National Issues 171 , CD3 DFL

Democrats hope to extend new insurance subsidies before 2022 midterms

Lawmakers say they plan to extend enhanced premium tax credits but haven’t laid out a specific plan for doing so

Health insurance shoppers who buy coverage on the state and federal exchanges are likely to see a discount in their premiums as soon as next month, thanks to the recent COVID-19 relief law, but prices could rise again in 2023 if Congress doesn’t extend new subsidies before then.

As Democrats consider what aspects of their health agenda their next legislative push may include, lawmakers say they plan to extend the enhanced premium tax credits that were authorized through 2022 in the COVID-19 relief law enacted last month, but they haven’t laid out a specific plan for doing so.

The law increases the size of tax credit subsidies so that no one shopping on a state or federal health insurance exchange would pay more than 8.5 percent of their income on premiums in 2021 or 2022. In the past, people with income of more than four times the federal poverty level did not qualify for any subsidies for the insurance, and that limit would return if the extra help expires. Continue reading.

Tucker Carlson Goes Full Revisionist On The U.S. Capitol Riot

The Fox News personality’s reality-denying spin on the deadly insurrection was slammed as “gaslighting garbage.”

Tucker Carlson struck a snide tone on Tuesday night to downplay the U.S. Capitol riot on the three-month anniversary of the deadly insurrection.

The Fox News personality attempted to spin the narrative on the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump — who were incited by the then-president ― as just “a mob of older people from unfashionable zip codes” protesting mass voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Carlson’s characterization of the violence contradicts videos showing the maurading mob. Five people, including a U.S. Capitol police officer, died. Trump supporters were caught on camera screaming, “Hang Mike Pence!” and stalked progressive lawmakers. Continue reading.

Stephen Miller launches legal group to block Biden agenda in court

Former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller has formed a new legal group to challenge the Biden administration’s policies through lawsuits, Politico first reported.

Why it matters: Miller told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that any Biden policy that the group, America First Legal, “believes to be illegal” would be “fair game” for litigation, setting up an expansive battlefield for trying to maintain Trump-era policies.

The big picture: America Legal First will work with state attorneys general and Republican lawyers around the country to file and assist with conservative lawsuits against Biden policies, per the WSJ. Continue reading.

Gallup poll shows largest increase in Democratic Party affiliation in a decade

More Americans identify as Democrats than Republicans by a margin that hasn’t been seen in a decade, according to a report released by Gallup on Wednesday.

An average of 49% of adults age 18 and older reported Democratic Party affiliation or said they are independent with Democratic leanings throughout the first quarter of 2021, the pollster reported. The survey was conducted by phone from January-March.

In comparison, 40% of adults identified as Republican or Republican-leaning. The 9% difference is the Democrats’ largest advantage since the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the report. Continue reading.

Texas GOP move to overhaul voting laws: What you need to know

The war over voting access that has roiled Georgia is headed next to Texas, where Republican legislators are working through an omnibus elections overhaul package that would dramatically change the way some voters cast a ballot in future contests.

The measure has been labeled a priority by both Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who controls the state Senate. It follows on the heels of election overhauls that passed in 2017 and failed in 2019, but after a chaotic election held amid a pandemic, it aims to crack down on several practices that supporters say ran afoul of current state law.

“We want a system that people can trust, we want it to be accurate, and we want folks to know that it’s accurate,” said state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R), the measure’s prime sponsor. “If folks don’t trust the system, they’re not going to vote.” Continue reading.

There’s No Place Like Home

Hi Neighbors,

Congress was in recess last week, so I spent a beautiful few days at home in Minnesota. From a ride along with Hennepin County paramedics to visiting the Mall of America vaccination site, it was a busy and informative trip. I do my best to tour small businesses, schools, and organizations in our community whenever I’m home. If you know of somewhere that you think I should visit, let me know by filling out a meeting request form here. I’m already looking forward to my next trip home, but, in the meantime, read on to see some of what I did this time around:

Vaccinations – and More – at the Mall of America

We know Minnesota is the best, and now we have one more award to back us up. Our state ranks first in getting safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines into arms. That requires a lot of teamwork, something we Minnesotans have in high supply. I visited a community vaccination at the Mall of America this week, where an army of amazing medical professionals and volunteers have administered more than 50,000 doses (and counting)!

There’s a surprising ending to all the 2020 election conflicts over absentee ballot deadlines

One of the most heavily contested voting-policy issues in the 2020 election, in both the courts and the political arena, was the deadline for returning absentee ballots.

Going into the election, the policy in a majority of states was that ballots had to be received by election night to be valid. Lawsuits seeking an extension of these deadlines were brought around the country for two reasons: First, because of the pandemic, the fall election would see a massive surge in absentee ballots; and second, there were concerns about the competence and integrity of the U.S. Postal Service, particularly after President Trump appointed a major GOP donor as the new postmaster general.

The issue produced the Supreme Court’s most controversial decision during the general election, which prohibited federal courts from extending the ballot-receipt deadlines in state election codes. Now that the data are available, a post-election audit provides perspective on what the actual effects of these deadlines turned out to be. Continue reading.

Boehner slams Trump: He ‘incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons’

Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is blaming former President Trumpfor the deadly Jan. 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol, saying he riled the crowd to commit violent acts for “selfish” political reasons.

“Whatever they end up doing, or not doing, none of it will compare to one of the lowest points of American democracy that we lived through in January 2021,” Boehner wrote in a new book set to be published this month, excerpts of which were obtained by The New York Times.

The former Speaker also wrote that Trump “incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the bullshit he’d been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November.” Continue reading.

GOP’s ‘Working Class’ Agenda Is A Feeble Echo Of Fox News Obsessions

Political parties often respond to electoral defeat by spending time contemplating, with varying degrees of seriousness and success, why they lost and how they need to change their approach to win in the future. Following President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection, for example, the Republican Party commissioned and published a 100-page report which pinned the blame on Mitt Romney’s weakness with Hispanic voters and called for a more benign policy toward undocumented immigrants. But the party backed off after a revolt by prominent right-wing media commentators, and in 2016, Donald Trump seized the GOP nomination and eventually the presidency with a nativist campaign that both halves of the 2012 Republican ticket criticized as racist.

GOP leaders are trying to avoid a similar scenario in the wake of Trump’s 2020 defeat. They are circulating a memo that seeks to chart the party’s course by keeping it closely aligned with the former president — and with Fox News.

The document represents another datapoint in the ongoing merger of the right-wing media and Republican politics. Under Presidents Bush and Obama, Fox served as the GOP’s communications arm. With Trump’s ascent, the feedback loop between the network and the administration gave Fox unrivaled influence. Now, the Republican Party seems to have completely capitulated to the whims of its propagandists. Continue reading.

The Memo: Politics upended as top Republicans slam corporate America

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has lashed out at corporations involving themselves in politics this week — a development that makes it seem as if politics has entered an alternative reality.

For his entire career, McConnell has been assiduous in courting big business and has been a staunch defender of corporate interests.

He has been a stalwart opponent of campaign finance reform and, roughly a decade ago, expressed approval of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case. The court’s 2010 ruling bestowed upon corporations many of the rights to free speech enjoyed by individual citizens and loosened restrictions on political donations. Continue reading.

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