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Tag: fred upton
Chris Christie

Trump Lawyers Are ‘National Embarrassment’, Complains Christie

Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

Just as one did in Georgia, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Saturday launched by President Donald Trump's campaign to bar Pennsylvania state election officials from certifying the state's election results, CBS News reported. U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote in his order that Trump's attorneys employed "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state."

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As Millions Lose Jobs, Republicans Still Boast About Employment

As Millions Lose Jobs, Republicans Still Boast About Employment

More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past six weeks, as the economy craters during the coronavirus pandemic. But based on their campaign websites, Donald Trump and a number of his Republican allies are still running for election on pre-COVID-19 job numbers and Trump's 2017 tax cuts bill.

As of April 14, the website of Trump's 2020 reelection campaign contained a section bragging about the "lowest" unemployment in years and said Trump had "jump-started America's economy into record growth" and millions of new jobs. At that point, about 17 million Americans had filed new unemployment insurance claims, wiping out the 6.1 million new jobs Trump claimed to have created.

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GOP Legislators Complain About Drug Prices But Voted Against Reducing Cost

GOP Legislators Complain About Drug Prices But Voted Against Reducing Cost

At least two dozen House Republicans have called on Congress to address the rising costs of prescription drugs after voting against legislation to rein in the rising costs of prescription drugs.

The most recent to do so was Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), who went on Fox Business Monday morning demanding the House address the issue — which was addressed in December.

“Here’s the problem: We’ve got to get back to actually governing,” Collins said.

“The American people want to see us put a budget together. They want to see drug pricing taken care of,” he added.

In December 2019, a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. The bill would allow the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices and put in provisions to prevent prescription drug cost spikes.

Since Jan. 1, the costs of more than 630 prescription drugs have increased. The legislation opposed by these Republicans would reduce the cost of medication to treat breast cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and other medical conditions by as much as 96%.

For example, the cost of Humira, a drug to help with arthritis, would drop by by 81 percent, from $34,411 per year to $8,276 per year. Premarin, a drug to fight breast cancer, would drop in price by 96 percent, from $568 to just $21 per year, according to an analysis by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Collins, along with 190 other Republicans, voted against the bill.

Since that Dec. 12 vote, at least 24 Republicans have written on Facebook or Twitter about the high cost of prescription drugs.

On Jan. 27, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) tweeted he had heard from “countless folks” in his district that “prescription drugs cost too much.”

“They’re right,” Upton added, not mentioning that he voted against a bill to lower the cost of prescription drugs. 

“The cost of health care and prescription drugs is too high,” Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) wrote on Feb. 4. “Republicans are committed to lowering costs,” she added, despite her vote against H.R. 3.

“Congress should now act with the President on issues such as the high cost of prescription drugs, the high cost of health care, border security, and keeping our very strong economy going,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) wrote on Facebook on Feb. 4, two months after voting against a bill to lower the high cost of prescription drugs.

In late January, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that House Democrats’ ignoring the issue of prescription drugs “is gonna cost them” in November’s election.

Republican after Republican has taken to social media to lament the high cost of prescription drugs, yet only two Republicans voted for legislation to lower their cost in the House.

IMAGE: EpiPen auto-injection epinephrine pens manufactured by Mylan NV pharmaceutical company for use by severe allergy sufferers are seen in Washington, U.S. August 24, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Four House Republicans Join Democrats To Condemn Trump’s Racist Comments

Four House Republicans Join Democrats To Condemn Trump’s Racist Comments

During what some thought would be a strict party-line vote, four House Republicans broke ranks with their party and joined all of the Democrats to approve a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s recent racist attack on a group of progressive lawmakers.

The following Republicans approved the resolution:

  • Rep. Will Hurd of Texas
  • Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana
  • Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan
  • Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who recently left the GOP after calling for Trump’s impeachment, also voted in favor of the resolution.

It was a humiliating blow to Trump, who would have loved to cast the vote as a purely partisan act. Instead, he’ll have to face the fact that a bipartisan House resolution has called out his racism.

Nevertheless, most Republican lawmakers remain steadfast in their support of the president and have refused to call out his racism.

The core of the resolution read as follows:

Whereas President Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color: Now, therefore, be it resolved, That the House of Representatives —

(1) believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger, and that those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lived in the United States for many generations;

(2) is committed to keeping America open to those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from violence and oppression, and those who are willing to work hard to live the American Dream, no matter their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin; and

(3) condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should “go back” to other countries, by referring to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders,” and by saying that Members of Congress who are immigrants (or those of our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immigrants) do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America.

The final vote was 240-187.

IMAGE: Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), one of four House Republicans who voted for a resolution to rebuke Trump’s racism.