May 24, 2025
How Nonprofit Leaders Can Help Save Medicaid
There is nothing more timely than the issue of saving Medicaid. We are in a moment of both extreme threat but also extreme opportunity. I know it would be very easy to think that there’s nothing we can do. That massive cuts to Medicaid are a done deal.
The fact is nothing could be further from the truth. And the role that nonprofit leaders can play in turning the tide and saving Medicaid for the people we serve, and for everyone who depends on it, is tremendous right now.
But here's the thing. Our standard advocacy strategies and messaging probably aren't going to work for this particular project. We have to become aware of what's needed, and then be committed to taking action and doing the things that will actually work.
In this episode, we share:
- The key elements we need to understand about the Republican strategy to pass their big, ugly bill
- The two big flaws in that strategy that show us how to focus our advocacy
- The biggest mistake we’re likely to make, and what to do instead
- Why arguing the facts and merits of the issue with Members of Congress won’t work
- The essential tactics that will have the greatest chance of success in this fight
- The three most effective ways to engage your clients, volunteers and supporters and help them make their voices heard on saving Medicaid
- How to time your advocacy action for greatest impact
Links:
Here are two great resources for clear and helpful information on Medicaid, work reporting requirements, and other background to help you explain the issue to others:
If you found value in this episode, please let others know! I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!
WEBVTT
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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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In today's episode, we share how nonprofit leaders can help save Medicaid.
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So stay tuned.
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If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
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I.
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I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
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It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
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Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
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This podcast will help you do just that.
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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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Hey there folks.
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Welcome to another episode of the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
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I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because there is nothing more timely than the issue of saving Medicaid right now.
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We are in a time of both extreme threat but also extreme opportunity.
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And I know it would be very easy to think that there is nothing we can do.
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That massive cuts to Medicaid are a done deal.
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The fact is nothing could be further from the truth.
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And furthermore, the role that nonprofit leaders can play in turning the tide and saving Medicaid for the people that we serve, and for everyone who depends on it, is tremendous right now.
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But here's the thing.
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Our standard advocacy strategies and messaging probably aren't gonna work for this particular project.
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So we have to be aware of what's needed, and then be committed to taking action and doing the things that will actually work.
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We can save Medicaid.
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The House just passed by the slimmest possible margin, a one vote margin, a giant bill that is massively ugly on all fronts.
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But one of its ugliest features is that it would effectively cut roughly a trillion dollars from Medicaid and SNAP benefits.
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So that's horrifying on its face.
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It's got a lot of nonprofit leaders pretty freaked out.
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And it's certainly got a lot of folks who depend on Medicaid pretty freaked out, with good reason.
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But if we're gonna effectively fight back on this, we have to understand some basic things about what's going on in this political moment.
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Because it's not business as usual in a lot of ways.
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And so what we can't do is act as if it's business as usual.
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Let me share a little bit about what's going on with the politics of this, because it informs how we then formulate an effective advocacy strategy to fight back.
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We're clear about the threat, but the opportunity lies in the process for getting this giant, clunky pile of policy actually turned into law.
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That's an uphill battle for the Republicans.
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This policy dung heap doesn't just include devastating cuts from Medicaid and SNAP.
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It's also got a lot of other really horrible features.
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Fundamentally, the entire bill is designed to create a massive transfer of wealth from the least well off Americans to the uber wealthy.
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That is its fundamental purpose at its core, and it has a lot of different pieces and parts that are designed to help accomplish that.
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There's massive tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, which mean an increase in resources for the folks at the very top.
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And then there are cuts to services and benefits to folks at the bottom who really depend on that.
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And they're using the resources that help the lowest income Americans to pay for benefits and giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.
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There's reasons to oppose the entire bill and all its provisions just on that alone.
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But what's important to understand is it's not an accident that there is massive Medicaid and SNAP benefit cuts in that bill.
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It's part of the whole design to serve the larger project.
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It's reverse Robinhood.
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Take from the poor and give to the rich.
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Almost no one in America supports that idea.
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But the Republican majority has put together a strategy with their extreme right wing backers to pull this off.
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But they have a problem.
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Which is that there is still legislative process.
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And so the way they're getting this done, and I'll try to make this brief, but it's important to understand the political context because it gives us our opportunities for advocacy.
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So they passed this initial bill in the House, by a one vote margin, and they barely managed to pull that off.
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They had to make a lot of individual concessions to individual House members in order to get their vote.
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'Cause a lot of House members were uncomfortable with different pieces of the bill.
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They wanted changes.
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So this is a weirdly cobbled together thing with lots of little provisions to satisfy one House member for this and another for that.
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They did that just to be able to pass it by one vote.
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The strategy here is to do this giant bill under Reconciliation Rules, which is basically a parliamentary maneuver that allows budget related legislation to be passed by a simple majority in the Senate.
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Where normally because of the filibuster, it typically requires for all non reconciliation rules bills.
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All other bills essentially are subject to the requirement of a 60 vote majority, because that's the number of votes it takes to break a filibuster in the Senate.
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Because the Republicans hold only a very slim majority in the Senate as well, there is no possibility, no scenario in which they can get 60 votes to pass this thing, or any bill that is basically designed for a massive reverse Robinhood move of taking tons of resources from the least well off Americans and handing it over to the most well off Americans.
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Couldn't pass.
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So they're doing this all under reconciliation rules, and I won't bore you with the minutia of that.
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But the important thing to know is if you're gonna do that, if you're gonna skip that 60 vote majority and go with a simple majority in the Senate, the trade-off is the rules say that the bills passed by the House and the Senate have to be identical, down to the last comma and period.
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There can't be any differences between them.
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This poses a huge problem because there are all those things that the Republican leadership had to put in the bill to acquire the votes of individual House Republicans who were otherwise gonna vote against it.
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All the senators, they didn't get anything outta that deal.
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They have their own stuff they want, so now they're all gonna negotiate for getting their stuff in the Senate bill.
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The chances of those two bills lining up are very, very slim..
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So that sets up a potentially very long and drawn out negotiation process while they sort out all those differences between the bills to arrive at a pair of identical bills.
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The fact is, the longer it takes, the better it is for us.
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Because part of the strategy is also to ram this through as fast as possible before people find out what's actually in it.
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Because here's the thing to understand, this is key to advocacy strategy.
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The Republican instigators of these bills know exactly how unpopular the policies inside them are with the American people.
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The polling is incredibly clear.
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Basically, Americans by huge majorities reject just about every policy element that's in these bills.
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So how are they dealing with that?
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They're doing two things.
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They're trying to move as fast as possible.
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And once it became a one vote win in the House, what we saw was a shift in strategy from the Republicans on their messaging, almost immediately.
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The first thing they tried, to solve this problem of deep unpopularity with their actual policy, is that they tried to do a maneuver in the bill where they were gonna have the Medicaid and SNAP cuts not take effect until after, not just the 2026 midterm elections.
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They wanted to delay the effects until after the 2028 elections.
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Because they know that they will probably lose their majority over this bill.
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They have accepted that as the price of making this sweeping change, and along with it dismantling and destroying as many functioning pieces of federal government as they possibly can.
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This has been a 40 plus year project on the part of the right wing.
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And they finally have, they believe, the combination of factors with an erratic, inconsistent, rhetorical bomb throwing, attention attracting, distracting president in the White House.
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Who can keep things jumbled and chaotic all the time, and throwing so many bad things out the door at once, that it's very difficult for the opposition to organize and stay focused.
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That's working really well for them right now.
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So they've got that, and they have slim majorities in the House and the Senate.
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They see this as their one best opportunity to achieve a 40 plus year goal of a massive reverse Robinhood move, and in combination with that to dismantle, destroy, or disrupt as many functions of government as possible.
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So that when they are inevitably thrown out of the majority by the voters, that the incoming, very likely democratic majority, will have their hands full trying to put it all back together.
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Their goal is that the damage will be already so done, so finished, that it won't be fixable, or that it will take decades to fix.
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So that's the gamble they're ready to make.
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But there's a hole in that theory.
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Because while there may be consensus amongst the Republicans in Congress that they are willing as a group to sacrifice their majority in 2026 in order to achieve these results now.
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Here's the problem with that.
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They can all say as a group, oh yeah, We'd be willing to give up the majority in order to get this done.
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That's a good trade.
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But each individual member in the House and Senate, when they're saying that they don't mean them, they don't mean their seat.
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They imagine a future in which, yeah, their party's out of power, but they still have their seat.
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They're still a US senator.
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They're still a US member of Congress.
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And they're just hanging out in the minority making as much trouble as they can for the majority, until they get their turn back in power.
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But they don't imagine that they personally will be thrown out of office and therefore out of power.
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That's not part of the scenario they're imagining.
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And there, in that, is the key to how we make advocacy work in this setting.
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It is that simple.
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The mistake we could make, and I am already seeing this happening in a couple of circles.
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The mistake we could make is to try to engage Republican members of Congress on the merits of the issue, and act as if the problem is they just don't understand the impact.
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If they only knew, if we could just explain it to them better, then they would understand that their constituents would be hurt and that it would be really bad.
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And, and gosh, rural hospitals would close, and red states would be hit a lot harder than blue states, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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They already know that.
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They already know that.
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How do we know they already know that?
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Two things.
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As I said, first they tried a maneuver that would push the impact out beyond the next two election cycles.
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When that failed, the next strategy they immediately took up upon passage of the House bill, was they just started lying about what it would do.
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So now they're out there pushing messaging constantly, everywhere they can, to convince the public, to convince their constituents, that there's nothing to see here.
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They're not gonna cut Medicaid.
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Oh heck no.
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They're just gonna make some work requirements.
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'cause that's not fair that all these able-bodied people are freeloading off of Medicaid.
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Except nothing about that is true.
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They know.
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They know what their bill will do.
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They know that it will harm huge swaths of the people in their district or their state.
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They already know that.
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And their strategy for the moment is to try to just lie about it and hope that because of all the chaos and all the stuff going on, that people won't figure out what they're up to until it's too late.
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So what we don't do is waste our breath and our energy carefully explaining to members of Congress why this will harm people.
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They already know.
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But you know who doesn't know?
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The members of the community, the voters, they don't know.
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And polling tells us that even Republican voters strongly support Medicaid.
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They get it that this is good for the community.
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They get it.
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Most people know someone who receives their healthcare through Medicaid.
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This all means that pretty much there are only two things that are gonna work in this environment, on this issue.
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Fundamentally, this is about pressure.
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And this is going back to the flaw in the case theory of, oh, Republicans are willing to accept a loss of the majority in 2026 in order to achieve this policy goal.
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But individual members of Congress and individual senators did not sign up for that deal when it's gonna be their seat.
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So in particular, Republicans in swing seats need a lot of pressure because they're the most vulnerable electorally.
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Just talking strategy here.
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Every single Republican member of Congress and a couple of wobbly Democrats need to be getting a ton of pressure from their constituents on this, and it needs to be highly visible.
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Because they're not sitting quietly while this is going on.
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They're out there actively misrepresenting what their bill would do, and misrepresenting who it would harm.
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And we can't let that stand because if we let that just soak through the atmosphere, eventually people might start to believe that.
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And say, oh, well it's not really gonna hurt people who are deserving and legitimately on Medicaid.
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It'll only hurt those lazy people who are supposed to be working and they're not.
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Within hours of the passage of that bill, the Rs started changing their messaging on this, and now they're lying about what the bill would do.
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Because they know that if people know what it will actually do, they will be furious and they're gonna face a ton of pressure.
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So each individual member of Congress, specifically the Republicans, because the Democratic caucus for the most part is holding strong on this.
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There are only one or two wobblies out there, and if you're in their districts, you know who they are.
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But mostly this is a absolute straight up partisan divide on this.
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I understand.
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And hear me when I say you must remain non-partisan in your work, but you can be smart about your targeting and where you spend your energy.
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Focus on those members of Congress who are most vulnerable to pressure.
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And be advised that even if you are in a deep red state, they are still vulnerable.
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So keep the pressure on.
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But especially if you're in a swing district where that Republican member won by a relatively slim margin and it's a fairly competitive environment, they absolutely are super attuned to the fact that they could lose their job over this.
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And they don't want that.
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They wanna keep that job.
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They wanna stay in power.
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They're not that keen on giving up their personal power and influence in service of a larger policy project.
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That's really not what they signed up for.
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So they're the place that we need to put pressure.
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And that pressure needs to be loud, vocal, and visible, because part of the project here is keeping the public aware that this is what's really happening.
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That this really will harm vast swaths of our communities.
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It would very likely result in the closure of many rural hospitals.
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There are tons of cascading effects that would be absolutely devastating.
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So I wanna be clear.
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Facts matter.
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It's just that you're not taking your carefully assembled facts and trying to persuade on the merits of the facts, any particular member of Congress.
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They already know all this stuff.
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But you need to know it and be able to articulate it, because if you wanna be effective, you need to be vocal in the public square.
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And organizing and getting others to raise their voices, either by communicating directly with their members of Congress, which is very important.
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Calls and emails to Republican members of Congress is critical.
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They should be getting hammered on this.
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The ones who voted wrong should be getting hammered for the vote they just took in the House.
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And the senators, every single Republican senator should be under immense pressure not to go along with these cuts to Medicaid and the work requirements.
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Which if this isn't your issue, i'll say just a couple things about it in a minute to explain why that is such a messed up policy project.
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And cuts to SNAP benefits.
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That that's absolutely a non-starter.
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This giant bill was tinkered with so much that the day it was passed, nobody actually knows what's in it.
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And that will come out in the next week or two as the analysts burrow into it and find out all the bad things that are tucked in there that were used to get an individual's vote.
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So there's a lot of stuff, but the two things that it's important to know is massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, and the whole project is about a giant reverse Robinhood move.
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Those are the two salient points that are what every voter needs to know, every constituent needs to know.
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And as many as possible to raise up their voice and say, absolutely not.
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Do not vote for that.
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That is wrong.
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It will hurt us.
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Do not do it.
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And that needs to be communicated directly to them, of course.
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But also it needs to be visible so that the lies that they're putting out don't start to soak into public perception.
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And the best way to do that is to be visible and vocal.
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That means rallies.
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That means showing up at town halls.
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That means doing things that attract media attention, whether it's traditional media, or whether you're getting this out on the socials, or both.
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Both is always better, and they feed on each other as you know.
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So this needs to be highly visible, highly vocal for it to create the amount of pressure and the inoculation against the lies that is necessary.
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Now, just let me say a quick thing about why the work requirement nonsense and the lies about it are so problematic.
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The Republicans who are pushing this know perfectly well what the data say about who's on Medicaid.
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They know this.
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They don't want you to know it.
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They don't want the public to know it.
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Because if the public knew, then they would know that all this stuff they're saying is total lies and BS.
00:21:20.003 --> 00:21:30.227
The reality is that there is a single digit percentage of total Medicaid recipients who might fall into the category of able bodied adult who's not working.
00:21:30.603 --> 00:21:33.686
The implication being and not trying to work.
00:21:34.082 --> 00:21:35.162
So here's what's real.
00:21:35.739 --> 00:21:39.869
About a quarter of all Medicaid recipients are elderly or disabled.
00:21:40.615 --> 00:21:43.724
A third of Medicaid recipients are children.
00:21:44.257 --> 00:21:50.675
So already that's over half of the total Medicaid population, that under no circumstances would they be expected to work.
00:21:51.273 --> 00:21:53.253
You're gonna say to grandma, get a job.
00:21:53.794 --> 00:21:57.243
You're gonna say to the kid, get a job, or you can't have your healthcare.
00:21:57.453 --> 00:21:58.054
That's crazy.
00:21:58.054 --> 00:21:59.104
Of course, they're not gonna say that.
00:21:59.344 --> 00:22:00.814
So that's over half right there.
00:22:01.497 --> 00:22:08.933
About 40% of Medicaid recipients would fit in that category of able-bodied adult who can work.
00:22:09.448 --> 00:22:18.640
Here's the thing, almost all of them are already working, either for pay or they are working as the sole caregiver for multiple family members.
00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:23.338
Or they are in school so that they can get a better job.
00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:25.460
They're all already doing all that.
00:22:25.998 --> 00:22:40.087
So the only thing a work requirement would do is it would create massive red tape and bureaucratic barriers to accessing the healthcare that these folks are completely entitled to receive.
00:22:40.696 --> 00:22:44.086
They're already meeting all those BS work requirements.
00:22:44.086 --> 00:22:48.636
What it really is, is a reporting requirement.
00:22:49.267 --> 00:23:02.549
And the goal is to make the reporting so onerous, so harassing and difficult and so complicated, that a lot of people will attempt to comply with the reporting.
00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:21.012
And because they missed a detail or they missed a deadline or whatever, or just their seasonal erratic piecing together half a dozen different jobs at different times with unpredictable hours, that that doesn't all line up precisely with the way the reporting is structured.
00:23:21.673 --> 00:23:31.612
If those things can't line up perfectly and the person can't stay on top of all the constant reporting in to prove that they're doing all the things, then they get kicked off.
00:23:32.118 --> 00:23:34.338
And that is built in by design.
00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:43.394
That's how the Republicans plan to achieve their so-called pay for, for all those massive tax cuts for the uber wealthy.
00:23:44.023 --> 00:23:45.253
It's built into the design.
00:23:45.253 --> 00:23:46.574
They know what it will do.
00:23:47.246 --> 00:23:50.743
So you don't have to go through all that data and explanation.
00:23:51.307 --> 00:24:00.560
All you gotta do is say in plain English to folks, look, first of all, more than half of the people on Medicaid are elderly, disabled, and children.
00:24:01.101 --> 00:24:03.740
Obviously they're not subject to work requirements.
00:24:04.401 --> 00:24:09.232
The remaining adults who are subject to work requirements, most of them, they're already working.
00:24:09.442 --> 00:24:11.002
And you know what it's like, folks.
00:24:11.103 --> 00:24:20.048
Maybe this is you, maybe this is a friend or a relative, where you're working your tail off, you're piecing together multiple jobs, but they're not consistent hours.
00:24:20.107 --> 00:24:20.917
They're seasonal.
00:24:21.018 --> 00:24:25.698
It's a complicated juggling act to keep all that going to feed your family.
00:24:26.208 --> 00:24:29.799
And what this bill would do is make it harder for you.
00:24:30.069 --> 00:24:42.688
To say, if you want your healthcare, you're gonna have to show up and file form after form, after form, after form to prove that you're really doing all these 529 jobs.
00:24:43.326 --> 00:24:46.926
This is supposed to be the party that's against bureaucracy and red tape.
00:24:47.406 --> 00:24:55.846
But when it comes to Medicaid, they wanna slap all that on you to make it harder for you to access the healthcare that you're eligible for.
00:24:56.425 --> 00:24:58.532
So enough with that, we reject that.
00:24:59.230 --> 00:25:01.871
But even simpler is just no cuts to Medicaid.
00:25:02.590 --> 00:25:09.000
If you're called upon to explain why a work requirement is in fact a cut to Medicaid, you want to be able to do that.
00:25:09.428 --> 00:25:11.018
But simpler is better.
00:25:11.545 --> 00:25:17.083
This is about loud vocal pressure with a simple core message.
00:25:17.383 --> 00:25:18.823
No cuts to Medicaid.
00:25:18.823 --> 00:25:20.232
No cuts to SNAP.
00:25:20.623 --> 00:25:23.323
We the community depend on this.
00:25:23.563 --> 00:25:24.462
Don't do it.
00:25:24.929 --> 00:25:26.398
It's really that simple.
00:25:26.578 --> 00:25:30.609
Your job is not to argue the merits of the details.
00:25:30.970 --> 00:25:41.756
You can if you want, but the goal is to focus on effective messaging and devote your energy to targeting your messaging to the people who are most going to be impacted by it.
00:25:42.269 --> 00:25:45.193
And to organize your folks.
00:25:45.688 --> 00:25:50.699
So this means going a little bit outside the comfort zone and reaching out.
00:25:50.729 --> 00:25:56.253
First of all, even if it's just about calls and emails to members of Congress and senators, which is very important.
00:25:56.905 --> 00:25:59.694
Don't just make that call yourself or send that email yourself.
00:26:00.196 --> 00:26:03.406
Get everyone in your orbit involved in this.
00:26:04.021 --> 00:26:08.211
This is a fight that deeply affects the people you serve.
00:26:08.751 --> 00:26:14.952
They deserve to have a voice in this, and without you, they might not have that opportunity.
00:26:15.492 --> 00:26:19.227
They might not have another way, another point of access.
00:26:19.646 --> 00:26:32.936
So far from doing something inappropriate or exploitative, by engaging them in this advocacy work, you are giving them an opportunity to raise their voice on behalf of something that affects them directly.
00:26:33.419 --> 00:26:38.678
You're giving them an opportunity to take personal power and to fight for what's theirs.
00:26:39.429 --> 00:26:56.353
Every time you invite and give an opportunity to your clients, to your volunteers, to your donors, to your board members, to all your supporters, everybody in your orbit, to say this is a powerfully important issue in the moment.
00:26:56.593 --> 00:26:59.452
This matters to almost every single person we serve.
00:26:59.969 --> 00:27:04.713
And here's an opportunity to make our voices heard and to make a real impact.
00:27:05.307 --> 00:27:06.298
Here's what to do.
00:27:06.567 --> 00:27:10.468
And then you give super simple instructions that are easily acted on.
00:27:11.148 --> 00:27:12.048
But you gotta do it.
00:27:12.048 --> 00:27:13.128
You gotta do the outreach.
00:27:13.128 --> 00:27:15.888
You gotta connect your people, you gotta bring them along.
00:27:15.888 --> 00:27:25.912
You may need to give them a little bit of education and background on this, but you do not have to become a Medicaid expert to do this or to have effective messaging on this.
00:27:26.601 --> 00:27:37.738
For those of you who work in healthcare or health adjacent issues, you probably have tons of knowledge about the workings of Medicaid and all the details, and you're prepared to talk about that.
00:27:38.458 --> 00:27:39.958
But let's say you don't.
00:27:39.958 --> 00:27:46.513
Let's say you work in housing or employment or any number of other non directly health adjacent issues.
00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:50.650
This still affects the people you serve, probably in very large numbers.
00:27:51.009 --> 00:27:54.646
So this is not a time to say, oh, well that's not really my issue.
00:27:55.179 --> 00:27:56.169
It's everybody's issue.
00:27:56.249 --> 00:28:02.397
Every nonprofit leader who works in direct service, who helps people who are struggling in the community.
00:28:02.974 --> 00:28:05.481
This affects the people we serve without a doubt.
00:28:06.029 --> 00:28:08.039
For some folks, it'll be nearly everyone you serve.
00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:09.779
For others, it may be a segment.
00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:10.920
Doesn't matter.
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:15.299
It's hugely important and it's important to our communities.
00:28:15.818 --> 00:28:26.630
Because if you take away healthcare for sometimes half or more of the people in a community, the cascading effects of that are gonna be disastrous, and they're gonna harm everyone.
00:28:27.537 --> 00:28:34.939
So we have an opportunity here, and the good news is that there's both an immediate opportunity in the next few days.
00:28:35.358 --> 00:28:40.888
And then there is an opportunity that is at least gonna extend to the 4th of July and very likely throughout the summer.
00:28:41.346 --> 00:28:48.348
The immediate opportunity is, right now, members of Congress, US senators, are home for a district work period.
00:28:48.690 --> 00:28:49.920
Basically for the next week.
00:28:50.272 --> 00:28:54.721
So go ahead and if a town hall is happening, show up for that.
00:28:55.021 --> 00:28:58.592
If a rally or a protest is happening, show up for that.
00:28:59.193 --> 00:29:03.273
Anything that is going to put pressure on them publicly.
00:29:03.578 --> 00:29:07.115
And call attention to this issue and put the pressure on.
00:29:07.655 --> 00:29:08.675
Get involved in that.
00:29:08.715 --> 00:29:11.655
Let all the people in your orbit, let them know about that.
00:29:12.615 --> 00:29:14.355
And say, here's a chance to make your voice heard.
00:29:14.355 --> 00:29:21.039
If you care about the possibility that there's gonna be massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, here's the place to be.
00:29:21.643 --> 00:29:23.053
Host a sign making party.
00:29:23.518 --> 00:29:28.338
They're a blast, it gets people involved, people have fun doing it together.
00:29:28.338 --> 00:29:38.564
People get really clever and there is community building and solidarity building and reassurance that folks aren't the only ones who are worried about this.
00:29:38.773 --> 00:29:44.440
There's tremendous value in pulling people together as a group to do something together to make their voices heard.
00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:48.640
If there's a rally or a protest coming up, sign making parties are awesome.
00:29:49.272 --> 00:29:55.295
If there's a town hall, signs may not be allowed in, but you can still have people show up and make their voices heard.
00:29:55.654 --> 00:29:57.035
And they don't have to speak.
00:29:57.530 --> 00:29:58.371
That's the other thing.
00:29:58.801 --> 00:30:04.031
Make sure that folks know that their simple presence in a town hall is very important.
00:30:04.422 --> 00:30:12.321
If they stand up and cheer for the right things and boo the bad things and actively participate in that way.
00:30:12.892 --> 00:30:16.162
They don't have to be the ones who get up and tell their story if they don't want to.
00:30:16.582 --> 00:30:19.622
But if they do want to, you can support them in doing that.
00:30:20.097 --> 00:30:22.407
Because personal stories do matter in this.
00:30:22.557 --> 00:30:27.028
Stories of how people will be harmed, stories of the reality of their lives,.
00:30:27.028 --> 00:30:31.478
Because that's how we get the message out about what the real truth of the situation is.
00:30:32.044 --> 00:30:40.114
Whether it's about work requirements or about any other aspect of people's lives and how Medicaid makes a difference in their lives, or how SNAP makes a difference in their lives.
00:30:40.473 --> 00:30:50.067
Getting up and simply telling the truth about their own experience, puts the lie to the lies and makes it harder for the Republicans to peddle the lies.
00:30:50.592 --> 00:30:54.311
All of that is incredibly powerful and important.
00:30:54.672 --> 00:31:04.787
And as nonprofit leaders, we have the unique opportunity to be organizers, and facilitators of opportunities for empowerment for the people we serve.
00:31:05.392 --> 00:31:10.843
And in the process, I believe we can at the very least reduce the damage.
00:31:11.363 --> 00:31:15.972
Because in a lot of cases, given their broad agenda here, the goal is simply to reduce the damage.
00:31:15.972 --> 00:31:17.563
We can't always stop everything.
00:31:17.863 --> 00:31:31.172
But first of all, we can make each member of Congress think twice about whether they really wanna throw themselves on their sword for the party's project, if it's gonna mean that they themselves will lose their seat.
00:31:31.755 --> 00:31:34.166
And this is never stated out loud.
00:31:34.166 --> 00:31:40.497
I just wanna make sure that that's clear too, that we don't ever threaten with votes.
00:31:41.105 --> 00:31:42.065
They're not dumb.
00:31:42.275 --> 00:31:54.755
They know that if they have a lot of really angry, focused vocal constituents in their face about a particular issue night and day constantly, they know that that is not good for their political future.
00:31:54.875 --> 00:31:56.434
Nobody has to spell that out for them.
00:31:56.434 --> 00:31:57.125
They get it.
00:31:57.575 --> 00:32:01.961
So don't ever make the mistake of saying, you're gonna lose your job over this.
00:32:02.577 --> 00:32:07.635
Now, chants of do your job are very effective in town hall meetings.
00:32:07.786 --> 00:32:08.955
They're extremely effective.
00:32:09.705 --> 00:32:15.855
That is very bad video, very bad press for a member of Congress to have constituents saying, do your job.
00:32:16.333 --> 00:32:20.012
Because the clear implication is you're not doing your job, you're not representing us.
00:32:20.903 --> 00:32:22.594
All of that is within your power.
00:32:23.201 --> 00:32:28.296
And I know you got 529,000 things on your plate, and this is one more.
00:32:28.858 --> 00:32:31.247
But what's the price if we fail to act?
00:32:31.247 --> 00:32:32.758
Are we okay with that?
00:32:33.673 --> 00:32:34.574
So find a way.
00:32:35.046 --> 00:32:37.476
Do as much as you can and then do a little bit more.
00:32:38.045 --> 00:32:45.762
We have at least the first part of the summer,'cause even the most ambitious target cited by the Republicans is the 4th of July.
00:32:45.762 --> 00:32:49.201
That gives us all of June to get very, very busy.
00:32:49.930 --> 00:32:57.848
And very likely we'll be talking through the summer because that would be an extraordinarily ambitious timeline, and everything would have to go perfectly.
00:32:57.999 --> 00:33:01.148
And part of our job is to make sure that things do not go perfectly for them.
00:33:01.767 --> 00:33:05.547
We need to throw as many wrenches in the works as humanly possible.
00:33:06.057 --> 00:33:13.355
And the wedge that we have, pretty much the only wedge that we have, because again, they do know what they're doing.
00:33:13.415 --> 00:33:17.016
This is not a problem of they don't get what the impact will be.
00:33:17.016 --> 00:33:18.516
They totally get what the impact would be.
00:33:18.516 --> 00:33:19.746
That is the point.
00:33:20.445 --> 00:33:24.174
So our job is to put a giant spotlight on that.
00:33:24.922 --> 00:33:30.666
Say this is what they're up to, and we, the community reject it entirely.
00:33:31.116 --> 00:33:32.196
This is wrong.
00:33:32.317 --> 00:33:33.277
Don't do it.
00:33:33.336 --> 00:33:34.356
We oppose it.
00:33:34.747 --> 00:33:35.527
How dare you?
00:33:36.250 --> 00:33:41.200
And be in their face constantly and be shining the spotlight constantly.
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:48.789
Take away their ability to misrepresent what they're doing, and take away their ability to hide from what they're doing.
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:57.223
If you do that, if we all do that together, this bill falls apart because there simply will not be the votes for it.
00:33:58.066 --> 00:33:59.115
We can do this.
00:33:59.567 --> 00:34:06.182
But we have to be willing to do some advocacy work that is not necessarily part of our usual playbook.
00:34:06.603 --> 00:34:11.619
Think about what we can accomplish if we're willing to step outside our comfort zone together.
00:34:12.293 --> 00:34:14.753
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode.
00:34:15.097 --> 00:34:17.318
Right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:02.660
You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:02.930 --> 00:00:08.179
In today's episode, we share how nonprofit leaders can help save Medicaid.
00:00:08.509 --> 00:00:09.859
So stay tuned.
00:00:16.001 --> 00:00:25.121
If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
00:00:25.121 --> 00:00:25.152
I.
00:00:25.512 --> 00:00:38.531
I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
00:00:39.161 --> 00:00:51.701
It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
00:00:51.762 --> 00:00:54.551
Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
00:00:55.152 --> 00:00:57.252
This podcast will help you do just that.
00:00:57.762 --> 00:01:00.762
Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:06.465 --> 00:01:06.879
Hey there folks.
00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.215
Welcome to another episode of the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:10.515 --> 00:01:11.834
I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
00:01:12.344 --> 00:01:20.424
I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because there is nothing more timely than the issue of saving Medicaid right now.
00:01:21.251 --> 00:01:26.727
We are in a time of both extreme threat but also extreme opportunity.
00:01:27.263 --> 00:01:31.444
And I know it would be very easy to think that there is nothing we can do.
00:01:31.774 --> 00:01:34.743
That massive cuts to Medicaid are a done deal.
00:01:35.417 --> 00:01:38.117
The fact is nothing could be further from the truth.
00:01:38.617 --> 00:01:51.894
And furthermore, the role that nonprofit leaders can play in turning the tide and saving Medicaid for the people that we serve, and for everyone who depends on it, is tremendous right now.
00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:53.801
But here's the thing.
00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:01.771
Our standard advocacy strategies and messaging probably aren't gonna work for this particular project.
00:02:02.191 --> 00:02:10.568
So we have to be aware of what's needed, and then be committed to taking action and doing the things that will actually work.
00:02:12.467 --> 00:02:13.817
We can save Medicaid.
00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:24.951
The House just passed by the slimmest possible margin, a one vote margin, a giant bill that is massively ugly on all fronts.
00:02:25.133 --> 00:02:34.643
But one of its ugliest features is that it would effectively cut roughly a trillion dollars from Medicaid and SNAP benefits.
00:02:34.844 --> 00:02:36.764
So that's horrifying on its face.
00:02:37.125 --> 00:02:40.305
It's got a lot of nonprofit leaders pretty freaked out.
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And it's certainly got a lot of folks who depend on Medicaid pretty freaked out, with good reason.
00:02:46.358 --> 00:02:53.793
But if we're gonna effectively fight back on this, we have to understand some basic things about what's going on in this political moment.
00:02:53.973 --> 00:02:58.502
Because it's not business as usual in a lot of ways.
00:02:58.772 --> 00:03:03.742
And so what we can't do is act as if it's business as usual.
00:03:04.698 --> 00:03:15.301
Let me share a little bit about what's going on with the politics of this, because it informs how we then formulate an effective advocacy strategy to fight back.
00:03:15.911 --> 00:03:27.812
We're clear about the threat, but the opportunity lies in the process for getting this giant, clunky pile of policy actually turned into law.
00:03:28.245 --> 00:03:30.615
That's an uphill battle for the Republicans.
00:03:31.217 --> 00:03:36.735
This policy dung heap doesn't just include devastating cuts from Medicaid and SNAP.
00:03:37.170 --> 00:03:40.200
It's also got a lot of other really horrible features.
00:03:41.006 --> 00:03:52.893
Fundamentally, the entire bill is designed to create a massive transfer of wealth from the least well off Americans to the uber wealthy.
00:03:53.395 --> 00:04:02.276
That is its fundamental purpose at its core, and it has a lot of different pieces and parts that are designed to help accomplish that.
00:04:02.605 --> 00:04:11.435
There's massive tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, which mean an increase in resources for the folks at the very top.
00:04:12.365 --> 00:04:18.656
And then there are cuts to services and benefits to folks at the bottom who really depend on that.
00:04:19.122 --> 00:04:29.725
And they're using the resources that help the lowest income Americans to pay for benefits and giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.
00:04:30.267 --> 00:04:35.487
There's reasons to oppose the entire bill and all its provisions just on that alone.
00:04:36.358 --> 00:04:44.975
But what's important to understand is it's not an accident that there is massive Medicaid and SNAP benefit cuts in that bill.
00:04:45.125 --> 00:04:48.725
It's part of the whole design to serve the larger project.
00:04:49.432 --> 00:04:50.449
It's reverse Robinhood.
00:04:51.750 --> 00:04:54.060
Take from the poor and give to the rich.
00:04:54.677 --> 00:04:58.675
Almost no one in America supports that idea.
00:04:59.283 --> 00:05:07.591
But the Republican majority has put together a strategy with their extreme right wing backers to pull this off.
00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:09.560
But they have a problem.
00:05:09.875 --> 00:05:13.221
Which is that there is still legislative process.
00:05:13.711 --> 00:05:24.326
And so the way they're getting this done, and I'll try to make this brief, but it's important to understand the political context because it gives us our opportunities for advocacy.
00:05:24.927 --> 00:05:31.507
So they passed this initial bill in the House, by a one vote margin, and they barely managed to pull that off.
00:05:32.031 --> 00:05:39.439
They had to make a lot of individual concessions to individual House members in order to get their vote.
00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:43.160
'Cause a lot of House members were uncomfortable with different pieces of the bill.
00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:44.420
They wanted changes.
00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:54.507
So this is a weirdly cobbled together thing with lots of little provisions to satisfy one House member for this and another for that.
00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:58.480
They did that just to be able to pass it by one vote.
00:05:59.247 --> 00:06:16.721
The strategy here is to do this giant bill under Reconciliation Rules, which is basically a parliamentary maneuver that allows budget related legislation to be passed by a simple majority in the Senate.
00:06:17.237 --> 00:06:25.754
Where normally because of the filibuster, it typically requires for all non reconciliation rules bills.
00:06:26.274 --> 00:06:35.579
All other bills essentially are subject to the requirement of a 60 vote majority, because that's the number of votes it takes to break a filibuster in the Senate.
00:06:36.245 --> 00:06:59.192
Because the Republicans hold only a very slim majority in the Senate as well, there is no possibility, no scenario in which they can get 60 votes to pass this thing, or any bill that is basically designed for a massive reverse Robinhood move of taking tons of resources from the least well off Americans and handing it over to the most well off Americans.
00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:00.689
Couldn't pass.
00:07:01.468 --> 00:07:07.516
So they're doing this all under reconciliation rules, and I won't bore you with the minutia of that.
00:07:07.547 --> 00:07:25.776
But the important thing to know is if you're gonna do that, if you're gonna skip that 60 vote majority and go with a simple majority in the Senate, the trade-off is the rules say that the bills passed by the House and the Senate have to be identical, down to the last comma and period.
00:07:25.927 --> 00:07:28.057
There can't be any differences between them.
00:07:28.728 --> 00:07:43.048
This poses a huge problem because there are all those things that the Republican leadership had to put in the bill to acquire the votes of individual House Republicans who were otherwise gonna vote against it.
00:07:43.766 --> 00:07:47.276
All the senators, they didn't get anything outta that deal.
00:07:47.764 --> 00:07:53.819
They have their own stuff they want, so now they're all gonna negotiate for getting their stuff in the Senate bill.
00:07:54.610 --> 00:07:58.204
The chances of those two bills lining up are very, very slim..
00:07:58.997 --> 00:08:10.906
So that sets up a potentially very long and drawn out negotiation process while they sort out all those differences between the bills to arrive at a pair of identical bills.
00:08:11.684 --> 00:08:15.134
The fact is, the longer it takes, the better it is for us.
00:08:15.630 --> 00:08:25.591
Because part of the strategy is also to ram this through as fast as possible before people find out what's actually in it.
00:08:26.228 --> 00:08:30.689
Because here's the thing to understand, this is key to advocacy strategy.
00:08:31.252 --> 00:08:41.309
The Republican instigators of these bills know exactly how unpopular the policies inside them are with the American people.
00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:43.500
The polling is incredibly clear.
00:08:44.062 --> 00:08:50.241
Basically, Americans by huge majorities reject just about every policy element that's in these bills.
00:08:50.835 --> 00:08:52.424
So how are they dealing with that?
00:08:52.695 --> 00:08:53.894
They're doing two things.
00:08:53.985 --> 00:08:56.325
They're trying to move as fast as possible.
00:08:56.899 --> 00:09:07.639
And once it became a one vote win in the House, what we saw was a shift in strategy from the Republicans on their messaging, almost immediately.
00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:26.533
The first thing they tried, to solve this problem of deep unpopularity with their actual policy, is that they tried to do a maneuver in the bill where they were gonna have the Medicaid and SNAP cuts not take effect until after, not just the 2026 midterm elections.
00:09:26.533 --> 00:09:30.716
They wanted to delay the effects until after the 2028 elections.
00:09:31.214 --> 00:09:35.224
Because they know that they will probably lose their majority over this bill.
00:09:35.870 --> 00:09:49.418
They have accepted that as the price of making this sweeping change, and along with it dismantling and destroying as many functioning pieces of federal government as they possibly can.
00:09:49.418 --> 00:09:54.477
This has been a 40 plus year project on the part of the right wing.
00:09:55.075 --> 00:10:09.307
And they finally have, they believe, the combination of factors with an erratic, inconsistent, rhetorical bomb throwing, attention attracting, distracting president in the White House.
00:10:09.835 --> 00:10:20.154
Who can keep things jumbled and chaotic all the time, and throwing so many bad things out the door at once, that it's very difficult for the opposition to organize and stay focused.
00:10:20.815 --> 00:10:22.823
That's working really well for them right now.
00:10:23.328 --> 00:10:27.619
So they've got that, and they have slim majorities in the House and the Senate.
00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:45.811
They see this as their one best opportunity to achieve a 40 plus year goal of a massive reverse Robinhood move, and in combination with that to dismantle, destroy, or disrupt as many functions of government as possible.
00:10:46.020 --> 00:10:59.186
So that when they are inevitably thrown out of the majority by the voters, that the incoming, very likely democratic majority, will have their hands full trying to put it all back together.
00:10:59.764 --> 00:11:08.345
Their goal is that the damage will be already so done, so finished, that it won't be fixable, or that it will take decades to fix.
00:11:08.910 --> 00:11:11.226
So that's the gamble they're ready to make.
00:11:11.982 --> 00:11:14.623
But there's a hole in that theory.
00:11:15.246 --> 00:11:32.570
Because while there may be consensus amongst the Republicans in Congress that they are willing as a group to sacrifice their majority in 2026 in order to achieve these results now.
00:11:33.318 --> 00:11:34.908
Here's the problem with that.
00:11:35.528 --> 00:11:41.429
They can all say as a group, oh yeah, We'd be willing to give up the majority in order to get this done.
00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:42.570
That's a good trade.
00:11:43.187 --> 00:11:52.922
But each individual member in the House and Senate, when they're saying that they don't mean them, they don't mean their seat.
00:11:53.657 --> 00:12:01.216
They imagine a future in which, yeah, their party's out of power, but they still have their seat.
00:12:01.907 --> 00:12:03.317
They're still a US senator.
00:12:03.317 --> 00:12:05.267
They're still a US member of Congress.
00:12:05.703 --> 00:12:12.284
And they're just hanging out in the minority making as much trouble as they can for the majority, until they get their turn back in power.
00:12:12.585 --> 00:12:18.965
But they don't imagine that they personally will be thrown out of office and therefore out of power.
00:12:19.745 --> 00:12:22.504
That's not part of the scenario they're imagining.
00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:29.785
And there, in that, is the key to how we make advocacy work in this setting.
00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:31.559
It is that simple.
00:12:32.404 --> 00:12:37.841
The mistake we could make, and I am already seeing this happening in a couple of circles.
00:12:38.261 --> 00:12:50.140
The mistake we could make is to try to engage Republican members of Congress on the merits of the issue, and act as if the problem is they just don't understand the impact.
00:12:50.140 --> 00:12:59.260
If they only knew, if we could just explain it to them better, then they would understand that their constituents would be hurt and that it would be really bad.
00:12:59.321 --> 00:13:05.591
And, and gosh, rural hospitals would close, and red states would be hit a lot harder than blue states, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:13:06.071 --> 00:13:06.965
They already know that.
00:13:07.969 --> 00:13:09.469
They already know that.
00:13:10.575 --> 00:13:12.375
How do we know they already know that?
00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:14.169
Two things.
00:13:14.446 --> 00:13:21.706
As I said, first they tried a maneuver that would push the impact out beyond the next two election cycles.
00:13:21.797 --> 00:13:30.316
When that failed, the next strategy they immediately took up upon passage of the House bill, was they just started lying about what it would do.
00:13:31.062 --> 00:13:42.125
So now they're out there pushing messaging constantly, everywhere they can, to convince the public, to convince their constituents, that there's nothing to see here.
00:13:42.815 --> 00:13:45.184
They're not gonna cut Medicaid.
00:13:45.424 --> 00:13:46.445
Oh heck no.
00:13:46.654 --> 00:13:50.044
They're just gonna make some work requirements.
00:13:50.524 --> 00:13:55.144
'cause that's not fair that all these able-bodied people are freeloading off of Medicaid.
00:13:56.164 --> 00:13:58.715
Except nothing about that is true.
00:13:59.096 --> 00:14:00.326
They know.
00:14:00.730 --> 00:14:03.160
They know what their bill will do.
00:14:03.520 --> 00:14:09.551
They know that it will harm huge swaths of the people in their district or their state.
00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:11.171
They already know that.
00:14:11.943 --> 00:14:23.840
And their strategy for the moment is to try to just lie about it and hope that because of all the chaos and all the stuff going on, that people won't figure out what they're up to until it's too late.
00:14:24.490 --> 00:14:33.054
So what we don't do is waste our breath and our energy carefully explaining to members of Congress why this will harm people.
00:14:33.437 --> 00:14:34.006
They already know.
00:14:34.535 --> 00:14:35.855
But you know who doesn't know?
00:14:36.370 --> 00:14:39.039
The members of the community, the voters, they don't know.
00:14:39.708 --> 00:14:45.278
And polling tells us that even Republican voters strongly support Medicaid.
00:14:45.878 --> 00:14:48.457
They get it that this is good for the community.
00:14:48.457 --> 00:14:48.937
They get it.
00:14:49.118 --> 00:14:53.557
Most people know someone who receives their healthcare through Medicaid.
00:14:54.192 --> 00:15:00.364
This all means that pretty much there are only two things that are gonna work in this environment, on this issue.
00:15:01.115 --> 00:15:02.945
Fundamentally, this is about pressure.
00:15:03.546 --> 00:15:14.744
And this is going back to the flaw in the case theory of, oh, Republicans are willing to accept a loss of the majority in 2026 in order to achieve this policy goal.
00:15:15.354 --> 00:15:23.124
But individual members of Congress and individual senators did not sign up for that deal when it's gonna be their seat.
00:15:24.293 --> 00:15:33.380
So in particular, Republicans in swing seats need a lot of pressure because they're the most vulnerable electorally.
00:15:33.975 --> 00:15:35.535
Just talking strategy here.
00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:47.842
Every single Republican member of Congress and a couple of wobbly Democrats need to be getting a ton of pressure from their constituents on this, and it needs to be highly visible.
00:15:48.773 --> 00:15:52.312
Because they're not sitting quietly while this is going on.
00:15:52.643 --> 00:15:59.702
They're out there actively misrepresenting what their bill would do, and misrepresenting who it would harm.
00:16:00.145 --> 00:16:08.186
And we can't let that stand because if we let that just soak through the atmosphere, eventually people might start to believe that.
00:16:08.186 --> 00:16:12.846
And say, oh, well it's not really gonna hurt people who are deserving and legitimately on Medicaid.
00:16:12.865 --> 00:16:16.645
It'll only hurt those lazy people who are supposed to be working and they're not.
00:16:17.322 --> 00:16:24.522
Within hours of the passage of that bill, the Rs started changing their messaging on this, and now they're lying about what the bill would do.
00:16:25.085 --> 00:16:31.631
Because they know that if people know what it will actually do, they will be furious and they're gonna face a ton of pressure.
00:16:32.245 --> 00:16:40.994
So each individual member of Congress, specifically the Republicans, because the Democratic caucus for the most part is holding strong on this.
00:16:41.234 --> 00:16:45.764
There are only one or two wobblies out there, and if you're in their districts, you know who they are.
00:16:46.283 --> 00:16:51.653
But mostly this is a absolute straight up partisan divide on this.
00:16:52.424 --> 00:16:53.445
I understand.
00:16:53.445 --> 00:17:02.071
And hear me when I say you must remain non-partisan in your work, but you can be smart about your targeting and where you spend your energy.
00:17:02.823 --> 00:17:08.557
Focus on those members of Congress who are most vulnerable to pressure.
00:17:09.102 --> 00:17:13.977
And be advised that even if you are in a deep red state, they are still vulnerable.
00:17:14.442 --> 00:17:15.971
So keep the pressure on.
00:17:15.971 --> 00:17:31.911
But especially if you're in a swing district where that Republican member won by a relatively slim margin and it's a fairly competitive environment, they absolutely are super attuned to the fact that they could lose their job over this.
00:17:32.270 --> 00:17:33.171
And they don't want that.
00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:34.730
They wanna keep that job.
00:17:34.730 --> 00:17:35.780
They wanna stay in power.
00:17:36.411 --> 00:17:43.336
They're not that keen on giving up their personal power and influence in service of a larger policy project.
00:17:43.708 --> 00:17:45.657
That's really not what they signed up for.
00:17:46.375 --> 00:17:49.315
So they're the place that we need to put pressure.
00:17:49.944 --> 00:18:00.538
And that pressure needs to be loud, vocal, and visible, because part of the project here is keeping the public aware that this is what's really happening.
00:18:01.007 --> 00:18:04.787
That this really will harm vast swaths of our communities.
00:18:05.027 --> 00:18:09.126
It would very likely result in the closure of many rural hospitals.
00:18:09.307 --> 00:18:12.757
There are tons of cascading effects that would be absolutely devastating.
00:18:13.647 --> 00:18:14.998
So I wanna be clear.
00:18:15.028 --> 00:18:15.867
Facts matter.
00:18:16.507 --> 00:18:24.807
It's just that you're not taking your carefully assembled facts and trying to persuade on the merits of the facts, any particular member of Congress.
00:18:24.807 --> 00:18:26.136
They already know all this stuff.
00:18:26.767 --> 00:18:35.112
But you need to know it and be able to articulate it, because if you wanna be effective, you need to be vocal in the public square.
00:18:35.771 --> 00:18:44.421
And organizing and getting others to raise their voices, either by communicating directly with their members of Congress, which is very important.
00:18:44.714 --> 00:18:48.255
Calls and emails to Republican members of Congress is critical.
00:18:48.494 --> 00:18:50.744
They should be getting hammered on this.
00:18:50.984 --> 00:18:55.515
The ones who voted wrong should be getting hammered for the vote they just took in the House.
00:18:55.815 --> 00:19:05.564
And the senators, every single Republican senator should be under immense pressure not to go along with these cuts to Medicaid and the work requirements.
00:19:06.147 --> 00:19:13.200
Which if this isn't your issue, i'll say just a couple things about it in a minute to explain why that is such a messed up policy project.
00:19:13.731 --> 00:19:15.261
And cuts to SNAP benefits.
00:19:15.261 --> 00:19:17.481
That that's absolutely a non-starter.
00:19:18.362 --> 00:19:24.372
This giant bill was tinkered with so much that the day it was passed, nobody actually knows what's in it.
00:19:24.521 --> 00:19:33.925
And that will come out in the next week or two as the analysts burrow into it and find out all the bad things that are tucked in there that were used to get an individual's vote.
00:19:34.429 --> 00:19:47.500
So there's a lot of stuff, but the two things that it's important to know is massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, and the whole project is about a giant reverse Robinhood move.
00:19:48.026 --> 00:19:55.436
Those are the two salient points that are what every voter needs to know, every constituent needs to know.
00:19:55.828 --> 00:20:00.655
And as many as possible to raise up their voice and say, absolutely not.
00:20:01.104 --> 00:20:02.544
Do not vote for that.
00:20:02.844 --> 00:20:03.773
That is wrong.
00:20:03.983 --> 00:20:04.943
It will hurt us.
00:20:04.943 --> 00:20:05.784
Do not do it.
00:20:06.564 --> 00:20:10.539
And that needs to be communicated directly to them, of course.
00:20:10.539 --> 00:20:18.480
But also it needs to be visible so that the lies that they're putting out don't start to soak into public perception.
00:20:18.930 --> 00:20:23.009
And the best way to do that is to be visible and vocal.
00:20:23.775 --> 00:20:24.884
That means rallies.
00:20:24.884 --> 00:20:26.474
That means showing up at town halls.
00:20:26.474 --> 00:20:35.111
That means doing things that attract media attention, whether it's traditional media, or whether you're getting this out on the socials, or both.
00:20:35.532 --> 00:20:38.936
Both is always better, and they feed on each other as you know.
00:20:39.515 --> 00:20:51.752
So this needs to be highly visible, highly vocal for it to create the amount of pressure and the inoculation against the lies that is necessary.
00:20:52.664 --> 00:21:00.480
Now, just let me say a quick thing about why the work requirement nonsense and the lies about it are so problematic.
00:21:01.002 --> 00:21:07.691
The Republicans who are pushing this know perfectly well what the data say about who's on Medicaid.
00:21:08.141 --> 00:21:08.830
They know this.
00:21:09.431 --> 00:21:10.480
They don't want you to know it.
00:21:10.510 --> 00:21:11.800
They don't want the public to know it.
00:21:12.395 --> 00:21:19.309
Because if the public knew, then they would know that all this stuff they're saying is total lies and BS.
00:21:20.003 --> 00:21:30.227
The reality is that there is a single digit percentage of total Medicaid recipients who might fall into the category of able bodied adult who's not working.
00:21:30.603 --> 00:21:33.686
The implication being and not trying to work.
00:21:34.082 --> 00:21:35.162
So here's what's real.
00:21:35.739 --> 00:21:39.869
About a quarter of all Medicaid recipients are elderly or disabled.
00:21:40.615 --> 00:21:43.724
A third of Medicaid recipients are children.
00:21:44.257 --> 00:21:50.675
So already that's over half of the total Medicaid population, that under no circumstances would they be expected to work.
00:21:51.273 --> 00:21:53.253
You're gonna say to grandma, get a job.
00:21:53.794 --> 00:21:57.243
You're gonna say to the kid, get a job, or you can't have your healthcare.
00:21:57.453 --> 00:21:58.054
That's crazy.
00:21:58.054 --> 00:21:59.104
Of course, they're not gonna say that.
00:21:59.344 --> 00:22:00.814
So that's over half right there.
00:22:01.497 --> 00:22:08.933
About 40% of Medicaid recipients would fit in that category of able-bodied adult who can work.
00:22:09.448 --> 00:22:18.640
Here's the thing, almost all of them are already working, either for pay or they are working as the sole caregiver for multiple family members.
00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:23.338
Or they are in school so that they can get a better job.
00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:25.460
They're all already doing all that.
00:22:25.998 --> 00:22:40.087
So the only thing a work requirement would do is it would create massive red tape and bureaucratic barriers to accessing the healthcare that these folks are completely entitled to receive.
00:22:40.696 --> 00:22:44.086
They're already meeting all those BS work requirements.
00:22:44.086 --> 00:22:48.636
What it really is, is a reporting requirement.
00:22:49.267 --> 00:23:02.549
And the goal is to make the reporting so onerous, so harassing and difficult and so complicated, that a lot of people will attempt to comply with the reporting.
00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:21.012
And because they missed a detail or they missed a deadline or whatever, or just their seasonal erratic piecing together half a dozen different jobs at different times with unpredictable hours, that that doesn't all line up precisely with the way the reporting is structured.
00:23:21.673 --> 00:23:31.612
If those things can't line up perfectly and the person can't stay on top of all the constant reporting in to prove that they're doing all the things, then they get kicked off.
00:23:32.118 --> 00:23:34.338
And that is built in by design.
00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:43.394
That's how the Republicans plan to achieve their so-called pay for, for all those massive tax cuts for the uber wealthy.
00:23:44.023 --> 00:23:45.253
It's built into the design.
00:23:45.253 --> 00:23:46.574
They know what it will do.
00:23:47.246 --> 00:23:50.743
So you don't have to go through all that data and explanation.
00:23:51.307 --> 00:24:00.560
All you gotta do is say in plain English to folks, look, first of all, more than half of the people on Medicaid are elderly, disabled, and children.
00:24:01.101 --> 00:24:03.740
Obviously they're not subject to work requirements.
00:24:04.401 --> 00:24:09.232
The remaining adults who are subject to work requirements, most of them, they're already working.
00:24:09.442 --> 00:24:11.002
And you know what it's like, folks.
00:24:11.103 --> 00:24:20.048
Maybe this is you, maybe this is a friend or a relative, where you're working your tail off, you're piecing together multiple jobs, but they're not consistent hours.
00:24:20.107 --> 00:24:20.917
They're seasonal.
00:24:21.018 --> 00:24:25.698
It's a complicated juggling act to keep all that going to feed your family.
00:24:26.208 --> 00:24:29.799
And what this bill would do is make it harder for you.
00:24:30.069 --> 00:24:42.688
To say, if you want your healthcare, you're gonna have to show up and file form after form, after form, after form to prove that you're really doing all these 529 jobs.
00:24:43.326 --> 00:24:46.926
This is supposed to be the party that's against bureaucracy and red tape.
00:24:47.406 --> 00:24:55.846
But when it comes to Medicaid, they wanna slap all that on you to make it harder for you to access the healthcare that you're eligible for.
00:24:56.425 --> 00:24:58.532
So enough with that, we reject that.
00:24:59.230 --> 00:25:01.871
But even simpler is just no cuts to Medicaid.
00:25:02.590 --> 00:25:09.000
If you're called upon to explain why a work requirement is in fact a cut to Medicaid, you want to be able to do that.
00:25:09.428 --> 00:25:11.018
But simpler is better.
00:25:11.545 --> 00:25:17.083
This is about loud vocal pressure with a simple core message.
00:25:17.383 --> 00:25:18.823
No cuts to Medicaid.
00:25:18.823 --> 00:25:20.232
No cuts to SNAP.
00:25:20.623 --> 00:25:23.323
We the community depend on this.
00:25:23.563 --> 00:25:24.462
Don't do it.
00:25:24.929 --> 00:25:26.398
It's really that simple.
00:25:26.578 --> 00:25:30.609
Your job is not to argue the merits of the details.
00:25:30.970 --> 00:25:41.756
You can if you want, but the goal is to focus on effective messaging and devote your energy to targeting your messaging to the people who are most going to be impacted by it.
00:25:42.269 --> 00:25:45.193
And to organize your folks.
00:25:45.688 --> 00:25:50.699
So this means going a little bit outside the comfort zone and reaching out.
00:25:50.729 --> 00:25:56.253
First of all, even if it's just about calls and emails to members of Congress and senators, which is very important.
00:25:56.905 --> 00:25:59.694
Don't just make that call yourself or send that email yourself.
00:26:00.196 --> 00:26:03.406
Get everyone in your orbit involved in this.
00:26:04.021 --> 00:26:08.211
This is a fight that deeply affects the people you serve.
00:26:08.751 --> 00:26:14.952
They deserve to have a voice in this, and without you, they might not have that opportunity.
00:26:15.492 --> 00:26:19.227
They might not have another way, another point of access.
00:26:19.646 --> 00:26:32.936
So far from doing something inappropriate or exploitative, by engaging them in this advocacy work, you are giving them an opportunity to raise their voice on behalf of something that affects them directly.
00:26:33.419 --> 00:26:38.678
You're giving them an opportunity to take personal power and to fight for what's theirs.
00:26:39.429 --> 00:26:56.353
Every time you invite and give an opportunity to your clients, to your volunteers, to your donors, to your board members, to all your supporters, everybody in your orbit, to say this is a powerfully important issue in the moment.
00:26:56.593 --> 00:26:59.452
This matters to almost every single person we serve.
00:26:59.969 --> 00:27:04.713
And here's an opportunity to make our voices heard and to make a real impact.
00:27:05.307 --> 00:27:06.298
Here's what to do.
00:27:06.567 --> 00:27:10.468
And then you give super simple instructions that are easily acted on.
00:27:11.148 --> 00:27:12.048
But you gotta do it.
00:27:12.048 --> 00:27:13.128
You gotta do the outreach.
00:27:13.128 --> 00:27:15.888
You gotta connect your people, you gotta bring them along.
00:27:15.888 --> 00:27:25.912
You may need to give them a little bit of education and background on this, but you do not have to become a Medicaid expert to do this or to have effective messaging on this.
00:27:26.601 --> 00:27:37.738
For those of you who work in healthcare or health adjacent issues, you probably have tons of knowledge about the workings of Medicaid and all the details, and you're prepared to talk about that.
00:27:38.458 --> 00:27:39.958
But let's say you don't.
00:27:39.958 --> 00:27:46.513
Let's say you work in housing or employment or any number of other non directly health adjacent issues.
00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:50.650
This still affects the people you serve, probably in very large numbers.
00:27:51.009 --> 00:27:54.646
So this is not a time to say, oh, well that's not really my issue.
00:27:55.179 --> 00:27:56.169
It's everybody's issue.
00:27:56.249 --> 00:28:02.397
Every nonprofit leader who works in direct service, who helps people who are struggling in the community.
00:28:02.974 --> 00:28:05.481
This affects the people we serve without a doubt.
00:28:06.029 --> 00:28:08.039
For some folks, it'll be nearly everyone you serve.
00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:09.779
For others, it may be a segment.
00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:10.920
Doesn't matter.
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:15.299
It's hugely important and it's important to our communities.
00:28:15.818 --> 00:28:26.630
Because if you take away healthcare for sometimes half or more of the people in a community, the cascading effects of that are gonna be disastrous, and they're gonna harm everyone.
00:28:27.537 --> 00:28:34.939
So we have an opportunity here, and the good news is that there's both an immediate opportunity in the next few days.
00:28:35.358 --> 00:28:40.888
And then there is an opportunity that is at least gonna extend to the 4th of July and very likely throughout the summer.
00:28:41.346 --> 00:28:48.348
The immediate opportunity is, right now, members of Congress, US senators, are home for a district work period.
00:28:48.690 --> 00:28:49.920
Basically for the next week.
00:28:50.272 --> 00:28:54.721
So go ahead and if a town hall is happening, show up for that.
00:28:55.021 --> 00:28:58.592
If a rally or a protest is happening, show up for that.
00:28:59.193 --> 00:29:03.273
Anything that is going to put pressure on them publicly.
00:29:03.578 --> 00:29:07.115
And call attention to this issue and put the pressure on.
00:29:07.655 --> 00:29:08.675
Get involved in that.
00:29:08.715 --> 00:29:11.655
Let all the people in your orbit, let them know about that.
00:29:12.615 --> 00:29:14.355
And say, here's a chance to make your voice heard.
00:29:14.355 --> 00:29:21.039
If you care about the possibility that there's gonna be massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, here's the place to be.
00:29:21.643 --> 00:29:23.053
Host a sign making party.
00:29:23.518 --> 00:29:28.338
They're a blast, it gets people involved, people have fun doing it together.
00:29:28.338 --> 00:29:38.564
People get really clever and there is community building and solidarity building and reassurance that folks aren't the only ones who are worried about this.
00:29:38.773 --> 00:29:44.440
There's tremendous value in pulling people together as a group to do something together to make their voices heard.
00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:48.640
If there's a rally or a protest coming up, sign making parties are awesome.
00:29:49.272 --> 00:29:55.295
If there's a town hall, signs may not be allowed in, but you can still have people show up and make their voices heard.
00:29:55.654 --> 00:29:57.035
And they don't have to speak.
00:29:57.530 --> 00:29:58.371
That's the other thing.
00:29:58.801 --> 00:30:04.031
Make sure that folks know that their simple presence in a town hall is very important.
00:30:04.422 --> 00:30:12.321
If they stand up and cheer for the right things and boo the bad things and actively participate in that way.
00:30:12.892 --> 00:30:16.162
They don't have to be the ones who get up and tell their story if they don't want to.
00:30:16.582 --> 00:30:19.622
But if they do want to, you can support them in doing that.
00:30:20.097 --> 00:30:22.407
Because personal stories do matter in this.
00:30:22.557 --> 00:30:27.028
Stories of how people will be harmed, stories of the reality of their lives,.
00:30:27.028 --> 00:30:31.478
Because that's how we get the message out about what the real truth of the situation is.
00:30:32.044 --> 00:30:40.114
Whether it's about work requirements or about any other aspect of people's lives and how Medicaid makes a difference in their lives, or how SNAP makes a difference in their lives.
00:30:40.473 --> 00:30:50.067
Getting up and simply telling the truth about their own experience, puts the lie to the lies and makes it harder for the Republicans to peddle the lies.
00:30:50.592 --> 00:30:54.311
All of that is incredibly powerful and important.
00:30:54.672 --> 00:31:04.787
And as nonprofit leaders, we have the unique opportunity to be organizers, and facilitators of opportunities for empowerment for the people we serve.
00:31:05.392 --> 00:31:10.843
And in the process, I believe we can at the very least reduce the damage.
00:31:11.363 --> 00:31:15.972
Because in a lot of cases, given their broad agenda here, the goal is simply to reduce the damage.
00:31:15.972 --> 00:31:17.563
We can't always stop everything.
00:31:17.863 --> 00:31:31.172
But first of all, we can make each member of Congress think twice about whether they really wanna throw themselves on their sword for the party's project, if it's gonna mean that they themselves will lose their seat.
00:31:31.755 --> 00:31:34.166
And this is never stated out loud.
00:31:34.166 --> 00:31:40.497
I just wanna make sure that that's clear too, that we don't ever threaten with votes.
00:31:41.105 --> 00:31:42.065
They're not dumb.
00:31:42.275 --> 00:31:54.755
They know that if they have a lot of really angry, focused vocal constituents in their face about a particular issue night and day constantly, they know that that is not good for their political future.
00:31:54.875 --> 00:31:56.434
Nobody has to spell that out for them.
00:31:56.434 --> 00:31:57.125
They get it.
00:31:57.575 --> 00:32:01.961
So don't ever make the mistake of saying, you're gonna lose your job over this.
00:32:02.577 --> 00:32:07.635
Now, chants of do your job are very effective in town hall meetings.
00:32:07.786 --> 00:32:08.955
They're extremely effective.
00:32:09.705 --> 00:32:15.855
That is very bad video, very bad press for a member of Congress to have constituents saying, do your job.
00:32:16.333 --> 00:32:20.012
Because the clear implication is you're not doing your job, you're not representing us.
00:32:20.903 --> 00:32:22.594
All of that is within your power.
00:32:23.201 --> 00:32:28.296
And I know you got 529,000 things on your plate, and this is one more.
00:32:28.858 --> 00:32:31.247
But what's the price if we fail to act?
00:32:31.247 --> 00:32:32.758
Are we okay with that?
00:32:33.673 --> 00:32:34.574
So find a way.
00:32:35.046 --> 00:32:37.476
Do as much as you can and then do a little bit more.
00:32:38.045 --> 00:32:45.762
We have at least the first part of the summer,'cause even the most ambitious target cited by the Republicans is the 4th of July.
00:32:45.762 --> 00:32:49.201
That gives us all of June to get very, very busy.
00:32:49.930 --> 00:32:57.848
And very likely we'll be talking through the summer because that would be an extraordinarily ambitious timeline, and everything would have to go perfectly.
00:32:57.999 --> 00:33:01.148
And part of our job is to make sure that things do not go perfectly for them.
00:33:01.767 --> 00:33:05.547
We need to throw as many wrenches in the works as humanly possible.
00:33:06.057 --> 00:33:13.355
And the wedge that we have, pretty much the only wedge that we have, because again, they do know what they're doing.
00:33:13.415 --> 00:33:17.016
This is not a problem of they don't get what the impact will be.
00:33:17.016 --> 00:33:18.516
They totally get what the impact would be.
00:33:18.516 --> 00:33:19.746
That is the point.
00:33:20.445 --> 00:33:24.174
So our job is to put a giant spotlight on that.
00:33:24.922 --> 00:33:30.666
Say this is what they're up to, and we, the community reject it entirely.
00:33:31.116 --> 00:33:32.196
This is wrong.
00:33:32.317 --> 00:33:33.277
Don't do it.
00:33:33.336 --> 00:33:34.356
We oppose it.
00:33:34.747 --> 00:33:35.527
How dare you?
00:33:36.250 --> 00:33:41.200
And be in their face constantly and be shining the spotlight constantly.
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:48.789
Take away their ability to misrepresent what they're doing, and take away their ability to hide from what they're doing.
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:57.223
If you do that, if we all do that together, this bill falls apart because there simply will not be the votes for it.
00:33:58.066 --> 00:33:59.115
We can do this.
00:33:59.567 --> 00:34:06.182
But we have to be willing to do some advocacy work that is not necessarily part of our usual playbook.
00:34:06.603 --> 00:34:11.619
Think about what we can accomplish if we're willing to step outside our comfort zone together.
00:34:12.293 --> 00:34:14.753
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode.
00:34:15.097 --> 00:34:17.318
Right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
