The 2020 U.S. census faced multiple challenges during the pandemic. A good case can be made that it should be redone — which President Trump says he will do. The problem is that Trump can be so divisive that Democrats and the media will denounce his census-retake efforts as just another partisan political ploy.
On Aug. 7, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had instructed the Department of Commerce (which oversees the census) to “begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS...
The Hill
We need more budget bipartisanship, not less
The director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, was recently quoted saying that “the appropriations process has to be less bipartisan.”
While it’s easy to think this would lead to less of the frustrating gridlock that can overtake the budgetary process, Vought is both procedurally and substantively wrong: The answer is more bipartisanship.
If this sounds naïve, consider the alternative.
The first and most obvious issue is realism. Thanks ...
Kennedy is gutting health advisory panels to weaken the Affordable Care Act
The famous thumbs-down by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2017 resulted in the notorious failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Subsequent legislative attempts also crashed and burned, teaching Republicans the importance of discretion in their efforts to sabotage that law.
Consequently, both congressional Republicans and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have instead turned to subtler tactics to undermine the Afford...
Budget office says GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ will make rich richer, poor poorer
The Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” will make the poorest Americans even poorer, while padding the wallets of the highest earners the most, according to an analysis released Monday by Congress’s budget arm.
The assessment, conducted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) at the request of top Democrats, found that the top 10 percent of earners in the country will see an average boost of $13,600 per year over the next decade as a direct result of provisions in the ...
Trump’s dangerous health care policies will be on the ballot in 2026
Six months into Trump’s second term, is there any issue where Democrats have traction?
“The only issues on which voters prefer congressional Democrats to Republicans,” a Wall Street Journal poll recently found, “are health care and vaccine policy.”
That fits with a late July Fox News poll that found 53 percent disapproval for Trump’s call for increased work requirements for Medicaid as part of the tax and spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress.
The...
US Chamber takes lead in selling Trump, GOP ‘big, beautiful bill’ after Medicaid fight
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is taking the lead in helping congressional Republican sell President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to a skeptical public after this year’s bruising battle over deep Medicaid cuts tarnished the public image of President Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment.
The U.S. Chamber, one of the nation’s pre-eminent business groups, plans to hold 100 round-table discussions about the trillions of dollars in assorted tax cuts and tax incentiv...
ACA premiums set to spike
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Election 2028 is on — Democrats see opportunity and a wide open primary
The big field in the race for the 2028 presidential sweepstakes is already off and running. Two of the top Democrats vying for the job are former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). The election of either one would address the urgency of putting a woman in the White House for the first time.
Harris’s decision not to run for governor in her home state of California indicates she will make another White House run. But that’s not the only sig...
RFK Jr. ‘reviewing’ ouster of preventive task force members
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday he is “reviewing” whether to remove all members of an influential advisory committee that offers guidance about preventive health services.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is composed of medical experts who serve four-year terms on a volunteer basis. They are appointed by the HHS secretary and are supposed to be shielded from political influence.
The task force reviews reams...
Why Democrats keep losing: Too many Baptists, not enough bootleggers
Democrats need alliances between Baptists and bootleggers. So do Republicans, but right now, they have plenty of those alliances, which is a key reason, and maybe the key reason, that they are riding so high.
Let me explain. In the twentieth century, the U.S. had fierce debates about laws restricting commercial activity on Sundays — above all banning the sale and purchase of alcohol. Many Americans favored those laws on moral grounds. They thought that ceasing secular work ...