As Republicans return to their home districts to sell a flailing health care bill, liberal groups are using the congressional recess to build opposition. They believe tens of thousands of phone calls, e-mails and in-person pushes will force on-the-fence senators to reject the legislation for good.
The fresh activism is coming with encouragement from Democratic lawmakers who are mired in the minority and have been mostly left to watch as Republicans struggle to reshape the nation's laws to their liking. After starting the year on the defensive with their own base, party leaders and House and Senate Democrats are finally taking cues from these groups, believing that tactics honed far outside Washington could help scare Republicans into abandoning long-standing promises to upend the Affordable Care Act.
Ahead of the recess, while Republican senators toiled over details of their health care overhaul behind closed doors, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, did what's become natural for Democrats lately: He lashed out on Twitter.
"This thing is a % $ sandwich," he tweeted shortly after the release of the Congressional Budget Office's report that estimated 22 million more Americans will be uninsured under the Senate GOP's plan. He tweeted later that the left's fight against the legislation "is a test of the morality of our country. We have to win this one."
"Democrats can see with their eyes where the energy is in American politics right now," said Ben Wikler, the Washington director of MoveOn.org, a liberal group initially launched to oppose the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
"It's to abandon politics as usual and put up a bare-fisted fight. That's really sinking in."
Schatz admits to being a recent convert to the tactics used by Wikler's group and other organizations such as CREDO Mobile, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, and the fast-growing Indivisible movement. The groups have organized protests or sit-ins at congressional district offices and urged followers to flood Capitol Hill phone lines in opposition to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' confirmation or President Donald Trump's travel ban. Neither pressure campaign stopped DeVos or the Trump ban, but Schatz said they signaled to Democratic lawmakers that the groups could quickly mobilize Americans against Trump.
"Our playbook needs a refresh. It's predictable and it's stale," Schatz said. "That refresh is not just new language or a new standard-bearer, but a recognition that for Democrats to win, we need to fight for Democrats — and then they'll fight for us."
Democrats' willingness to fight, particularly on health care, has not gone unnoticed by progressive activists who say they deserve credit for drawing in even wary moderates.
Sens. Joe Manchin III, W.Va.; Heidi Heitkamp, N.D.; and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. — who are all up for re-election in states Trump handily won — have been eager to speak out. They joined a protest-turned-photo-op on the Senate steps with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats, with each senator holding a portrait of a constituent who had benefited from Medicaid.
"The way they've coalesced around the health care issue has been better than expected; they've done so because of how many people were demanding it," said Winnie Wong, the co-founder of People for Bernie and an Occupy Wall Street veteran.
