- Elijah Cummings seeks talks with Trump’s children
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New polling out of the University of New Hampshire has neighboring senator Bernie Sanders in first place, trailed closely by Joe Biden, who still has no decided whether he will run for president.
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US politics
Medicare for All: House Democrats unveil bill to expand healthcare nationwide
Measure to be formally introduced Wednesday signals party’s growing backing for once-fringe idea
House Democrats have unveiled details of their ambitious plan to expand a popular, government-run healthcare program to all Americans. The measure marks a fresh sign of the party’s growing support for a once fringe idea that will play a defining role in the 2020 presidential campaign.
The Medicare for All Act of 2019, to be formally introduced on Wednesday with 107 co-sponsors, woul...
Sanders started a revolution in 2016. In 2020, he can finish it | Bhaskar Sunkara
Without Sanders’ campaign, we would never have had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or mainstream support for Medicare-for-All
It’s official: Bernie Sanders announced today that he’s going to run for president and lay the groundwork for transforming the economic and political life of this country. His decision comes not a moment too soon.
After all, if you think things are bad now, imagine if Bernie Sanders hadn’t run for president in 2016. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had swept the prim...
Trump ‘unhappy’ with new shutdown deal – live updates
- Tentative deal includes $1.375bn for border security
- Schumer: ‘I urge President Trump to sign this agreement’
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A House vote on the border security deal to avoid another government shutdown could come as early as tomorrow according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Hoyer says Hse could vote on border security pkg "maybe as early as tomorrow"
A number of Democrats will unveil legislation on Wednesday that will allow people between the ages of 50-64 to buy into Medicare. The idea of expanding Medicare has long been popular among Democrats. There were past proposals to allow people over 55 to buy in and, on the left, Medicare for All has become a rallying cry.
A new name to add to your Democratic health proposal lexicon: “Medicare at 50.” pic.twitter.com/50kdCCp4MQ
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Trump gets ready for State of the Union address – live news
- Trump to give speech to hostile audience in House
- President aims for reboot and calls for American unity
Donald Trump is expected to pick Treasury Department official David Malpass to head the World Bank, Politico reports.
The choice is a clear sign the Trump administration is looking to rein in international financial institutions, according to Politico. Malpass has been critical of the World Bank, global organizations like it “have grown larger and more intrusive” and “the challenge of refocusing them has become urgent and more difficult.”
A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told health insurance executives that Democratic leadership has deep reservations about single payer healthcare, the Intercept reports.
Wendell Primus, Pelosi’s top healthcare adviser, met with Blue Cross Blue Shield executives in December and told them Democrats were more focused on lowering prescription drug prices, rather than pushing for “Medicare for All” as some progressives would prefer.
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Sorry, Howard Schultz – America doesn’t want another billionaire president | Luke Savage
Schultz opposes Medicare for All and raising the top tax rate – his middle-of-the-road vision is not what America needs
Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, has a bold plan to rescue America, and it involves putting another billionaire in the White House to put a stop to dangerous ideas like universal healthcare and higher taxes on the wealthy.
Related: Howard Schultz heckled as 'egotistical asshole' who would aid Trump in 2020
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Number of uninsured Americans increases by 7m in four years
Survey results come after Republican attacks on government-backed health programs, including the Affordable Care Act
About 7 million fewer Americans have health insurance today than did four years ago, a new survey has found, the highest uninsured rate since 2014. The results come after sustained Republican attacks on government-backed health schemes, including the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
The survey’s findings come as the public is incre...
Democratic 2020 hopefuls pay lip service to the left. Don’t be fooled | Bhaskar Sunkara
Likely candidates are begging for Wall Street’s support – and reminding us who really owns American democracy
It’s a framing that’s been everywhere over the past two years: the Resistance v Donald Trump. By some definitions that “resistance” even includes people like Mitt Romney and George W Bush. By almost all definitions it encompasses mainstream Democrats, such as the likely presidential hopefuls Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
In their rhetoric ...
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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