A new study released Tuesday shows just how insidious the Trump administration’s proposal to change the way the federal government measures poverty actually is. In short: millions could lose health and food benefits.
By way of background, in May, Trump’s budget agency sought public comment on updating the inflation rate used by the Census Bureau to determine the poverty line and estimate who’s poor. This technical change matters a lot because the federal poverty li...
ThinkProgress
Senator Cory Gardner touts endorsement of his bipartisan bonafides from his own party chairman
Facing a tough re-election in an increasingly blue state, Republican Colorado Senator Cory Gardner tweeted out a glowing, full-throated endorsement of his effectiveness at representing not just Republicans but also Democratic and independent voters. But the endorsement came not from a respected newspaper or independent expert, but from his own state party chairman.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), a Tea Party conservative and disgraced former federal prosecutor, is currently serving as state p...
Trump says he’ll announce a ‘phenomenal’ new health care plan soon. Where was it the last 2 years?
President Donald Trump says he’ll unveil a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in two months time. But he’s failed to produce a viable plan for the last two years, and it’s unlikely a few more weeks will change anything.
“If we win back the House, we’re going to produce phenomenal health care,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday night. “And we already have the concept of the plan, but it’ll ...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren set to roll out student debt plan with Rep. James Clyburn
Among the myriad proposals that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has offered up while on the 2020 campaign trail is a plan to confront the nation’s growing student loan crisis by cancelling a significant amount debt currently held by tens of millions of Americans. Now, with an assist from House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Warren will move the timetable on this proposal up, with an eye toward introducing legislation in a few weeks’ time.
As Roll Call’s Niels Les...
New York City to become first city ever to directly fund abortion
New York City will become the first city nationwide to directly fund abortion, thanks to a budget deal announced Friday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D) included $250,000 for the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) in a $92.8 billion budget agreement for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
New York City already funds Planned Parenthood, but the organization’s affiliates don’t just help patients terminate a pregnancy....
The one man most likely to turn the United States into a theocracy
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is having a moment.
Last month, Hawley tore into a Trump judicial nominee. The nominee’s sin? Michael Bogren had the audacity to represent a Michigan city that wanted to enforce a civil rights ordinance against Catholic business owners who believe they have a constitutional right to discriminate. Hawley’s interrogation of Bogren was widely condemned even by many conservative voices.
Ed Whelan, the legal activist best known for using the rea...
Ted Cruz says he wants to expand access to birth control. Here’s his chance.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says he wants to make birth control accessible over the counter, but has yet to support a bill to do just that.
On Wednesday, Cruz tweeted to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), asking her to team up on “a simple, clean bill making birth control available over the counter.” Last week, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that birth control should be over the counter to her millions of followers. Twenty minutes later, she tweeted it should also be free.
The...
Please, AOC, don’t fall into Ted Cruz’s birth control trap
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the lefty lion of the House freshman class, has a new frenemy — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
I agree. Perhaps, in addition to the legislation we are already working on together to ban Members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, we can team up here as well. A simple, clean bill making birth control available over the counter. Interested? https://t.co/7kh3kqxN1w
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 12, 2019
M...
Secret Service repeatedly interferes with Rev. Barber’s protest in front of the White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 300 religious leaders and activists protested outside the White House on Wednesday to bring attention to administration policies they say are immoral. The U.S. Secret Service repeatedly interfered with the protest, first closing off Lafayette Square and then gating off access to the front of the White House an hour later.
The protest, called “Moral Witness Wednesday,” was led by Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a Protestant minister, social ...
The nation’s largest physician group is warming up to universal health care
The American Medical Association (AMA) — one of the nation’s most powerful health groups — is warming up to policy ideas that expand the role of government-run health care, thanks to activists trying to change minds from the inside.
Every year, the country’s largest physician group hosts a meeting to discuss its priorities. The top-line from this year’s annual conference is that the organization will continue its support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while still op...