An Arkansas state legislator who survived cancer announced Monday that he’s running for Congress, hoping to take down his district’s current Republican representative, who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Clarke Tucker, a Democrat, told ThinkProgress Monday that his own experience with bladder cancer last year helped him realize just how real the consequences of repealing the ACA would be.
“Thankfully, I had access to great health care, but it ...
congress
On the brink of a government shutdown, Congress still has unresolved issues
In a move that has lately become a Congressional norm, the House plans to vote on an interim spending bill Thursday, racing to beat a Friday midnight deadline to fund the government or face a shutdown.
With less than 48 hours to reach an agreement, Democrats and Republicans are split on funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and community health centers, disaster relief, defense spending, as well as a solution for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as...
The GOP tax plan is not a game
On Tuesday afternoon, the House passed the final version of the GOP’s tax bill, and the Senate is expected to pass the bill later Tuesday night. The plan will upend the American economic system, raise taxes on middle class people making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year by more than $5 billion, cut taxes by more than $5.5 billion for people making more than $1 million a year, punish wage-earning employees, repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, likely force billi...
Man pleads with Jeff Flake to vote down the tax plan and save his life
One of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)’s last major votes before retirement could be a death sentence for tens of thousands of Americans. One of them is Ady Barkan, a 33-year-old California father living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), who, during a Thursday night flight from Washington D.C. to Phoenix, Arizona, asked Flake to cast a vote to save his life.
“I was healthy a year ago. I was running on the beach,” Barkan told Flake on the flight, according to video footage of the exch...
Senate advances tax bill that benefits the rich and will cost $1.4 trillion dollars
The Senate voted 51 to 49 to pass its version of the GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act early Saturday morning. Many lawmakers only received the text of the massive bill, which has far-reaching implications across multiple sectors, just before the vote, leaving no time to read the almost-500 page piece of legislation.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was the only Republican to vote against the plan, and no Democrats voted for it.
The Senate version now has to be reconciled with the House versio...
Here are the flimsy promises that got key Republican swing votes to support the tax plan
Several Republican senators who were considered swing votes on the GOP tax plan — a plan the chamber intends to vote on Friday night, without giving members sufficient time to even read the bill — have been swayed with flimsy promises by Republican leadership and the Trump administration.
“After securing significant changes, as well as commitments to pass legislation to help lower health insurance premiums, I will cast my vote in support of the Senate tax reform bi...
Republicans tucked an irrelevant anti-abortion provision into the tax bill
The far-reaching implications of the Republican tax plan may include a sneaky attempt to use the sweeping piece of legislation to attack abortion rights.
Nearly 100 pages into the House version of the bill — and likely in the Senate bill as well, though Republicans have not yet released the text of the bill to the public, despite their intent to vote on it Friday afternoon — Republicans attempt to codify an anti-choice priority known as fetal personhood. The provision is...