- ‘The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women,’ Warren says in final debate before Iowa caucuses
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After the first commercial break of the debate, Bernie Sanders had spoken more than any other candidate, taking up about twice as much time as Tom Steyer.
DEBATE AIR TIME: Who’s spoken the most? Here’s the @CBSNews tally through the first commercial break of the #DemDebate: pic.twitter.com/AoDQhVpZjb
The Democratic debate has returned from a commercial break, and the conversation has turned to healthcare.
Bernie Sanders defended his Medicare for All proposal, which he has centered his presidential campaign around.
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Guardian World News
US briefing: Trump impeached, Obamacare and Australia fires
Thursday’s top story: House votes to impeach president for only third time in US history. Plus, the Cats movie lives down to its disturbing trailer
Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
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Trump impeachment: House prepares for crucial vote amid whistleblower row – live
Fury erupts over Republican naming the alleged whistleblower who triggered the congressional investigation into Trump and Ukraine
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The House has passed a major piece on healthcare legislation during the Judiciary committee impeachment hearing break.
The bill, HR 3, passed by 230 votes to 192 mostly along party lines. It would lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing government to negotiate prices with manufacturers. It makes major changes to the US government’s Medicare program by capping out of pocket drug cost expenses under to the program to $2,000 and creates new dental and vision benefits.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors.
But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters.
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday accused her more moderate rivals of failing to stand up to the rich and pledged to fix a “rigged” US economy, as she sought to re-energize her stalled campaign.
Warren delivered pointed criticisms aimed at several others vying to win the Democratic nomination to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Reuters writes.In a speech to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Warren also faulted unnamed Democrats for soft-pedaling their rhetoric for political reasons.
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Labor condemns ‘disgraceful’ Westpac as Hartzer stands down – politics live
Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live
Sarah Hanson-Young has written about her defamation court victory against David Leyonhjelm in the Guardian today:
Related: David Leyonhelm tried to publicly shame me – I had to call him out | Sarah Hanson Young
Chris Bowen is responding to this story
(As reported by Melissa Davey)
Private health insurance will continue its slow death spiral unless unnecessary private hospital costs and exorbitant specialist bills are reined in, a Grattan Institute report has found.
The report, written by health economists Stephen Duckett and Kristina Nemet, said a small minority of greedy specialist doctors billed their patients at more than twice the official Medicare benefit schedule fee. Patients were not being told about the fees in advance.
Related: 'Greedy specialists' charging exorbitant fees a major cause of private health's strife
Greg Hunt is fiddling while private health insurance burns and across Australia people know it is broken and not working for them and they are voting with their feet. Greg Hunt has been warned and warned and warned and he’s refused to act and he’s told us he’s delivered the biggest reforms in history.
Newsflash, Greg, all of Australia knows they haven’t worked and today we have another report pointing out that private health insurance needs big reform. What is Minister Hunt’s answer?
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Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth
- Buttigieg: Senator’s Medicare for All plan is ‘polarising’
- Opinion: Goodbye, Beto. A sad end to a pointless campaign
Pete Buttigieg is fourth in a four-strong pack clear of the Democratic presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But he thinks the final choice of who will challenge Donald Trump will be between him and Elizabeth Warren.
Related: Liberty and Justice for Democrats in Des Moines – but no clear Iowa star
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Third Rudy Giuliani associate arrested at JFK airport – live
David Correia was detained in a campaign finance case involving associates of Trump’s personal lawyer with Ukraine links
joe biden: i did it, you owe me everything.
elizabeth warren:
pic.twitter.com/UTUVtiUzUnElizabeth Warren having to talk slow and quiet to Biden like you do the aggressive asshole at your job who is all, "I MADE YOU" is making my PTSD act up.
The fact that Biden yelled at Warren, “I got you the votes!” speaks to everything we know about peak white male fragility. #DemDebate
Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is on the attack following last night’s debate – a shift in position for the mayor who largely avoided attacking his rivals.
Pete Buttigieg, continuing his criticism of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, says his 2020 rival has been "more specific and forthcoming about the number of selfies she's taken" than about laying out details of how she'd pay for "Medicare for All." https://t.co/nzy3E5BYfV
Buttigieg got a lot of early interest by saying things like “the compromise position is single payer” and “Republicans are going to call us socialists anyway.” It’s a real question whether the same voters who liked that approach will like his new one. https://t.co/Yu2tQfbUSr
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Democrats issue warning over Trump’s ‘dangerous’ whistleblower attacks – live
Pelosi and Schiff say any attempt to ‘stonewall’ inquiry ‘will be considered obstruction of justice’, while Bernie Sanders undergoes heart surgery
Bernie Sanders has tweeted his thanks to well wishers after he underwent heart surgery for a blocked artery. He has suspended campaign appearances but used his condition remind supporters of a key campaign goal: medicare for all.
Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm feeling good. I'm fortunate to have good health care and great doctors and nurses helping me to recover.
None of us know when a medical emergency might affect us. And no one should fear going bankrupt if it occurs. Medicare for All!
OK - here are some takeaways from that press conference. It was a long one involving a lot of incoherent and rambling answers from the president. But here’s my best shot of at some of the most important comments relating to impeachment and the ongoing Ukraine scandal.
Firstly, Trump responded to a New York Times report, published earlier today, stating that the whistleblower had approached a House Intelligence Committee staff aide days before filing his complaint. The report states that the committee chairman, Adam Schiff, was later made aware of the nature of the allegations but was not given any information on the whistleblower’s identity. A spokesman for Schiff has confirmed parts of this reporting, and stated it is standard procedure for the committee to offer advice to whistleblowers on how to file complaints.
Trump engages in contentious back and forth with @JeffMason1 after he dodges Ukraine question:
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Trump: We have the president of Finland, ask him a question.
Mason: I have one for him, I just wanted to follow up on the one I asked you—
Trump: Did you hear me? Ask him a question! pic.twitter.com/Co64SmxOmk
Trump suggests House intelligence chair should face ‘arrest for treason’ – live news
- Trump hits out at Adam Schiff over impeachment inquiry
- Sanders to roll out new proposal on chief executive pay
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator, has written a Washington Post op-ed imploring fellow members of his party to oppose Trump’s re-election.
Two years ago I stood in the Senate chamber and said: ‘There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles.’ ...
Now, two years later, it is my former Republican Senate colleagues who have a decision to make. Or, as I see it, two decisions to make. The first is difficult; the second is easy. ...
“TrumpCare” does not exist – this has not stopped some firms from advertising insurance products under this banner, according to a new report from Axios.
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Democratic debates: Harris says Trump ‘tweeted the ammunition’ for El Paso shooter – live
The 10 candidates on stage in Houston offered competing visions based on Obamacare and Medicare for All
Elizabeth Warren is calling for the end of the Senate filibuster to enact gun-control legislation.
If the filibuster was done away with, it would only take 50 Senate votes to pass a bill; legislation can currently be blocked if it attracts less than 60 votes.
O’Rourke did not shy away from saying he would require citizens to turn in their military-style weapons, despite Republicans’ frequent accusations that Democrats are coming to take Americans’ guns.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AK-47,” O’Rourke said in one of the biggest lines of the night so far.
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House committee to vote on impeachment procedures – live
House judiciary panel to consider procedures for future hearings in first step towards possible impeachment of Trump
The Trump administration has reportedly given up efforts to write an Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) replacement bill.
After campaigning to repeal the law for eight years, Republicans have struggled to piece together a cohesive strategy for caring for the staggering 27.5m Americans locked out of the healthcare system.
A little live fact-checking from the Guardian’s reporter Joan Greve.
It appears this is the Al Green quote (from May) that Trump is referring to, which is different in both wording and meaning than the president claims here. https://t.co/FdpxlXsJeY pic.twitter.com/zlN1iTKrva
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