Top 5 Ways Democrats Delivered This Week #3
We're back for our third week with more wins.
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We are back for our second Democrats Deliver Weekly Roundup. We hope you enjoy it! For breaking news in real time, follow us at @DemzDeliver on X.
Senate Democrats spent the week reminding the country that you can force a vote and win the argument, state governors kept their pens busy on everything from vaccines to veterinary care, and city councils from coast to coast decided that public health is, in fact, good policy. Let’s get into it.
5. Senate Democrats Force the Iran War Vote Nobody in the GOP Wanted
Weeks into an undeclared war with Iran, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer used the War Powers Resolution to force a Senate vote at the statute’s 60-day deadline. Sen. Schiff framed the resolution as a direct challenge to what he called Trump’s illegal war. The Senate rejected the Democratic war powers measure for the sixth time, voting it down 47 to 50. But it may pass soon.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine crossed the aisle to support the Democratic measure, the first Republican senator to break with the party on Iran since the conflict began. One defection is a crack. Cracks have a way of spreading, especially in a midterm year. Let’s hope Democrats have their way and Trump’s inflated gas prices start coming down soon. I’ve got a road trip coming up!
4. Maryland Gives First Responders a Break
Gov. Wes Moore had a busy signing week in Annapolis, and one bill in particular deserves a standing ovation from every firefighter and paramedic in the state. Moore signed legislation providing employment protections for firefighters’ off-duty use of medical cannabis. The law prohibits employers from disciplining or firing covered workers who test positive while holding a valid patient certification, and takes effect October 1.
The people who run into burning buildings for a living should probably be allowed to manage their own pain on their days off. I certainly wouldn’t mind fronting their refill money.
3. Connecticut Tells Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Stay in His Lane
Gov. Ned Lamont signed HB 5044, the Vaccine Standards Act, on April 27, and the subtext could not be louder if it had a megaphone. The law severs Connecticut’s immunization standards from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has destroyed in recent months. Instead, the state’s public health commissioner will now set vaccine standards using guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other independent medical bodies.
The law also guarantees insurance coverage for state-recommended vaccines, allows the state to purchase vaccine doses outside the federal CDC supply chain, and makes clear that the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be used to dodge school vaccine requirements. Connecticut decided that when the federal government starts tinkering with the science, the science does not have to follow. My TikTok doctor is not too happy about this, but I am.
2. Colorado Signs a Law for Babies
Gov. Jared Polis spent April 29 signing a bipartisan bill expanding Colorado’s Safe Haven protections, and it is the kind of legislation that is genuinely hard to argue against. The law extends the window for parents to surrender a newborn at a designated safe location from 72 hours to 30 days, giving families in crisis significantly more time to make one of the hardest decisions a person can face.
Crucially, the bill does not just open a door and walk away. It adds a reunification pathway, meaning parents who surrender a newborn and later change their minds have a formal route to reclaim their child. Safe Haven laws have always been about keeping babies alive, and this expansion keeps that goal intact while acknowledging that the parents on the other side of that decision are also human beings who deserve a second chance.
Colorado joins a growing number of states strengthening these protections at a moment when reproductive healthcare access is being debated and dismantled at the federal level. Whether or not that context was on every legislator’s mind, the timing is hard to ignore. Keeping newborns safe and giving families options is good policy, good politics, and frankly, very cute optics for a signing ceremony. Somebody bring the governor a baby to hold for the photo.
1. New York City Passes a Vaccine Education Package Because Someone Has To
With vaccine misinformation spreading faster than the diseases vaccines prevent, the NYC Council passed a package of legislation to increase public education on vaccinations, especially for children and parents. The legislation directs the city to develop a childhood and adolescent vaccination education plan by January 1, 2027.
Speaker Julie Menin’s chamber also passed a resolution urging Albany to authorize dentists to administer flu, COVID, and HPV vaccines, because at this point, if your dentist can help, let your dentist help. The package now heads to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has 30 days to act. In the same week the federal government was busy dismantling the vaccine guidance infrastructure, New York City decided to build its own. The adults are still in the room, they just happen to be at City Hall, and vaccinated of course.
Thank you. It's great to have some good news!