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Veronica Escobar watched in horror as then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used his power and influence to keep a Supreme Court seat vacant for 293 days in 2016 and 2017, because Barack Obama was the one trying to fill it. At the time, Escobar was a local government leader in El Paso, Texas, with eyes on a congressional run. Surely, she thought, this state of politics wouldnt still exist by the time she made it to Washington.

Now, Escobar is a U.S. Congresswoman, and shes joining a growing chorus of voices demanding to expand the Supreme Court. At one point I just made the decision that there was no going back from the depths of the lack of integrity that was sustaining the court, Escobar told Jezebel. I think it is absolutely reasonable given the circumstances. And I think, in fact, it is absolutely necessary, given the fact that we now have a Supreme Court willing to do anything to achieve its political ends.

On Thursday, Escobar and other Democratic lawmakers welcomed nearly a dozen state-level abortion rights groups to the battle to expand the Supreme Courta policy proposal once considered unthinkable. It is unconscionable that we wouldnt see leaders at the administrative or at the congressional level, do everything they possibly can to protect the real people, pregnant people, women and families, particularly black folks, people of color, people trying to survive on low incomes in tough places like Missouri, Pro-Choice Missouri executive director Mallory Schwarz told Jezebel. They have the power to do something. Right now, its unfathomable that they wouldnt.

The Senate, notably, failed to codify the right to abortion access and provision for the second time earlier this month.

Polling shows a plurality supports court expansion. The Judiciary Act of 2021 has 56 co-sponsors, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) who signed on this week. By contrast, the Senate bill has only two co-sponsors alongside Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tina Smith (D-MN).

Schwarz said the post-Roe reality in Missouri is not sustainable. We know the courts wont save us, with the way the courts are stacked in our own state and now at the federal level, Schwarz told Jezebel. We dont have the luxury of time.

Schwarz knows she and her organization must take the long view. We know that were playing a long game. We know that were not going to flip enough seats in 2022 or 2024, just like we knew that in 2020, to end our veto-proof supermajority in the next five years, maybe 10, she told Jezebel. There are actions that our leaders can take. And if they dont take them, they need to know that they are choosing not to help those most in need and most at risk when the Roe decision is overturned.

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Democrats, Abortion Rights Groups Say It's Time to Expand the Supreme Court - Jezebel

A new report from the governments internal watchdog found that richer taxpayers are benefitting the most from a broader decline in audit rates by the IRS, adding impetus to criticism that the U.S. tax system favors the wealthy, and possibly bolstering a White House push to increase taxes on the wealthy.

During the 2010s, audit rates of individual income tax returns have fallen an average of 72 percent across all income levels and tax brackets. That means that while taxpayers had about a 1 percent chance of being audited in 2010, they had about a 0.25 percent chance of being audited in 2019.

But that 72-percent drop hasnt been evenly distributed. People earning less than $25,000 were only 60 percent less likely to be audited than they were in 2010, while people earning more than $200,000 were roughly 90 percent less likely to be audited, the report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found.

Democrats seized upon the discrepancy to paint a picture of a bifurcated tax collection system that treats the rich one way and average Americans another.

There cannot be one tax system for the wealthy and another for everyone else. And yet that is exactly what we have, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight, said during a hearing on the report.

Pascrell did not spare his own party in assigning blame for unfairness in both the design and implementation of the tax system.

We have had multiple hearings on making our tax system fair. We havent done much in getting things accomplished, though. Thats interesting, he said.

Clearly, our tax code can be fair, and I have offered legislation to close that gaping loophole and many loopholes in our laws that have faced resistance by vested interests. And thats not all Republicans. My own party, sometimes we cant get out of our own way.

Republicans, meanwhile, reacted to the report mostly with operational concerns related to the pandemic-induced backlog of unprocessed tax returns, showing general lack of interest in the ethical debate put forward by Democrats on biases in the tax system.

I believe the most significant unfairness facing American taxpayers right now is the lack of customer service at the IRS, Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) told the subcommittee.

The IRS is sitting on 13 million unprocessed tax returns and over 26 million tax returns that are waiting, needing further IRS action. At the same time, IRS phone service levels are at near all-time lows, making it nearly impossible to reach an IRS agent for help with tax or audit matters.

Pascrell acknowledged that Democrats, Republicans and agency administrators were all talking past each other, saying, were in two different worlds.

Theres this aspect of it operations, he said. And the other aspect is the laws itself, of a secretary paying a higher percentage than her boss on her taxes.

The GAO report notes that wealthy taxpayers are still more likely to be audited than low and middle-earners. In 2019, people making more than $5 million a year had about a 2 percent chance of being audited, while those making between $25,000 and $200,000 had about a 0.17 percent chance of being audited.

IRS officials said audit rates declined because of staffing decreases and because it takes more time and expertise to deal with complex higher-income audits, according to the GAO.

The overall trend toward looser tax enforcement on the rich is consistent with other longer-term tax policies benefiting the wealthy that have been pushed by both Democrats and Republicans.

One such loophole long supported by Democratic lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is the tax exemption on carried interest, which allows managers of private investment funds simply to skip out on paying taxes on the bulk of their income.

Closing the carried interest loophole was notably not a part of the Biden administrations billionaire minimum income tax proposal, which does include provisions on taxing capital gains like stock price earnings.

As Jared Bernstein of the White Houses Council of Economic Advisers told CNBC last year, This is a loophole that absolutely should be closed. But as you well know, when you go up to Capitol Hill and you start negotiating on taxes, there are more lobbyists in this town on taxes than there are members of Congress.

One of those lobbyists is former Democratic North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, now with consulting firm Alliantgroup, who led a campaign last year against a Democratic proposal to tax capital gains at death, arguing against a very similar measure to the Biden administrations billionaire tax proposal.

My point of view is you have to have a realization of that income in order for it to be taxed, Heitkamp said in an interview. Historically and consistently in America, it doesnt apply until you realize the gain, and thats the point that Ive been making, is that taxing unrealized gains will have unintended consequences.

You could set the limit at $5 million, but if you had a small business that had $5 million worth of gains, you may be forced to sell your small business instead of having the family pass it on, she added.

Of Bidens billionaire tax, Heitkamp said, Its not likely going to pass.

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Democrats pounce on latest tax perk for the rich: falling audit rates - The Hill

The crew that would come to take over the Democratic Party organized themselves, in the 1980s, around the idea that the party had become discredited among the public because it was in thrall to its more liberal elements. These New Democrats gravitated toward Gary Hart, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party nomination in 1984, positioned as the candidate of new ideas against Walter Mondale, ostensibly the embodiment of stale Great Society liberalism. Hart, along with allies like Representative Tim Wirth, articulated what Geismer calls larger generational skepticism with large institutions and bureaucracy. In practice, large institutions tended to mean unions and government agencies. The New Democrats were similarly allergic to transactional politics and special interest groups, which Geismer helpfully defines as African Americans, women, white farmers, and, especially, organized labor.

Even by the mid-1980s, Jesse Jackson could correctly note that this definition of special interests happened to define them as the Democratic Partys actual base of support, or, as he put it, members of our family. Hart was notably more popular with white pundits than with Black primary voters. But what the New Democrats truly wanted, and truly believed their policy agenda would win, was the white suburban vote. In the wake of Ronald Reagans reelection, in 1985, the political strategist Al From founded the Democratic Leadership Council, with an inaugural membership of 41 people, including 14 senators and 17 representatives. Of that group, two members were nonwhite, and none were women. The philosophy of the DLC, shaped by early members like From, the political consultant David Osborne, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, was to go after the aspiring middle electorate in suburbia rather than the working class and dispossessed, and to appeal to it with an agenda that stressed economic dynamism, free trade, embrace of the tech industry, andvitallythe destruction of the welfare state.

This gets to a central tension in New Democrat thought. Seemingly at no point can anyone conclusively decide if their policy agenda is meant to be politically effectiveto win over white suburbanitesor to implement successful policy, which in this case would mean reforming welfare in a way that would leave poor people better off. Once Bill Clinton was in power, actual welfare reform, the destruction of the New Dealera Aid to Families with Dependent Children assistance program, was passed largely because end welfare as we know it was a Clinton campaign trail promise, and Bruce Reed, of the White House Domestic Policy Council, had come to believe that phrasewhich he had taped up in his officehad been vital to Clintons 1992 victory. Clinton, then running for reelection, was comfortably ahead in the polls when he signed the welfare reform bill. His political adviser Dick Morris had urged him to sign it as insurance.

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The Disastrous Legacy of the New Democrats - The New Republic

The vital mission of the Republican-Rightin November 2022 and 24 should be to demolish the Democratic Party and relegate it to the Smithsonian, amid the Whig and Know Nothing parties.

The Democratic Party of JFK, LBJ and even Bill WelfareReform Clinton is long gone.The Democratic Party of JoeBiden, Nancy Pelosi and GavinNewsomhas nothingpositiveto offer and deserves to be voted overwhelmingly into oblivion.

The Democratic Left has become purveyors of poverty, chaos, danger and death.

Nominal wages advanced5.5% year-on-year in April, but last months8.3% inflation (a near 40-year-high) shriveled real wages to negative 2.8%.

Bloomberg reportsthat, compared to 2021, inflation will cost the average US household $5,200 this year, or$100 per week,for the same basket of goods. Bidens five-steps-forward, eight-steps-back economy is making Americans poor again.

Bidens figure does not includean estimated 620,000 got-aways who invaded America withouteven greetingthe Border Patrol.Also,42 foreigners on the terrorist watch list tried to enter the United States during the Biden-Democratic Era, including 23 at the southern border.

Democrats alsosackedcash bail. Criminals rejoiced. Jewayne Price was arrested last month for shooting nine people ina Columbia, SC, shopping mall. He was out on $25,000 bond in mere hours.

As Democratsunleash political violence, Leftist thugs repeatedly have given black eyes and bloody noses to Trump supporters in MAGA hats.

After George Floyds murder, Black Lives Matter and Antifarioters toppledstatues and torched police precincts andhundreds of other buildingsacross America. Democratsrejoiced. Then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) raised money tospringthesehoodlumsfromjail. Attorney General Maura Healy (D-Mass.) said,America in on fire, but thats how forests grow.

Democratic lawmakers have rejected bills that would protect babies who, somehow, survive abortions.According to todays Democratic ghouls, mothers should be free tokill their babiesuntil the moment of birth. Republicans and Libertarianshenceforth should composeAmericas two-party system.The Democrats deadly Wokistani socialism should be deported to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela where it belongs.

Until that happy day, the Republican-Right must perform a priceless public service: Banish the Democratic Party to theNational Museum of American History, where it no longercouldterrorize theAmerican people.Tourists then could marvel at it neutralized, behind glassandbetween Dorothy Gales ruby slippers and Archie Bunkers easy chair.

Deroy Murdock is aManhattan-basedFox News contributor.

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Send the Democratic Party into history its got nothing left to offer America - New York Post

On Monday night, several left-leaning congressional candidates joined an emergency organizing call with activists reeling from a draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. A somber Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, opening the discussion, acknowledged that Democrats held control in Washington but were nonetheless in an uphill battle for change.

The moment, she said, demanded leaders who know how to get in the fight and who know how to win.

Tensions over how to execute on both of those ambitions pushing effectively for change, while winning elections are now animating Democratic primaries from Pennsylvania to Texas to Oregon, as Democrats barrel into an intense new season of intraparty battles.

For the first months of 2022, Republican primaries have dominated the political landscape, emerging as key measures of former President Donald J. Trumps sway over his partys base. But the coming weeks will also offer a window into the mood of Democratic voters who are alarmed by threats to abortion rights, frustrated by gridlock in Washington and deeply worried about a challenging midterm campaign environment.

Some contests are shaped by policy debates over issues like climate and crime. House primaries have been deluged with money from a constellation of groups, including those with ties to cryptocurrency and pro-Israel advocacy, sometimes resulting in backlash. And in races that could be consequential in the general election, national party leaders have openly taken sides, turning some House primaries into proxy battles over the direction of the party.

Tuesday nights Democratic House primary in the Omaha area attracted less of that national fervor, but it may lay the groundwork for a competitive general election. Representative Don Bacon, a Republican representing a district President Biden won, defeated a vocally left-leaning Democratic contender in 2018 and 2020.

Democrats hope to make inroads there this year despite a brutal national climate, and on Tuesday nominated State Senator Tony Vargas, who has emphasized his governing experience and background as the son of immigrants.

Jane Kleeb, the chairwoman of Nebraskas Democratic Party, said that recent primary contests had been shaped above all by moderate-versus-progressive divisions. This time around, she said, voters appeared focused much less on ideological labels and much more on policy proposals and electoral viability. Its a reflection of the urgent concerns held by many Democratic voters around the country who, above all else, worry that their party will lose its congressional majorities in Washington.

There is a less ideological mood I think that Democrats, especially in our state, feel like were fighting for every office we can get, she said. People want to win, but I also think the word progressive is not enough. Voters are really wanting to know what the candidate stands for and what theyre going to do when they get into office.

Beginning next Tuesday, the Democratic primary season accelerates, headlined by the marquee Senate Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has consistently led sparse public polling against Representative Conor Lamb of suburban Pittsburgh and State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia.

The race, in one of the few states where Democrats have a solid chance of picking up a Senate seat, has focused heavily on what it will take to win the general election. Mr. Fetterman promises to improve Democratic standing in rural Trump territory, while Mr. Lamb, a polished Marine veteran, often cites his record of winning in a challenging House district.

That theme has echoed in a handful of upcoming House primaries, highlighting fierce Democratic disagreements over what the partys candidates need to do or show to win this November.

In Oregon, Representative Kurt Schrader, the well-funded chair of the centrist Blue Dog Coalitions political arm who has Mr. Bidens endorsement, faces a challenge from Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a small-business owner and emergency response coordinator who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018.

This time, Ms. McLeod-Skinner has amassed considerable support from local institutions, as well as from left-leaning groups including the Working Families Party (which convened the Monday meeting that Ms. Warren addressed).

Several county Democratic Party organizations in Oregon, ordinarily expected to back the incumbent or remain neutral, endorsed Ms. McLeod-Skinner and urged the House Democratic campaign arm, which is supporting Mr. Schrader, to stay out of the primary. Johanna Warshaw, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, noted that the organizations core mission is to re-elect Democratic members.

Mr. Schraders supporters and some national Democrats believe he has a better shot in a fall election that may be robustly competitive. But Ms. McLeod-Skinners supporters argue that she can galvanize Democratic voters in a year when Republicans have been widely thought to have the edge on enthusiasm.

Democrats should want a candidate who Democrats are enthusiastic about, said Leah Greenberg, the co-founder and co-executive director of the Indivisible Project, a grass-roots group. Citing local frustration, she added, Kurt Schrader is not that candidate.

In a statement, Mr. Schraders spokeswoman, Deb Barnes, said he has a proven ability to bring everyone together rural, urban and suburban to find common ground and deliver wins that make a real difference.

Electability is playing out in a different way in South Texas, where Jessica Cisneros is challenging Representative Henry Cuellar, the most staunchly anti-abortion Democrat in the House, in a district where conservative Democrats have often thrived.

Ms. Cisneros has strong support from national left-leaning leaders, and abortion rights advocates believe that Democratic outrage around that issue will help her in the May 24 runoff and beyond.

Why are these midterms so important? This years races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Bidens agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trumps role as a G.O.P. kingmaker. Heres what to know:

What are the midterm elections? Midterms take place two years after a presidential election, at the midpoint of a presidential term hence the name. This year, a lot of seats are up for grabs, including all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 of 50 governorships.

What do the midterms mean for Biden? With slim majorities in Congress, Democrats have struggled to pass Mr. Bidens agenda. Republican control of the House or Senate would make the presidents legislative goals a near-impossibility.

What are the races to watch? Only a handful of seats will determine if Democrats maintain control of the House over Republicans, and a single state could shift power in the 50-50 Senate. Here are 10 races to watch in the Houseand Senate, as well as several key governors contests.

When are the key races taking place? The primary gauntletis already underway. Closely watched racesin Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia will be held in May, with more taking place through the summer. Primaries run until September before the general election on Nov. 8.

Go deeper. What is redistrictingand how does it affect the midterm elections? How does polling work? How do you register to vote? Weve got more answers to your pressing midterm questions here.

When we defeat the anti-choice Democrat, thats going to set the tone for the rest of the midterms, Ms. Cisneros said in a recent interview.

But other national Democrats plainly see Mr. Cuellar as a stronger fit in a more culturally conservative district that may become a heated general-election battleground.

We ought not have a litmus test of who and what makes one a Democrat, said Representative James E. Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, who campaigned with Mr. Cuellar last week.

Still, there are sharp divisions over what it means to be an effective Democrat a dynamic at the heart of high-profile primary battles in recent years, as left-wing contenders defeated several senior incumbents but also faced setbacks, as in Ohio, where Representative Shontel Brown won a rematch against former State Senator Nina Turner.

Next Tuesday kicks off a fresh series of tests concerning what kinds of candidates can excite or reassure Democratic voters at a perilous moment for their party.

In 2018 and 2020 they were rebelling against an establishment that lost to Trump, said Sean McElwee, the founding executive director of Data for Progress, a liberal policy and polling organization. Now they want people who will pass Bidens agenda and hold swing seats, and progressives need to make the case that they are the best chance to do that.

In Pennsylvania, a House primary for the seat around Pittsburgh being vacated by Representative Mike Doyle, who is retiring, will vividly test that argument. An attorney and former head of the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, Steve Irwin, has amassed the support of much of the party establishment, while Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Ed Gainey of Pittsburgh are expected to campaign this week with State Representative Summer Lee, who joined the Monday call with Ms. Warren. Jerry Dickinson, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is also among those vying for the nomination.

In North Carolina, former State Senator Erica Smith and Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam also participated in the Working Families Party call. Ms. Smith, running in the First District, is vying to succeed Representative G.K. Butterfield, who endorsed State Senator Don Davis. Ms. Allam is facing off against opponents including State Senator Valerie Foushee and Clay Aiken, the former American Idol contestant, in the Fourth District. There is also a primary in the states newly drawn 13th District, which may be competitive in the general election.

In Kentuckys primary next Tuesday, State Representative Attica Scott, a vocal leader of the police accountability movement in Louisville, is running to the left of Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey in the race to succeed Representative John Yarmuth.

And in the coming weeks, several incumbent House members will face contested primary elections, while the Los Angeles mayoral primary and the recall vote against San Franciscos district attorney, both on June 7, will gauge the attitudes of typically liberal Californians on issues of crime and homelessness.

Mr. Sanders, who has endorsed in several upcoming primaries, cast the moment as a struggle about whether the Democratic Party is a party of working families or one of wealthy campaign contributors.

But he also offered a grave warning for his party that has implications well beyond primary season.

Because Democrats have so far failed to pass major pieces of their agenda, he said, There is now a great deal of demoralization among working people, whether theyre Black or white or Latino or Native American, whatever. And I fear very much that the voter turnout for Democrats will not be very high.

Excerpt from:
In an Uphill Year, Democrats of All Stripes Worry About Electability - The New York Times