Chances are you'd never heard of public charge before today.

It's a big deal and will have devastating consequences for potentially millions of immigrants. Here's why it matters. 1/ Public charge has been around for over a hundred years and was intended to keep certain "undesirable" immigrants out of the US...poor people.

It's basically a wealth test for immigrants. 2/

Trump just caved. Democrats have shown that they can stand up to him. Trump held the country hostage for over a month and he failed to get what he demanded. Here's what's in the deal: 1/ A clean CR until Feb 15. This is big. It means the govt will reopen. It means that 800,000 federal employees will finally get paid, with backpay for furloughed workers. It means no money for Trump's wall or any of the extreme demands he's made in order to open up the govt. 2/

1/8. As another hurricane inches closer to our shores, we've recently learned that the Trump Administration diverted $10M from FEMA so that it can hold more immigrant families in cages. #familiesbelongtogetherANDFREE washingtonpost.com/news/morning-m… 2. This is a big deal and signals what the Trump Admin cares -- and doesn't care -- about. It cares more about separating, detaining, and deporting immigrant families than it does the health and safety of our communities, than it does responding to natural disasters.

Update: @SenSchumer just used procedural tools to (briefly) delay Kavanaugh hearings. This might seem like Schumer is fighting to #StopKanavaugh, but it's *not* the most important thing he could be doing if he wanted to win this fight. thehill.com/homenews/senat… 1/ To recap, Democrats have few tools when they're in the minority to stop bad bills or nominees from moving forward. But one tool at their disposal is "withholding consent". Here's our explainer on it: indivisible.org/resource/senat… 2/

Excited to hear about how Trump is making us less safe every single day. #NN18 @_ElizabethRB @SPMiles42 @wardahkhalid_ @Jenkinsbd @manaro_77 #TrumpThreatLevel "Donald Trump in and of himself is a national security threat." @SPMiles42 #TrumpThreatLevel

To every MoC (or candidate!) who isn't speaking out against Trump's new family separation policy, I remind you of this quote:

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” #FamiliesBelongTogether 1/ This quote seems now to have been written specifically with Trump-era America in mind: From the #MuslimBan to taking healthcare from millions to ripping children away from parents at the border, our great moral crisis continues.

Yet, too many MoCs continue to remain silent. 2/

The Senate has begun considering the #BankLobbyistAct, which will make it more likely that we have a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. This is a core part of the Republican agenda: siding with big banks, corporations, and the wealthy, at the expense of the rest of us. [Thread] Mitch McConnell, Republicans, and Donald Trump don’t care about the enormous risk this creates for our country and for American families. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is that Democrats are pushing the #BankLobbyistAct over the finish line.

This afternoon the Senate is turning to DACA and immigration, beginning with a “motion to proceed” vote. The burden is on Republicans to fix the mess that Donald Trump made on #DACA, as a majority of Americans want them to. [Thread] Remember, we got here because Donald Trump ended the DACA program back in Sept. And 20,000 DACA recipients have already lost their protections as a result. He then rejected a bipartisan agreement reached by @SenatorDurbin and @LindseyGrahamSC, because it wasn’t racist enough.

Breaking: federal judge has granted a pretrial injunction on Trump's rescission of the #DACA program. Here's what it means. (Thread) The US government MUST accept DACA renewals, which means those whose DACA protections are expiring soon, or has already expired, may apply for renewal.

Seeing a lot of people giving @SenSchumer love for voting against the CR tonight over #DreamActNow. Let’s clear something up: He may have *personally* voted against the CR tonight, but he is most responsible for it tonight. Here’s why: 1/ He’s the Dem Leader — his most important job is to keep Democrats together, especially on tough votes. He deserves a lot of credit for keeping Dems together on healthcare and taxes (made possible by grassroots opposition) 2

1- DACA STRATEGY THREAD. Look. Dems are reluctant, but they really can play hard ball this week to protect Dreamers. DEMAND THEY DO THIS. 2- There should be two must-pass bills in Congress this week: Harvey relief and the DREAM Act. They need to commit to this.