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Joni Ashbrook| Special to the Advertiser

Democrats alone in the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden's transformative legislation called Build Back Better (BBB) last November. This bill not only invests in people, but addresses the real threat of climate change.

Unfortunately, the bill has been stalled in the Senate by all Republicans and two Democrats who are as oily as many in the GOP because of their investments in or donations from the fossil fuel industry.

These are just a few proposals included in BBB plan:

Tackling the climate crisis

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has 195 member countries and more scientists contributing to their work.

The IPCC's recent report warns that gas emissions need to peak by 2025 to limit global warming close to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

The BBB plan would be the largest effort to combat climate change in American history.

Universal pre-school

Free high-quality universal pre-school for children age three and four.

Lowers child care costs

Makes high-quality child care more affordable.

Extends the Child Tax Credit

Allows for up to $3,000 per child age 6 to 17, and $3,600 per child under 6.

Makes health care more affordable

Reduce premiums for 9 million Americans through the Affordable Care Act tax credit.

Lower prescription drug prices

The plan would allow Medicare to negotiate prices to bring down costs for everyone.

Paid family and medical leave

Providing up to four weeks paid leave for parental bonding or to deal with a loved one's medical condition. The U.S. is now the only industrialized nation that doesn't offer this.

Expand Medicare

It would cover vision, hearing and dental needs.

Improves theVeterans Affairs Department's medical facilities

To give our vets the care they deserve.

Addresses thehousing crisis

Invests in new construction and preservation of housing.

The wealthiest Americans and corporations would fund the BBB plan by paying their fair share

For example, companies that report over $1 billion in profits would pay at least a 15%tax rate on those gigantic profits, and the tax code would be revised to prevent tax avoidance.

These are just a few of Democrats' proposals that they are fighting for, but Republicans don't offer a single solution to a real problem.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was recently asked what his agenda would be if Republicans regained control of Congress. He replied that it was a very good question. And I'll let you know when we take it back.

It's astounding that the leader of one of the major parties feels he doesn't even have to pretend to care about the problems facing us today.

Also, former President Donald Trump was asked by Newsmax what Republicans should do if they take back Congress. Trump didn't have a single proposal, but bashed Democrats as horrible people who hate our country.

Needless to say that is dangerous talk from a leader of any democratic country.

Republicans are terrible at legislating, but absolutely the best at fueling outrage over nonexistent problems.

Republicans, with the help of Fox News and other right-wing media, have whipped people into a frenzy over Critical Race Theory being taught in public schools regardless of the fact that it absolutely is not.

Now Republicans are passing laws making it illegal to teach about LGBTQ issues in Kindergarten through third grade. News flash, it is not taught.

It's no accident that the Don't Say Gay bill also feeds the outrage machine. A study from the University of Michigan found that anger motivates people to vote.

Republicans need to stop creating problems that further divide us and join with Democrats to solve real problems.

Ashbrook is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. She is a retired school teacher and may be reached at trublu795@gmail.com.

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Commentary: Democrats work to solve real problems while Republicans manufacture them - Austin American-Statesman

The midterms are going to be a bloodbath for Democrats. The Democrats are going to get trounced in the midterms. The question isn't whether the Democrats are going to lose but by how much.

These are the headlines circulating across the media these days, and they are sure to only increase as we get closer and closer to November's midterm elections. Pundits across the political spectrum are predicting that Democrats will lose their majorities in the House and Senate. Delighting in this accepted "wisdom," Republicans have stopped even pretending to govern while they wait out the clock to election day, and now even some Democrats have begun to parrot this narrative of imminent defeat.

Seriously!?! Since when in an election cycle do we just skip over the voting?

Democrats have helped create more jobs at a faster rate and at higher pay than at any time in recent decades. Democrats have helped vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans against COVID-19 and infection rates are plummeting. After decades of bipartisan shortcomings, Democrats have delivered historic investment in universal broadband, rail expansion, and road and bridge repair, with all the careers to be made and futures to be built from these accomplishments yet to come.

Meanwhile, President Biden has united fractured western democracies against Russia's brutal aggression in Ukraine and put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court while he's at it.

And while the Democrats have been achieving all this, Republican voters attacked the nation's Capitol to overturn an election at the bidding of President Trump; Republican legislators sent vigilantes to patrol women's health choices in Texas; and Republicans turned students into snitches on teachers in Virginia, moved to overturn the will of the voters in 19 states and nominated one conspiracy theorist after another to every level of government. Republicans also blocked every reform and relief package they could, from gun safety to energy security to voting rights. They demeaned a highly qualified nominee to the Supreme Court just for fun, praised dictators in Russia and Hungary, and offered no positive agenda for the country or the world.

The 139 Republican members of the House and Senate who voted in 2020 to support a coup here at home will finally have to answer to voters in November.

And still the pundits say Democrats will lose the midterms!?!

Political pundits and consultants are always confident and usually well-meaning, but often wrong. And that how it should be. After all, in a true democracy, the outcome belongs to voters, and voters alone.

Democrats would do better to quit whining about poor messaging and poor media coverage and get back to engaging directly with voters. Folks are anxious about rising gas, housing and grocery prices, not to mention the cost of medicine. They are also uneasy about the state of the world. However much Republican policies may be at the root of what ails us, however much Democrats have accomplished already in the Biden administration, people are genuinely and understandably frustrated that so much wrong is not yet right.

Democrats should feel that, see it, acknowledge it. That is not failure. It's motivation.

The case for voting for Democrats in the midterms is not to reward Democrats for what they have already accomplished, but to enable Democrats to finish the job.

The job is to revive the American Dreamfor everyone, everywhere. That's what the changes that have been made and the ones that are waiting to be made add up to, and why they matter.

No matter how much progress has already been made, Democrats can't let up on doing the work to earn every vote. That means showing up where voters live, work, play and pray, listening carefully, and engaging respectfully on the subjects they most worry about.

When we show them by our actions, not just our rhetoric, that for us government belongs to and is about people, it becomes clear pretty quickly that Democrats are the only ones even trying to fix what's broken and deliver a chance at a good job, decent, dependable healthcare, a safe, affordable place to live, a more secure nation, and a better future for every American everywhere.

So, Democrats, how about we quit wringing our hands about polls and pundits, and about media who dwell on what's not yet done? Instead of trying to forecast the future, let's do what we can to shape it. That's the way to win, and to deserve to win.

Deval Patrick is the co-chair of American Bridge 21st Century and the former two-term Democratic governor of Massachusetts.

The views in this article are the writer's own.

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Democrats: Stop Whining About Polls. We Have the Record to Win in November | Opinion - Newsweek

Opinion: The Democrats' race to seize control of the Arizona House is over even before it has begun. It's all part of a genius plan to remain irrelevant.

With just over six months to go until the November election, Democrats have already given up any hope of seizing control of the Arizona Legislature.

Granted, it was always going to be a long shot, what with new political districts that favor Republicans, the GOPs historical advantage in voter turnout and the usual midterm fate that befalls the party in charge in Washington.

But the Arizona DemocraticParty hasthrown in the towel even before this years legislative races have begun, not even bothering to field enough candidates to at least try to win a majority in the Arizona House.

Some Democrats are privately fuming.

All hell is breaking loose in the Democratic Party right now … , one party insider told me. Incompetence I can deal with. But stupidity just does not make sense.

Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Raquel Tern could not be reached for comment. Party spokeswoman Morgan Dick, however,praised the 94 Democrats who are running for the Legislature.

Were confident voters will elect candidates who share their values, and those candidates will be Democrats, she said, in a statement. Despite a vitriolic atmosphere, Arizona Democrats have fielded an impressive slate of candidates across Arizona and we are ready to win majorities in the legislature.

Its difficult to see how you willwin a majority when youdont even field enough candidates in the races that could get you there. If there is such a thing as political malpractice, this is it.

Democrats are currently two votes shy of a majority in both the House (31-29) and Senate (16-14). In other words, theyre basically irrelevant.

As long as Republicans stick together on issues like education funding, abortion and tax cuts for the states richest residents, Democrats are mere bystanders in the hallways of power.

So it only makessense that they would go full tilt toward trying to pick up a couple of seats in each chamber in 2022.

It was never going to be easy. Newly drawn political districts give Republicans 13 safe districts (meaning 26 seats in the 60-member House) to the Democrats 12 (24 seats). The remaining five districts are considered competitive. (Districts, 2, 4, 9, 13and 16, for those who are keeping track.)

That is 10 seats in the House, theoretically up for grabs by either party. Yet Democrats are only fielding candidates for six of those 10 seats, meaning the absolute best they can hope for isa 30-30 tie.

And that, only if pigs start flying in circles around the state Capitolbecause four of those five competitive districts lean Republican.

In the Senate, Democrats are at least running a candidate in each of the five competitive districts, giving theman outsidechance of winning a majority, assuming they can ground those joyriding pigs in mid loop-de-loop.

But the race to seize control of the House is over even before it haseven begun, leaving someparty operatives either scratching their heads or grinding their teeth.

The ones who are old-timers like me, were sitting back and saying Oh my god, not again, longtime Democratic consultant Bob Grossfeld told me. Its like the opportunities come along pretty frequently …but its just blown up, merely because of an inability to carry offense or just carrying lousy defense and I cant tell the difference right now.

Some activists tell me that the strategy of the partys legislative campaign committee was focused not on winning a House majority but on winning individual seats fielding only one candidate for a districts two seats and thus increasing that candidate'sodds of victory.

What they cannot explain is Legislative District 13, the most competitive districtin the state.Democrats already have one seat in this Chandler district, with Rep. Jennifer Pawlik.For some reason understood only by thegurus of the Democratic Party, they decided not to run a second candidate to try to snag the other seat.

Did I mention political malpractice?

Democratic consultant Chad Campbell says the single-shot strategy makes sensein the long run. It gives Democrats a chance to get a foothold in those Republican leaning competitive districts in 2022, when Republicans have an inherent advantage, and then build on that in future years.

Its a strategic approach to changing a district over time, as opposed to going in with two candidates and losing both seats, Campbell told me.It can be counter intuitive but done correctly it can work and then you can start to change the political leanings of the district over a couple of cycles.

So give up and hope for the best in 2024or 2026?

The strategy of the party that in 2020 came oh so close to finally winning a seat at the tableis to retreat, rendering Democratic legislatorseven more irrelevant than they already are?

Whatgenius drew up this plan?

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

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Democrats have already given up on winning the Arizona House this year. Genius plan - The Arizona Republic

A number of state lawmakers pull double-duty as local Democratic Party bosses playing a key role in choosing candidates for state Civil and Supreme Court judgeships. Yet these same lawmakers refuse to grant judges the discretion to send accused criminals they deem dangerous to jail.

In other words, they dont trust their own picks.

State Sen. Jamaal Bailey heads the Bronx Democratic Party organization (though he surely heeds the counsel of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie). Over in the Assembly, Democrats Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (Bklyn), Michael Cusick (SI) and Pamela Hunter (Onondaga) head their county committees.

The Legislatures Democrats insist that judges cant be trusted to exercise discretion because the results will be racist, which can only mean the judges are racist. (And no matter that every other state, even the others that have eliminated cash bail as inherently unfair, gives judges the power to remand dangerous offenders.)

Ignored in this crusade are the mostly minority victims of crime. Notably, the protesters who recently rallied outside Heasties Bronx office for fixes to the no-bail law were mainly black, Hispanic and Asian women and mothers.

Seems to us that the real racism is to treat those New Yorkers as if theyre invisible.

Read more from the original source:
Do NY Democrats really believe their handpicked judges are racially biased? - New York Post

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Two Democrats and two Republicans have filed for the June 14 special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, in a South Texas congressional seat that the GOP wants to flip.

The filing deadline was 5 p.m. Wednesday, and the candidates are Democrat Dan Sanchez, a Harlingen attorney; Republican Mayra Flores, the current GOP nominee for the seat in the November general election; Republican Juana "Janie" Cantu-Cabrera, one of Flores' competitors from the March primary; and Democrat Rene Coronado of Harlingen, who listed his occupation as "city civil service director."

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The special election was triggered by Vela's resignation last month to take a job with Akin Gump, a prominent law and lobbying firm. He had already announced he was not seeking reelection.

The winner of the special election will only get to finish Vela's term, which extends until January. But Republicans are eager to capture the seat as they try to gain new ground in South Texas, and the special election is happening under the current, more competitive boundaries of the 34th District. The November election for a full term in Congress will be held under new district boundaries that were redrawn during last year's redistricting process.

Top Republicans have already consolidated behind Flores. She has been endorsed for the special election by Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi, Texas GOP vice chair Cat Parks and the Congressional Leadership Fund, the leading super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership.

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Sanchez, a former Cameron County commissioner, has the support of Vela, as well as U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the full term in the 34th District. He declined to run in the special election.

The other Republican, Cantu-Cabrera, previously faced Flores in the March 1 primary for the full term in the 34th District. Cantu-Cabrera came in last in the four-way primary, getting 7% of the vote to 61% for Flores.

Early voting for the special election starts May 31.

We cant wait to welcome you in person and online to the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, our multiday celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the days news all taking place just steps away from the Texas Capitol from Sept. 22-24. When tickets go on sale in May, Tribune members will save big. Donate to join or renew today.

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Two Democrats, two Republicans will compete in special election for South Texas congressional seat that GOP wants to flip - KSAT San Antonio