congress

Gazillionaire senators push to make it harder for non-rich people to serve in Congress

congress, News, politics

Let’s start this column off with a bold assertion. Paying lawmakers good salaries is one of our country’s most important progressive reforms because it means that they don’t have to be wealthy to serve. High congressional pay is a safeguard against corruption, not a sign of it.

Bear this assertion in mind as you consider this proposal.

This morning I co-sponsored a bill to end congressional pensions with @SenatorBraun.

Americans shouldn't...

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Dick Saslaw was the lone VA Democrat to rush to Northam’s defense. It could cost him re-election.

congress, News, politics

Virginia’s US senators Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D) late Saturday joined a growing chorus of politicians and organizations calling on Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to resign, after a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook page was published by a right-wing website.

Yasmine Taeb, a progressive candidate for the Virginia State Senate, told ThinkProgress that it shouldn’t have taken them so long.

“The two highest officials in our state are older white men who w...

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Democrats waste no time, announce first oversight measures of the new Congress

congress, House of Representatives, News, politics, Senate, Trump administration

The 116th Congress — dubbed the most progressive and most diverse Congress in U.S. history — officially came to order on Thursday, and members of Congress have wasted no time introducing legislation and scheduling hearings to provide oversight over the White House.

With the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 2011 and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wielding the gavel, the party is intent on using their new power to advance progressi...

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New Congress’ history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists

Activism, congress, health care, News, politics

“Please count us as allies,” said a staffer for Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to grassroots activists who were wearing Medicare for All t-shirts and were gathered in the congresswoman’s newly-minted office Thursday.

Pressley’s staff were among many of the House of Representatives’ freshmen class that warmly welcomed dozens of advocates who visited the offices Thursday. It didn’t matter that they were early for open house; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cort...

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How Trump’s government shutdown affects the average American

congress, News, politics, trump

President Donald Trump has vowed that the partial government shutdown that began at midnight — the second government shutdown to occur while Republicans control the White House and both branches of Congress — will last for a “very long time.” The shutdown is the result of Trump reneging on an agreement to pass a “clean” bipartisan spending bill. Republicans then threw in more than $5 billion in funding for the wall, the president’s vanity project, ...

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Amid swirling Trump scandals, Cummings backs rules change to allow indictment of a sitting president

congress, Donald Trump, House of Representatives, News, politics

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Democrat who takes over chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee next month, called Sunday for the overhaul of legal guidelines that currently protect presidents from criminal prosecution.

“I think we should always reconsider laws and regulations, and this is one we definitely should reconsider,” Cummings told CNN’s State of the Union.

The Maryland Democrat raised the prospect of a rules change against the back...

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