President Biden may have just saved the country
With the U.S. House of Representatives having passed a bill on Wednesday night to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling, and the U.S. Senate passing the bill late last night, it is now all but certain that a historic Republican-caused default on the U.S. debt has been averted. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill at any time, and to address the nation this evening. While there is plenty of credit to go around, President Biden deserves the most praise for the extreme competence, professionalism and political savvy with which he has handled the issue.
Here is Biden’s statement after Wednesday’sj House vote, with emphasis added:
Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery. This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.
This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy. It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2024 elections, budget, Congress, COVID, debt, debt ceiling, debt default, Democrats, Donald Trump, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell, President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Republicans, U.S. House, U.S. Senate
March For Our Lives rally, Columbus, Ohio, 2018
President Joe Biden took several significant executive actions yesterday to combat gun violence. In a White House Rose Garden ceremony, Biden, along with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced that he is:
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- Directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to propose regulations to stop the proliferation of deadly, untraceable “ghost guns”;
- Modifying federal grant programs to increase available funding for community violence intervention programs;
- Publishing a model state “red flag” law (which would permit families or law enforcement to petition courts to remove guns from someone who poses a threat to themself or others);
- Directing DOJ to issue a new, annual comprehensive report on firearms trafficking;
- Directing DOJ to propose a regulation ensuring the stabilizing arm braces that circumvent the law on dangerous short-barrel rifles are subject to the National Firearms Act;
- Nominating David Chipman, a former special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and longtime gun owner and gun safety expert, to be the director of the ATF.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Assault Weapons Ban, ATF, Congress, David Chipman, Everytown for Gun Safety, filibuster, Fred Guttenberg, Gabby Giffords, gun control, gun safety, gun violence, Merrick Garland, Parkland, President Joe Biden, Senate, universal background checks, Vice President Kamala Harris
Vigil for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at U.S. Supreme Court
With the death of U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week, attention is rightfully being paid to what happens next on the Court. It appears that Donald Trump, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and just about all Republican Senators are ready to jam another justice onto the Court this year, even though doing so just weeks before the 2020 elections is antithetical to their 2016 blocking of President Barack Obama‘s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, the Democrats may be the ones capitalizing on the Republicans’ Supreme Court plans. First, the Democrats are racking up crazy donations since Ginsburg’s death. Second, the latest polls continue to have plenty of good news for Joe Biden and bad news for Trump. Indeed, in a new poll asking whether Justice Ginsburg should be replaced before the presidential election on November 3, 62 percent of respondents said that the winner of the election (meaning quite possibly Biden) should make that nomination afterward, versus only 23 percent who think Trump should get the choice now.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2020 Elections, Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell, Republicans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, U.S. Senate
Soft and fuzzy Democrats
Republicans in the U.S. Senate have waged at least a nine-year war against the Democrats. The first eight years included obstruction of President Barack Obama at every turn, as the GOP plotted on Obama’s inauguration night. This Republican obstruction culminated in the unprecedented move of refusing to hold a confirmation hearing and vote on President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, even though the Republicans had 10 months to do so. Now that a Republican is in the White House, Donald Trump, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and their partisan cohorts suddenly want the Democrats to bend in order to pass so-called “bipartisan” legislation that is written by Republicans, typically with no opportunity for Democratic input. The Democrats should not bend over and take this treatment. Instead, Democrats should fight, filibuster, and otherwise refuse to cooperate with Republicans every chance they get.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, David Vitter, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, GOP Tax Scam, infrastructure, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell, public option, Republican Party, Senate, Single-payer, Supreme Court
Richard Nixon leaving White House grounds by helicopter after resignation.
In October 1973, President Richard Nixon committed the “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which he fired the Watergate Special Prosecutor who had been appointed at the behest of Congress, which caused the U.S. Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General to resign. Nixon also abolished the office of the special prosecutor. This Constitutional crisis, which occurred nearly five years into Nixon’s presidency, ultimately led to Nixon’s impeachment and his resignation.
Last night, after just 10 days in the White House, Donald Trump had a Saturday Night Massacre of his own. Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after Yates wrote a letter to top Justice Department lawyers, directing them not to defend Trump’s Muslim immigration ban in federal court. Trump also fired Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Daniel Ragsdale, for reasons thus far unspecified. Several days earlier, Trump fired top career officers in the State Department.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Dana Boente, Daniel Ragsdale, Donald Trump, ICE, Jeff Sessions, Merrick Garland, Muslim, Muslim ban, President Barack Obama, Richard Nixon, Sally Yates, Saturday Night Massacre, U.S. Supreme Court, Watergate
Democratic U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Edward Markey and others demonstrate for a full Supreme Court
Once again, the 2016 presidential primaries have been an emotional roller-coaster. The Democratic Party, while not engaged in open civil war like the Republicans, has certainly felt the sting. Nasty things have been said, hurt feelings have been felt. Therefore, while Hillary Clinton has all but won the Democratic Party nomination and Bernie Sanders has all but conceded, and the endgame is near, no one can expect Democratic Party unity overnight. Instead, Democratic voters should now focus and fight together on the issues that unite them against the Republicans. Here’s a partial list of such issues:
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