Senate debate over the hotly contested Green New Deal resolution is expected to come to a head on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tries to force a divide among Democrats by calling for a vote on the ambitious proposal, even though no legislation has been proposed.
Democrats, meanwhile, are working to gain the upper hand with a display of unity, despite their differing stances on what meaningful climate action should look like. The final vote will serve as an...
Senate
Democrats don’t need any more presidential candidates. They need senators.
At least on paper, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) looks like a powerful contender for the presidency. He has a quarter-century of experience in Congress. He brings a left populist appeal without the baggage of being a self-described “socialist.” And he’s a winner. Brown won reelection by nearly seven points last November, despite Ohio’s Trumpian tilt and despite the fact that Republicans swept the state’s other major statewide offices.
Nevertheless, Brown an...
Senate Confirms Trump Nominee Who as Justice Official Fought the Affordable Care Act
Democrats said support for a new judge, Chad A. Readler, showed that Republicans were not serious about protections for pre-existing conditions.
This Mitch McConnell quote from 2013 looks really awkward today
On Thursday night, eight Republicans joined all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass a bill that would reopen parts of the federal government — omitting any funding for President Trump’s border wall — in a bid to end the two-week shutdown directly impacting about 800,000 federal workers.
On Friday, the upper chamber remained silent as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to allow a vote on legislation that would end the shutdown. McConnell has...
Democrats waste no time, announce first oversight measures of the new Congress
The 116th Congress — dubbed the most progressive and most diverse Congress in U.S. history — officially came to order on Thursday, and members of Congress have wasted no time introducing legislation and scheduling hearings to provide oversight over the White House.
With the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 2011 and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wielding the gavel, the party is intent on using their new power to advance progressi...
Donald Trump is right about the filibuster
Donald Trump is so very right about this.
Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018
Trump says that he would be “proud” to shut down the government unless Congress gives him over $5 billion to fund a border wall. But there aren’t 60 votes in the Senate to pass such funding. Trump thinks that the funding may pass if Senate Repu...
Senate Democrats get a harsh lesson on why they should never, ever play nice with Republicans
Four years ago, President Obama was in the White House and Democrats controlled a solid majority in the United States Senate. At the very least, Obama should have had free rein to appoint federal judges. Yet then-Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) insisted on giving Republicans the power to veto many of Obama’s nominees.
Three years later, in a move that pretty much everyone on the planet who is not named “Patrick Leahy” knew would inevitably play out, now...
Beto O’Rourke loses Senate race, but reshapes Texas forever
EL PASO, TEXAS — Democrat Beto O’Rourke came close in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz but lost Tuesday by a narrow 3-point margin. Even so, O’Rourke’s race proved candidates in the Lone Star State can run on a serious progressive platform and draw a substantial following.
Beto fans were devastated by the loss, but took heart in what he and his supporters were able to do. Texas — one of the nation’s worst voter turnout states — was...
The US just elected its first openly gay governor
Jared Polis, the Dem...
A guide to how Democrats can take back the House in the midterms
Two years after President Donald Trump’s stunning upset win (despite receiving nearly three million fewer votes than his opponent), Democrats finally have a chance to regain control of one (or both) chambers of legislature. This would mean an opportunity for Congress to finally offer meaningful checks and balances on the Trump administration after the midterm elections, this Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win the House. Twenty-five GOP-controlled districts...