The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Dem Notes
The good news: Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell announced an agreement to extend the government’s borrowing authority. The less-than-good news: The debtceiling crisis–and fiscal-cliff scenarios–has now been re-scheduled for December.
In the meantime, talk about curbing the filibuster has picked up. “I think people feel the supermajority on the debt ceiling is a bridge too far.” That was Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat.
President Biden will not invoke executive privilege and will not block documents—including communication within the Trump White House—sought by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Trump has pledged to try and keep WH records from being turned over to investigators. BTW, Courts have traditionally left questions of executive privilege up to the current president.
Totally appropriate—and a long time coming—that President Biden’s precedent-setting proclamation and celebration of Indigenous People’s Day was Oct. 11—Columbus Day.
Less than 2 percent of West Virginia’s workforce is employed in the mining industry. Federally subsidized health care is particularly important in a state where Medicaid beneficiaries are 25 percent of the population. A stronger social safety net would go over well with most West Virginians—as Sen. Joe Manchin surely knows. He also knows the difference between “needs” and “entitlements.”
President Biden quickly expanded eligibility for federal subsidies for the Affordable CareAct plans—and created a 6-month special enrollment period. The result: adding 1.6 million enrollees to the 10.6 million previously covered.
Speculation is already ramping up about next year and Democratic gubernatorial races in three key battleground states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Govs. Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan are incumbents; Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania is term-limited.
Two years ago Andrew Yang was running for president in Democratic primaries. Then he acknowledged that he felt confined, limited and “stuck” in the two-party system. He became an independent. Apparently not independent enough. He has since announced plans to start his own political party: “The Forward Party.”