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Make Lemonade [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-07-23

Make Lemonade

Dear Congressperson,

Mike Johnson just sent you all home early for bad behavior, he did not want you to vote on releasing the Epstein files. In effect, he handed you a bushel basket of lemons. What can you do with that extra time? How about you make some of the sweetest Lemonade on the planet!

I am suggesting the Democratic Representatives, as well as any Republicans who feel the same, conduct Shadow Government sessions. This can be in person or virtual, carried on CSPAN, YouTube, Substack, Zoom, etc. Talk with the younger members like AOC who know how to make Social Media work to advise on how to make your Shadow Government go viral.

Agenda:

First, I would recommend the issue you were sent home about. In the shadow hearings, review the evidence we already have on the Epstein issue. While most of us on the left know most of it already, those on the right are just starting to see it on their right wing newsaverse. Make your case to them for releasing the full files and show them you have some shared values.

Now that you have built rapport with some Republicans and have lifted the scales from some MAGA Eyes, you can expand to some other issues.

Hold Shadow Debates explaining what a Democratic Budget bill would have looked like, and WHY!

Show how Trump’s trashing of Medicaid is going to cost EVERYONE more. Show people which rural hospitals are most likely to close and make it personal to your constituents. Show how if you live in a rural area and your family is in an accident needing rapid care, you will be looking at a helicopter ride to get you to the hospital in time to save a life, an order of magnitude more expensive than a regular ambulance ride to a smaller local hospital. Even if you have a concierge executive insurance plan, the remaining hospitals are going to be caring for a lot more uninsured patients, and they must make that up somehow. That means raising prices for anyone with insurance. That means your insurance premiums are going up, your coverage will likely have higher deductibles and co-pays. In other words, either way YOU PAY!

Next, Discuss the Bi-Partisan Immigration Reform bill that Trump squashed because he wanted the immigration issue to run on. In other words, he wanted to gain political advantage by NOT fixing the problem. Show what the bi-partisan bill that was likely to pass would have done, and debate how Democrats would have made it even better. Our diversity is our strength, and crime rates are lower in immigrant communities. Give these people a pathway to citizenship, or at least permanent residency. Explain how the techniques currently being used are illegal and unconstitutional, and how you would do it differently and with dignity.

Discuss what the Democrats would like in a Budget bill, and why it would be much better for the American People. Instead of giveaways to the already morbidly wealthy, show how investing in infrastructure, research, and social programs would pay much better dividends. Really bring home the difference between a cost and an investment.

Explain the Brain Drain we are suddenly experiencing. Some of the best minds on the planet have been coming to our universities to study, and a number of them have stayed and helped us maintain our scientific and technological lead. Discuss how all the cuts to research and technology projects are leaving many of our sharpest people with their jobs and projects canceled. Europe and Asia, especially China, are offering these brilliant minds lucrative proposals to come to their countries to complete their projects. They get the full benefit from their work, and the benefit of all we have already invested in their projects. Bonus for them.

Let’s make these Shadow Government sessions go viral, get more coverage on the outside than you would have in regular congressional sessions. Make Mike Johnson rue the day he turned you loose to do your own Shadow Government sessions.

And in your spare time, I suggest you hold Town Hall meetings with your constituents both in person and virtually. And adopt a neighboring red district or two.

With a little effort and ingenuity Congressional Democrats can turn this extra recess into a truly transformative period. Make the most of this extra time and make the sweetest lemonade on Earth for your summer vacation.

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