It’s looking increasingly likely that supporting single-payer health care will be the standard for Democratic lawmakers who want to be considered serious 2020 candidates, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced Thursday that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
“There is something fundamentally wrong when one of the richest and most powerful countries on the planet can’t make sure that a person can afford to see a doctor when they’re sick. T...
ThinkProgress
‘I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling’: Trump’s awkward tweets
During a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump struck a deal to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey, raise the debt ceiling, and keep the government funded — with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
Not only did Trump strike a deal with the leaders of a party he’s repeatedly decried as mere “obstructionists,” but in talking about the deal with reporters on Air Force One, the president didn...
3 things we learned from the Senate’s first Obamacare hearing since the GOP health bill failed
Early in the summer, hearings on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seemed unlikely to ever happen. But with fall swiftly approaching, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has decided it will hold four, the first of which took place on Wednesday.
During this week’s hearing, senators were joined by state insurance commissioners. Wonk-ish health experts guided senators on how best to strengthen the law’s marketplace. Commissioners from blue and red state...
Medical award to Planned Parenthood honors its services for low-income women
While Americans’ access to reproductive health care and education is under assault from the Trump administration and Congress, Planned Parenthood received a prestigious medical award for its range of health care services and its scope in reaching low-income women. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced on Wednesday that the Lasker Awards would go to Planned Parenthood, as well as three scientists.
Planned Parenthood received the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award f...
Faith groups overwhelmingly condemn Trump’s decision to phase out DACA
When Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that President Donald Trump’s administration would phase-out a program that offers work permits to undocumented immigrants who were bought to the United States as children, he called the move “compassionate.”
Some evangelical groups either supported the president’s decision or mirrored the approach of the National Association of Evangelicals, which did not criticize Trump but released a statement demanding Congress pass legislation...
‘This is the only country I know’: DREAMers react to Trump’s cynical game
The Trump administration’s decision to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, is a cruel and cynical political ploy that puts the lives of nearly 800,000 young people who came to America as children in continued limbo.
Known as DREAMers, these young people have lived the bulk of their lives in the United States, but lack the security of full citizenship and under the constant threat of deportation to a country that is foreign to many of them. That t...
Here’s the long list of legislative items Congress needs to get to in addition to DACA
The White House will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program with a six-month delay for Congress to act. The Trump administration is phasing out DACA — an Obama-era initiative that conferred deportation protection and work permits for nearly 800,000 young unauthorized immigrants — unless Congress passes a bill by March to protect recipients, often referred to as DREAMers.
President Donald Trump is punting responsibility to Congress. In a statement, ...
DACA is not unconstitutional
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to live and work openly without fear of deportation. The White House also plans to delay the end of DACA for six months.
In a telling sign of how the administration wants to justify this decision, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced DACA’s fate at a new...
The bleak reason why America is always on the verge of a government shutdown
Tell me if you’ve heard this story before.
A bunch of lawmakers return to Washington. They’ve got a tight deadline and an unruly crew of right-wing hardliners to deal with. The Republican leadership wants to go it alone, but understands the party is going to have to deal with Democrats if it wants to keep the government’s lights on. And looming over all of this is the debt ceiling, a time bomb that could take out much of the world economy if it is allowed to go off...
Labor unions are trying to take back politics in the Midwest
On Labor Day — designated a federal holiday in 1894 to honor America’s labor movement — at least eight Democratic candidates will hold rallies in five Midwest cities to tell workers just how far the country has veered from its pro-labor roots.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) has helped turn the state red by decimating public-sector unions. In Iowa, Republicans rolled back an increase in the minimum wage in March. Just last week, Illinois’ Republican governor vetoed a...