Monthly Job Numbers

Trump’s reckless policies continue to hurt millions of hardworking families. His economy isn’t helping most Americans. Thanks to Trump’s policies, health care premiums are skyrocketing, gas and prescription drug prices are up, and real wage growth remains stagnant.

With each passing month, the Trump administration continues to build an economy focused on rewarding wealthy corporations at the expense of working families. Corporations have used their tax windfalls to line the pockets of their rich executives, not to increase wages for their workers.

And if you want to know just how anti-worker this president is, look no further than his relentless attacks on organized labor, which has long been the backbone of the middle class.

Trump and the Republican Party catered to the rich with big tax giveaways to the wealthiest corporations and the top 1%, all while insisting that we would see soaring job growth and bigger paychecks for America’s families. Republicans are failing to deliver on their promises, and the Trump tax is not trickling down to workers. It’s clear the economy still has room to grow, but we must ensure that growth benefits American families.

Democrats are proud to support policies that expand resources and opportunities for small business owners and entrepreneurs, while protecting and providing for the well-being of their employees.

When Democrats are in charge, our economy grows faster and hardworking Americans have more opportunities. If you want to create jobs and shared economic growth, you should elect Democrats.

    • The economy creates more jobs under Democrats than under Republicans – including more private-sector jobs.
    • We know that America can have unprecedented economic growth that produces better jobs, better wages, and a better investment in the American economy.
    • Democrats have a better record on the deficit. Over the past 40 years, the only three administrations that oversaw deficit reductions were Democratic.
    • Democrats are fighting for a historic $1 trillion federal investment to rebuild our physical infrastructure and create 15 million high-paying jobs in the process.

Republicans mull new punishments for dissident lawmakers

The following article by Melanie Zanona was posted on the Hill website September 6, 2018:

House Republicans are chewing over a proposal to hold members accountable for not voting along party lines or for  signing discharge petitions — two acts of rebellion that GOP leadership has had to grapple with this year.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) pitched the idea on Tuesday to the Republican Steering Committee, where it received a warm reception, but the panel decided to hold off on voting on the resolution until after the midterm elections, according to two GOP lawmakers who were present and a Republican source.

The resolution would require the Steering Committee to review whether changes should be made to a lawmaker’s committee assignments if they vote against a rule, which sets the stage for floor debate on legislation and is almost always passed along party lines, or if they support a discharge petition, which is a tool to force floor votes with 218 signatures and circumvent leadership.

View the complete article here.

Legal Case to Smash Obamacare Hands the Democrats a Hammer

The following article by Abby Goodnough was posted on the New York Times website September 5, 2018:

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act rally at Burnett Park in Fort Worth, where a federal judge heard arguments on the constitutionality of the law.CreditCreditMax Faulkner/Star-Telegram, AP

FORT WORTH — More than 1,000 miles from the caustic Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Brett M. Kavanaugh, a federal judge in Texas on Wednesday listened to arguments about whether to find part or all of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, in a case that may end up before a newly right-leaning set of justices.

The case has become not simply a threat to the landmark legislation. Democrats have sought to make it both a flash point in the battle over whether to confirm Judge Kavanaugh and a crucial prong in their strategy to retake control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

It has already made some Republicans jumpy, especially those in tight re-election contests, because the Trump administration explicitly said in a legal filing in June that it agreed with the argument of Texas and 19 other Republican-controlled states that the law’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions are not constitutional. The administration is refusing to defend those guarantees. In that sense, although the case threatens one of the Democrats’ proudest achievements, it is also proving to be something of an election-year gift to their party.

View the complete article here.

Despite Trump Rhetoric, Polling, House GOP Leaders Shrug Off Potential for Fall Drama

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the Roll Call website September 5, 2018:

Ryan confident there won’t be a government shutdown, saying, ’I think the results will prove itself‘

Speaker Paul Ryan Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call

Whether it was the potential of a government shutdown or President Donald Trump suggesting that his Department of Justice erred in bring charges against two Republican congressmen just months ahead of the midterms, Speaker Paul D. Ryan is shrugging off the controversy.

Consider it part of the “no drama” strategy House GOP leaders laid out to their conference Wednesday morning.

Members leaving the meeting said their leadership wants to avoid a shutdown this fall and work with the Senate to enact as many appropriations bills as they can before the end of the month, limiting the number of agencies they’ll have to fund through a continuing resolution.

View the complete article here.

Southern Republican senators reject Trump’s criticism of Sessions

The following article by Gabriel Pogrund was posted on the Washington Post website September 4, 2018:

President Trump and Bob Woodward discuss Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” before its publication. (The Washington Post)

Southern Republican senators defended Jeff Sessions after an explosive new book by Bob Woodward recounted how President Trump called his attorney general a “dumb Southerner” and mocked his accent.

In the forthcoming chronicle of Trump’s White House, “Fear,” Woodward writes that the president privately called Sessions a “traitor,” saying: “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner . . . He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

The remarks are said to have come during a conversation between Trump and his former staff secretary, Rob Porter, about Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russian investigation. They represent the most withering insults the president has directed at his attorney general in months of largely one-sided sniping.

View the complete article here.

Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing (Part 2)

Terry Moran: “The Odds Are Long Against Democrats Today, They Tried To Fire Up Their Base, Grab The Public’s Attention So That In The Coming Days When They Go At Him Hammer And Tongs, They Can Show In Their View He’s Not Fit For The Court.” DAVID MUIR: “Terry, bottom line here, do Democrats have the power to stop this nomination for a judge that would really shift the court for a generation?” TERRY MORAN: “The odds are long against democrats today, they tried to fire up their base, grab the public’s attention so that in the coming days when they go at him hammer and tongs, they can show in their view he’s not fit for the court.” [World News Tonight, ABC, 9/4/18; VIDEO]

Jan Crawford: “The Battle Lines Were Drawn Early. The Democrats Said They Didn’t Even Have Enough Information To Have A Hearing.”  JAN CRAWFORD: “Yesterday, the battle lines were drawn early. The Democrats said they didn’t even have enough information to have a hearing. The Republicans said that is ridiculous. You’ve got half a million pages of documents on  Brett Kavanaugh. More than any other nominee. Right away you could see those divisions, and the main theme came clear.” [CBS This Morning, CBS, 9/5/18; Video] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing (Part 2)”

Growth Has Lifted Counties That Voted for Trump. Mostly, It’s the Wealthy Ones.

The followoing article by Campbell Robertson and Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website September 3, 2018:

President Trump’s economy has left the most distressed swaths of the country waiting for their share of the good times.

“You could feel things getting better and better,” said Tom Hughes, a homebuilder in St. Charles County, Mo., describing how his business began to rebound from the recession over the last few years.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The prosperity is apparent on the way into town: the 21-floor casino resort and spa on one side of the interstate, and on the other a freshly built retail quarter of boutiques, a brand-new Hilton hotel and a P.F. Chang’s. It unfolds from there along the highways heading west with more gleaming office parks and multiplying subdivisions.

This is not the Trump country of the popular imagination, the land of shuttered plants and the economically left behind. St. Charles County, in the suburbs northwest of St. Louis, has had the highest median household income in Missouri for several years.

But in 2016, Donald J. Trump won the county by 26 points, and he is still popular among people like Tom Hughes, a homebuilder whose business was rebounding from the recession before Mr. Trump took office.

View the complete article here.

Another GOP congressman caught using campaign cash to buy himself goodies

The following article by Tommy Christopher was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 30, 2018:

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) is accused of raiding campaign funds for personal use, including a purchase of fossils to allegedly help him “understand climate science.”

Rep. John Culberson, R-TX Credit: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) is the subject of complaints to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) questioning almost $50,000 in campaign spending on items like civil war memorabilia, coins, and other collectibles.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the complaint says Culberson spent the funds on items reported as “books,” “research materials,” and “gifts” that were in reality antiques, military collectibles, Civil War memorabilia, and even “a $309 purchase at the Black Hills Institute, which sells and rents fossils.”

View the complete article here.

No self-respecting member of Congress should fear Democrats’ investigative requests

The following commentary by the Washington Post Editorial Board was posted on their website September 1, 2018:

President Trump meets with members of Congress and administration officials at the White House on Aug. 23. Credit: Win McNamee, Getty Images)

NEWS WEBSITE Axios reported Aug. 26 that Republicans are “getting ready for hell” in the form of wide-ranging congressional investigations of President Trump should the Democrats take the House in November. That is one way to describe the legislative branch finally taking its oversight responsibilities seriously.

According to the article, a senior House Republican’s office compiled a spreadsheet of more than 100 investigative requests Democrats have made, a document that has circulated on Capitol Hill and “churned Republican stomachs.” Highlights include Mr. Trump’s tax returns; his family’s businesses and whether foreign governments are doing them untoward favors; the president’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin; likely illegal hush money paid to an adult-film star and Playboy model alleging affairs with Mr. Trump; the sudden firing of then-FBI Director James B. Comey; the president’s transgender military ban; the purging of scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency; Cabinet secretary abuse of government perks; the lackadaisical (and deadly) response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico; Mr. Trump’s travel ban; election security; and the administration’s policy of ripping migrant children from their parents. The litany goes on. Continue reading “No self-respecting member of Congress should fear Democrats’ investigative requests”

Help Wanted: Here’s Why America’s Labor Force Is Still Struggling — While Corporate Profits are Going Gangbusters

The following article by Jim Hightower was posted on the AlterNet website August 29, 2018:

The deeper issue is the overall lack of respect for workaday people.

Credit: Andreas Klinke Johannsen

Workers of America, rejoice!

As our nation of working stiffs celebrates Labor Day with backyard cookouts, an afternoon at the beach, rounds of golf, special sales at the mall or simply kicking back in a La-Z-Boy and doing several rounds of 12-ounce elbow bends, we can all take comfort in the happy news that our economy is whizzing! Yes, corporate economists exult that our US of A is enjoying the second-longest economic expansion on record; profits are off the charts; job creation continues to surge; wages are rising; and consumers are racking up record levels of purchases. What’s not to like about all that?

Two things. First, the economists’ claim about wage growth is a sham, covering up the shame that top corporate executives and major shareholders are grabbing nearly all of the economic gains produced by America’s entire workforce. The so-called nominal wage (i.e. the sum that workers see on their paychecks) has risen only 2.7 percent in the past year, a very mediocre result for the 82 percent of the labor force that is non-managerial worker bees.

View the complete article here.