Congress stopped showing up to the table. So we're building one.

To our 672 supporters and 749 signers - thank you. Every signature is proof that caregivers aren't waiting for permission to demand structural change.

This weekend, three stories proved the same pattern:

On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down the President's sweeping tariffs, 6-3. The ruling was clear: Congress holds the power to regulate commerce. The President responded by imposing new tariffs under different legal authority within hours - then raising them the next day. He attacked the justices who ruled against him as "a disgrace." Congress - the branch whose authority the Court upheld - was not in the room.

The same day, the DOJ fired a court-appointed U.S. attorney in Virginia hours after federal judges unanimously appointed him. The Deputy Attorney General announced the firing on social media: "You're fired!" It was the second time this month the administration sacked a court-appointed prosecutor. Congress took no oversight action.

And the DHS shutdown entered its second week. On February 22, TSA suspended PreCheck and Global Entry. FEMA entered emergency operating status, ceasing all non-disaster responses — right as a major winter storm bears down on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Over 260,000 DHS employees remain affected. Congress returns tomorrow - to a State of the Union address, not a funding resolution.

Meanwhile: FMLA hasn't been updated since 1993. My mother-in-law does the work Congress never built a system for - guiding my mother through breakfast every morning, providing emotional scaffolding without pay, without recognition, without a single federal protection for the role she performs.

Congressional capacity is infrastructure. When it fails, caregivers absorb every tremor.

That's why the Colorado CARE Act matters:

→ Caregiver status as a protected class → Reasonable workplace accommodations → Prevention of constructive discharge → Zero general fund appropriation → $9–18 million in projected annual Medicaid savings

States must act because Congress can't - or won't.

What you can do:

Share this petition - 748 signatures from 671 supporters and growing. Help us reach 1,000.
Tell your Colorado legislators: caregiving is infrastructure
Read Part II of "21st Century Guardrails" - Congressional Power in Freefall: [https://open.substack.com/pub/therevenueneutralcaregiver/p/21st-century-guardrails-a-caregiver-20f?r=6a52ih&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true]
Use the phrase "build the table" - because if Congress won't show up, we'll build our own
Every one of you - all 672 - represents someone who understands that caregivers can't wait for Congress to rebuild what it's been losing for decades.

Thank you for building the table with us.

- Mark Fukae Founder, CASI | Director of Advocacy, Professionals Who Care Registered Colorado Volunteer Lobbyist