Tag: 2018 agenda

GOP may skip budget, kneecapping 2018 ambitions

The following article by Rachel Bade and Sarah Ferris was posted on the Politico website January 10, 2018:

Lacking the votes and fearing political blowback, Republicans are unlikely to deploy powerful budget procedures to enact their agenda.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said he is prepared to wade into GOP primaries to “make every effort to make sure we have a nominee on the November ballot who can appeal to a general election audience.” | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Republican leaders are considering skipping passage of a GOP budget this year — a blow to the party’s weakened fiscal hawks that would squash all 2018 efforts to revamp entitlements or repeal Obamacare.

White House and Hill GOP leaders discussed the possibility of forgoing the painful budget process during last weekend’s Camp David legislative summit, according to four sources familiar with the talks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has argued that he cannot pass controversial deficit-reduction legislation using powerful budget procedures with his new 51-vote majority — and wasn’t even sure he could find the votes for a fiscal blueprint in the first place. Continue reading “GOP may skip budget, kneecapping 2018 ambitions”

Democrats aren’t just ‘running against Trump.’ Why do people think they are?

The following article by David Weigel was posted on the Washington Post website January 2, 2017:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is joined by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) and former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis during a news conference at Union Station in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 16. (Richard Vogel/AP)

Ask any reporter what his or her most hated question is, and we’ll tell you: It’s asking “why isn’t the mainstream media covering this?” while linking to a story from the mainstream media.

This year started off with a doozy, when congressman-turned-CNN pundit Jack Kingston tweeted a link to a Fox News item about a Hillary Clinton donor offering $500,000 to help women who had stories of sexual misconduct by Donald Trump. “Another story buried by #MSM in 2017,” tweeted Kingston.

The New York Times had broken that story and put it on the front page. Continue reading “Democrats aren’t just ‘running against Trump.’ Why do people think they are?”