It's the first day of "Meteorological Summer" and a great one to launch purposeful organizing. Oh, right, you were already doing that...
Happy Pride Month! 🌈 Progressive Maryland continues to celebrate and advocate for the LGBTQ+ Community, this month and always. We are especially lifting up Queer and Trans people of color. We are proud to honor the progress flag in our new PM Pride Logo which you may notice across our website and social media.
Thank you for being part of this movement.
Happy Pride Month! 🌈 Progressive Maryland continues to celebrate and advocate for the LGBTQ+ Community, this month and always. We are especially lifting up Queer and Trans people of color. We are proud to honor the progress flag in our new PM Pride Logo which you may notice across our website and social media.
Thank you for being part of this movement.
In Solidarity,
The PM Team
Quick Actions:
- Support our campaigns and our statewide organizing! Become a full member of Progressive Maryland
- Support our political program: the New Era PAC
- Volunteer with us (we are starting some physically distanced door to door canvassing!)
- Join us on Slack to continue the conversation
Statewide Updates:
Environmental Justice Campaign
We supported an ad in The Baltimore Sun with a letter to Governor Hogan asking him to sign the Transit Safety & Investment Act, which passed in the General Assembly with bi-partisan support!
We also supported an ad in The New York Times promoting the THRIVE Act for a bolder recovery plan!
New Era PAC
We’re just about a year away from the June 2022 Primary. Help us field a team of progressive candidates and a powerful voter contact program for the critical 2022 elections. Support our New Era PAC and our work to bring more progressive and diverse Marylanders into city, county and state government offices. Donate now.
Healthcare Justice Campaign
End Medical Debt:
We did it! With your help, Governor Hogan announced on Friday that he will allow the Medical Debt Protection Act of 2021 (HB 565/SB 514) to become law without his signature. Gov. Hogan's failure to sign the measure is disappointing but not at all surprising. Our coalition will continue to fight for stronger patient protections from predatory medical debt collection practices. Interested in getting involved as we look ahead to what's next? Sign on here to show your support and to receive occasional alerts and updates. For questions or to learn more contact Lindsey: [email protected]
Global Vaccine Equity:
Table in the community with us this weekend! We’re getting postcards to President Biden to urge him to get the U.S. to do all it can to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine production and access across the world. To join us this Saturday or Sunday contact Josh or Patty.
Medicare For All:
Town Hall Live Stream with Rep. Anthony Brown sponsored by the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition, PM and other local progressive allies. June 9 at 6:00 p.m. https://bit.ly/MDPHC-M4A-Webinar-Jun9
Local Chapter Updates:
Baltimore City
Progressive Maryland, along with over 40 advocacy and labor organizations united with Baltimore Renters United, scored a huge victory recently when Mayor Brandon Scott vetoed CB 21-0022, a Security Deposit Alternatives bill passed by the city council on April 5th. This proposed predatory law that would benefit landlords and private businesses at the expense of tenants, which would be forced to curtail their rights and avenues for redress under Maryland law. This win reflects well upon the hard work and organizing that Progressive Maryland and other allies continue to do in Baltimore, and the work to build grassroots and community power will continue. We will provide updates on future phone banks and other ways people can help out and support this campaign. As long as we can keep up the pressure we can make sure that Rhino and similar companies stay out of Baltimore! .
Help us get our County Council to pass a Medicare For All local resolution. Please sign the petition and share. Want to help with outreach to Councilmembers and to other residents to build support for the campaign? Contact Josh.
State and National News: 
What is the Thrive Act and why do we need it? We have Biden’s infrastructure and family-support bills, and we know they will be a heavy lift in this retrograde Senate. But the Thrive Act, which was introduced two weeks ago by legislators we know and trust, adds critical elements directly from the Green New Deal and focuses on the frontline peoples otherwise downplayed in the Biden plan. Bringing these elements into the mix is just not something we can ignore as we move forward on the whole (incomplete) program. Read the fact sheet on the Thrive Act here.
Last week events on the national level featured highs and lows -- the introduction of the Biden budget, bundling many existing and new programs, as well as the low behavior of the GOP Senate, blocking a Jan. 6 commission and raising anew the question of how long can the filibuster stay in place.
On Friday, President Biden released his $6 trillion budget proposal for FY22, bundling all the major initiatives into one: his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, his $1.8 trillion families proposal, and $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending to fund federal agencies for the upcoming fiscal year (The Hill). Highlights getting new attention include a much more intense focus on racial equity with many more specific programs that would benefit historically underserved groups , an omission of the Hyde Amendment which bans federal spending on abortions, and an explicit mention of drug price negotiations and expanded public health programs -- all this headed for the Senate roadblock and possible reconciliation moves. The OMB fact sheet, remarkably, is just over five pages. Check it out.
People’s Action’s D.C. team notes that the Endless Frontier Act, which would establish a Directorate for Technology and Innovation in the National Science Foundation (NSF) and try to reverse the long-lasting effects of the Reagan campaign against research (they wanted maximum ignorance because the more we knew about the US and the world the more they might have to actually do}, got delayed last week along with everything else in the Senate, by new GOP resistance. See above, “how long can the filibuster stay in place?”
For a high-impact summer of progressive organizing, let’s wrap our heads around the June national calendar for action lined up by our allies at People’s Action:
June - Democracy Focus In Senate
June - Made to Save & We Can Do This National Vaccine Month of Action: https://madetosave.org/month-of-action/
June 1st - June 8th: Free the Vaccine days of action and street art [Questions? Ask Connie: [email protected] ]
June 3rd - Don't Compromise Our Future day of action (GNDN/ THRIVE Act) [Questions? Ask Kaniela: [email protected] ]
June 10th - (Internal) Launch Call for the National Tenants Bill of Rights (NTBOR) Summer of Imagination [Social Media Toolkit to promote] [Questions? Ask Grace: [email protected] ]
Weeks of June 14th & 21st - People's Action Democracy Throw Down [Questions? Ask Sondra: [email protected] ]
June 18th - 50th Anniversary War on Drugs [Social Media Week of June 14th] [Questions? Ask Ellen: [email protected]]
June 19th - Juneteenth
Last Week of June (WeCantWait!) push to pass Recovery / Build Back Better in the House
June 24th - We Can't Wait DC Day of Action (Build Back Better) [Questions? Ask Sondra: [email protected]]
Events from our allies:
Sunday, June 6 | 2-4:30pm
MoCo DSA Monthly Branch Meeting with Assembly debrief from Dels. Acevero and Stewart. Email for access
Wednesday, June 9 | 7 - 9 pm
Greenbelt Climate Action Network Focus On National Climate Legislation
Interested in learning more about the American Jobs Plan and the Clean Energy Standard, which are two current national legislative proposals? Please join us June 9 . (Zoom link at www.chears.org/gcan)
Wednesday, June 16 | 7pm
Prince George’s DSA monthly branch meeting -- Email for access
Progressive Maryland BlogSpace:
We value creating space for our members to express their thoughts on any issues related to our campaigns. Have an idea for a blog post? You can submit writing, film, graphic design etc. to be published on our website to the blog moderator, Woody, at [email protected].
May 31, 2021 Gauntlet thrown as Senate GOP says "what insurrection?" on Jan. 6
The Senate GOP late last week bowed to the bidding of Mitch McConnell (and Trump) and blocked a bipartisan panel to seek the full story of the infamous insurrection at the US Capitol. That outrageous refusal to face facts fits into the larger right-wing plan to gain and hold power at the expense of democracy -- a plan outlined in the PM BlogSpace last week by analyst Sean Dobson. Here's a recap of that deep-diving, four-part series on "The Once and Future Takeover, published last week (see below).
May 29, 2021 The Once and Future Takeover IV -- Democracy advocates must take working class issues to heart
May 28, 2021 The Once and Future Takeover III -- plugging gaps in our institutions
May 27, 2021 The Once and Future Takeover II -- vulnerabilities and vengeance
May 24, 2021 The Once and Future Takeover
Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, May 24, 2021
-May 20, 2021 Maryland has many workers who cannot join a union. This must change.
-May 05, 2021 Looming eviction crisis as emergency ebbs brings multiple calls for official relief
-May 04, 2021 Progressive Maryland launches PAC to back progressive candidates with the mother's milk of politics
>>Read more on the homepage of progressivemaryland.org.
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