A fascinating divide just opened up between Trump’s Supreme Court appointees and Bush’s

November 28, 2018 News, politics

Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher walked into a buzz saw Wednesday morning, when he told the Supreme Court that his state has a virtually unlimited power to take people’s cars.

Fisher claimed this power in Timbs v. Indiana, a case involving a breathtakingly broad Indiana law permitting the state to seize vehicles from drivers who commit very minor drug crimes. Tyson Timbs, the man at the heart of the case, stands to lose his $42,000 Land Rover after he sold just...

…And now the bad news about the new Congress: Liz Cheney will be a top House Republican

November 27, 2018 congress, Donald Trump, House of Representatives, News, politics, republican-party, Republicans

American conservatism frequently resembles a bad horror movie franchise. Despite common sense indicating that unsavory characters stopped deserving our attention long ago, they somehow keep coming back for decades.

Many members of disgraced President Richard Nixon’s administration resurfaced under President George W. Bush.

Now the oldest daughter of Dick Cheney, Bush’s historically–unpopular vice president, has risen to a Republican leadership role during th...

Now that a record number of women head to Congress, can they repeal the Hyde Amendment?

November 27, 2018 congress, health, News, politics, reproductive-rights

For the past four decades, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have largely prohibited federal dollars from paying for low-income people’s abortions. But with a record number of Democratic women elected to office in November and their party holding the majority in the House next year, momentum is building to lift the ban.

By ThinkProgress’ count, at least 183 House members support repealing the Hyde Amendment, a legislative provision that prohibits federal Medicaid dollars fro...

Maine’s Gov. LePage uses final days in office to resist expanding Medicaid

November 24, 2018 health care, medicaid, News, politics

Gov. Paul LePage (R-ME) will leave office in January — but not before using his final few months in the governor’s mansion to resisting providing health care to an additional 70,000 low-income Mainers.

A Maine judge ordered LePage this week to follow through on expanding the Medicaid program in the state, setting a December 5 deadline for the state to make meaningful progress on setting up the health care expansion.

It’s the latest development in a protracte...

The legal challenge to Matthew Whitaker’s appointment is a trap

November 20, 2018 Justice Department, News, politics

On Monday, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), filed a lawsuit alleging that Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit is fairly likely to prevail — or, at least, a lawsuit of this sort is fairly likely to win five votes on the Supreme Court. It also potentially presents a grave danger to the next Democratic presidency and to the future viability of the en...

Pfizer ends deal to placate Trump, announces plan to raise prices on 41 prescription drugs

November 16, 2018 health care, News, politics

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer will raise prices on 10 percent of its prescription drugs in January, ending a brief period in which the company halted price increases in an effort to appease President Donald Trump.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Pfizer news Friday. The paper reported that Pfizer would raise prices on 41 drugs by an average of about 5 percent, though three drug prices will be raised by 3 percent and one will be raised by 9 percent.

Trump negotiated ...

Trump’s rhetoric is deterring immigrant families from seeking public assistance, study suggests

November 16, 2018 News, politics

President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is affecting the number of immigrant families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known colloquially as food stamps.

New research from Boston Medical Center’s Children’s HealthWatch surveyed approximately 35,000 immigrant mothers in five U.S. cities — Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Little Rock — from 2007 through the first half of 2018. What they found was a clear increase...

Republican senator claims ‘the left’ will start a civil war unless federal highway system abolished

November 15, 2018 Mike Lee, News, politics

On Thursday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered a speech to the conservative Federalist Society that would have been more at home on Alex Jones’ radio show than at a gathering of many of the most powerful lawyers and judges in the country.

In it, Lee warned of a brewing civil war, and claimed that the only way to avert violence would be to eradicate a long list of federal programs including “the interstate highway system,” funding for “K through 12 public educati...

Republican who crafted health care repeal is officially ousted from Congress

November 15, 2018 health care, News, obamacare, politics

As the final votes are tallied and Democrats continue to notch midterm election victories this week, Republican incumbents were toppled in New Jersey and California by opponents who built campaigns focused on affordable and accessible health care.

Former Obama administration official Andy Kim was officially declared the winner in New Jersey’s 3rd district Wednesday, ousting Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ). MacArthur was one of the left’s biggest health care foes, and earned th...

No one is having more fun right now than these new House Democrats

November 14, 2018 climate, congress, House of Representatives, News, politics

The House of Representatives is going to look a lot different come January — not just due to a Democratic majority, but also a record-breaking number of women, people of color, and LGBTQ members set to join Congress after last week’s midterm elections.

That sea change is depicted on the cover of the New Yorker, which Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently shared on Instagram with the caption “Knock knock.”

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