Congressional Republicans have yet to release a budget, but the plans that have been offered and reported so far are a five-alarm fire for American families – especially when it comes to their health care costs. Not only has virtually every Republican budget or fiscal plan over the last decade included repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and deep cuts to Medicaid, but House Republicans putting together their budget are reportedly drawing heavily on a plan that includes both. And in recent weeks, they’ve reiterated that both Medicaid, including the ACA’s expansion of coverage to low-income adults, and ACAtax credits that help people afford coverage are on the chopping block for cuts.
What’s clear is this: extreme MAGA Republicans are trying to make health care more expensive for Virginia families, all while pushing for more tax breaks for billionaires.
Today, on the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) becoming law, the White House released 51 state and territory fact sheets highlighting how extreme MAGA House Republicans’ plans to repeal the ACA and gut Medicaid will devastate working families. The fact sheets demonstrate how Congressional Republicans’ reported proposals will raise premiums and health…
When the Associated Press declared Cruz, not Trump, the winner in Wisconsin, the thin-skinned candidate snapped and sent out a press release that reads like the tantrum of a 12-year-old, as the real-estate magnate turned reality-TV star hasn’t faced an election day without a win since losing the first contest in Iowa.
Predictably, Trump lashes out at “Lyin’ Ted” after suffering his first election night without a win since Iowa.
Trump, seemingly sensing an overwhelming loss in the Badger State, did not hold any campaign events Tuesday night but also didn’t hold back from lashing out at Cruz and accusing the Republican Party of conspiring to unduly deny him the nomination. “Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet — he is a trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump”:
Paul Ryan’s penance has not been matched by a broader effort to change the substance beneath the words. Ryan has long been the intellectual torchbearer of a public policy that would immediately hurt the same people he has decided to stop calling “takers.” For years, he has put forth a budget that would provide the largest tax cuts in history for the wealthy while gutting income support and health care assistance for the middle-class and poor.
Early this week, CBS CEO Les Moonves came out and said it: Profiting from hate is not only more important to him than the good of the country — he wants to do more of it.
Speaking on a panel in San Francisco, Moonves said Trump’s campaign “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS” and that “The money’s rolling in, this is fun.” He went on to say “it’s a terrible thing to say, but bring it on, Donald, go ahead, keep going.”
One of the state’s main instigators of culture warfare, state Sen. Richard H. “Dick” Black thinks that spousal rape should not be a crime.. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
RICHMOND — For the first time in history, Emily’s List is targeting a sitting state lawmaker — and Virginia state Sen. Richard H. Black has earned the dubious honor.
The national political action committee is putting Black “on notice” for his opposition to Medicaid expansion, equal rights for women and access to abortion.
One of the most conservative members of Virginia’s General Assembly, Black (R-Loudoun) faces a challenge in the fall from Democrat Jill McCabe, a pediatrician who was endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia on Tuesday.
“Senator Black has made it clear that his top priority is to turn back the clock on women and families across Virginia,” Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock said. She added: “Dick Black is one of the worst when it comes to policies that are dangerous to the people he was elected to represent.”
Black, a former Marine combat pilot, took the slight in stride, noting that earlier this year a magazine published by the Islamic State put him on its enemies list.
“I am the only state legislator who has also been targeted by ISIS as well,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I wear those as a badge of pride.”
Emily’s List backs female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. The powerful political action committee zeroed in on Black’s seat as an opportunity to flip control of the Virginia Senate, where Republicans have a one-seat majority.
Last month, the group released a list of more than a dozen members of Congress that it would also work to fire, including U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), who last year won the seat long held by former Republican congressman Frank R. Wolf.
Black has a long history of controversial behavior that continued last week when the Supreme Court affirmed gay couples’ right to marry in all 50 states.
“The gay community is quite militant. They’re not content to let people make their own decisions,” Black told NBC 4 in Washington. “It launches an attack on the Christian churches across the nation.”
Those harsh words are part of a pattern of controversial actions and statements over the years.
During House debate on a 2002 bill to lift Virginia’s ban on prosecuting spousal rape, Black said: “I do not know how on Earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth, there is no injury, there’s no separation or anything.”
The following year he made headlines for sending tiny pink plastic models of fetuses to fellow legislators ahead of a vote on an abortion bill.
Schriock derided Black’s comments as “unacceptable and out-of-touch.”
But the criticism hasn’t made him think twice.
“I’m not a fan of Emily’s List. As you know, I am firmly pro-life and I intend to remain that way regardless of Emily List’s position,” Black said.
What if the progressive group succeeded in changing his mind?
“Then,” he said, “you would probably know that the world had turned upside down.”
