Tag: U.S. House

Democrats introduce latest version of DREAM Act, offering protection to more young immigrants

The Dream and Promise Act will for the first time include protections for TPS and DED holders.

Eighteen years after the original Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, was introduced, House Democrats formally unveiled their new-and-improved version Tuesday.

While previous iterations of the bill focused narrowly on providing a path to citizenship only for undocumented youth brought to the United States as children, the new version does this in addition to expanding it to include immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). With the inclusion of TPS and DED recipients, the DREAM Act has rebranded to the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, to reflect the government’s longtime goal to make good on its promise of providing permanent solutions to legal immigrants who have been living at the whims of the federal government for decades. Continue reading “Democrats introduce latest version of DREAM Act, offering protection to more young immigrants”

Medicare-for-all v. Medicare-for-less: Trump’s proposed cuts put health care at center of 2020 race

A new proposal by President Trump to slash Medicare spending puts Republicans in a political bind ahead of the 2020 election as Democrats are pitching an expansion of the popular health-care program for all Americans.

Trump’s 10-year budget unveiled Monday calls for more than $845 billion in reductions for Medicare, aiming to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” in the federal program that gives insurance to older Americans. It’s part of a broader proposed belt-tightening effort after deficits soared during the president’s first two years in office in part due to massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

The move immediately tees up a potential messaging battle between Democratic proposals for Medicare-for-all — castigated by Republicans as a socialist boondoggle — and a kind of Medicare-for-less approach focused on cutting back on spending, from the GOP.

View the complete March 12 article by Toluse Olorunnip and Sean Sullivan on The Washington Post website here.

Schiff says it’s a ‘mistake’ for Mueller not to interview Trump

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was making a “mistake” by not demanding that President Trump testify as part of his investigation, which by many accounts may soon be nearing its end.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) acknowledged that it might be expedient for Mueller to avoid subpoenaing Trump’s testimony because the president could fight it and Mueller’s new boss, Attorney General William P. Barr, might oppose such a move.

“But I do think ultimately it’s a mistake because probably the best way to get the truth would be to put the president under oath,” Schiff said. “As he’s made plain in the past, he feels it’s perfectly fine to lie to the public. After all, he has said, ‘It’s not like I’m talking before a magistrate.’ Well, maybe he should talk before a magistrate.”

View the complete March 10 article by Karoun Demirjian on The Washington Post website here.

House Democrats show improved response to Republican messaging votes

Democrats easily defeated a Republican motion to recommit Friday to their HR 1 government overhaul

House Democrats seem to have sharpened their response to Republican motions to recommit after the GOP twice bested the new majority using the procedural tool this year.

The improved messaging and whip operations around motions to recommit, or MTRs, since Democrats lost a second one early last week on a priority gun control bill seem to have quelled an immediate desire to overhaul the procedural tool.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer acknowledged Friday during a colloquy on the floor with Minority Whip Steve Scalise that there’s been “consternation” within the Democratic Caucus about the GOP’s MTRs and discussion about whether the tool should be changed. But the Maryland Democrat suggested that’s not on the horizon.

View the complete March 8 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.

Five things to know about Democrats’ sweeping election reform bill

House Democrats approved on Friday a sweeping elections reform measure that would reshape campaign finance rules, impose new voter registration requirements and compel presidential candidates to release their personal tax returns.

The legislation, H.R. 1, is in many ways a direct response to what Democrats have alleged is potential impropriety on the part of President Trump and his 2016 White House campaign.

But the bill, which spans nearly 700 pages, also has the potential to reshape voting, campaigning and government ethics.

View the complete March 8 article by Max Greenwood on The Hill website here.

McConnell works to freeze support for Dem campaign finance effort

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pulling out all the stops to make sure not a single Republican senator backs the campaign finance and ethics reform bill that House Democrats are set to pass on Friday.

McConnell, a longtime opponent of campaign finance reform who battled the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over the issue, made clear in December that the House proposal would never see floor time in the Senate.

He’s continued to pummel the legislation, sending a stern warning to any GOP colleague who may be thinking about supporting it.

View the complete March 8 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

Trump set for tumultuous ride with Congress

President Trump is entering a tumultuous stretch in his roller coaster relationship with Congress, setting up some of his biggest battles to date.

Trump faces a multipronged fight with a newly empowered Democratic House majority intent on investigating his administration, all while Senate Republicans show signs of division on measures that could lead to embarrassing legislative defeats for the White House.

The Senate is poised to force Trump into the first two vetoes of his presidency, first on a measure overturning his emergency declaration to build a wall on the Mexican border and then on another resolution ending U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen.

View the complete March 8 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

Among the ‘Jewish groups’ Trump cites, one with neo-Nazi ties

Two organizations calling for Rep. Ilhan Omar to resign from the Foreign Affairs Committee have been described as ‘anti-Muslim hate groups’

President Donald Trump pushed for congressional leaders to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week by citing a letter signed by organizations he described as “Jewish groups” calling for her removal.

But the coalition behind the letter — described by conservative media to be “leading Jewish organizations” — includes groups that maintain no relationship to the American Jewish community and peddle anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.

One of the groups was once found to have ties to a longtime neo-Nazi.

View the complete March 6 article by Emily Koop on The Roll Call website here.

Trump accuses Nadler of harassment in wide-ranging probe

President Trump on Tuesday attacked Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), accusing the House Judiciary Committee chairman of attempting to “harass” his associates in a wide-ranging probe into Trump’s administration, campaign and businesses.

“Nadler, Schiff and the Dem heads of the Committees have gone stone cold CRAZY. 81 letter sent to innocent people to harass them. They won’t get ANYTHING done for our Country!” he tweeted.

The president also referenced House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who on Monday made a sweeping request for documents and interviews related to Trump’s conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

View the complete March 5 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Dems unleash sprawling probe of Trump family, administration

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee unleashed a sprawling probe of President Trump‘s family, campaign, business and administration on Monday that includes more than 80 requests for documents.

The investigation under Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) will focus on three key areas: obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power. Nadler rolled out the expansive investigation less than a week after the president’s former attorney Michael Cohen delivered explosive public testimony against him on Capitol Hill.

Democrats will be looking at those involved in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer linked to the Kremlin, the Trump Organization’s plans to build a Trump property in Moscow and a scheme to pay off two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump before the 2016 election.

View the complete March 4 article by Olivia Beavers and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.