The most important lesson Democrats must learn from Obama’s presidency

Imagine, for a moment, what 2009 would have looked like if the Senate’s Democratic supermajority showed up for its first day of work and immediately nuked the filibuster.

In such a world, the White House didn’t have to beg Republican senators for the votes it needed to enact President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. Though Democrats eventually achieved a 60-vote supermajority in the 111th Congress, it was only after Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switched parties...

Senate GOP campaign committee smears Democratic 2020 candidates with false billboards

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, has launched a series of billboards attacking several Democratic candidates over their supposed support for Medicare for All.

Not all of the Democrats who are being targeted actually support Medicare for All, and some have explicitly opposed the idea.

One such billboard, appearing alongside Interstate 10 in Tolleson, Arizona, suggests that Democratic candidate Mark Kelly — a retir...

What the Senate vote on the Green New Deal resolution actually means

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...

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...

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...