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After former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer announced he had decided against running for Senate in 2014, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee reached out to members across Montana to ask how they felt about Brianai??i??s decision. Folks responded to a survey asking if they agreed with the sentiments voiced at MontanaWantsBrian.com, which hosts an open letter to Schweitzer penned by several thoughtful supporters urging him to reconsider.

The results are in, and here’s what we found:

Should Brian reconsider running for Senate?

YES: 76%
NO: 22%

By more than a three to one margin, Draft Brian Schweitzer supporters believe Brian should reconsider running for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Here’s what just a few of them are saying:

“I think Brian would be a terrific Senator, especially at a time when Democrats need to hold the Senate. Our country needs someone of Brian’s character. I completely understand his not wanting to leave Montana, but sometimes duty calls.”
ai??i?? Ilene Standen, Poplar, MT

“I think we need a strong Democratic candidate and Brian is the one. He has appeal that crosses party lines and he understands the concerns of the majority of Montanans.”
ai??i?? Robin Jordan, Butte, MT

“I’m sad. We need to urge him to reconsider. His voice is exactly what the Senate needs ai??i?? no holds barred!”
ai??i?? Lyle Gillette, Deer Lodge, MT

“None of the other candidates bring a breath of fresh air as does Brian. ai??i?? Linda Ramirez, Clancy, MT

“My husband and I both believe we need Brian Schweitzer more than ever. He will stand up and fight. That is what we need in Washington.” ai??i?? Linda Woolsey, Hobson, MT

“It has become painfully obvious that our ‘elected representatives’ no longer represent the people. Brian did. We need him. The entire nation needs Brian Schweitzer.” ai??i?? Robin Maynard, Helena, MT

To show Brian the support there would be there if he …

Last month, the United States Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act ai??i?? the law that gave the federal government the power to stop discrimination before it starts in states that have a history of voter discrimination. The VRA was a landmark achievement of the Civil Rights movement and one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever.

PBS has already reported that five Southern states ai???are already moving ahead with voter ID laws.ai???

Texas is planning to enact the very voter identification law that was struck down last year because it would “hurt turnout among minority voters” (TPM).

Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) are thinking bold. Theyai??i??ve introduced a Constitutional amendment that would reverse the Roberts Courtai??i??s decision ai??i?? and invalidate these bad state laws ai??i?? by guaranteeing every citizen the right to vote.

PCCC co-founder Adam Green is appearing on MSNBC’s The Cycle today at 3 PM Eastern/12 PM Pacific to talk about the amendment and protecting our right to vote with co-host Ari Melber, who wrote a post on the topic for Reuters today titled, “Renewing voting rights – with Roberts in mind.”

Past amendments to the U.S. Constitution have expanded suffrage to more Americans, but the Constitution currently lacks a provision guaranteeing all American citizens the right to vote in all elections held by their state and local governments.

Will you join the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in support of the effort to create a Right to Vote amendment?

Watch a short video Keith Ellison taped for PCCC members, read the text of the amendment, and become a citizen co-sponsor of the amendment here.

A stopgap bill that would have temporarily prevented the rate on Stafford student loans from doubling failed to advance yesterday in the U.S. Senate, despite enjoying the support of a majority of senators.

Fifty-two Democrats were ready to support a motion to proceed on S. 1238 (the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act of 2013) but the motion failed due to a Republican-led filibuster, leaving the bill in limbo.

Republicans are blaming Democrats for this failure, and the media is going along with it. If Congress doesn’t act, students will face thousands of dollars more in loans — dollars they can’t afford.

As Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Monday, “The Republican solution to higher interest rates is to make students pay even more…. We [Congress] shouldnai??i??t treat our students like a profit center.”

That’s why the PCCC has joined with over 1,000 professors across the country in sending a letter telling Congress: pass Senator Warrenai??i??s bill to let students borrow at the same low interest rates as the banks.

Our ad for the Chronicle. Note: Final version subject to change.

We will thrust professorsai??i?? voices into this debate at a key moment by publishing the letter in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Chronicle is the top education publication in the country, and senators and their staffers will see the ad.

We’re also informing the media in their home states of how many local professors have signed on.

Click here to see the professors’ letter and chip in $3 to help cover the cost of the ad.

A new poll out today finds that the majority of Americans view former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden as a whistleblower, not a traitor. The poll also finds that a plurality of Americans think the government has gone too far in so-called “anti-terrorism efforts” like indiscriminate surveillance:

A majority of U.S. registered voters consider Edward Snowden a whistle-blower, not a traitor, and a plurality says government anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far in restricting civil liberties, aAi??pollAi??released today shows.

Fifty-five percent said Snowden was a whistle-blower in leaking details about top-secret U.S. programs that collect telephone and Internet data, in the survey from Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University. Thirty-four percent said heai??i??s a traitor. Snowden, 30, worked for McLean, Virginia-based federal contractorAi??Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (BAH)

Thousands of people have donated to assist the legal defense of Edward Snowden. Donate at SnowdenLegalFund.com. Click here to chip in a few dollars to defend Snowden.

Last week, student loan rates doubled as Congress failed to come to an agreement to prevent rates from going up. Rates will now jump to around 6.8 percent.

This comes on top of already rapidly rising tuition rates. According to the Department of Education, the average cost of tuition, room, and board for a college student in the latest data available was $18,497 — $22,092 for students at four-year colleges.

But if students were in Ireland, they’d pay a lot less. To start with, they wouldn’t pay a penny in tuition, college is fully subsidized. They would be paying only for their room and board, and a small student fee at some schools (it was around 2,000 Euros average in 2011).

Americans pay more for their college than any comparable nation — something that has actually driven some students overseas to attend school, with 10,000 Americans seeking their education in Canada and 15,000 in the UK in 2012.

There have been some programs floated to reduce this burden on American students. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has floated a plan to reduce student loan interest rates to the same low rates Wall Street banks get from the Federal Reserve while Congress works on a more long-term solution. And lawmakers in Oregon are working on an innovative plan to make college tuition-free while students are attending and then have the students who went to four-year public universities pay back 3% of their future salaries over twenty years in order to fund college education (students at other schools like community college would pay less).

Weai??i??ve started a petition to support Warrenai??i??s bill. Click here to sign on and help us get started on ending the student debt crisis.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined twelve of her colleagues “in sending a letter to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The letter calls for an investigation into recently disclosed NSA programs to determine whether they are conducted within the statutory authority granted by Congress and to ensure that American citizens’ civil liberties and privacy are protected.”

Now, she has upped the ante, joining a new letter of 26 Senators — 21 Democrats and 4 Republicans — in writing directly to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in demanding answers about the NSA’s spy programs. Here are a few of the questions that the letter is asking:

How long has the NSA used PATRIOT Act authorities to engage in bulk collection of Americans’ records? Was this collection underway when the law was reauthorized in 2006?
Has the NSA used USA PATRIOT Act authorities to conduct bulk collection of any other types of records pertaining to Americans, beyond phone records?
Please provide specific examples of instances in which useful intelligence was gained by reviewing phone records that could not have been obtained without the bulk collection authority, if such examples exist.

The letter also calls out Clapper for “misleading the public” with statements saying that the NSA doesn’t hold data on US citizens.

We wouldn’t even know about the NSA’s spying without Edward Snowden’s heroism. Thatai??i??s why thousands of people are fighting back at SnowdenLegalFund.com. Click here to chip in a few dollars to defend Snowden.

Here’s a snippet from an email from Laura Davila, PCCC web developer and Texan, who joined the citizen filibuster of Senate Bill 5 in Texas this past week. Laura explains why she joined the filibuster and asks you to support Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, who waged a 13-hour talking filibuster on the issue:

My name is Laura and I am the PCCC’s web developer and a proud Texan. This week I was part of something I never expected to see in my home state.

Hundreds of us took action against anti-choice legislation by occupying the Capitol and standing with Senator Wendy Davis over 10 hours of filibuster.

Together, we stopped one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country — a bill that would have effectively shut down all but 5 of the 47 abortion clinics in Texas.

Wendy Davis is nothing short of a hero to Texas women today.Ai??She deserves our support.

Can you thank Wendy Davis by donating $3 to her Senate race? Click here to donate.

I was lucky to watch Wendy Davis begin her filibuster in the Senate gallery. When Republicans used procedural tactics to shut down her filibuster, those of us in the gallery cheered and chanted so loud that Republicans were unable to organize the vote in time and missed themidnightAi??deadline by a mere 2 minutes.

Last night’s victory was an astonishing moment in Texas history, proving that if our representatives stand up and show bold leadership, we will help carry them to victory. But, as Representative Sefronia Thompson reminded us during the home stretch last night, “Our work has just begun.”

Let’s keep the momentum going and show Republicans that “women will not be bullied” anymore.Ai??Stand with me in supporting Sen. Wendy Davis in her next race.Ai??

In solidarity,

— Laura Davila,Ai??PCCC web developer and proud Texan

The Pennsylvania legislature is currently locked in a battle over the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, with Republicans in the state lining up against the expansion.

Last night, health care activist AJ Marin, working to support the expansion, chalked the following messages outside Governor Tom Corbett’s (R-PA) mansion:

For this act of chalking on behalf of the uninsured, Pennsylvania police did this:

That’s right, they arrested him. Here’s the arrest citation, saying he made a “derogatory remark” about the Governor:

To recap, Corbett is denying 700,000 Pennsylvania citizens access to health insurance, and Pennsylvania’s police just arrested one man for protesting that fact with water-soluble chalk.

As news breaks that Edward Snowden has been charged with espionage and has left Hong Kong, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is announcing today that we raised over $25,000 for this defense fund at SnowdenDefenseFund.com for his legal fees. This came from over 1,300 small dollar donations, with the average donation being around $22.

Edward Snowden is a whistleblower — he revealed that the Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress about whether the government was collecting millions of phone and Internet records from ordinary Americans. Lying to Congress is a crime, and this program is likely unconstitutional.

Glenn Greenwald, who broke the NSA spying story inAi??The GuardianAi??newspaper,explained Ai??toAi??MSNBC’s Chris HayesAi??how Snowden’s actions are not espionage:

GREENWALD: I think itai??i??s very surprising to accuse someone of espionage who hasnai??i??t worked for a foreign government, who didnai??i??t covertly pass information to an adversary [or] enemy of the United States, who didnai??i??t sell any top secret information […] Ai??[Snowden] simply went to newspapers, asked newspapers to very carefully vet the information to make sure that the only thing being published are things that informed his fellow citizens but doesnai??i??t harm national security. That is not espionage in any real sense of the word.

At the end of the day, this is about whether the people own their democracy. The people depend on Congress to represent us and exercise oversight. If a secret part of our government can break the law, lie to Congress, and spy on millions of ordinary Americans, than the people donai??i??t own their government.

Thatai??i??s why thousands of people are fighting back at SnowdenLegalFund.com. Click here to chip in a few dollars to defend Snowden.

Texas Republicans are currently in the process of trying to passAi??House Bill 60 (HB 60), which would place a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, among other measures.

TheAi??House State Affairs Committee was scheduled to take a vote on HB 60 last night, but it was met with something the Republicans did not expect: a 10-hour long citizen filibuster by hundreds of Texans.

One by one, speakers opposed to the bill testified against it, starting around 4:45 PM. Their emotional testimonies lasted almost ten hours, ending with the committee adjourning without voting on HB 60.

PCCC web developer Laura Davila was one of those speakers who testified against the bill.Ai??”This was the first time I ever attended a political event like this, and I couldn’t have been more proud to be there. Ai??I went out last night to show solidarity with the pro-choice movement, but also to testify against the bill which our Lt Governor confirmed would ultimately shut down so many clinics in TX,” said Davilla about the testimonies last night. “Sure, constitutionally women would still have a right to get an abortion until 20 weeks after conception, but it would take hours of time to even reach a facility for many Texans, and as one man said in his testimony last night, the disadvantage this would have on women in west Texas, rural areas, the Panhandle, and the border is no different than the limitations Jim Crow laws had on the right to vote for African Americans.”

Davilla snapped these pictures at around 12:30 AM, when the testimonies were almost stopped because lawmakers claimed they were “redundant”:

Hundreds of Texans packed into the room to protest HB60.

Texas lawmakers opposed to HB60 assuring the …