The US government shutdown has blown a nearly $5.3 billion ...
Republicans
Will Florida’s new Republican governor keep his vow of bipartisanship?
So far, Ron DeSantis has nominated prominent Democrats to lead and pledged his support to the environment and clean water
Two months after narrowly winning a contentious election in which he nailed his colors firmly to the mast of Trumpism, Ron DeSantis will be sworn in as Florida’s 46th governor on Tuesday with voters in the nation’s third most populous state still unsure exactly what they will be getting.
Many of the Republican’s picks for his new administration during the seven weeks’ transition since his progressive Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum conceded have, predictably, followed his predecessor Rick Scott’s brand of hardline conservatism. For example, Mary Mayhew, his choice to lead Florida’s healthcare agency, served the White House in blocking expansion of the Medicaid program that provides health insurance for the poor. And DeSantis’s key advisor and former state House speaker, Richard Corcoran, is a right-wing ideologue who will become the next commissioner of education.
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Rashida Tlaib: Democrat defends call for Trump’s impeachment – live
Michigan congresswoman stood by impeachment comment as her office says: ‘Tlaib was elected to shake up Washington’
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On their first full day in power, House Democrats voted to jump into into a court battle defending the Affordable Care Act as part of their rules package.
From the Associated Press, new poll shows Americans increasingly concerned with immigration:
As much of the U.S. government remains shut down over President Donald Trump’s insistence on funding for his border wall, nearly half of Americans identify immigration as a top issue for the government to work on this year.
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Medicare for All: ‘huge step’ for proposal as Pelosi agrees to hold hearings – live
- Legislation would create universal health care system
- President accuses Democrats of ‘presidential harassment’
- Nancy Pelosi to be sworn in as House speaker
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Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the two first Muslim Congresswomen who will take office today, will take her oath of office on a copy of the Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson, per the Detroit Free Press.
Fun fact: When Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim, is sworn in as the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress today, she will take the oath of office using Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy of the Quran. https://t.co/wZ6I2eKq3v
The new 116th Congress has now officially convened.
Vice President Mike Pence is swearing in members of the Senate. House members are preparing to be sworn in.
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Trump’s Syria surprise is a new attempt to distract from bad news at home
Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of Syria wasn’t vetted by the Pentagon, the State Department, Congress, or US allies, and his rationale for it is false, foreign policy experts and military veterans say.
It comes as the Trump White House is losing ...
What would a US government shutdown mean for military, mail delivery, and national security?
The Trump White House is determined to shut down the government on Dec. 21, in an attempt to get funding for a border wall with Mexico. So what happens to federal services if the government closes for business?
During a shutdown, the US government “must discontinue a...
How Republicans are turning US states into labs of anti-democracy
The party’s brazen efforts to rewire state legislature poses a greater threat than Trump – and will be all the harder to tackle
America’s federal system of government is, in theory, key to the strength of its democracy. As opposed to citizens in the more centralized states of Europe, Americans get to vote for a huge array of local offices, policies and ballot initiatives that can influence their lives for the better. Innovation in the states can be healthy for the whole country, such as when healthcare reform in Massachusetts provided inspiration for the Affordable Care Act. The supreme court justice Louis Brandeis famously praised US states as laboratories which could “try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country”.
Related: Voter suppression is an all-American problem we can fight – and win | Cas Mudde
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…And now the bad news about the new Congress: Liz Cheney will be a top House Republican
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...
The US just elected its first openly gay governor
Jared Polis, the Dem...
Midterm elections: Sean Hannity accused of lying about Trump rally as Beto O’Rourke delivers final message – live
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3.09pm GMT
Guardian readers have been in touch about how they’re voting and the reasons why. For Lynne in New Mexico, universal healthcare and abortion rights are key issues. “I’d like to see universal healthcare provi...