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For months now, many congressional Democrats have been obsessed with Russian interference in the American electoral process. That tendency was on full display this week, as they reportedly refused demands from liberals that they gum up the works of Congress in an attempt to stop the passage of TrumpCare. Their reason? That it would hinder their efforts to achieve a bipartisan deal on new Russia sanctions.

Investigation into Russian meddling is, to be clear, a vital necessity. But Democrats will not get there by an appeal to Republican patriotism and an obsession with Russia risks obscuring a far more urgent issue, the onrushing approach of TrumpCare. Only by fighting the odious Republican agenda will Democrats get the political success necessary to get to the bottom of the Russia story.

A case in point was Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Through suspicious excuses, angry defiance, and evasion, Sessions revealed almost nothing of substance about the firing of FBI Director James Comey, much less possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And Republicans let him get away it.

For instance, Sessions claimed that he only recused himself from the Russia investigation to follow the letter of the regulations around federal investigations which is nearly impossible to believe given that he recused himself the very day after The Washington Post reported that, contrary to his confirmation testimony, he had had meetings with Russian officials during the campaign. His justification of being involved in the Comey firing, which he characterized as a simple personnel matter, not anything to do with Russia, was similarly non-credible.

But more fundamentally, anytime the questions veered towards anything really sensitive about Trump, Sessions simply refused to answer. He weirdly even wavered on whether or not he was invoking executive privilege in his refusal to answer, which infuriated Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). It seemed to my non-legal eye to border on contempt of Congress. Yet Republicans were basically happy to accommodate him.

Meanwhile, the TrumpCare bill the House version of which will throw 23 million people off their insurance over a decade is rushing towards a vote in the Senate. Liberals have been demanding that Senate Democrats use every procedural tool to slow down the process, but Senate Democrats have been resisting. Why? In part, because:

During the Bush and Obama years, referencing Peanuts' "Lucy and the football" became a shorthand in the liberal blogosphere for how Democrats continually underestimated the cynicism and deception of Republicans. Left-wing activists tried to warn of the futility of things like trying to negotiate in good faith with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) over the Affordable Care Act, but centrist Democrats, obsessed with trying to obtain bipartisan support, refused to listen. As a result, Grassley strung them along for months, eating up weeks of precious time and making the bill markedly worse, and then voted against it anyway.

Democrats are somewhat less credulous now than they were years ago (if only because many of the most dimwitted centrists were wiped out in successive Republican wave elections). But they are still trying to appeal to norms like the sanctity of elections which most Republicans in office are either too corrupt or too poisoned by right-wing agitprop to actually observe, or are actively undermining themselves. Only a handful of congressional Republicans, and none in positions of high influence, seem to care at all about the integrity of America's electoral system. They might sign on to some small-bore sanctions on a foreign power. They will not impeach or remove a Republican president so long as that president continues to support Republican priorities.

Now, the idea of Russian interference in the election has gotten more credible than I initially supposed. Just recently Bloomberg reported that some 39 states found evidence of attempted penetration of their election systems (most of which are, naturally, outdated and horribly insecure) by what seem like Russian hackers. Clearly this investigation is a vital priority.

Therefore, Democrats should of course continue with Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, and watch closely to see that Special Counsel Robert Mueller can conduct his investigation properly. But they cannot rely on the slightest scrap of decency from any elected Republican to achieve this end. They must assume that every single one, from President Trump on down, is corrupt until proven otherwise.

Secondly, Democrats must realize that the best way to actually get to the bottom of the Russia story is by winning electoral victories by running against the absolutely odious Republican agenda above all the monstrous TrumpCare bill. The Republican strategy of jamming this thing through in secret is working it is receiving virtually no media coverage compared to when it was first introduced. But that very secretiveness reveals they understand the bill is grossly unpopular and could not be passed if it got close attention.

Democrats must shout themselves hoarse about this thing, and should it pass anyway, use it to crush them at the polls. Only then can they begin to restore and protect American democracy.

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Democrats: Your Russia obsession is blinding you from what really matters - The Week Magazine

Update: 10:20a.m. EDTVirginia GovernorTerry McAuliffe issued a statement on the shooting Wednesday in Alexandria at a Republican Congressional baseball practice that left five injured, amongthem Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip.

"Dorothy and I are shocked and deeply saddened by this horrible act of violence against members of congress, law enforcement and other innocent people who were simply enjoying an early morning baseball practice," the governor said in a statement."We are praying for swift recoveries for those who were injured and we are thankful for the bravery and quick action of U.S. Capitol Police and local first responders to stop the attacker and treat those who were wounded. Virginia public safety officials are coordinating with local responders and we will continue to monitor this situation and make every resource available."

Police said they detained the suspected gunman.

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Update: 10:10a.m. EDT As details surface Wednesday on the shooting at a Congressional baseball practice that left five injuredamong them Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority WhipNewsweek's Matthew Cooper notes:

Attempts on the lives of members are rare. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Congresswoman, was shot in 2011 and that was a stunning event. A mass attack on members of Congress is even rarer. The 9/11 Commission concluded that Flight 93 may have been heading for the Capitol or the White House. A mentally ill man took a pistol in the Capitol in the 90s, killing a Capitol Police officer and came perilously close to reaching the offices of House Majority Leader Tom DeLayan incident that sparked a major revamp of security on Capitol Hill. The details of today's incident are still sketchy but Rep. Mo Brooks, who was at the baseball field in Virginia that became a hunting ground, described a scene with a gunman firing multiple rounds using a rifle in a strategic fashion that seems more calculated than crazed.

Update: 10:04a.m. EDTGeorge Washington University Hospital confirmed to CBS News that it had received two individuals who wereinjured in Wednesday's shooting in Alexandria, Virginia ata Republican Congressional baseball practice. Both patients were in critical condition, according to CBS.

At least five people were injured after a gunman opened fire at the field, including Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, who reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Update: 9:57a.m. EDTTwo Capitol Police officers who were injured in a Wednesday morning shooting are expected to survive, reported NBC News' Pete Williams. A gunman opened fire at a Republican Congressional baseball practice, reportedly injuring five people, includingRepresentative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, whose injuries were apparently not life threatening.

Update: 9:50a.m. EDTSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement Wednesday responding to a shooting at a baseball field that left five injured, includingRepresentative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, who reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"My prayers are with those wounded this morning & their families. Continued appreciation to Capitol Police & first responders," McConnell tweeted.

Police said they detained the suspected gunman. The condition of those injured in the shooting has not yet been disclosed.

Update: 9:44a.m. EDT"He was hunting us," Michigan RepresentativeMike Bishop told the New York Timesabout the gunman who opened fire on Republican Congressmen and aides at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia Wednesday.

"'Pop, pop, pop, pop.' It's a sound I'll never forget," Bishop said, according to the Twitter account ofTimesreporterEmily Cochrane.

Update: 9:39a.m. EDTFirst lady Melania Trump tweeted a statement on the shooting at an Alexandria, Virginia baseball field that left five people injured, including Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, who reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"Thank you to the first responders who rushed in to help protect those who were hurt in Alexandria, VA. My thoughts & prayers to everyone!" Trump tweeted.

Update: 9:31a.m. EDTRepresentativeMo Brooks (R-Alabama) tweeted he was "Praying for those injured at this morning's practice", while adding"I'm especially thankful to the US Capitol Police who risked their lived to protect us," after being present at the scene Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire and reportedly injuredfive people, including Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip.

Police said they have detained the suspected gunman.

Update: 9:25 a.m. EDTWitnesses have described a frighteningscene Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on a Republican Congressional baseball practice. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) described on MSNBC the gunman firing off dozens of rounds on a wide open field before Capitol Police were able to stop the shooter. Police reported that five people were injured, including Representative Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, who reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"In the field, I see Representative Scalise is shot but moving, and hes trying to drag himself through the dirt and out into the outfield," Paul said. Before police were able to apprehend the shooter, there was little place to hide, Paul said.

"The people in the field unfortunately didnt have much of a chance because nobody could get to them and they couldnt get to us and it was a wide open field,"he said on MSNBC. "There was no way to get to people like Scalise until the firing had stopped."

Update: 9:13a.m. EDTFive people were transported off the scenetheir injuries and location undisclosed at the momentafter a gunman opened fire as Republican Congressmen practiced Wednesday on a baseball field ahead of the annual Congressional baseball game scheduled for Thursday. Among the injured was RepresentativeSteve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, who was reportedly shot in the hip area and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with him," tweeted President Donald Trump Wednesday morning.

Police said they detained the suspected gunman but have not released his identity. Early reports have suggested a man asked the Congressmen if they were Republicans or Democrats before shooting.

"A guy...walked up to us that was asking whether it was Republicans or Democrats out there,"RepresentativeRon DeSantis told Fox News Wednesday morning. "And it was just a little odd then he walked towards the area where this all happened."

Original story:

A gunman opened fire Wednesday as Republican congressmen practiced at a baseball field. Early reports indicate RepresentativeSteve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, was shot as were several aides.

Police said they detained the shooter who opened fire on the congressmen. The lawmakers described a harrowing scene.

"I was on deck about to hit batting practice on the third base side of home plate, and I hear a loud bam, RepresentativeMo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, said onCNN. "And I look around and behind third base, in the third base dugout, which is cinder blocks, I see a rifle and a little bit of a body, and then I hear another blam, and I realize there is an active shooter."

Brooks, who saidthe shooter appeared to be a white man, said that he heard Scalise screamas he was shot near second base.

President Donald Trump quickly responded to the reports of the shootingin a statement. "We are deeply saddened by this tragedy," Trump said. "Our thoughts and prayer are with the members of Congress, their staffs, Capitol Police, first responders, and all other affected."

The shooter's motive was not immediately known. A man on the scenereportedly asked the men if they representedRepublicans or Democrats before he began shooting.

Katie Fillus of Alexandria told The Washington Post she was walking her dog nearby when she heard very very loud popping sounds. And a I knew a baseball team was practicing, and everybody started screaming: Hit the ground hit the ground!

The gunshots grew louder, she said, like he was walking across the field toward all of us, the gunman, and I was screaming: Can someone help me? I have my dogs. and I cant get behind anything."

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Congress Shooting Live Updates: Man Asked About Republicans Or Democrats During Alexandria Baseball Practice - Newsweek

House Democrats plan to adopt a National Football League hiring policy and compile a new database of minority job applicants as part of a push to diversity the staffing ranks on Capitol Hill.

Since last years elections, Democratic congressional leaders have been facing pressure from minority staffers, lawmakers and organizations for failing to ensure that a party that draws outsize support from Asian, black, Latino and gay voters also employs such people on Capitol Hill.

In the House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team are set to announce plans on Wednesday to launch the House Democratic Diversity Initiative, a project that will include a full-time staffer responsible for placing minorities in more staff jobs across the caucus.

Shortly after taking office in January, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) made similar changes designed to help Democratic senators identify and hire more minority applicants.

The new House Democratic diversity director, who has not yet been hired, will oversee a database of potential applicants to fill policy and communications jobs that will draw names with insights from outside groups, including Asian, black and Latino staffing organizations, according to Pelosis office.

White men are a minority in the House Democratic caucus, with Asian, black Latino, women and openly gay members outnumbering them, a milestone that occurred over the past decade. The new diversity push for staffing will help our Members build diverse staffs and strengthen our work on behalf of Americans of all backgrounds and perspectives, Pelosi said in a statement announcing the plans, the details of which were shared first with The Washington Post.

Drew Hammill, Pelosis deputy chief of staff and top spokesman, noted that Leader Pelosis office is, without rival, the most diverse office on Capitol Hill. Leader Pelosi has always believed in the importance of leading by example.

Her senior staff includes an Arab American chief of staff, Nadeam Elshami; two deputy chiefs of staff who are gay and female, respectively; a national security adviser, communications director and press secretary who are all black women; and a Latino member services director, according to Hammill. Overall, Pelosi employs 55 people in her leadership and district offices, more than half of whom are women (31). Forty-four percent of her combined staffs (24) are minorities, he said.

Among House Republicans, Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has no formal policy for his office or his conference requiring the recruitment or hiring of minorities, according to aides. Earlier this year he promoted his longtime aide, Jonathan Burks, to be his chief of staff. There are no diversity hiring requirements among Senate Republicans.

Pelosi and her team tried codifying House-wide diversity rules back in 2010, but they lost the majority and the funding that might come with such changes, aides said. Now, they plan to implement the plans for the caucus amid pressure from outside groups. A series of op-eds and widely circulated social media posts by progressive activists and columnists late last year began drawing attention to the dearth of minority or gay senior staffers.

The new diversity director will work with Rep. Robert A. Brady (Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, who will oversee a new Member Advisory Council that will draw members from the congressional Asian Pacific American, black, Hispanic, LGBT, womens progressive and moderate caucuses, according to Hammill.

The new council will be tasked with setting diversity hiring goals and provide guidance on how offices will implement the Rooney Rule, named for Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who persuaded the NFL to adopt a policy that requires teams to interview minorities for any head coaching or senior football operations positions. Use of the rule does not necessarily result in hiring, but it compels the league to seek out, promote and retain minority talent.

Its not yet clear whether Democrats plan to apply the rule just to senior hires or all job openings.

In January, Schumer adopted the rule for his own office after meetings with minority staffing groups and minority staffers. He also encouraged, but did not require, that other Democratic senators adopt the policy.

Congressional offices are not required to publicly report the demographics of staffers, but groups such as the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association and the Congressional Black Associates have tried in past years to compile reports on the disparities. In a 2010 report, Latinos represented just 6 percent of the congressional workforce. The numbers havent changed much since then.

Francisco Bencosme, a staffer with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who also leads the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association, said that his group has been working with Pelosi and other Democratic leaders to make changes to staffing decisions.

We support the announcement, Bencosme said in a statement, adding later, We believe this initiative can only succeed through a concerted strategy that looks at data collection, transparency, pipeline, retention and outreach holistically.

Continue reading here:
House Democrats set to adopt the 'Rooney Rule' in push to diversify staffs - Washington Post

But he also told a packed auditorium that targeting Trump was not enough.

"I am often asked by the media and others, 'How did it come about that Donald Trump, the most unpopular presidential candidate in the modern history of our country, won the election?'" Sanders said. "My answer is that Trump didn't win the election -- the Democratic Party lost the election."

Yet the danger for Democrats is that they lose sight of a basic problem the party has faced: the need for a stronger message to energize their base and broaden their reach. The risk for Democrats is that, like the rest of the nation, they become so consumed by the chaos in Washington that they don't devote any attention to cleaning up their own house and preparing for the next set of elections.

So far President Trump's term has given Democrats a massive opening. The choices that he has made about public policy -- deregulating energy and financial markets, draconian health care changes that would leave millions of Americans with less health care coverage, a supply-side tax cut that would most benefit upper income Americans and the utter absence of a serious jobs policy -- have exposed the weaknesses and limitations of "conservative populism."

President Trump's fiery rhetoric belied the history of Republican politics in recent decades, which has not done much to benefit middle- and working-class Americans. Although Trump promised to be different, he is not.

In response to this kind of attack that Republicans are likely to level against them in the years to come, Democrats must make a convincing case that their party actually has something to say about the ongoing economic insecurity that afflicts middle-class communities in a moment of low unemployment.

Some Democrats, such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have tried to build on Sanders' appeal with new policy initiatives such as free higher education.

But state initiatives are not enough. National Democrats need to do more to outline and promote a robust domestic agenda that will reframe the midterm campaigns of 2018 and the presidential campaign of 2020. They have to demonstrate that they are a party that is not, in fact, beholden to big interests, as Sanders has argued, and has a vision that will translate into real economic gains for all Americans.

It will be vital that Democrats take these steps without dismissing the important issues that the party has embraced since the 1960s. Too many critics of the party reflexively blamed "identity" issues such as feminism and civil rights as the reason that Democrats like Hillary Clinton lost. That too would be a big mistake.

Rather than downplay questions such as criminal justice reform or equal pay, Democrats need to work harder to explain to voters why these are not "base" issues and why their agenda better responds to the concerns of the electorate living in red and blue states. They also need to make a more compelling case that only by dealing with issues such as sexism in the workplace or racism in policing can the nation actually craft policies that make all middle- and working-class Americans feel more secure about their futures.

Nor can Democrats leave foreign policy and national security on the sidelines. The problems that existed during President Obama's term -- the growth of ISIS, the expansion of Russian cyber and military aggression, and the turmoil in Syria -- have cost the party considerable support among voters who fear for the stability of the international order. The ease of criticizing President Trump's inchoate and stumbling moves around the globe do not excuse Democrats from coming up with a doctrine of their own.

President Trump has an ability to take up all the oxygen in the room. By the time his era of scandal, controversy and bombast comes to an end, many politicians in both parties won't even remember what they were planning to do when they went to work. The newsrooms are likewise so obsessed with Trump that it becomes extraordinarily difficult to give airtime to anything else.

Democrats can't fell prey to this trap. Otherwise they won't be able to capitalize on this situation and navigate the political and policy challenges that will arise once President Trump is gone.

Historically, political parties thrive when they go through a process of self-examination and learn to better address policies they had ignored at a cost. In the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt and congressional Democrats put forth a robust vision of using government in response to economic depression that revolutionized the role of the state in American life.

Democrats now face a similar kind of political crossroads. Whether they learn from 2016 and develop a more exciting set of policies, rather than coasting through 2018 on an anti-Trump message, will have as much impact on the party's future as Trump's fate in the months ahead.

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Democrats, take your cues from Bernie Sanders (opinion ...

Senate Democrats on Tuesday continued to assail how Republican leaders are crafting legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system, calling it legislative malpractice, and are using GOPleaders own statements from years past to make their point.

While Republicanmembers routinely criticize the manner in which Democrats passed the 2010 health care law on a strictly party-line vote, there are stark differences between that process and the current one.

Democrats held a number of public hearings and marathon markups on the legislation before bringing it to the floor for a vote. Republicans, however, have refused to hold public hearings on a bill that would affectnearly one-sixth of the countrys economy and are prepared to bypass the regular committee process and bring the legislation directly to the Senate floor.

We are in the midst of one of the greatest acts of legislative malpractice Washington has ever seen. Senate Republicans are squirreled away behind closed doors, writing a bill they wont let the public read, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumertold reporters Tuesday. They dont want the American people to see how poorly they would do under this bill.

The New York Democratcited critical comments Vice President Mike Pence, then an Indiana congressman,made after the 2010 health care law passedaboutthe process used by Democrats.

He said, American people deserve time to read this and every member of Congress ought to commit to reading the bill. Today, no member of Congress can read the bill because we dont know what it is, Schumer said, just moments before Pence and his security detail passed behind the Democratic leader. The comments of House Speaker Paul D. Ryanand Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellassailing the 2009-2010 effort as a rush job were trotted out as well.

While Republicans continue to charge ahead on their overhaul effort, leadership spent a notable portion of their weekly press conference Tuesday defending the current process.

McConnell a vocal critic of the tactics used by Democrats to pass the 2010law attributed the lack of public hearings to the fact that both parties have been dealing with the issues surrounding the U.S. health care system for the past seven years.

We know a lot about the subject, we know how complicated it is. Nobody is hiding the ball here. Feel free to ask anybody anything. But theres been gazillions of hearings on this subject, the Kentucky Republican told reporters afterthe weekly GOP policy lunch. Well let you see the bill when we finally release it.

Other Republican leaders said the open process for the legislation would begin once it reaches the chamber floor for a vote.

Now we hear them complaining about transparency. The Republican Senate bill under reconciliation will go to the Senate floor and be open for amendments. It will be an open amendment process, said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

Meanwhile, several GOP senatorssaid Monday they were unaware of key policy details that were under consideration. Fifteen Republican senators on Tuesday traversed up Pennsylvania Avenue for a lunch meeting with President Donald Trump and Pence on health care.

At the start of the lunch, Trump said he wanted the Senate to pass a bill to repeal and replace former President Barack Obamas signature domestic policy achievement as soon as we can do it. He predicted the Senate will eventually pass a phenomenal bill that will feature a great health care plan that will be far better than the Obama-era law.

John T. Bennett contributed to this report.

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Democrats Decry 'Legislative Malpractice' on Health Care - Roll Call