Unlike the Republicans in Congress, Democratic representatives and senators are showing up to listen to their constituents at townhalls. And on Sunday, March 23rd, Lauren Underwood was greeted by several hundred District 14 voters who lined up around a building in Joliet two hours before the event started. Her constituents came prepared with questions and fears about how Musk’s and Trump’s actions are affecting their lives. Most of all, they wanted to know what they can do to stop the dismantling of democracy that is occurring right before their eyes.
Congresswoman Underwood began by saying the Trump administration has withheld $1.7 billion from Illinois agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. These funds were passed by Congress to be sent to Illinois. Some of the money is supposed to go to the Illinois EATS program, which buys food from farmers and distributes it to schools and towns with food banks to help people in need. As part of this program, almost 200 farmers supply food to nearly 900 locations in Illinois. Needless to say, Trump’s actions are affecting families that are struggling to pay their bills, innocent children who do not get enough to eat at home, seniors who are dependent on meals on wheels, and farmers who need the allocated money for the planting season.
In addition to these cuts, staff have been cut at Social Security offices and VA hospitals and clinics, and some offices have been closed. Public schools and universities and colleges throughout the nation are debating whether or not to make concessions to Trump to keep their funding. And Trump is attempting to privatize the post office, so that we pay the kind of rates we pay at private shipping companies to mail letters.
The funding bill that just passed guaranteed current funding for government agencies and programs through September. However, how can constituents have that funding and the same services if offices are closed? The truth is, we can’t. The Republican plan is all part of Project 2025, which the Heritage Foundation wrote to give control of our country to the wealthy. In two months, the administration has pushed one-third of the Project 2025 agenda into place while Trump denies that he knows anything about it.
Lauren let us know that Democrats in Congress are doing their best, but they need our help. How can we help? We need to call at least three Republican representatives’ offices every day and express how upset we are about cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, and the departments that ensure the safety of our country. Why three calls? Since Democrats are in the minority, that’s how many votes we need to save our federal agencies and services. It will take only three votes in the House of Representatives to save the services that senior and veterans rely upon, and most importantly, those votes can save our democracy. It will take six votes in the Senate.
Lauren emphasized that she is not backing down, but it takes courageous people to speak out and stand up. And there are courageous people working for us now by using the courts to protest what is happening. By law, members of Congress cannot file lawsuits against the government, but citizens can. The Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined with other state attorneys general to file multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration for cutting funding for universities and social service programs and for attempting to dismantle the Dept. of Education. And federal judges have ruled in the people’s favor in some of the cases. Some of the cases have been thrown out, and in other cases, the Trump administration’s actions have been frozen or ruled unconstitutional, as in the case of birthright citizenship. Unions have also filed class action lawsuits to represent probationary workers who were dismissed without a legitimate cause.
Following Lauren’s presentation, the audience asked questions. One person brought up the SAVE Act, which was introduced by House Republicans as HR 22. This act threatens the voting rights of many Americans who want to register to vote or update their voter registration by requiring them to present a passport or birth certificate in person. Since millions of women change their last name when they get married, their birth certificate does not match their married name, and they could be denied the right to vote or update their voter registration if they don’t have a passport with their new name. Knowing that this bill would be unpopular, Republicans had been kicking it down the road. However, on March 25, Trump signed an executive order changing the national voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship (a passport or birth certificate). And his order tries to make states adopt this requirement and also to stop counting absentee and mail-in-ballots received after election day by threatening to withhold federal funding.
It’s more important than ever that we make our voices heard and let the Republican representatives in Congress know that they are accountable to us, the people, and they can be voted out of office. The Constitution gave the real power of this country to the people. You can find the phone numbers by doing an internet search for “phone numbers of representatives in Congress.” Start with the three Republican representatives in Illinois.
Remember that America has faced challenges before, and the people have joined together to save democracy. Trump is not a king, and Elon Musk is not an elected official. Democracy was hanging by a thread the night “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written, and it was hanging by a thread when Patrick Henry made his famous declaration. This time, it’s up to us to save our country.
