John Boehner calls the Democrat the most powerful House speaker ever. Susan Page’s authoritative biography shows why
John Boehner, a Republican predecessor, concedes that Nancy Pelosi may be the most powerful House speaker in history. Pelosi provided George W Bush with the votes he needed to prevent a depression, as Republicans balked. She helped make Obamacare the law of the land.
Related: On the House review: John Boehner’s lament for pre-Trump Republicans
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Democrats
The Ten Year War review: Obamacare, Trump and Biden’s battles yet to come
Jonathan Cohn’s study of the fight for healthcare coverage delivers depth, dish and much for Democrats to ponder
Once upon a time, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was unpopular, viewed by many as welfare redux. Barack Obama’s promise that “If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan”, didn’t exactly work out. By the middle of the 2010s, so-called Obamacare had cost the Democrats both houses of Congress.
Related: The Good American review: Bob Gersony and a better foreign policy
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What the Democrats hope to do on healthcare now
Less than three days in office and US president Joe Biden has taken more executive actions than his three predecessors combined did in their first weeks. As the Covid-19 crisis would warrant, many of them have to do with tackling the pandemic and strengthening healthcare.
From requiring people to wear masks and observe social distancing on federal property to rejoining the World Health Organization, to reestablishing a team in charge of pandemic response within the National...
Enough is enough: Republicans’ fealty to Trump imperils America itself | Jill Filipovic
When the president refuses to concede, it has a tangible impact on the nation’s future. Why are Republicans enabling this?
The Republican party has spent four years enabling Donald Trump: backing up his lies, defending his most egregious misbehaviors, shattering longstanding democratic norms to keep his, and by extension their, iron grip on power. But by refusing to push him to concede an election he clearly lost, they’re truly following him off a cliff – and threatening to take Amer...
Joe Biden names former Ebola tsar Ron Klain as chief of staff – as it happened
- Biden’s lead over Trump in the popular vote surpasses 5m
- ‘An embarrassment’: Biden criticizes Trump’s refusal to concede
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
- Conservative supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld
- The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump’s election lies
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Waleed Shahid, the communications director for the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats, said Klain “understands the Democratic party has moved in a more progressive direction”.
Progressives and moderates came together to help elect Joe Biden. But post-election, the two camps have already begun to spar over the party’s future, with progressives saying that Biden should embrace more ambitious policy on climate change, policing and healthcare.
Ron Klain understands the Democratic Party has moved in a more progressive direction and that voters expect bold action.
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Best of luck to @RonaldKlain as he manages a team to act on the biggest crises of our time.
Progressives will keep pushing. pic.twitter.com/rxytnuAIy4
Barr tells prosecutors to pursue ‘clear’ fraud claims, without evidence – as it happened
- Attorney general says investigations ‘may be conducted’ in some cases
- President announces ‘Mark Esper has been terminated’
- Biden gets to work as president-elect while Trump refuses to concede
- US coronavirus cases surpass 10m as Ben Carson tests positive
- Republicans back Trump challenge to Biden election victory
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4.02am GMT
Here’s a r...
We were told Joe Biden was the ‘safe choice’. Why did he barely scrape through? | Naomi Klein
A great many people did not vote for Joe Biden, they voted against Trump. We have to recognise how narrow this win was
- Naomi Klein delivered her election analysis at a Haymarket event on Friday night. This is an abridged transcript of remarks. You can watch the event here
These have been a harrowing few days. And these days have been more harrowing than they should have been. As we all know, Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries based on the claim that he was the s...
We were told Joe Biden was the ‘safe choice’. Why did he barely scrape through? | Naomi Klein
A great many people did not vote for Joe Biden, they voted against Trump. We have to recognise how narrow this win was
- Naomi Klein delivered her election analysis at a Haymarket event on Friday night. This is an abridged transcript of remarks. You can watch the event here
These have been a harrowing few days. And these days have been more harrowing than they should have been. As we all know, Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries based on the claim that he was the s...
Nancy Pelosi: ‘We’re able to say that we have held the House’ – video
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Democrats have held the majority in the House of Representatives as counting continues in the US election. Pelosi says campaigning on healthcare helped the Democrats retain their majority, with their message amplified during the coronavirus pandemic. 'Our purpose in this race was to win so that we could protect the Affordable Care Act and that we could crush the virus,' she says
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Lone Star turn: Kamala Harris campaigns in Texas in bid to flip state
Vice-presidential nominee headed to area hit hard by Covid-19 and attacked Republicans’ efforts to undo Obamacare
Jesus Quintanilla, 20, from San Juan on the US-Mexico border, and his family had packed into their car and lined up outside the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus to hear vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
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