Archive for the ‘Republican’ Category

‘So-Called’ Judge Criticized by Trump Is Known as a Mainstream Republican – New York Times

'So-Called' Judge Criticized by Trump Is Known as a Mainstream Republican
New York Times
The federal judge who blocked President Trump's immigration order is described by former colleagues and acquaintances as a mainstream Republican who went from a career as a highly respected corporate lawyer in Seattle to an appointment by ...

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'So-Called' Judge Criticized by Trump Is Known as a Mainstream Republican - New York Times

Republicans face anger over Obamacare repeal during town halls – Politico

Rep. Tom McClintock has voiced concerns about Obamacare enrollees losing coverage. | AP Photo

Obamacare supporters showed up in huge numbers to voice concerns over repeal.

By Victoria Colliver

02/04/17 04:38 PM EST

Updated 02/04/17 07:28 PM EST

ROSEVILLE, Calif. Two Republican lawmakers representing reliably conservative districts on opposite ends of the country on Saturday faced down heated questions from Obamacare supporters who flooded town hall events demanding that Congress not dismantle a health care law that has provided insurance for millions of people.

Fervent backers of the health care law shouted down Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), blasting his views on the Obamacare repeal and President Donald Trumps immigration ban. Hundreds of demonstrators showed up some as early as 6:30 a.m. to a theater in downtown Roseville, just northeast of Sacramento.

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After the meeting ended, McClintock was escorted by police as the crowd outside the theater shouted Resist! and "Shame!"

The hostile crowd in Roseville was just the latest sign of trouble for congressional Republicans as they face voters outside of Washington. In Pinellas County, Fla., Gus Bilirakis, who represents a district Trump won, was on the defensive as voters packed a town hall on Obamacare. For more than two hours, Bilirakis listened to stories from his constituents young, old, black and white who implored him to not repeal the federal health care law without having a replacement ready.

To take away the Affordable Care Act is taking away my freedom and justice, said Evan Thornton, a 21-year-old St. Petersburg College student who said he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome at 16 and has stayed on his mothers insurance because of Obamacare. Its taking away my life.

Hundreds of protesters, some holding signs favoring the Affordable Care Act and demanding a town meeting, gathered outside a GOP gathering Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill) attended in his district early Saturday, the Chicago NBC affiliate reported.

Liberal-leaning groups are trying to foment a real movement against Trump and in particular against repeal of Obamacare sharing spreadsheets of town halls for Republicans across the country in hopes of sparking a grassroots movement similar to the tea party movement of 2009. Videos of screaming constituents were splashed across TV that summer as Congress drafted Obamacare, slowing the laws momentum and crushing any chance that Republicans would help pass it.

So far, protests against the repeal effort are not nearly as heated as those rage-filled 2009 town halls, some of which ended in fistfights, arrests and hospitalizations. But they show growing angst over the GOPs uncertain plans to replace the health care law.

McClintock, whos voiced concerns about Obamacare enrollees losing coverage, was heard on leaked audio during last weeks GOP retreat fretting about the lack of a replacement plan. On Saturday, McClintock recounted conversations he's had with party leadership.

I said, no, with all due respect, we have bills, we have proposals, but we dont really have a plan until we pass a plan out of the House, he said.

McClintocks district covers a large swath of mostly rural Northern California, covering some small mountainous counties as well as portions of the farm-rich Central Valley. In solidly blue California, it can be easy to forget that 25 of the states 58 counties voted for Trump. Roseville is the largest city in Placer County, where Trump won 52 percent of the vote, compared to 41 percent for Hillary Clinton.

Amanda Barnes, a 28-year-old resident of Auburn, Calif., told McClintock she considered it an act of God that she was able to get on her mothers health insurance five months before she was hit by a car, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Barnes said at the time she was covered by the Obamacare provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance..

If I had not had my mothers insurance to cover my health care costs, I would have been over half million in debt just in the first three days," she said, asking how McClintock would protect her health.

Republican leaders say theyre still trying to push through a repeal of Obamacare while approving major parts of a replacement plan by early March. But there are deep disagreements among GOP lawmakers about how much of Obamacare they should salvage, with Obamacares fiercest critics pushing to kill as much of the law as swiftly as possible through a fast-track budget process.

After the McClintock event, some attendees said they were frustrated his lack of detail about an Obamacare replacement plan. He just said, yes, we have something in place, said Andrea Seminer, a lawyer from Roseville. They have nothing in place.

Bilirakis was on the defensive at a Palm Harbor community center in northern Pinellas County, which was one of just four Florida counties that went for Trump after President Barack Obama won there twice.

Without providing details, Bilirakis said that he would work to ensure that the GOP replacement plan allows young adults to stay on their parents' plans and includes protections for pre-existing conditions. Bilirakis told reporters after the meeting that he was resolved to repeal Obamacare.

I think we need to repeal because we need to do it right and expand health care, he said. Its too expensive. The premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high.

McClintock told POLITICO he wanted to hold another listening session Saturday to accommodate the crowd outside the theater, but he said Roseville police advised him to leave when the town hall ended, because apparently the situation outside was getting dangerous.

As a diplomat would say, it was a frank exchange of views, McClintock said after the event, adding that he will continue to meet with constituents. Its not their job to listen to me at the town hall; its my job to listen to them.

Dennis Revell, chairman Placer County Republican Party, attributed the high turnout at the town hall to an organized effort within the Democratic and progressive movement in this country to attempt to become the liberal equivalent of the Tea Party.

Theyre entitled to do that, he said. Theres a very good member of Congress standing here in the middle of Coliseum as the liberal gladiators attempted to attack him. He stood his ground and had a meaningful discussion.

Nathan Williams, one of the main organizers of Town Hall Project 2018, a liberal volunteer group that circulated a nationwide list of lawmakers constituent events, said hes trying to promote respectful dialogue.

Were not encouraging people to be abusive or intimidating or peddle conspiracy theories, he said this week. Were empowering constituents; not trying to terrify members of Congress.

Despite the show of support for Obamacare at the town hall, McClintock said he believes the majority of Americans want a better health care plan.

If people loved [Obamacare]," he said, "Nancy Pelosi would still be speaker and Hillary Clinton would be president."

Christine Sexton contributed to this story.

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Republicans face anger over Obamacare repeal during town halls - Politico

McClintock exits with police escort after raucous town hall meeting in Roseville – Sacramento Bee


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McClintock exits with police escort after raucous town hall meeting in Roseville
Sacramento Bee
Facing a packed auditorium and raucous crowd, Republican Rep. Tom McClintock on Saturday defended his party's national agenda and voiced strong support for President Donald Trump's controversial executive actions to scale back Obamacare, ban ...
Republican lawmaker given police escort due to rowdy protestersWashington Examiner
Police have to escort California GOP congressman from rowdy town hall meetingThe Mercury News
'Resist': Protesters Descend on California Republican's Town HallKQED
WBAL Radio
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McClintock exits with police escort after raucous town hall meeting in Roseville - Sacramento Bee

NYT asks for ‘one Republican with integrity’ to vote down DeVos – The Hill (blog)

In an editorial Saturday, The New York Times asked for "one Republican with integrity" to come forward and defeat the senate confirmation of President Trump's nominee for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos.

The senate is set to hold a confirmation hearing for DeVos on Monday. Two Republican senators, Susan CollinsSusan CollinsSenators play chicken over Supreme Court filibuster This week: Confirmation showdown looms in Senate NYT asks for 'one Republican with integrity' to vote down DeVos MORE (Maine) and Lisa MurkowskiLisa MurkowskiSenators play chicken over Supreme Court filibuster This week: Confirmation showdown looms in Senate NYT asks for 'one Republican with integrity' to vote down DeVos MORE (Alaska) gave dramatic back-to-back speeches Wednesday announcing they would oppose DeVos.

The defections set up a potential 51-50 vote in the Senate to confirm DeVos, with Vice President Pence breaking the tie.

Should one more Republican senator come out against DeVos, she would officially be struck down from serving as Education secretary.

In the case of a tie, it would be the first time a vice president has been the deciding vote on a nomination, and the first time a vice president has had to break a Senate tie since March 2008, when Vice President Dick Cheney cast a deciding vote on a package of tax cuts.

The Times post titled "Wanted: One Republican with integrity, to defeat Betsy DeVos," pointed to possible Republicans who could come out against DeVos.

"The extra Republican vote could come from one of several independent-minded senators; one candidate is Lamar AlexanderLamar AlexanderNYT asks for 'one Republican with integrity' to vote down DeVos DeVos nomination proves controversial Senate advances DeVos's nomination, setting her up for final vote MORE, an expert on public schools who actually owes the country a good turn because of his failure as chairman of the committee vetting Ms. DeVos to question her closely and to give more time to her critics," the New York Times wrote.

The editorial board also critiques other nominees put forward by Trump, and asked voters to call their senators ahead of the Monday vote.

DeVos, a GOP mega-donor long active on education issues, has been the subject of fierce opposition from teachers unions and other liberal groups opposed to her support for charter schools and tuition vouchers using public funds. Senators in both parties have also criticized her lack of experience with public and rural education.

Liberals made DeVos a top target and sought to jam Republican phone lines with protests over her nomination.

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NYT asks for 'one Republican with integrity' to vote down DeVos - The Hill (blog)

Mark Shields: Mike Pence Betrays Republican Civility with ‘Democrat’ Slur – Noozhawk

By Mark Shields | February 4, 2017 | 5:15 p.m.

In his first television interview since taking office, Vice President Mike Pence, with apparent sincerity, emphasized to Judy Woodruff of PBS NewsHour just how committed he and the White House are to working right now with the Congress, working very closely with leaders of the House and Senate and earning bipartisan support.

If Pence were sincere about reaching across the aisle, he would not be using insulting Republican code-speak to insult Democrats.

Three different times in his interview with Woodruff, Pence deliberately used language to needle those political adversaries to whom he was allegedly extending an olive branch. Instead of calling people in the other party what those people, correctly and grammatically, call themselves and speaking of Democratic colleagues, Pence resorted to partisan semantics by dropping the last syllable and referring to Democrat senators, Democrat leaders and Democrat members.

Pence, who, according to the authoritative Almanac of American Politics, grew up in Columbus, Ind., as a John F. Kennedy-admiring Catholic and then graduated from Hanover College as a Republican evangelical Christian and went on to host his own conservative talk radio show, The Mike Pence Show, chooses his words carefully. He knows his parts of speech, that Democratic is an adjective and that Democrat is a noun.

People who care about politics, especially vice-presidential politics, all know about the time when in the 1976 VP debate between Bob Dole, the Republican, and Walter Fritz Mondale, the Democrat Dole, slipping into the hatchet-man lingo he had mostly overcome, damaged his tickets chances by saying, If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat (emphasis added) wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans, enough to fill the city of Detroit.

Pence may not know that the Red-baiting Joseph McCarthy, the Republican senator from Wisconsin who was eventually censured by the Senate, repeatedly questioned the loyalty of members of the Democrat Party.

But Republicans know that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., published his personal attack thesaurus traitor, radical, sick, corrupt to destroy the Democrat Party.

And Pence has been interviewed on enough right-wing talk shows to know well the verbal shorthand; always use the disparaging Democrat to antagonize the Other Side.

To his credit, the cerebral patron saint of American conservatism, William F. Buckley, in National Review, rejected this slur: I have an aversion to Democrat as an adjective, he once said, pointing out that the noun Democrat misused as an adjective is offensive to the ear.

Besides, Democratic Party is a proper noun, and proper nouns are not up for interpretation.

Growing up in heavily Protestant Indiana, you learned early that when someone spoke about the Roman Church, the speaker was not being friendly to Catholic people and beliefs. The same is true when Jew, instead of Jewish, is callously deployed as an adjective for example, before neighbors, lawyer or businessman.

One of our more appealing national customs is that we Americans generally call people (including political parties) what they wish to be called. So if Republicans, including Pence, actually mean what they say about wanting to reach out across the increasingly bitter political divide, then they should immediately banish the offensive adjective Democrat from their collective lexicon.

Well be listening, because in the final analysis, its a matter not of sensitivity but of civility.

Mark Shields is one of the most widely recognized political commentators in the United States. The former Washington Post editorial columnist appears regularly on CNN, on public television and on radio. Click here to contact him, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Mark Shields: Mike Pence Betrays Republican Civility with 'Democrat' Slur - Noozhawk