What to Do If Congress Votes on Repealing the Affordable Care Act a 57th Time

So yesterday, House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  - for the 56^th time.

If there is a 57^th attempt to debate and overturn the ACA, here’s what we should do: We should form a fund and get friends, neighbors, etc. to chip in a nickel for each minute that members of Congress waste “debating” what they’ve already “debated” 56 times. And we should spend the money on voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

  

Here’s how it could work:

Let’s estimate (based on prior “debates”) that Congress (and staffers) spend 450 minutes on “Debate” 57:

If I get 20 people to donate an average of 5 cents per minute, I raise: 450 minutes x  5 cents per minute per person x  20 people, or 225 dollars.

If 99 Seattleites do the same, we generate 22,500 dollars.

If 9 other cities in  King County follow Seattle’s lead, we generate 225,000 dollars.

If 5 other counties in Washington State follow King County’s lead, we raise over one million dollars.

It just might be enough to ensure that in Washington, in 2016, pro-repeal electeds don’t get back into office, and pro-repeal candidates don’t get on the ballot.

What to Do Now (part of the "Temporary Opportunities for Small Organizations" Series)

If you act now, you can find volunteers to help your organization with all manner of activities, such as:

•          Raising money for your organization,
•          Developing an evaluation for your nutrition program,
•          Setting up your donor database management system,
•          Writing grant applications for your organization,
•          Bringing people to your protests, and 
•       Giving massages to your program participants.                                                                                

Who are these people? Students.

No, I am not talking about filling out those pesky applications for interns.  I am talking about other school-based opportunities for you to find donated time and talent. Here are some examples:

• Classes at the school of social work (or film/journalism/massage/culinary arts/other),
• Career resource center, where you can find recent graduates who want real-world work  experience in their fields of study,
• Students who have to complete community service hours to graduate,
• Sororities/fraternities,
• Service organizations,
• Interest group-based student associations,
• School bands, and
• School newspapers and radio stations.

The important thing is to act now:  Some of these groups and the people in charge of them map out the year’s activities in the fall.