In the past day or so on twitter, there are tweets about what progressives want and especially, what Pelosi must do to garner their support if she wants to regain the Speakership in Congress.
Winnie from People for Bernie started the wish list this way:
I’m making this thread separate…something we can chew, nibble, etc.
Personally, I like Sirota’s idea, but given that’s unlikely, I know one thing right away I want: amend the 2017 tax law. I want SALT (state & local taxes) to be completely tax deductible again. Additionally, raise the minimum wage and MFA. Long-game: to add more members to the House to properly represent the American people. The last revision of the numbers in the House was 1911.
Tonight we find out how much of a check the American people want to have on our Executive Branch. Or put it another way, how many of the 1000 legislative seats will the Dems gain from the last 10 years of losses? Will voters feel comfortable with the economy and overlook Trump? Will Trump’s divisiveness prevail and turn out his base?
Will we see our first women Native American Congressional Reps? First AA governor of FL and first female gov of GA? How well will the OR candidates perform in this cycle?
Of course, we hope there are no machine irregularities, but it’s anticipated that some will occur. And election lawyers will be on hand just in case.
In the Senate, Democrats are defending 26 seats while Republicans are only defending nine.
(those are predictions if they are filled in with red or blue, gold signifies toss-up)
In the gubernatorial races, there are 33 races, in which Dems could possibly pick up 9 of them.
(those are predictions if they are filled in with red or blue, gold signifies toss-up)
First polls close at 6ET in Indiana, VT and KY. Most in the MSM are saying to watch the 6th district in KY, but the bellwethers will be in VA 4 GOP races and FL 4 GOP races when the polls close at 7 ET.
Larry Sabato of Crystal Ball expects Dem pick-ups in the gubernatorial races, including Kansas.
Big races:
TX Sen – Beto vs Cruz NV Sen – Rosen vs Heller FL Sen – Sick Rott vs Nelson AZ Sen – McSally vs Sinema CA Sen – DeLeon vs Feinstein MO Sen – Hawley vs McCaskill TN Sen – Breesan vs Blackburn VT Sen – Sanders vs a pack of Indies (well, not a big race, but it is Bernie’s re-up)
FL Gov – DeSantis vs Gillum GA Gov – Kemp vs Abrams MD Gov – Jealous vs Hogan WI Gov – Evers vs Walker IL Gov – Pritzker vs Rauner AZ Gov – Garcia vs Ducey ID Gov – Jordan vs Little MI Gov – Whitmer vs Schulette IA Gov – Hubbell vs Reynolds
Senator Bernie Sanders excoriated the $1.5 trillion Republican tax bill, which cleared Congress Wednesday, calling it a âlootingâ of the American Treasury and a âvictoryâ for prominent Republican campaign donors such as the Koch brothers.
âToday marks a great victory for the Koch brothers and other billionaire Republican campaign contributors who will see huge tax breaks for themselves while driving up the deficit by almost $1.5 trillion.â he said in a video posted on Twitter. âToday is also a victory for the largest and most profitable corporations in this country like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and General Electric who despite record-breaking profits will see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks.â
Sanders, an Independent from Vermont who challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, also had harsh words for his congressional colleagues. He said some with substantial investments in real estate voted to “further enrich themselves” by lowering the taxes they owe, referring to a last-minute addition snuck into the bill to benefit people who hold real estate through a limited liability company. Trump and his family along with a number of senators such as Bob Corker are expected to make significant gains from the provision.
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Sanders stressed the nonpartisan Tax Policy Centerâs findings that 83 percent of the benefits of the tax bill will enrich the top one percent of Americans, and that in eight years taxes will once again increase for 93 percent of middle-income households while corporate tax cuts are permanent.
Nearly 13 million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance under the tax bill due to the loss of the individual mandate, Sanders warned. Trump called the plan âbasically a repeal of Obamacareâ during a celebratory speech Wednesday. He claimed he told his Republican allies to “be quiet with the fake news media because I don’t want them talking too much about it.” But “now that it’s approved, I can say that,” he said. Those losses could cause healthcare premiums on the individual market to increase by 10 percent.
Workers in America have earned their retirement benefits from a lifetime of hard work. We cannot allow Paul Ryan to destroy these programs. pic.twitter.com/IU4N6TaK1C
Sen. Bernie SandersBernard (Bernie) SandersSchumer: Franken should resignFranken resignation could upend Minnesota racesAvalanche of Democratic senators say Franken should resignMORE (I-Vt.), on Tuesday, blasted the GOP tax overhaul bill, arguing that its expected passage is a “victory” for the Koch brothers, Republican campaign donors, large corporations and even some lawmakers.
“Today marks a great day for the Koch brothers and other billionaire, Republican campaign contributors who will see huge tax breaks for themselves while driving up the deficit by almost $1.5 trillion,” Sanders said in a video posted on Twitter.
“Today is also a victory for the largest and most-profitable corporations in this country like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and General Electric, who, despite record-breaking profits, will now see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks,” he added.
Sanders also indicated that some of his own colleagues had a personal financial interest in passing the bill, pointing to lawmakers who have real estate investments and will benefit under the new plan.
“Today is also a victory for a number of members of the United States Congress who have significant investments in real estate who, with this vote, will substantially lower the taxes that they pay and will further enrich themselves,” he said.
The process to pass landmark tax reform legislation “has been just a disaster,” as the American public does not understand what all it involves, Sen. Bernie Sanders complained Thursday.
“Are you suggesting that a bill that impacts the entire economy, virtually every American, should be read before people vote upon it?” the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
The bill was discussed and determined “around back doors,” Sanders continued. “Some 5,000 lobbyists have participated in it, but the American public does not know what’s in it. Bottom line, and I think some of the Republicans have been honest enough about acknowledging this, this is a gift for Republican wealthy campaign contributors.”
“At the end of 10 years, 83 million middle class families will be paying more in taxes,” said Sanders. “This means 32 million people will lose their health insurance. Premiums will go up by 10 percent with people in the individual market. This is going to exacerbate incoming wealth at a time when we have to protect the middle class and working families.”
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Sanders also sounded off against the FCC’s vote to end net neutrality provisions, saying it’s “almost unspeakable” to speak about what a disaster the ruling will create.
“The internet has been a real effort to enhance democracy and level the playing field in this country,” he said. “It means that if you are a small business person right now, you were a start-up company, you can use the internet to get the word out about why people should come to your business. You can have the same opportunities on the internet as Walmart does, or as a large corporation … they’re going to do away with that and it’s going to be much more expensive for the little guy to play and compete against the big corporations.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and two of his Democratic colleagues have suggested that President Donald Trump should consider resigning, after a run of sexual harassment scandals that has driven out some members of Congress.
Sen. Al Franken “felt it proper for him to resign,” Sanders said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, referring to the Democrat from Minnesota. “Here you have a president who has been accused by many women of assault, who says on a tape that he assaulted women. He might want to think about doing the same.”
Sanders’ comment, which built on a tweet he’d sent last week, came after Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley, Ore., and Cory Booker, N.J., suggested that the “#MeToo moment” should prompt another look at the women who accused Trump of sexual harassment during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“The president should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific conduct,” Merkley said last week in an interview for the weekday version of “Meet the Press.”
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:
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While tax experts continue to exclaim with horror as they sift through the “legislative monstrosity” Republicans rammed through the Senate last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday hosted a Facebook live event aimed at detailing the next steps in the fight against both the GOP’s tax plan and the party’s broader economic agenda.
One of the most significant battles ahead, Sanders and Warren note, will be over Republican efforts to pivot from “tax reform” to the pursuit of devastating cuts to safety net programs that low-income and middle class families rely upon to put food on the table and afford life-saving medical care.
“Literally minutes after they passed this disastrous [tax] bill in the Senate, the discussion escalates. Of course they’re going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Sanders said. “And you know why? This is shocking: the deficit is too big.”
“That’s right,” Warren added, calling the Republican tax plan a “pay off” to right-wing billionaire donors. “They want to run up the deficit and then say a high debt is the reason they’ve gotta cut all the things for working people.”
https://youtu.be/8JhCO4uNpxM
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Sen. Bernie Sanders challenged Republicans not to use deficit increases to justify future cuts to entitlement benefits Thursday in a heated exchange during a debate on their tax reform bill.
Senate Republicans are nearing a final vote on their bill to overhaul the tax code â with the promise that it will help people across the country by reducing rates and boosting economic growth. Democrats and other critics warn the bill mostly just benefits the rich and large corporations. Sanders, while speaking on the floor prior to an expected vote, argued that deficit increases from the bill would be used to justify cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
âIt is my absolute belief that as soon as this tax proposal is completed and drives the deficit up by $1.4 trillion, I have zero doubt that my Republican colleagues are going to come back to the floor of the Senate and suddenly say, oh my goodness, the deficit has gone up, we are going to have to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,â Sanders declared.
Sanders has proposed an amendment to the tax bill that would establish a rule requiring a two-thirds vote in order to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He promised he would withdraw the amendment if Republicans could guarantee to the American people that they wonât make those cuts â singling out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. He yielded his time to talk so they could answer.
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âI will not support any cuts to people who are on the program and need those benefits,â Toomey answered. âBut I want this program to survive. We need this program for the next generation.â
Sanders prompting interrupted the senator to reclaim his time, arguing his answer clearly indicates he would cut benefits for future recipients, since he said he wouldnât support cuts to people who are on the program. Sanders added that people in their 50s could soon see cuts to benefits since they havenât yet reached retirement age and therefore arenât recipients.
âHe just let the cat out of the box, or whatever the phrase is,â Sanders shouted. âHe just told you heâs going to cut Social Security. Thatâs it my friends. He will not cut it, what he just said is he will not cut it for people who are on Social Security right now. I hear that.â
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