Defund Homeland Security! Something you can do (time sensitive)

[dreamshark]

Democrats in Congress don't have a lot of options for fighting the ongoing authoritarian makeover of the US Government, but for the next two weeks there is an opportunity to fight back, be it ever so tenuous. Congress is currently trying to pass a series of funding bills to avert government shutdown with a deadline of Jan 31. After last week's horrifying events in Minneapolis they managed to get enough Republican support to pull Homeland Security funding out of its "minibus" bill so it could be debated separately. Actually Defunding Homeland Security isn't likely to happen, but the Democrats hope to attach policy riders that restrict the behavior of federal agents in American cities. Or insist on the right of local governments to prosecute ICE agents for murder. Or ban masked agents and require body cameras. Something, anything. 

Anyway, it's pretty easy to message your Congressional delegation, so I did that. They all have comment forms on their websites. I actually did use "Defund Homeland Security" as my subject line, but did a little quick research on how to word the text of my comment so that it was specific and coherent. Here's what I came up with.

 

I am a constituent, and I am writing to instruct Representative ..... to vote NO on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026 (H.R. 4213) unless it includes specific policy riders that mandate body cameras and behavioral oversight for ICE and Border Patrol agents. This may be our only chance to reign in the unconstitutional and illegal behavior of these Federal agents. DO NOT BACK DOWN! This is very important to me!
 

In the case of senators the action on the table doesn't have a name yet, so I was instructed to refer to the FY2026 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.  But either way, I imagine the intent is clear. 

 

 

Comments

[pameladean]

Thank you for this information. I will act on it.

It does look like autocorrect stuck in the wrong homonym. But it's probably still one of the more competently written letters they'll get. (Reign should be rein.)

P.

[minnehaha]

I sent these messages. Really disliked having to give phone and email; I get that they want to know if they are getting mail from constituents or others.

My text was:

I am writing to instruct Representative Omar to vote NO on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026 (H.R. 4213) unless it includes specific policy riders that mandate background checks for agents, mandatory de-escalation training, body cameras and behavioral oversight for ICE and Border Patrol agents. This may be our only chance to rein in the unconstitutional and illegal behavior of these Federal agents. DO NOT BACK DOWN! This is very important to me!

And:

I am writing to instruct Senator Smith to vote NO on any funding bill unless it includes specific policy riders that mandate background checks for agents, mandatory de-escalation training, body cameras and behavioral oversight for ICE and Border Patrol agents. This may be our only chance to rein in the unconstitutional and illegal behavior of these Federal agents. DO NOT BACK DOWN! This is very important to me!

K. [thanks to Pam for the spell check]

[dreamshark]

I also HATE forms that demand phone numbers - it is often enough to discourage me from continuing. I usually try a dummy phone number of all zeroes to get past it, which sometimes works (but didn't in Omar's form). So I gave her the landline, which nobody ever answers anyway. The senators' forms did not require phone numbers. As for email: I have a throwaway address that I use for political email. Actually, I don't usually look at it, but I can check it to see what kind of canned response I get to my message.