The House is doing some good, necessary work this week responding to the extremist, Trump-packed U.S. Supreme Court. That’s work that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs to take up in return. On Tuesday, the House is going to vote to make the right to same-sex marriage federal law. This week they will also vote to do the same for the right to birth control. That’s in response to the concurrence opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas in ending federal abortion protections, where he also threatened marriage equality, same-sex relationships, and the privacy right of Americans to use birth control.
These votes are particularly important in putting Republicans on the record. Well, Republicans besides Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is all in for taking marriage equality away and happily says so publicly. “Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history,” he opined on his podcast over the weekend. Yes, Cruz has a podcast. “Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states.” Cruz wants to be president and he knows the path there is through the Christo-fascists who have taken over his party, so there you go.
Birth control, though, that’s another issue. Because while the majority of the population is not going to be getting gay married, the majority of the population wants to and does use birth control, so make him weigh in on that. Make him—and all the other Republicans—take a public stand on whether the right to privacy and ability to plan their family was also wrongly decided. So whatever else Schumer has going on for the next few weeks and months, bringing these bills to the floor has to be a priority. As of now, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is the only Republican senator who has signed onto marriage equality.
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Leadership might be getting how important having these votes is in the Senate. “People should be concerned, based on how the Supreme Court ruled in overturning Roe v. Wade. This is clearly an activist court,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) told NBC News. He matters because he’s the chair of the, DSCC, the Democratic Senate campaign arm. Judiciary chair and whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told NBC that the vote has to happen. “I’m really sorry to say that, but Clarence Thomas was very clear in his position here. I wish it weren’t necessary but I think it is.” He also said he think both the marriage and birth control bills would get 60 votes. That supposition needs to be put to the test.
Also in the House, work continues on getting a bunch of spending bills for the next fiscal year done, even though it’s all preliminary work. They haven’t come to agreements with Senate appropriators on spending levels for anything yet, and likely won’t as long as Republican there think they’ll get the majority in the midterms and can force lower spending levels. There’s another reason to vote like hell for Democrats this fall.
The Senate Democrats will be having their weekly conference luncheon/yell at West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin session Tuesday, after which there might be some clarity on how they intend to move forward on the reconciliation bill to address prescription drug prices and Affordable Care Act subsidies, and what in the hell they do on climate and taxes—the two parts Manchin had been telling them for months he was willing to do something about until last week when he suddenly wasn’t.
The conventional wisdom at this point is that the White House and leadership are going to cut their losses for the moment and move forward on the former two issues, which Manchin says he’s okay with. They need to do it very quickly, before he can change his mind again. Lowering prescription drug prices and keeping those Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums from spiking are both important short-term issues and important for the midterms.
That’s where the White House seems to be right now. “If you can help people with prescription drugs, drugs that cost two to three times less in other countries for the same pill; if you can help a 60-year-old couple with a $45,000 income not have to pay another $1,900 dollars to get their insurance coverage, you are accomplishing the president’s goals,” White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said Monday.
Saving the planet is going to have to happen another way. It’s going to have to happen at the ballot box, by making Manchin irrelevant. When that’s happened, when there’s a big enough Democratic majority to take his power away, his chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has to be yanked as well. Every election for the past decade has been the most important of our lives. The next two are simply existential.
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These votes are particularly important in putting Republicans on the record. Well, Republicans besides Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is all in for taking marriage equality away and happily says so publicly. “Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history,” he opined on his podcast over the weekend. Yes, Cruz has a podcast. “Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states.” Cruz wants to be president and he knows the path there is through the Christo-fascists who have taken over his party, so there you go.
Birth control, though, that’s another issue. Because while the majority of the population is not going to be getting gay married, the majority of the population wants to and does use birth control, so make him weigh in on that. Make him—and all the other Republicans—take a public stand on whether the right to privacy and ability to plan their family was also wrongly decided. So whatever else Schumer has going on for the next few weeks and months, bringing these bills to the floor has to be a priority. As of now, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is the only Republican senator who has signed onto marriage equality.
Donate now to give Democrats a true majority in the Senate.
Campaign Action
Leadership might be getting how important having these votes is in the Senate. “People should be concerned, based on how the Supreme Court ruled in overturning Roe v. Wade. This is clearly an activist court,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) told NBC News. He matters because he’s the chair of the, DSCC, the Democratic Senate campaign arm. Judiciary chair and whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told NBC that the vote has to happen. “I’m really sorry to say that, but Clarence Thomas was very clear in his position here. I wish it weren’t necessary but I think it is.” He also said he think both the marriage and birth control bills would get 60 votes. That supposition needs to be put to the test.
Also in the House, work continues on getting a bunch of spending bills for the next fiscal year done, even though it’s all preliminary work. They haven’t come to agreements with Senate appropriators on spending levels for anything yet, and likely won’t as long as Republican there think they’ll get the majority in the midterms and can force lower spending levels. There’s another reason to vote like hell for Democrats this fall.
The Senate Democrats will be having their weekly conference luncheon/yell at West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin session Tuesday, after which there might be some clarity on how they intend to move forward on the reconciliation bill to address prescription drug prices and Affordable Care Act subsidies, and what in the hell they do on climate and taxes—the two parts Manchin had been telling them for months he was willing to do something about until last week when he suddenly wasn’t.
The conventional wisdom at this point is that the White House and leadership are going to cut their losses for the moment and move forward on the former two issues, which Manchin says he’s okay with. They need to do it very quickly, before he can change his mind again. Lowering prescription drug prices and keeping those Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums from spiking are both important short-term issues and important for the midterms.
That’s where the White House seems to be right now. “If you can help people with prescription drugs, drugs that cost two to three times less in other countries for the same pill; if you can help a 60-year-old couple with a $45,000 income not have to pay another $1,900 dollars to get their insurance coverage, you are accomplishing the president’s goals,” White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said Monday.
Saving the planet is going to have to happen another way. It’s going to have to happen at the ballot box, by making Manchin irrelevant. When that’s happened, when there’s a big enough Democratic majority to take his power away, his chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has to be yanked as well. Every election for the past decade has been the most important of our lives. The next two are simply existential.
RELATED STORIES:
House Democrats vote to restore abortion rights, right to travel
Manchin insists he's not the bad guy, even as he destroys Biden's climate agenda
It's time to make Joe Manchin obsolete