By Edward Miller

Resistance works. Not perfectly, not all the time. But the spending bill approved by Congress this week shows resistance works.

Here are some of the victories for resisters reported by The Associated Press:

• Planned Parenthood will continue to receive funding despite repeated Republican efforts to defund it.
• More than 22,000 retired miners will have their healthcare benefits extended.
• Trump’s proposal to slash spending at the National Institutes of Health was rejected. Instead, NIH received a $2 billion increase for cancer research and other programs.
• The bill restored eligibility for year-round Pell Grants for college students.
• Funding for the prevention and treatment of opioid and heroin use was increased by $150 million.
• The bill extended a policy that prohibits the Justice Department from using federal money to interfere with states’ medical marijuana laws.
• Security along the Mexican border was supported, but the “Wall” was not.
• The budget of the Internal Revenue Service was frozen at $11.6 billion instead of cut as initially proposed.
• The White House backed off on a threat to withhold payments that help lower-income Americans pay their medical bills.

The spending bill is a result of media vigilance, focused citizen activism and a rising confidence among Democrats in Congress. It was the perfect storm.

Citizen resistance grows out of awareness followed by commitment to action, which comes in many forms. No postcard is too small, no call to a congressman too trivial, no joyful noise in the streets too traffic-snarling.

Resistance avoids rowdiness, but invites contentiousness. It unites and enables those who see injustice. It gives purposefulness to the chant: “This is what democracy looks like.”

What’s next? How about keeping up efforts to resist an administration that fails to see the threats of climate change, belittles the very idea of scientific research and is willing to sacrifice the air we breathe and water we drink to the highest bidder?

Let’s face it: Any administration hostile to the nutritional needs of school children needs to be resisted. Back to the streets, my friends.

(Photo credit: Robin Utrecht/Getty Images in The Boston Globe, April 22, 2017)