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U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott describe the event on poverty organized by the Jack Kemp Foundation in Jan. 2016, in which both Congressmen are moderators. Ryan and Scott point out the importance of upward educational and economic mobility for working class and middle class people. The 2 Republican leaders say education, work, opportunity and accountability for federal spending in anti-poverty programs are critical parts of their program for addressing the problem. They suggest trying different solutions by giving states more opportunity to try different solutions.

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Simply put the party that makes the best case for the economy and for a better future consistently and constantly will prevail as at the end of the day white, black, rural and urban voters will be listening carefully. The cost of living, immigration, the economy, are major issues in 2024. Nate Cohn of the NYT looks at the 2020 election, the 2022 midterms and polling for 2024. He says Republicans are doing better in states they did well in the midterms in 2022. Nationally they are doing as well as in the midterms making gains in noncompetitive blue states such as New York and California where there is less impact of Roe vs Wade abortion rights and voters can show discontent with Democrats for the way they have governed. Trump can also gain with black and Hispanic voters but more in California and New York and Texas noncompetitive states.  Harris does well in Florida, and Texas, and in some red states for the same reason as voters look for alternatives from being tied down to the Republican party or the Trump Republicans.  In the key Electoral College states in midwest Harris is holding up well in polling- in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. In these states Black and Hispanics are not in the same population numbers as in other states. ...

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Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has modeled his positions on that of the Trump image. He is the Republican candidate for Governor of North Carolina and Republican Senator Tillis of North Carolina sees him as taking extreme positions that are counterproductive. Josh Stein the Attorney General is the Democrat opposing him. North Carolina had a popular two term Democratic Governor Roy Cooper and this state is closely watched. Cooper concentrated on roads, bridges, infrastructure, public services. Other governors in Michigan and Kentucky have the same focus. Culture wars are a wasteful and unnecessary distraction from the real work in rebuilding manufacturing, and rebuilding infrastructure facing America that are in the Biden plan.

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Differences between Trump's operations and the Republican party's efforts in Macomb County, Michigan. Trump operatives are skeptical of the established conservative Republican leadership in the state from the last decade, leading to lack of coordination.

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The party founded by Charles De Gaulle Les Republicains failed to win  5% of the vote that is needed under French election law to be compensated for half of the 17 million euros that can be spent on the campaign. Valerie Pecresse got 4.75% of the vote- that entitles her to 800,000 euros. She personally borrowed 5 million euros. She now needs 16 million euros and has appealed for donations. Pecresse failed to win the support of different factions in her party including former president Sarkozy. A similar situation faces the Greens candidate Yannick Jadot who received only 4.63% of the vote.

French election law limits legal spending to 17 million euros and does no allow corporate donations, with a personal donation limit of 4600 euros.

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The key people in the effort to implement DJT agenda of the Border and renewing the Tax cuts that expire on Dec 31, 2025 are Senate Majortiy Leader John Thune, Deputy Senate majority Leader. Alos playing a part are the Budget Committee chair Lindsay Graham and Mike Crapo of Idaho who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. Here is the approach Tohn Thune plans to use. He will do it two step, first getting the Border right by committing additional resources including offsets of cost from clean energy tax credits. Only after enough technology and resources for Border Patrol are made to secure the Border will the second step of tax cut renewal be taken up.  The process Thune plans to use is budget reconciliation which requires only a simple majority in the US Senate. Things are tight in Congress, in the House very tight with 217-215 and in Senate 53-47. Budget reconciliation means cannot add to budget deficits beyond 10 year window and bill have to budgetary. ...

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DJT executive orders include one ending birthright citizenship. “It was really meant for children of slaves." DJT is referring to the 14th Amendment that was passed in 1868 by Congress and ratified by 1868 by the states. It came after the Civil War and Emancipation of slaves and was intended without any doubt for one and only one purpose to make slaves citizens of the United States Look at Section 4 of the 14th Amendment which says the United States will not allow any claim for the loss of any slave. "But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. The only SC decision in US vs Wong Kim that gave citizenship in 1898 to Wong Kim was not intended to go beyond that particular case, it was only meant to make an exception to the Chinese Exclusion Act  of 1882 after which till 1960 (JFK's election) Chinese immigration to the US was stopped, and the same for all Asians. Only immigrant labor allowed in was from Mexico for agriculture till 1960. And in 1954 Operation Wetback wwas conducted by Eisenhower to return about 1 million illegal immigrants to Mexico. DJT says- “It was not meant for everyone to come into our country by airplane, or charging across the borders from all over the world and think they’re going to become citizens.” The millions that came illegally across land border  and the flow of drugs is a new situation that Congress and the Supreme Court are only facing since 2014 a period in which wars in Afghanistan and Iraq took time and resources away from problems at home. ...

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NYT reports show the Republican health care bill AHCA 33 votes short of passing the House and likely to fail. Conservative Republicans were looking to whittle down the safety net in the Affordable Care Act, and moderate Republicans could not stomach the whittled down bill removing guarantees of essential benefits for instance. The basic problem- no real consensus among Americans about providing health care to all Americans, and no real solutions possible as long as there is acceptance of disproportionately high levels of medical care costs for treating each disease in the U.S. compared to Europe and other countries.

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This article provides exceptionally detailed and useful graphs showing how much the debt limit was increased each year since 1993 and how Republicans and Democrats in Congress voted to support the increase each year. As Rep. Steny Hoyer pointed out in Congress both Democrat and Republican presidents have increased the debt limit to the point where U.S. debt is $17.3 trillion in 2014. Marking a change in strategy Republican leaders Boehner and Darrell Issa voted in Jan 2014 in favor of stand alone debt limit increase to March 16, 2015, with almost all Democrats supporting it. Republicans added spending limit and other conditions to debt limit increases in previous years leading to a standoff with the Obama administration and recurring crisis talks with last minute deals. Strategy has now shifted for the Republican leadership to focus on the goal of winning the Senate to control both houses of Congress and preparing to elect a Republican president in 2016.

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Redistricting for Hispanic districts under Proposition 50 in California which passed by 64% in November 2025. A separate Louisiana case challenges redistricting by race as conducted under the Voting Rights Act. The US Supreme Court will have to rule on this issue. It is not always clear how this will work as Hispanic population has done well in employment statistics.

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Republicans representing poorer rural and working class communities, Democrats wealthy suburban communities 2025. 26 to 56 vs 69 what this means is that Republicans who in 2009 represented 26 of the poorest 100 House of Representatives Districts now represent 56 in 2023. By Contrast Democrats in 2023 represent 69 of the wealthiest House Districts in the Nation. It is a complete reverse, as big as the change that took place under FDR/Truman and LBJ where the South gradually shifted to Democratic from Republican and the North and Northeast Unites States  moved from Republican to Democratic party.

This puts Republicans traditional position to cut Medicaid in a quandary as it may affect their control of the House in future elections. This report in WSJ looks at details by District of what could happen.