The simple reason Republicans can’t reform healthcare

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Disabled protesters outside Senator Mitch McConnell’s office are removed from their wheelchairs and kicked off the premises for voicing their opposition to Trumpcare.

Millions of Americans celebrated last week when Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act seemingly hit a brick wall. After weeks of backroom deal-making, renegotiations, and demonstrations by committed healthcare activists, three Republican senators defected from their party and pushed the latest vote to 51-49 against repeal. President Trump is already working with some senators to revive the effort, but there is a simple reason Republican healthcare reform hasn’t gone well: it has nothing to do with healthcare. Continue reading

Kudos to the senators who played hardball with Trump’s corporate cabinet

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Billionaire charter school advocate Betsy DeVos made headlines for saying guns in public schools were needed to defend against grizzly bear attacks.

President Trump’s most prominent TV surrogate, Kellyanne Conway, went on FOX News last week to complain about the treatment of her boss’s corporate cabinet picks at the hands of Democratic senators who grilled them on conflicts of interest, ethical beliefs, qualifications, and philosophy on the role of their departments. As with any important job, the nominees were asked difficult questions. Or, as Conway put it, the senators were “humiliating and trying to embarrass qualified men and women who just wish to serve this nation.”

Many of the videos have gone viral on social media. Questions from Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken and others caused Trump’s appointees to stumble. Betsy DeVos, the multibillionaire private school advocate who Trump tapped to lead the Department of Education, had several embarrassing moments. But these were hardly the fault of the senators, nor should the senators be ashamed of leading any candidate into them. Bad answers to valid questions on issues Americans care about caused the embarrassment. Continue reading