Keith Ellison is among 4 attorneys general in states such as VT, NY, MN, MI in how they are responding to the COVID pandemic. Comes on at 6CT.
Looks like AOC was the holdout again on the next stimulus bill vote:
AOC only Dem in House or Senate to oppose coronavirus package for not going far enough. Warren, Sanders, Omar, Tlaib — all voted yes. Numerous progressive groups also urged a no vote but were steamrolled https://t.co/hExtEaf1HV
I do wonder why Bernie feels the need to vote for the bill when no one item from his agenda was included.
Live blog and OT. Bar is open. More jibber-jabber, tweets, videos and conversation in comments. This serves as an open thread. Feel free to play the video jukebox after the TH.
On the heels of Sen. Al Franken’s announcement Thursday that he will resign following accusations of sexual harassment by several women, National Nurses United (NNU) began circulating a petition calling on Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to appoint Rep. Keith Ellison to fill Franken’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat.
“At a time when the Senate is poised to enact a disgraceful tax bill that shifts more resources from working people to big corporations and the one percent, on top of repeated attacks on health coverage, environmental and workplace protections, and other critical fights, we need the proven progressive voice of Keith Ellison in the Senate,” NNU co-president and Minnesota resident Jean Ross, RN, said in a statement.
According to news reports, Ellison is on Dayton’s short list of possible candidates, alongside Lt. Gov. Tina Smith and Rep. Tim Walz. Because Franken did not specify the precise date of his departure, it is unclear when Dayton will announce his replacement. Whoever is chosen will face a special election in November of next year.
If selected, Ellison would become the first Muslim to ever hold a seat in the U.S. Senate. He would also “provide a critical voice of leadership in the Senate at this pivotal moment for working people in Minnesota and across the U.S.,” Ross argued.
“Keith has been an outspoken advocate for nurses and other working people in his distinguished service in the House, and has shown a broad national reach and worked to build coalitions across the country this year as the Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee,” Ross concluded. “He is exactly the representative we need in the Senate today.”
Democrats on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan, calling it “morally repugnant,” suggesting there would be little to no cross aisle support for the initial outline of the plan.
President Donald Trump’s plan would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets and overhaul business taxes, lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, reduce the pass-through tax rate from almost 40% to 25%, and “streamline” business tax breaks.
Democratic leaders immediately condemned the bill, casting it as a proposed tax break that would largely benefit the wealthy by lowering the top income tax bracket from 39.5% to 35% and lowering the pass-through tax rate, something largely used by wealthy earners.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried the proposal in a speech on the Senate floor, saying Republicans “designed their tax plan to be cheered in country clubs and corporate board rooms.”
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Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that the plan would exacerbate income inequality, singling out its proposal to repeal the estate tax, noting that the top 10% of earners pay 90% of estate taxes.
“At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, Trump’s tax plan is morally repugnant and bad economic policy,” Sanders said in a statement.
More news/video/etc. in the comments, including:
*Bernie Sanders Thinks War Is Overrated, And He’s Right *Shocker! Health Insurers Condemn Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for All’ Bill *Meet Roy Moore’s Opponent: Full Doug Jones Interview *Pipeline & Water Protector Updates *Puerto Rico In Crisis As Corporations/Wall Street Make Things Worse *Some Cities, Native American Activists, Reject Columbus Day & More
The NY Times has an Op-Ed by Bernie Sanders up, advocating the Democratic party adopt a more progressive agenda. Bernie Sanders: How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections In 2016, the Democratic Party lost the presidency to possibly the least popular candidate in American history. In recent years, Democrats have also lost the Senate and House to right-wing Republicans whose extremist agenda is far removed from where most Americans are politically. Republicans now control almost two-thirds of governor’s offices and have gained about 1,000 seats in state legislatures in the past nine years. In 24 states, Democrats have almost no political influence …Continue reading →
Full video is below, the bill would raise minimum wage to $15 by 2024 and pegs it to inflation. The bill has 30 co-sponsors in the Senate and 152 in the House. Bobby Scott (VA-3) who is introducing the bill in the House, noted that there has been no increase in the federal minimum wage for 10 years. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLhwEuP0xLU[/embedyt] In the Senate, Patty Murray (WA) and Bernie Sanders (VT) will introduce the bill, they have 30 co-sponsors which is a majority of the Democratic caucus in the Senate. In the house, Robert “Bobby” Scott (VA-3) and Keith Ellison (MN-5) are introducing …Continue reading →
In Atlanta, the Democratic National Committee is meeting to pass resolutions and elect a new chair. Currently there is debate about an amendment added last night to resolutions concerning the corporate lobbyist donations to the DNC–to keep it in the package for the DNC Unity Commission to review. The question is whether or not to continue the debate (motion to strike the amendment or not). The body voted to strike out the amendment, which means corporate money will be in the package for consideration. So much for taking big money out of politics. Update: Tom Perez has won the DNC …Continue reading →
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) campaigned for Rep. Keith Ellison to be the next Democratic National Committee chairman on Wednesday night, casting the Minnesota Democrat as the new face of a party in need of a dramatic overhaul.
Speaking at the American Federation of Teachers headquarters in Washington, D.C., in an address that was live-streamed by progressive groups across the country, Sanders made the case that Ellison’s liberal vision is the way forward for a party whose ranks were decimated in the November election.
“Now is the time for real change in the Democratic Party, to revitalize the Democratic Party and to bring in people who have not been welcomed in the past,” Sanders said to a packed room of about 100 enthusiastic labor union members donning blue shirts.
“We should not be afraid of new energy and new faces,” Sanders said. “We should welcome and embrace new energy and faces. Now is the time for a chair of the Democratic Party who has a very different vision of the party than those in control today. Now is the time for Keith Ellison to become chair of the Democratic Party.”
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Ellison on Wednesday night showed why he is a rising star on the left.
He is a folksy, engaging and natural speaker with a style that rouses his supporters, and he laid out Democrats’ path forward under a President Donald Trump.
“We have got to reset the future of the Democratic Party on a basis of grassroots activism,” Ellison said to cheers. “On the basis of working people striving every day to make a better life for themselves. African-Americans, white Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Jews and Muslims and Christians and Hindus or people of no faith at all. Folks like you and me. Folks like us need to say the Democratic Party has to be democratic and that starts with getting leadership in there to fight for that.”
More news in the comments. Thanks for sticking through all the technical difficulties!
