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Can these lawmaker proposals save Social Security?

Capitol Hill is talking more about Social Security, which estimates show is on track to becoming insolvent in little more than a decade, as both sides feud over how to address the rising national debt.

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that spending for Social Security benefits increased by 10 percent, or $37 billion, in the four-month stretch ending in January, compared to the same period the year before. 

The CBO pointed to the recent increase in the average benefit payment to explain the jump, but also the continued rise in the number of beneficiaries — which is often cited as a key component behind the insolvency threat facing Social Security.

Lawmakers have introduced varying proposals over the years aimed at shoring up solvency for the program, but a battle over the nation’s debt limit has shined a fresh light on finances for Social Security, which also accounts for a chunk of federal spending.   

Potential fixes to Social Security are often a heavy lift in Congress, and that reality is no different for the currently divided legislature. But that doesn’t mean lawmakers haven’t made some proposals to help shore up solvency for the program.

Here are just some of the ideas that have gotten attention so far.

Raising the payroll tax cap

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a key centrist, has suggested raising the taxable wage cap as a potential “quick fix” for the program.

“You have enough cash so people can continue to get the benefits that they’ve earned and worked for, the easiest way is to raise the cap,” he told The Hill last month, though he wouldn’t say whether the idea would be able to pass in the divided Congress at the time. “It raises a little bit, but not enough.”

The current cap on maximum earnings that can be taxed by Social Security rests at about $160,000 for 2023, up from $147,000 the prior year. 

“I guarantee most West Virginians pay 100 percent, because very few people have average incomes of $150 [thousand] or more, and the wealthier areas, they have a lot more,” Manchin said. “I don’t think anyone would miss it. I think it would help solidify the cash flow problems we have.”

The idea is likely to face difficulty in attracting sufficient support among Republicans. But some Democrats have discussed adjusting the cap by targeting earners making above $400,000, as President Biden has pledged not to raise taxes on those making below that amount.

Raising the retirement age to save Social Security

Some Republicans previously proposed using the debt limit as a leverage to secure significant fiscal reforms as concessions from Democrats, while also eyeing reforms to shore up solvency for Social Security, including raising the retirement age.

The current threshold to be able to receive full retirement benefits is set at 67 years of age for those born in 1960 or later. But some conservatives have pressed to tighten age eligibility requirements, while pointing to data showing more Americans living longer, putting a squeeze on the program’s funds.

However, many Democrats and some Republicans have opposed raising the age amid concerns about fluctuations in the nation’s life expectancy rate and the impact things like more physically demanding labor can have on longevity.

While Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies for the Brookings Institution, said people are living longer, he pointed to research conducted by him and others at the think tank that showed “gains in longevity have been concentrated among people further up in the lifetime earnings distribution.”

“A lot of the longevity improvements have gone to people far up in the income distribution and maybe halfway up the income distribution, but those gains have been slower than those at the top,” he said, adding “there’s a fairness question about raising the retirement age for everybody in the population.”

Republican leaders have since vowed not to use the debt limit to pursue potential changes to Social Security in debt limit, but have pressed for lawmakers on both sides to work on a bipartisan solution. 

Creating a sovereign wealth fund to shore up Social Security

Reports emerged last month that Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Angus King (I-Maine) are working toward a bipartisan compromise to help shore up Social Security.

Semafor, which broke the news, reported the effort could potentially entail a sovereign wealth fund being set up to help shore up Social Security, but would operate separately from the current funds.  

The senators’ offices told The Hill at the time that both Cassidy and King “have been working on a legislative solution,” but said the “plan is not finalized.”

Burtless said on Friday that the idea could potentially help with covering benefits for the program, but doubted it would “pay for the whole gap” if such a legislative effort made it past Congress anytime soon.

“At this stage, the trust fund has got to be so small that earning a few percentage points higher returns every year, on average, is not going to make a material difference,” he argued. “Maybe instead of the trust fund going to zero in 2033 or 2034, it would have made it last to 2037 or 2038.”

Bipartisan panels may tackle Social Security problems

Though GOP leaders have said potential reforms to the program are off the table in debt limit talks, there has been discussion of a Social Security commission fitting into a compromise to raise the debt ceiling.  

However, there is some distrust among Democrats of the idea from Republicans, which White House spokesperson Andrew Bates panned as a “death panel for Medicare and Social Security” in recent comments to Bloomberg.

“With the president poised to announce new plans to keep making our economy work from the bottom up and the middle out — not the top down — House Republicans are dead-set on the opposite,” he also said.

The response was met with immediate criticism from Republicans, with House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who previously expressed support for the idea, suggesting the White House is “afraid the commission would recommend something the president does not like.”

“If the president is really interested in preserving benefits, as we all are, then he needs to act with Congress to ensure the program’s solvency. Otherwise, the very cuts he fears will happen, and they will be steep,” he argued.

Source: TEST FEED1

What’s behind the US’s worsening child care crisis?

Story at a glance

• From 2018 to 2022, the annual economic toll of child care in the U.S. rose from $57 billion to $122 billion.

• The totals reflect money lost in earnings, productivity and revenue. 

• Although the industry did receive a funding boost from the American Rescue Plan, advocates say more government support is needed going forward. 

The United States is facing a growing child care crisis.

Its economic impact has more than doubled since 2018, rising to a staggering $122 billion annually in lost earnings, productivity and revenue last year. Meanwhile, the crisis itself threatens the future of the U.S.’s youngest minds and is hindering employment and educational advancement of the American workforce. 

That’s according to a new report from the bipartisan Council for a Strong America. In comparison to the economic impact seen in 2022, in 2018 the toll was estimated at $57 billion per year. Both the pandemic and insufficient policy have exacerbated challenges, the report authors say. 

The new report “is just one more finding that makes it clear that the status quo with child care is not working,” said Anne Hedgepeth, chief of policy and advocacy at ChildCare Aware of America, which was not involved in the research. 

“This is not just a problem for individual parents and families. It’s a problem for all of us. It’s impacting the economy, and it’s impacting our communities,” said Hedgepeth.

A variety of problems plague the child care industry. But according to advocates, federal and state investment can help address the challenges. 

What’s behind the crisis?

The crisis can be broken down into three key, interrelated challenges: affordability, accessibility and quality of care. 

For infants, the average cost of center-based child care — or care provided in non-residential, commercial buildings — is more than in-state, public college tuition in 34 states and the District of Columbia, according to the report.

Data from ChildCare Aware show that in 2021, the average national price of child care was around $10,600 each year.

Meanwhile, those in need of child care services are often young couples who may not have that much disposable income to spend, said Jack McBride, CEO of Contec, Inc. and member of the ReadyNation CEO Task Force. ReadyNation is one of the three groups that make up the Council for a Strong America. 

The steep price means lower income families, who are disproportionately families of color, often have limited access to services. Exacerbating the disparity, throughout the pandemic, more families of color faced child care closures than white families. 

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“For families that are headed by a divorced parent, or in households of color, that price of child care is more than a quarter of the family’s income, up to as much as 60 percent of total household income. That’s just not sustainable for families,” said Hedgepeth.

“The increase in prices for child care have outpaced inflation for the past three years,” she added.

Several factors contribute to the high prices. 

As a whole, the industry is labor-intensive and requires a high level of staffing, raising the financial burden on centers and increasing the costs of care. In addition, thin margins in the business can preclude child care centers from paying employees competitive wages, resulting in high turnover or staffing shortages which stretch centers’ financial resources. Regulations also mandate how many teachers need to be present per number of infants or toddlers. 

Because taking care of children comes with a lot of liability, child care centers also bear insurance costs, boosting the price of care. 

When the pandemic struck, parents kept their kids home out of fear of contracting COVID-19. This led to centers temporarily closing and workers leaving the sector for jobs that posed fewer health risks or were higher paying. And once workers leave the industry for such positions, they may not return.

The pandemic “eliminated basically 20 percent of the available child care centers,” said McBride. 

“Nationwide, the workforce is 7 1/2 percent smaller than it was before COVID. So that’s a loss of about 80,000 providers,” added Sandra Bishop, chief research officer at Council for a Strong America and lead author of the report. 

Research from the liberal think tank Center for American Progress shows just over half of U.S. residents live in child care deserts, or areas where there are more than three children under the age of 5 for every licensed child care slot.

“There just is not availability, period, and then you add on the piece that a lot of families can’t afford what the care costs, and then that just decreases the availability,” said Bishop. 

The long-term threats posed to families and children

Quality child care is essential to prepare young children for their education going forward. But high staffing turnover rates and limited access jeopardizes the level of care received.

Young children need a constant, steady stream of attachment to an adult, Bishop explained.

And for children aged zero to three, providing educational care — not just supervision — is crucial. 

“If we’re not stimulating those zero to three minds and growing the brain processing speed, then they arrive at 3k, 4k, and 5k, not ready to learn like their peers. They’re behind and they will probably stay behind pretty much for their whole academic career,” McBride explained. 

The missed opportunities can also impact earnings down the line if children fall behind in their education, fail to graduate high school or obtain a skill certificate or college degree. Data show children who attend preschool are significantly more likely to go to college.

Regardless of demographics, research also shows cognitive, linguistic and social development of young children is positively linked with quality of care received. 

Investment in child care can reduce long term investment from other social programs for that child and families in the future, said Hedgepeth. 

Along with children, parents also feel the ramifications of the system’s shortcomings. In the short term, the high cost and lack of access to quality child care impacts their ability to progress in their careers or advance their own education. 

Whether it’s being late to work, leaving work early, or being distracted at work, these hardships manifest in parents’ professional lives. A number of women, in particular, are dropping out of the workforce entirely to take care of children, McBride notes, so a more robust child care system would help female professionals move up in their careers and get promotions.

According to the Council’s report, American families lose $78 billion per year in foregone earnings and job search expenses as a result of the system’s failures. Productivity challenges cost employers $23 billion annually. As a result, taxpayers lose $21 billion each year thanks to lower federal, state and local tax revenue. 

“Child care is a game changer and when families are priced out, that will have a negative impact both on their immediate economic security, but also on their long term outcomes,” said Hedgepeth. 

How state, federal governments could help

Some businesses have taken it upon themselves to address child care affordability and accessibility gaps by securing slots in local centers for employees’ children or investing in onsite child care.

One silver lining of the pandemic was that businesses became “way more aware of the importance of child care, and what high quality early childhood education looks like,” said Dawn Underwood, founder and director of the nonprofit Early Learning Community in Indiana. The preschool serves children aged 3 to 5. 

“People are listening to the conversations now more so than they ever have,” said Underwood.

But because needs vary by family and some small businesses may not have the resources to provide these options, advocates say more support is needed from federal and state governments. 

Enhancing support outside of business also ensures a continuation of care regardless of parents’ job changes or barriers that keep them out of the workforce. 

The American Rescue Plan allotted $39 billion to states to address the crisis. States used the money to waive or reduce parental co-pays. The money also helped expand eligibility to more middle-class families to qualify for assistance. 

For Underwood, the funds helped Early Learning Community offer Zoom preschool when in-person learning was shut down. They also allowed the nonprofit to purchase cleaning supplies, masks and COVID-19 tests, pay its utilities and mortgage and offer benefit packages to employees and raise their wages. 

“Without those funds, we wouldn’t have been able to stay open,” Underwood said. However,  the investment wasn’t enough for Underwood to hire new teachers. “We are at a workforce shortage like everybody else, so we’re going to have to figure out how to pay our teachers more and offer them benefits to meet the needs of all these kids.”

The federal relief is set to expire in 2024, prompting fears of a second wave of closures in the child care business. 

Some states have moved forward with policy advancements. Colorado recently began enrollment for universal preschool which is expected to serve around 30,000 four-year-olds in the state. Lawmakers in Vermont introduced a child care bill that boosts the number of hours toddlers are eligible for free, public prekindergarten education. 

“We want to see more of that, more investment at the federal and the state level,” said Hedgepeth. 

This could come in the form of tax breaks or subsidies, or even policies that improve compensation for workers, lower family co-pays and invest in organizations that help match families with available slots at child care centers.

“As a nonprofit, it’s always been a challenge between wanting to pay my teachers what I know they deserve as professionals, but also being able to offer scholarships to families who can’t afford preschool. So it’s been a balancing act for years,” said Underwood. She went on to stress the importance of continued state and federal funding to pay teachers higher wages and provide benefits going forward.

“Child care is really a market that doesn’t work. The service costs more to provide than the people who need the service can pay. That’s why we advocate for federal and state investments in child care to make up for this broken market,” said Bishop. 

The government can also play a messaging role, underscoring how much brain growth and development happens in children’s early years, so parents aren’t just looking for a babysitter.

“My biggest concern is really that long term issue of how we are going to stay competitive as a country with other countries that are doing more in terms of early childhood,” said McBride. 

Source: TEST FEED1

US shoots down another aerial object — this time over Lake Huron

The military shot down another aerial object on Sunday, this time over Lake Huron, marking the third day in a row the U.S. has taken down an unidentified aircraft over North American airspace, Michigan lawmakers said on Sunday.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said he was in contact with the Department of Defense throughout the day, and confirmed in a tweet that the military “decommissioned” another aerial object. 

“I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today. The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots. The American people deserve far more answers than we have,” Bergman tweeted.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) also said that he spoke with the Department of Defense and said in a tweet that the Air Force took down the aerial object. 

“The Air Force has shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron. Thank you to the U.S. military for their immediate action. I will keep seeking information about the incident in the coming days,” Kildee tweeted.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said in a tweet that an object had been “downed” by pilots from the U.S. Air Force and National Guard.

“As long as these things keep traversing the US and Canada, I’ll continue to ask for Congress to get a full briefing based on our exploitation of the wreckage,” she said.

The Federal Aviation Administration briefly closed some airspace over Lake Michigan earlier on Sunday “to support Department of Defense activities,” the agency said in a statement to The Hill. The airspace has since been reopened. 

The third takedown in three days comes after President Biden just over a week ago ordered the downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that traversed much of the U.S.

On Friday, the U.S. shot down a “high-altitude object” over Alaska and then on Saturday Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to take down an unidentified object over the territory of Yukon.

Unnamed U.S. officials told multiple news outlets of the operation over Lake Huron but there has been no official word from the Biden administration on the matter.

The Department of Defense did not immediately return requests for comment and confirmation on the takedown.

Updated at 4:52 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Questions loom over US takedown of flying objects 

Democrats and Republicans spent Sunday questioning the Biden administration over the takedowns of two unidentified aerial objects in recent days, with some criticizing the White House over a lack of transparency about what the objects were and where they came from.

The takedowns came on the heels of President Biden’s order just over a week ago that directed the U.S. military to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had spent days drifting across the continental U.S. That led to revelations by Pentagon officials that similar aircraft had been seen in American airspace at least three times during the previous administration and once earlier in the Biden administration.

It prompted a host of questions about why the information wasn’t shared with the public earlier, which was not helped by the two new shoot-downs of objects flying over American and Canadian airspace on Friday and Saturday, about which even some Democrats said they wanted to see the administration be more candid.

Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.) the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he has “real concerns” about the Biden administration not being “more forthcoming” about the recent incidents.

“I have real concerns about why the administration is being not more forthcoming with everything that it knows,” Himes said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “But part of the problem here is that both of the second and the third objects were shot down in very remote areas. So, my guess is that there’s just not a lot of information out there yet to share.”

While Himes, who said he has not been briefed on the incidents that took place Friday and Saturday, said the administration took proper steps in the take down of the first balloon off the South Carolina coast, he acknowledged that the public was not made aware of it until it reached Montana via Alaska.

“You know, in an absence of information, people will fill that gap with anxiety and other stuff. So, I wish the administration was a little quicker to tell us everything that they do know,” Himes said.

A possible third aerial object was taken down on Sunday over Lake Huron, according to Michigan lawmakers who said they were in contact with the Defense Department.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said the military had “decommissioned” an “object” over the Great Lakes region. 

“I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots,” Bergman tweeted before adding, “The American people deserve far more answers than we have.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who along with Himes is part of the so-called “Gang of Eight” lawmakers in both chambers who receive high-level classified briefings, said he spoke to White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan Saturday evening about the incidents of the past two days.

He relayed on ABC’s “This Week” that the administration believes what was taken down Friday and Saturday were also balloons, but much smaller than the one that traversed the country.

Schumer joined a chorus of lawmakers in saying that the parts recovered from the balloon brought down over water will likely help the U.S. learn more about China and its surveillance and tech. 

“We’re gonna probably be able to piece together this whole surveillance balloon and know exactly what’s going on. So that’s a huge coup for the United States,” Schumer said. 

“I think the Chinese were humiliated. I think the Chinese were caught lying. I think it’s a real step back for them,” the majority leader said.

Schumer offered more details on the last two takedown incidents than White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who told MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” that the move to take down an object over Canada’s Yukon territory was “out of an abundance of caution.”

“We’re always gonna track, we’re always going to detect and we’re always going to defend our airspace,” Jean-Pierre said.

Republicans expressed frustration that the Biden administration let the Chinese surveillance balloon float for days along a flightpath that defense officials determined went over sensitive military sites. But House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) appeared to offer some praise for the administration’s quick actions against the two sightings that followed.

“They do appear somewhat trigger happy, although this is certainly preferable to the permissive environment that they showed when the Chinese spy balloon was coming over some of our most sensitive sites,” Turner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”  

But Turner also called the Biden administration “particularly annoying” for not briefing Congress about the new objects and any updates on what’s been learned from the balloon.

“The Biden administration needs to stop briefing Congress through our television sets and actually come and sit down and brief us,” Turner said.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, meanwhile, said the Chinese surveillance balloon “did a lot of damage” by flying over the sensitive U.S. sites.

“They say they’ve mitigated it but… going over those sites, in my judgment, would cause great damage. Remember, a balloon could see a lot more on the ground than a satellite,” McCaul said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Democrat Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) appeared to contradict the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) when he said on “Face the Nation” that it’s possible an object may still be flying over Montana’s air space after NORAD detected a radar anomaly Saturday and sent a fighter aircraft to investigate while it issued a temporary flight restriction above central Montana.

Tester, whose team has been in “close touch” with the Department of Defense, suggested an object could still be at large, if not a “false alarm.”

“There was an anomaly and they’ve investigated … I think it got dark last night so they couldn’t fully check it out. There may still be something up there, it may be a false alarm,” Tester said.

When asked about Tester’s comments, NORAD referred The Hill to its statement from Saturday evening in which it said it did not identify any objects that correlated to what appeared on the radar. NORAD provided no updates on the matter on Sunday.

The Montana senator, who was critical of the Biden administration for not shooting down the first suspected Chinese surveillance balloon when it crossed over Montana earlier this month, also said the country needs to have a gameplan for any future incidents like the ones over Alaska and Canada’s Yukon territory in recent days.

“Going on in the future, I think there needs to be a plan that’s right up front. So we know exactly what’s going to happen when these balloons come in and their threat is assessed, what’s going to happen. But… I got briefed, both in open session and a classified session and quite honestly, the military and intelligence community’s explanation of what transpired with that balloon, I accept,” Tester said. 

Stephen Neukam contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

Chris Christie says House GOP jeering Biden at State of the Union was ‘big mistake’  

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday said the House GOP’s jeering at President Biden during the State of the Union address last week was a “big mistake” by the party. 

“Big mistake. Look, you know, you don’t want to — you don’t want to rise to the bait, and they did, a number of them did, and it was a big mistake,” Christie told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.” 

Republican lawmakers booed and heckled the president at points during Biden’s sweeping speech to a joint session of Congress, with an eruption of dissent as Biden said some in the GOP want to sunset Medicare and Social Security. 

“Look, the better response would have been to respond to that with laughter. If you really wanted to respond to the president saying something as ridiculous as the Republicans [want to sunset the programs], because of what one Republican said, Rick Scott, which was immediately rejected by almost the entire rest of the party, what they should have done was just laughed at the president then, and moved on,” Christie said. 

“The yelling and the screaming stuff, look, I think that’s always bad. It doesn’t get you anywhere. And it gave Joe Biden an opportunity to engage them back in a way that was spontaneous, that I think was probably the best part of his entire speech,” the former governor added. 

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shook his head dismissively as he sat behind Biden, beside Vice President Harris. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) stood to shout “liar” at the president when he made references to GOP cuts in Social Security. 

Biden played off the audience’s audible dissent in improvised lines mid-speech. 

“So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?” Biden said. “Alright,” he added, throwing a thumbs-up.

Source: TEST FEED1

Haley makes risky bet as she prepares to take on Trump

Nikki Haley is poised to take a leap into the unknown next week when she becomes the first Republican to challenge former President Trump for the GOP’s 2024 nod.

It’s a role that few other Republicans are eager to fill, given Trump’s penchant for trying to humiliate any of his political opponents, real or perceived. But Haley’s allies say that she has a unique lane in a potentially crowded GOP primary field that could help her cut through the noise, especially at a time when many Republicans are wavering on Trump’s candidacy.

“Nikki’s had some tough races, and she’s used to running against the gold standard,” said Katon Dawson, a former chair of the South Carolina Republican Party who is backing Haley.

“There’s a lane in there for an anti-Trump. There’s a lane in there to be successful. And I think there’s a lane in there for Nikki Haley,” he added. “She’s always been able to deliver a message and raise the money to have it heard.” 

Of course, she’s also likely to run into some stiff challenges. Trump still maintains a solid base of support within the party. And while he hasn’t jumped into the race yet, early polling shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as the person best positioned to challenge the former president next year. Haley, meanwhile, is pulling only a fraction of their support. 

The race could also eventually pit Haley against a fellow South Carolinian, Sen. Tim Scott (R), who is believed to be weighing a 2024 campaign of his own.

“I think Nikki Haley and Tim Scott will be vying for the same set of voters in a lot of ways,” said Danielle Vinson, a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. “Both of them are less volatile than the Trump-DeSantis sort of candidates. They’re much more diplomatic, polite people — both of them.”

“I think they’d be competing primarily for those folks that were not happy with the drama of the Trump years that want to do something besides just fight culture wars,” she added.

But for now, at least, many Republican voters — and especially the party’s ultra-conservative base — are still showing a willingness to embrace Trump’s pugilistic style, even if they’re not as keen as they once were on the former president. 

DeSantis, for instance, has built his national reputation by picking political fights with everyone from federal health officials to the media and Disney. One Republican strategist who is supporting Haley’s presidential bid conceded that it may be difficult for her to stand out in a GOP primary. 

“She’s somebody that wants to study and understand an issue. She’s not really flashy like some of the others,” the strategist said. “And look, for me, I love that about her. But I still think there’s the question of how to break through when there are people like Trump and DeSantis sucking up all the oxygen in the room.”

But, that strategist added, “that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a lane in this thing.”

“I think that, look, there’s at least a contingency of the Republican Party that wants a clear voice and wants to see some generational change. I mean, between Trump and [President] Biden, we’ve just had two of the oldest presidents in history. So look, she’s smart, she’s talented. No one should write her off.”

Other Republicans floated Haley as a potential running mate for the eventual nominee, suggesting that her coming presidential bid could be a way for her to raise her profile.

“If she’s not trying to angle for a vice president slot, I don’t see a path with both Trump and DeSantis in the race,” Naughton said. “I just don’t get the sense that Haley — or anyone else for that matter — is really emerging as a real competitive force.”

Other Republicans push back against the notion she’s running for vice president, pointing to her running as the underdog in past races. 

“She’s always been somebody in every race that she’s run, whether it was for statehouse or governor or even when she was made U.N. ambassador, people kind of second guessed and said this person doesn’t have a chance,” said Alex Stroman, former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party. “I don’t think that Nikki Haley would want to get into the race if she truly wanted to sit around and become vice president.”

Haley is slated to make stops in the battleground states of Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming weeks. 

“Once Nikki Haley really gets out there and starts running and is meeting with voters and those numbers start to change, I have no doubt that the former president will try and hit her, and hit her hard if he views her as a threat,” Stroman said. 

But it may be DeSantis who has the most to lose from a Haley candidacy. A Yahoo News-YouGov survey released earlier this week showed that in a hypothetical three-way match-up between Haley, DeSantis and Trump, Haley could draw support away from the Florida governor and give Trump an edge.

According to the poll, Haley brings in 11 percent support from Republicans and Republican-leaners, while DeSantis comes in with 35 percent and Trump with 38 percent. Conversely, in a Trump-DeSantis match-up, the Florida governor leads the former president 45 percent to 41 percent. 

“She has been very smart in the way that she’s navigating this to not alienate [Trump] or some of his supporters, of which there are many that are really diehard about him,” Stroman said, noting her work to maintain relationships with Trump and those in his orbit. 

Other candidates’ expected entries into the race could further change the dynamic, and Trump has already begun to hit Haley, labeling her as “overly ambitious” last week. 

At the moment, most attention appears to be on the brewing battle between Trump and DeSantis as the latter prepares his own presidential bid. 

“From this viewpoint of the media, I think that the idea behind this Trump-DeSantis fight is much more appealing,” Stroman said. 

Meanwhile, Haley will reintroduce herself to voters ahead of next year’s contests having last served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“She effectively has not been in a public position in some time,” Stroman said, adding that she will “remind voters of background and success at navigating and leading a state like South Carolina and her success at leading for America on the world stage.” 

Haley, for her part, has signaled that she’s heading into her campaign with the intention of winning the nomination. In an interview with Fox News last month, Haley noted that she’s never lost an election and had no plans to do so now.

“I’ve never lost a race,” she said. “I said that then, I still say that now. I’m not going to lose now.”

Source: TEST FEED1

House Republican says it's 'unfortunate' Democrats 'scare' seniors with talks of cutting Social Security, Medicare

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized Democrats for trying to “scare” seniors by suggesting that Republicans want to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a move that Comer said is not on the table when it comes to GOP plans for spending cuts.

“It’s very disappointing that the president and Chuck Schumer would continue to try to scare seniors,” Comer said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “These are important programs to everyone.”

Possible cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare have bubbled to the surface as Republicans and Democrats face off over the debt limit. Lawmakers have until sometime in June to increase the country’s borrowing limit, but Republicans have insisted that the Biden administration agree to curtail spending before cutting a deal on the debt ceiling.

Democrats, however, have been unwilling to budge on their demand for passing the debt ceiling increase without a guarantee on spending cuts. Instead, President Biden and Democrats have slammed Republicans for suggesting cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

GOP leadership has resoundingly rejected the idea, though. As Democrats have hammered Republicans on the issue of Social Security and Medicare, GOP lawmakers have yet to come forward with a plan for what spending cuts they want.

“We’re gonna come forward with a plan,” Comer said without offering details. “We’re still debating that plan. We’re having robust debate amongst our conference.”

But some prominent Republicans have suggested or floated the idea of making cuts to the programs in the recent past.

Comer committed to not touching Social Security or Medicare in the GOP plan to cut spending.

“We’re not gonna cut Social Security or Medicare,” Comer said. “We’ve been very clear about that … if anything, we need to sure those programs up. They’re running out of money.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Seven issues that will define the 2024 election

A handful of issues are emerging as possible flashpoints in the 2024 election as Republicans and Democrats look to finetune their messaging ahead of a consequential presidential election.

President Biden sparred with conservatives over Social Security and Medicare during his annual State of the Union address, engaging in a spirited back and forth with Republicans over the issue. And if Democrats’ messaging on key 2023 races like the Wisconsin Supreme Court are any indication, the party is also likely to lean on the issue of abortion as well.

Meanwhile, prospective Republican presidential hopefuls are already wading into issues like immigration, education and culture wars, particularly those targeting the LGBTQ community.

Here’s a look at seven issues that will define the 2024 election:

Social Security and Medicare

Biden enjoyed the limelight during this week’s State of the Union address, particularly after he called out Republicans over previous proposals to sunset or reform eligibility requirements for Social Security and Medicare programs. In the backdrop of Biden’s speech is the ongoing fight over the nation’s debt limit and Republicans’ insistence on spending cuts.

“Some Republicans want Social Security and Medicare to sunset,” Biden said, before he was interrupted by jeers, including from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who called him a “liar.”

One of the Republicans that Biden was alluding to was Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who released a multi-point plan last year proposing that “all federal legislation sunsets in 5 years” and that “if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again” — legislation that would impact both programs. 

Scott defended his position in a statement following Biden’s address, saying “this is clearly and obviously an idea aimed at dealing with all the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late” and suggested that “to suggest that this means I want to cut Social Security or Medicare is a lie, & is a dishonest move.”

The president ran with that messaging during a visit on Wednesday to the battleground state of Wisconsin, where he spoke to residents about the merits of his economic plan. 

“A lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden said in the Badger State. “Well, let me just say this. It’s your dream, but I’m going to — with my veto pen — make it a nightmare.”

Education

Prospective 2024 Republican hopefuls are also addressing the issue of education, including targeting educational curriculum and parents’ rights to decisions made by schools.

That was most recently on display last month when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American studies. The Florida Department of Education argued that “the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” and the College Board later revised some of the material included in the course. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who has been floated as a possible 2024 presidential contender, made the issue of education a key component of his platform, including rallying against critical race theory (CRT) and for deeper parental engagement in school curriculum. Critical race theory, which DeSantis and other conservatives have also attacked, is an academic framework taught at the graduate level that argues that racism is systemic in U.S. institutions and government. It has become a catch-all buzzword for any teaching about race in schools, however.

During the midterms, other Republican candidates like Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) also sought to home in on the issue of education, suggesting members of the party see that as a key winning issue. 

Abortion

Democrats widely credit the issue of abortion as a major reason they performed better than expected during November’s midterm elections, gaining a real majority in the Senate and losing the House by a narrow margin.

Even in key races this year, Democrats are seeking to put the issue of abortion front and center once again, including in the race for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which could determine the high court’s partisan tilt. 

The state Supreme Court is likely to hear about Wisconsin’s contested 1849 abortion law, which offers no exceptions for patients except when the life of the mother is at risk. Prominent groups on both sides of the issue have said they’ll be funneling money and resources into the race.

Foreign Policy

Revelations that a Chinese spy balloon was flying over multiple states across the U.S., which press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters this week was “part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program […] that’s been operated for several years,” drew angry remarks from Democrats and Republicans alike about the country’s delayed response to shoot it down.

Some Republicans in particular, such as Greene, latched onto the issue. Ahead of the State of the Union, she walked around the halls of Congress with a white balloon meant to reference the Chinese spy balloon. She told The Hill this week following a classified briefing for House members that she “tore” Biden administration officials “to pieces.”

The U.S. confirmed on Friday a separate object flying over Alaskan airspace was shot down by the military.

Expect Ukraine to be another flashpoint among foreign policy issues discussed. Some Republicans have expressed reservations in past months over how much more security assistance the U.S. should provide to the former Soviet Union nation amid the Russian invasion.

Immigration

Although immigration and the southern border are not necessarily new issues Republicans have pursued on the campaign trail, it doesn’t mean the issue won’t feature prominently in different campaigns and on the debate stage.

The first hearing that the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), launched this year was titled “The Biden Border Crisis — Part One.” The hearing came as the U.S. reported over 250,000 encounters on the southern border in December, per data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection — the highest number of encounters at the southern border that the Biden administration has contended with since the president took office. 

Title 42, a policy first introduced in 2020 by the Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration, has also dogged Biden officials. The policy allows border officials to quickly expel migrants seeking asylum. While the Biden administration sought to lift the policy last year, they have also at times expanded its use.

LGBTQ-related issues

Republicans also have not been shy in using legislation to target gender-affirming care, transgender girls and women competing in high school and college sports, and the classification of drag shows.

Florida made headlines last March when DeSantis signed what opponents have dubbed as “Don’t Say Gay” legislation into law, which bars gender identity and sexual orientation topics in classroom instruction by primary school teachers. Subjects that aren’t “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate” cannot be taught by educators regardless of grade level.

And South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), another widely floated 2024 GOP contender, is likely to sign into law legislation that would bar health providers from offering transgender youth gender-affirming care.

Crime

The issue of crime may also not be new, but it’s one that some Republicans believed worked well during the November midterms — arguing that other issues like abortion and the economy sidetracked crime from delivering as well as hoped. Others say that it helped key races stay competitive.

“To be honest with you, yes, Dr. [Mehmet] Oz lost that race in Pennsylvania, but where he started at and where he ended [was] a much closer race than it was over the summer. That was purely because of crime,” one GOP official told The Hill in December.

The issue of crime was credited for helping several New York Republicans notch key House districts, helping deliver the GOP’s House majority.

Source: TEST FEED1

How DeSantis built a conservative following on education

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has leaned hard into educational issues as he burnishes his national profile ahead of a potential White House bid — and conservatives love what they see.

DeSantis, who last year won reelection by the largest margin for a Florida governor in decades, has secured GOP plaudits for moves ranging from his reopening of schools during the coronavirus pandemic to his recent skirmish with the College Board over an AP African American studies course. Now, he’s the only Republican polling alongside — or in some cases, even ahead of — former President Trump for the party’s presidential nomination.

“The party should be open to looking at a different candidate. DeSantis is in the strongest position,” David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, told The Hill this week.

It remains to be seen if DeSantis’s moves on education would prove as popular with the voters at large as they are with congressional Republicans and Fox News hosts, but he has without question made the issue one of the key components of his brand.

Here are the five of the biggest DeSantis education policies that have garnered him national attention:

Handling of schools during the pandemic

The shuttering of schools nationwide during the pandemic began weeks after the first major U.S. coronavirus outbreaks, in March 2020. In some parts of the country, schools stayed closed until the end of 2021 or even the beginning of last year. 

Not in Florida though. 

DeSantis defied the mold, ordering schools to open in fall 2020, although he did allow parents to choose the option of virtual learning.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) speaks at the Doral Academy Preparatory School in Doral, Fla. (Associated Press)

“We wanted to figure out a way to still offer the parents choice but to really put the onus on the school districts to be monitoring this, and when they see students fall behind, to really be affirmative and engaging with the parents,” DeSantis said back in 2020.

He called closing schools was “probably the biggest public health blunder in modern American history.” 

While the closing of schools over COVID-19 was advised by many in the medical community, it has led to major learning loss across the board in K-12 students. 

DeSantis’s decision made national headlines as it went against the teachers unions in his state and the guidance of multiple medical experts. 

The Florida Education Association (FEA), one of the largest such unions in the state, sued the governor during the summer of 2020 over his reopening plan. The union argued the reopening went against the state’s constitution because it would be opening schools in an unsafe environment, but DeSantis prevailed in court.

In the summer of 2021, DeSantis signed another executive order to make it so schools couldn’t force students to wear masks in classes.

The order, at the time, went directly against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask recommendations.

‘Don’t Say Gay‘

Demonstrators protest inside the Florida State Capitol on March 7, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. (Associated Press)

DeSantis has become perhaps the Republican Party’s preeminent cultural warrior on the subjects of LGBTQ education and critical race theory in schools.

He cemented this role in 2022 with the Parental Rights in Education bill, which became popularly known by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. 

The bill was touted by DeSantis and conservatives as a way to keep inappropriate subjects and materials from younger students, though critics say it stifles free speech and puts LGBTQ youth at risk. 

During the measure’s signing ceremony, the governor said he had seen “classroom materials about sexuality and woke gender ideology” and “libraries with clearly inappropriate, pornographic mature materials for very young kids.” He also said some school districts had policies that didn’t consult parents about their child’s well-being. 

The bill made it so gender identity and sexual orientation could not be taught to primary school children and that all other grades could only be taught about the subjects in “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate” ways. 

The measure has been a hit with conservatives.

“I do think it was a good move,” Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post in April.

LGBTQ advocates, Democrats and the White House, however, have regularly blasted and mocked “Don’t Say Gay” as discriminatory.

“This law doesn’t solve any problem that exists. Instead, HB 1557 has been weaponized by the Governor’s office to launch a bigoted smear campaign to attack and defame LGBTQ Floridians with baseless accusations of grooming and pedophilia,” Florida Rep. Carlos Smith (D), the first openly gay Latino person elected to the Florida legislature, said last year.

Critical race theory, which examines how racism has shaped American policy and the legal system, is typically only taught at the college level. Its opponents say the theory is itself racist.

Stop WOKE Act

The Stop WOKE Act — using an acronym for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees” — marked another foray into culture war territory that sparked national controversy. 

The law prohibited schools from teaching about historical topics in ways that would make someone feel personally responsible for a past wrong based on their own race, sex or national origin. 

The bill was part of a larger effort by DeSantis to ensure critical race theory wasn’t taught in Florida schools, even after the state’s Board of Education banned it.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit at the Tampa Marriott Water Street on July 15, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. (Getty)

“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” DeSantis said. “We also have a responsibility to ensure that parents have the means to vindicate their rights when it comes to enforcing state standards.”

Although signed into law last year, opposition to the act is alive and well today, with the University of Florida’s student senate recently approving a resolution denouncing it. The resolution says the law is “generally vague” and has “contradictory sections” leading to confusion for “faculty instruction.”

DeSantis’s laws aimed at classroom instruction have caused uncertainty among teachers about what types of books or instructions are allowed, with reports of teachers removing books off their shelves and out of libraries for fear of repercussions.

Manatee and Duval county school district officials told teachers in January to remove all books from their classroom shelves or wrap them up due to the new rules and unclear penalties a teacher could receive for unapproved books, according to records seen by The Washington Post.

Taking aim at universities 

DeSantis has not only focused on K-12 education but has tackled problems he perceives at the college level as well. 

Recently, he has proposed multiple changes for higher education, again largely with an eye on ideology. 

“You have the dominant view, which I think is not the right view, to impose ideological conformity, to provoke political activism. Instead, we need our higher education systems to promote academic excellence,” the governor said. 

His proposals would make it so state schools could not support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs; boards of trustees at colleges could review the status of tenured professors; and course standards would be changed “to ensure higher education is rooted in the values of liberty and western tradition.”

“On their merits, DeSantis’s constructive suggestions all seem sensible,” the National Review editorial board wrote earlier this month. “In his announcement, DeSantis proposed that DEI was not, in fact, about diversity, equity, or inclusion, but about ‘imposing an agenda on people.’ He is absolutely right.”

The Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, however, said the proposals are the “governor’s latest attempt to restrict free speech and erase the history and legacy of discrimination in America by impeding the right to share ideas and receive information in classrooms is dangerous for our democracy and future generations.”

AP African American studies course

The latest national education controversy DeSantis has thrown himself in was over the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American studies course. 

The College Board introduced a pilot of the course in dozens of schools this academic year with little controversy — until last month, that is, when DeSantis’s administration said “the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” 

The state said it would not allow the course in schools as it was.

DeSantis’s administration has yet to confirm whether they will approve the College Board’s altered Advanced Placement African American studies course after the governor’s criticism of some of the subject matter. (Associated Press)

The main issues DeSantis’s office had with the course were the topics of Black queer studies, intersectionality, the reparations movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, Black feminist literary thought and the Black struggle in the 21st century.

The controversy heated up when College Board said they were releasing revisions to the class. While College Board says revisions were in the works for months before the governor’s complaints since the course was only run as a pilot, DeSantis’s administration took credit for the announced changes, which largely fell in line with its objections and included a new optional section on Black conservatism. 

“The College Board removed its woke curriculum from its AP African-American Studies course following @GovRonDeSantis’ objections to the blatant indoctrination in the course syllabus,” tweeted Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R). “This is a HUGE win for our state & the future of children’s education!”

The College Board’s explanation did not temper the outrage from activists and others when it released the final version of the class, which took out or made optional most of the problems DeSantis had with the course. 

“To wake up on the first day of Black History Month to news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential and inextricably linked parts of Black History, which is American history, is infuriating,” David J. Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, said when the revisions were released in February.

DeSantis’s administration has not yet said if they would approve the course after the changes.

Source: TEST FEED1

Progressive talk about replacing Biden flames out

As President Biden prepares to launch another White House bid, the nascent movement to find a replacement to run in his place has flamed out, with Democrats in both wings of the party pleased with the expected direction of his campaign and no alternative in sight. 

Progressives have wondered how Biden will position himself in 2024, having seen him both tack to the middle and veer to the left at different points in office.  

But they got a major sign of reassurance after this week’s address: more liberal firepower is in the works.  

“I have to say, the speech was very good,” said Angelo Greco, a Democratic consultant who worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. “As far as Biden can be pulled to the left and signal what his priorities are … I thought it was masterful.” 

Progressives were indeed delighted with much of what they heard on Tuesday night, when Biden laid out what many consider to be their most pressing priorities around taxes, entitlement programs, health care and reforms for massive industries like pharmaceuticals and oil. 

They wanted him to talk about raising taxes on corporations and super wealthy billionaires, and to indicate a willingness to ease Big Pharma’s stronghold of patients’ care and pricing. Many also wanted to hear a sincere commitment to improving the way manufacturing jobs and conditions for workers are handled, and to restate his commitment to unions. On top of that, they agreed that there’s much more to be done on guns, social and racial justice issues, and policing.  

While one speech can only go so far, otherwise antsy progressives expressed being pleasantly surprised by the direction Biden seems to be headed for his reelection campaign. 

The address “proved that the center of gravity has shifted in American politics,” said Adam Green, who co-founded the left-wing Progressive Change Campaign Committee.  

Green, like others in the progressive movement, were especially thrilled with Biden’s approach to Social Security, a hot-button policy that the whole Democratic Party has coalesced around to stave off attacks from Republicans trying mightily to reframe the issue in their favor.  

“The fact that Republicans now at least pretend to oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare shows how far progressives have successfully moved the debate since several years ago,” he said.  

Biden’s much-hyped address did as much for his personal brand as it did for an unofficial campaign kickoff, especially in the eyes of progressives who were slyly sizing up other options. 

The idea that left-wing Democrats would recruit and convince someone to run against the sitting president was always considered a bit outside of the mainstream. But that didn’t entirely stop some from privately talking about Sanders or even Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) or Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) as possible choices, before ultimately conceding that most top fixtures in the party would not mount a primary challenge.  

That became even more clear as Biden acted on their wish list items, including penning a student loan forgiveness executive order and signing off on the Inflation Reduction Act, which included major provisions on key focus areas like climate change.  

Beyond the contentment with Biden’s leftish leanings, there’s also the stark reality that progressives simply don’t have a realistic alternative who they believe can outcompete the president in the primary process. That’s even more so the case now that the Democratic National Committee has worked in tandem with the administration to tentatively amend the calendar lineup to make Biden-friendly South Carolina the first state to vote. 

While there’s still a desire within smaller progressive and activist circles for a more liberal kind of Democrat to emerge, there’s less motivation to weave together a serious action plan that could give Bidenworld a run for their money. 

“I think it was more or less dead before SOTU,” said one Democratic strategist close to several progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill about a hypothetical Biden challenger movement. “Maybe more chatter has died down, but no one was actually moving to run.” 

A second operative who worked on a rival presidential campaign to Biden in 2020 agreed that the State of the Union didn’t change things for the upcoming electoral fight, and speculated that if anyone wanted to challenge him, one strong national address wouldn’t deter that.  

“Any Dem still pushing the idea [that] Biden might not run in 2024 should hit pause on printing their campaign merch,” said Max Burns, a political strategist and writer who skews to the left.  

Burns was addressing the much more widely asked question on Democrats’ minds about whether Biden, now 80, would actually run next cycle. For those in that camp, his speech made it clearer that he is preparing to run — and on a pretty progressive platform. 

“Biden went out on Tuesday with much more energy than even some Democrats expected,” Burns said. He “wasted no time getting into a sparring match with the GOP.”  

Still, there is a lingering sentiment out there that Biden’s not the top choice to lead a head-to-head general election contest. A poll released this week by Washington Post-ABC News found that “nearly six in 10 Democratic-aligned adults don’t want to see Biden renominated for the job,” according to the survey, a data point that caught the attention of one of his old presidential competitors. 

Julián Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Obama, said that the poll shows a flaw in the Biden standard bearer thinking for 2024.  

“It’s the general consensus that Dems are content with Biden in a Trump rematch,” Castro tweeted in reference to the findings. “But this poll undermines Biden’s central argument for re-nomination.” 

Many progressives admit to wishing that someone who can pass their purity tests would have emerged earlier in Biden’s first term and would have been perceived as a credible challenger by now. But most also acknowledge that simply hasn’t happened.  

“I’m a critic, and I do think quietly behind the curtains people are a little bit disappointed that there is no one who can speak out,” said Greco. “As a matter of principle, it would be nice to have someone out there challenging him or the establishment, but it just seems so not viable.”

Source: TEST FEED1