The Republican Budget vs. The People #39;s Budget
TRNN #39;s Jessica Desvarieux interviews the progressive Economic Policy Institute and conservative National Taxpayers Union and asks which policies would benefit everyday Americans.
By: TheRealNews
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The Republican Budget vs. The People's Budget - Video
Republican: Repeal Law Named After My Dead Patient
An Alabama doctor-turned-lawmaker is seeking to overturn a state law named for one of his patients, whose death 16 years earlier triggered legislation requiring insurers to pay for minimum...
By: Secular Talk
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Republican: Repeal Law Named After My Dead Patient - Video
The national debate over an Indiana religious-liberties law seen as anti-gay has drawn the entire field of Republican presidential contenders into the divisive culture wars, which badly damaged Mitt Romney in 2012 and which GOP leaders eagerly sought to avoid for 2016.
Most top Republican presidential hopefuls this week have moved in lock step, and without pause, to support Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, and his Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which has prompted protests and national calls for boycotts by major corporations. Republican legislators in Arkansas approved a similar measure Tuesday that Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, is expected to sign.
The agreement among the likely GOP candidates illustrates the enduring power of social conservatives in early primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina, which will help determine who emerges as the party's nominee next year.
But the position puts the Republican field out of step with a growing national consensus on gay rights, handing Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats a way to portray Republicans as intolerant and insensitive. Some Republicans also fear that Indiana is only the first in a series of brush fires that could engulf the party as it struggles to adapt to the nation's rapidly changing demographics and social mores.
At a news conference Tuesday, Pence a potential long-shot presidential candidate himself strongly defended the Indiana statute, which grants individuals and businesses legal grounds to defend themselves against claims of discrimination. But he also said the state would "fix" the law to make clear that it does not give license to businesses to deny services to anyone.
Pence insisted that it was never the law's intent to allow discrimination "I abhor discrimination," he said repeatedly although he acknowledged that negative perceptions have taken a rapid toll on Indiana's reputation and economic development.
After Pence signed the law Thursday, corporate executives nationwide as well as the White House and likely Democratic presidential candidates Clinton and Martin O'Malley issued sharp condemnations.
But former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other GOP presidential hopefuls did not waver in their support of Pence and what they consider a necessary state measure to safeguard religious liberty. The positions are in keeping with the views of social conservatives, who enjoy an outsize influence in the Republican presidential nominating contest.
"This is another case where the Iowa caucus beckons," veteran GOP strategist John Weaver said. "Politically, it's a difficult issue for a general election. After watching the Romney campaign in 2012, a lot of people said, 'Do no harm to your general-election chances while trying to win the nomination.' Having said that, you have to win the nomination first."
As Steve Deace, a conservative talk-radio host in Iowa, put it: "This is the first litmus test of the race. Everyone in the party is watching to see how the candidates respond. For evangelicals, this is the fundamental front of culture issues."
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Indiana law draws Republican White House hopefuls into the culture wars
The Republican governor of Indiana thought he was doing what 19 other states and the federal government had done -- without inciting national controversy -- by signing a new religious freedom law. When charges that the law opens doors to discrimination against gays and lesbians came, his technical arguments about what is and isn't allowed under the law were feeble in the face of outrage.
Pence found himself confronting a new political reality in a country where battles over gay rights now appear to have a clear winner.
READ: Pence says he wasn't expecting backlash
And by signing a law that Republicans had thought offered sturdier ground -- religious liberty -- than the same-sex marriage debate they're close to losing, Pence brought on the force of a fully realigned coalition. Instead of remaining in a tense partnership with social conservatives, fiscally focused Republicans and businesses that now see opposing gay rights as far too costly broke away from their traditional GOP allies and flatly rejected Indiana's law.
They'd also planted an important flag, making clear that they'd come to view the legislation as a new, coded proxy for the same old issue.
That such a view hardened so quickly only further infuriated conservatives who feel their religious freedom is under assault. And it raised the stakes for Republican presidential contenders who now must articulate a more effective version of his argument.
The imbroglio has wounded Pence, a sometimes-mentioned potential White House aspirant. More important, though, is that the 2016 Republican field was drawn into the fight. And they sided with Pence.
They had little choice: A competitive primary means Republican candidates must win over a much more socially conservative set of voters before they can even begin courting a more diverse general electorate.
That, polling data suggests, could be a ticking time bomb that hurts the party in a general election.
SEE: Arkansas poised to adopt religious freedom law
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Indiana Gov. Mike Pence: First victim of America's new culture war
AUGUSTA, Maine Gov. Paul LePage's administration and the top Republican in the Maine House unveiled a bill Wednesday to fix an error that caused regulators to slash funding for energy efficiency programs while bringing significant changes to state government, including the creation of an energy commissioner.
House GOP Leader Ken Fredette's proposal ties a fix to the funding shortfall that Democrats and environmental groups are seeking to policies that Republicans and LePage support, like giving the governor more control over Efficiency Maine Trust, an independent agency that provides programs that help residents lower their energy bills.
But Democrats and some Republicans say it's inappropriate for Fredette and LePage to exploit the situation to get their plan passed. They are pushing a separate bill that would simply raise the funding cap imposed on Efficiency Maine.
"Any effort to try to extract additional concessions in order to fix a clerical error is wrong," said Republican Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta.
When lawmakers passed a sweeping energy bill in 2013, they intended for the cap on one source of funding for Efficiency Maine Trust to be set at $60 million, but there was a typo in the law's complex funding formula. The commission that regulates the state's utilities interpreted that to mean that funding should be capped at about $22 million.
Democrats and environmentalists say that will cause efficiency programs to be slashed and residents' bills to increase, and they want to simply fix the drafting error. But Fredette says that won't get enough support from LePage and Republicans, who oppose the move because it would be paid for by putting a surcharge on ratepayers' electric bills.
Under Fredette's proposal, the Governor's Energy Office, which currently has just two staffers, would become a Cabinet department and be named the Maine Energy Office. Instead of a director, it would be headed by a commissioner, which Fredette says would elevate the "importance of energy here in Maine, regionally and nationally."
The measure would also give LePage the power to nominate the executive director of Efficiency Maine Trust, who currently is chosen by its board of directors. The executive director would report to the energy commissioner, which Fredette says will allow the administration to provide better oversight over the agency.
Fredette said he believes his proposal is something that can be accomplished quickly "if reasonable minds prevail." But he acknowledged that it's likely to be an uphill fight.
Democrats, who control the House, remain steadfast that a clean bill fix to the Efficiency Maine funding problem is the only way forward.
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Maine House Republican leader proposes overhaul of energy office, efficiency funding fix