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#Joe Manchin Mocks Bernie Sanders
innocentamit · 2 years
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Finding Sanders and Manchin in the same room to discuss the cost of damage can be 'like murder'
Finding Sanders and Manchin in the same room to discuss the cost of damage can be ‘like murder’
Joe Biden allegedly mocked this week for finding Sen. Joe Manchin in the room with Sen. Bernie Sanders could be “like murder.” The remarks were made at a meeting near the House of Democrats earlier this week after representing Ro Roanna. CNN. From CNN: But Biden, according to several sources at the conference, told the World House that he had been involved in politics for a long time – and…
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alaturkanews · 3 years
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Joe Manchin Mocks Bernie Sanders
Joe Manchin Mocks Bernie Sanders
Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema attacked Bernie Sanders over his efforts to secure a $15 minimum wage to the National Restaurant Association. Nando Vila and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/tyt/live Read more HERE:  https://www.dailyposter.com/p/manchin-mocks-sanders-15-wage-bill "When Joe Manchin told attendees at the National…
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socialistperpective · 7 years
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The Democrats are fighting a civil war
Since the fall of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election we now see the Democrats fighting a civil war. The battle is over the direction of the party now that the brand of neoliberalism has failed. And whether Democratic politicians should court corporate donors instead of listening to the progressive base.
Identity politics is no longer working. Class has become an issue taking the forefront. A prime example was the defeat of Hillary Clinton, the poster child of neoliberalism who served the banks and major corporations while taking money from them. The only difference between her and Republicans is hiding behind identity politics and offering incremental reforms to the public. She provided us all with evidence that this strategy no longer works. American people no longer wish to choose between the lesser of two evils but vote for candidates who represent the policies they want implemented. It just so happens that progressive policies like Medicare for All, ending the wars, rebuilding infrastructure, work programs and a strong social safety net are the most popular. Bernie Sanders’ brand of socialism is mainstream. Sanders would have easily beaten Donald Trump but instead the Democratic National Committee (DNC) decided to rig the primary against him and fed us Hillary Clinton. Clinton was trusted to go along with neoliberalism and corporate interests while Bernie, a true progressive, was anti-establishment and would have put them in second place to the will of the people.
Rather than seeing the progressive-wing take control the neoliberal establishment is holding on to the power cemented under Clinton and Obama. Progressive Congressmen like Tulsi Gabbard are attacked when deciding not to toe the party line. And Bernie Sanders, though an independent, is given a backseat and mocked on cable news for refusing to take money from Wall Street. This helps spread the concept corruption is supposed to be the norm and principles are to give way to money. That’s why the political system has become an oligarchy and the Democrats are just as culpable in this change as the Republicans. The DNC voted to continue taking corporate money after their stunning loss to Donald Trump and elected Tom Perez, a neoliberal who supported bringing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that would have spelled disaster for American workers and a boon for multinational corporations, as their chair. Again, choosing to humiliate progressives, they created an imaginary position for Keith Ellison, a Bernie Sanders supporter in the primary, as deputy chair. That election and the decision to keep taking corporate money shows the direction the Democrats wish to remain on.
This has caused detractors who are sick of corruption, neoliberalism, and the sell-out of Democratic principles to please Wall Street and Silicon Valley, to attempt saving the party by going back to its roots as fighters for the working class, something that came to prominence under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One grassroots organization is Justice Democrats, making chosen candidates pledge to refuse corporate and lobbyist money. The group already has candidates to primary against establishment Democrats who won’t go along with a progressive agenda. An example is someone taking on Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in West Virginia, a politician beholden to the coal industry and other corporate interests. Manchin is the perfect example of a Democrat who decides to go along Republican lines while wearing a blue suit. The movement is reminiscent of the Tea Party, which managed to take over the Republican Party after their loss in 2008. The Tea Party revitalized the Republicans and pushed through conservative ideas. The House Freedom caucus, though funded largely by the Koch brothers, is a prime example of how this movement managed to rise and influence government policies. The organization Justice Democrats hopes to do the same for their party, but is running into opposition from key establishment figures like Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Tom Perez and now Hillary Clinton. Clinton decided to form a Super PAC, Onward Together, to co-opt the resistance movement against Donald Trump. She hopes to channel any progressive anger back under the neoliberal-wing of the Democratic Party. Though her defeat to Donald Trump shattered Hillary’s public image, she still has backers in the Democratic establishment and may make a run again in the 2020 presidential election.
Though the Democrats need to rebuild after their dramatic losses under Obama, with the Republicans holding most power, both houses of Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court, there are forces in the party who wish to maintain the status quo. The progressives must rise to overturn the neoliberal catastrophe and return the party to its working class, liberal roots or it will be placed into the dustbin of history.
Where I stand: In the 2016 Democratic primary, I voted for Bernie Sanders. I was among millions of voters who had their decisions erased by the DNC and the system of superdelegates. Seeing that the party would chose Hillary Clinton as the nominee caused me to cast my vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who represented my opinions on dealing with climate change and moving the country in a socialist direction for the people. It was not a protest vote but rather one done out of conscience. I may be blamed by people who say voting third party was a vote for Trump, but 9 percent of Democrats voted for him and Stein did not take enough votes from Clinton to cause her to lose the election. I and many others are vindicated knowing Bernie Sanders would have won by a wide margin. The Democrats did themselves in by running a corrupt neoliberal candidate who was beholden to corporations and special interests, not the people. Voters saw through her and she lost. Again.
The progressive, or Bernie-wing, of the Democratic Party chooses grassroots activism to take it back from Wall Street to represent working people. Neoliberals like Hillary Clinton want to keep the status quo and have the power to fight for the will of big money donors. Seeing how this civil war will end determines whether the Democrats remain viable in the future or fall to Grassroots, activist parties on the Left like the Greens.
I decided to go ahead and become a member of the Green Party. I am too disgusted by the Democrats and would rather support a party who already doesn’t take corporate and special interest money and agrees that socialism and environmentalism are the way to go, not just for humanity but the future of our planet.
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thisdaynews · 4 years
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The senator betting a true-blue Democrat can win in Alabama
New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/the-senator-betting-a-true-blue-democrat-can-win-in-alabama/
The senator betting a true-blue Democrat can win in Alabama
His opponents have jumped on impeachment, attempting to make what is already a politically perilous situation even more painful for Jones. The Alabama GOP held a press conference earlier thismonth saying it would hold him accountable for voting against the president. Rep. Bradley Byrne, one of Jones’ potential opponents, compared it to the Kavanaugh vote and said he thinks Jones is “predisposed to vote against President Trump.”
After dealing with impeachment at the top of his town hall, he got no questions on it — though he faced a relatively friendly audience of five dozen people, nearly all of whom applauded when he answered the first question by confidently saying he’d win a full term in the Senate.
His toughest questions were from his own side: One woman in a Bernie Sanders shirt, who said she backs him even though he isn’t progressive enough, asked about corporations paying more taxes to alleviate student loan debt (Jones said he doesn’t link the two together, and dismissed the idea of a wealth tax); and a man later vented about the state of the Democratic Party in Alabama.The state party is in shambles, andJones and other Democrats are publicly feuding with the state party chair in an effort to enact changes.
Republicans are convinced that wherever impeachment lands, Jones has given them plenty of ammo to defeat him. But the GOP has to worry about a crowded field that includes Roy Moore, the defrocked former judge who lost to Jones after facing credible allegations of sexual misconduct from decades ago. Moore says the race was “basically stolen” and plans to run a similar anti-establishment campaign.
Even with Moore in the race, the current GOPfrontrunners are Byrne, who argues his background is well known from his congressional races and a previous unsuccessful run for governor, and Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, who has led early polls and earned a key endorsement from the Alabama Farmers Federation political arm. Also running: Secretary of State John Merrill, who has the advantage of having won statewide before, and Arnold Mooney, a state representative already running TV commercials aimed at evangelical voters, an effort to crack into Moore’s base of support.
A divisive primary could help Jones: He has $5 million in the bank, nearly as much as all five of his opponents combined.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he is “highly confident” the GOP will flip Alabama next fall, and that Republicans will nominate someone who can win. When Jones was first elected in 2017, many Republicans expected him to side with themon some big-ticket issues to earn some crossover voter support.
“Some of his votes have kind of surprised me purely from a standpoint of political survival,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of GOP leadership. “I think he realizes he was extraordinarily lucky last time, and his luck may not continue.”
Jones dismisses the idea that he should have triangulated more. Asked why he hadn’t, he popped his finger in his mouth and mimed putting it into the wind to mock the idea of voting on political whims, and dissed the media for expecting him to do so. Interviews with several Democratic senators revealed a level of admiration for his approach.
“I think on some level it’s freeing to know they’re going to attack you no matter what you do,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “Because then you might as well just do the right thing.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the Senate Democrat who has crossed party lines most, plans to campaign with Jones soon, potentially on a football Saturday — Manchin is close friends with Nick Saban, Alabama’s football coach, who endorsed Manchin last year but stays neutral in in-state races.
“The bottom line is it’s all about Alabama,” Manchin said. “That’s all Doug talks about. It’s all he cares about.”
Rep. Terri Sewell, the only other Democrat in the state’s delegation, said even his vote against Kavanaugh had an upside: He energized his Democratic base, which he needs to turn out at record levels.
“I think he is living up to what he thinks are the values that most Alabamians cherish,” Sewell said.
Jones admitted that in looking at the current top of the presidential primary, Sanders or Elizabeth Warren as the nominee would make his reelection considerably tougher, forcing him to work harder to separate himself. He’s committed to supporting the Democratic nominee but said he’d voice disagreements on things like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.” But he also said he thinks Trump is weaker now than in 2016, saying the president has a lot of “soft support,” and that Democrats will be “more competitive” in 2020.
He’s hedged his message to work for either result: He says Trump would need Democrats willing to cross lines if he wins a second term, but that Alabamians would want a moderating force in the Senate to pull the Democrats to the middle if their party takes back the White House.
Jones said people “damn sure” underestimated his chances in 2017, and that he gets frustrated with those who already write him off this time around.
“I’ll only change that perception once I give my victory speech again, like I did the last time,” Jones said. “I changed it for 24 hours, then all of the sudden all the pundits said, ‘[He’s the] most vulnerable Democrat in 2020.’ When I win in 2020, I’ll be the most vulnerable Democrat in 2026. That’s just the way it is. Alabama is not going to change that quickly, and it may never change to a point where a Democrat is seen other than as an underdog. And that’s fine.”
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kacydeneen · 5 years
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MSNBC's Climate Forum: What Happened on Day 1
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado worries that American democracy is not up to transitioning to a clean energy economy. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang would invest in the next generation nuclear power and propose a constitutional amendment to “safeguard the environment.” Those were some of the candidate stances during a forum focused solely on climate change. 
They were appearing Thursday and Friday to talk about tackling what has become a top issue for the 2020 election. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Ali Velshi hosted the forum at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service in Washington, D.C. Students from other universities countrywide were posing questions, too.
The forum follows a similar event on CNN at the beginning of the month and as young people across the world are preparing for a climate strike on Friday, inspired by activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg, who is visiting from Sweden ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, will participate in the New York City mobilization.
The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, has not agree to a climate change debate.
Twelve candidates are explaining their environmental plans over the two days: 11 who are competing as Democrats and one Republican. On the schedule for Thursday: Bennet, Yang, author Marianne Williamson, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
Missing from Thursday's forum were former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
Michael Bennet Bennet said Democrats cannot compromise on science while trying to curb climate change but also must try to reach all Americans and produce a set of policy choices for everyone.
They must build "a durable coalition of Americans all over this country,” he said.
Bennet, whose plan would reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, said that for example the country talk to farmers and ranchers about paying them to use their land to store carbon.
As to where to find the money to tackle climate change, he noted the more than $10 trillion the United States has borrowed from China since 2001 — and spent on enacting GOP tax cuts that have mostly benefited rich people and fighting wars.
“There should never be another climate denier in the White House,” he said.
He urged the college students in the audience to get others their age to register to vote.
Andrew Yang Yang defended saying earlier that it was too late to stop all global warming. The time to have started trying to curb warming was decades ago, he insisted. 
“It's worse than you think,” he said. 
That is not to say that he did not want to make big moves in the right direction, he said. “The second best time is now,” he said.
Yang made his early comment when he said people will need to move from coastal areas, and he repeated that assertion at the forum. His plan sets aside money for people to leave flood-prone homes but also to protect coastal communities.  
Yang would employ new generation nuclear reactions, which rely on the more abundant element thorium, not uranium. He would put a tax on carbon as a way to pressure companies to decrease their carbon emissions and propose a constitutional amendment to protect the environment. He would encourage the United States and other countries to plant trees in deforested areas.
Yang’s plan for a universal basic income, his “Freedom Dividend of $1,000 a month to every American adult, would help alleviate the economic disruption of moving away from a carbon economy, he said. By getting “the boot off their throat economically” Americans could consider the problems of climate change in a reasonable, rationale way, he said. Inequality in the United States is driving the country’s dysfunction on climate change, he said.
Yang would also replace the GDP with other measures of prosperity, ones that looked at life expectancy, children’s health and the cleanliness of the country’s air and water. Stock market prices and the unemployment rate do not give an accurate picture of the state of the country and its environment, he argued.
Marianne Williamson Williamson called for a revolution to combat climate change, saying she was heartened by the passion young people were bringing to the fight. The self-help author compared it to the fervor with which her generation fought the Vietnam War.
“I want to go to Washington and be a grown-up Greta Thunberg,” she said.
Williamson rejected an incremental approach to combating climate change, a problem that needs a cultural and spiritual buy-in from the country, she said.
“Americans are hard wired for big things,” she said.
They must challenge both Republicans and Democrats, both of whom receive lobbying money from the fossil fuel industry, she said. She called President Donald Trump “an opportunistic infection.”
She rejected an implication that she was anti-science because of a tweet that she has since deleted in which she suggested prayer could deter Hurricane Dorian.“I’m Jewish, I go to the doctor,” she said. “There's nothing anti-doctor about me, there's nothing anti-science about me.”
Mocking Americans’ belief in God was a bad political strategy, she added.
Bernie Sanders Sen. Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said the country has to stand up to the greed and corruption of the fossil fuel industry to save the planet.
“The product they are producing is destroying the planet,” he said.
Sanders has put forward the most expensive plan for curbing climate change at $16.3 trillion and he was asked how he would mobilize the country on a World War II level in the absence an attack such as the one on Pearl Harbor.
The devastation caused by climate change is already visible, he responded.
“Climate change is not going to be one attack,” she said.
Climate change legislation failed in Congress before, he conceded, but today young people are prepared to confront the fossil fuel industry.
“The world is very different today than it was back in 2009,” he said.
His plan would create 20 million new jobs and do everything possible to help fossil fuel workers with five years of pay, health, job training and education. They are not the enemy, he said.
“We don’t hold you responsible for causing climate change,” he said.
Asked if he could get the support of the senator from coal-dependent West Virginia, Joe Manchin, on climate change legislation, Sanders said that he would be in that state and others rallying the residents around the notion that now is the time to save the planet and transform the country’s energy system.
"I intend to be commander-in-chief of the military, but I will also be the organizer in chief," he said.
John Delaney
The former congressman from Maryland, who said the country must reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, stressed that he was one of the first in Congress to oppose the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, which would bring tar sands oil from Canada through the United States and which has been tied up in the courts.
He also promoted his ability to introduce bipartisan legislation on a carbon fee but conceded the bill never moved forward.
Delaney emphasized the need to remove 20 percent of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and called for investing in vacuums to capture it directly.  It could be stored in the ground
He also supports investing in nuclear energy — smaller, more stable reactors that are being developed — to provide a base fuel in a mix of renewable energy.
“I want to be tackling this on all angles,” he said.
Tim Ryan
The Ohio representative said he was hopeful that a new green economy was ready to break out and could be up and running by 2050.
“This thing can go,” he said. “It’s ready to go.”
Ryan said that the United States cannot green its economy without both a free-market system and the right government policies.
But Ryan also said the country must move past its political divide if it is to move forward.
“This left-right thing is just broken,” he said.
He said he stood for solving problems, such as using regenerative farming to curb contributions to global warming. Regenerative farming focuses on improving the land, including the buildup of carbon in the soil.
“We’ve got to heal,” he said.
  Photo Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. MSNBC's Climate Forum: What Happened on Day 1 published first on Miami News
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gyrlversion · 5 years
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Senate votes down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal 57-0
The Senate roundly rejected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal as expected on Tuesday with not a single senator voting ‘yes’ for the progressive star’s signature policy initiative. 
Ocasio-Cortez defended herself after the defeat and argued she encouraged the Democratic senators to vote ‘present’ instead of in the affirmative. 
‘I encouraged them to vote present, along w/ others. McConnell tried to rush the #GreenNewDeal straight to the floor without a hearing. The real question we should be asking: Why does the Senate GOP refuse to hold any major hearings on climate change?,’ the self-described socialist explained in a tweet responding to the lack of Democratic votes. 
‘The GOP’s climate delaying is costing us lives + destroying communities. Iowa, Nebraska & many in the Midwest are catastrophically flooded right now, in one of the 1st major climate change disasters of 2019. A #GreenNewDeal urges us to pursue a plan on the scale of the problem,’ she added.
Democrats slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for holding a ‘sham’ vote on the matter – it was a non-binding resolution, meaning it had no force of law, and needed 60 votes to advance in the legislative process, which was an impossible task given Democrats only have 47 votes in their corner. 
Most of the Democrats voted ‘present’ in protest while Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, who represents the red state of West Virginia; Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona; and Doug Jones of Alabama voted no, as did Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats.
The final vote was 57 nays and 43 present.  
The final Senate vote was 57 nays and 43 present
The Senate roundly rejected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal as expected on Tuesday with not a single senator voting ‘yes’
Ocasio-Cortez defended herself after the failed Senate vote
Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (left), who represents the red state of West Virginia; Kyrsten Sinema (right) of Arizona were among the ‘no’ votes
Republican Sen. Mike Lee mocked The Green New Deal on the Senate floor Tuesday
Sen. Lee brought a variety of props and photos to make his point
Ahead of the vote, Democrats and Republicans exchanged bitter words on the Senate floor while Ocasio-Cortez slammed the Republican senator who mocked her Green New Deal in a speech that used props and photos – including one of a Aquaman riding seahorse – to make his point.
‘If this guy can be Senator, you can do anything,’ she said via Twitter, retweeting a tweet with photos and comments from Sen. Mike Lee’s floor speech making fun of her signature program.
‘GOP Senators are using their Congressional allowances to print Aquaman posters for themselves to argue that a #GreenNewDeal saving our nation from climate change is a ‘waste of money,” she also tweeted, adding an emoji of laughing face.  
Lee, in a colorful speech, used a variety of photos to make his point, including Aquaman on a sea horse, Ronald Reagan and a dinosaur, a still from the ‘Star Wars’ franchise of Luke Skywalker riding a tauntaun, and cows. 
‘After reading the Green New Deal I’m afraid of not being able to get through this speech with a straight face,’ he said as he began his remarks. 
He claimed the Green New Deal wants to eliminate airplanes – a likely reference to its goal to end reliance on fossil fuels – and suggested states like Hawaii would have to use a fleet of sea horses to travel instead. 
Standing next to a large photo of Aquaman riding a sea horse, Lee noted: ‘Under the Green New Deal, this is probably Hawaii’s best bet.’
He conceded that ‘a massive fleet of giant, highly trained sea horses would be cool, it would be really awesome. But we have no idea about scalability or domestic capacity.’ 
Lee claimed his floor speech which propelled him into a Twitter trending topic, was meant to illustrate how silly he believes the non-binding resolution to be. 
The Republican senator from Utah even claimed that ‘problems of human imagination are not solved by more laws, they’re solved by more humans, more people.’
‘The solution to climate change is not this unserious resolution we’re considering this week in the Senate but rather the serious solution to human flourishing. The solution to so many of our problems at all times and in all places is to fall in love, get married, and have some kids,’ he added. 
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez argued she encouraged the senators to vote ‘present’
Sen. Mike Lee claimed his speech was to show how silly he thinks the resolution is
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will stage a show vote on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the majority leader for holding a ‘bluff vote’
McConnell put the vote on the calendar to force Democrats, including a slew of 2020 presidential contenders, to go on the record about the progressive plan in a vote that he knew would fail. 
But Democrats’ countered his maneuver with one of their own: voting ‘present’ – which does not count towards or against passage but does contribute to the quorum, meaning the lawmaker does not have a missing vote on their record.  
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the principle sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, called McConnell’s move a ‘sham.’
He said Tuesday before the vote that the GOP leader ‘wants to sabotage calls for climate action.’
And Ocasio-Cortez slammed the majority leader for holding a ‘bluff vote.’
‘The GOP’s whole game of wasting votes in Congress to target others ‘on the record’, for leg they have no intent to pass, is a disgrace. Stop wasting the American peoples’ time + learn to govern. Our jobs aren’t for campaigning, & that’s exactly what these bluff-votes are for,’ she wrote on Twitter on Friday. 
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the vote a ‘political stunt.’
‘With this exercise, the Republican Majority has made a mockery of the legislative process. It is a political act, a political stunt. Everyone here knows it’s a stunt, including the Majority Leader himself. He put something on the floor and then votes no. What’s the point of that other than showing how hypocritical this act is?,’ Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
‘But with this exercise, they have also elevated the issue in a way I am sure they never intended. And for that, I want to thank them because now we’re finally talking about climate change,’ he added.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a presidential contender who is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal legislation, also called it a ‘sham’ vote on Tuesday and said the ‘GOP is treating this like a political stunt, they are treating climate change like a game.’
She voted present.
All the presidential contenders in the Senate have signed on as co-sponsors of Ocasio-Cortez’s signature legislation: Sens. Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Gillibrand. 
McConnell plotted his crafty move as a way to force Senate Democrats to vote their view – a potential on-the-record move Republicans could exploit in the coming election.
The move would also pit the moderate wing of the party against its left flank, a battle Democrats will be fighting in the upcoming presidential primary.  
McConnell slammed Democrats for moving to the left on a host of issues. 
‘This whole Democrat effort to re-brand all the failed ideas of 20th century socialism with a little green paint – every member of this body will have the opportunity to cast a clear vote,’ McConnell said Monday on the Senate floor.
He continued his barrage on Tuesday. 
‘The Senate is going to vote on the far-left wish list that many of our Democratic colleagues have rushed to embrace – the so-called Green New Deal. For a relatively sparse resolution, this proposal has already traveled quite a fascinating path here in Congress. It originated with the most radical, farthest-left members of the new House Democrat majority,’ he said on the Senate floor. 
Lee said people will have to ride sea horses because the Green New Deal will ban airplanes 
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is asking his party to vote ‘present’
And the National Republican Senatorial Committee is using Ocasio-Cortez in attacks ads similar to how the GOP has used Speaker Nancy Pelosi in these type of ads for years.
In a tweet attacking Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, who is considering a run against Republican Sen. John Cornyn, the NRSC said Castro ‘votes with AOC 94% of the time.’   
The Green New Deal is a statement of goals and doesn’t make specific policy proposals, nor does it specify how it would pay for its ambitious plans. 
The plan aims to slow climate change by ending the reliance on fossil fuels within 10 years; to upgrade power grids and existing buildings for maximum energy efficiency; to overhaul transportation systems; and to provide every American with a job and health care. 
The conservative American Action Forum estimated the Green New Deal will cost $93 trillion. Other organizations have found the deal too vague to get a full cost although Forbes estimated just six of the goals would roughly cost $2.5 trillion a year. 
  The post Senate votes down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal 57-0 appeared first on Gyrlversion.
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takebackthedream · 6 years
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Primary Day: Lessons for Democrats by Richard Eskow
Pundits should avoid, at all costs, the sin of “premature evaluation.” The May 7 primaries did not send a simple or unambiguous message. One thing remains clear, however: In November, the Democrats’ fate depends largely on turnout.
Dems have a good chance of retaking the House of Representatives this fall, but that’s by no means certain, and the Senate is more of a stretch. With Democratic support reportedly falling among millennials and turnout a lingering problem for voters of color, complacency may be the party’s biggest threat.
What other lessons can be drawn from May 7’s results?
Ohio
Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, defeated Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Was that a victory of the “establishment” over populism, as some pundits argued?
Not so fast. Kucinich’s positions on everything from economic justice to LGBTQ rights – positions that earned him the scorn of liberal lions at the time – have been vindicated by history. (A painful video of John Stewart mocking Kucinich on trans issues, uncovered by Adam Johnson, is Exhibit A.)  While many of his views have now become mainstream, Kucinich’s candidacy was always a long shot.
Cordray, for his part, is hardly a corporate Democrat. While he leans right on gun control, he ran with strong labor support and is a confirmed member of the Democratic Party’s Warren wing. “You demanded change,” Cordray told supporters, “and we heard you and we want the same.”
CNN’s Gregory Krieg was right when he wrote that Ohio progressives would be “waking on Wednesday as winners — yet again — no matter who celebrates on Tuesday night.” Cordray’s opponent is slightly favored to win in November, but the race is still very much in play.
Lesson: Cordray’s victory is a progressive win.
West Virginia
Democratic incumbent senator Joe Manchin won his primary race, as expected. But his left-progressive opponent, political novice Paula Jean Swearingen, had a strong showing. Swearingen won 30 percent of the primary vote, despite her lack of experience or name recognition and a near-blackout in media coverage.
Swearingen’s results should not be a surprise. Bernie Sanders decisively won the West Virginia primary in 2016, despite a strong environmental platform that targeted the coal industry.
Speaking of which: Republican voters rejected coal magnate and ex-convict Don Blankenship, who served time in prison for criminal negligence. That’s an unsurprising result; Blankenship’s greed, malfeasance, and fraud led to the deaths of 29 miners in the heart of coal country. Blankenship also used racist language during the campaign. His loss to Attorney General Patrick Morrissey deprived journalists of a juicy storyline – and Democrats of an easy win.
Republican turnout in West Virginia was up significantly from the party’s last off-year primary. That may be a sign of an increasingly energized Republican base, or may simply reflect the fact that this was a more hotly contested election.
Lesson: Progressives can win in red states, but they’ll need better exposure and a solid candidate to do it. It’s not clear what the rise in GOP turnout means, but Democrats should not assume they’ll have the edge on enthusiasm or voter participation in November.
Warning Signs, and Hopeful Ones
There’s a danger in reading too much into these primary results. Roughly 1.5 million people voted in the Ohio Democratic primary, while less than 300,000 people voted in West Virginia’s. By contrast, more than 83 million people voted in the 2014 election – and that was the lowest voter participation this country has seen since World War II.
Women continued to do especially well in Democratic primaries, which could help nudge Congress a little closer to gender parity (it’s a long way off). The presence of strong women candidates, including progressives like Indiana’s Liz Watson, could also help boost turnout.
What do other indicators say about Democrats’ chances in November? Democrats continue to outperform Republicans in generic congressional matchups, although recent polling suggests that their advantage has fallen sharply. While some analysts argue that this interpretation is inaccurate, one thing is certain: record sums of money will be spent between now and Election Day, in ways that could dramatically alter the political landscape.
Democrats should be concerned about the decline in voter participation among African Americans in 2016. The change was to be expected, given Obama’s absence from the 2016 ballot, but if that trend continues it could have devastating implications for the party. In another troubling sign, turnout remained low for Hispanic and Asian voters as well.
How can turnout be strengthened among voters of color? A recent Harvard-Harris poll showed that a majority of Democratic voters want the party to move left. Significantly, Hispanic and African-American voters were more likely to feel that way than white Democrats or Democrats as whole.
Dems should also be concerned about polls showing that millennials are drifting away from the party. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on April 30 shows millennial support for Democrats slipping 9 points over the last two years. They’re not moving to Republicans in large numbers, but many are drifting more toward either voting third party or not voting at all.
A Way Forward
One way to appeal to millennial voters would be to support tuition-free higher education and propose to cancel $1.5 trillion in student debt.
Student debt hurts African-American as well as white borrowers, along with their families and communities. A recent analysis published by the Levy Institute shows that student debt cancellation would also give the economy a major boost and create more than a million new jobs.
Democrats and their media allies should also focus much more of their attention on governors’ races than we’ve seen so far. 26 of the governors elected this year will have the power to accept or reject congressional district maps, which will be redrawn after the 2020 census. That could shape congressional power for the next ten years.
In a related development, Ohioans voted overwhelmingly on May 7 to end that state’s highly gerrymandered system and replace it with a bipartisan system. 75 percent of voters supported Issue 1, a ballot measure that will replace Ohio’s rigged district lines with a three-stage process designed to ensure that fairer voter representation in Ohio’s congressional delegation. As John Nichols writes in The Nation, “Ohioans have provided a model that grassroots activists and honest elected officials can advocate for at the state level.”
Three-quarters of Ohio’s swing-state voters supported a strong affirmation of democratic principle. Numbers like that suggest another promising road forward for Democrats. If they are willing to propose bold electoral reform, as well as new rules that “un-rig” the economy for middle-class voters, they’re more likely to turn opportunity into victory in November.
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