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The support of 10 Republican senators now makes it possible to pass a legislation that covers the basics of controlling use of assault weapons in the US. This includes raising the minimum age for use from 18 years to 21 years. Senators Cornyn of Texas and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina are some of the Republican senators supporting this legislation. It also has the backing of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who is the Minority Republican Leader in the Senate. A broader ban on all assault weapons does not have much support from Republicans.  For years a spate of shooting each year in schools and other places would lead to cries of outrage from Democrats and sympathy from Republicans and yet nothing got done to control the use of assault weapons. Now a more prudent approach is taking the place of a call for a complete ban. Small incremental steps are now seen as OK. President Biden also sees this as the right approach to move in the right direction till more agreement or a breakthrough can be achieved. This is not just on gun control but also on a number of social issues. This may also reduce the tensions in American society that were exacerbated with no controls on behaviour of social media companies. Corrective incremental steps may create the right environment where useful dialogue and discussion absent today can be brought back for making larger decisions in the interest of the American people in the future.  ...

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Senator Mitch McConnell, the U.S. Senate Majority leader, and Speaker Ryan, achieved a win in the U.S. Congress which is expected to set a new trend of bipartisan cooperation, as the House passed the bill in Dec. 2015 for $1.1 trillion spending with a vote of 316 to 113, and the Senate with vote of 65 to 33. The persuasion on the Republican side was based on giving Speaker Ryan a strong hand in negotiations with the White House in 2016. Ryan secured a lifting of the oil export ban for the Republican side in return for flexibility in spending. Ryan deftly sent the issue of Puerto Rico having access to bankruptcy laws to the committe chairmen to come up with a plan in March to get the needed votes. Democrats had pushed for aid to Puerto Rico. Also included in the bill that passed is giving more voice to emerging market countries China and India in the running of the IMF.

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The leaders of Republicans and Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Minority leader Harry Reid, reached a budget compromise with the White House in October 2015 after long closed door negotiations, following years of deadlock in previous years. The compromise lifts sequester spending caps agreed to previously in a previous settlement of differences, and lifts the budget ceiling till March 2017. Speaker Boehner said it was time to "clean out the barn," as he did this over the opposition of Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz from the right wing of his party who opposed his efforts to compromise with Democrats. On October 28, 2015, the House of Representatives passed the two year budget agreement 266-167, and the following day Speaker Boehner passed on the Speaker's position to Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. On Oct. 29, 2015, the Senate voted 64-35 to pass the budget compromise agreement. The agreement increases discretionary spending by $80 billion over 2 years, giving half to defense spending with the increase in military threats overseas, and the other half to domestic spending programs. The domestic spending goes to limit premium increases for some Medicare Part B beneficiaries, and a prevents a 20% across the board cut to Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, set for 2016. This removes the uncertainty posed by threats of a showdown on the budget ceiling and threat of defunding Planned Parenthood posed by right wing Republicans in Congress, which were bad for the economy at a time when the U.S. and Europe faces increasing threats overseas. Without a budget agreement the U.S. Treasury Department would have seen its borrrowing authority expire on Nov. 3, 2015....

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Work requirements is one area in which Biden and McCarthy have a point of agreement in the debt ceiling discussions. Biden says he has supported work requirements in the past. Biden also says he would do nothing that affects health benefits. Under Biden the jobs market is the best it has been for over two decades which makes it easier to have some sort of work requirement for people able to work before they can collect government aid benefits. This makes an agreement possible in which Biden and McCarthy continue discussions with Biden building some form of rapport with a Congressman he has known in the past from his days in the US Congress. An agreement he pulls together would then have the support of most Republicans and be passed with the help of all Democrats. This would meet with opposition from a small faction of the Republican party, opposition that McCarty has become accustomed to including the prolonged voting it took to get himself elected as Speaker. McCarthy and most Republicans are in favor of Ukraine and the EU support for Ukraine at a critical time. They including Mitch McConnell who is present in the negotiations would not want to do anything that spirals America into a financial crisis during a Ukraine counteroffensive with Biden and Scholz's support that could end the war in Ukraine. Biden probably shared the concerns of his G7 counterparts with the Republicans about this. McCarthy and Biden could then simply say they only worked to do the possible and move on to the bigger battle in 2024. ...

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When even the NYT, or the host of CBS television Face the Nation does it poorly, how are independent voters, and voters leaning Democrat or Republican, or leaning not vote, to have a clear idea of policies?  This review of Trump statements about Harris statements on red meat, ICE, law enforcement, fails to get down to the policies she has stated at Wake Tech in North Carolina and in other places before this. It also does not address the Trump plan to end tax on Social Security which would lead to about $550 going to seniors but lead to a cut of 25% in Social Security in 2032, defunding Social Security and Medicare. Immigration- the first thing Harris would do as president is to sign the legislation written by Republicans Lankford, McConnell with the backing of the party and agreed to by president Biden that will in effect close the Border with Mexico and fix the asylum policy, not done in three decades. Cost of Living- Harris policy on price gouging is for taking the action that companies follow and play by the rule on pricing, so that they do not take unfair advantage of the public. It is not about passing a law or fixing prices. This has been done in Texas and in Kentucky, other states. Restrict rent to 5% increases and increase the supply of new houses by building 3 million new homes, $100 billion to be allocated for fixing housing supply shortages.   ...

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Both sides have taken a pause in negotiations yet they are getting closer. There is also the conversation that we are not aware of that is taking place between McCarthy/McConnell and Biden about G7 leaders asking Biden on the debt talks. McCarthy will not want to affect the Ukraine counter offensive with all the talk about a debt default impacting the credibility of the US. McCarthy also could pass an agreement through the House with Democrats support with a small faction of Republicans not supporting him if push comes to shove and matters reach a critical point. By negotiating in good faith Biden is surely doing the right thing. The important thing is to let moderate Republicans have an opportunity to support him in the task of Renewal of America. The bigger task is 2024 which Biden has his eyes on, because this is how America will be made or unmade with the right choices and the right priorities. And Biden needs independents and Republicans who might consider supporting him to get things done for America's Renewal. House Speaker McCarthy's Republicans now support keeping spending at $1.65 trillion the 2023 levels. The Biden administration would consider a program of small cuts- no deep cuts. And only for 2 years. On work requirements for government aid to the poor and vulnerable Biden says he supported work requirements when he was a Senator in the US Congress. He outright excludes any work requirements for health benefits. Biden understands that in an economy with jobs going unfilled in construction and hospitality industries, and in child care and teaching, nursing, with higher minimum wages, people looking for work could find work to make a decent or tolerable living.   ...

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Biden issued executive order on June 3, 2024 to close the Border with Mexico and deny asylum. Once border crossings reach 2500 a day the border is closed. Then it is opened only when crossings drop to 1500 a day and after 14 days. Officially permitted including humanitarian parole pathways are limited to 1500 a day. This is being done because the legislation that passed in the US Senate on bipartisan basis negotiated for closing the Border with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Republicans and Senator Lankford (R) was blocked in the Senate by Mike Johnson on instructions of Mr. Trump who sought to use it as an election issue. "Today I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border,” said president Biden. The signs “SECURING OUR BORDER” were prominent in the White House East Room. “Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation,” he added, “but Republicans left me with no choice.” On this page the WSJ looks at the Border on August 5, 2024 and finds the border crossings have dropped to levels in 2020 and to levels seen during the last year of president Trump. The US and Mexico have cut border crossings with Mexico moving migrants back to southern Mexico in a Chutes and Ladders program where migrants head north, and the Mexican gocernment buses them back south, at which point some return to their home countries. At the Guatemala border there is busing to take them to other locations in the south of Mexico. ...

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Biden issued executive order on June 3, 2024 to close the Border with Mexico and deny asylum. Once border crossings reach 2500 a day the border is closed. Then it is opened only when crossings drop to 1500 a day and after 14 days. Officially permitted including humanitarian parole pathways are limited to 1500 a day. This is being done because the legislation that passed in the US Senate on bipartisan basis negotiated for closing the Border with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Republicans and Senator Lankford (R) was blocked in the Senate by Mike Johnson on instructions of Mr. Trump who sought to use it as an election issue. "Today I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border,” said president Biden. The signs “SECURING OUR BORDER” were prominent in the White House East Room. “Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation,” he added, “but Republicans left me with no choice.” On this page the WSJ looks at the Border on August 5, 2024 and finds the border crossings have dropped to levels in 2020 and to levels seen during the last year of president Trump. The US and Mexico have cut border crossings with Mexico moving migrants back to southern Mexico in a Chutes and Ladders program where migrants head north, and the Mexican gocernment buses them back south, at which point some return to their home countries. At the Guatemala border there is busing to take them to other locations in the south of Mexico. ...

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One key point came in early Harris said she had a Plan for the economy, for an Opportunity Economy, Trump she said had none. Trump did not offer a plan. Harris spelled out a plan to tackle housing costs including a $6000 child tax credit and building 3 million new homes. Harris called higher tariffs, double than exist today, a way to increase costs for each family by $4000. She also pointed out that economists had confirmed that Trump tariff policies would lead to higher costs for Americans as they would be passed on by importers. Harris also offered a position of all of the above that included fracking where appropriate to increase oil supplies to bring down prices for American families, a key issue in Pennsylvania. On immigration and crime it was David Muir who reminded Trump that the FBI had stated crime was down in the country. On Ukraine, Afghanistan Harris clearly explained that US was not at war for the first time in one hundred years and was saving the US $300 million a day it cost for the war in Afghanistan. On Ukraine she said Biden-Harris had strengthened NATO and ties with allies, in an answer to David Muir's repeated question to Trump "Is it in the US interest for Russia to win the war in Ukraine?" To which Trump offered only a reply that suggested this was not important for him, disavowing US policy from 1900 to preserve the rule of law in international relations that no country should violate sovereignty of other nations through invasion. Among Republicans this is an issue with Mitch McConnell and others supporting Biden-Harris. ...

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The Democratic Party's progressive wing and Mr. Biden support the effort by president Trump for $2000 checks to go to American families as direct payment instead of the paltry $600 approved by McConnell in the Senate and Pelosi in the House. The delay in providing relief has hurt Americans working in retail and restaurants, hotels, and travel, tourism, sectors hard hit by the pandemic lockdowns. To make up for the delay and because the pandemic after the second wave looks to be not just for 2020 but for at least the first half of 2021 $2000 is essential for American  families to support themselves. Food insecurity unknown to Americans for most of the twentieth century has returned in ways that are unimaginable. The same is true for southern Europe as pictures of Barcelona in DW,com show. It is high time both the European Commission and the U.S. Congress get their act together. Partisan press is one thing, and debate is the oxygen of society in a democracy, and making ends meet on a day to day basis is another thing.  Working from home remotely one half of society the professionals may not see the other half, yet they are there as the pictures from Barcelona of people collecting metal and other scrap  on streets for sale to buy food in the El Raval neighborhood show, and the pictures of Americans in long lines at food banks show.  ...

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Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas declare their opposition to the Republican Health Care bill proposed by Senator McConnell. This decision by the two senators makes it impossible to begin debate on the bill. Earlier two other senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky announced their opposition. This means the Republican health care bill has no chance in the Senate even after changes to the bill passed by the House of Representatives. Republicans have a thin majority in the Senate make it difficult to pass legislation. Collins met with residents in Maine and Moran with people in his home state of Kansas, and both senators heard a lot about the negative effects of the Republican bill on people in their state. The bill is seen as hurting people in rural areas, elderly, and not likely to do enough to bring down premiums. Its plan to slash Medicaid spending has drawn strong opposition from all Democrats.

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BBC News provides a look at the first proposals of the Boris Johnson minority government to the European Union. This includes replacing the Irish backstop. The Irish backstop is a way set up by the EU and the previous UK government of prime minister May in negotiated agreement to prevent a hard border in Ireland. It means Britain would remain in the customs union with the EU after December 2022 if no agreement for withdrawal is reached by then. Conservative Party hard liners oppose it because they say it leaves the UK indefinitely in the customs union. The EU insists on this to protect the interests of a member state Ireland. The moderates in May's Conservative government agreed to it to keep the peace accord in Ireland. Boris Johnson wants to get rid of it, and his proposals include customs checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland which removes the free flowing border between the two Irelands, a major achievement of the Irish peace accords.  Which is why the negotiations could end up going nowhere, with each side presenting the other as the side that wouldn't negotiate terms of withdrawal. The Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, and the Labor Party except for its leader Corbyn's neutral stance, oppose leaving the European Union. And parliament opposes leaving without a negotiated agreement pitting Boris Johnson against parliament and the opposition.  Another referendum or a general election would settle the issue with Boris Johnson thinking he can flip former safe Labor seats in working class areas in the north of England to win the election. Labor party's McDonnell says he has miscalculated and Labor party is buying time to organize an effective election campaign to get back the working class vote lost under Blair with his confusing Third Way that lost workers on the way.   ...

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Actas or slips like receipts from every time a voter votes are generated from voting machines in Venezuela. Enough actas were collected in the Venezuela elections that show a landslide win with a 38% margin for Gonzalez over Maduro. The Maduro government has not accepted the result. It shows 7.3 million votes for Gonzalez, a former diplomat, to 3.3 million for Maduro the successor of Chavez, says the Wall Street Journal. For president Biden it was the surge in Venezuelan migrants flow and the refusal of Maduro government to take back migrants making deportation difficult, that precipitated the immigration crisis as an issue in the 2024 elections. The problem was tackled by closing the border with Biden taking executive action, after the law closing the border cleared the Senate in February but was held up in the House by Mr. Trump. Trump hoped to benefit from the Border issue to get elected in November 2024 held it up. That law was negotiated by Republicans McConnell and Lankford and Biden. Kamala Harris says the first thing she will do if elected is to pass that law. Republicans like the Tories in the UK are now seen as pandering on the issue to keep power, not keen on resolving it once and for all. As we show from the example of Mette Frederiksen in Denmark and her far sighted thinking it is possible to be good for workers and families, and tough on immigration that hurts workers by creating like foreign wars a huge and unnecessary distraction. Why for instance must workers and families live from paycheck to paycheck because of misgovernance in Asia or Africa or Arab world ,or deliberately created wars to empty countries of population as in Arab lands. Taking the issue up in the countries themselves with whatever action is needed was the right answer from the beginning, and lost on Merkel and other leaders in the US and Europe. Lessons are learned and now action must be taken. ...

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Ariel Mckenzie is the daughter of  Boeing machinist who told his daughter to join Boeing as generations of Boeing workers in the Seattle area have done. Not anymore. Airel says she can't tell her 15 year old daughter that it can provide a good life today with wages falling behind soaring costs in the Seattle area. Note that the new contract states the 437 billion dollars of planes backlog Boeing has will not be made in non union plants in the South, most will be made in the Seattle area home to Boeing since it's founding. How does Boeing see this happening without a wage deal that workers are not happy with, when since 1997 the workers were being treated as a transaction and losing out. Boeing workers say the new contract has no bonus program and does not restore fixed benefit pensions which were replaced by 401 K's . The housing prices index in the Seattle area for last decade rose 128% and average price of a home in Seattle is $835,000. Average worker pay in 2024 is $75,000 and fallen far behind costs of living. It's all been downhill say veteran Boeing workers after the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas and the shift of corporate offices to Chicago. ...

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A proposal for deficit reduction from the "Gang of Six" in the U.S. Senate gains support from Obama, Boehner and Cantor, as other proposals languish for lack of support in both Houses of Congress. The efforts to pass a balanced budget amendment and deficit reduction in the House is now seen as a concession to newly elected conservatives in the House by Boehner even as other options are being pursued to meet an August 2, 2011 deadline. The efforts of credit rating agencies to reconsider the credit ratings of certain states and the U.S. is also putting new pressure on getting some sort of serious deficit reduction now as opposed to putting it off for discussion between now and the end of the year, as proposed by the McConnell plan.

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The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican healthcare plan advocated by Mr. McConnell, Senate Majority leader, is that it would add 22 million uninsured if implemented. That plan ran into opposition from Republican Senators Collins, Capito, Murkowski, Paul, and Moran, and lacked enough support in the Senate. All Democrats opposed it and with the thin majority Republicans were divided. By taking away some benefits given under the existing Affordable Care Act the plan hurt the elderly and low income people, making some Republicans listen to their constituents in home districts and not the Republican leadership. The NYT profiled two in particular who astonishingly in a sign of today's strange politics were the only ones publicly holding townhall type meetings to hear the views of people in their voting districts- Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Both senators were listening to rural communities and Moran stated his opposition with the words- "I am a product of rural Kansas." With it the nation takes a breather and the message goes out that it is best to listen first and then to seek middle ground, not do what both parties Democrats and Republicans did in 2009 and 2017- rush serious legislation through without support across party lines and without serious discussion.   ...

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The structure of the deal that is coming up for a vote in Congress on August 1st, a day before the August 2 deadline. A deal put together mainly by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Biden after other deals failed. It gives the government $400 billion immediately and another $500 billion in the fall for raising the debt ceiling. Another 1.2 trillion will be added in 2012. The entire burden for raising it falls on Obama. Obama will be able to get the debt ceiling raised without another long struggle before 2012 elections. On spending cuts- agency spending will be cut by $900 billion over the next 10 years. A new legislative committe will be set up to come up with $1.2 trillion in additional savings by the end of 2012. The mechanism that would force the committe to act or make sure spending cuts were taken if the committee failed, was set up as one in which the trigger is to force automatic across the board cuts. The automatic across the board cuts would be for $1.2 trillion to agency budgets for the next 10 years, and split this half and half between domestic programs and defence. Programs aiding the poor including Medicaid and Social Security would be exempted, but Medicare payments to providers could be touched. No new taxes are part of this deal....

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Republican Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell no's and 50-50 US Senate vote, a tie on Hegseth nomination. Only a last minute change of heart by Senator Tillis gets the 50-50 tie that was broken by VP Vance's vote to get the Hegseth nomination through. Armed Services chairman Wicker in questioning in the Senate supported Hegseth as he faced tough questioning from Democrats Duckworth, Slotkin and Peters.  Wicker cited Hegseth's service in two wars in combat as a Major in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way many who had fought in these wars had struggled and overcome difficulties, the need for second chances in some situations. Other Republican senators said the position was held by others who did not have experience running large organizations. Panetta was a lawyer and Gates an academic who had CIA positions before appointment to Secretary of Defense. Perry had experience running defense supplier companies. Chuck Hagel served in combat in the Vietnam war and started his own company Vanguard Cellular and was a talk show host.   ...

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Senator Schumer the Majority Leader in the Senate has shown a unique ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan efforts that would have been daunting to lesser men. He was a key driver of the efforts to bring Republican and Democrats together to invest in the country's aging infrastructure. This is a win-win situation for both. He did this again when at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion at the end of October that action on the border be an essential part of aid to Ukraine, Schumer  did not say no, he struggled with it talking with his staff till he says an epiphany sort of lightning strikes. He realized it was needed to be tough on the border and to do it right was a win-win situation for both supporters of Ukraine and getting the border situation under control. Because so many Democrats were for Ukraine they would vote for a good border security bill. This report shows him making calls even on Christmas Day.  Only someone of Schumer's dedication, ability to talk and persuade others, and hard work could have done this. As in getting bipartisan support for infrastructure bills he had Democrats who had good relationships with Republicans to persuade Republicans that Democrats were sincere about taking strong action on the border. It is to the credit of president Biden and shows that his decades spent in Congress were worth it for America that he supported Schumer and worked with Republicans. It is this sincerity that made it possible for 22 Republican Senators nearly half of Republicans in the Senate to join Schumer in the new aid package for Ukraine, after a former president shut down the earlier bill that combined the border action with Ukraine. Many in the media and in the country have not grasped the meaning of the way some of the most senior members of Congress including Mr. Biden who was one of the longest serving senators in history are working together showing courage and wisdom in the face of many distractions and factional differences on the fringes of different parties. ...

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WSJ's Andrew Restuccia and Michelle Hackman look at another deportation of about 1 million people of Mexican descent in 1954 under the Eisenhower administration. It looks at the human toll. Many of the people were brought in to tackle the shortage of men to do farm work and harvest crops during the war period 1941-1945.   The alternative proposed by Biden and senior Republican senators McConnell and Lankford and supported by most senior Republicans is the tough immigration legislation drafted by Lankford that president Harris has pledged to sign. In 1954 the US economy was a small fraction of what it is today and struggling from the aftermath of the world war and the Korean War. The US economy would suffer shortages of manpower in construction and farm work that would reduce economic growth by about 1%, from the effects of a 1954 type plan and from the distraction for American focus on chips, science, and manufacturing that is needed to compete in a new world of India, China in addition to Japanese EU competition. States such as Kansas in the midwest feel this shortage, and in the Carolinas in the south, Red states and blue face shortages. Kansas is actively seeking new legal immigrants and welcoming them as shown in the WSJ. This is a different country than 1954 and this must be recognized or we will fall behind China, Japan and India. Cultural literacy is world knowledge and was proposed before by the Exxon Foundation and E. D. Hirsch in 1988. This needs to be revived so that children like Harris who know enough about American history, language and culture to be productive American citizens- as they learn in school and through interaction with fellow citizens in the neighborhood and libraries- can become the norm. There is no reason this cannot be done effectively with the resources committed to this from the federal and state governments in tens of billions of dollars, including to the library system, community colleges, community civic education centers, and to literacy and world knowledge sites such as Lyrarc.com, Wikipedia and Britannica.com. ...

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This story in the NYT describes how the flawed effort to pass the Republican healthcare bill or repeal the Affordable Care Act passed under president Obama failed after another effort. Many developments killed it. In the end the president lost interest, especially when he saw Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky go on talk shows on the weekend before its collapse to complain about the bill. Senator Collins of Maine was exasperated by the way the bill was being rushed through Congress, and she voiced her strong opinions about this by talking to people back home in Maine and sharing her conversations with the media. The bill pushed by Senator McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, imposed annual caps on Medicaid spending. And did this without any discussion, shutting out committee debate, any public discussion, or formal drafting. Once this process was set in motion in this way the Republican Senators formed camps. Senator Grassley of Iowa and Jerry Moran of Kansas, normally conservative moved to the moderate side. Moran held a town hall meeting covered in the NYT, where older people voiced their concerns. Most of the patient advocacy groups, the hospital groups such as the American Hospital Association, and other medical groups also opposed it.  After Senator McCain of Arizona said he could not return following a surgery in Phoenix, Senators Lee and Moran announced their opposition. With this the bill's support crumbled including any effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  ...

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This is an exceptionally humorous operating room story of Dr. Trump and Dr. McConnell by Kristof of the NYT. Sometimes humor tells the story- and Kristof does this using a story of a surgeon president Trump in the operating Room trying to address the concerns of the patient Janet, as he keeps telling her she needs a new heart with great benefits, great benefits, before she implodes or goes down failing. Flat out take the old heart out even if a replacement hasn't been found, believe me great benefits the surgeon tells her, just that the patient just isn't getting convinced as its happening to her. The analogy is with replacing a health care plan, not just the Obama plan, any plan without something to take its place. For a few days before this article by Kristof, the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement was presented as a good idea. Janet is like the three Republican women- Collins of Maine, Capito of West Virginia, and Murkowski of Alaska who wanted to keep the heart they had till a replacement was found, against the surgeon Trump's advice. In a way it is about politicians in the last decade who never had any discussions as they rushed through with their own agendas, as the Republican and Democratic health care plans were rushed through Congress with relatively little participation and debate to hear all viewpoints. ...

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The U.S. Senate passes a motion that allows the chamber to proceed with a debate on a health care bill. The motion passed 51-50 with Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote. Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski voted against the motion. This report in the WSJ says this sets in motion a process in which debate will take place and amendments will be made. It is not clear what shape the bill will take. Under the process used only a simple majority is needed in the Senate, yet this allows for many amendments to be made.  Only hours after this motion passed by one vote, a bill replacing major parts of the Affordable Care Act failed to pass 57 votes against and 43 in favor. Senator John McCain who arrived in Washington from Arizona following brain tumor surgery, delivered strong criticism of the way the Republican healthcare bill was rushed through allowing very little debate. Experts have commented on the way the bill was rushed through with a thin majority for passage, with very little debate, first by Democrats in 2009 and now in the House by Republicans. With the same pattern now followed in the Senate by Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate. A backup bill would remove just the individual and employer mandates and a tax on medical devices- the elements Republicans agree on, if no majority can be put together for the healthcare bill. ...

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President Obama proposes changes in taxes to fund programs to aid students such as free 2 years of community college, aid for student loans, and financial help for middle class families. Senate Majority Leader McConnell says the proposals to raise income taxes for high income Americans with $320 billion in new revenues over 10 years, reduced prospects for changes in the tax system. He said the Obama proposals were designed " to excite the base but not designed to pass." Obama says "the shadow of crisis has passed," and calls for "middle class economics," and improving incomes for anyone making the effort. The call comes as inequality widened during the long recession and some of the Obama administration's policies such as on homeowner foreclosure, and lack of focus on unemployment during the first term, may have actually worsened inequality. The call also comes late in the second term in Jan 2015- with presidential elections in 2016- after the Republicans gain control of both Houses of Congress, which is why Republicans dismiss this as mere political talking points for the base....

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Republicans and Democrats decided to tackle the U.S. fiscal cliff in several steps. The first step for the Bush tax cuts to be extended to single earners with income under $400,000, and couples earning under $450,000 was part of the agreement reached Jan. 1, 2013. Republicans see this as protecting small business owners who generate jobs in the U.S. economy. Democrats see this as progress in taxing the wealthy to reduce spending cuts in other programs. As expected the deal was reached between Senate colleagues Republican Mitch McConnell and former Democratic senator and Vice President Joe Biden, as rapport is missing in the relationship between Speaker Boehner and president Obama. The $110 fiscal cliff spending cuts on entitlements and defence will be postponed for 2 months till early March under the deal. Debt ceiling will not be raised and negotiations will be needed again by the end of Feb. 2013 to raise the debt ceiling. By March 27, 2013 short term funding measures lapse. Republicans see accepting tax cuts on the wealthy as a way to remove this issue in future negotiations to focus on spending cuts needed to improve U.S. finances. ...