In the wake of news that Senate Republicans are planning to send their version of Trumpcare to the Congressional Budget Office without releasing it to the public, Indivisible is urging people in every state to ramp up the pressure on their elected officials Wednesday, which the group has declared “National # Call-In Day.”
“McConnell and Republican Senators intend to submit their secret healthcare bill to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) without any committee hearings, discussions, bipartisan debate, or public comments,” Indivisible noted. “We CAN do something about this: demand Democratic Senators grind Senate business to a halt by withholding consent until Trumpcare gets a hearing, and urge Republican Senators to push their colleagues to draft their healthcare replacement openly and publicly.”
Given the shooting that took place in Virginia on Wednesday, the group urged everyone to “be kind and understanding with staffers” during their calls. “Many will still be grappling with today’s tragic events.”
Indivisible’s website offers a variety of tools—including a sample call script and a step-by-step strategy—for those looking to fight back against the GOP’s healthcare efforts, which have in the past yielded plans that, if implemented, would take healthcare from millions.
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“Nobody knows what this bill looks like or how it differs from the House’s American Health Care Act,” the group observed. “The GOP wants to keep it that way.”
Alongside the call-in day, Indivisible also launched a project called the TrumpCare Ten earlier this week with the goal of highlighting senators who, with enough popular pressure, could be persuaded to vote against the legislation.
“If we can just get three of them to break, then we win,” Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told Vox.
Levin also said Indivisible will be pressuring Democrats to do everything they can to block Republican senators from moving forward with the legislation.
“Democrats have some unilateral ability to slow down this process,” Levin said, “and they should use that power as much as possible.”
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One hundred eighth grade students refused to be photographed with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan during a field trip to the nation’s capital because they “didn’t want to be associated with a person who puts his party before his country,” as one student put it.
According to reporting, roughly half of the 200 students who traveled from South Orange Middle School in New Jersey protested the photo-op on Thursday, watching instead from a parking lot across the street.
“It’s not just a picture,” eighth grade student Matthew Malespina told the local ABC News affiliate. “It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country.”
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Most recently, Ryan has come under fire for forcing through legislation that would strip healthcare from 23 million Americans.
Malespina’s mother, who also spoke to reporters, explained how her son had texted her ahead of time to let her know that he planned to sit out. “I think the point is that I don’t want to be associated with him and his polices,” Elissa Malespina said.
Unaware of the sizable boycott, Ryan posted a picture with himself shaking hands with some of the South Orange students to his Instagram on Friday.
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Thousands of anti-globalization activists took to the streets and waterways of Hamburg, Germany Sunday ahead of this week’s G20 summit.
Police said at least 10,000 demonstrators marched peacefully in the rain in a prelude to the July 7-8 meeting, where 21,000 police with dogs, horses and helicopters from across Germany will attempt to protect the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies. Trump, Erdogan, Putin, Merkel, the Saudis, and over 100,000 protesters are also expected.
Sunday’s action was the first of 30 registered demonstrations this week. Many in the crowd carried banners reading: “Fight poverty,” “Leave the Oil in the Soil,” “Stop coal,” and “Planet earth first”.
Summits of world leaders are usually highly choreographed affairs that leave little to chance. They are held in locations that are easily shielded from demonstrators. And policy differences are papered over by envoys behind closed doors well ahead of time. But the G20 meeting in Hamburg next week will be different. Host German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken a high-risk gamble by choosing to hold the summit in the centre of the northern port city, partly to show the world that big protests are tolerated in a healthy democracy. This has created a huge challenge for police.
Here’s the protest schedule in Hamburg this week:
Wednesday-Thursday July 5th-6, 2017
Friday, July 7th
Saturday, July 8th 11:00am
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Sunday’s demonstration was organized by a group called “Protest Wave G20”. Other demonstrations this week are called “Welcome to Hell” and “G20 Not Welcome.” “The policies of the G20 have created hellish conditions in many countries around the world,” Andreas Blechschmidt, one of the organzers of the 6 July protest, told Reuters in front of the Rote Flora, which stands just a few hundred meters from the site where the leaders will meet.
“We want to show them that we can turn up the heat too,” he said.
The NoG20 International coordination issued this statement this week:
“As international campaigners preparing to travel to Hamburg for the demonstrations against the G20 summit in July, we call for the defence of basic civil and political liberties currently being denied: the right to protest, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of movement…”
“The politics of neoliberalism and war is decided in the heart of our cities, closed off to citizens, protected by a militarized police force and backed up by the suspension of political rights. This shutting-down of democracy has one purpose only: to defend the indefensible.”
“Our demonstrations speak for and of a different world: One, which is not driven by the logics of racism, misogyny, homophobia and the fear of difference, a world that takes the huge climate changes caused by human action seriously while meeting health, educational and social needs today. We reject a world in which a sports shoe can cross the Mediterranean while people drown. We speak for different cities: Cities, which are not hollowed out by real-estate speculation and the privatization of public services, cities, which are lively and diverse, where people can disagree freely and express their own hopes for a better world, cities like the Hamburg we know and love.”
#G20ProtestWelle Tweets
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By a vote of 219 to 206, the House on Friday approved a GOP-crafted budget resolution that proposes more than five trillion dollars in cuts to key safety net programs like Medicare and Medicaid to pave the way for massive tax cuts for the wealthy and massive corporations.
No Democrats voted for the budget, and 18 Republicans voted against it.
“The Republican budget contains cuts that will kill people, cuts that will hurt people, cuts that should not be allowed in a humane society.” —Sen. Bernie Sanders
Crucially, the resolution includes parliamentary language that eliminates the possibility of a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and will allow the GOP to “fast-track” their tax cuts with only 51 votes instead of the typical 60—the same procedure Republicans utilized in their failed attempt repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), denounced the GOP budget resolution in a statement following Thursday’s vote, arguing it is “the first step toward an immoral tax scheme that will hand trillions of dollars to millionaires and corporations at the expense of America’s working families, many of whom will actually see a tax increase.”
“These tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will ultimately be paid for by cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, education, disability services, and other national priorities,” Clemente added, “while the expansion of the deficit will further threaten Social Security.”
While the specific spending cuts in the House GOP budget resolution—which include a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid—are non-binding, they are nonetheless an indication of the devastating steps Republicans are willing to take in order to deliver more wealth to the richest Americans.
The ATF offered the following breakdown of the cuts proposed under the Trump-GOP tax framework compared with the spending cuts proposed in the House budget resolution:
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Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights, argued Thursday that the “federal budget is a representation of our country’s moral values.”
“These tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will ultimately be paid for by cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, education, disability services, and other national priorities.” —Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax FairnessHouse Republicans’ vote in support of the proposed budget, Gupta concluded, “is an abdication of that responsibility.”
The GOP-controlled Senate is expected to vote on its own budget blueprint in two weeks.
An analysis (pdf) released Wednesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee found that House and Senate Republicans are on the same page when it comes to “eroding” the safety net in pursuit of massive tax cuts for the rich.
As Common Dreams reported, the Senate’s budget blueprint proposes cutting Medicare and Medicaid by a combined $1.4 trillion over the next decade.
Following the House GOP vote on Friday, Sanders concluded: “The Republican budget contains cuts that will kill people, cuts that will hurt people, cuts that should not be allowed in a humane society.”
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Charles Leclerc was feeling much more upbeat about Ferrari’s performance in the Russian Grand Prix than he had been following several recent outings.
The team has been in a dramatic slump ever since the Belgian Grand Prix, where nether Leclerc nor his team mate Sebastian Vettel finished in the top ten. Things were just as bad at their home race in Monza.
There was some improvement last time out at Mugello, where both drivers finished in the points and Leclerc himself was eighth. This week the Monegasque was two places higher, and even spent a portion of the race running in the top three.
Read also: Bottas takes second win at Sochi as Hamilton penalised
As far as Leclerc is concerned, that shows that the team is taking the right steps to get on top of its recent problems.
“Very happy about today,” he told the media after the end of the race. “We maximised what we had and that’s the most important thing. It’s a positive weekend for us and this also helps us mentally.
“Again from the beginning of the season it’s difficult to be happy with P6, but it’s the way it is,” he added.
Neither Ferrari started in the top ten after an incident in qualifying in which Vettel brought out a red flag during Q2, but Leclerc didn’t feel that that a better grid position would have changed anything anyway.
“Yesterday I was frustrated about quali, but at the end I don’t think we could have done better, even with a better quali.
“So I’m happy with the weekend. Now we need to understand what we did different to be so much better in the race than Mugello for example. But it’s a good step forward.”
The race could have gone very differently for Leclerc, who lost positions into turn 1 and then made contact with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. The Ferrari escaped significant damage and wasn’t penalised for the contact.
“It was tricky at the beginning, as I had a pretty poor start and lost a few positions by turn one, he said. “But then I regained them immediately and from then on the performance was very good.
“Our pace was not too bad at all today,” he added. “We were quite strong in our first stint on medium tyres and we managed to go long on them also because I paid particular attention to tyre management.
“We had seen a lot of degradation on Friday in our race simulation, [so] I worked on it and I am glad it worked out well.”
Team principal Mattia Binotto agreed that it has been a step forward for the team, “at least compared to recent races both in terms of the result and our performance level.”
“Charles produced a solid drive to sixth, getting the most out of the package. He was aggressive after the start and then drove a very mature race for someone who is not yet 23,” he added.
As for Vettel, he once again missed out on a points finish and complained that he had got stuck in the ‘slow group’ outside the top ten and unable to work his way past the likes of Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Giovinazzi.
“It was a bit of a boring race, as we didn’t have many options in terms of strategy,” he conceded.
“My start, from the dirty side of the track, was not ideal and so I couldn’t benefit from other people’s crashes and collisions.
“After the safety car period I was a bit stuck and I struggled to stay close to the cars in front of me,” he continued.
“In the middle part of the race the car was quicker than yesterday in quali but I struggled to make the tyres last, partly because following other cars did not help. I did the maximum today but I was just not quick enough.”
The four time world champion – who was celebrating his 250th race start this weekend – did manage to pip Kimi Raikkonen to 13th place as the Finn equalled Rubens Barrichello’s all-time record of 322 Grand Prix career starts.
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A top Democratic candidate in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race says he would pardon all low-level marijuana offenders if elected.
Matt Flynn, the former chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said at a candidates’ forum Wednesday he would pardon offenders with nonviolent convictions who were not involved in dealing drugs, according to Madison’s Fox6Now.
Flynn said he does not know how many offenders such a policy would affect. He has repeatedly called for Wisconsin to legalize marijuana.
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Flynn is one of a number of Democrats seeking to run this fall against Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a two-term governor. Walker has not pardoned anyone since he took office in 2011, according to Fox 6.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Thursday that former director of public liaison for President Clinton and longtime Democratic operative Mary Beth Cahill will serve as the committee’s interim CEO.
The announcement comes two days after Jess O’Connell’s sudden departure from the post after serving in the role for less than a year. O’Connell said her resignation was because of a personal matter, but did not specify further.
DNC chairman Tom PerezThomas Edward PerezClinton’s top five vice presidential picks Government social programs: Triumph of hope over evidence Labor’s ‘wasteful spending and mismanagement” at Workers’ Comp MORE said Cahill is a “seasoned Democratic veteran who brings decades of experience and public service to managing and electing Democrats up and down the ballot” in a statement, citing her previous experience working for the White House and other top Democrats.
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Cahill also served as the chief of staff for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and was campaign manager for former presidential nominee John KerryJohn Forbes KerryThe Memo: Trump’s troubles deepen as voters see country on wrong path The continuous whipsawing of climate change policy Budowsky: United Democrats and Biden’s New Deal MORE.
“Democrats nationwide will benefit from her talents as we build on the energy and momentum from 2017 and work to elect Democrats in 2018 and beyond,” Perez said.
The changeup in the national committee comes as Democrats continue to recover from Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE’s surprise loss in 2016 and a Republican conquest of both the House and Senate.
Upon her departure, O’Connell emphasized the party’s need to rebuild after a difficult year.
“Rebuilding the party will take time. While it isn’t an easy task, we developed a strategy, we implemented it, and we won races up and down the ballot in 2017,” she told NBC News.
Despite an ongoing investigation into the hacking of voting systems in more than a dozen states during the 2016 presidential election, the new budget blueprint from House Republicans includes a provision to defund the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which the Wall Street Journal notes is “the sole federal agency that exclusively works to ensure the voting process is secure.”
“It’s more proof of how the GOP’s real agenda is to make it harder to vote.” —Ari Berman, The Nation
Since it was established in 2002, the EAC has been under almost constant attack by the Republican Party. Earlier this year, the House Administration Committee voted 6-3 along party lines to eliminate the agency entirely.
As The Atlantic‘s Russell Berman noted in February, “GOP attempts to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission have passed out of committee but not made it to the House floor for a vote in the last four years.”
Because they have failed repeatedly to eliminate the agency, Republicans now appear content to strip it of the funds it needs to operate effectively.
“Maintaining the national mail voter registration form.”
Establishing security standards for voting machines.
Ensuring compliance with rules established by the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the 2000 election.
“Serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration.”
Advocacy groups have warned that defunding or eliminating the EAC would give a green light to hackers looking to manipulate the electoral process.
“At a time when the vast majority of our country’s voting machines are outdated and in need of replacement, and after an election in which international criminals already attempted to hack our state voter registration systems, eliminating the EAC would pose a risky and irresponsible threat to our election infrastructure,” the Brennan Center for Justice argued.
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The GOP’s latest attempt to defang the EAC comes as it is “working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to examine an attack late last year on the agency’s computer systems by a Russian-speaking hacker,” the Wall Street Journal noted on Monday.
The proposed cuts are included in the House GOP’s far-reaching budget package, which also features major cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
The Nation‘s Ari Berman has characterized GOP attempts to eliminate the EAC as merely one element of the party’s broad assault on voting rights, which has been intensified by the Trump administration.
“It’s particularly ironic that the Trump administration is preparing to launch a massive investigation into nonexistent voter fraud based on the lie that millions voted illegally while House Republicans are shutting down the agency that is supposed to make sure America’s elections are secure,” Berman noted. “It’s more proof of how the GOP’s real agenda is to make it harder to vote.”
Voting rights groups have argued that now is the time to strengthen the EAC, and that any move to weaken it could further deteriorate the integrity of American elections.
“In light of the many challenges faced by our state and local election administrators and the serious procedural problems that weaken voter access and participation,” wrote 38 advocacy groups in a letter (pdf) to the House in February, “we believe that this is a time to reaffirm our commitment to voting rights and fair elections by strengthening the EAC and providing it with the staff it requires to function effectively.”
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In a move characterized as an effort to prevent large pharmaceutical companies from “goug[ing] American consumers after taking billions in taxpayer money,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday introduced a new rule that would require drugmakers to agree to set reasonable prices before being granted exclusive rights to produce vaccines and other life-saving drugs.
“Americans should not be forced to pay the highest prices in the world for a vaccine we spent more than $1 billion to help develop.” —Sen Bernie SandersSanders was joined by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) in crafting and unveiling the rule, which the pair of lawmakers “first proposed two decades ago with bipartisan support.” The rule currently has 21 co-sponsors.
In the face of new developments, Sanders said in a statement, a rule addressing soaring prescription drug prices is as necessary as ever.
While the new rule would have broad implications, Sanders specifically takes aim at Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical giant that the U.S. Army has offered an exclusive license to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus.
“American taxpayers have already spent more than $1 billion on Zika research and prevention efforts, including millions to develop a vaccine. The Department of Health and Human Services gave Sanofi $43 million to develop the vaccine with $130 million in federal funding still to come,” Sanders’ office said in a statement. “But Sanofi has refused to agree to sell the drug back to Americans at a fair price. Without a fair pricing agreement, the company can charge Americans whatever astronomical price it wants for its vaccine.”
Sanders, who spent much of his 2016 presidential campaign railing against the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, called such an arrangement “simply unacceptable.”
“Americans should not be forced to pay the highest prices in the world for a vaccine we spent more than $1 billion to help develop,” Sanders said. “Sanofi gets more than one-third of its roughly $34 billion in revenues from the United States alone, and its CEO made nearly $5 million in salary last year. Yet they have rejected the U.S. Army’s request for fair pricing.”
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Sanders continued:
An analysis (PDF) of the rule by the Congressional Budget Office found that the rule would save the federal government $6 billion over the next decade.
As Sanders often points out, the United States spends far more on pharmaceutical drugs—and on healthcare more broadly—than other industrialized nations.
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President Donald Trump pulled a fast one on business leaders on Wednesday—firing those who were too slow to quit two of his White House business councils after the president’s views on a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville became clear.
Following a fast-growing exodus of business leaders who were members of the councils, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would disband both committees—while many in Washington argued that more Republicans including the president’s advisors and aides should distance themselves from the White House.
Seven CEOs left the president’s manufacturing council over the past two days, following the president’s failure to clearly denounce the white supremacists who gathered at a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. The CEO of Walmart, another member, also sent a letter to all Walmart employees criticizing Trump.
As the list of resignations grew, Trump insisted he wasn’t alarmed by the statements of the defectors, some of whom expressed their need to leave because they couldn’t back a president who “supports bigotry and terrorism.”
The president announced he would dissolve the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategy and Policy Forum just after it was reported that the latter was planning to disband itself. The manufacturing council was also expected to meet later on Wednesday to discuss its plans to proceed amid the tension caused by the president’s press conference the day before, in which he insisted there were “very fine people” who attended the white supremacist gatherings last Friday and Saturday.
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For those who didn’t quit or speak out, the moment to put themselves on the record has now passed.
As a circulating petition urging CEOs to ditch the manufacturing council argued, “There is no neutral. Either CEO advisors must step off of Trump’s committee, or they are complicit in the violence his administration is creating.”
As news spread that the president’s business advisors would be cutting ties with him, few in the news media seemed surprised—but some expressed alarm and anger that more of his allies have not abandoned Trump in the wake of his recent comments.