Tag: thom tillis
Thom Tillis

Tillis Warns Fellow Senators:  Medicaid Cuts Will End GOP Majorities

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms, is facing two hurdles: an aggressive GOP primary challenge from MAGA businessman Andy Nilsson, and — if he defeats Nilsson and becomes the nominee — a Democratic opponent in the general election.

Now, according to Politico's Jordain Carney, Tillis is worried that President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" could be a major liability for Republicans in the midterms.

Carney, in a Wednesday, June 25, post on X, formerly Twitter, reported, "News: Sen. Tillis told his colleagues in GOP lunch today that he won't vote to proceed without more clarity on Medicaid language, per source familiar. He also warned GOP current language means they won't have two senators from NC sitting in the lunch post-2026."

Tillis, who is conservative but not far-right or ultra-MAGA, comes from a competitive swing state that can go either GOP or Democratic in statewide races.

In 2024, now-President Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by roughly 3.5 percent in North Carolina. But Democrat Josh Stein was elected governor and followed two-term former Gov. Roy Cooper, another Democrat. And Democratic Justice Allison Riggs was narrowly reelected to her seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court last year.

The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, after narrowly passing in the U.S. House of Representatives, 215-214, is now being considered in the U.S. Senate — where Republicans are hotly debating steep cuts to Medicaid. According to analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Medicaid cuts being proposed in the bill could reduce Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million people by 2034.

X user Ken Blair, in response to Carney's reporting, said of Tillis, "If he votes for it he shouldn't be re-elected."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

President Joe Biden

New Poll Shows Strong Support For Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Plan

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Likely voters in 12 key states strongly back President Joe Biden's proposed $3.5 trillion "Build Back Better" investment plan, according to a new survey from left-leaning polling outfit Data for Progress. The new survey finds majority support for each of its top provisions, even in states whose GOP senators oppose the agenda.

Data for Progress released polling on Tuesday showing that voters in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin support Biden's Build Back Better plan by at least a 15-point margin.

The data showed support for increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations, expanded caregiving infrastructure, investment to curb climate change, and a pathway to citizenship for children brought to the United States illegally as children and other undocumented immigrants working in the country.

Voters in five of the states, all of which could play an important role in upcoming national elections, are represented by at least one Republican senator who has publicly attacked the legislation and voted against the budget resolution that will potentially allow the Senate to pass it by a simple majority. But their attacks do not appear to have swayed constituents.

"Montana families & business owners are feeling the pain of #Bidenflation as prices skyrocket from groceries & gas to cars & housing," Montana Sen. Steve Daines tweeted on Friday. "Yet Democrats are still planning another massive tax & spending spree that will only make things worse. It's reckless."

But Montana's likely voters back the $3.5 trillion plan 56 percent - 41 percent. They support its investments in long-term care (77 percent - 19 percent), expanded Medicare coverage (75 percent - 22 percent), tax cuts for families (60 percent -34 percent), child care (59 percent- 36 percent), universal pre-K (57 percent - 39 percent), paid leave (55 percent -22 percent), and clean energy (51 percent -45 percent).

They also back increasing taxes on wealthy Americans (64 percent - 34 percent) and corporations (57 percent - 42 percent) and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants (62 % - 35 percent).

Support for the plan was even higher in the other 11 states surveyed.

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito tweeted, "The Democrats' reckless tax and spending spree will ultimately be paid for by the middle-class Americans they pretend to be protecting."

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey decried it as "massively excess spending" that would combine with inflation in "a recipe for serious problems."

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina tweeted, "President Biden and Democrats are pushing a $3.5 trillion tax and spending spree that provides amnesty to millions while doing nothing to secure our border. Hard to imagine it getting even worse at the border, but their policies will encourage more illegal immigration."

And Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin tweeted, "The Democrats proposed $5.5 TRILLION tax & spending spree is reckless. You tax success, you're going to get less of it. We can't tax our way out of this. When will we get serious about controlling out-of-control spending?"

The legislation condemned by the GOP lawmakers is also highly popular among constituents of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Democrats who have expressed some concern about the plan's price tag.

In addition to the immigration reform provisions, the Build Back Better package would incorporate elements of Biden's American Families Plan such as free community college, free preschool, expanded child tax credits, and paid leave, as well as clean energy and climate provisions from his American Jobs Plan. It would keep Biden's promise to raise taxes only on businesses and those earning more than $400,000 a year.

The recent polling results are consistent with those of earlier surveys that have shown public support for the investments and funding.

Still, every single Republican in Congress has opposed the plan.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Joni Ernst

Vulnerable Senate Republicans Squirm Over Trump’s Pandemic Confession

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Back in July, as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was being pressed on her previous assertion that two Ebola deaths on Obama's watch amounted to "failed leadership," Ernst told CNN that Donald Trump was really "stepping forward" on stemming the coronavirus. At the time, despite 130,000 Americans having already died, Ernst managed to squeeze out that claim with a relatively straight face.

But now that we know Trump did exactly the opposite by admittedly downplaying the pandemic, Ernst, the erstwhile self-professed hog castrator, is running scared. Thursday marked the second day in a row the GOP incumbent senator who's locked in a very tight reelection race ducked questions about Trump's taped confession that he lied to the American public about how deadly the coronavirus is.

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Louis DeJoy

Postmaster DeJoy’s Revealing Reaction To Explosive Allegations Against Him

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Most years, the vast majority of Americans — and probably even political reporters — would be unable to name the postmaster general. But in 2020, Louis DeJoy has become a household name for overseeing a dramatic decline in the U.S. Postal Service's performance, the result of policies that many fear may intentionally or unintentionally interfere with the processing of mail-in ballots during the November election.

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