Tag: U.S. Senate

Senate GOP proposing five-year shield from coronavirus lawsuits

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are preparing to offer a five-year shield from coronavirus lawsuits as part of a forthcoming relief proposal.

The proposal would be retroactive from December 2019 through 2024, or the end of an emergency declaration issued by the Department of Health and Human Services if that is later, according to a draft summary obtained by The Hill.

The proposal, which is currently being reviewed by the White House, would give federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits related to personal injuries or medical liability tied to coronavirus infections, preventing lawsuits in state courts, where business groups have warned about uneven laws. Continue reading.

Senate GOP set to ramp up Obama-era probes

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are preparing to ramp up their Obama-era probes, pushing the controversial investigations back into the spotlight as the 2020 elections heat up.

The efforts have sparked high-profile tensions with Senate Democrats and public rebukes from former Vice President Joe Biden’s orbit. They view the efforts as an attempt to meddle in the 2020 elections, where Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But with the Senate coming back to Washington on Monday, and the number of legislative days quickly dwindling, Republicans are preparing to step up their efforts. Continue reading.

Senate Republicans may want out of this nightmare — but they have blood on their hands

AlterNet logoI’ll be the first one to admit that I was shocked on election night in 2016. As I told my friends in the lead-up to that fateful moment, I didn’t think that the country that elected Barack Obama would follow up by electing Donald Trump. Boy was I wrong! As a result, the hardest thing for me to deal with emotionally was the loss of faith in my fellow citizens.

Over the course of the next few years, we learned that one of the few things Trump said that wasn’t a lie was when he bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and his supporters wouldn’t abandon him. It has been mind-numbing to watch them stick with him no matter what he said or how badly he screwed things up.

But with all of the caveats about how the 2020 election is still a little more than three months away, it is looking increasingly possible that Trump will lose in a landslide. I tend to agree with David Atkins that the president wasn’t on a glide path to re-election prior to the coronavirus crisis. Biden had maintained the advantage all along. But with every day that passes, that lead has grown. So it would seem that ignoring a pandemic is obviously worse that shooting someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue, because at least some of Trump’s loyal supporters are starting to abandon him. Continue reading.

#EndorseThis: Lincoln Project Ad Slaps Cowardly GOP Senators

“Walk of Courage,” the latest ad from the Lincoln Project, smacks down Republican Senators who won’t stand up to Donald Trump (meaning all of them except Utah’s Mitt Romney).

In just 30 seconds, this tiny gem contrasts the cowardice of those politicians with the courage of the protesters who rose up after the murder of George Floyd. It shows Black Lives Matter protesters marching peacefully past a group of armed white men during a demonstration in Crown Point, Indiana — and a parade of GOP senators skulking silently past reporters asking them about President Donald Trump’s conduct.or’s

Don’t miss the smile flashed by a protester walking past the gun thugs. Just click.

‘Adapt immediately or find a new job’: Senate GOP confronts fundraising emergency

Democrats’ online fundraising has again caught fire, giving them a boost in November’s fight for the Senate majority.

Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee prepared a slideshow for Senate chiefs of staff full of bleak numbers about the party’s failure to compete with Democrats on digital fundraising. For anyone not getting the message, the final slide hammered home the possible end result: a freight train bearing down on a man standing on the tracks.

The slideshow, obtained by POLITICO, painted a grim picture of the GOP’s long-running problem. Republican senators and challengers lagged behind Democrats by a collective $30 million in the first quarter of 2020, a deficit stemming from Democrats’ superior online fundraising machine. Since then, Democrats’ fundraising pace accelerated further, with the party’s challengers announcing huge second-quarter hauls last week, largely driven by online donors giving through ActBlue, the party’s preferred fundraising platform.

The money guarantees Democrats nothing heading into November 2020. But with President Donald Trump’s poll numbers sagging and more GOP-held Senate races looking competitive, the intensity of Democrats’ online fundraising is close to erasing the financial advantage incumbent senators usually enjoy. That’s making it harder to bend their campaigns away from the national trend lines — and helping Democrats’ odds of flipping the Senate. Continue reading.

ICYMI – MinnPost: “Jason Lewis Laughs” About Previous Comments on Trayon Martin

In Case You Missed It:

MinnPost: D.C. Memo: Focus on the Fifth District

By Gabe Schneider. 7/10/20

I reported last week that Jason Lewis, the endorsed Republican for Senate in MN, previously said Trayvon Martin was “a thug,” “a kid in trouble,” “not a saint,” “not a role model,” and “guilty.”
On Monday, Lewis was asked by a radio host what he thought about the discrepancy between his words about George Floyd, whose death he called tragic, and his words about Trayon Martin. He laughed.

Host: “You called the death of George Floyd tragic, because it was, but you said different things after another person died a long time ago, so how do you rectify that, Jason?”

Jason Lewis: “I don’t know, it’s kind of amazing.”

You can listen to the clip here at about the 42 minute mark.

‘Historic corruption’: 2 Republican senators denounce Trump’s commutation of Stone

GOP lawmakers have been mostly silent about the commutation.

Sens. Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey condemned Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of his longtime confidant Roger Stone — the first elected Republicans to denounce the president’s Friday night move.

“Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” Romney (R-Utah) wrote on Twitter Saturday.

GOP lawmakers have been mostly silent about the commutation, which came just after a federal appeals court panel rejected Stone’s last-ditch bid to delay the start of his 40-month prison sentence set to begin next week. Stone was convicted on seven felony charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, including obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements. Continue reading.

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Jason Lewis Echoes Scott Jensen’s Misinformation About Coronavirus that Has Jensen Under Investigation

As Minnesota State Senator Dr. Scott Jensen is being investigated by the state medical board for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 by comparing it to the common flu and spreading a conspiracy theory that states are artificially inflating their coronavirus death tolls, here’s a good reminder that Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis has echoed this reckless rhetoric:

  • Steven Bannon scolded Jason Lewis for falsely claiming that hospitals were classifying non-COVID-19 deaths as such: “Are you gonna be one of these guys that argues the death count? Yes or No?” Bannon bluntly told Lewis, “I guarantee the way you’re gonna lose in Minnesota in the fall is argue the death count. Just a word to the wise.”
  • Jason Lewis repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus and compared it to the common cold and flu, even calling it a “wintertime sickness.”
  • Lewis visited Jensen’s clinic to double down on the conspiracy theory that the government would make people get “vaccines with tattoos to make certain you’ve got one.”

Jason Lewis and Scott Jensen’s fueling conspiracy theories and misinformation is harmful to Minnesotans, and shows their blatant disregard for Minnesotans’ safety during a global pandemic that has killed over a hundred thousand Americans.

Ousting Republicans From Senate Is Vital For Biden

If Joe Biden is elected, he will face the same intransigence from the GOP that Barack Obama did. Just as soon as Biden is sworn in, Republicans will do everything in their power to defeat his policies and hamstring his presidency.

They will suddenly remember long-forgotten conservative principles, such as fiscal restraint. They will refuse to compromise. Even though they ignored mind-boggling corruption for the last four years, they will show a passionate and determined interest in any whiff of scandal among Democrats.

That’s why a Biden administration will need a Democratic Senate. Without it, he will not be able to drag the country out of the mess that it’s in.

This is not the time for complacency, even though polls show Biden leading nationally and in several critical battleground states. It’s the time for Democratic activists to redouble their efforts to boost not only Biden, but also Senate candidates in Colorado, Arizona, Maine, North Carolina and even Georgia. Continue reading.

Jason Lewis has called the death of George Floyd ‘tragic.’ He had very different words after the death of Trayvon Martin

Jason Lewis, the endorsed Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said in previously unreported comments that Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Black high school student shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, was a “thug” and “not a good kid.”

In 2013, Zimmerman was acquitted at trial after claiming he killed Martin in self-defense.

According to audio reviewed by MinnPost, Lewis said on his radio show in 2013: “Trayvon Martin was a thug. Trayvon Martin was a kid in trouble already. He was not a saint. He was not a role model. Let me clear about this: He was not a good kid.” Continue reading.