Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), who claims to be “pro-life” despite his repeated votes to take health insurance away from millions of people, is hoping to cash in on his state’s new unconstitutional abortion ban.
Byrne, who is seeking his party’s nomination to challenge Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) next year, is currently giving away “free” pro-life stickers with his campaign logo on them — as long as you donate $4 to his campaign.
Alabama Gov. ...
ThinkProgress
HUD proposes purging 55,000 kids and their undocumented family members from public housing
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) submitted a proposed rule to evict all undocumented immigrants from public housing to the federal register Friday, setting in motion the first step towards finalizing a plan that could impact tens of thousands of undocumented parents and their U.S. citizen children.
Under this proposed rule, HUD would be prohibited from “making financial assistance available to persons other than United States citizens.” The current r...
Republicans who said they’d protect people with pre-existing conditions vote against bill to do that
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would block the Trump administration from granting states the leeway to skirt Obamacare rules —- a measure designed to ensure that patients with pre-existing conditions continue to receive affordable robust coverage — in a 236 to 183 vote. The bill is not expected to pass the GOP-controlled Senate, but even if it does, the president has threatened to veto the measure.
Every House Democrat and four Republicans vo...
Trump and anti-vaxxers, together at last
Last week, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Their argument is fundamentally flawed in numerous ways, not the least of which is the fact that it relies on a dissenting opinion that is explicitly at odds with a binding decision by the Supreme Court’s majority.
On Wednesday, a handful of conservative groups weighed in with amicus briefs supporting this attack on Obamacare. They include an organization founde...
Warren lends her 2020 spotlight to long-languishing $100 billion opioid plan
The consensus among leading public health experts has long been that the spiraling U.S. opioid epidemic cannot be effectively curbed with half-measures.
Some in Congress have been trying to act on the recommendations from experts, introducing legislation to spend $10 billion a year on treatment, research, prescriber monitoring, and other consensus priorities. But as heroin-like chemicals continue to push the overall overdose death toll to grim new yearly records, that call to action...
As his state is ravaged by a drug epidemic, Mitch McConnell fundraises off ‘Cocaine Mitch’ T-shirts
Kentucky has been one of the states his hardest by drug addiction in recent years, with some of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths. Meanwhile, the state’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is selling T-shirts branding him “Cocaine Mitch” as a fundraiser for his 2020 re-election campaign.
The nickname stems from the 2018 West Virginia Republican Senate primary. In that race, coal baron Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy C...
‘Caravan’ of Americans crossed Canadian border to purchase affordable insulin
For Quinn Nystrom, and millions of other Americans living with Type 1 Diabetes, insulin affordability is a “real crisis issue.”
So Nystrom took it upon herself to find a temporary solution. Last week, she and seven others organized a four-car “caravan” from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to drive 600 miles across the border to Fort Francis, Ontario, in Canada to purchase the life-saving insulin they all needed.
“It was a black and white difference,” Nystrom told ThinkProgress of her...
If the first 2 years of Trump’s presidency don’t count, here’s everything that should be reversed
President Donald Trump retweeted a post from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. on Sunday night, embracing the unconstitutional idea that his four-year term should be extended by two years.
Falwell suggested that the extension would make up for the two years “stolen” from his presidency by the “corrupt failed coup” that was special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference.
“After the best week ever for @r...
Betsy DeVos appears to have no idea who Alexander Hamilton was
Hooboy. Where to start with this?
I’m honored to receive the Alexander Hamilton Award from @ManhattanInst tonight. And, as I said in my speech tonight, I will continue to honor this award’s namesake by fighting for freedom. Freedom from government. Freedom for teachers. Freedom for each one of America’s students. pic.twitter.com/mxQxZsMmf5
— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) May 2, 2019
Let’s set aside, for a second, that the entire p...
Transgender Iowans are worried they’ll lose transition-related care under new bill
Iowa is one signature away from enacting a law that would limit transgender people’s access to necessary health care.
The law would allow government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for any kind of transition-related care. This language was tacked on as an amendment to a health and human services appropriations bill late in the process, LGBTQ rights advocates said, without any committee hearings or public comment process. Lawmak...