Dispatches

WITH ATTENTION ON PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST, R’S GO ON AUSTERITY RAMPAGE. With much of the public’s attention on the looming presidential election, congressional Republicans have provided a stark look at their plans for federal spending should their party win back control of the White House and the Senate, Jake Johnson noted at CommonDreams.org (7/8).

Congressional committees have started the appropriations process for fiscal year 2025, which starts Oct. 1.

In keeping with their longstanding support for austerity for ordinary Americans, Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed steep cuts to a wide range of federal programs and agencies dealing with education, environmental protection, Social Security, election administration, national parks, nutrition assistance, antitrust enforcement, global health, and more—all while they pursue additional deficit-exploding tax giveaways for the rich.

“Some of the most concerning policy riders in the House Fiscal Year 2025 budget bills include mandates for new oil and gas leasing, prohibitions on the establishment of important protected areas for wildlife and natural ecosystems, and limitations that hinder federal agency ability to regulate polluters, putting water quality, air quality, and the climate at risk,” the Surfrider Foundation noted in a statement in early July.

“Two of the key federal agencies that administer these programs are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yet the House budget bills call for a 20% funding cut to the EPA, and a 12% funding cut to NOAA,” the group added.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, has been attempting to sound the alarm over the GOP’s proposals, which she has warned would “demolish public education,” endanger the health of women and children, gut mental health programs, “let corporate price gouging run rampant,” and “expose children to dangerous products.”

“I respectfully request that those on the other side of the aisle go back to the drawing board and come back with a new slate of workable subcommittee allocations across all 12 bills so that we can proceed with the important business of our 2025 appropriations work,” DeLauro said during a markup hearing in June.

But Republican lawmakers have made clear that they are bent on pursuing steep cuts across the federal government, proposing spending levels well below the caps implemented by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, legislation that suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.

“House Republicans now intend to fund 2025 non-defense appropriations bills 6% below the 2024 level rather than provide the 1% increase” negotiated in 2023, noted David Reich, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Republicans in the Senate have also pushed for damaging cuts to non-military spending as the upper chamber prepared to hold markup hearings for its appropriations bills in mid-July.

The Food Research & Action Center warned in a recent statement that legislation put forth by the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee would slash Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by $30 billion over the next decade, jeopardizing critical food aid for tens of millions of people as hunger rises.

According to a May report by Feeding America, “the extra amount of money that people facing hunger said they need to have enough food” has “reached its highest point in the last 20 years.”

Congressional Republicans’ spending proposals for next fiscal year are in line with the draconian cuts pushed by Project 2025, a sweeping far-right agenda from which Trump—the presumptive GOP presidential nominee—is attempting to distance himself as horror grows over the initiative’s vision for the country.

Project 2025’s 922-page policy document calls for more punitive work requirements for SNAP recipients, massive cuts to Medicaid, the abolition of the Department of Education, the elimination of major clean energy programs, and the gutting of key Wall Street regulations.

“Despite Trump’s claims to have ‘nothing to do with’ Project 2025, his administration and campaign personnel contributed to the project,” The Intercept’s Shawn Musgrave wrote July 5. “Former Trump administration officials wrote and edited massive chunks of the manifesto. One of its two primary editors, Paul Dans, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, served as the White House liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, among other positions.”

“Rick Dearborn, who was briefly Trump’s deputy chief of staff, wrote the White House chapter,” Musgrave added. “Russ Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote the chapter on OMB and similar executive offices.”

SANDERS ON BIDEN: ‘HE’S GOTTA DO BETTER.’ U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said President Joe Biden must do a better job articulating a positive agenda to the American public as he faces mounting calls to step aside following his disastrous debate performance against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, CommonDreams noted (7/8).

Sanders (I-Vt.) declined to join the growing chorus demanding that Biden drop his reelection bid, but the senator acknowledged in an appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation (7/7) that the president had a “terrible” debate and that concerns about his performance are “legitimate.”

“I think he’s done better since, and I think he’s gotta do better again,” said Sanders, who competed against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. “But I think most importantly now, this is not a beauty contest, it’s not a Grammy award contest. It is a contest of who stands with the vast majority of the people of this country—the elderly, the children, the working class, the poor. And that candidate is obviously Joe Biden.”

Sanders said he would not take part in a conversation organized by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who is reportedly trying to bring together a group of senators to urge Biden to drop out of the 2024 race and clear the way for an alternative candidate to take on Trump in November as the president faces a revolt from donors and Democratic lawmakers.

“Mark is a friend of mine,” the Vermont senator said when asked about the effort. “He’s one of the more conservative members of the Democratic caucus. No, I have not been invited. No, I will not attend.”

Sanders implored Biden, who has insisted he intends to stay in the race, to recognize that touting his first-term achievements will not be enough to defeat Trump, whom the senator described as “the most dangerous president in the history of this country.”

“The American people are hurting,” said Sanders. “Sixty percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, 25% of elderly people are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less. The American people want an agenda for the next four years that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country. And frankly, I don’t think the president has brought that agenda forward.”

“He has gotta say, ‘I am prepared to take on corporate greed, massive income and wealth inequality, and stand with the working class of this country,’” Sanders continued. “He does that, he’s gonna win and win big.”

‘GOP’ INQUISITOR SAYS BIDEN’S DICTOR IS PART OF THE ‘CRIME FAMILY.’ The House Republicans’ most “reliable” conspiracy theorist is trying to make political hay out of President Joe Biden’s bad debate night and the ensuing media feeding frenzy and Democratic bed-wetting. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) is demanding an interview with Biden’s doctor, suggesting in his letter that White House physician Kevin O’Connor is part of the Biden “crime family” and is covering up Biden’s health, Joan McCarter noted at DailyKos (7/8).

No, seriously. Comer writes that the committee is “concerned your medical assessments have been influenced by your private business endeavors with the Biden family,” and that “evidence obtained by the committee shows your [O’Connor’s] and James Biden’s involvement with Americore Health, LLC. James Biden, the President’s brother, used funds from Americore to pay Joe Biden $200,000 as the company was facing financial distress.” Americore Health operates a number of rural hospitals.

Comer continues, writing that on the “same day James Biden received the $200,000 wire transfer from Americore into his bank account, James Biden wrote a check to his brother, Joe Biden, for $200,000 for a ‘loan repayment.’” Yes, the scare quotes are in the original.

“Given your connections with the Biden family, the Committee also seeks to understand if you are in a position to provide accurate and independent reviews of the President’s fitness to serve,” Comer wrote.

In February, O’Connor examined Biden, finding he is a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.” O’Connor wrote that Biden underwent “an extremely detailed neurologic exam” and that there were “no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder.” O’Connor has been Biden’s personal doctor since 2009.

Not good enough for Comer, who is now intent on “investigating circumstances surrounding [that] assessment.”

White House spokesperson Ian Sams slammed Comer and the supposed investigation. “Here they go again, pushing their crazy, discredited conspiracy theories in order to score another hit on [Fox News host Maria] Bartiromo.”

Sams also suggested that “if extreme House Republicans want to take a look at a White House physician” they’ve got a former one on hand—GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson (or Ronny Johnson, as Trump calls him). Sams helpfully linked a recent Washington Post story about Jackson’s pill-pushing to all and sundry White House staff.

NO, TRUMP HASN’T EXERCISED ‘DISCIPLINE’ SINCE THE DEBATE. Right-wing commentators are praising former President Donald Trump for managing to “keep his mouth shut” and “remaining completely silent” after President Joe Biden’s June 27 debate performance, which triggered widespread concern about Biden’s fitness for office and ability to win reelection, Matt Gertz wrote at MediaMatters.org (7/3).

“Donald Trump has run the most disciplined campaign, maybe, over the last 25 years,” Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said (7/3). “The fact that he is laying out during this whole news cycle shows a discipline at a whole new level.”

That strategically silent, disciplined Trump does not exist. Since the debate, the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly promoted calls from his supporters to jail his perceived political enemies for “treason” and other purported crimes.

On June 30, Trump “ReTruthed” a post calling for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to face a “televised military tribunal” for her purported “treason.”

He also “ReTruthed” a post stating that 15 current or former lawmakers, including Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “SHOULD BE GOING TO JAIL.”

Trump also “ReTruthed” a post urging him to “BRING DOWN THE ENTIRE SOROS FAMILY AND ALL THESE TREASONOUS TRAITORS THAT HE FUNDS” as part of a “COUP AGAINST AMERICA.”

And Trump “ReTruthed” a post describing Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the former president’s New York hush-money trial and still has to sentence Trump for 34 felony convictions, as a “corrupt globalist judge” and called for Merchan to be “removed and charged.”

The latter three posts were from accounts that promote QAnon, continuing the former president’s habit of using his Truth Social platform to amplify the phraseology and adherents of a conspiracy theory which calls for mass violence directed at his foes. Indeed, Trump also once again “ReTruthed” a post using the QAnon slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.”

At a June 28 rally, Trump also called for the release of rioters who had been prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol in response to his 2020 defeat, saying, “Free the J6 hostages now. They should free them now for what they’ve gone through.” The Associated Press also noted that “Trump repeated several of the false claims he made” during the June 27 debate in his speech.

US ADDS 206,000 JOBS IN JUNE, UNEMPLOYMENT EDGES UP PAST 4%. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics establishment survey (7/5) reported the economy created 206,000 new jobs in June. The household survey showed unemployment continuing its gradual uptick, hitting 4.1% (4.05% before rounding). This ended the 28-month streak of below-4% unemployment, the longest since a streak of 35 months from January 1951 to November 1953, economist Dean Baker noted (7/5).

The annualized rate of hourly wage growth slowed to 3.6% over the last three months, which compares to a rate of 3.9% over the last year. We are essentially back to the pre-pandemic pace, when inflation was at or below the Fed’s 2% target. It is worth noting that if the profit share of income is to revert back to its pre-pandemic level, wage growth will have to be somewhat faster than a non-inflationary pace for a period of time to allow the wage share to rise.

The unemployment rate has inched up gradually over the last year even as the economy has been generating jobs at a very rapid pace. The current 4.1% rate is still very low by historical standards, but it does indicate a notable weakening in the labor market from earlier in the recovery. Even if the current level still indicates a strong labor market, if it rises further from current levels, it will be a serious cause for concern.

The number of people working part-time because they could not find full-time jobs fell by 199,000 in June to the lowest level since December 2023. It is important to recognize the vast majority of people working part-time (82%) indicate they have chosen to work part-time.

The government sector added 70,000 jobs in June, while health care added 48,600 jobs. The gain in the government sector was well above its average monthly gain of 51,000 over the last year, while the growth in health care was down from an average monthly gain of 64,000. Employment growth in the government sector has mostly trailed employment growth in the private sector in the recovery, now standing at 2.2% above its pre-pandemic peak, as compared to 4.5% for the private sector.

THIRTEEN STATES WITH REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS OPT OUT OF SUMMER FOOD PROGRAM FOR KIDS. A new, permanent summer grocery program will help nearly 21 million kids across 37 states get enough to eat this year while school’s out, Robbie Sequeira of the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported (7/5).

But 13 states with Republican governors have opted out of the federal program, citing their opposition to what they deride as “welfare” and their unwillingness to cover administrative costs.

Under the new $2.5 billion program created by Congress, eligible low-income households will receive a total of $120 per child over the three summer months when school-based free and reduced-price lunch programs aren’t available.

Washington, D.C., several territories, and tribal nations also are participating. Families making up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or $57,720 for a family of four, are eligible.

Funds have already been distributed to families in many states.

The money will be available on an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card. Households enrolled in state-administered programs can use their benefits at retail stores that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

The states that chose not to participate in Summer EBT—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—could decide to opt in next year.

While Oklahoma is not participating in the program, the Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes in the state are. Fourteen states with Republican governors are participating in the program.

The money put on the digital cards comes from the federal government, but states must cover half the cost of administering the program. Those costs include the salaries and benefits of the people running the program, office expenses, and outreach efforts.

Iowa officials said the program would cost $2.2 million for the state to administer. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a news release that federal cash benefit programs don’t provide long-term solutions and that the EBT card “does nothing to promote nutrition” because there are few restrictions on food purchases.

The office of Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said the state opted out of the program as part of his rejection of “attempts to expand the welfare state,” according to Mississippi Today.

Texas officials told The Texas Tribune that the federal government didn’t give them enough time to get the program up and running.

Explaining why he opted out, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has called the program a “COVID-related benefit extra.” During the pandemic, the federally funded aid was meant to help parents buy groceries while their children weren’t in school. The last round of debit cards specifically intended for summer help went out to South Carolina families last August, weeks after most students were already back in class.

COURT BLOCKS YET ANOTHER DISCRIMINATORY REPUBLICAN MAP IN MISSISSIPPI. A panel of three federal judges blocked Mississippi’s legislative gerrymanders (7/2), determining that Republicans violated the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters, Daily Kos Elections reported (7/4). The decision is the latest in a string of rulings in several states where courts have overturned Republican gerrymanders for discriminating against voters of color after the 2020 census.

The ruling ordered lawmakers to draw two new state Senate districts and one new state House district where Black voters could elect their preferred candidates, who would almost certainly be Black Democrats in what is one of the nation’s most racially polarized states. Several surrounding districts may also have to be redrawn to implement those changes.

Mississippi used its new maps for the first time last fall to elect lawmakers to four-year terms, resulting in Republicans winning a veto-proof two-thirds supermajority in the Senate and just shy of one in the House. While the court ruled that special elections must be held for any redrawn districts and expressed its desire to “have new legislators elected before the 2025 legislative session convenes” on Jan. 7, that outcome’s likelihood is remote if Republicans appeal, as appears likely.

In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court’s far-right majority has repeatedly paused similar rulings on the dubious grounds that several months or less is too little time before an election to implement a new map, rulings that have almost always favored Republicans. However, if Tuesday’s decision survives an appeal, new elections will eventually take place using redrawn maps, though it’s unclear exactly when.

Mississippi joins a list of states where courts found Republicans discriminated against voters of color in recent years. Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana are using new maps this fall after courts overturned their 2022 maps for violating Black voters’ rights, while North Dakota is using new legislative maps after a court determined Republicans had discriminated against Native American voters.

Lower courts also overturned maps in South Carolina and Florida for harming Black voters, but the Supreme Court reversed the South Carolina ruling in a June decision that will make it much harder for voters to challenge certain racial gerrymanders. In Florida, far-right appellate judges have dragged out the appeals process and ensured that no new congressional map will be used until at least after the 2024 elections. Litigation is ongoing in North Carolina, Texas, and other states, including over Georgia’s newest maps.

YEARS OF MINORITY RULE BROKE SUPREME COURT — AND OUR DEMOCRACY. The Supreme Court’s far-right supermajority on July 1 dealt a critical blow to democracy by granting presidents far-reaching immunity from criminal prosecution for “official” acts, eviscerating the rule of law in a country that was founded to end the rule of kings. The 6-3 decision clears the way for Donald Trump to escape justice in his ongoing federal trials and to become a dictator on “day one” should he return to office in 2025, Stephen Wolf of DailyKos noted (7/1).

Trump won the presidency in 2016 by prevailing in the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote to his Democratic opponent, and he could do so again in 2024. Like Trump, the court’s far-right majority itself was built on another undemocratic institution: minority rule in the US Senate.

Daily Kos Elections calculations found that Senate Republicans last won more votes or represented more Americans than Democrats in 1998, but the GOP has controlled the upper chamber nearly half the time since then. This was the case from 2000 through 2006, and again from 2014 through 2020, covering six of the last 12 federal elections.

This minority rule let Republican presidents appoint five Supreme Court justices—a majority of the bench. Trump appointed three—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—while George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote for his first term, appointed the other two—John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Although a Democratic-held Senate in 1991 confirmed the sixth far-right justice, George H.W. Bush appointee Clarence Thomas, the senators voting to approve Thomas represented fewer people than those opposed.

‘GOP’ HOUSE SPEAKER SHOCKED AT IDEA WE’D EVER HAVE ‘CRAZY CRIMINAL’ PRESIDENT. In case you were worried about the Supreme Court’s blank check to do presidential criming, never fear! Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a chief enabler of a certain criminal former president, is here to reassure Americans that there’s nothing to worry about because—get this—it’s not as if we’d ever have a president who is “prone to this kind of crazy criminal activity.”

Yeah. He said that, Kaili Joy Gray noted at DailyKos (7/2).

Johnson had a good chuckle about the misplaced concerns of non-MAGA Americans during a Fox News interview with Kayleigh McEnany, the former mouthpiece for Donald Trump (7/1).

“There’s all sorts of hyperbole tonight, and this fantastical—these hypotheticals they’ve made up,” Johnson said. “Future presidents are going to turn into assassins, and all the rest. It’s madness.”

Hmmm. Where could anyone have gotten the idea that a president could turn into an assassin? Oh yes. From Trump attorney John Sauer, who told an appellate court during oral arguments in January that a president should be able to order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival without fear of prosecution. Maybe that’s where the madness came from.

But even if the Supreme Court says it’s okay to murder your enemies as long as you did it while you were president, Johnson’s not worried.

“The president and the vice president are the only two offices in our constitutional system that are elected by all the people,” he said. “No one who is elected to that office is going to be prone to this kind of crazy criminal activity.”

Not to get all hung up on facts, but we did have someone elected to the office of the president who is prone to criminal activity: Donald J. Trump. And he was recently convicted of 34 felonies.

Maybe that doesn’t qualify as “crazy criminal activity,” in Johnson’s mind. But it’s certainly criminal!

Trump also faces dozens of other charges in two federal cases, plus a racketeering conspiracy case in Georgia. And while the Supreme Court seems to want to make all of that go away, it’s because they think having served as president is a get-out-of-jail free card when you do commit crimes.

To Johnson, though, our entire democracy is dependent upon former presidents retroactively receiving that get-out-jail-free card.

BIDEN WANTS TO SAVE WORKERS FROM HEAT DEATH. REPUBLICANS, ON THE OTHER HAND … Heat-related deaths set a record in the US in 2023, and 2024 is shaping up to be worse. For now, we have a president who is doing something about it, but the right-wing Supreme Court could stop him, Joan McCarter noted at DailyKos (7/2).

President Joe Biden announced (7/2) that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing a rule to protect workers from extreme heat. It “would establish the nation’s first-ever federal safety standard addressing excessive heat in the workplace,” the Biden administration said in a statement.

“If finalized, OSHA projects the rule would affect approximately 36 million workers and substantially reduce heat injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the workplace,” the administration continued.

Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, told Politico this is “a bittersweet moment,” given the heat-related deaths of so many workers. “Today, the federal government put itself on the right side of history by seeking, for the first time, to establish the precedent that every worker in America has the right to shade, water and rest while working in temperatures that could kill them,” she said.

That is, if it’s enacted—a very big if. Last week, the Supreme Court cleared the way for industry to step in and kill this—and any other regulation—in the courts before it can be put in effect. The court overturned 40 years of precedent that gave federal agencies the power to interpret and enforce ambiguous laws, like the laws governing OSHA’s ability to protect workers. Given their druthers, the conservatives on the Supreme Court likely would do away with OSHA entirely.

The other big if is this election. The rule likely couldn’t be finalized until 2026, unless Biden decides to go “unitary executive theory” here and decree the rule in effect as an official action—with the court’s blessing, of course. (And he’s not going to do that.)

If Donald Trump is in the White House in 2025, this anti-heat-death rule will be swept away, along with every other workplace protection in effect. The Project 2025 blueprint created for Trump by the Heritage Foundation demands it.

Saying the 2024 election is existential is not hyperbole. If you don’t want to melt to death, elect Democrats.

From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2024

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