DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement:
“Thomas Farr has spent his professional life attacking the civil rights of African Americans. He doesn’t belong anywhere near the federal bench, and his nomination was yet another example of the lengths Republicans will go to silence communities of color.
“Unlike Thomas Farr and Republican leaders, Democrats believe diversity makes our democracy stronger. We believe every eligible voter should be able to make their voice heard. Today is a victory for everybody who organized, spoke out, and refused to accept bigotry on the bench. And we will keep fighting back against any Trump nominee who threatens the values of equality and justice for all.”
Legislation protecting special counsel Robert Mueller was blocked on Wednesday for a second time in the past month.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), joined by Sens. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), tried to get consent to schedule the long-stalled legislation for a vote.
Flake questioned why his colleagues weren’t “up in arms” after a string of tweets from President Trump bashing Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Americans took to the polls in record numbers in the 2018 midterms, shifting party control of the House of Representatives and sending a clear message of disapproval to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. Although the president and his party gained ground in the U.S. Senate, primarily in states Trump won handily, they failed to capitalize on the low unemployment rate or overall positive sentiments about the economy. The signature GOP legislative achievement of the first two years—the $1.5 trillion tax cut that passed last year —failed to boost Republicans’ chances overall and hurt candidates in several seats. Subsequently, they lost in major suburban and urban districts across the country and also lost ground in some rural areas. The president’s gamble of nationalizing the election around his personality and his administration’s harsh immigration policies ultimately cost Republicans their House majority and failed to persuade voters outside of already conservative or rural counties and states to stick with the GOP. Likewise, health care dominated voters’ minds this year according to both pre-election and Election Day polls, with Democrats benefitting from their commitment to protect and expand Americans’ health care and House Republicans suffering for their repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Democrats are on pace for around a 34-seat gain in the House (outstanding races are still to be called in a few places), with a record number of women candidates winning overall. This is slightly above historical average gains for opposition parties in midterm elections but below the massive 2010 shift of 63 seats during the Obama presidency. Democrats gained seven governors’ seats, including in important presidential battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin and flipped six state legislative bodies, with about 330 state legislative seats gained across the country. Ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid won in three red states, while several measures to increase the minimum wage, legalize marijuana, and expand voting rights also emerged victorious. And, although definitive turnout data will not be available for a while, preliminary estimates suggest a massive increase in voter participation, with likely more than 110 million votes cast for the House—far above 2014 levels.
Midterm elections typically unfold on fleeting political terms and local issues that cannot be applied easily to future elections. But, given the highly polarized nature of U.S. politics under President Trump and the partisan divisions in control of the House and Senate and in key states, a few trends should be noted. The first two favor Democrats going into 2020, and the second two favor Republicans.
Today is the beginning of the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period. Open enrollment runs through December 15 and you can sign up at www.healthcare.gov.
Democrats want everyone to know about open enrollment so all Americans know they have the opportunity to buy insurance and remain insured. Trump doesn’t want anyone to find out about open enrollment, because he doesn’t want the ACA to succeed.
Here are 6 of the worst ways Trump has worked to sabotage ACA open enrollment
The Trump administration again scheduled downtime for the healthcare.gov website weekly throughout the open enrollment period.
The open enrollment period is now half as long as it used to be before the Trump administration’s sabotage.
The Trump administration is promoting junk insurance plans that undermine the ACA marketplace and may not provide the level of coverage people need.
The Trump administration slashed millions of dollars from outreach programs and advertising aimed at enrolling people in Obamacare plans.
The Trump administration limited and even abandoned state and community partnerships that have played a key role in enrolling harder-to-reach demographics.
Trump’s HHS spent taxpayer resources to produce anti-ACA videos and scrubbed its website of useful consumer guidance on the ACA.
The Trump tax law is not doing what Trump said it would. Trump and his White House said it would increase business investment and spending, but new data shows that’s not the case. They also said it would raise wages, but most Americans have not seen an increase in take-home pay. The only ones benefiting are the rich and big corporations.
WHITE HOUSE: The White House cited business investment and spending on factories as evidence their tax cut was working.
Hassett: “Because what’s happened is that the capital spending boom that we promised would happen if we passed the tax cuts is underway.”
REALITY: Business investment and spending on factories was extremely weak in the third quarter of 2018.
Wall Street Journal: “Investment by companies was weak. Nonresidential fixed investment-reflecting spending on commercial construction, equipment and intellectual property products such as software-rose only 0.8% in the third quarter after rising at a 8.7% rate in the second quarter and 11.5% in the first. The third-quarter rate of business investment was the weakest since the fourth quarter of 2016. Spending on structures fell at a 7.9% rate in the third quarter.” Continue reading “Trump Tax Law Has Not Benefited Workers And Business Investment Is Slowing”
Trump and Republicans are lying to voters about their health care sabotage. According to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, their sabotage of the Affordable Care Act has caused health care premiums for silver benchmark marketplace plans to be 16 percent higher than they would be otherwise.
Health care premiums for silver benchmark marketplace plans are 16% higher than they would have been without Trump and Republicans’ health care sabotage.
Kaiser Family Foundation: “Combined with estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, our analysis suggests the elimination of the cost-sharing subsidy and individual mandate penalty, as well as expansion of more loosely regulated plans, has caused on-exchange silver premiums to be 16% higher than would otherwise be the case.”
As many as 130 million Americans have a pre-existing condition and could lose their coverage if Trump and Republicans end the ACA’s protections.
Nearly two years after electing an admitted sexual predator, Republicans voted nearly unanimously to confirm an accused sexual predator to the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh Credit: Saul Loeb, Pool
All but one Senate Republican voted Saturday to confirm credibly accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, marking the GOP’s embrace of sexual assault and victim shaming.
The vote to install Kavanaugh comes nearly two years after the election of admitted sexual predator Donald Trump, who was accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women and heard on tape bragging about it.
Since then, Republicans have gone all in on pedophilia, defended the alleged widespread cover-up of sexual assault by a member of their own party, and dropped any pretense of caring about the fact that their party is led by a man who not only admitted to sexually assaulting women, but actually touted it.
Kavanaugh previously denied to the Senate that he knew anything about the allegations before they were published.
Credit: BBC News screengrab
Hours after Senate Republicans finally locked up the votes to confirm accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a new report from NBC revealed text messages sent to a woman who claims to have witnessed Kavanaugh’s assault on Deborah Ramirez at a college party at Yale:
The texts are a conversation between Kathy Charlton and a mutual friend of Kavanaugh’s who, NBC has confirmed, was identified to the FBI by Ramirez as an eyewitness to the incident. NBC News has received no response to multiple attempts to reach the alleged eyewitness for comment.
The story detailing Ramirez’s accusation was published in The New Yorker on Sept. 23. Charlton told NBC News that, in a phone conversation three days earlier, the former classmate told her Kavanaugh had called him and advised him not to say anything “bad” if the press were to call.
DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after the Senate voted to invoke cloture and advance Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination:
“Judge Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a threat to women’s rights and Americans’ health care. He will fail to be an independent check on the president. He repeatedly misled and deceived the Senate Judiciary Committee, while showing a complete lack of judicial temperament and impartiality. And he faces multiple allegations of sexual assault.
“The White House limited the FBI’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation of Judge Kavanaugh’s past. Multiple news outlets have reported that the FBI was prohibited from speaking to dozens of people who came forward with information about Kavanaugh. The American people deserve a sincere search for the truth. Continue reading “DNC on Senate Voting to Adopt Cloture and Advance Kavanaugh Nomination”
Gayle King: “More Than Three Months Of Drama And Controversy Over The Future Of The Supreme Court Is Set To End In The Next 36 Hours. The Senate Will Decide This Morning Whether To Send The President’s Nomination Of Brett Kavanaugh To A Final Vote.” GAYLE KING: “More than three months of drama and controversy over the future of the supreme court is set to end in the next 36 hours. The senate will decide this morning whether to send the president’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to a final vote, expect it early tomorrow night. Republicans, as you know, control the senate 51-49. So the GOP can only afford to have one of its senators vote no.” [CBS This Morning, CBS, 10/5/18; Video]
Nancy Cordes: “We Should Note Once And For All Today Whether Kavanaugh Has The Support He Needs To Get Confirmed.” NANCY CORDES: “We should note once and for all today whether Kavanaugh has the support he needs to get confirmed. That’s because this small number of undecided senators may vote to end debate today the way they’re going to vote on final confirmation tomorrow. As forces on both sides pile on the pressure all the way to the end.” [CBS This Morning, CBS, 10/5/18; Video]
Nancy Cordes: “In A Final Bid Before The Vote Anti Kavanaugh Protesters Spent The Night On Capital Grounds.” NANCY CORDES: “In a final bid before the vote anti Kavanaugh protesters spent the night on capital grounds, egged on by Democrats.” [CBS This Morning, CBS, 10/5/18; Video]
