where you can split a donation between Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, who are the Democratic nominees in two House of Representatives elections that will take place on April 1, and Bowers News Media PAC. Valimont and Weil are running in vacant, deep red seats in Florida. While they have effectively no chance of winning, in these elections winning and losing is not the only thing that matters. If Valimont and Weil can put up competitive results that significantly outperform what Democrats managed in these districts in November 2024--and so far in 2025 Democrats are doing just that in special elections--then it will really put a scare into vulnerable, moderate House Republicans in purple districts. This will make it even more difficult for Republicans to pass any cuts to the social safety net as the year goes on.
Split a $10 donation to the Democratic nominees, Gay Valimont and Josh Weil, in the April 1st special elections for the vacant House seats in Florida's 1st and 6th congressional districts, and also to Bowers News Media PAC. By putting up a strong performance in these two red districts, let's send notice to vulnerable House Republicans that their jobs are on the line in 2026 if they vote to support the Trump legislative agenda.
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Donate $30 Thank you for your time,
Chris Bowers
Founder, Bowers News Media
About
Bowers News Media is a one-person grassroots activism email list, run by me, Chris Bowers, a 20-year veteran of online progressive politics at Daily Kos, Open Left and MyDD. I write all of the emails myself, in an honest, measured, personal voice, citing all of my sources and avoiding exaggeration. I aim to bring you the most efficient activism operation around, almost entirely free of overhead, and to always remain accessible to you by reading every single email you send me (and replying to most of them).
Wolves and Sheep is a Substack run by Matthew Kerbel, a political science professor of over 30 years at Villanova University. Matt brings you timely, outside the beltway analysis of our national politics, informed by history and social science, to help you make sense of what often feels like an out of control moment in history.
Together, we run the Bowers Kerbel Media collaboration, a joint effort between Bowers News Media and Wolves and Sheep. Matt and I are old friends, and even wrote a book together about a decade ago.
You can support our work either by becoming a paid subscriber to Wolves and Sheep on Substack or by making an $8 monthly donation Bowers News Media on Act Blue. Paid subscribers receive an invite to interactive political briefings that Matt and I host, a weekly memo from me about being a better activist on Tuesdays, and an extra article a week from Matt on Fridays.
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