Citizen Action Weekend 2025 Newsletter, Friday, November 14th
Join Citizen Action of Wisconsin Today!
Citizen Action Climate and Utility Justice Lobby Day is a huge success!
Thanks to all the citizen lobbyists from around Wisconsin who attend our Climate and Utility Justice Lobby Day this Tuesday, November 11th at the State Capitol. Nearly 150 citizen lobbyists participated in lobby meetings with their state legislators.
We were advocating support for the Climate Accountability Act and the 2% of Income Utility Rate Cap legislation.
Before we did our lobby visits, Citizen Action members and allies held a media event to announce the new 2% of Income Utility Rate Cap Bill that Citizen Action members have been working with lead sponsor Representative Darrin Madison on the drafting. Our members are excited about the legislation and ready to fight for it all over Wisconsin!
Listen to State Representative Darrin Madison speech at the media event.
Listen to Citizen Action North Side Rising member Maria Beltran speak about the very real struggles of working families paying the utility bill.
Working-class households and communities of color have the least disposable income yet live in older houses and apartments that are less energy efficient, and therefore more expensive to heat and cool. The result is the families least able to afford it pay the largest proportion of their income on utilities. Most cannot afford to pay more than 5% of their income for utilities and accord other basics. But many pay 6% of their incomes and more (even 10% to 15%), being forced to choose between heat and lighting and other necessities such as rent, food, and medical care.
We are fighting back!
Learn more about the 2% of Income Utility Rate Cap Bill.
Take Action: AT&T should drop contracts with DHS, ICE, and CBP and not sign new ones.
AT&T wants you to think of them as ‘your friendly neighborhood phone company’. But behind the scenes, they are profiting from the agencies that make up Trump’s deportation machine.
AT&T has multi-million dollar contracts with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE and CBP are terrorizing our communities—profiting off of contracts with them while they do so is corporate greed at its worst
On Sunday, November 16, People’s Action, The People’s Lobby, and ONE People’s Campaign are hosting corporate speakouts outside AT&T’s Chicago stores to demand that:
AT&T should drop contracts with DHS, ICE, and CBP and not sign new ones.
AT&T should renounce its support for the “Big Ugly Bill” and demand Congress & Trump stop the cuts and robustly fund public healthcare, food, housing, and other programs that help us all live and thrive.
When corporations like AT&T profit from agencies that execute Trump’s authoritarian agenda, our people pay the price. But when we come together—as neighbors, organizers, and movement builders—we remind them that our communities will always be stronger than their greed.
If you or your friends are in Chicago, join us this Sunday, November 16 for the AT&T Corporate Speakout and make your voice heard.
Citizen Action in the News
Citizen Action leaders and staff have been working with Rep. Darrin Madison for months to develop a cutting edge bill to cap the rate of utilities based on income. At our Climate Lobby Day on Tuesday at the State Capitol, we held a successful press conference in the Assembly Chambers to unveil the bill. Watch the entire news conference on WisconsinEye. We lead off the evening news cast on CBS TV 3 Madison. Also see news coverage from Spectrum News 1, WORT Radio, ABC 27 Madison, Wisconsin Examiner, Wisconsin Radio Network, Civic Media News.
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the UP North Podcast, simulcast on WCPT 820, Chicago’s Progressive Talk Station, to discuss the impact of Charlie Sykes and Act 10 on Wisconsin. Watch here.
Listen to “Benedict 8” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
This week America met the “Benedict 8” – who pursued a craven, cynical, and ultimately unstrategic betrayal of the American public. We dive into how the “Benedict 8” and the leadership that enabled them exposes what’s wrong with Democratic leadership and how it fails to deliver on its goals. Does this low point provide a moment to break with failed policies of the past and craft a new vision for the Democratic Party rooted in fighting powerful wealthy interests and winning on issues that dramatically improve the lives of the American people.
We discuss the successful Citizen Action of Wisconsin Climate and Utility Justice Lobby Day this week at the Capitol where 150 citizen lobbyists from around the state met with legislators and attended a media event to announce the 2% of Income Utility Rate Cap Bill. We unpack why the new legislation is critical.
The U.S. Catholic Bishops overcome the ideological cleavage in the church to condemn Trump immigration policies. What are the implications for the gestapo-like tactics of ICE? We discuss the new campaign against AT&T, who is helping ICE identify and pursue people across the country. AT&T contracts with ICE, CBP, and DHS—the agencies running Trump’s deportation machine—and the terror that comes with it. We urge listeners to attend an event exposing AT&T in Illinois this Sunday.
See list of AT&T events in Illinois Sunday, Nov. 16th. Sign the petition demanding AT&T drop the contracts and stop profiting from others pain
Listen to the show.
Social media post of the week
