Shift Wire
Reid: Dem 2020 class looks like an ‘old folks’ home’
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), not surprisingly, hasn’t held back in various departing statements, including what he really thinks about his party’s set of likeliest 2020 presidential nominees. The Hill reports:
The prospective class of Democrats who could run for president in 2020 is shaping up as an “old-folks’ home,” according to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Reid, the outgoing Senate Democratic leader, made the remark earlier this month when asked by an aide whether he might support a White House run by Vice President Biden, according to New York Magazine.
In response to the question, Reid mentioned the age of several prominent Democrats who are talked about as likely candidates in 2020.
“It depends on who’s running,” Reid told his staff. “It appears we’re going to have an old-folks’ home. We’ve got [Elizabeth] Warren; she’ll be 71. Biden will be 78. Bernie [Sanders] will be 79.”
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Obama admits failure to leave behind strong Democratic Party
President Obama admitted today that his electoral successes didn’t lead to durable political strength. David M. Drucker reports in the Washington Examiner:
President Obama on Friday conceded that he failed as leader of the Democratic Party to transfer his success down ticket.
Obama was the first Democrat to win more than 50 percent of the vote in consecutive presidential elections since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But other than the coattails that lifted down-ballot Democrats in his first campaign, in 2008, the president’s party generally suffered under his leadership, and sits at a historic low point as readies to exit the White House.
“It’s been something that I’ve been able to do, successfully, in my own campaigns,” Obama said during his final year-end news conference. “It is not something I’ve been able to transfer to candidates in midterms and sort of build a sustaining organization around. That’s something that I would have liked to have done more of, but it’s kind of hard to do when you’re dealing a whole bunch of issues here in the White House.”
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Study: Premium Hikes Add $10B To Taxpayers’ Health Law Tab
The Associated Press ran the numbers and gives further evidence to what should be obvious: Obamacare hasn’t led to the cost reductions that were promised – not by a long shot. The wire service writes:
Taxpayers will fork over nearly $10 billion more next year to cover double-digit premium hikes for subsidized health insurance under President Barack Obama’s law, according to a study being released Thursday.
The analysis from the Center for Health and Economy comes as the Republican-led Congress is preparing to repeal “Obamacare” and replace it with a GOP alternative whose details have yet to be worked out. With incoming President Donald Trump likely to sign such legislation, historic coverage gains under the 2010 health law are at stake.
The study estimates that the cost of premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act will increase by $9.8 billion next year, rising from $32.8 billion currently to $42.6 billion.
The average monthly subsidy will increase by $76, or 26 percent, from $291 currently to $367 in 2017.
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Why 63 House Democrats voted to oust Nancy Pelosi
Not all House Democrats are too pleased with Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, clearly. Amber Phillips reports in the Washington Post:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just survived her most serious leadership challenge in more than a decade.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) got 63 votes Wednesday from House Democrats in his bid to unseat Pelosi, which as my colleague Paul Kane points out is a not-insignificant amount. (Though Pelosi did meet her self-set expectation of winning two-thirds of the caucus, which is also a not-insignificant amount.)
It’s not a coincidence Ryan’s challenge came after yet another disappointing election for House Democrats, who will spend another two years in the minority.
The challenge for Pelosi going forward is that she didn’t just take heat from younger members like Ryan (who is 43, compared to Pelosi’s 76). Heading into Wednesday’s secret ballot, some of her most reliable allies — like members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) — expressed doubt about her leadership. Which means Pelosi is going to have to try to assuage a wide array of grievances from a growing number of House Democrats.
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On The Other Blogs
- GOP futility on health care is complicated, but simple: They don’t agreeSource: Smarter Gov WAPublished on 2017-09-22
- King 5 News’ Susannah Frame receives award for ongoing investigation into state ferries wasteSource: Washington Policy CenterPublished on 2017-09-22
- The Freedom Update – Episode 189Source: Freedom FoundationPublished on 2017-09-18
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