Category: US Senate

GOP strategists admit their party ‘just can’t be saved’ in midterms

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the ShareBlue.com website April 19, 2018:

Several veteran Republicans don’t have much faith for the upcoming midterms, fearing ‘the smoking rubble of a 40- to 50-seat pounding.’

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

With lots of Republican House incumbents getting buried by their opponents in fundraising, more and more Republican strategists are denouncing their party’s prospects for the upcoming midterms, and acknowledging they may be facing the worst possible outcomes.

“Thanks to a map that puts more Democratic than Republican seats at risk, our party will still cling to control of the Senate, but GOP House members lack insulation: They will crawl out from the smoking rubble of a 40- to 50-seat pounding to find they have lost their majority,” writes longtime GOP operative Alex Castellanos. Continue reading “GOP strategists admit their party ‘just can’t be saved’ in midterms”

Senate Panel Tees Up Mueller Protection Bill Despite Headwinds

The following article by Todd Ruger was posted on the Roll Call website April 19, 2018:

McConnell indicates measure won’t reach Senate floor

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley and ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee say they want to act on a bill to protect Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III — even if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell essentially killed it by saying it won’t make it to the floor.

They then spoke to the natural follow-up question: Why bother?

“I answered this question I’ll bet about 10 times,” Chairman Charles E. Grassley told the committee Thursday. “The press is always trying to put us between me and the president, or me and the majority leader. I don’t care to be put in the middle of anything. Continue reading “Senate Panel Tees Up Mueller Protection Bill Despite Headwinds”

Americans to Republicans: Your tax bill scam is terrible

The following article by Dan Desai Martin was posted on the ShareBlue.com website April 17, 2018:

A new Gallup poll shows the Republican tax bill scam is wildly unpopular.

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

The tax scam championed by Republicans is doing exactly what critics warned: showering the wealthy with deficit-financed tax breaks, while leaving workers and the American middle class behind. The latest Gallup poll confirms, once again, a majority of Americans disapprove of the GOP tax bill.

It makes sense that Americans continue to hold a negative view of the bill. For one, the overwhelming majority of the benefits are going to the already wealthy. In 2018, the richest 1 percent will see a tax break of more than $50,000, or almost $1,000 per week. The poorest 20 percent will see a mere $60 spread out over the course of the entire year, slightly more than $1 per week. Continue reading “Americans to Republicans: Your tax bill scam is terrible”

McConnell Makes It Clear That Republicans Won’t Do Anything to Protect Mueller from Trump

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet website April 17, 2018:

“I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed calls on Tuesday for legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller, saying that he doesn’t think President Donald Trump will fire the lead investigator in charge of the Russia investigation.

“I don’t think he should fire Mueller, and I don’t think he’s going to, so this is a piece of legislation that is not necessary, in my judgment,” Mcconnell said on Fox News.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers have endorsed legislation to protect Mueller in recent days following the president’s fury over the federal raid on his attorney Michael Cohen. Neil Cavuto, the Fox News host who interviewed McConnell, pointed this fact out to the majority leader.

“But I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor,” McConnell said. “That’s my responsibility as the majority leader. And we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate.”

McConnell said he would be “shocked” if Trump does fire Mueller.

Watch the clip below:

Continue reading “McConnell Makes It Clear That Republicans Won’t Do Anything to Protect Mueller from Trump”

McConnell Makes It Clear That Republicans Won’t Do Anything to Protect Mueller from Trump

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet website April 17, 2018:

“I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed calls on Tuesday for legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller, saying that he doesn’t think President Donald Trump will fire the lead investigator in charge of the Russia investigation.

“I don’t think he should fire Mueller, and I don’t think he’s going to, so this is a piece of legislation that is not necessary, in my judgment,” Mcconnell said on Fox News.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers have endorsed legislation to protect Mueller in recent days following the president’s fury over the federal raid on his attorney Michael Cohen. Neil Cavuto, the Fox News host who interviewed McConnell, pointed this fact out to the majority leader.

“But I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor,” McConnell said. “That’s my responsibility as the majority leader. And we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate.”

McConnell said he would be “shocked” if Trump does fire Mueller.

Fealty to Trump has become the coin of the realm for GOP Senate candidates

The following article by Michael Scherer was posted on the Washington Post website April 15, 2018:

President Trump smiles during an April roundtable discussion on tax policy in West Virginia. Republican Senate candidates Rep. Evan Jenkins, left, and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, to the president’s right, appeared with him and are seeking his approval. Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Among his qualifications for the U.S. Senate, Rep. Evan Jenkins wants West Virginia voters to know that he once attended a Christmas party with Donald Trump, flew with him on Air Force One and watched two movies in the president’s private theater at the White House.

“He sat there right from beginning to end,” Jenkins (R) said of the screenings of “12 Strong,” a military thriller, and “The 15:17 to Paris,” the recent Clint Eastwood flick. “I have a great working relationship with him.”

Mitt Romney (R), a Senate candidate in Utah who called Trump a “phony, a fraud” during the presidential election campaign, recently embraced the president’s confrontational moves on trade and insisted he was tougher on immigration than Trump. And in Nevada, another Republican and former Trump foe, Sen. Dean Heller, has been praising the president’s policies in private meetings, while publicly saying that their relationship has “grown.” Continue reading “Fealty to Trump has become the coin of the realm for GOP Senate candidates”

Poll: Distrust Over Trump And Tax Cuts Driving Democratic Midterm Wave

The following article by Joe Conason was posted on the National Memo website April 13, 2018:

Donald Trump meets with Speaker Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill. Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

For Republicans, disaster seems to dominate every news cycle: Paul Ryan, the House Speaker and one of his party’s most prolific fundraisers, announces that he will not run for reelection (and the leading would-be GOP nominee in his district is an actual Nazi). Ryan’s retirement is only the latest of at least 40 Republican members who are doing likewise. Nonpartisan analysts continue to increase the odds in blue turnovers in usually safe red districts. The historically unpopular president has instigated a trade war that is alienating his own rural base.

And the tax cut that was expected to serve as the centerpiece of the Republican midterm campaign? A new poll from Democracy Corps and the American Federation of Teachers shows that in House battleground districts, relatively few people believe the benefits were distributed fairly or that the tax cut benefits them and their families — indeed, the more they learn, the more voters are motivated to vote for Democrats. Continue reading “Poll: Distrust Over Trump And Tax Cuts Driving Democratic Midterm Wave”

GOP proposes stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients, a step toward a major overhaul of the social safety net

The following article by Caitlin Dewey was posted on the Washington Post website April 12, 2018:

Many Democrats and anti-hunger advocates harbor deep reservations about the proposal — even if they have supported employment and training programs in the past. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

House Republicans took their first step Thursday toward overhauling the federal safety net, pushing for new work requirements in the food-stamp program used by 42 million Americans.

The plan, introduced as part of the 2018 Farm Bill over objections of Democrats, would dramatically expand mandatory state workfare programs in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.

Under the proposal, most adults between 18 and 59 will be required to work part-time or enroll in 20 hours a week of workforce training to receive assistance. The plan budgets $1 billion per year to fund the training program expansion. Continue reading “GOP proposes stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients, a step toward a major overhaul of the social safety net”

The Balanced-Budget Amendment Threatens Americans’ Health Care, Social Security, and Jobs

The following article by Seth Hanlon and Alex Rowell was posted on the Center for American Progress website April 11, 2018:

The Capitol dome in Washington. (Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

With the House, Senate, and White House in Republican hands, GOP leaders have taken every opportunity to enact massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy as well as to pay for the tax cuts by cutting health care and other middle-class priorities. First, they sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—which would have eliminated health care for millions of Americans—while cutting taxes on high-earners, wealthy investors, and health care companies. When that effort stalled, the majority regrouped and passed even bigger tax cuts that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates will add nearly $1.9 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, even after taking into account potential growth effects. As Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and other lawmakers have explained, the Congressional majority ultimately plans to pay for the tax cuts by cutting “entitlements,” or in other words, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Continue reading “The Balanced-Budget Amendment Threatens Americans’ Health Care, Social Security, and Jobs”

‘The Republicans are in Deep Trouble’ in 2018, Says GOP Pollster

The following article by Max Kutner was posted on the Newsweek website April 8, 2018:

The Republicans are in danger of losing their control of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections, according to a leading Republican pollster.

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Frank Luntz said, “I think the Republicans are in deep trouble in the House, and the Senate as well. If the election were held today, frankly, I think Republicans would lose both.”

He at least partly blamed President Donald Trump for this: “If Donald Trump wants to keep the Republican Congress, he has to differentiate when he’s attacking Congress in general versus the Republicans in Congress.”