US Politics Mega-thread - Page 8687

On September 08 2017 10:20 Nyxisto wrote:
The US should issue national id's that everybody above voting age is required to obtain, and once practically everybody has one you can demand them as identification. That should get rid of both issues of fraud and disenfranchising voters.

On September 08 2017 10:20 Nyxisto wrote:
The US should issue national id's that everybody above voting age is required to obtain, and once practically everybody has one you can demand them as identification. That should get rid of both issues of fraud and disenfranchising voters.

While Bernie Sanders readies a single-payer health care bill that the GOP is itching to attack, one of his Democratic colleagues is proposing a step toward that goal that could give cover to the party’s vulnerable incumbents.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a potential presidential contender, is working on legislation expected this fall that would let individuals and businesses buy into Medicare as part of Obamacare’s exchanges. As Sanders and other potential challengers to President Donald Trump flock to “Medicare for all,” embracing a top liberal priority before 2020, Murphy is taking a conspicuously more pragmatic approach designed to get Democrats closer to that lofty but potentially unobtainable goal.

In the process, it could give vulnerable Democrats loath to attach themselves to Sanders a more politically palatable alternative that still satisfies the party’s base.

The first-term senator is also raising his national profile by wading into the hot-button single-payer debate — though the Connecticut Democrat has tamped down talk that he might take on Trump in 2020. It’s not about competing with Sanders, Murphy says, but rather offering a complementary path toward the creation of a single-payer system.

“Bernie is setting a really important marker for where he and many people in our party think the health care system needs to be,” Murphy — one of the Affordable Care Act’s staunchest defenders since its earliest days — told POLITICO.

But, Murphy added, “We’re not going to pass a single-payer health care bill any time in the next few years. And so we need to have a conversation about how we get there.”

Murphy doesn’t have Sanders’ army of grass-roots supporters, and public endorsements of his bill are still forthcoming even as Sanders racks up prominent single-payer backers such as Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. But Murphy has the advantage of rising-star status without the political target that Republicans have drawn on Sanders’ plan. In July, Republicans forced a Senate vote on the idea that all but four Democrats boycotted.

Republicans are preparing to wield Sanders’ single-payer plan as a cudgel against Democrats up for reelection next year in states that Trump carried, challenging them to get behind an idea that polls show attracts only about a third of Americans. The Murphy proposal could give those imperiled Democrats a more moderate fallback to get behind.

Murphy said he would begin with a resolution designed to build support for expanding the popular program before releasing legislation later this fall. Making Medicare more widely available, as he sees it, would pave the way for an effective “redesign” that prepares it to cover younger beneficiaries as part of a Sanders-style approach.

A Medicare buy-in “may not be as big a leap for the health care system as single-payer, but I think it’s a big, easy-to-understand, and super-popular idea,” Murphy said.

“I think we need to be in the business of communicating big, easy-to-understand ideas to people in a way that we didn’t in 2016,” he added. “Donald Trump had very dangerous ideas, but they were easy to get your head wrapped around. Hillary Clinton had very good ideas, but they were so obtuse that few understood them.”

Murphy followed that backhanded compliment of Trump with clear praise for Sanders: “There’s nobody better in our party than Bernie at communicating big, easy-to-understand ideas.”

Murphy said he may ultimately decide to sign onto Sanders’ single-payer bill, expected to emerge as soon as next week, and has spoken with the Vermont independent about potentially supporting his own proposal.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a friend of Murphy’s who partnered with him on the caucus’ successful messaging campaign against Obamacare repeal, is offering another complementary health care option that would create a Medicaid buy-in. Schatz, who has flatly ruled out any run in 2020, told POLITICO that he is already planning to co-sponsor Sanders’ bill and has secured Sanders’ support for his legislation.

“Of course, I like my idea the best — but I think they're all good ideas,” Schatz quipped, adding: “We have to be serious-minded about policymaking, and so not everything should be a litmus test of your progressive purity. Sometimes the question is, ‘What's going to provide the most coverage to the most people?’”

Many Democrats bristle at chatter that Sanders' activist network might challenge any Democratic candidate, incumbent or otherwise, who doesn't back the single-payer plan he wants at the forefront of the party's agenda.

On September 08 2017 11:06 LegalLord wrote:
If Trump actually does something about H1Bs, preferably just ending the program outright, we can upgrade his presidency from a C+ to a B-. That would be years overdue and one of the genuine failures of Obama that need correcting.

On September 08 2017 11:06 LegalLord wrote:
If Trump actually does something about H1Bs, preferably just ending the program outright, we can upgrade his presidency from a C+ to a B-. That would be years overdue and one of the genuine failures of Obama that need correcting.

On September 08 2017 11:19 bo1b wrote:

if he can genuinely fix immigration, from h1b to daca and all that lies in between he will go down as one of the best.

It seems like a serious challenge though so I wish him the best.

Worth noting that fixing immigration is different from stopping it.

On September 08 2017 11:26 Nyxisto wrote:
isnt't the h1b visa just a few ten thousand cases per year? Even under the assumption that the people who are economically suffering are impacted by this (which sounds pretty unlikely tbh), how is this a significant issue?

On September 08 2017 11:59 Danglars wrote:
https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/905912864531259392

Coming this fall: Can Colorado force Masterpiece Cakeshop to bake that same-sex wedding cake? The Justice Department of the Trump Administration files an amicus curiae in support of the baker today.