Politics - Parties, Candidates
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from politicians, candidates and interested parties - covering the U.S. political arena including state and national political parties.
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As Democrats Convene Post-Election, NV Dems Highlight the Need to Continue Elevating Diverse, Working-Class States As We Rebuild Our Party
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Dec. 6 -- The Nevada Democratic Party issued the following news release:
As the Association of State Democratic Committees meet for the first time following the 2024 election, Nevada Democrats are encouraging party leaders and candidates for Democratic National Committee Chair to prioritize diverse, working-class states in our shared task of rebuilding the broad coalition it takes to win national elections.
"If Democrats want to win back working class voters and rebuild our broad coalition of voters of color, we should elevate the most working class and most diverse battleground
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Dec. 6 -- The Nevada Democratic Party issued the following news release:
As the Association of State Democratic Committees meet for the first time following the 2024 election, Nevada Democrats are encouraging party leaders and candidates for Democratic National Committee Chair to prioritize diverse, working-class states in our shared task of rebuilding the broad coalition it takes to win national elections.
"If Democrats want to win back working class voters and rebuild our broad coalition of voters of color, we should elevate the most working class and most diverse battlegroundstate in the nation to be the first presidential preference primary for the 2028 cycle," said Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno. "Nevada is the battleground state that best reflects our growing nation and the Democratic Party cannot afford to let overwhelmingly college-educated, white, or less competitive states start the process of winnowing the field again in 2028. This will be one of the DNC's primary responsibilities over the next two years, and it's crucial that we set an early window and primary calendar that puts us in the best position to win back the White House."
We are the working class: Nevada rewards candidates who can appeal to all economic and educational levels. Nevada ranks #1 in the nation for the percentage of blue collar workers, and our share of union workers remains above the national average.
We look like America: Nevada is the third-most diverse state in the nation and our electorate represents a truly multiracial coalition. It's a majority-minority state with Latino, Black, AAPI, Native American and white voters.
We are a top battleground: Nevada is the most consistently competitive battleground state in the country. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won by less than 1 point in 2022, and Sen. Jacky Rosen won by less than 2 points in 2024. Early organizing and Democratic voter registration in the primary is a down payment for winning here in November.
We are accessible to voters: Nevada has dramatically expanded voter access with automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, universal vote by mail, in-person early voting, and Election Day vote centers.
We have the party infrastructure: Nevada Democrats led the charge transitioning from a party-run caucus to a state-run primary to expand ballot access, breaking 2008 turnout records for Democrats' first primary with over 134,000 participants. We re-elected Jacky Rosen to the US Senate, Nevada was one of the four battleground states to hold every single one of our competitive US House seats -- increasing margins of victory in two of three races from 2022, and we defended our majorities in the State Assembly and the State Senate; now only one seat shy of a supermajority in both chambers.
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Original text here: https://nvdems.com/as-democrats-convene-post-election-nv-dems-highlight-the-need-to-continue-elevating-diverse-working-class-states-as-we-rebuild-our-party/
Trump Wants to Let Industry Insider Paul Atkins Rig the Economy for His Billionaire Backers
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Donald Trump picking Paul Atkins as the SEC Commissioner, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
"Donald Trump chose Project 2025 contributor Paul Atkins for his track record of siding with Wall Street over Main Street making him the perfect ally for Trump's plans to rig the economy for the ultra-rich. Atkins has repeatedly sidestepped the law to benefit special interests, and has proven he'll gladly sell out the American people to the highest bidder at
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Donald Trump picking Paul Atkins as the SEC Commissioner, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
"Donald Trump chose Project 2025 contributor Paul Atkins for his track record of siding with Wall Street over Main Street making him the perfect ally for Trump's plans to rig the economy for the ultra-rich. Atkins has repeatedly sidestepped the law to benefit special interests, and has proven he'll gladly sell out the American people to the highest bidder atTrump's command."
NEW: Donald Trump tapped Paul Atkins to lead the Securities & Exchange Commission, coming through on his promise to deliver for big Wall Street donors.
Libbey Dean, NewsNation: "Trump has nominated Paul Atkins for SEC Chairman."
WSJ: "The crypto industry's courting of Trump was on full display at a June fundraising dinner in San Francisco. In attendance were representatives from some of crypto's largest U.S. businesses such as the exchange Coinbase and the payments platform Ripple, as well as the Winklevoss twins, whom Trump jokingly referred to as 'supermodels.' ...
"The talk quickly turned to a shared dislike of Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, whose aggressive enforcement agenda has made him something of a boogeyman for crypto companies. ...
"Trump's pledge to fire Gensler on his first day in office was met with such thunderous applause and loud cheers from the audience at the bitcoin conference that he repeated the promise."
Politico: "Trump's choice for the SEC is expected to pursue a lighter-touch approach to overseeing financial firms and the markets."
CNBC: "Trump PAC has raised about $7.5 million in crypto donations since early June"
Fast Company: "[Atkins] set up his own consultancy, Patomak Global Partners, which worked in the digital finance sector with clients. And since 2017, Atkins was cochair of the Token Alliance, an industry-led initiative overseen by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which represents the crypto sector's interests."
Inc: "Trump Nominates Crypto Fan Paul Atkins to Run the SEC"
"Atkins is the co-chair of a crypto industry advocacy group."
Atkins has a long history of helping companies sidestep the law and influence regulators while ignoring conflicts of interest.
WSJ: "How Trump's Regulation Skeptic Helps Wall Street Navigate the Rules"
"Paul Atkins is Wall Street's regulation whisperer.
"The man tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to oversee his early financial deregulation strategy has spent the past seven years counseling clients how to influence regulators--sometimes charging $1,200 per hour for the advice, according to people familiar with the matter. ...
"Since then, he has prepared private-equity firms for compliance exams, devised strategies for mutual funds to resist government curbs on risk-taking, and helped Chinese accounting firms avert a ban on doing business in the U.S., according to the people familiar with the matter. Patomak's other clients have included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Fidelity Investments, the people said. ...
"In other cases, Patomak has aided businesses feuding with the government. In 2013, Mr. Atkins testified in Washington as an expert witness for the Chinese affiliates of the Big Four accounting firms, which had refused to cooperate with a series of SEC accounting-fraud probes. (The firms argued that Chinese law prevented them from sharing documents the SEC sought.) Mr. Atkins tried to convince an SEC administrative judge that he shouldn't permanently ban the firms from auditing companies listed on U.S. exchanges, as the SEC had proposed."
ProPublica: "Indeed, the independent monitor of Deutsche's derivatives reporting, Paul Atkins from Patomak Partners, has his own conflict of interest. Atkins served on Trump's transition team and played a role in appointing federal financial regulators. He is now monitoring whether Trump's business partner complies with the terms of a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on derivatives reporting."
REMINDER: Trump has a long history of selling out the American people to the highest bidder.
Washington Post: "Trump makes sweeping promises to donors on audacious fundraising tour"
"Trump sometimes makes requests higher than his team expects to receive, sometimes surprising his own advisers because he is asking for so much money. By frequently tying the fundraising requests within seconds of promises of tax cuts, oil project infrastructure approvals and other favorable policies and asking for sums more than his campaign and the GOP can legally accept from an individual, Trump is also testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws, according to legal experts."
Rolling Stone: "As Trump Promises Donors Big Policy Favors, Cash Pours In"
"In April, Donald Trump asked oil and gas executives to donate $1 billion to help his 2024 presidential campaign, according to The Washington Post, which reported that he had promised the donors a host of policy favors, including a rollback of President Joe Biden's environmental regulations and faster, painless corporate mergers.
"Now, fossil fuel cash is pouring in: Last month, Energy Transfer CEO Kelcy Warren hosted a Houston-area fundraiser for Trump and he also donated $5 million to the primary pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc. The oil and gas firm Continental Resources, Inc. donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in late April."
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Original text here: https://democrats.org/news/trump-wants-to-let-industry-insider-paul-atkins-rig-the-economy-for-his-billionaire-backers/
Trump Taps ANOTHER Project 2025 Architect to Enact His $100 Billion Cost Hike Agenda
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Donald Trump tapping Peter Navarro to be his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
"Peter Navarro literally wrote the Project 2025 chapter on Donald Trump's dangerous and costly plans to skyrocket prices with new national taxes that would devastate working families. Now, Trump is rewarding another Project 2025 author with a spot in his administration to help him enact his reckless and expensive agenda that would
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Donald Trump tapping Peter Navarro to be his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
"Peter Navarro literally wrote the Project 2025 chapter on Donald Trump's dangerous and costly plans to skyrocket prices with new national taxes that would devastate working families. Now, Trump is rewarding another Project 2025 author with a spot in his administration to help him enact his reckless and expensive agenda that wouldgive away billions to the ultra-wealthy while jacking up costs for the rest of us."
NEW: Donald Trump picked Project 2025 author and January 6 defender Peter Navarro to implement his expensive and reckless Project 2025 cost hike agenda.
CNBC: "Trump picks Peter Navarro as top trade advisor"
WSJ: "Donald Trump has chosen Peter Navarro as a senior adviser on trade and manufacturing, installing a pugnacious proponent of the president-elect's pledge to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports in an influential White House role. ...
"The move to bring on Navarro signals that Trump is determined to follow-through on his sweeping campaign-trail tariff proposals. It comes after Trump decided not to give Robert Lighthizer, his first-term U.S. trade representative, a senior role in his incoming administration. Lighthizer is widely seen as a key architect of Trump's trade agenda, and his absence had raised concerns among some of the president-elect's protectionist allies."
Project 2025: "The Case for Fair Trade [by] Peter Navarro"
NBC News: "Navarro, who was closely involved in Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating Jan. 6."
CNN: "Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack."
REMINDER: Trump's $100 billion national tax would cost Americans an extra $1,000 a year and raise costs drastically on energy, cars, and groceries.
Ernie Tedeschi, The Budget Lab: "A broad 25% tariff on all goods imports from Canada and Mexico would, before substitution & other 2nd stage effects, put upward pressure on the level of consumer prices of +0.6%. That's the equivalent of an average loss in after-tax income of about $980 per household in 2023."
Ernie Tedeschi, The Budget Lab: "Adding in an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods imports, the price level pressure rises to 0.75%, which is the equivalent of -$1,180 per household in average 2023 after-tax income."
Bloomberg: "A 25% tariff applied to all imports from Canada would put pressure on energy costs. Oil, gas and other energy products are Canada's largest export to its southern neighbor; it's by far the largest external supplier of crude to the US."
Wall Street Journal: "A 25% Trump tariff on Canadian oil and gas could lead to lower production, in turn pushing up U.S. energy prices, warned an industry group. Canada, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, sends almost all of its exports to the U.S. The prospect of tariffs has alarmed Canadian oil companies. ...
"Canada's auto sector is also concerned. The industry is closely tied to the U.S., with auto parts moving back and forth over the border as many as seven times before final assembly.
"One industry representative said the tariff would push up car prices, an outcome Trump would likely want to avoid."
Kyle Meng, Associate Professor of Economics at UCSB: "Lots of takes on new Trump tariffs. Here's a quick general equilibrium analysis. Grabbed off-the-self quantitative trade model calibrated to '22 global trade flows. Fed in 25% MEX, 25% CAN, and 10% PRC tariffs across sectors. What happens to U.S. consumer prices? ... Model solves for new U.S. consumer prices for all products. Here are products with US price increases >2%, up to 13%. Lots of industrial inputs & food products, unsurprisingly given CAN/MEX/PRC imports."
Trump's extreme, unpopular, and unaffordable Project 2025 agenda would turbocharge inflation, hike prices, and "dramatically worsen Social Security's finances"
Associated Press: "Trump's economic plans would worsen inflation, experts say"
Newsweek: "Nobel Prize Winner Explains How Trump Could Cause 'Economic Chaos'"
Washington Post: "Companies ready price hikes to offset Trump's global tariff plans"
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: "We find President Trump's campaign proposals would dramatically worsen Social Security's finances."
If they have their way, Trump and JD Vance would once again gift tax breaks to the ultra-rich and big corporations while causing an "inflation bomb."
Axios: "16 Nobel economists see a Trump inflation bomb"
"Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists are jumping into the presidential campaign with a stark warning: Former President Trump's plans would reignite inflation and cause lasting harm to the global economy if he wins in November."
Axios: "Trump's inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse"
CNBC: "Trump budget would spike deficits by nearly 5 times Harris proposal, says Penn Wharton"
The Atlantic: "Trump's Plan to Supercharge Inflation"
Wall Street Journal: "A drumbeat of reports from Wall Street economists have warned that Trump's plans could substantially slow economic growth while driving up consumer prices."
Washington Post: "Trump and his advisers have discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate tax rates that would build on his controversial 2017 tax law ... Further cutting corporate taxes ... would primarily benefit large firms."
Center for American Progress: "Project 2025's Tax Plan Would Raise Taxes on the Middle Class and Cut Taxes for the Wealthy"
CBS News: "Millions of low and middle-class households would likely face significantly higher taxes under the Project 2025's proposals."
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Original text here: https://democrats.org/news/trump-taps-another-project-2025-architect-to-enact-his-100-billion-cost-hike-agenda/
N.C. Republican Party: Jefferson Griffin Files Motion to Expedite Adjudication of Election Protests
RALEIGH, North Carolina, Dec. 4 -- The North Carolina Republican Party issued the following news release:
Jefferson Griffin, Republican candidate for North Carolina Supreme Court, filed a motion on December 2nd to expedite the adjudication of properly filed election protests with the N.C. State Board of Elections.
"The people of North Carolina deserve to see these protests resolved in a timely manner. Any delays at the N.C. State Board of Elections would undermine voter confidence and transparency," said NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer.
By contrast, the NCGOP and Judge Griffin's
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RALEIGH, North Carolina, Dec. 4 -- The North Carolina Republican Party issued the following news release:
Jefferson Griffin, Republican candidate for North Carolina Supreme Court, filed a motion on December 2nd to expedite the adjudication of properly filed election protests with the N.C. State Board of Elections.
"The people of North Carolina deserve to see these protests resolved in a timely manner. Any delays at the N.C. State Board of Elections would undermine voter confidence and transparency," said NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer.
By contrast, the NCGOP and Judge Griffin'slegal team has diligently worked to ensure transparency and fairness in the election process. This includes responsibly amending protests, withdrawing voters where appropriate, and adding voters where discrepancies remain as new information and data has emerged.
Success has already been attained in some counties, confirming that only legal votes were counted, while in other counties, officials have admitted that illegal votes were included. These matters will go before the State Board for resolution. Unfortunately, the lack of uniform guidance and consistent records has necessitated these efforts, including filing public records requests and seeking subpoenas.
"Our priority remains ensuring that every legal vote is counted and that the public can trust the integrity of this election," added Mercer.
The expedited timeline would do the following:
(a) Set the deadline for filing any response to the Motion to Disqualify Siobhan Millen as 5:00 PM on December 4, 2024;
(b) Retain the deadline for any parties to file briefs regarding the protests over which the Board has taken jurisdiction in the first instance as 5:00 PM on December 6, 2024;
(c) Issue a decision on the Motion to Disqualify no later than December 6, 2024;
(d) Issue a final written decision on the protests over which the Board has taken jurisdiction in the first instance no later than December 9, 2024.
Read the motion here (https://assets.nationbuilder.com/ncgop/mailings/21933/attachments/original/Griffin_-_Motion_to_Expedite_vf.pdf?1733246231).
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Original text here: https://www.nc.gop/jefferson_griffin_files_motion_to_expedite_adjudication_of_election_protests
ICYMI: KFF - 9 States Poised To End Coverage for Millions if Trump Cuts Medicaid Funding
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
Today, new reporting from KFF revealed that more than 3 million adults in nine states are at immediate risk of losing their health coverage if Donald Trump follows through on Republicans' reckless anti-health care Project 2025 agenda. Thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican Congress, millions of Americans could have their health insurance ripped away in red and blue states alike.
Key Point: "With Donald Trump's return to the White House and Republicans taking full control of Congress in 2025, the
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
Today, new reporting from KFF revealed that more than 3 million adults in nine states are at immediate risk of losing their health coverage if Donald Trump follows through on Republicans' reckless anti-health care Project 2025 agenda. Thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican Congress, millions of Americans could have their health insurance ripped away in red and blue states alike.
Key Point: "With Donald Trump's return to the White House and Republicans taking full control of Congress in 2025, theAffordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion is back on the chopping block. More than 3 million adults in nine states would be at immediate risk of losing their health coverage should the GOP reduce the extra federal Medicaid funding that's enabled states to widen eligibility, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News, and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. That's because the states have trigger laws that would swiftly end their Medicaid expansions if federal funding falls."
KFF Health News: 9 States Poised To End Coverage for Millions if Trump Cuts Medicaid Funding
By: Phil Galewitz
The 2010 Affordable Care Act encouraged states to expand Medicaid programs to cover more low-income Americans who didn't get health insurance through their jobs. Forty states and the District of Columbia agreed, extending health insurance since 2014 to an estimated 21 million people and helping drive the U.S. uninsured rate to record lows. ...
If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it even those without trigger laws because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference, said Renuka Tipirneni, an associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. ...
For instance, Michigan approved a trigger as part of its Medicaid expansion in 2013, when it was controlled by a Republican governor and legislature. Last year, with the government controlled by Democrats, the state eliminated its funding trigger.
Six of the nine states with trigger laws Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, and Utah went for Trump in the 2024 election.
Most of the nine states' triggers kick in if federal funding falls below the 90% threshold. Arizona's trigger would eliminate its expansion if funding falls below 80%. ...
Across the states with triggers, between 3.1 million and 3.7 million people would swiftly lose their coverage, researchers at KFF and the Georgetown center estimate.
Three other states Iowa, Idaho, and New Mexico have laws that require their governments to mitigate the financial impact of losing federal Medicaid expansion funding but would not automatically end expansions. With those three states included, about 4.3 million Medicaid expansion enrollees would be at risk of losing coverage, according to KFF. ...
Nearly a quarter of the 81 million people enrolled in Medicaid nationally are in the program due to expansions. ...
The triggers make it politically easier for state lawmakers to end Medicaid expansion because they would not have to take any new action to cut coverage, said Edwin Park, a research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
To see the impact of trigger laws, consider what happened after the Supreme Court in 2022 struck down Roe v. Wade and, with it, the constitutional right to an abortion. Conservative lawmakers in 13 states had crafted trigger laws that would automatically implement bans in the event a national right to abortion were struck down. Those state laws resulted in restrictions taking effect immediately after the court ruling, or shortly thereafter. ...
Medicaid has been in the crosshairs of Republicans in Washington before. Republican congressional leaders in 2017 proposed legislation to cut federal expansion funding, a move that would have shifted billions in costs to states. That plan, part of a strategy to repeal Obamacare, ultimately failed.
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Original text here: https://democrats.org/news/icymi-kff-9-states-poised-to-end-coverage-for-millions-if-trump-cuts-medicaid-funding/
ICYMI: Is Kristi Noem ready to run FEMA? South Dakota flood victims doubt it.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
Key Point: "President-elect Donald Trump has picked Noem, a Republican and one of his most ardent supporters, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. ... That alarms victims of one of the most serious disasters to affect Noem's state during her six years as governor. In North Sioux City, whose 3,000 residents live across the Big Sioux River from Iowa, many fault Noem for overseeing a response to the catastrophic June floods that they describe as disorganized, delayed and often simply nonexistent."
Washington
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
Key Point: "President-elect Donald Trump has picked Noem, a Republican and one of his most ardent supporters, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. ... That alarms victims of one of the most serious disasters to affect Noem's state during her six years as governor. In North Sioux City, whose 3,000 residents live across the Big Sioux River from Iowa, many fault Noem for overseeing a response to the catastrophic June floods that they describe as disorganized, delayed and often simply nonexistent."
WashingtonPost: Is Kristi Noem ready to run FEMA? South Dakota flood victims doubt it.
By: Peter Jamison and Isaac Stanley-Becker
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Noem, a Republican and one of his most ardent supporters, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. If confirmed, she would oversee not only immigration enforcement but an agency that has become increasingly important in a nation battered by frequent fires and floods: the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
That alarms victims of one of the most serious disasters to affect Noem's state during her six years as governor. In North Sioux City, whose 3,000 residents live across the Big Sioux River from Iowa, many fault Noem for overseeing a response to the catastrophic June floods that they describe as disorganized, delayed and often simply nonexistent.
Although she urged people in a development several miles away to move to safety, Noem did not order or even suggest that residents of McCook Lake evacuate their homes, leaving people to scramble for their lives as the Big Sioux overflowed its banks and tore through their neighborhood.
After spending millions of taxpayer dollars to send South Dakota National Guard soldiers to the Mexico border, Noem did not deploy them to help prepare for the flood or cope with its aftermath. And she waited more than a month to ask President Joe Biden for a disaster declaration, leaving victims without access to federal assistance during a crucial period of recovery and rebuilding.
In late November, five months after the flood, the neighborhood was still a disaster zone; some roads had been repaired, but the jagged remnants of destroyed houses lay untouched. ...
For much of the period before and during the floods, Noem was out of state first in D.C., where she attended a political conference and sat for an interview on a national television news show, then in Tennessee for a GOP gala. ...
Speichinger and her husband grabbed their kids, their dogs and a few possessions and drove out through the water. Some of their neighbors were beginning to panic, but others still had no idea what was happening, and Speichinger said no government officials were present to warn people to evacuate or direct traffic through the inundated roads. ...
Noem quickly came under scrutiny for her decision not to deploy the National Guard, which she defended at a news conference two days after the flood. ...
Even some within Noem's party were unsatisfied with this explanation, since she had deployed National Guard troops to Texas to help police the U.S.-Mexico border three times since 2021. ...
[T]hree local officials have said they asked Noem for the Guard and were turned down.
"I asked for them," North Sioux City Mayor Patricia Teel said at a public meeting on July 1, according to a local news broadcast of the meeting. "I was told at first that they were gone, and they were sending extra law enforcement instead."
City council member Kodi Benson likewise said in a private Facebook message that the Guard had been requested.
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Original text here: https://democrats.org/news/icymi-is-kristi-noem-ready-to-run-fema-south-dakota-flood-victims-doubt-it/
MAGA Speaker Mike Johnson: Republicans Are "Preparing the Playbook" for Donald Trump to Defund Planned Parenthood
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Mike Johnson doubling down on the Trump-Vance plan to defund Planned Parenthood, DNC Spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
"Anti-choice extremist Mike Johnson just confirmed the GOP is 'preparing the playbook' for Donald Trump to enact his extreme Project 2025 agenda to defund Planned Parenthood and rip away our basic rights. From primary care and cancer screenings to contraceptive services, Planned Parenthood provides millions of Americans with access to health care. But
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 -- The Democratic National Committee issued the following news release:
In response to Mike Johnson doubling down on the Trump-Vance plan to defund Planned Parenthood, DNC Spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
"Anti-choice extremist Mike Johnson just confirmed the GOP is 'preparing the playbook' for Donald Trump to enact his extreme Project 2025 agenda to defund Planned Parenthood and rip away our basic rights. From primary care and cancer screenings to contraceptive services, Planned Parenthood provides millions of Americans with access to health care. ButTrump's MAGA GOP doesn't care about protecting Americans' health just ripping away reproductive freedoms as women continue to die preventable deaths under abortion bans Trump made possible."
BREAKING: Donald Trump's MAGA minion Mike Johnson said he would defund reproductive health care services if given the chance, which is wildly unpopular with the American people.
MacCallum: "Two specific examples, Planned Parenthood and PBS are in congressional control, are you planning to axe both of those?"
Johnson: "I would like to, that's for sure-"
MacCallum: "-spending for both of those?"
Johnson: "Yeah, we got to build consensus to have the votes to do that. Now, some of this will be done by executive order out of the White House-"
MacCallum: "Absolutely."
Johnson: "-[Trump] has the broad authority to do a lot of that. But where Congress is involved, that's where it takes the hard work of legislating and getting everybody on the same page. So there will be lots of ideas that come out, we did not want to put too many of it out right now, ok. But this is part of that preparing the playbook to unleash and unroll in January."
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support Planned Parenthood, which provides millions of Americans with health care every year including primary care, contraceptive services, and cancer screenings.
Planned Parenthood: "More than three-fourths of Americans (77%) have a favorable view of Planned Parenthood, with the strongest support among women, adults under 35, and Black, Latino, and AAPI communities."
Politico: "Planned Parenthood serves about 1.6 million of the roughly 4 million low-income women who depend on Title X clinics for free and subsidized care."
Planned Parenthood 2022-2023 Annual Report:
"Telehealth Appointments in 2022: 123,855
"Primary Care Visits: 70,945
"Preventive Care Visits: 129,216"
Planned Parenthood 2022-2023 Annual Report: "Breakdown of Affiliate Medical Services"
"Contraceptive Services: 2,250,913"
Planned Parenthood: "Breakdown of Affiliate Medical Services"
"Cancer Screenings & Prevention: 464,021 [over the year]"
Johnson has a long record of attacking reproductive health care, including co-sponsoring the Life at Conception Act, which would ban abortion nationwide and include no protections for IVF access.
Business Insider: "Most House Republicans have cosponsored a bill declaring that life begins from the moment of conception, a position under increased scrutiny after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are 'unborn children.'
"This Congress, 125 House Republicans including Speaker Mike Johnson have cosponsored the 'Life at Conception Act,' which states that the term 'human being' includes 'all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.'
"The bill does not include any exception for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a reproductive treatment that allows mothers to fertilize several eggs outside the womb in order to increase the chances of a viable pregnancy."
Punchbowl News: "Johnson doesn't back exceptions for abortion:
'I've never supported exemptions. It's a matter of conscience to me. But [Trump] was very clear. He qualified those statements, as well. And he said everybody has to express your own conscience ... It's a difficult issue in a lot of districts and everybody needs to go and address it ... in an appropriate way. And so far, everybody is.'"
Jezebel: "[Johnson] expressed hope that Roe v. Wade would someday be overturned, railed against people supposedly 'using abortion as birth control' and appeared to blame school shootings on abortion: 'When you break up the nuclear family, when you tell a generation of people that life has no value, no meaning, that it's expendable, then you do wind up with school shooters.'"
Donald Trump and JD Vance's Project 2025 agenda would defund Planned Parenthood something Vance himself confirmed on the campaign trail.
Vance: "On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood ... our view is we don't think that taxpayers should fund late term abortions. That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around, it will remain a consistent view."
Project 2025, page 471: "Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds ... Policymakers should end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood."
Project 2025, page 472: "HHS should ... 1) Issue guidance reemphasizing that states are free to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans. 2) Propose rulemaking to interpret the Medicaid statute to disqualify providers of elective abortion from the Medicaid program. Congress should pass the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act, which would accomplish the goal of defunding abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood."
Project 2025, page 491: "Congress should complement these efforts by passing legislation such as the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,78 which would prohibit family planning grants from going to entities that perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions."
During Trump's first term, his administration's "gag rule" defunded hundreds of Title X clinics, disqualifying providers like Planned Parenthood from providing care under the program.
Guttmacher Institute: "[T]he Trump administration's domestic 'gag rule' has slashed the Title X national family planning network's patient capacity in half, jeopardizing care for 1.6 million female patients nationwide ... roughly one in every four Title X service sites left the network in 2019 because of the domestic gag rule, shorthand for restrictive regulations that prohibit--among other things--referrals for abortion care. In 2019, an estimated 981 U.S. clinics receiving Title X funding--approximately one-quarter of all sites that received Title X funding as of June 2019--likely left the Title X network because of the gag rule."
KFF: "While in office, Trump's Administration rewrote the rules governing the federal Title X program, the federal family planning program that supports contraceptive access for people with lower incomes. Title X funds have never been used to pay for abortion services, but Trump's Administration rewrote the regulations to disqualify family planning clinics from participating in the program if they also offered abortion services (with separate funding) ... These changes resulted in a reduction of about 1,300 of the 4,000 sites participating in the network of clinics receiving federal support from the Title X program."
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Original text here: https://democrats.org/news/%f0%9f%9a%a8-maga-speaker-mike-johnson-republicans-are-preparing-the-playbook-for-donald-trump-to-defund-planned-parenthood/
