President Donald Trump and his Republican allies reportedly plan to use his divisive culture war attacks on the National Football League players’ #TakeAKnee protests to energize their conservative base this November’s mid-term elections. At least one Republican Congressman has had enough.
Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a first-term U.S. Representative from Green Bay, said on Wednesday that he disagrees with Trump’s decision to cancel a scheduled Tuesday celebration with me...
Donald Trump
What’s going on with North Korea is a cautionary tale in rushing diplomacy
Amid talks of a historic deal with North Korea and a possible Noble Peace Prize for President Donald Trump (chiefly among his GOP supporters, his aides, and, well, himself), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems to be slamming the brakes on the negotiations.
While White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Trump administration is “still hopeful that the meeting will take place,” signalling that the president is ready for “tough negotiations,” it&...
Here is Trump’s alternative to Medicare drug negotiation after breaking populist promise
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar is doing damage control, pushing back against criticism that President Donald Trump broke a key campaign pledge to have the federal government directly negotiate Medicare drug prices.
On Friday, Trump gave an underwhelming speech that spared drug companies and also released an ‘American Patients First’ blueprint that prompted more questions than answers — 135 questions to be exact. And on Monday, Azar defended him...
Trump blames “global freeloading” for costly US drugs. That’s not the problem
Introducing his plan to reduce prescription drug prices in America today, Donald Trump said his government would focus on “tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices.”
The president criticized drug makers and insurance companies for failing to put...
Trump breaks key populist campaign promise to negotiate Medicare drug prices
On the campaign trail, candidate Trump promised to save hundreds of billions of dollars standing up to the pharmaceutical industry, and said he’d “negotiate like crazy” to bring down Medicare prescription drug prices.
Allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies for better prices has long been a goal for progressives, and when voters heard Trump stray from the Republican party orthodoxy, railing against Big Pharma as he asked for their support, many ...
Even the swamp has rules, DC lobbyists say. Michael Cohen didn’t play by them
Plenty of people in Washington, D.C. receive six figure salaries to try to convince government officials to make decisions that benefit corporations, not the public.
But there are some rules.
That’s the message from lobbyists, consultants, and public rela...
Trump administration stops short of approving the most restrictive Medicaid policy yet
The Trump administration just denied Kansas’ request to create an unprecedented “lifetime limit” on Medicaid, a federal insurance largely for the poor and disabled.
“We seek to create a pathway out of poverty, but we also understand that people’s circumstances change, and we must ensure that our programs are sustainable and available to them when they need and qualify for them,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma ...
How Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo blew it at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote against the nomination of Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State on Monday — which would be the first such vote for a secretary of state nominee.
CIA Director Pompeo, who would replace Rex Tillerson (who was fired in March), has thus far not received the support of a single Democrat on the SFRC (nor Kentucky Republican Rand Paul).
Bracing for the SFRC vote, Trump tweeted on Monday morning that it was partisan politi...
Trump administration health announcement is latest blow to transgender Americans
The Trump administration’s campaign to make life more difficult for transgender Americans entered a new phase this weekend. On Saturday, according to the New York Times, the administration announced that it would gut an anti-discrimination statute when it comes to health care access for transgender patients.
The rule, passed under the Obama administration in 2016, had prevented health care providers receiving federal financial assistance — including those receiving Medic...
The Trump administration is paying Focus on the Family to stop the AIDS epidemic in South Africa
The State Department gave a prominent anti-LGBTQ religious organization a grant to combat HIV/AIDS in South Africa through a religious program that pressures kids into pledging that they will abstain from sex until marriage.
An affiliate of Focus on the Family (FOTF) received a $49,505 grant under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from the State Department’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator on September 18, 2017, while the department was un...