Former congressman whose campaign was charged with election fraud running for Senate

July 9, 2019 News, politics

One-term Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA)’s 2018 re-election campaign did not go well. But despite a series of ethical scandals and unpopular votes that led to his defeat in a Republican-leaning House district last year, he announced Monday that he plans to seek his party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020.

Taylor, who is at this point best known for a controversial signature-gathering scandal, made the announcement on Fox & Friends. He said the rationale f...

Obamacare faces a death panel on Tuesday

July 8, 2019 News, obamacare, politics

A conservative panel of an especially conservative federal appeals court will hear a case on Tuesday brought by Republican officials who seek to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. The case is Texas v. United States.

Last year, a Republican judge with a long history of striking down Democratic policies on spurious legal reasoning handed down an order saying that Obamacare must cease to exist. If this decision is ultimately affirmed by higher courts, an estimated...

‘It’s a sexist and racist attack’: Trump’s regulation to weaken home health care unions takes effect

July 5, 2019 Donald Trump, health care, News, politics

Adarra Benjamin earns $13.48 an hour as a home health worker — a wage that includes a 48-cent-per hour raise thanks to her union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois.

Benjamin, who’s 25 years old and lives in Chicago, also received $1,200 in backpay this year after Illinois agreed to the raises back in 2017. She was one of more than 49,000 employees statewide to receive this long-overdue backpay.

“After becoming a member… I...

States that passed ‘heartbeat’ bans spent thousands on abortion test cases after losing in court

July 3, 2019 health care, News

Before Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio made headlines for passing extreme near-total abortion bans, Arkansas and North Dakota did the same years prior.

Advocacy groups immediately sued when Arkansas and North Dakota passed so-called heartbeat laws in 2013. By the end of the years-long legal battles, both states spent thousands of dollars defending these bans after losing in federal courts. Altogether, officials told ThinkProgress the states spe...

What is Medicare for All? Depends on who you ask.

July 2, 2019 News

Whether on the primary debate stage or during campaign events, you’ve likely heard the Democratic presidential hopefuls talking about Medicare for All. It’s a debate that’s at the heart of one of the biggest campaign issues: how to ensure more Americans have access to affordable health care. Not all of the 2020 presidential candidates agree on how to do that. The major differences between their plans mostly center on whether to maintain private insurance plans, and if not, how quickly a pr...

Illinois governor signs executive order to help trans students feel safer at school

July 1, 2019 discrimination, lgbtq, News, politics

Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzker (D) signed an executive order on Sunday aimed at protecting transgender students from discrimination and harassment. The governor signed the order on the last day of Pride Month and on the same day as Chicago’s Pride Parade.

The executive order creates a 25-member task force to develop policy recommendations that educate school officials on issues affecting transgender students, such as dress codes, using the correct pronouns, bathroom access, and na...

Brett Kavanaugh is exactly who we thought he was

June 30, 2019 News, politics

Indelible in the hippocampus is the anger.

The rage. The red faced, snarling incomprehension from Brett, who spent decades preparing for his ascension, only to have it threatened by some woman he claims not to remember assaulting.

Brett was careful. Brett came from the right family. Took the right jobs. Made all the right friends. And wrote all the right opinions. When excessive partisanship was a liability for men seeking ascension, Brett artfully said nothing about Obamacar...

The two biggest victories for undocumented immigrants from Thursday’s debate

June 28, 2019 News

On the heels of the first 2020 Democratic presidential debate — which focused heavily on undocumented immigrants and the situation unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border — the second round of candidates took the stage Thursday night, laying out for the American people where they stand on immigration.

Only three candidates — former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, and Washington Governor Jay Inslee ...

We know who supports Medicare for All. We don’t know how Democrats will pass it.

June 27, 2019 health care, News

The Democratic primary debate Wednesday night revealed two big things when it comes to health care.

First, most candidates on the stage were not interested in abolishing private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan, which is at the core of Medicare for All.

Second, none of the Democrats had a good answer on how to pass Medicare for All or any proposal that expands the role of government-run insurance, so long as Republicans maintain control of the Senate.

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Democratic candidates interrupt each other to make themselves noticed

June 27, 2019 News, politics

Ten Democrats took to a stage Wednesday night in Miami for the first debate of the 2020 presidential campaign, but they struggled to connect with the voting viewers as they competed with each other and a debate format that didn’t allow anyone to significantly break away from their competitors.

For the most part, the candidates agreed with each other on some of the biggest issues of the day, ranging from the economy, immigration policy, gun control, and reprodu...