Category: National Issues

With Millions Out of Work, Phillips Introduces Bill to Widen Access to Valuable Workforce Training Programs

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) and a coalition of bipartisan Representatives and Senators introduced the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, a bill that would increase access to high-quality workforce training and credentialling programs. Phillips’s bill would allow individuals to utilize “529” tax-advantaged savings plans to pay for job-training programs. Under current law, students can only use 529 savings accounts to cover the costs of college, vocational school, or other institutions of higher learning. This common-sense reform will allow Americans with varying work experiences and career goals to finance their education and compete in a job market that increasingly rewards specialization and expertise.

“No matter your resources or your professional goals, every American deserves access to a quality education,” said Rep. Phillips. “By making workforce training more affordable and accessible, this bipartisan bill will help make that aspiration a reality. Especially after such a difficult year, this is exactly the kind of policy we need to get our economy back on track. I look forward to working with my House and Senate colleagues to get this important legislation to the President’s desk.”

The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act is sponsored by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Braun (R-IN).

Biden warns GOP he could back gutting filibuster

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President Biden on Thursday signaled he is open to making significant changes to the legislative filibuster in the Senate if it continues to be a roadblock to passing legislation on key agenda items like voting rights.

Biden, in his first formal press conference since taking office, reiterated his belief that the Senate should go back to the talking filibuster, which requires senators to hold the floor in order to block legislation.

He acknowledged the current system is being “abused in a gigantic way,” and indicated he may be willing to support exceptions to the filibuster or changing the rule entirely.  Continue reading.

COVID death toll could have been under 300K if Trump took the pandemic seriously early on: analysis

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While the tide against coronavirus seems to be turning for the better — at least in some parts of the U.S., there is still the question of what could have been done differently at the outset of the pandemic.

“It’s likely that the government’s response to the pandemic led to hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been prevented,” writes the Washington Post’s Philip Bump. “And it’s likely that the pandemic response cost Donald Trump the presidency.”

Bump cites research from Andrew Atkeson of the University of California at Los Angeles, who found that if widespread testing and mask mandates had been implemented early on, the country’s death toll could have been held below 300,000 in total. Continue reading.

Biden’s new goal is 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in first 100 days

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President Biden on Thursday announced an updated goal to administer 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days in office during his first press conference.

During his first official press briefing, Biden laid out his new target after the U.S. reached his original goal of 100 million vaccinations on Friday, the president’s 59th day in office. 

“That’s right: 200 million shots in 100 days,” Biden said. “I know it’s ambitious, twice our original goal. But no other country in the world has even come close, not even close to what we are doing. I believe we can do it. Continue reading.

Texas AG Ken Paxton refuses to release messages about attendance at pro-Trump rally before Jan. 6 insurrection

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The Texas attorney general’s office is attempting to withhold all messages Ken Paxton sent or received while in Washington for the pro-Donald Trump rally that devolved into a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Several news organizations in Texas have requested copies of the attorney general’s work-related communications. The Texas Public Information Act guarantees the public’s right to government records — even if those records are stored on personal devices or online accounts of public officials.

After Paxton’s office refused to release copies of his emails and text messages, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, The Austin American-Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, and The San Antonio Express-News are working together in an effort to obtain the documents and review Paxton’s open-records practices. Continue reading.

Rolling back a rollback: Buttigieg deletes some Trump-era limits on regulation

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg moved Wednesday to undo key deregulatory actions by the Trump administration, an overhaul that department officials said was necessary to address challenges that include climate change, racial injustices, the coronavirus pandemic and the economy.

In an obscure but potent bureaucratic step, Buttigieg formally deleted many internal departmental rules and policies put in place under his predecessor, Elaine Chao, that were part of the Trump administration’s push to pare back regulations, and in some cases, limit their enforcement.

The changes at Transportation are an outgrowth of a broader effort by President Biden to reverse Trump’s executive orders directing federal agencies to sharply limit their regulatory reach. Embodying the now-removed Trump orders was one that instructed department officials to find two regulations to eliminate for every one they imposed. Continue reading.

Maddow explains exactly why John Cornyn is fighting new DOJ nominee — and it has nothing to do with qualifications

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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow speculated Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is leading the charge against a key Justice Department nominee because she humiliated him.

Wednesday, Maddow recalled the extensive corruption of Texas cop Tom Coleman who arrested four dozen people claiming that he did an undercover operation and busted them for cocaine. An overwhelming number of those arrested were Black. There was no evidence, no recording of the alleged drug sales, no proof whatsoever. Still, the court believed his testimony over that of the individuals charged. Most were convicted and some were given sentences over 100 years. 

The officer, in that case, was an N-word-spouting racist honored with a police award as Lawman of the Year from then-Attorney General John Cornyn. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz’s misleading memories of his 2013 gun proposal

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“Sutherland Springs, the worst church shooting in U.S. history, a small town outside of San Antonio. … If Grassley-Cruz had passed, there’s a very good chance Sutherland Springs never would have happened, because the criminal who had committed a felony was ineligible to buy guns. The Obama Air Force never reported his conviction to the background database, and when he tried to illegally buy the gun, his conviction wasn’t there. He was allowed to buy the gun, and he murdered those people. If Grassley-Cruz had passed, they would have prosecuted him. They would’ve put him in jail, and he would have been in a jail cell instead of in that beautiful sanctuary.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), in an interview on “Hannity” on Fox News, March 23

In the wake of a mass shooting in Boulder, Colo., Cruz says legislation he offered in 2013 could have prevented one of the deadliest such events in U.S. history, except Democrats “filibustered it, demanded 60 votes.”

The claim is highly misleading.

The man who committed the 2017 mass shooting in a Texas church, killing 26 and wounding 22, passed federal background checks and was able to purchase firearms because of a string of errors at the Air Force that Cruz’s legislation would not have prevented. Let’s take a look. Continue reading.

Polls Show Massive Support For Biden’s Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan

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President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing a plan for somewhere between $3- and $4 trillion in American infrastructure improvements. While Congressional Republicans are again making noise about opposing it, a new poll finds wide support for many of its likely components.

A survey by Data for Progress and the pro-infrastructure group Invest in America, released Tuesday, found that 57 percent of American likely voters believe now is the time for a big investment, while just 35 percent believe it is not.

When told of the basics of a $4 trillion infrastructure plan, voters backed it 69 percent to 22 percent. Even Republicans supported it 50 percent to 42 percent. Continue reading.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says only 0.1 percent of Trump administration’s covid farm relief went to Black farmers

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A Q&A with the new secretary of agriculture about how the American Rescue Plan’s USDA portion will be spent

A tiny fraction of the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief for American farmers — just 0.1 percent of the overall package — went to Black farmers, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed in February with strong bipartisan support for a second stint in the role.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Vilsack for the first time noted the extent to which the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated existing disparities across the American economy.

The distribution of coronavirus relief increased those gaps, he said. Continue reading.