- Biden – with Worst Ever Favorability & Job Approval Ratings – Leads Trump 46-37%; Only Leads By 7 Points if RFK & West Are on Ballot; 52% of Dems Want Party to Nominate Someone other than Biden in ’24 – Siena College Research Institut Siena College Research Institute
- Biden sees record-low favorability, job approval among NY voters: poll The Hill
- Nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers blame Biden for migrant crisis: poll New York Post
- Majority of New Yorkers worry migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ NYC as some sour on Biden in new Siena poll New York Daily News
Tag Archives: Dems
From amusement to exasperation, Dems’ journey through Republican gridlock
“You got anything to read?” he asked a reporter, maybe joking, but maybe not. “I’m just trying to find every paper that I can.”
At this point, there was not much else Democrats could do.
Democrats began the 118th Congress as spectators, watching the Republican majority descend into turmoil, plagued by disunity as a faction of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus repeatedly blocked Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from becoming speaker. But any initial schadenfreude at this point has dissolved into exasperation — and for a number of members, also concern, as the failure to elect a speaker means the entire legislative branch is stuck in limbo, with none of the House members officially sworn in.
“What number is this?” Ruppersberger said of the eighth roll call vote, as he, like many in the Capitol, started to lose track. “Whatever number it is, after awhile, it is like Groundhog Day — it makes no sense now. Let’s be big boys and girls, come together, use your four-, five-seat majority, and do what’s right for the American people.”
Each day, the same scene has played out on the House floor like a playlist stuck on repeat: The nominations for mostly the same people are made — in fact the House on Thursday broke a century-old record after completing the 10th round of House speaker nominations. McCarthy fails on every one of them. When it’s Jeffries’s turn to vote, and he votes for himself, Democrats who had been scrolling endlessly through their cellphones or had heads buried in newspapers suddenly erupt in standing ovations. They sit back down, continue quietly murmuring.
Sitting on a bench on the House grounds — taking a break after casting his vote for speaker for Jeffries for the seventh time — Virginia Democrat Gerald E. Connolly described Democrats’ feelings about the unending Republican joust as a “a certain duality, maybe”: “Bemusement at the fact that they’re as bad as we said they were — but not a lot of satisfaction in that, because there is this sense of the gravity of the moment.”
His Virginia Democratic colleague Jennifer Wexton, who’s been deep in New York Times crosswords all week, put it this way: “It’s gone from amusement to irritation pretty quickly,” she said.
The amusement was palpable among Democrats on Day 1 of the 118th Congress. Ted Lieu of California popped some popcorn. “About to go to the House floor,” he wrote on Twitter, as Republican infighting began in earnest. Fellow Californian Jared Huffman did an impersonation of viral internet character Leeroy Jenkins as he voted for Jeffries once again. By Wednesday Republican Kat Cammack (Fla.) was so irked by the Democratic mirth that she went to the House floor and accused them of drinking through the votes.
“They want us divided. They want us to fight each other,” Cammack said on the floor. “That much has been made clear by the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that is coming up over there.”
Democrats wanted her words taken down — a procedure to reprimand a lawmaker for breaking decorum — as they protested her accusation. But, since there’s no speaker, there aren’t really any rules, either. The clerk simply urged members to maintain decorum.
“If only!” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted in response to Cammack. “If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now.”
By Thursday, boredom was setting in.
“People are frustrated we’re just doing the same thing over and over and over again and making absolutely no progress,” said Democratic lawmaker Julia Brownley of California.
Democrats are somewhat of a captive audience at this point. Their complete unity in support of Jeffries — without a single defector — has left the speaker drama entirely out of their court, leaving Republicans to solve the mess themselves. But Democrats also can’t be sworn in or begin doing much of anything until Republicans figure it out.
Also, there is nowhere to escape.
“People are just trying to bide their time, walk back to their office, come back again, go to the cloakroom. Nobody can go that far away,” Brownley said.
For Joaquin Castro, a Democratic lawmaker from Texas, the mood seemed to be devolving into sadness. Is this what Congress has come to now? Is becoming spectators to the days-long standoff a preview of what Democrats’ life in the minority will be for the next two years? “They can’t even choose who’s going to lead them, much less agree on other important issues,” he said.
“Mr. Castro?” a House staffer called out to him, a bit loudly.
“Oh!” As if by instinct, he darted toward the House floor to vote for Jeffries for the eighth time.
False alarm. It wasn’t his turn yet, the staffer said — she just wanted him to be ready.
“Tell me when they call the C’s,” Castro said. In the meantime, he’d wait in the hall.
Dems move to make South Carolina, not Iowa, 1st voting state
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President Joe Biden to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate.
The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm made the move to strip Iowa from the position it has held for five decades after technical meltdowns sparked chaos and marred results of the state’s 2020 caucus. The change also comes after a long push by some of the party’s top leaders to start choosing a president in states that are less white, especially given the importance of Black voters as Democrats’ most loyal electoral base.
Discussion on prioritizing diversity drew such impassioned reaction at the committee gathering in Washington that DNC chair Jaime Harrison wiped away tears as committee member Donna Brazile suggested that Democrats had spent years failing to fight for Black voters: “Do you know what it’s like to live on a dirt road? Do you know what it’s like to try to find running water that is clean?”
“Do you know what it’s like to wait and see if the storm is going to pass you by and your roof is still intact?” Brazile asked. “That’s what this is about.”
The committee approved moving South Carolina’s primary to Feb. 3 and having Nevada and New Hampshire vote three days later. Georgia would go the following week and Michigan two weeks after that.
The move marks a dramatic shift from the current calendar, which has had Iowa holding the first-in-the-nation caucuses since 1972, followed by New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major overhaul of their primary calendar.
The changes will still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely early next year, but it will almost certainly follow the rule-making committee’s lead.
The revamped schedule could largely be moot for 2024 if Biden opts to seek a second term, but may remake Democratic presidential cycles after that. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides have begun making staffing discussions for his likely reelection campaign, even though no final decision has been made.
The DNC also plans to revisit the primary calendar again before 2028 — meaning more changes could be coming before then.
Biden wrote in a letter to rules committee members on Thursday that the party should scrap “restrictive” caucuses altogether because their rules on in-person participation can sometimes exclude working-class and other voters. He told also told party leaders privately that he’d like to see South Carolina go first to better ensure that voters of color aren’t marginalized as Democrats choose a presidential nominee.
Four of the five states now poised to start the party’s primary are presidential battlegrounds, meaning the eventual Democratic winner would be able to lay groundwork in important general election locales. That’s especially true for Michigan and Georgia, which both voted for Donald Trump in 2016 before flipping to Biden in 2020. The exception is South Carolina, which hasn’t gone Democratic in a presidential race since 1976.
The first five voting states would be positioned to cast ballots before Super Tuesday, the day when much of the rest of the country holds primaries. That gives the early states outsize influence since White House hopefuls struggling to raise money or gain political traction often drop out before visiting much of the rest of the country.
Scott Brennan, a rules committee member from Iowa, said “small, rural states” like his “must have a voice in the presidential nominating process.”
“Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the Midwest without doing significant damage to the party in newer generations,” Brennan said.
The Republican National Committee has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential primary, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls — which include Trump — have continued to frequently campaign there.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone congressional Democrat and one of Biden’s top supporters in Congress, said the president called him Thursday to inform him of his push to move his state up.
“I didn’t ask to be first,” Clyburn said. “It was his idea to be first.”
Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden in 2020 boosted the candidate’s flagging presidential campaign just ahead of South Carolina’s primary, which he won big. That helped Biden shake off early losses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and eventually take the White House.
“He knows what South Carolina did for him, and he’s demonstrated that time and time again, by giving respect to South Carolina,” Clyburn said.
Still, the vote by the rules committee has faced serious pushback, with some states vowing to ignore the changes altogether. That’s despite the panel approving language saying states could lose all of their delegates to the party’s national convention if they attempt to violate new rules.
Iowa and New Hampshire have said laws in their states mandate them going before others, and they intend to abide by those, not DNC decrees. Only committee members from Iowa and New Hampshire objected to the proposal that passed Friday, with everyone else supporting it.
Nevada, with its heavily Hispanic population, initially balked at sharing the second-place slot with New Hampshire, a state 2,500 miles away. Nevada committee member Artie Blanco’s voice cracked as she argued against the change.
“If we want to build a strong relationship with Latinos,” Blanco said, “then Nevada must stand alone on a date and not have to share that date.”
After more discussion, Blanco said later that she would support the new calendar. It was “not ideal” for her state to go the same day as another, she said, but “we accept what the will of the president is.”
Harrison said the new slate of five early voting states will need to show they are working toward moving their primaries to those dates by early next year or risk losing their place. Some state legislatures set primary dates; others have their secretaries of state or the directors of their state parties do it.
The DNC chair choked up after the vote as he talked about South Carolina once having been the site of the first attack of the Civil War and now being in line to lead off his party’s primary.
“This proposal reflects the best of our party as a whole, and it will continue to make our party and our country stronger,” Harrison said.
___
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed from Columbia, S.C.
AP sources: Biden tells Dems he wants SC as 1st voting state
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that Democrats should give up “restrictive” caucuses and prioritize diversity at the start of their presidential primary calendar — dealing a major blow to Iowa’s decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process.
In a letter to the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee, Biden did not mention specific states he’d like to see go first. But he has told Democrats he wants South Carolina moved to the first position, according to three people familiar with his recommendation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The president’s direction comes as the DNC rules committee gathers in Washington on Friday to vote on shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.
Georgia and Michigan would move into the top five as new early states, and each would hold primaries in subsequent weeks, committee members say. The two battlegrounds were critical to Biden’s 2020 victory over then-President Donald Trump, who had won both states in his 2016 White House campaign.
Much of the rest of the country would vote as part of Super Tuesday soon afterward.
Such changes are set to come after years of calls from many top Democrats for the voting calendar to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse base than mostly white Iowa, which holds the country’s first caucus, and New Hampshire, which holds the first primary. The new calendar would still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely to come early next year, but the DNC will almost certainly heed the rule-making panel’s recommendations.
The proposed order of the early states was first reported by The Washington Post.
“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” Biden wrote in a letter on personal stationery that did not carry the White House seal. “We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”
He said caucuses were “restrictive and anti-worker” because they require voters “to spend significant amounts of time” on one night gathering to choose candidates in person, “disadvantaging hourly workers and anyone who does not have the flexibility to go to a set location at a set time.”
The changes could be implemented as soon as 2024 but would be rendered largely meaningless until 2028 if Biden opts to seek a second term. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides and Biden allies have begun staffing and structural discussions for his likely 2024 bid while refraining from overt steps while the president weighs a final decision.
Such a shakeup would nonetheless be seismic given that Iowa’s caucus has led off the Democratic voting calendar since 1976. Still, it would come two years after a series of technical glitches so marred party results that they prevented The Associated Press from declaring a 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus winner.
On the current Democratic calendar, Iowa has been followed by New Hampshire, which has held the nation’s first primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major primary calendar overhaul.
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential calendar, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls — which include Trump — will continue campaigning there frequently.
South Carolina holds special relevance to Biden. His victory in the state’s first-in-the-South primary in 2020 kickstarted his presidential campaign after poor finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire on his way to winning the Democratic nomination.
Dick Harpootlian, a longtime Biden ally, fundraiser and former South Carolina Democratic Party chair, said Thursday that he and Biden discussed South Carolina’s possible advancement the night of Biden’s 2020 primary victory there. Harpootlian said he’d impressed upon Biden that the state was a better place than Iowa to hold an even earlier presidential voting contest — to which Harpootlian said Biden was receptive.
“I think he agreed that this was a much more dynamic process,” Harpootlian said. “Iowa was just a nightmare.”
The DNC rules committee has been discussing reordering the early calendar for months, touching off a fierce battle among many states to go first. In a joint statement Thursday night, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said, “We have always said that any road to the White House goes through the heartland and President Biden understands that.”
But Biden’s wishes sparked anger in New Hampshire, where state law calls for holding the nation’s first primary and where officials had for months threatened to simply move up their election regardless of what new rules the DNC approves. Other states have previously tried to violate party rules and jump closer to the front, only to be threatened with having their delegates not count toward their chosen candidate clinching the party’s nomination.
New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen issued a statement blasting “the White House’s short-sighted decision,” while fellow New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said, “I strongly oppose the President’s deeply misguided proposal.
“But make no mistake,” Hassan said in a statement. “New Hampshire’s law is clear and our primary will continue to be first in the nation.”
___
Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in New York contributed to this report.
Kelly win in Arizona puts Dems 1 seat from Senate control
PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won his bid for reelection Friday in the crucial swing state of Arizona, defeating Republican venture capitalist Blake Masters to put his party one victory away from clinching control of the chamber for the next two years of Joe Biden’s presidency.
With Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote, Democrats can retain control of the Senate by winning either the Nevada race, which remains too early to call, or next month’s runoff in Georgia. Republicans now must win both those races to take the majority.
The Arizona race is one of a handful of contests that Republicans targeted in their bid to take control of the 50-50 Senate. It was a test of the inroads that Kelly and other Democrats have made in a state once reliably dominated by the GOP. Kelly’s victory suggests Democratic success in Arizona was not an aberration during Donald Trump’s presidency.
The closely watched race for governor between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake was too early to call Friday night. In the secretary of state’s race, Democrat Adrian Fontes defeated Republican Mark Finchem, a top 2020 election denier.
Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who’s flown in space four times, is married to former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who inspired the nation with her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head during an assassination attempt in 2011 that killed six people and injured 13. Kelly and Giffords went on to co-found a gun safety advocacy group.
Kelly and Giffords were at an Elton John concert in Phoenix on Friday night when The Associated Press called the race, campaign spokesperson Sarah Guggenheimer said. Maricopa County reported a large batch of results that increased Kelly’s lead and made clear Masters could not make up the difference with the remaining ballots.
“It’s been one of the great honors of my life to serve as Arizona’s Senator,” Kelly said in a statement. “I’m humbled by the trust our state has placed in me to continue this work.”
Kelly’s victory in a 2020 special election spurred by the death of Republican Sen. John McCain gave Democrats both of Arizona’s Senate seats for the first time in 70 years. The shift was propelled by the state’s fast-changing demographics and the unpopularity of Trump.
Kelly’s 2022 campaign largely focused on his support for abortion rights, protecting Social Security, lowering drug prices and ensuring a stable water supply in the midst of a drought, which has curtailed Arizona’s cut of Colorado River water.
With President Joe Biden struggling with low approval ratings, Kelly distanced himself from the president, particularly on border security, and played down his Democratic affiliation amid angst about the state of the economy.
He also styled himself as an independent willing to buck his party, in the style of McCain.
Masters, an acolyte of billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, tried to penetrate Kelly’s independent image, aligning him with Biden’s failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and tamp down on rampant inflation.
Masters endeared himself to many GOP primary voters with his penchant for provocation and contrarian thinking. He called for privatizing Social Security, took a hard-line stance against abortion and promoted a racist theory popular with white nationalists that Democrats are seeking to use immigration to replace white people in America.
But after emerging bruised from a contentious primary, Masters struggled to raise money and was put on the defense over his controversial positions.
He earned Trump’s endorsement after claiming “Trump won in 2020,” but under pressure during a debate last month, he acknowledged he hasn’t seen evidence the election was rigged. He later doubled down on the false claim that Trump won.
After the primary, he scrubbed some of his more controversial positions from his website, but it wasn’t enough for the moderate swing voters who decided the election.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections. And check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms.
DeSantis bashes New York Dems at Lee Zeldin rally on Long Island
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted New York Democrats for “coddling” criminals at a campaign event on Long Island Saturday – and blamed their leadership for sending residents packing for the Sunshine State.
DeSantis, appearing alongside New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, even took a swipe at former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for the migration.
“When de Blasio got elected mayor of New York, you know how much real estate in South Florida spiked when he got elected Mayor of New York City?” DeSantis quipped.
DeSantis — believed to be a favorite to run on the Republican ticket in the 2024 presidential election — took the stage in front of thousands at Hauppauge in Suffolk County as Zeldin continues to close the gap against incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The Sunshine State’s leader bashed New York policies, including the controversial bail reform laws and said he couldn’t wait to see Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg removed from office, which Zeldin has pledged to do if elected.
“The crime problem has been totally self-inflicted — you cut police budgets, you do things like eliminate cash bail and you have rogue prosecutors who won’t even enforce laws that they agree with — of course you’re going to have streets that are less safe,” DeSantis said. “Of course you are going to have people that aren’t able to do the basics without fearing for their safety.”
“Stop turning [criminals] loose on the street. They’ll commit a crime and they put them right back out,” he went on. “Stop releasing people early from prison. If you do the crime, you must do the time.”
“We need to focus more on supporting the rights of the victims of crime and not be so concerned with the rights of the criminal. Lee Zeldin will not coddle these people. He will hold them accountable and you will be safer as a result.”
DeSantis said people “are sick and tired of crime that you see, particularly in New York City.” He boasted that Florida was a law-and-order state and that New York would become one if Zeldin were to be elected.
A record-breaking number of New Yorkers have swapped their New York driver’s licenses for Florida licenses as droves have fled the Empire State for the Sunshine State, The Post reported last month.
DeSantis said former New Yorkers who moved to Florida were upset over the “George Floyd riots in 2020.” He said he called the National Guard in Florida because “we were not going to let our cities burn down, we were not going to let our cities be destroyed.”
He also went after Hochul’s comments in August, where she called on New York Republicans to “Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong,” adding, “You are not New Yorkers.”
“You have a situation here where not only is your state making terrible decisions in driving people away, you have a governor who is telling Republicans in New York to leave the state. How pathetic is that?” DeSantis said.
Zeldin, who spoke before DeSantis, said New Yorkers were leaving because the state has become too expensive, unsafe and restrictive.
“We want to be able to say that we live in the greatest state in the greatest country of the world, but then we call up our friends and family in other places like Florida,” Zeldin said.
“And then they point out to us ‘doesn’t New York lead the country in out migration?’ So how can you say that you live in the greatest state in the greatest country of the world?”
With just 10 days to go until Election Day, Zeldin has surged within single digits of Hochul in polls over the last several weeks.
Both candidates have around $6 million left in their coffers for the final 10-day push to the finish line.
Those in attendance at Saturday night’s rally told The Post that the single biggest issue for them going into this election is crime.
“Crime is the number one problem,” said Forest Hills resident David Rem, a self-identified blue collar worker and father of a 17-year-old daughter.
“I worry that I’m not going to see her in the evening,” Rem told The Post. “She’s forced to take the train. I’m not a millionaire. I don’t have police protection and neither does she.”
“There’s been stabbings and shootings. Kathy Hochul said it’s just about guns. It’s not just about guns. People are getting hit in the head with hammers,” he said of the violence in New York.
Phil Eareckson, a 54-year-old Babylon resident and registered Republican, said he’s “looking for a change in New York. I want a change in crime and bail reform.”
“Crime! Crime! Crime!” added his wife Karla, 50, a retired nurse.
Judy Tedesco, 55, of Yaphank, also said she wanted Republicans to seize control of the state to “stop crime,” calling Gov. Hochul “out of touch” on this issue.
“I think she’s out of touch with everybody. When she said I don’t know why crime is that big of a deal to you, obviously she’s not around the masses. She’s bewildered and doesn’t understand why crime is an issue.”
Barack Obama blasts cancel culture, calls Dems ‘buzzkill’
Former President Barack Obama took a shot and cancel culture and knocked “buzzkill” Democrats for getting caught up in “policy gobbledygook.”
In a new interview with on the “Pod Save America” podcast on Friday, the 44th President said that Democrats have strayed away from a message of equality to “scolding” on social issues.
“My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun,” Obama said. “Hell, not being a buzzkill. And sometimes Democrats are.”
“Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes,” he added.
Obama said Democrats need to “be able to speak to everybody about their common interests.”
“And what works for I think everybody, is the idea of a basic equal treatment and fairness. That’s an argument that’s compatible with progress on social issues and compatible with economic interests,” he said.
“I think where we get into trouble sometimes is where we try to suggest that some groups are more – because they historically have been victimized more – that somehow they have a status that’s different than other people and we’re going around scolding folks if they don’t use exactly the right phrase,” Obama said. “Or that identity politics becomes the principle lens through which we view our various political challenges.”
He said that Democrats, himself included, sometimes see their message bogged down by “policy gobbledygook.”
“Look, I used to get into trouble whenever, as you guys know well, whenever I got a little too professorial and, you know, started … when I was behind the podium as opposed to when I was in a crowd, there were times where I’d get, you know, sound like I was giving a bunch of policy gobbledygook,” Obama explained.
The former president added, “And that’s not how people think about these issues. They think about them in terms of the life I’m leading day to day. How does politics, how is it even relevant to the things that I care the most deeply about?”
Ahead of November’s midterm elections, Obama has been campaigning for Democratic candidates in key states. He will travel to Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin this month.
High inflation locked in as major campaign headwind for Dems: ‘Motivating issue’
Newsweek deputy opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joins ‘The Evening Edit’ to discuss President Biden’s California visit, rent increases in high-crime cities and Ohio’s tight Senate race.
Thursday’s inflation numbers said consumer prices rose faster than expected in September, and the inflation rate remained near 40-year highs, likely cementing voter worries about the state of the economy as they head to the polls in November.
It was the last report on consumer inflation voters will see before they vote Nov. 8, and election watchers said inflation seems likely to be a major issue for voters, even as other issues like abortion and democracy compete for their attention.
“It’s the kind of thing that impacts everyone at every level of our social status and economic status,” Matt Germer, a resident elections fellow for the libertarian R Street Institute, told Fox News Digital.
“We all buy groceries, we buy gasoline, we pay our utility bills. And when those are going up month after month, it’s putting budgets under pressure. And that’s the kind of thing that motivates people in November.”
SOARING INFLATION DRIVES MORE AMERICANS TO LIVE PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK DESPITE 501% INCREASE IN WAGES
The Labor Department said Thursday the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.4% in September from the previous month. Prices climbed 8.2% on an annual basis.
Those figures were both higher than the 8.1% headline figure and 0.2% monthly increase forecast by Refinitiv economists. In an even more concerning development that suggests underlying inflationary pressures in the economy remain strong, core prices, which strip out the more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 0.6% in September from the previous month. From the same time last year, core prices jumped 6.6%, the fastest since 1982.
Republicans have been attacking Democrats on the issue since last year and appear poised to keep hammering their opponents on that issue until Election Day.
President Biden and top congressional Democrats backed the “Inflation Reduction Act” earlier this year in an effort to tame rising prices despite debate whether it will actually reduce inflation. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Every American is dealing with the out-of-control price hikes caused by Democrats’ reckless spending. That’s why poll after poll shows inflation is the No. 1 issue headed into the midterms.” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg told Fox News Digital.
Democrats argue that they’ve moved major pieces of legislation aimed at cutting inflation, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, though Republicans dispute the claim it will actually lower inflation.
YELLEN SAYS INFLATION FIGHT REMAINS TOP PRIORITY FOR BIDEN AFTER HOT SEPTEMBER REPORT
“The only party with an actual economic plan is the Democratic Party,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Tommy Garcia told Fox News Digital. “We’re going to spend every day left in this campaign reminding voters that despite Republican obstruction, Democrats have taken bold action to lower costs, put millions of Americans to work and protect Americans’ reproductive freedoms.”
Gas prices displayed at a station in Annapolis, Md., in March 2022 amid a surge in prices tied to the Russian war on Ukraine. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Inflation continues to remain high in voters’ minds, but other issues that may be more favorable for Democrats are registering in recent polls.
In a Fox News Poll conducted last month in Arizona, inflation was tied with abortion at 17% for the third most important issue for voters. Two issues tied for first at 18% — border security and the preservation of American democracy.
A Fox News Poll in Wisconsin revealed that inflation was the second most important issue among voters in that state, at 20%. The preservation of American democracy ranked first at 24%. Abortion trailed at 16%.
AFTER SEPTEMBER’S HOTTER-THAN-EXPECTED CPI REPORT, GOP LAWMAKER PREDICTS ‘EVEN BIGGER TURNOUT’ IN NOVEMBER
In Pennsylvania, inflation was tied at 21% for the most important issue, along with the preservation of American democracy. Abortion registered at 15%.
A shopper looks at organic produce at a supermarket in Montebello, Calif., Aug. 23, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
But Germer says when voters go to the polls, inflation will likely be the ultimate issue driving how they cast their ballots.
“For months now, Democrats have been trying to make abortion the issue in the election cycle. And there are definitely some people out there where that really is the motivating issue for them. But that’s not most people,” Germer said.
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“I believe elections are important. I think there are some good ideas for reform,” Germer added. “I care very deeply about it. But that issue isn’t what’s driving people. It’s inflation.”
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
Expanded IRS free-file system one step closer in Dems’ bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — The flagship climate change and health care bill passed by Democrats and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden will bring U.S. taxpayers one step closer to a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system.
It’s something lawmakers and advocates have been seeking for years. For many Americans, it’s frustrating that beyond having to pay sometimes hefty tax bills, they also have to shell out additional money for tax preparation programs or preparers because of an increasingly complex U.S. tax system.
“It’s definitely something we should do, and when the IRS is adequately resourced, it’s something that will happen,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at a June Senate Finance Committee hearing.
And now that the IRS is set to receive nearly $80 billion through the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” the agency has the means to develop new systems to help Americans pay their taxes. The legislation passed Congress on Friday.
Several hurdles stand in the way. Even in a best-case scenario, it will likely take years to get a new, free system up and running. There’s also pushback from commercial tax preparation companies, which question whether Americans want the IRS to prepare their taxes.
Perhaps this biggest hurdle is an agreement between the IRS and some commercial tax preparation companies, known as the Free File Alliance, which prevents the federal agency from creating its own free tax return filing system. In short, the IRS agreed not create its own filing system if companies would instead provide free services to taxpayers making $73,000 or less.
This program, though, has been marred with controversy, with commercial firms misrepresenting their services and low taxpayer participation rates.
The Government Accountability Office in April reported that while 70% of taxpayers were eligible for services through the Free File Alliance, only 3% of taxpayers actually use the service. The watchdog recommended the IRS find new free filing options before the Alliance expires in October 2023.
With the funding in the bill, the IRS has an opportunity to create a new system.
Included is a provision that allots $15 million to the IRS to make plans for a free direct e-file tax return system. Those plans would have to be developed within nine months and would include cost estimates for creating and administering a system. They would also require public input.
There are also legislative attempts to move this effort along.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in July resubmitted a bill called the Tax Filing Simplification Act that would require the IRS to create its own free online tax filing service and move away from its partnership with private online tax preparation companies.
“I’ve been pushing for a free tax filing system for years, and now the IRS is on the verge of having significant funding to modernize its IT systems, which means it’s time to develop simplified filing tools laid out in my Tax Filing Simplification Act,” Warren told The Associated Press.
“Americans spend too much time and money to file their taxes, and the IRS should adopt these proposals to help millions of Americans file taxes and claim refunds.”
At her Finance Committee appearance, Yellen called for a new system.
“There’s no reason in the world that a modern economy shouldn’t have a system that makes it easy for such a large group of taxpayers to file their returns,” she said.
Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said “if the IRS moves forward with a free product, it could save lower-income families the money they used to give to H&R Block or TurboTax.”
“Tax prep companies are notorious for tricking tax filers into paying for services they should be getting for free,” Williamson said, “so an IRS free file service would be a very welcome step that would save Americans money.”
In 2019, ProPublica wrote about Intuit’s TurboTax and H&R Block Inc.’s efforts to mislead taxpayers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified. And in May, New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a $141 million settlement with Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc., which had to pay restitution to some taxpayers.
Intuit withdrew from the Alliance in July 2021, stating in a blog post that the company could provide its benefits without the Free File Alliance’s limitations. H&R Block withdrew from the partnership in 2020.
“Most Americans don’t want the tax collector to also serve as the tax preparer,” said Derrick L. Plummer, a spokesman for Intuit.
“The IRS already has a core mission that it needs to focus on, and creating a new system would cost billions of taxpayer dollars and jeopardize the financial freedom of millions more,” he said. A spokesperson for H&R Block did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Ideas for what a government run free-file program might look like are already being studied.
Bruce Sacerdote, a Dartmouth economist, has examined systems in other countries in which taxpayers don’t have to enter much data on their electronic forms because the government has already done so.
“The IRS has tremendous amounts of information on wages and dividends,” he said, adding that a government-supported tax filing system “could be a wonderful thing.”
Such systems are used in Germany, Japan and other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries that collaborate to develop policies that promote economic growth.
“As a taxpayer, there could be a great benefit to pre-population,” he said. “Filing taxes is enormously time-consuming. Given all the information the IRS has on taxpayers, they could simply send you a completed return.”
Congress OKs Dems’ climate, health bill, a Biden triumph
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Congress gave final approval Friday to Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill, handing President Joe Biden a back-from-the-dead triumph on coveted priorities that the party hopes will bolster their prospects for keeping their House and Senate majorities in November’s elections.
The House used a party-line 220-207 vote to pass the legislation, prompting hugs among Democrats on the House floor and cheers by White House staff watching on television. “Today, the American people won. Special interests lost,” tweeted the vacationing Biden, who was shown beaming in a White House photo as he watched the vote on TV from Kiawah Island, South Carolina. He said he would sign the legislation next week.
The measure is but a shadow of the larger, more ambitious plan to supercharge environment and social programs that Biden and his party unveiled early last year. Even so, Democrats happily declared victory on top-tier goals like providing Congress’ largest ever investment in curbing carbon emissions, reining in pharmaceutical costs and taxing large companies, hoping to show they can wring accomplishments from a routinely gridlocked Washington that often disillusions voters.
“Today is a day of celebration, a day we take another giant step in our momentous agenda,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who minutes later announced the final vote as she presided over the chamber. She said the measure “meets the moment, ensuring that our families thrive and that our planet survives.”
Republicans solidly opposed the legislation, calling it a cornucopia of wasteful liberal daydreams that would raise taxes and families’ living costs. They did the same Sunday but Senate Democrats banded together and used Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote t o power the measure through that 50-50 chamber.
“Democrats, more than any other majority in history, are addicted to spending other people’s money, regardless of what we as a country can afford,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “I can almost see glee in their eyes.”
Biden’s initial 10-year, $3.5 trillion proposal also envisioned free prekindergarten, paid family and medical leave, expanded Medicare benefits and eased immigration restrictions. That crashed after centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it was too costly, using the leverage every Democrat has in the evenly-divided Senate.
Still, the final legislation remained substantive. Its pillar is about $375 billion over 10 years to encourage industry and consumers to shift from carbon-emitting to cleaner forms of energy. That includes $4 billion to cope with the West’s catastrophic drought.
Spending, tax credits and loans would bolster technology like solar panels, consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency, emission-reducing equipment for coal- and gas-powered power plants and air pollution controls for farms, ports and low-income communities.
Another $64 billion would help 13 million people pay premiums over the next three years for privately bought health insurance. Medicare would gain the power to negotiate its costs for pharmaceuticals, initially in 2026 for only 10 drugs. Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket prescription costs would be limited to $2,000 starting in 2025, and beginning next year would pay no more than $35 monthly for insulin, the costly diabetes drug.
The bill would raise around $740 billion in revenue over the decade, over a third from government savings from lower drug prices. More would flow from higher taxes on some $1 billion corporations, levies on companies that repurchase their own stock and stronger IRS tax collections. About $300 billion would remain to defray budget deficits, a sliver of the period’s projected $16 trillion total.
Against the backdrop of GOP attacks on the FBI for its court-empowered search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate for sensitive documents, Republicans repeatedly savaged the bill’s boost to the IRS budget. That’s aimed at collecting an estimated $120 billion in unpaid taxes over the coming decade, and Republicans have misleadingly claimed that the IRS will hire 87,000 agents to target average families.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said Democrats would also “weaponize” the IRS with agents, “many of whom will be trained in the use of deadly force, to go after any American citizen.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Thursday on “Fox and Friends” if there would be an IRS “strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small business person.”
Few IRS personnel are armed, and Democrats say the bill’s $80 billion, 10-year budget increase would be to replace waves of retirees, not just agents, and modernize equipment. They have said typical families and small businesses would not be targeted, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen directing the IRS this week to not “increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold” that would be audited.
Republicans say the legislation’s new business taxes will increase prices, worsening the nation’s bout with its worst inflation since 1981. Though Democrats have labeled the measure the Inflation Reduction Act, nonpartisan analysts say it will have a barely perceptible impact on prices.
The GOP also says the bill would raise taxes on lower- and middle-income families. An analysis by Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which didn’t include the bill’s tax breaks for health care and energy, estimated that the corporate tax boosts would marginally affect those taxpayers but indirectly, partly due to lower stock prices and wages.
“House Democrats ensured voters will fire them this fall,” said spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair of the House GOP campaign committee. In an email, she listed dozens of Democrats in competitive reelections who will face Republican attacks for raising taxes and empowering the IRS “to target their constituents.”
Democratic-leaning interest groups had their own warnings. “We’ll ensure that every Republican who voted against this bill is held accountable for prioritizing polluters and corporate special interests over the health and well being of their constituents,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, a top official of the League of Conservation Voters.
The bill caps three months in which Congress has approved legislation on veterans’ benefits, the semiconductor industry, gun checks for young buyers and Ukraine’s invasion by Russia and adding Sweden and Finland to NATO. All passed with bipartisan support, suggesting Republicans also want to display their productive side.
It’s unclear whether voters will reward Democrats for the legislation after months of painfully high inflation dominating voters’ attention, Biden’s dangerously low popularity ratings and a steady history of midterm elections that batter the party holding the White House.
Biden called his $3.5 trillion plan Build Back Better. Besides social and environment initiatives, it proposed rolling back Trump-era tax breaks for the rich and corporations and $555 billion for climate efforts, well above the money in Friday’s legislation.
With Manchin opposing those amounts, it was sliced to a roughly $2 trillion measure that Democrats moved through the House in November. He unexpectedly sank that bill too, earning scorn from exasperated fellow Democrats from Capitol Hill and the White House.
Last gasp talks between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., seemed fruitless until the two unexpectedly announced agreement last month on the new package.
Manchin won concessions for the fossil fuel industries he champions, including procedures for more oil drilling on federal lands. So did Centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who ended up eliminating planned higher taxes on hedge fund managers and helping win the drought funds.
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Associated Press reporter Seung Min Kim in Kiawah Island and congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.