Austerity Happens-- Conservatives Make Sure Of It With Every Vote They Take

Unlike the federal government, states can't print money. And many are constitutionally unable to run deficits. You know what they means in the Trump Recession/Depression? Cutbacks inlays that will hurt the already hard-hit working class. And The GOP is doing all it can to make matters worse. It's their thing-- and the media calls it a political deadlock, as Mary Walsh did in a NY Times article yesterday. One of America's biggest statewide socialist programs is in Alaska-- the Permanent Fund (established in 1976), which basically pays every citizen in the state a Basic Income through a divided on oil revenues. In 2015, the dividend was $2,072. Since Trump became president it's been going down-- $1,606 in 2019, $992 this year and is estimated to be going to zero by October. Walsh didn't mention it and wrote that "Alaska chopped resources for public broadcasting. New York City gutted a nascent composting program that could have kept tons of food waste out of landfills. New Jersey postponed property-tax relief payments. Prisoners in Florida will continue to swelter in their cells, because plans to air-condition its prisons are on hold. Many states have already cut planned raises for teachers. And that’s just the start."

I doubt many conservatives are going to lose their seats because Florida prison inmates don't get A/C or because of a composting program or a cutback in public broadcasting. But watch what happens in Alaska when people there figure out they're not getting their dividend checks. And, wrote Walsh. "Across the nation, states and cities have made an array of fiscal maneuvers to stay solvent and are planning more in case Congress can’t agree on a fiscal relief package after the August recess. House Democrats included nearly $1 billion in state and local aid in the relief bill they passed in May, but the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has said he doesn’t want to hand out a 'blank check' to pay for what he considers fiscal mismanagement, including the enormous public-pension obligations some states have accrued. There has been little movement in that stalemate lately.

Economists warn that further state spending reductions could prolong the downturn by shaking the confidence of residents, whose day-to-day lives depend heavily on state and local services.

“People look to government as their backstop when things are completely falling apart,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “If they feel like there’s no support there, they lose faith and they run for the bunker and pull back on everything.”

States and municipalities are also crucial employers and spenders that keep the economy moving. “We run the risk of descending into a dark vicious cycle,” Mr. Zandi said.

State and local governments administer most of America’s programs for education, public safety, health care and unemployment insurance. They also provide a wide variety of smaller services, such as outdoor recreational facilities or highway rest stops, that improve the quality of life. The costs of many of these programs have spiraled because of the pandemic, which has at the same time caused an economic slump that has driven down tax revenues.

Collectively, state governments will have budget shortfalls of $312 billion through the summer of 2022, according to a review by Moody’s Analytics. When local governments are factored in, the shortfall rises to $500 billion. That estimate assumes the pandemic doesn’t get worse.

When the lockdowns started in March, state and local governments quickly cut 1.3 million jobs. But then they paused, waiting to see if revenue would continue to fall-- and what Washington might do to replace it.

Lawmakers soon passed the $2 trillion CARES Act, which authorized one-time stimulus payments and temporary supplemental unemployment payments, which buoyed consumer spending and helped states’ sales-tax revenues. The law also allocated about $150 billion to states for expenses directly attributable to the pandemic, in areas ranging from education and health care to the operation of nearly empty airports. But the rules for what expenses that money can cover have kept much of it from being spent, according to the Treasury Department. New York State, for example, has been sent about $2.9 billion that it can’t put toward other uses.

Although states’ budget challenges would be eased if Congress relaxed those rules, that still wouldn’t be enough to fill the gap.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has warned that without further relief New York will cut $8.2 billion in grants to local governments, a blow he said had “no precedent in modern times.” The cuts would hit “nearly every activity funded by state government,” including special education, pediatric health care, substance abuse programs, property-tax relief and mass transit, he said.

No two states have tackled the budget crunch the same way. Several have torn up their annual budgets and are doling out money to programs one or two months at a time. Some have earmarked cuts but not yet carried them out.

Delaware has decided to issue less debt, and a bond issue that was supposed to fund clean-water projects has been shelved. In California, people who go to court without lawyers-- an estimated 4.3 million a year-- will continue to deal with confusion because the state has scrapped plans for “court navigators” to shepherd them through. Nevada said it would forgo the penalties and interest it normally charged tax cheats, hoping to coax them and their unpaid millions up from underground. In Maryland, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will lose a $1.6 million state subsidy.

Some states are trying to save cash on their pension contributions. Kentucky has delayed its payments to the state workers’ pension fund, already one of the most poorly funded in the country. Colorado and Maryland are among the states planning to reduce their contributions. Some, like California and New Jersey, had recently committed to raising their contributions to cover past underpayments-- but now can’t afford to do so.

Without further federal aid, some of the biggest cuts will be to education and health care. California says it will send its school districts $12.5 billion in I.O.U.s if Washington doesn’t step in, and it will be on the schools to figure out how to fund themselves in the meantime. Preschool programs are being cut in many states; so are free-tuition college programs. State university systems are slated to lose billions of dollars in state funding, although some states say the cuts will be quickly reversed if enough federal money arrives.

And many states say they will reduce their outlays for Medicaid. The health care program for low-income people has been growing rapidly in the pandemic as millions have lost their jobs along with their employee health benefits. States are struggling to find a way to pay for all these additional people. Some, like Colorado, are increasing the co-payments that their Medicaid patients must pay for doctor visits, pharmaceuticals and medical transport.

State officials say they have little choice but to keep cutting if more aid doesn’t arrive. All but one state, Vermont, are legally bound to balance their budgets every year, and Vermont does so voluntarily. They can’t borrow their way out of a cash crunch, the way Washington can, because they have laws limiting how much bond debt they can carry. If they veer too close to the limit, lenders will start demanding higher interest rates and the rating agencies will downgrade them.

In May, the Federal Reserve offered to buy states’ bonds if terms in the municipal bond market become onerous. But most states think the Fed loans cost too much and have to be paid back too quickly to be of much help. So far only one state, Illinois, and one state authority, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, have taken the Fed up on its offer. New Jersey and Hawaii are exploring deals, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks the states’ fiscal plans as they develop.

Public pensions have been a central point of contention in discussions over additional federal aid.

In April, with economic activity at low ebb, Illinois lawmakers sent a detailed wish list to their state’s congressional delegation that included $10 billion for the coming year’s pension contribution. They also asked for $9.6 billion for Illinois’s cities, which needed the money to “fund retirement systems for the police, firefighters and other first responders providing emergency services during this Covid-19 outbreak.”

The request drew scorn in Washington.

On a syndicated radio show, Mr. McConnell said Senate Republicans would “certainly insist that anything we’d borrow to send down to the states is not spent on solving problems that they created for themselves over the years with their pension programs.”

Glenn Hubbard, an economic conservative who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, said he agreed that federal money should not be used to prop up failing state pension funds. But he acknowledged that the states’ cash needs were becoming urgent and said there wasn’t time for a complete overhaul of troubled state pension systems.

For the sake of speed, Mr. Hubbard said in an interview, Congress could send the states money with a simple, and probably breakable, rule that it not be used to reduce taxes or bail out pensions. Public pension reform, which would be grueling, could come later.

Or, as Mr. Hubbard said in an online seminar hosted by the Economic Policy Institute last month, “if an overweight person comes to the E.R. with a heart attack, you treat the heart attack before you lecture him or her about weight.”

I spoke with some of the state legislative candidates Blue America has endorsed about how this catastrophe is playing out in their own districts and in their own campaigns. Southwest Milwaukee County challenger Jacob Malinowski, a working class candidate through and through, told me that "In Wisconsin, we’re seeing the direct effects of economic mismanagement for partisan gain. The dark store loophole-- which means mega-corporations avoid paying their fair share in property taxes-- bankrupts municipalities and leads to higher taxes for working people. Wisconsin is now one of only a few states which still hasn’t accepted the free federal Medicaid expansion dollars. This means that all of our healthcare costs go up-- just for some sort of twisted, ideological political victory. And finally, throughout most of 2020, our state legislature hasn’t even shown up for work. No debates, no bills-- but still their full salary. Enough is enough, and I’m running because we need more advocates for working and middle class families-- not wealthy billionaires."

Tulare Democrat Drew Phelps is running for a seat against Devon Mathis, arguably the worst member of the California state legislature. He told this morning that he's thankful that "California didn't have to layoff public employees this year," but was horrified that "most public workers will be seeing a pay cut of 9.23% under agreements made for next year's budget. This would be reversed if the federal government stepped in to help restore the state budget. That 9.23% represents $2.8 billion per year that is being taken away from public employees and will also no doubt represent a reduction in spending by those families that are impacted, further hurting California's economy. It was a necessary step for a state that is bound by the constitution to pass a balanced budget, but incredibly short sighted from a federal government not bound by the same constraints in a time of crisis. Some California lawmakers made written requests that their salary be cut to match the sacrifice being made by so many California state employees, but my opponent Assemblymember Devon Mathis made no such gesture."

Aside from Lee Carter, also from Virginia, Delegate Patrick Hope is the only one of our state legislative candidates who is an incumbent. He speaks from experience when he tells us that "Trump and McConnell’s failure to lead during the pandemic means that states, such as Virginia, have to cut basic core services in order to balance their budgets. Virginia is projecting a whopping $2.7 billion shortfall over the next two years leaving legislators no other choice but to make deep cuts in Medicaid programs, public education, and infrastructure. That means government support won’t be there for low-income families at a time when they need it the most. What’s just as bad is states are on their own securing virus testing and PPP, just when schools are preparing to open all over the country. The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have proven themselves to be unreliable when it comes to securing the basic necessities for states to fight the pandemic. At a time when the need for federal financial support to the states is at its greatest, we get nothing but broken promises. And who’s left holding the bag: the people."

Deb Lavender is a member of the Missouri House-- currently running for the state Senate-- so, like Patrick Hope, she speaks from experience about the conservative embrace of austerity-- or at least for austerity for the working class. She told me that "Over the last decade Missouri has cut taxes for large corporations, costing the state $750 million in yearly revenue. This cut in revenue to our state has forced budget cuts at a time when the economy was doing well, from 2015 thru 2019. And this is after austerity measures were taken following the recession in 2008 – 2012. Missouri has the lowest gas tax in the nation so there is no surprise when we have over 900 bridges on the critical and emergency repair list. Last year we borrowed $300 million to fix these bridges during an economic boom because we refused to raise gasoline taxes and continue to cut corporate taxes. Missouri has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation, and we are one of two states that have not capitalized on the Wayfair sales tax. As a state, Missouri has not been investing in our citizens for close to a decade. We fail to fund public education, higher education, and we have not expanded Medicaid expansion so our low-income friends, neighbors and families to have to affordable healthcare. Due to corporate budget cuts we have had austere budgets for the last 5 years and then the coronavirus hit. Since March our Governor has cut over $800 Million from our budget while continuing to mismanage our tax dollars. We have billions of federal dollars from the CARES Act still not being spent, and the latest development from Missouri is our Governor's $829,000 in payments to a Virginia-based consulting company to help us spend our CARES act money. Tens of thousands of Missourians are still unemployed, over 1 million people in the state don’t have access to broadband, schools and hospitals don't have enough PPE, and the state has not taken measures to ensure everyone can safely vote in November, and we are sending our money to Virginia? Whether for good or bad, state government plays a powerful role in the lives of every person living in our state. Missouri needs to start investing in the people of the state to becomes a viable state where people want to live."

Down in Miami-Dade, Bob Lynch, is running hard for a swing district seat currently held by rot-gut Republican Daniel Perez (HD-116). Yesterday, he told me that "One of the things that attracts people like Donald Trump and Kayleigh McEnany to the state of Florida is the fact that we have no state income tax. When the good times roll, this is a big selling point. However, Ron DeSantis has torpedoed our state’s economy due to ignoring the public health component of the pandemic. All he cares about is letting his donors open up their businesses regardless of how unsafe it is. The 2021 State Budget that was jammed through at the last minute will be something that historians will study due to the brazen criminal negligence involved. The revenue assumptions in the budget were pre-COVID, despite it being passed in the middle of the pandemic. I have long since tangled with Moody’s on their rose colored glasses loss estimates, dating back to my time as a Subprime Mortgage trader. They estimate that Florida will have an $8-10 billion dollar budget shortfall. I have, and will always take the over on any Moody’s report. Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, and Marco Rubio have been adamant about the federal government not bailing out reckless states. Florida is the most reckless state. The essential services that will have to be cut simply to balance the budget is something that Paul Ryan and Rand Paul’s wet dreams are made of. This is an impending disaster, which was the intention.  Sabotage the government and then blame the government. I’m getting sick of watching this movie over and over."

Anselm Weber is also running for the state House, but west of where Bob is running, in Lee County. He wrote this morning that "the GOP has been immensely successful for the last 40+ years gaslighting the public into believing policies that directly benefit the public are somehow bad. A lot of their narrative successes could have been avoided if the Democrats put effort into defending our social safety net and policy prescriptions like single-payer healthcare and a living wage. If the Democrats put opposition up in my state of Florida things might actually be better for the working class. Right now millions of Floridians are without healthcare, affordable housing or a living wage. This has only gotten demonstrably worse with the GOP's austerity-driven approach to COVID-19 with a jaw dropping 51% of renters at risk for eviction. On top of that, 1.7 million people still have not had their unemployment claims processed! The need to rebuild our social safety net here is my top priority if elected. No longer should we accept the pay-as-you-go logic of the far right. Not when millions of people are ending up in poverty because of COVID-19 and soon to be climate change. Now is the time to call out the right's trash narrative gatekeeping the public goods we all need."

Joshua Hicks is running for state House clear on the other end of the state-- in Nassau and Duval counties. "State aid is vitally important to Northeast Florida and across the country. My opponent has joined his Republican colleagues in blocking Medicaid expansion in Florida-- funding which would place 800,000 low-income and needy Floridians on healthcare. In times of an economic crisis, like we are going through now due to the pandemic, we need leaders who will place the people and their communities first-- not political talking points or economic policies that only look out for themselves and not the people they represent. We need leaders who will support local communities and who will stand up for our workers, fighting for pay increases and expanded benefits. While Republicans in Washington stand up against supporting states in need, their colleagues in state legislatures are supporting their blockade-- at the cost of hard working Americans. That's simply wrong policy. As a state legislator, I'll fight for our workers, for the low-and-middle class families in need, for our small businesses, and will look for ways to lift up, not put down, our local communities. If we need help from the federal government, I'll happily work to accept it if it helps my district-- regardless of the consequences. That's leadership. The election this November gives us a real chance to change the direction of this nation-- from the bottom on up."

Virginia Endorsement Alert: Patrick Hope

We've been fans of Virginia Delegate Patrick Hope for a very long time-- introduced to him by progressive friends who are constituents of his in Arlington County, just outside of DC. One of the first times he did a guest post for us, in 2014, he introduced himself this way: "Thank you for this opportunity to write a guest post on Down With Tyranny. I've been a reader for many years-- luckily my voting record always has and always will reflect my strong progressive values, so I’ll be able to avoid being photoshopped into a clown like so many Congressman have been here." He was running for Congress then, a grassroots progressive up against a wealthy establishment conservative. The wealthy establishment conservative won and many people say he's destined for the Biden administration, and we-- like so many-- are hoping Patrick will run for the seat again, this time with years and years of experience as a legislator under his belt-- and a great record.

I asked him to catch us up with what he's been up to in Richmond and, hilariously, he started with the same line: "Thank you for the opportunity to write a Down With Tyranny guest post. I've been a long-time reader and admirer for many years." Maybe that's where he gets all his good ideas!

Progressive Leadership In State Legislatures Can't Be Taken For Granted
-by Del. Patrick Hope 

 Since 2009, I’ve been an unapologetic, progressive leader in the Virginia General Assembly and have a voting record to match, having been rated most progressive legislator among Delegates and Senators by the Virginia Progressive Legislative Alert Network (VAPLAN). When I first arrived in Richmond, I was shocked at what I saw. The Tea Party-led Republicans were as bad as I expected, but the Democratic Party was infiltrated with special interests and lobbyists writing their legislation. That's why I immediately founded the Virginia Progressive Caucus to begin to fight back and reclaim the Democratic Party. I wasn't the first progressive elected to go to Richmond, but many before me were willing to play the game and refused to form a Progressive Caucus so members were not forced to "pick sides." I think this kind of "leadership" is atrocious-- we must stand up and speak out for our values in elected office. That is the kind of leader I am and that is what I will continue to do.

Things have certainly changed in those 10 years when, in 2019, Virginia Democrats swept the House and Senate elections capturing the first progressive majority in history.  The issues that I and my fellow progressive Democrats championed-- expanding health insurance to all Virginians, enacting laws to prevent gun violence, passing criminal justice and prison reforms, protecting a woman’s right to choose, and raising the minimum wage have all been signed into law this year and we are only getting started!

I’m best known in Richmond as an expert in health care policy, where I serve on the House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee and chair of its Health Subcommittee. I’ve spent more than two decades fighting to expand health care coverage and affordability for every American, and led the fight for expand Medicaid in Virginia, something we finally accomplished in 2019, providing over 400,000 low-income Virginians with access to health care. While I believe that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is our country’s greatest domestic policy achievement since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, I also continue to believe health care is a fundamental human right and no American should be without basic health insurance coverage. Until then, I’m working on a proposal for the 2021 General Assembly session to expand eligibility for Virginia’s Medicaid program even further to 200 percent of federal poverty, potentially providing hundreds of thousands of hard-working Virginians health care coverage unable to afford insurance due to the disastrous Trump Administration's repeated efforts to undermine the ACA.





I’m also very proud of the action we took this session on gun violence prevention. Prior to this session, Virginia had one of the weakest laws in the nation, allowing unencumbered access to guns. But this year, using my seniority and Chairmanship of the powerful House Public Safety Committee, I was able to push through seven common sense gun violence prevention bills that the Governor recently signed into law:

• Universal background checks on all firearm sales;
• Reinstate the law allowing the purchase of only one handgun within a 30-day period;
• Requiring lost or stolen firearms be reported to law enforcement within 48 hours;
• Create an Extreme Risk Protective Order that would allow a court to order the temporary separation of firearms from an individual determined to be danger to self or others;
• Prohibiting the person the subject of a protective order from possessing a firearm;
• Enhancing the penalty for recklessly allowing child access to a loaded firearm;
• Allowing localities to prohibit firearms in County buildings, parks, or recreation centers.

These laws will save lives.

Another issue I have taken on squarely in Richmond is criminal justice and police reform. Virginia's criminal justice system is replete with “tough on crime” examples of racial injustice that only lead to mass incarceration. The recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have cast a national spotlight on police and criminal justice reform and have caused Virginians to re-examine of our criminal justice system and take decisive action. As the Chairman of the House Public Safety Committee and senior member of the House Courts of Justice Committee, I’m leading House efforts to enact comprehensive criminal justice and police reforms. Reinstating parole, abolishing the death penalty, eliminating mandatory minimums, creating civilian oversight review boards, decertifying bad cops, and requiring body worn cameras is just a start. I want a criminal justice system that is fair and equitable and police reform that creates a system that is more transparent and accountable to the people it serves.

I have always believed that criminal justice reform and prison reform are two sides of the same coin. Specifically, I’m building on the work I’ve done to prohibit the use of solitary confinement in Virginia. I first became involved in prison reform when, in 2011, I toured Red Onion, Virginia’s "Supermax" prison. I met one man who had been in solitary for 12 years-- 23 hours a day, 7 days a week of total isolation for 12 years. I took on the department of corrections in the legislature and forced them to make reforms to their system. Just a few years later, we have seen an 80 percent reduction in the use of solitary confinement in prisons in Virginia. But I don’t want to end there. I want a law to only allow the use of solitary in extreme cases.

I also worked to outlaw the shackling of pregnant inmates while they were giving birth. While it may seem obvious that a woman in labor isn’t a flight risk (you can ask any woman who’s ever given birth-- they’re not going anywhere!), I had reports that the department of corrections was requiring nonviolent women to be shackled while giving birth. I put in a bill that even won the support of the right wing to outlaw this practice. While the Tea Party defeated the bill, I worked through the department to install regulations prohibiting the abhorrent practice. This will never happen again in Virginia.

I believe it takes more than just voting the right way to be a progressive leader. To me, being a progressive means standing up for our values, no matter the political implications. Over the years, I have stood up to Big Tobacco, the NRA (see above), the fossil fuel industry, anti-vaxxers, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-choice (see video below)-- and won. I am a champion of progressive values and I know how to get things done.

If you want to help re-elect a proven progressive champion in Virginia, please visit my website at www.hopeforvirginia.org where you can learned more about me and my campaign. I appreciate this opportunity to share with you my vision, and I hope you’ll continue to stand with me. Howie included the Blue America state legislative candidate thermometer on the right and you can contribute to my campaign by clicking on it.

Should The 2018 Midterms Just Be A Referendum On Trump? Or Do Democrats Have To Be Offering A Viable Alternative?

You thought the SNL sketch was funny? David Wade a former John Kerry chief of staff, now makes his living as a lobbyist (GreenLight Strategies) and Democratic strategist; über--establishment. He says Democrats can win back Congress next year "by making Donald Trump the issue in [suburban] districts. You can't allow any Republican incumbent to separate themselves from Trump's brand, period. Whether it's his failed promises, or his inability to do anything for the suburbs on basic quality of life issues from middle class taxes to health care costs to wages, you need to draw a straight line from the Republican incumbent to Trump."

Although Wade acknowledges that "Having acceptable candidates who fit their districts is important," he insists that Democrats "not pretend this is going to be anything but a referendum on Donald Trump. Ralph Northam didn’t just win out of abundance of charisma or because he had a vision. He won because Donald Trump was a millstone around Gillespie’s neck and Northam himself was acceptable to voters. We can’t be afraid to do that everywhere because with a president whose approval ratings are at a historic low, that’s how you win."

I asked Nancy Pelosi's daughter Christine, a savvy political operative in her own right, if she sees 2018 shaping up the same way. "I don't believe that," she told me. "I do believe this: Democrats win by showing voters how Trump's tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations slash Medicare, Medicaid, and education and cause harm in the daily lives of the American people." I asked a couple dozen Democrats the same question-- incumbents, candidates, campaign staffers, former members of Congress, etc. Each one said they disagree with Wade. One top Senate staffer, who asked for anonymity, told me that Schumer's pick of Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona shows that top Dems "still don't get it" and they think the wave will sweep even the worst Republican-lite candidates into office. "That worked out badly for us last year... [but] these know-it-alls never can't seem to admit their mistakes and therefore can't learn from them."

David Keith, currently residing in Racine and running Randy Bryce's camapign, is one of the most in-demand managers in the country. "What's fundamentally wrong about this line of thinking," he offered, "is that it takes voters for granted. It assumes voters don't have a soul, conscience, or values. This line of Beltway thinking goes part and parcel with the strategic flaws of 2016. We owe it to our better history to make something of this moment rather than use it as a moment to default. Voters are now-- more than ever-- very adept at calling bullshit. They may be calling Trump an irresponsible maniac now, but real soon they'll be looking for a remedy. Doing nothing is no remedy. It's a cause for an eye roll."

Tim Canova is working hard to unseat one of the evil forces propelling the Democratic Party in all the wrong directions, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He has seen very clearly what happens when the party gives up its role as the vehicle for the legitimate aspirations of working men and women. "The surge of Democratic victories in last week’s elections shows what’s possible when candidates and voters organize around the issues and rally around a progressive agenda. We should be skeptical of claims by the Democratic establishment that the party can win back Congress by simply making 2018 a referendum on Donald Trump. They've been wrong so often in the past that we should question their assumptions, as well as their motives. The 'Trump referendum' strategy would serve the interests of the party’s corporate backers since, win or lose, it will have ensured a negative campaign that ignores progressive policy alternatives. The way back for Democrats is to embrace the party’s progressive roots to offer a compelling vision for our country. That’s what Philip Murphy did in winning the governor’s race in New Jersey, he campaigned for a state-run bank as part of his call to reject outdated economic ways and embrace innovative approaches. Yes, it’s important to oppose Trump and his regressive agenda. But at the same time, Democrats must offer voters real progressive alternatives."

Yesterday, Derrick Crowe, the top candidate for the open TX-21 seat, made a similar point. The primary pits him against a conservative "ex"-Republican multimillionaire, Joseph Kopser. On Saturday Bexar County (San Antonio) Democrats held their primary straw poll and Crowe beat Kopser better than 2 to 1. Saturday he told us that he had spent all day Friday in the heart of Texas Hill Country, "talking to voters about progressive policies like a $15/hour minimum wage and Medicare for All. Democrats and progressives respond to that message everywhere we go. Stating the obvious: this is a midterm, and midterms are about exciting, organizing, and turning out the base. Centrism crashes and burns this year. Progressive messages will be the winners."

Kara Eastman is running against the ultimate DCCC candidate-- a failed Republican politician, EXTREMELY conservative, who switched party registration and pretends to be a Blue Dog Democrat now, Brad Ashford, the perennial flip-flopper. He managed to fake his way into the Omaha congressional seat but was the worst Democrat in Congress, always voting with his Republicans brothers on every important issue. He lost his seat last year because Democrats refused to vote for him again. He just got fired from the job he took after that and decided he might as well run again. Kara is running on a progressive-populist platform. "People in districts like the Nebraska's 2nd," she told us, "are not interested in hearing what candidates are running against. They want and deserve to hear who candidates are, what they have accomplished and what they will do for their constituents."

Sam Jammal is taking on Ed Royce-- if he can get by the 4 self-funding multimillionaires running as Democrats in his Orange County district. "Trump," he told us, "is on the top of everyone's mind-- he is dangerous and impossible to ignore. But what he does is create an opening for voters to look at their options. We still need to give voters a reason to hire us. The voter's decision won't solely be about firing the incumbent-- most of them are too entrenched to just be fired because of Trump. We need to be careful to look at the election as a hiring-- not firing decision. Trump creates the environment for change, but won't drive it without quality candidates and a message that resonates." The DCCC prefers someone else-- Gil Cisneros, an ex-potato chip taster for Frito-Lay's who won $266 million in the lottery and is spreading it around among Democrats who agree to endorse him. Cisneros lives in a $10 million beachfront mansion in another district-- CA-39 has no beachfronts-- and has shown himself to know absolutely nothing about any of the issues people care about. And, of course, he's another "ex"-Republican the DCCC always gravitates to.

Patrick Hope is a Virginia state legislator and he is more in agreement with Wade than anyone else I spoke with. He reminded us that "Democrats across the country should take notice of what happened last week in Virginia. Voters are angry about the hateful and divisive policies coming out of the Trump White House and they are directing that anger squarely at Republicans. Many Virginia Republicans tried unsuccessfully to separate themselves from the failed promises of Trump or the divisiveness of Washington but they couldn’t escape the comparison. They could run but they couldn’t hide from the fact that Trump is the Republican Party. This will be even more pronounced in the 2018 mid-terms and is the secret formula to a Democratic victory and their retaking of the House of Representatives."

I also spoke with Andy Millard, a North Carolina Democrat who ran for Congress in a red district and didn't win. He watched that same Saturday Night Live skit last night and mentioned that all the Democrats in it "looked tired and old. The Nancy Pelosi character slowly intones, 'We won because you love our fresh, new ideas delivered by fresh, new faces.' The irony was what made it funny. I agree that candidates should pin Trump to incumbent Republicans, but I think we’ll need a lot more to win back the House. We have to demonstrate that we can lead in a new direction. Trump’s win should have shown us that Americans want something different, so much so that some are willing to roll the dice to get it. We’re not going to win by getting the band back together. I’ve met some great candidates as I plan the conference, and each one has to create their own positive brand and message independent of the national figureheads. I think that’s what it’s going to take."

Brad Miller was the last great Member of Congress from North Carolina. The Republican legislature used partisan gerrymandering to erase his district. This morning he told us that "Most of establishment-wing Democrats argue that all we have to do in 2018 is ride the wave of revulsion for Trump because that’s all they want to do. They think the pre-Trump status quo was perfectly satisfactory, and Trump voters already regret their vote. The permanent Democratic establishment thinks they'll just restore that status quo if a suitable Democratic is elected president in 2020 and everything will be fine. They graciously will not demand a formal apology from the American people for how ungrateful and disrespectful we have been to them." And Brad was just getting started:

Democrats may in fact not have to do much more than not have "R” by their name to do well in 2018. But if Democrats are just the party of the old status quo, then things might not go well for Democrats after that. And the battle lines of American politics will remain the same: two tribal parties that are both okay with corrupt oligarchy but fight the latest culture war in every election.

I don’t want to minimize the real harm that Trump and his appointees are doing, but it would be much worse if he were even minimally competent. We might face a version of Trump who is not a petulant, clownish dumbass, and that is truly scary. Pence could be a plausible celebrity spokesman for a Trumpist Republican Party and government as early as 2020, and maybe even before. A Democratic Party that promises just to restore the status quo of the last generation might struggle against that.

This whole debate reminds me of the discussions I read on North Carolina basketball fan websites. Should we go with our traditional lineup of big men in the paint, or with a smaller but quicker lineup? In basketball, I want to go with what wins, and I’ll leave that decision to our coach. I see no intrinsic virtue of a lineup with two bigs, two wings and a point if something else works better. Just win. Don’t cheat, play within the rules, but win.

I think Democrats can win in 2018 and beyond as the party of economic reform, but that’s not why I’m for those policies. I support structural economic reform because that’s what I think the country needs. Badly. Our economy needs to be dewormed. I want someone to attack the injustice and dysfunction in our economy, and the corrupting concentration of economic and political power, and Democrats still seem like the best bet. Yes, I think Democrats will be rewarded by voters if they do, but I want that for it’s own sake.

Our candidates might not have to wring their hands over how to seem “authentic” if they actually believed what they said and acted on their beliefs in office. Why do voters think so many candidates are empty careerists? Because so many are.

I want to close this out with comments from two of the savviest political leaders I know, California activist Norman Solomon and former-- and future-- Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. Alan was as succinct as Norman was thorough. He told us that "Donald Trump’s old reality show was called The Apprentice.  His 2018 reality show will be called The Biggest Loser." Norman went on for some length-- but important stuff:

Overall, this kind of approach-- prioritizing a quest for supposedly “persuadable” suburban GOP voters-- has proven to be a failure. That’s a big reason why Trump got elected. We should not forget that Chuck Schumer was expressing the conventional Democratic Party wisdom when he said in July 2016: “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia. And you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”

As the Autopsy points out, “Schumer’s boast demands scrutiny not just because of the disastrous results in three of those four states, but because of the people it overlooked. It illustrated a fundamental assumption underpinning Democratic voter outreach: that to defeat Trump, the party could depend on white suburban voters and give short shrift to working-class voters-- including the voters of color who form 46 percent of the party’s base. This badly flawed assumption went much deeper than an offhand remark by a leading Democrat. The Democratic spending in the 2016 election focused enormous resources on white voters to the relative neglect of people of color.”

That neglect had devastating effects. The drop-off in votes for the Democratic ticket among people of color included a 5 percent plunge among Latino voters for Clinton compared to Obama’s total four years earlier-- despite the fact that Clinton was running against a virulently anti-Latino candidate who labeled Mexican immigrants “rapists” and all the rest of it.

Yet the repetition compulsion of largely targeting white “moderate” suburban voters still festers at the top of the Democratic Party. It fits in neatly with the persistent illusion-- fondly and disastrously embraced in 2016-- that Trump will defeat himself and Democrats need to mainly help him do that by continually hammering on how horrendous he is.

But that’s not how you get a very big turnout from the Democratic Party base-- and a very big turnout from that base is absolutely crucial if we’re going to take back Congress and then the White House. As Jim Hightower put it a few days ago, "Voter turnout is based on voter turn-on-- so, rather than stale robo-calls, let's give to working class people of different backgrounds a slate of progressive candidates and proposals that make them want to elect Democrats."

A lot more than just tactical differences is going on here. There’s a vision for the future behind many of the claims that the next election must be almost all about Trump and that white suburban voters hold the key. That vision, consciously or not, sees a de facto division of roles: wherein the Democratic Party’s base delivers a requisite number of votes while the party largely focuses its actual policies and outreach spending priorities on “moderate” white voters. And that vision looks forward to the corporate donor class retaining its hold on the party, while the base gets minimal attention with election outreach and minimal help from Democrats in power.

As the Autopsy concludes: “Operating from a place of defensiveness and denial will not turn the party around. Neither will status quo methodology... What must now take place includes honest self-reflection and confronting a hard truth: that many view the party as often in service to a rapacious oligarchy and increasingly out of touch with people in its own base… The party must learn how to speak a populist tongue that is in sync with real advocacy for a clear agenda, putting public needs above corporate profits. An imperative is to find common political denominators that are inspirational and practical, cutting across demographic lines while building foundations for social advancement and a humane future.”

Time For VA-08 Progressives To Unite Behind Patrick Hope?

I hope you read VA-08 resident Pachacutec's very detailed rundown of the candidates running in his northern Virginia district. Although he found more than one well-qualified candidate, he came to the conclusion that Patrick Hope was the best candidate overall and the best candidate to beat the heavily financed conservative Establishment Democrat, Don Beyer. That was back in April. Today marked 3 weeks out from the election and the race has had time to develop. Polls clearly show the race shaping up to be between Patrick Hope, the progressive oriented towards working families and Don Beyer, the special interests corporate multimillionaire.

Adam Ebbin is often referred to as the third “top tier” candidate, but he polled over 24 points behind Don Beyer in his OWN legislative district in the only public polling. He may be able to get enough votes to throw the election to Beyer, but he has no chance whatsoever to beat Beyer. Demographically and geographically, were Hope to drop out, the majority of his supporters would support Beyer, whereas were Ebbin to drop out the majority of his supporters would support Hope.

In Hope’s legislative district, Hope polled 23 points ahead of Beyer. In fact, Hope is the only candidate to lead Beyer in any locality in the 8th CD. This poll was taken after Beyer had already begun his direct mail program and before Hope had sent a single piece of mail.

This past week Hope has polled ahead of Beyer in three of four straw polls, including the only free straw poll in Fairfax County where Hope finished first.

Most important, voters are searching for what distinguishes the other candidates from Beyer, and Hope has been the only candidate willing to highlight their differences. The base, of course, is that Beyer represents Establishment Democrats. In a recent debate he proclaimed himself to be a “Hillary Clinton Democrat.” In addition to Hope, Ebbin and Levine also come from the Elizabeth Warren Wing of the Democratic Party, and they need to unite behind Hope in order defeat establishment Beyer. It's why Blue America endorsed Hope. Hope has recently scored endorsements from progressive State Delegates Scott Surovell and Kaye Kory, both of whom represent areas in Fairfax County that will be critical to any path to victory for a candidate seeking to best Beyer. And when it's come to discussing issues at the public forums, it's Hope who makes certain voters see the difference between himself as a progressive and Beyer as a shill for the special interests.

On Sunday at Temple Beth El in Alexandria, Beyer refused to respond to a direct question about his own shady record. It was the third public candidates' forum in 4 days and at all three forums, Hope raised serious and substantive questions about Beyer's sleazy role in Virginia's "welfare reform" efforts when he was George Allen's partner and Lt. Governor. On Sunday he focused on an aspect of law that Beyer calls his "crowning achievement." In George Allen's official biography, author Edward Lynch wrote that "the Beyer plan proposed ending welfare benefits after one year, along with a refusal to provide welfare to any children born to participants during the benefit period."  Virginians are still burdened with Beyer's Republican, anti-family approach'' the "family cap"-- today. Although Hope asserted that his plan was "terrible policy" and "politics of a bygone era," Beyer refused to defend his "crowning achievement." Hope:

Politicians too often make deals in order to hold self-congratulatory news conferences and make claims to have solved problems. Looking back 20 years on the welfare reform compromises from 1994 we see that is exactly what happened. Subsidized childcare was promised to help young mothers on welfare return to jobs-- but Don's plan provided no permanent funding source and cuts were made as soon as the budget got tight. Today because of those cuts over 4,000 children sit on waiting lists for subsidized childcare in the localities of the 8th district today while thousands of others have sat on this list over the last 20 years. While the promises to those in need were not kept, the punitive measures in the agreement have all stayed in effect-- including banning mothers from getting additional assistance-- $60 a month-- when they have another child. That's just wrong. With entitlement reform and proposed cuts to our social safety net on the agenda for the next Congress, I believe Beyer’s record highlights a major difference between Don Beyer and myself in the way we approach issues. I ask voters to consider four simple words when making their choice for Congress: "Who do you trust?"

This is a strong blue district and whomever wins the primary in 3 weeks will be going to Congress. The PVI is D+16 and Obama crushed both McCain and Romney by better than two to one. It would be tragic to waste such a strong Democratic district on a corporate shill from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. There are enough multimillionaire fat cats in Congress already without giving a seat to Don Beyer. Patrick Hope can win this race-- unless secondary candidates who can't insist on splitting the vote and allowing the conservative to slip in. If you'd like to help Hope win in VA-08, here's the place.


UPDATE: New Dems Roll Out Five New Garbage Candidates

Although New Dem Vice Chair Allyson Schwartz lost-- and lost HUGELY-- her Pennsylvania gubernatorial run tonight, the New Dems-- basically the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- announced endorsements for 5 more crap candidates for Congress: sleazy little ex-bank lobbyist Pete Aguilar (CA), Emily Cain (ME), Kathleen Rice (NY), Manan Trivedi (PA) and, of course, Beyer.

Everything You Need To Know About The 2014 Virginia Congressional District 8 Candidates

-by Pachacutec

And with that title, I come as a guest writer to launch DWT into the brave new world of explainer blogging. Howie's a long time friend, and asked me to write up the candidates. I live in the district, used to be a blogger elsewhere, and now I just keep pigeons and snark on twitter.

Last week I attended the Virginia eighth district candidate forum sponsored by the NAACP. Of course, all of the opinions expressed below are my own, which translated into English means they are perfect and you should receive them gratefully as sacred, revealed truth.

There are currently 13 candidates in the field. Only 12 attended. Mark Sickles of Fairfax County couldn't make it for whatever reason, and as a result I don't feel obligated to research him. Mark, I'm sure your family loves you, but you're nothing to me now. [Sickles dropped out of the race.- Ed]

Below, I'm going to list each candidate, offer my take on each, and say what I thought was each one's best and worst moment of the evening. I'm listing them as they appeared on the dais, roughly in alphabetical order. At the end, I'll offer my own conclusions. For the tl;dr crowd, feel free to jump down to there. If you want to see video clips and another review of the event, check out Blue Virginia's post.

I also want to shout out huge props to the NAACP and the moderators for managing to run such a great program with such discipline and all those microphone hungry people on the dais. I've never seen it done better.

Topic questions were wide ranging, including: support for workers and rights to organize, should Virginia adopt common core education standards, ex-felon voting rights, DREAM Act support, support for minimum wage hikes, gentrification and affordable housing, the digital divide/access to broadband, high student loan debt and access to higher education, public school achievement gaps, climate change, voter ID laws and ballot access, human trafficking, national immigration policy, high HIV infection rates in the eighth district, and high US incarceration rates. Note that there were no foriegn policy related questions.

Don Beyer (D):

Best Moment: His haircut prior to the event.

Worst Moment: Nothing really. He's very polished and practiced as an establishment Democratic capital-c "Candidate."

What He's About: Don is the candidate most likely to sip ancient scotch with Steny Hoyer. He's by far the best rehearsed issue checklist with ready stats candidate of the bunch. He's oozes wealth, and comfort with the wealthy, more than anyone else on the dais. I have no idea from listening closely to him what he really cares about or what he would fight for, as opposed to "fight" for. There are no holes in his game on the touchstone checklist liberal cultural issues, but there's not a whiff of Elizabeth Warren about him on economics, fighting the power, or calling out the system and whom it rewards. It wouldn't surprise me if he wanted the seat as a platform to get to Virginia governor, which would require him to maintain his viability with big money a la Mark Warner.

Lavern Chatman (D):

Best Moment: In responding to solutions for the high HIV infection rate within the district, she best articulated a comprehensive community based approach involving education, community outreach, health care organizations, government and churches.

Worst Moment: Nothing egregious, but she lacked depth on a lot of issues and poly approaches. Her weakness if her community organizer perspective is applied to everything. So, for example, she minimized the role of regulation in developing new housing in order to ensure the availability of affordable housing and promote mixed, integrated communities, as if developers would just buy in due to community moral suasion. That's not how the world operates.

What's She's About: Ms. Chatman is a local community leader with a genuine passion for women's health, reproductive choice, access to capital for marginalized communities who may want to start businesses, and is against the "extreme tea party agenda." She brings the needed perspective and experience of an African American woman to the party. She cares. On the other hand, she's way behind on depth and breadth of understanding national issues, and offers no critique of our current social, economic and political systems of sustaining existing power structures.

Adam Ebbin (D):

Best Moment: Hard to pick one. He was very disciplined and effective in branding himself as an effective legislator with many specific accomplishments to back it up. Not a flashy presenter, but more of a legislative bulldog.

Worst Moment: No worst moment.

What He's About: I love Adam, and have known him a long time, as has my husband. Adam's most known claim to fame is being the first out gay Virginia state legislator. His is not a charismatic figure or visionary speaker but he is a very hard worker and a bulldog on legislative tactics and strategy. Adam knows how to charge a hill, and he knows details of policy and issues. Does he understand how steep each hill is when it comes to power in America, and which ones to charge to have the greatest systemic impact? I don't know. I didn't hear much of the grand vision thing from him.

Bill Euille (D):

Best Moment: Nothing exceptional.

Worst Moment: Ditto.

What He's About: His resume. Bill's been Mayor of Alexandria for a long time, no mean feat. He talked a lot in generalities about the past, and much less about the future. His personal arc of achievement as one who grew up in the projects is admirable and impressive. His perspective is local and not really national. He speaks in vague generalities about what he would do in the future if elected.

Micah Edmond (R):

Best Moment: Highlighted his support for the minimum wage, and perhaps a rate hike, in spite of opposition within his party.

Worst Moment: "What would you do to support workers rights to organize?" "Argle bargle derp grooper guggle muggah bubba wump wump."

What He's About: African American free market Republican with big business aerospace industry tendencies. If you're reading DWT, you most likely don't want to hear more. Was on the execrable Simpson-Bowles make the old and poor suffer budget commission.

Charniele Herring (D):

Best Moment: Her opening statement with her personal biography of having been a homeless teen, gotten student loans, earned a law degree, all leading her to dedicate herself to being a voice for those left behind. She's real on this, she gives a genuine shit.

Worst Moment: Pretty much any other policy question that required her to show depth of awareness and understanding. Lots of vague aspirational generalities, "congress is broken, etc." ZZzzzzzzz.

What She's About: That pretty much covers it.

Patrick Hope (D):

Best Moment: His shout out to Elizabeth Warren's proposals to cut student loan costs and get the federal government out of the business of making money off these loans, which Howie wrote about last week.

Worst Moment: Nothing, really.

What He's About: Patrick is the founder of the Progressive Caucus in the legislature down in Richmond, and is the candidate who probably most completely understands the systemic issues DWT readers care about when it comes to confronting power and promoting change. He's not the most polished orator but he's not at all bad as a communicator. He's genuine about reaching out to those who are left behind, understanding them and standing up for them. Just one example: when asked about how to combat high HIV infection rates in the district, he's the only one who brought up expanding access to Medicaid, drawing applause. He also talked about legislative protection for the newly diagnosed from catastrophic potential bankruptcy due to the financial costs of the drugs. That shows real understanding of how the disease impacts people and how to use government and systemic change to address the problem.

Derek Hyra (D):

Best Moment: I dunno, maybe describing how we've taken steps backwards on voting rights and ballot access since the Civil Rights Movement.

Worst Moment: In his opening, he went a bit awkwardly out of his way to talk about the friendships he made with black players when he played basketball in college, a contorted "some of my best friends" pander to the NAACP sponsored event. Well meaning in that hapless white dude way but kinda cringe worthy.

What He's About: Seems like a pretty good guy. A bit academic in his approach, talks like a professor (he has Virginia Tech faculty history of some kind). Got under my skin by prefacing nearly every answer with a mini history lecture. Didactic and intellectual in the way of some liberals who are high on education and low on how to build and exercise political power.

Paul Haring (R):

Best Moment: More than one: he made people laugh. However, they were laughing at him in a kind of flabbergasted shock.

Worst Moment: More than one big-red-dome-on-an-old-white-guy rant from his right wing Catholic you're-all-going-to-hell dystopia.

What He's About: One hour of religious education per day in public schools. Full fetal personhood, abortion is murder. Planned Parenthood is evil and black people get so many abortions they are going to make themselves extinct. Wake up, people! Chastity education in the schools to prevent sex outside of man-woman marriage. And so on. Not even kidding about all this. The guy is angry and he's fucking nuts.

Satish Korpe (D):

Best Moment: None.

Worst Moment: Address the achievement gap in public schools by incentiving employers to encourage employees to spend more time with their school aged children. The achievement gap is the parents' responsibility. End of story.

What He's About: Successful businessman born in India with challenges communicating through a heavy accent. Paternalsitic free market pro business generally laissez faire approach to government. Demonstrated no knowledge of national issues or policy from any political ideological perspective.

Mark Levine (D):

Best Moment: He served up a lot of liberal red meat at high volume, so he had a few applause moments. Hard to pick one.

Worst Moment: Getting on such a loud roll at once point that he blew right past the time buzzer and never heard it. Once the moderator caught up to him, he said, in a kind of shock, "I couldn't hear!" People laughed. While it's true that the buzzer had gotten somehow softer later in the evening, the laughter seemed like it was from a recognition that this probably happens to him a lot: being such a loud, breathless shouter must make it hard to hear, well, anyone or anything...

What He's About: Mark calls himself "The Aggressive Progressive," and he is that. He's a radio talk show host, and it shows. Lots of liberal red meat. He's also recently out as gay after a career in and around politics. I don't view that cynically, I came out a little late too, though not as late as he. He gets it on the issues DWT readers care about. And yet. . . something seems off to me about him. I think he lacks a certain amount of filter or judgment. He doesn't come across as someone who is all that socially effective away from a microphone.

Bruce Shuttleworth (D):

Best Moment: When he talked with passion about reorienting budget priorities away from buying unneeded jet military aircraft and toward investing in health and medical research through the NIH. Said diseases are more deadly than terrorism.

Worst Moment: Nothing, really.

What He's About: He's a veteran and former fighter pilot who's pitch is he has the credibility to take on budget priorities and try to cut defense spending to support liberal priorities. He is pretty well informed on the issues, and talks about the management class acting like "pigs at a trough." But what really animates him is cancer research, having lost both of his parents to cancer. This seems like his core animating issue, he really cares about fighting diseases and investing in cures. He generalizes that awareness to a posture of standing up for people left on the outside. I don't hear the more comprehensive understanding of the big national and economic picture that you get from Elizabeth Warren or Alan Grayson, but "Shuttle," as he likes to be called, does want to upset at least one major applecart. That's is more than I can say for Don Beyer.

Conclusion:

There's great diversity among the candidates. We have men, women, people of color and gay folks. This is a district that went 67% for Obama in 2012. It should be the home of a progressive lion who pushes the envelope in the House. The slate is mostly liberal-ish, but the field is crowded and it's going to come down in part to money and in part to how large a base each candidate can claim.

I see Don Beyer as a wealthy, coiffed, and polished avatar of the establishment who is practiced with his talking points and likely hopeful to be a Virginia Governor someday if he can pull off this election. I think he'd be a waste of the seat.

I see a field of others who mostly come from a base in Alexandria, who are likely to split support away from each other. The exception here is the Blue America endorsed Patrick Hope, who comes from Arlington County. The crew from Alexandria is strong in its diversity, and with the exception of Adam Ebbin, light on depth of policy knowledge on the national level.

Hope wants to be a fixture and leader in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, citing people like Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison and Alan Grayson. He seems to get it not only on an issue checklist basis but on a big picture level. I've long trusted Howie's candidate vetting process, but as this is my home district, I had to see these people for myself before deciding.

The field is going to narrow down as people without money bow out, but no one will have Don Beyer's money. With a base in Arlington, I think Patrick Hope can not only compete financially, but he's worth supporting and getting your friends to support, if you believe as I do that this district should send a progressive champion to Congress.

Dirty Hippies in Virginia don't often have a chance to push the envelope in a way that could really matter. Now, however, Jim Moran's seat is open. I just contributed $250 to Patrick Hope through Blue America. If you can, perhaps as your neighbor, I'm asking you to do something-- anything-- too. You can make your own donation here.

I have a ton of notes on people's responses during this forum, so if you have questions about anyone's answers on the questions asked, just let me know. I'll spot your questions most easily on twitter.

Elizabeth Warren Plans To Bring Consumer Protection To Higher Education

Tuesday night Rachel Maddow had a couple of inspiring segments on her show dedicated to Elizabeth Warren and the release of her new book, A Fighting Chance. She included an inspiring interview, included above complements of YouTube. The next morning, Senator Warren and several of her colleagues from both houses of Congress sent this letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan in support of changes to Title IV’s cash management rules, as she had indicated she would on Maddow's show the night before. The letter urges the Department of Education to protect students from unfair banking practices, including campus-sponsored debit cards with terms that are not always good for students, and to preserve the integrity of federal student aid programs.

In all 23 Members of Congress signed the bicameral effort. No Republicans or right-wing Democrats signed on.

• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Tom Harkin (D-IA)
• Dick Durbin (D-IL)
• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Jack Reed (D-RI)
• Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Brian Schatz (D-HI)
• Edward Markey (D-MA)
• George Miller (D-CA)
• Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
• Peter Welch (D-VT)
• Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
• Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
• Mike Thompson (D-CA)
• Julia Brownley (D-CA)
• Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
• Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
• Karen Bass (D-CA)
• Susan Davis (D-CA)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
• John Tierney (D-MA)
• Jared Huffman (D-CA)

Wouldn't you want to be able to look at a list like this and see that your senators and your Rep. are all on it? Patrick Hope, who's the progressive choice in northeast Virginia, has made it perfectly clear that he would be. "I agree with Senator Warren," he told us yesterday, "that our student loan system is completely broken when it is designed to profit off those students that the system is supposed to be helping. Here in Virginia's 8th district, we have one of the highest educated populations of any Congressional district in the United States-- and those parents are sending their kids to college in even larger numbers. Some of our local high schools have over 95% of students begin attending a four year college or university in the semester after graduating-- a statistic that is probably unmatched almost anywhere else in the world. Student loan reform is critical to ensuring that our next generation is not saddled with debt. As a Congressman I would strongly support the proposals Senator Warren has put forward."

Another Blue America backed candidate who supports Elizabeth is Stanley Chang of Honolulu who studied under her at Harvard. He shares her progressive vision for the future of America. Last night he told us about his own feelings when he watched the Maddow interview:

Senator Warren continues to speak with clarity and force on issues that directly affect American students. She is moving forward with a bold common-sense proposal to refinance high-interest student loan debt by closing tax loopholes that benefit billionaires.

I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Warren’s statement that "the way we spend our money as a country should reflect our values." There are few American values more important than education, and this means giving young people from all walks of life a chance to succeed. If students spend the early years of their careers paying off prohibitive debt, the boost they received from getting a college education will be overshadowed by their inability to afford starting families of their own.

Senator Warren’s vision for education will provide substantial relief for young people in Honolulu. Because of our high cost of living, students in Hawaii work while attending school at a much higher rate than the national average. Often they work two or more jobs and still manage to find time for classes. This proposal will help both students currently in school and graduates who are struggling to pay off their loans. An educated workforce is the key to diversifying Hawaii’s economy and securing the long-term prosperity of our islands.

My parents immigrated to Hawaii during a time when tuition was affordable and our economy was booming. They were nontraditional students who were able to work their way through school, become educators, buy a home, and provide extraordinary opportunities for their children. I want to give today’s young people and their children the chance to realize their dreams, and Senator Warren’s proposal goes a long way toward achieving this goal.

“Federal financial aid is there to help students. When colleges partner with financial institutions and push students into putting their federal student aid refunds into high fee accounts, it puts our federal investment at risk,” the members wrote. “Students should be able to make unbiased choices about the financial products that work best for them.” These are the specifics of what the Members were asking Secretary Duncan to make rules about:

1. Ensure students can easily deposit federal financial aid into their personal accounts without delay or penalty. Direct deposit into a student’s own account should always be an easy option.

2. Prohibit colleges from entering into a preferred relationship with a bank or financial firm to offer debit cards or other financial products that charge fees associated with the disbursement and use of Title IV aid.

3. Ensure that students receive neutral and unbiased information about how best to access their federal student aid.

4. Ban revenue sharing deals so that colleges select financial products based on their merits alone, not revenue to the college or other considerations.

5. Require that colleges post agreements with banks on their websites and annually report them to the government for review by relevant agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

6. Ensure these new rules are applicable to any college-sponsored account into which Title IV funds are transferred or deposited.