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Lifezette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham blasted congressional Republicans for their contribution to the $1.07 trillion spending package, telling Fox News' "Hannity" that they were "cowering over a government shutdown."

Ingraham told host Sean Hannity that if she was advising Trump, she would tell him to veto the bill and "make them own it."

"Some of these Republicans, Sean, and you know who they are, are resisting Trump as fiercely in their own way as the Democrats are," said Ingraham. "I think Mitch McConnell said right off the bat that we are not going to shut down the government. Now, what does that tell the Democrats? Go for broke."

The radio host and Fox News contributor was harshly critical of the GOP for allowing the bill to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood.

"To fund that monstrosity of killing," Ingraham said. "I would have said [as Trump], Look, you own it, thats your priority, you want to die on the hill of Planned Parenthood, you go right ahead, but Im going to veto that."

Ingraham also blamed House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for House Republicans' halting effort to vote on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

"Trump won in November on his agenda," she said. "People wanted change. They didnt want Paul Ryan ...They voted for Donald Trumps populist agenda.

"If you cant put points on the board, you cant be the quarterback. Thats it."

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Ingraham: Some Republicans resisting Trump 'as fiercely as the Democrats are' - Fox News

By Pete Schroeder | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opposed to Republican legislation that would repeal major sections of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on Tuesday made multiple efforts to delay the bill.

The House Financial Services Committee was due to consider Representative Jeb Hensarling's sweeping bill to rework the 2010 law. In addition to eliminating large portions of Dodd-Frank - enacted in the wake of the global financial crisis - it would put new handcuffs on regulators charged with writing and enforcing its rules.

The partisan maneuvering to slow work on the bill demonstrated how divided the two parties are regarding rules for the financial sector, casting doubt on Congress's ability to revisit them significantly despite Republican President Donald Trump's vow to "do a number" on existing regulations.

First, Democrats ordered a vote on whether the committee even wanted to actually consider the bill. That amendment passed with support from only the Republican majority.

Then, Democrats ordered that all 589 pages of the law be read out loud by the committee clerk. The reading of legislative language is almost always waived by committee members when considering a bill.

After about 3-1/2 hours of the bill being read to a largely empty committee room, Democrats agreed to shelve that request and proceed to the amendments they wanted to offer. Democrats had drawn up roughly 140 amendments they wanted to offer to change the bill, according to a House aide. But that number is expected to shrink as the two parties work out a path forward.

Hensarling announced on Tuesday that despite earlier plans to vote on amendments to the bill throughout the day, no votes would be held on the bill until Wednesday morning at the earliest.

The procedural obstacles were all aimed at a bill that is not expected to actually become law, as the sweeping rewrite of Dodd-Frank is not expected to garner enough support in the Senate, which the Republicans hold by a slim majority.

But it is expected to pass the Republican-led House, and the skirmish over it was a clear indication of how much Democrats are willing to dig in on measures that would make life easier for the financial sector.

"This is one of the worst bills I've seen in my time in Congress," said Representative Maxine Waters, the committee's top Democrat, as the committee began debate on the measure. "The bill is rotten to the core, and simply carries water for Trump and his buddies on Wall Street."

Hensarling's bill would allow large banks to avoid most Dodd-Frank rules if they agree to establish a 10 percent capital ratio, and also scraps several powers given to regulators after the financial crisis to more closely scrutinize some of the nation's largest institutions.

It also makes several changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, severely limiting its power and giving Congress and the White House more direct control over its operations and funding.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

WASHINGTON The U.S. National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records of Americans' phone calls last year, even after Congress limited its ability to collect bulk phone records, according to an annual report issued on Tuesday by the top U.S. intelligence officer.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Russia succeeded in its goals of sowing discord in U.S. politics by meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which will likely inspire similar future efforts, two top former U.S. voices on intelligence said on Tuesday.

Originally posted here:
Democrats dig in, delay against Dodd-Frank overhaul - Reuters

New York Times

Emboldened by Trump but Divided by Generations, Democrats Look to 2020 New York Times MANCHESTER, N.H. A vast array of Democratic leaders, divided by generations but uniformly emboldened by President Trump's perceived vulnerability, have begun taking palpable steps toward seeking the White House in an election that is still three and ... What Obama Can Do for the DemocratsBloomberg Trump chides Democrats for blocking his policiesNew York Post Trump tweet-shames Democrats, promises health care nirvanaCNET Politico -Washington Post -The Atlantic -Constitution Daily all 188 news articles »

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Emboldened by Trump but Divided by Generations, Democrats Look to 2020 - New York Times

Before fighting the latest Republican attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act, progressive Democrats had a tiff with former president Barack Obama and the ethics of his two $400,000 paid speeches, including one at a health-care conference put on by the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

It just speaks to the power of Wall Street and the influence of big money in the political process, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

I was troubled by that, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a radio interview. The influence of dollars on this place is what scares me.

Locked out of power in Washington and most states, Democrats have shaken off the stupor of their 2016 defeat. Theyve fought Republicans to a stalemate on some of President Trumps campaign pledges. In special elections, theyve turned out voters and forced the GOP to spend millions of dollars defending once-safe seats. Their most vulnerable senators, facing a daunting 2018 map, have broken their fundraising records.

But like Republicans after Obamas victories, Democrats are in a state of constant tension. An energized left-wing base is waging and winning arguments about messaging and strategy. Like the tea party in 2009 and 2010, that base quickly determined the congressional partys style of opposition; like the tea party, it sees messy public fights as the way out of the doldrums.

Democrats have to have an argument, said Robert Borosage, a progressive organizer whose Campaign for Americas Future merged last year into the new group Peoples Action. What Sanders has made clear is that there be a real debate on the left about what our agenda is, and as we debate, we drive that into the Democratic Party.

The Obama speaking gigs were bound to start a fight. Hillary Clintons fees for speeches between her State Department career and presidential bid were a point of contention throughout the 2016 campaign, fueling the primary with Sanders and letting Trump portray his opponent as a corporate puppet. In defending Obamas speeches, the former presidents team used language that had not worked for Clinton.

Regardless of venue or sponsor, President Obama will be true to his values, his vision, and his record, Obama spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement Wednesday evening. In 2008, Barack Obama raised more money from Wall Street than any candidate in history and still went on to successfully pass and implement the toughest reforms on Wall Street since FDR.

With few Trump victories to celebrate, Republicans are highlighting intra-Democratic spats over abortion, accusing the party of being run by its fringe, and taking solace in its lack of leadership. As Trump and congressional Republicans punted on their health-care bill, the Republican National Committee and several party surrogates insisted that it was the Democrats fresh off a Democratic National Committee unity tour with Sanders and DNC Chairman Tom Perez who were listless.

I have no idea who the leader of the Democratic Party is, scoffed White House counselor Kellyanne Conway this past week, on the Trump-friendly morning show Fox and Friends. Is it Tom Perez ... who was booed routinely through his profanity-laced appearances last week on his disunity tour? Is it Bernie Sanders who won 22 states last year in the Democratic Primary but refuses to call himself a Democrat?

To Democrats, the mockery sounds like projection. Trump won 46 percent of the popular vote last year; according to CNNs polling, House Speaker Paul D. Ryans favorable rating has fallen from 46 percent to 38 percent since the start of the year.

But Democrats have not gained much from the contrast. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week found that just 28percent of Americans say that the Democrats were in touch with the concerns of most people, 10 points below the number who thought that of Americas wealthiest president. Three years ago, 48percent of Americans thought the party was in touch.

The Democrats messaging problems were visible throughout last week, when leaders in Congress held meandering news conferences to attack Trump on his broken promises. The muddle started with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who used a Meet the Press interview about the use of her image in Republican attack ads to haltingly set up the Democrats campaign against Ryan (R-Wis.).

I think its really important for the voters in those districts to know who the candidates will be voting with, she said. Will they be voting with Paul Ryan, who wants to eliminate the guarantee of Medicare, who has voted to privatize Social Security, whos there to dismantle Medicaid?

The rest of the weeks messaging events made few headlines, apart from an intraparty argument about whether to demand health-care money in the resolution to fund the government. Yet as Republicans had done for years, Democrats in the first 100 days lost faith that mainstream media and Washington news cycles could be fair or worth winning.

Ultimately I just dont believe a voter in a competitive district is going to be turned out by a leader in Washington that they dont see on the news, said Guy Cecil, the chief strategist of the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA.

Boxed out of the national headlines by Trump, Democrats have grown more concerned with what animates their base. Republicans had a field day mocking the Perez-Sanders speaking tour, with cable networks playing footage of Perez being booed by loud minorities of audience members, and abortion rights groups coaxing an apologetic statement out of Perez after Sanders campaigned with an antiabortion candidate for mayor of Omaha.

But Democrats spent much of 2016 watching a Republican Party that looked hopelessly divided, hyping every instance of a Republican criticizing Trump.

Sometimes things get bumpy, said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who narrowly lost the DNC chairs race to Perez despite being backed by Sanders.

Todays energy, however, comes from a left that continues to challenge the Democrats to move. Last Tuesday, Connecticut Democrats, who had nearly lost control of their state senate during the Obama presidency, watched a member of the progressive Working Families Party take a safe blue seat. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he was hiring staffers not just for his 2018 reelection, but also to work with the progressive resistance groups springing up around the state.

For the most part, Democrats spent the first months of Trumps presidency responding. Republicans hoped that eight red-state Democrats would feel pressure to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; just three did. Smatterings of House Democrats have voted with Republicans to roll back regulations unpopular in their districts; no other Trump agenda item has won bipartisan support.

To the extent that Democrats have a competing agenda, its driven by the left. Last week, while Trump announced his tax priorities, Sanders held a rally with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) to introduce the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. It was sponsored by 22 Democrats and no Republicans.

As Sanders criticized Obamas speaking fees, the academic and left-wing activist Cornel West was asking Sanders, in a column, to build on the ruins of a dying Democratic party and start his own third party. West specifically endorsed a Peoples Party that a few veterans of the Sanders campaign are trying to launch, using every Democratic misstep to make the pitch.

Even while criticizing Democrats, and while refusing to join the party, Sanders has refused to abandon the party. If there are places in this country where somebody wants to run as an independent, go for it, he said. But right now, whats absolutely imperative is that the Democratic Party be completely reformed.

Read more at PowerPost

Originally posted here:
Democrats find strength in disunity - Washington Post

MANCHESTER, N.H. Yes, Joe Biden said, the Democratic Party is in crisis. And so is America.

But it's not too late.

Story Continued Below

Returning repeatedly here to the combined 172,000-vote margin in the three states that decided last years presidential election, the former vice president said Democrats need to face how deep the problem is not a fluke, not just about Hillary Clintons performance, not just about a campaign by Donald Trump that clearly disgusted him.

The cadre of people who were all ours for so long they doubted whether we still remembered, the former vice president said, in his first major political speech since the inauguration. Im absolutely positive they want to be with us, but we have to prove again that we understand that hopelessness. We have to show them, we have to be the source of their hope.

I know it seems like were hopelessly divided. I know it seems like were in a political death match we just cant figure out how to get out. But were better than that, he added later. We have to come together. The American people are ready.

Biden took the stage first with his wife, Jill Biden, thanking the crowd for their support over the years, especially after the death of his son Beau.

He quickly tried to pierce the tension in the air.

Guys, Im not running, Biden insisted at the beginning of his speech, acknowledging with a smile on his face the speculation stoked by his appearance in the first-in-the-nation primary state a declaration met by the crowd leaping to its feet for a brief Run, Joe, Run! chant.

Biden didnt mention the conversations he and his staff are having about building a strategy so that hell be best positioned to run if he decides to at the end of next year or his longtime consultant Mike Donilon, who was perhaps most in favor of his running in 2016, who watched the speech from the side of the room.

I dont think Donald Trump can hear you! New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley called out to the crowd, urging them to cheer more loudly for Biden as the event began.

Biden also stopped at several points to say nice things about Clinton, what a great president shed have been, how she faced a double standard because she was a woman, even as he made clear over and over again how flat he clearly felt her campaign fell in breaking through.

But Clinton doesnt deserve all the blame, he said.

Trump was pretty smart. He made it all personal. It wasnt the presss fault, but they focused on all of that, Biden said. This bile sucked up all the oxygen.

For example, Clinton never got much attention for her free community college proposal, he said.

Biden mostly avoided talking directly about Trump, using his name only in passing asides, and referring to him at one section of his hour-long speech as the new guy. He said the Trump administration has been marked so far by an assault on the things we value so deeply, and pointing to a personal priority, said that the current administration hadnt shown any interest in continuing his cancer moon-shot work, bringing together money and research to try to find a cure.

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Democrats should be angry about Trump, Biden said, but they should be angry too about how much theyve lost their way and what thats meant for America.

What kind of country are we becoming? What kind of country do we believe we want to be and how do we get there? Biden said. How, how do we unite America again? How do we unite this country? How do we end this bitter, bitter political division?

The answer, Biden argued, was in talking more about three core American values: Dignity, thinking big, and optimism.

Scapegoating has become a national political obligation, Biden said. Just build a wall, thatll keep them out. The fears of these people whove been hurt are being played upon, instead of appealing to their better angels.

Contrast that, Biden said, to the events he did for Clinton during the campaign with white union members in the Midwest, when he got them applauding for same sex marriage, stopping violence against women, and immigration.

I was in whats supposed to be those angry white guys, who are supposedly racists, who by the way a guy named Barack Obama won the last two times, Biden said.

Thats wrong, Biden said, but so is what he called the false debate in the Democratic Party right now between appealing to working class voters and appealing to progressive values. Thats just like Democrats, he charged, forgetting who they are.

Remember the core reason why youre a Democrat we abhor the abuse of power, whether it is financial power, psychological power, physical power. Think about what made you a Democrat. Its the abuse of power. Weve got to remember who we are, Biden said.

And then, he said, Democrats need to remember who they care about.

Whether I said it well enough or not, you know Im right. Those 172,000 people we needed, a lot of them wondered whether itd been forgotten theyd been abused by the system, Biden said, referring to the combined margin in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. They wondered whether or not we remembered.

New Hampshire Democrats seemed ready for whatever Biden is going to do next, leaving the room after a roadshow of Biden classic stories, from stories he always tells about certain conversations with world leaders to the night his father told him about having to leave him with family for a while to go find work, to the super-fast turns from stage whispering to booming in the microphone.

I think it is an understatement to say we dearly miss having his voice and leadership in the White House, said Sen. Maggie Hassan, in her introduction, calling him my friend, New Hampshires friend, Americas friend.

We think of him as one of our own, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. And boy, do we wish he was still in the White House.

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Biden to Democrats: Rediscover what you are - Politico