Last Friday, one day after the Justice Department filed a brief refusing to defend the Affordable Care Act, a senior DOJ attorney with over 20 years of experience at the department resigned in an apparent act of protest. The lawyer, Joel McElvain, was one of three career lawyers who withdrew from the case rather than signing their name to the Trump administration’s arguments — a highly unusual move by career Justice Department officials.
Then, on Tuesday of this week, th...
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American Medical Association calls for ban on assault weapons, amid congressional inaction
The American Medical Association (AMA) on Tuesday pushed for a ban on assault weapons, amid demands from its membership of doctors that the organization take a stand against gun violence.
The move comes months after the mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February that killed 17 people and elevated the national conversation around gun control. But despite dozens of mass shootings since then, Congress has done little to address gun violence.
Congre...
Republican congresswoman has flip-flopped big time
The Martha McSally who ran for Congress in 2012 would not recognize herself today. Then, she was a retired Air Force Colonel mounting two unsuccessful House bids in Arizona, running as a post-partisan leader who would take the lead on immigration and deficit reduction. Then, she presented herself someone with “authenticity” who would not just repeat 15-second sound bites.
McSally won her seat in 2014 after promising to vote against her party more than 20 percent of the time but ins...
BREAKING: Corey Stewart wins Virginia GOP Senate primary
Former Virginia gubernatorial candidate and Confederate apologist Corey Stewart has won the Republican nomination for Senate. He will face Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) in the general election this November.
Stewart currently serves as the Prince William County Board of Supervisors chairman, but he captured the national spotlight last year during the Republican gubernatorial primary, running as an immigration hardliner and shamelessly supporting Confederate monuments. Though Stewart lost th...
This 2011 quote from Jeff Sessions just became really awkward
The Trump administration’s Department of Justice will not defend in court the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, including the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions, it announced Thursday. While Attorney General Jeff Sessions is far from the first to opt not to defend a law he deems unconstitutional, many prominent Republicans — including Sessions himself — were highly critical of the practice jus...
Trump promised to protect people with pre-existing conditions. He just abandoned them in court.
The Trump administration told a federal court Thursday evening that it would no longer defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguing that protections for people with pre-existing conditions are unconstitutional.
The Justice Department filed the brief supporting a lawsuit from Texas and 19 other Republican-led states. In their complaint, the states argue the courts must invalidate the entire ACA because Congress zeroed out the individual mandate, the penalty for not having insurance....
Iowa judge overturns state’s ban on Medicaid covering transgender medical procedures
An Iowa judge has overturned the state’s ban on allowing Medicaid to cover the costs of surgical procedures for transgender people. In his ruling Thursday, Chief District Judge Arthur Gamble ordered the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) to immediately approve Medicaid coverage for the two petitioners, Carol Ann Beal and EerieAnna Good.
Both Beal and Good had already changed all of their documentation to reflect their identities, but were denied coverage for medically nec...
Virginia governor signs Medicaid expansion bill into law
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a two-year $115 billion budget that includes Medicaid expansion Thursday, making the state one of more than 30 that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The bill will provide health coverage to about 300,000 to 400,000 low-income residents, and many individuals — about 138,000 people fall in the state’s coverage gap — could be insured for the first time.
“It has been a long road to get...
As Republicans tout tax reform in midterm battles, they fuel their opposition
CLEVELAND, OHIO — When Katie Jones realized Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) was going to be the Republican Senate nominee in her state, she said she felt “sick.”
Jones has been a community activist in Medina County, Ohio since 2011, mainly fighting a proposed pipeline in her community. That same year, Renacci “unfortunately,” as Jones put it, took office as her representative.
Now, Jones says she’s supporting Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) as he runs for reelection — and one t...
Republican congressman to Trump: stop wasting time on NFL culture wars and focus on real issues
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies reportedly plan to use his divisive culture war attacks on the National Football League players’ #TakeAKnee protests to energize their conservative base this November’s mid-term elections. At least one Republican Congressman has had enough.
Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a first-term U.S. Representative from Green Bay, said on Wednesday that he disagrees with Trump’s decision to cancel a scheduled Tuesday celebration with me...