Weekend Roundup: Economic Blackout, Know the Assignment Call, and more!
Let's also look ahead for what this week may have in store.
Impact of the Economic Blackout Work
On February 28, Women Forward participated in the Economic Blackout. The Blackout is the first in a series of economic actions organized by The People’s Union USA, "a grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform".
Results from the economic blackout are still unclear. The amount of social media users who encouraged the movement hasn’t been measured at the time of publication. Major retailers have not reported any significant downturn in sales.
However, Google searches for “economic blackout” spiked on February 28, indicating that a large number of Americans were at least curious about the boycott.
The key here is channeling our anger into collective action and carrying this beyond just one day. There is power in our purchase. Together, we can use our dollars as our collective voice to let corporations know we will not accept bending to bigotry.
This month, the People’s Union has plans for a weeklong blackout against Amazon, urging participants not to buy from the retailer or Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon), and to avoid brands owned by Nestlé due to issues of "water exploitation, child labor, and corporate greed." Another nationwide "economic blackout" is scheduled for March 28, also lasting 24 hours.
What’s next?
Commit to spending your dollars locally so they stay out of the hands of mega corporations and billionaires. It’s an easy way to send a powerful message. Consume less, shop small, and support businesses who support our communities. Do this as much as you can, not just a single day.
Follow 50501 Movement and check out their boycott guide so you can continue to support micro economies in your local town or city.
“Know The Assignment” Recap & Recording
Thanks to all who were able to join us for the “Know The Assignment” webinar yesterday (3/1/25) with Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Jamie Raskin along with former Acting OPM Administrator Rob Shriver. Here is the link to the recording on our Women Forward YouTube channel.
It was a highly informative and insightful conversation that included a behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening in DC as well as some calls to action for all of us. We hope that those who registered but didn’t make it will take the time to watch. Please also feel free to send the link to others in your networks. Toward the end, Congresswoman Stansbury outlined three categories of actions for us to take:
Institutional Actions
Congress: Call upon your mayor, state senators and state representatives and your Governor - who all have relationships with your Congresspeople and Senators - to demand that they stand up! Encourage friends and family to do the same in their districts.
Attend a town hall, encourage town halls from Republicans and invite your Democratic representatives to come especially if the Republicans don’t show, and get engaged in local initiatives.
Administration: Verbalize resistance against executive orders far and wide. Our silence normalizes the outrageous.
Courts: Are you a lawyer? Know a lawyer? Encourage engagement of everyone in the legal profession including your State Attorney General, as appropriate.
Local and State Government: Encourage your mayor, state senators and state representatives and your Governor —who all have political relationships with your Congresspeople and Senators —to encourage them to stand up!.
Collective Actions
Help spread the truth about what’s happening and make your voices heard – on social media, at town halls or hearings, and in all of your circles from your book club to sports teams and more.
Be involved in productive protest – hold corporations accountable, hold elected officials accountable. If your elected official won’t hold a town hall, have one anyway with an empty chair representing their absence, and have community members talk about how this regime is affecting them personally. Call the media to cover it and film it to share on social media.
Get involved in national and local efforts in whatever way you can. Think about your skills and what issues you care the most about and find an organization focused on that and volunteer.
Show up for those most impacted – Federal workers, vulnerable and targeted populations such as the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. If you can, donate to the national and local groups working to support and protect people.
Run for office - We need good people at all levels of government from school boards, local commissions and city councils to state houses to congress.
Everyday Acts of Resistance
Find ways to resist, educate yourself and others – and be sure to take care of yourself so you can maintain your resilience.
This might look like standing up for someone being bullied or harassed or holding a house party to bring together people to talk about what can be done in your community or writing letters to the editor.
Every one of you is a leader and can do something to help!
What Are Your Five Things?
As some folks may know, an email went out recently to our federal workforce asking them for the five things they did that week. We hope that you will read this list and think about what your list of actions, small or large, at the end of each week might look like.
Five things the ladies of Women Forward did this week:
Put our time, talents, and passion to use in helping those impacted by the Administration and what is going on.
Reached out to organizations doing important work at the national and local level and signed up to help.
Took direct action to help: Made calls, wrote letters, reached out to those with influence, volunteered, organized, engaged in a powerful act of everyday resistance.
Activated others: Found people that can help do this work. Tapped our networks in our community, family, friends, and at work to get involved. (You can do the same by reaching out to three people or more in your network).
Took care of ourselves and our people: Made sure we cared for our own personal resilience and physical and mental health and supported those around us and in our community in need of support.
Looking Ahead
Looming Government Funding Deadline
Lawmakers are still searching for an agreement on top-line spending levels to fund agencies and critical government programs for the remainder of fiscal year 2025. If Congress fails to reach a deal before the March 14 deadline, the government will shut down. However, even if lawmakers attempt to pass another continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily extend funding, automatic spending cuts may be triggered under the terms of a previous congressional agreement, depending on the CR’s length. Relatedly, hard-line conservatives are threatening to revolt if their party moves forward with anything other than 12 individually negotiated spending bills, in hopes of taking advantage of their majority to pass conservative policy riders and deeper spending cuts than a CR would allow.
Democratic leadership is demanding assurances that the Trump Administration and DOGE will abide by congressional spending decisions, given the recent onslaught of illegal attempts to cut jobs and programs previously funded by Congress. House and Senate Appropriations Ranking Members Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have made it clear that without these guarantees, securing Democratic votes will be difficult.
Ultimately, Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass any funding measure, particularly in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome the filibuster. This leaves top appropriators with little room to maneuver as negotiations stall.
Confirmations
The final confirmation vote for Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education is scheduled for Monday, March 3. Like the rest of Trump’s cabinet choices, McMahon is a danger to the department she would lead and to the country as a whole. Demand your Senators exercise their right to deny the confirmation of McMahon’s appointment.
Protect Transgender Athletes
On January 14th, the House passed the deceptively-titled Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate. This bill would amend Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs, to ban transgender and intersex students from participation in sports.
The House bill passed on a mostly party-line vote with 2 Democrats voting Yes with Republicans and 1 voting Present. The Senate vote is expected to be much closer as 7 Democrats are needed to side with Republicans. The procedural vote is expected to take place on the evening of Monday, March 3. Call your Senators using this script:
Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, STATE].
I’m calling to demand that Senator [NAME] vote against S.9, the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025. This discriminatory bill will do nothing to protect the safety of girls, but instead put all women and girls at increased risk of harassment, violence, and traumatic physical examinations.
IF LEAVING VOICEMAIL: Please leave your full street address to ensure your call is tallied.
Budget
On February 25, by a slim margin of 217-215, House Republicans passed budget resolution H.Con.Res.14, approving a GOP blueprint to finance Trump’s greedy, punishing agenda. The budget extends tax cuts passed during the first Trump Administration in 2017, including $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. The budget will finance these cuts by making $2 trillion in draconian spending cuts to life-saving social programs, especially Medicaid, and by raising the debt limit by $4 trillion. These budget cuts endanger the lives and financial stability of millions of Americans, and it would have disastrous consequences for the fiscal health of the United States.
The Senate has already passed a very different budget resolution, which does not extend the 2017 tax cuts and has smaller cuts to mandatory spending items like Medicaid. For the budget to advance into law, the House and Senate must now develop and agree on a single identical budget resolution.
Congress must reject the House’s initial budget resolution, which benefits billionaires at the expense of the social safety net that keeps millions of Americans alive. Call your Senators and your Representative in the House using the following script:
Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, STATE].
I’m calling to urge Sen./Rep. [NAME] to reject the mandatory spending cuts laid out in House Concurrent Resolution 14 as the budget process continues. Congress must pass a budget that actually benefits Americans instead of slashing funds to essential life-saving programs like Medicaid to finance tax breaks for the wealthy.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
IF LEAVING VOICEMAIL: Please leave your full street address to ensure your call is tallied.
What We're Reading
Senate Republicans Would Increase Spending for Pentagon and Deportations at the Expense of Solving Our Worst Problems (National Priorities Project)
How The DOGE Purge Could Undermine Federal Health Agencies (Huff Post)
Hegseth orders 8% cut to Pentagon budget. Not so fast. (Responsible Statecraft)
Abortion Providers Feel Like 'Sitting Ducks' After Trump Rolls Back Clinic Protections (Huff Post)
What is the crisis at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)? (CPCC)
Organized Labor’s Complicated History With Civil Rights (Harvard Law)
Would there be interest among Women Forward members in visually and blatantly letting the pathetic Republican leadership know Americans stand with Ukraine, not Trump and Vance, by flying the Ukraine flag? The bigger the better.
Thanks for the hard work and helpful action tips. Sharing your note.