FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2021
Contact: Emily Phelps | press@indivisible.org
Washington, DC — Marking the Biden-Harris administration’s first 100 days and following the president’s address to the joint session of Congress, Indivisible released the following statement:
“President Biden and congressional Democrats together have made a strong start in the administration’s first 100 days. But the hardest hill is still ahead. As the president said last night, proving our democracy works must be front and center. We need to get the For the People Act signed into law as soon as possible. With 250 racist voter suppression bills pending in state legislatures across the country, voting rights, election security, and campaign finance reform at stake, the time to act is now. We also need to end the continued disenfranchisement of the 712,000 mostly Black and brown people who live in the District of Columbia. To accomplish both, as well as countless other progressive priorities, the filibuster must go,” said Indivisible’s National Advocacy Director Mary Small.
“If President Biden and the Democratic leadership can get their party over those hurdles together, and can continue to aim high, stick with their values and not negotiate themselves downwards on important legislation -- this could be remembered as a transformational presidency. We know from the first two years of the Obama administration how momentum can falter. The Biden-Harris administration appears to have learned some of these key lessons, and is benefiting from the game-changing factor of a strong progressive presence on Capitol Hill that has helped pull the party away from these pitfalls so far.”
“Even as we applaud progress in so many areas, we echo the outcry from our movement friends leading the fight for fair immigration policy. While we appreciate the strong support he articulated last night for citizenship for all 11 million immigrants without status, we also know that President Biden is in danger of repeating the mistakes of the past. The detention and deportation machine churns on. The southern border should be a place of opportunity and hope -- not a place of hate, exclusion, and militarization. We should not double down on the failed enforcement policies of the past that are out of sync with our values and needs.
“A strong and inclusive recovery, a working democracy, a just immigration system -- all these things are President Biden’s to lose. Trifectas are rare and precious, and we continue to urge the Biden administration to be bold, follow progressive values, and get it right,” added Small.
"We salute President Biden's call for transformative legislation -- and urge him, and Congress, to commit to eliminate the filibuster in order to get it done,” said Indivisible’s Co-Executive Director Leah Greenberg, adding "From the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, to the Pro Act, which would empower employees to unionize, to equality for trans people, to gun violence prevention, and so much more, the transformative change that President Biden wants to deliver depends on ending this arcane Senate tradition. As President Biden said last night, doing nothing is not an option. Transformative change without getting rid of the filibuster is not an option either."
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ABOUT THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT
The Indivisible Project (501c4) is a social movement non-profit driven by a vision of a real democracy - of, by, and for the people. Indivisible began in 2016 as a viral guide to resisting Trump’s agenda. Today, the Indivisible movement is a network of thousands of local groups and millions of activists across every state. The Indivisible Project drives campaigns for bold progressive policies, lobbies Congress, and equips activists with tools to build lasting progressive power, everywhere. Together, we fight to defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and build an inclusive democracy.