Tag: U.S. Senate

Jason Lewis Doubles Down on Letting Minnesota Farms Fail

Lewis: “I Have Nothing to Take Back”

Just hours after the Star Tribune revealed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis’ past comments demeaning the agriculture community, and his record of voting against the bipartisan Farm Bill, Lewis doubled down in a new interview saying, “I don’t take back anything I said” and “I have nothing to take back.”

Lewis made the comment this afternoon on WCCO’s Chad Hartman Show where he was repeatedly asked–three different times–whether he regretted saying the government shouldn’t have anything to do with farming.

Here is the transcript of Lewis doubling down on his comments: Continue reading “Jason Lewis Doubles Down on Letting Minnesota Farms Fail”

Republican Senate Candidate Jason Lewis’ Previously Unreported Comments Show He Would Let Minnesota Farms Fail

Lewis: “The Government Shouldn’t Have Anything to do With Farming”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Minnesota, Jason Lewis, repeatedly puts his own rigid ideology ahead of Minnesotans. Newly-released reporting by the Star Tribune reveals a series of demeaning comments Lewis made about the farming community and their importance to Minnesota and our nation.

In video footage reported on by the Star Tribune, Lewis claimed that America “glamorized” farming, opposed farm safety nets, and said the government “shouldn’t have anything to do with farming.” Lewis made these comments while a co-host on a public affairs television show called Face-to-Face. Continue reading “Republican Senate Candidate Jason Lewis’ Previously Unreported Comments Show He Would Let Minnesota Farms Fail”

Born-again fiscal conservatives are sign of Trump’s weakening hand in Congress

Washington Post logoA growing number of Senate conservatives have provided the latest sign of President Trump’s weakening hand on Capitol Hill.

From the presidentially ambitious Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), to onetime deficit hawks like Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), conservatives are abandoning the president as his top aides struggle with negotiations on a pandemic relief bill that is Trump’s last, best chance to pass legislation that could help his floundering reelection bid.

Ignoring their own record of support for adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, these conservatives have signaled that they think, in a post-Trump Republican Party, that deficits will return to the forefront just as they did in the first years of the Obama administration. Continue reading.

McConnell wants FBI money out of coronavirus bill

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says he wants the $1.75 billion in funding for a new FBI headquarters in downtown Washington removed from the GOP’s coronavirus relief package.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McConnell said he hopes that provision and other “non-germane” items will be removed from the legislation before it’s sent to President Trump’s desk.

“I am opposed to non-germane amendments, whether it’s funding for the FBI building or, for example, in the House bill, whether it’s a tax cut for high-income earners in blue states or other non-germane amendments in the House bill like marijuana studies or aid to illegal immigrants,” McConnell told reporters after GOP senators met for lunch with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who are involved in negotiations with congressional Democrats on the COVID-19 package. Continue reading.

McConnell says stimulus deal could take ‘a few weeks,’ putting millions with expiring jobless aid in limbo

Washington Post logoThe temporary $600 weekly benefit expires next week, and Republicans are seeking a way to scale it back

With days to go before enhanced jobless benefits expire, the White House and Senate Republicans are struggling to design a way to scale back the program without overwhelming state unemployment agencies and imperiling aid to more than 20 million Americans.

The hang-up has led to an abrupt delay in the introduction of the GOP’s $1 trillion stimulus package. The White House and Democrats have said they want a deal by the end of the month, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Friday that reaching an agreement could take several weeks, a timeline that could leave many unemployed Americans severely exposed.

“Hopefully we can come together behind some package we can agree on in the next few weeks,” McConnell said at an event in Ashland, Ky. Continue reading.

Jason Lewis Continues Spreading COVID Misinformation — This Time About Masks (Really)

Lewis Falsely Claims that Experts are “All Over the Place” on Efficacy of Masks

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis continues to fuel misinformation and question medical experts’ advice amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, Lewis called Minnesota’s new mask mandate “ill-advised.”

Lewis expressed his opposition toward masks in this video posted online, saying:

“As recently as May of this year, the New England Journal of Medicine questioned their [masks] efficacy outside of a health care setting. And of course, the authorities, the experts, have been all over the place. First you didn’t need them. Now you do. Now there seems to be this growing demand.”

The authors of the New England Journal of Medicine that Lewis references have already responded to false claims like these, saying that they support universal mask wearing:

“We understand that some people are citing our Perspective article (published on April 1 at NEJM.org) as support for discrediting widespread masking. In truth, the intent of our article was to push for more masking, not less.”

Lewis’ disregard and disdain for public health experts’ advice to help combat COVID-19 constitutes a serious threat and danger to Minnesotans’ well-being. As the state continues to see  a rise in cases and the first infant death caused by COVID-19, it is clear that the virus is still a very real threat to Minnesotans and Americans. Lewis puts his rigid views before what is best for Minnesota, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

Since the onset of the pandemic, which has claimed over 140,000 American lives, Lewis has peddled various conspiracy theories, spread misinformation — most recently falsely claiming that young children cannot transmit the virus.

McConnell says next COVID-19 relief bill will include stimulus checks

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that Republicans want to include a second round of stimulus checks and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding as part of their forthcoming coronavirus proposal.

“Speaking of building on what worked in the CARES Act, we want another round of direct payments, direct payments to help American families keep driving our national comeback,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.

The March $2.2 trillion coronavirus package included a one-time $1,200 payment for Americans who make up to $75,000 per year. The amount of the direct payment was scaled down until it hit an income level of $99,000 per year where it was phased out altogether. Continue reading.

Senate Democrats Demand Explanation Of Dropped Redlining Probes

Eighteen Senate Democrats on Monday asked a leading U.S. bank regulator to explain how his agency handled investigations into discrimination and “redlining” in the banking industry.

The letter, signed by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and the other lawmakers, comes after a story by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum recounting how six lending discrimination probes were dropped under President Donald Trump.

It calls on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to explain how it handled those cases and why the banks involved have not been sanctioned. “Without intervention by the OCC, countless consumers could be subject to discrimination with no way to know or seek redress,” the letter says. Continue reading.

GOP senators sound alarm as coronavirus surges in home states

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are raising the alarm over the country’s rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases.

The warnings come as President Trump has repeatedly linked the recent spike to an increase in testing, while also overselling his administration’s response and appearing optimistic about the odds of a quick vaccine or the disappearance of the virus altogether.

But GOP senators — back in their home states, many of which are seeing increased case counts — are painting a more sobering picture with their on-the-ground view. Continue reading.