05 U.S. Politics – Left

One Big Beautiful Bill Might be Stalled in the Senate before it ever Passes the House

pgnewser May 14, 2025

As one Johnson in the House, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-AR), works to pass the massive “One Big Beautiful Bill” in the House, another Johnson, Ron Johnson, (R-WI) is working to assure it never passes the Senate.

Senator Johnson said of the bill, “The ‘big, beautiful bill,’ I think that’s the Titanic. I think that’s going down because I think I have enough colleagues in the Senate that this has resonated with, that say, ‘yeah, we have to return to a reasonable pre-pandemic spending.’”

Capitol agenda: Make-or-break markup day– www.politico.com
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House Republicans are gearing up for their most consequential megabill markups Tuesday with massive, unresolved policy fights that could unravel President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

WAYS AND MEANS — At least one blue-state Republican is threatening to torpedo the GOP’s tax package over Chair Jason Smith’s proposal to triple the cap on the state and local tax deduction to $30,000 and limit it to people who make $400,000 or less.

“The bill is dead effectively on the floor,” Rep. Nick LaLota, one of a quartet of so-called SALT Republicans advocating for a higher cap, told POLITICO Monday night. Smith “insulted us with fake numbers” and “demonstrated bad faith in presenting a bill that … doesn’t even come close to earning our vote,” said LaLota, who is not on Ways and Means, but whose support will be necessary when the bill comes to the House floor.

But the SALT plan isn’t final. Ways and Means will use the placeholder language when it marks up its portion of the megabill at 2:30 p.m., with the expectation that negotiations will continue until the floor vote on the full legislation. Speaker Mike Johnson huddled with SALT Republicans and other top GOP lawmakers on Monday, and many Republicans involved in the talks believe they’ll end up compromising on slightly higher numbers, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Trump to yank controversial US attorney pick after intense backlash– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser May 9, 2025

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It’s a bad day to be a Donald Trump nominee.

Just 24 hours after pulling his pick for surgeon general, the president has now announced he will drop Ed Martin’s nomination to serve as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.—the latest collapse in an administration stacked with loyalists and controversy magnets.

“We have somebody else that we’ll be announcing over the next two days that will be great,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.

Martin’s nomination had been on life support for days. On Tuesday, New Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis—a key GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—came out against Martin, citing the nominee’s past defense of Jan. 6 insurrectionists. With Tillis out on Martin, that made a deadlocked 11-11 committee vote likely, with several other Republican senators still uncommitted.

ABC, CBS, and NBC Sanitize Message Of Columbia Pro-Palestinian Vandals– www.newsbusters.org

pgnewser May 9, 2025

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The Thursday three network morning shows of ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today, and CBS Mornings could not and therefore did not downplay the violence that occurred overnight at Columbia University as pro-Palestinian agitators occupied Butler Library during finals week. However, they did manage to sanitize the message used to justify that violence, as it was mostly claimed they simply want an end to the Gaza War.

Today anchor Savannah Guthrie introduced correspondent Sam Brock, “Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters taken into custody after they stormed a library at Columbia University and refused to leave for hours. NBC’s Sam Brock on the campus there for us. Sam, what’s the latest here?”

Gay Advocate Media Laments NY Bill that would Ban Males Presenting as Females from Participating in Female Sports

pgnewser May 7, 2025

New York State Senate committee approves anti-trans sports bill – Gay City News
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The New York State Senate’s Education Committee approved an anti-trans sports bill on May 6 that would stop the state education commissioner from implementing trans-inclusive sports policies, drawing immediate criticism from LGBTQ advocates.

Senate Bill S460 would ban the education commissioner from creating any rules preventing schools from implementing bans on trans athletes if a school “determines” that a student’s participation would somehow “have an adverse effect on the physical or emotional safety of female participants or would adversely impact a female student’s ability to participate successfully in interschool athletic competition.”

The legislation drew five “aye” votes — including from Democrats — and six “nay” votes, but three others voted “aye WR,” or “aye with reservations,” which suggests that those three lawmakers had issues with the bill but voted for it to move forward nonetheless. The “aye” votes came from Republicans Stephen Chan of Brooklyn, James Tedisco of Saratoga County and Schenectady, Daniel Stec of North Country, Bill Weber of Rockland County, and Alexis Weik, whose Long Island district includes parts of the queer haven of Fire Island.

Dems Look for Hail Mary Bill to Protect De Facto Federal Funding of Party from being Axed Further

pgnewser May 7, 2025

House Democrats are launching a longshot procedural move to prevent safety net cuts– www.politico.com
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House Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would launch a longshot effort to force a vote on a bill preventing cuts to key federal safety-net programs.

The discharge petition is meant to put political pressure on Republicans as they eye cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in writing their domestic policy megabill.

“All we need are four House Republicans to join Democrats in protecting the health care and nutritional assistance of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Tuesday.

If 218 members sign the discharge petition, it would force a floor vote on a bill that would prevent the House from taking up bills under the party-line reconciliation process that would cut Medicaid or SNAP. Members are generally reluctant to buck party leadership to sign discharge petitions, and GOP leaders have taken steps this Congress to block the process entirely.

Senate Democrats Plan To Block Crypto Bill That Trump Wants– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser May 7, 2025

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Nine Senate Democrats supported a cryptocurrency bill coming out of committee. Trump and Republicans thought they had an easy win, but progressives in the Senate Democratic caucus have been sounding the alarm about crypto being used as a vehicle for corruption by the president, and have been demanding that the legislation contain stronger rules and regulations.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sided with the progressives and got Democrats to block the bill that Trump wants.

Semafor reported:

Nine pro-crypto Democratic senators are withholding their votes for legislation that would create rules for stablecoins — a type of crypto pegged to assets like the US dollar — in hopes they can convince Republicans to beef up the bill’s provisions on national security and consumer protection.

 

Dozens Arrested at Violent University Protest– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025

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DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Police arrested dozens of protesters at the University of Washington on Monday night after an antifa-style mob lit fires and took over a building to protest Israel.

“About 30 individuals who occupied” an engineering studies building were arrested and will be referred for prosecution, a university spokesperson said in a Tuesday statement. Videos posted on X by journalists showed black-clothed agitators leading the riot and calling for violence against police, the latest in a long line of unlawful outbursts targeting the university over its supposed financial ties to Israel.

“Death to the police! Abolish the police,” one protester yelled at officers outdoors as they cleared others from the building, according to video footage shared by Cam Higby on X. “Every cop death is a victory for the resistance,” a protester can be heard shouting.

20 attorneys general ask federal judge to reverse RFK Jr.’s deep cuts– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025

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Attorneys general in 19 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging cuts to the U.S. Health and Human Services agency, saying the Trump administration’s massive restructuring has destroyed life-saving programs and left states to pick up the bill for mounting health crises.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Rhode Island on Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James said. The attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia signed onto the complaint.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. restructured the agency in March, eliminating more than 10,000 employees and collapsing 28 agencies under the sprawling HHS umbrella into 15, the attorneys general said. An additional 10,000 employees had already been let go by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to the lawsuit, and combined the cuts stripped 25% of the HHS workforce.

Democrats are going Hogg wild and tanking their own incumbents– thehill.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025

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Ask Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg why Democratic lawmakers are heading toward the exits.  It is because people like him want to widen the generational and ideological rifts growing within their party.

Their goal is to remake the Democratic Party in their own narrow, extremist image — even if it means driving everyone else out and Americans away.

Hogg recently put out a call to arms … against his own party.

“Leaders We Deserve is launching a $20 million investment to usher in the next generation of Democrats who will go to the mat every day for the American people and use every tactic and tool to stop Trump’s radical right-wing, economically illiterate agenda.”