I hope someone with a hot mic leans in to President Biden at the bill signing and says “This is a big fucking deal.”
Betty is working on a post in the back room, so this is totally squishable.
by WaterGirl| 83 Comments
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Politics
I hope someone with a hot mic leans in to President Biden at the bill signing and says “This is a big fucking deal.”
Betty is working on a post in the back room, so this is totally squishable.
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Climate Change, Democratic Politics, Politics
Those of us who had hope that a bill in the neighborhood of this one would actually pass were mocked and accused of being naive.
Well, this day is finally here, and I am all for it.
Here’s the link, if someone finds this on youtube or some other site that allows me to embed video, let me know. (thanks Another Scott!)
Open thread.
The Vote: Hoping This Day Would Come, and Now It’s HerePost + Comments (232)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud To Be A Democrat!
U.S. President Joe Biden plans to travel across the country to tout a series of recent legislative victories on climate change, gun control and drug pricing as a win for Americans and a defeat for special interests, White House officials said https://t.co/tEmils93vK pic.twitter.com/1KRx4YTxD2
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2022
Right now, instead of workers begging employers for work, we’re seeing employers have to compete for American workers.
We're seeing a resurgence of worker organizing and unionization.
Where I come from that is a good thing. And it’s long overdue.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 11, 2022
MIDTERM MESSAGE: @POTUS Biden and Congressional Dems “taking on special interests for you and your family vs. the GOP’s “extreme, MAGA agenda.”
That’s how the White House plans to frame things as the congressional recess and final stretch to the midterms begins. pic.twitter.com/bgBqGFM61r
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) August 11, 2022
All this time, I thought the doomers were worried Democrats WOULDN’T get it done but now I realize they were worried that they WOULD.
— the sarcastic little sea shill ??????????? (@layneashley222) August 11, 2022
Republicans are running on grievance and the Big Lie. Democrats are running on accomplishments, kitchen table economics and the right to choose. Don't underestimate Dem #midterm chances says @JRubinBlogger https://t.co/iZ9v4Kd3Ux
— Jim Kessler (@ThirdWayKessler) August 11, 2022
… House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has remained unflappably upbeat about the midterms, now has good reason to tout Democrats’ prospects. Even when other issues have popped up (e.g., impeachment of Trump for inciting an attack on the U.S. Capitol), Pelosi has consistently been an advocate for running on “kitchen table” issues, as she regularly put its, such as lowering the cost of health insurance premiums and prescription drugs.
She did this well during an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. She spoke about multiple legislative wins that fall into this category, such as the CHIPS and Science Act that President Biden signed into law on Tuesday, and the PACT Act, which will expand health care for sick veterans. The speaker also glowed about the pending Inflation Reduction Act, the reconciliation package that the Senate recently passed. “It’s pretty exciting,” she said, adding, “It has an integrity to it. And yes, it is about meeting the needs of America’s working families for the people, not politics.”
Later, at a White House signing ceremony, she was once again on message: “The CHIPS and Science Act is a historic achievement — lowering kitchen table costs and creating good-paying jobs for America’s families,” she declared. “That is our first responsibility, domestically. Returning American semiconductor production to world leadership status. And unleashing America’s science and technology to maintain our leadership for the future.”
Above all else, she tells her members, Democrats should run on what they’ve done. Naturally, that will mean highlighting all the measures Republicans opposed (the $35 price cap on insulin being among the juiciest targets).
But she also says Democrats must focus on their future agenda. If Democrats can hold the House and add two more Senate seats, she said at the signing ceremony, “we can get much more done in the United States Senate for the Voting Rights Act and voting protections, and the list goes on — a woman’s right to choose and the rest.”…
Ironically, Democratic candidates need not to do much on their third issue: Republicans’ lawlessness, penchant for violence and hostility toward law enforcement. When asked on NBC News’s “Today Show” about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s hysterical reaction to the news that the FBI searched Trump’s residence, Pelosi dismissed the Republican leader’s statement and said, “We believe in the rule of law. And that’s what our country is about. And no person is above the law. Not even the president of the United States. Not even a former president of the United States.”…
Dobbs had a huge political impact because it creates horrible outcomes touching millions of Americans, Inflation also impacted people directly….the raid touches the griftosphere and GOP electeds looking at primaries
— vocational politics stan account (@Convolutedname) August 10, 2022
Gosh I wonder what’s driving that shift. https://t.co/AY461dUOZX
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 12, 2022
TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Nancy Knows PoliticsPost + Comments (99)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Crime Cartel
Jewish Grandpa vs Yurtle The Racist Turtle, who ya got? https://t.co/fvHLRznHig
— Fuzzy Trousers ?????? (@Old_Ironpaws) August 9, 2022
It’s been a busy couple of days. pic.twitter.com/zA0G71fAyj
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 10, 2022
Breaking: President Biden has just signed into law the PACT Act, which will provide life-saving care to veterans who've been exposed to toxic burn pits.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 10, 2022
CNN: Yellen directs IRS not to use new funding to increase chances of audits of Americans making less than $400,000 https://t.co/lZcI5CeHxW
— Lily Adams (@adamslily) August 11, 2022
Dobbs had a huge political impact because it creates horrible outcomes touching millions of Americans, Inflation also impacted people directly….the raid touches the griftosphere and GOP electeds looking at primaries
— vocational politics stan account (@Convolutedname) August 10, 2022
You all need to vote like it's going to be close, but white women are furious at the GOP and will put us over the top if we turn out https://t.co/7v9j5flG9q
— ProofOfBurden (@ProofofBurden) August 10, 2022
I was a bit skeptical (though it seemed *reasonable*) of the analysis that the GOP holding unpopular views constrained by the court mooted those positions to normie voters. Happy to post this L!
— ProofOfBurden (@ProofofBurden) August 10, 2022
Publicly, they point to RSC types going to Bedminster this week as a microcosm of what the party is doing. Rah rah in the wake of the FBI search. Urging Trump to run. But post Kansas, and with probes mounting and sprawling, few are priv confident they know how this all plays out.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) August 11, 2022
Democrats would hate for Trump to announce his candidacy in September and make the midterm election a referendum on him and his search warrant. They would definitely not want him to do that. https://t.co/fb7YshXJdh
— I, Fred, will knock you all down!! (@LesserFrederick) August 10, 2022
Nothing, NOTHING would make me happier than this all going down in a blaze of paranoiac finger pointing
— Lord Businessman (@BusinessmanLego) August 10, 2022
Thursday Morning Open Thread: We’re Right, They’re… ReichtPost + Comments (210)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Excellent Links, Show Us On the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You
A must-read from @crampell. The IRS’s computer systems are out of date and patched together, in effect, with duck tape
This funding, which is locked for a decade, will provide the IRS the budget certainty it needs to upgrade systems – and improve servicehttps://t.co/YtLgMZuhwp
— Chuck Marr (@ChuckCBPP) August 9, 2022
Bit late in the evening for such a serious topic, but maybe our resident IRS expert will have the chance to see it. Lots of ‘interactive’ photos in this piece — worth clicking over to read the whole thing:
… As of July 29, the IRS had a backlog of 10.2 million unprocessed individual returns. Blame the pandemic, sure, but also the agency’s embarrassingly outdated, paper-based system, which leaves stacks and stacks of returns cluttering shelves, hallways and even the cafeteria.
On the Pipeline, paper tax returns aren’t scanned into computers; instead, IRS employees manually keystroke the numbers from each document into the system, digit by digit…
Taxpayers are trapped in this time warp because Congress has systemically underinvested in the IRS. Its funding was cut for most of the past decade, despite the agency receiving evermore responsibilities: stimulus checks, child tax credit payments, Obamacare enforcement, foreign bank account tracking and, lately, hunting down Russian yachts. Without reliable, long-term funding guarantees, the IRS has struggled to upgrade its systems.
I recently took a (chaperoned) tour of the Pipeline, which is usually off-limits to journalists. Imagine Willy Wonka’s secretive chocolate factory, but instead of gumdrops and lollipops it’s … paper. Everywhere, paper…
A single lap through this facility’s Pipeline is about a quarter-mile. The IRS warns on its website that the whole process can take six months or more. And that’s if no errors are detected.
Treasury and IRS officials say they hope additional funding will allow them to automate more of this process, so returns can move through more swiftly. They’re not particularly worried about employees getting displaced by automation; about a third of IRS employees are already eligible for retirement. There’s also more than enough work to go around. (See: that 10.2-million-return backlog.)
In the meantime, it’s astonishing that the system has survived this long, since it seems to be held together with duct tape and string. When I mentioned this to Desselle, the mailroom manager, he corrected me.
“That’s too generous,” he said. “It’s more like Scotch tape and string.”
Excellent Read: <em>Why does the IRS need $80 billion?… </em>Post + Comments (66)
by WaterGirl| 56 Comments
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Healthcare, Military, Open Threads
First up, the President at 10:00 AM:
Don’t forget to come back for the VP at 2:25 PM:
Open thread.
The President and the VP LIVE (PACT Act and Unions, Respectively)Post + Comments (56)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture
NOW: Final Senate vote!
Just like that, as happens, a rainbow appears.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) August 7, 2022
BREAKING: Senate passes historic bill, Democrats cheer as VP Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.
The bill that significantly affects health care, climate and tax policy looked dead just a few weeks ago.
Now it moves to the House – passage expected Friday.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) August 7, 2022
Democrats are jubilant, bear hugging each other on the floor, in particular the climate hawks. Lots of hand shakes for Joe Manchin, pats on his back.
Rs rushed out of the chamber immediately after voting for 14 hours
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) August 7, 2022
American Rescue Plan. Violence against Women Act. Biggest climate action literally ever. Reducing the cost of prescription drugs. The first gun safety bill in a generation. CHIPS. Giving veterans exposed to burn pits health care. Objectively this is a productive congress.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 7, 2022
Maybe if they hadn’t said “Let’s go” to Brandon so many times he wouldn’t be getting so much done.
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) August 7, 2022
Some folks can be gracious about the new IRA passing…
I dumped all over Schumer three months ago. I would like some A1 sauce with my crow https://t.co/iXGYJBOkJ6
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 7, 2022
Also worth noting that the last three times Democrats have won a trifecta, they have used it to raise taxes on rich people, while Republicans have used each of theirs to dramatically cut taxes for rich people. Worth bearing in mind when people say the parties are the same!!!
— Happy Nute Conservative Party Leadership Contest (@DawnNute) August 7, 2022
Others, not so much!
On the one hand: we're making an unprecedented investment in stopping a civilization-ending crisis while lowering the costs of vital medical care & clawing back $millions from the 1%. On the other: the shit-libs are happy. Really tough to say if it was worth it.
— Nied (@B_Nied) August 6, 2022
Much of what the Biden admin is doing mostly falls under the radar. Also, the administration has been hampered by the stupid requirement for the Senate to confirm a gazillion appointees. But putting competent ppl in charge of agencies will start to show results in 2023-24 https://t.co/ltEalqgYim
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 5, 2022
ICYMI:
BREAKING: Amy Weirich, the Republican DA of Shelby County (Memphis), has LOST re-election to reform-side Dem Steve Mulroy.
Weirich is the DA who prosecuted Pamela Moses, the Black woman who registered to vote erroneously & ended up with a 6-year sentence: https://t.co/2yBGfN9Koy
— Taniel (@Taniel) August 5, 2022
Monday Morning Open Thread: Up the IRA!Post + Comments (236)