Jun 30, 2011: Happy Birthday Medicare!
Fast Facts on Medicare Tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the implementation of Medicare (July 1, 1966), following President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the landmark health care program on July 30, 1965. Despite Medicare’s great run, House Republicans voted almost unanimously to end it in order to pay for tax more breaks for Big Oil, [...]
Jun 29, 2011: Health Care Law Ruled Constitutional (Again)
Decision Day: Federal Appeals Court Upholds the Affordable Care Act In exciting (and hugely important) news that broke earlier this afternoon, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the health care law, including the key individual responsibility provision that requires everyone to purchase health insurance, as constitutional. Here’s the rundown of everything you need to know [...]
Jun 28, 2011: Karl Rove’s $20 MILLION Distraction
Don’t Forget–The GOP United Behind Plan to End Medicare, Give More Tax Breaks to Big Oil, Billionaires Late last Friday, Karl Rove’s attack group, Crossroads GPS, announced a $20 million attack ad campaign going after President Obama. Crossroads says the ads, initially showing on cable and in 10 states, are meant to “frame the national [...]
Jun 27, 2011: Marriage Equality: After New York, What Now For The GOP?
After the 33rd “yes” vote was counted in New York’s Senate Friday night, it was momentous not in the least because the Legislature had passed marriage equality – the state House had already approved the measure — but also because they passed it with four Republicans voting in favor of the historic measure in the [...]
Jun 24, 2011: The GOP’s Plan for (Un)Shared Sacrifice
What the GOP Really Means by ‘Shared Sacrifice’ Yesterday, we covered the GOP’s temper tantrum, as the New York Times called it, in which Republican leaders bailed on negotiations to avert a default on our obligations — a default that is only on the table as a result of the GOP’s willingness to keep paying [...]
Jun 23, 2011: The GOP’s Budget Blame Game
Republicans Take Their Ball and Go Home Vice President Joe Biden has been leading negotiations among a bipartisan group of lawmakers to hammer out a long-term deficit reduction package in time to avert a U.S. default on its obligations caused by the GOP’s refusal to raise the debt ceiling (more on that here) — something [...]
Jun 22, 2011: The Clarence Thomas Scandal
In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas resigned in disgrace after the nation learned that he had accepted tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from corporate executives and other wealthy benefactors. Forty years later, Justice Clarence Thomas is caught in a strikingly similar scandal. Similarly to Fortas, Thomas has a wealthy benefactor named Harlan Crow [...]
Jun 21, 2011: Afghanistan: Momentum For Withdrawal
When President Obama announced in December 2009 a surge of 30,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan, he made it clear that those troops would begin to withdraw in July 2011. “It will be clear to the Afghan government — and, more importantly, to the Afghan people — that they will ultimately be responsible for their own [...]
Jun 20, 2011: Re-Energizing The Progressive Movement
This past Thursday, over 2,000 progressives — including the team from ThinkProgress — attended Netroots Nation 2011, where bloggers, elected officials, and activists came together to strategize about how to reinvigorate the progressive movement and more effectively battle the right. During the four-day event, conference-goers attended panels on topics ranging from the Federal Reserve to [...]
Jun 14, 2011: How the GOP Will [Let Speculators] Keep Your Gas Prices High
Taking the Cop Off the Oil Speculation Beat As an oil front group tours the country trying to convince Americans that oil companies aren’t responsible for high gas prices, House Republicans are celebrating the one-year anniversary of Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-TX) apology to BP (coming up this Friday!) by going to bat for the Wall [...]
