That only makes it more of a challenge.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
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***VIDEO HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, at Senate Democrats’ weekly press conference, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke about President Trump and Elon Musk’s illegal funding freeze, government funding ahead of the March 14 deadline, and the pending nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“We have a funding deadline fast approaching and we need a topline soon to be able to write and pass our bills.
“I remain at the table with my Democratic counterpart in the House to get a result so we can move forward. But it is extremely difficult to land an agreement on toplines—much less our annual bills—when you have a President and an unelected billionaire ignoring the very agreements we pass each year in our spending bills.
“What we are seeing now—the absolute lawlessness, the illegal funding freeze that is risking jobs and hurting working people—that simply cannot continue.
“The President is illegally blocking hundreds of billions in approved funding for our roads and bridges, for clean energy jobs, for foreign assistance, and a lot more.
“What’s more, the problem right now is that it’s not even March 14th yet, and Trump and Elon Musk are effectively shutting down the government—whichever parts they don’t like—all on their own, without any regard for the law or the Constitution or Congress.
“No one voted for the President to illegally block funding from Head Start classrooms or our rural health centers—but that is what Trump did his second week in office.
“No one voted to let an unelected billionaire decide what bills the federal government would or would not pay—but Trump is giving Elon the keys to the Treasury.
“In case Elon needs a reminder: the power of the purse sits with Congress—that means when people vote for us, we are their voice in how their tax dollars get spent.
“The constitution doesn’t say Elon gets to decide if our elementary schools and hospitals get funding. Congress negotiates how we invest in our communities.
“So, this has got to change, and we need our Republican colleagues to work with us to make sure it does—and I hope we can resolve things in time to pass the full year funding bills that I actually wanted to finish back last December.
“Now, as we consider nominations on the floor this week: I want to remind you all it was only 2019 when I co-led a bipartisan Senate Health Committee Hearing with Senator Alexander to educate people on vaccines. With nearly every Republican Senator on that dais making very clear that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving.
“But now, Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Republican Party is on the verge of confirming, as our nation’s highest health official, RFK, Jr.— a man who has spent years crusading against vaccines.
“Republicans are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK, Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades: undermine vaccines.
“People are alarmed. My phone lines are ringing off the hook with constituents who understand the stakes here and want us to stand up for science and for their health and safety. Because the Health Secretary has real power over whether Americans can get the basic information and care they need.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake here. They know what sort of agenda RFK Jr. will pursue, and they know what sort of damage he could do if confirmed.
“There are political realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong. There is also fact and fiction. There is also people staying healthy, and people dying pointlessly—kids dying pointlessly—from diseases that we can prevent.
“So, I urge all my colleagues to show some courage, show some conscience, and say: no, a vaccine denier should not be our highest-ranking health official.”
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Two Fox News guests who were portrayed by the network as run-of-the-mill “Trump voters” on Tuesday are both heavily involved in Republican politics, with one working as an assistant to an elected GOP official and the other a multiple-time candidate for local office.
“President Trump doubling down on his support for the DOGE leader Elon Musk. Which is getting a lot of headlines – basically all of them in the last couple of weeks. It is still early, but they’re moving fast,” Hemmer noted at the top of the segment. “The president is pointing out it’s exactly what he campaigned on. But how do voters feel? I want to bring in Don O’Connor out of Iowa, a Trump voter from Mason City – he’s in banking. And screen right is Nick Schultz; he is outside of Milwaukee in Waukesha.”
Waleed Shahid. The DSAer attacking Kamala on BLUESKY. He's a Socialist but lies about that and brings up the ridiculous political closet that is "Justice Democrats." My replies to his garbage.
Oh look -- "Justice Democrats." That was the label the DSA -- also behind Waleed's Uncommitted -- used to hide that their nominees were Socialists. Don't really respect people who hide in political closets.
— thecommonills.bsky.social (@thecommonills.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Is there a reason you didn't call it "Justice Socialists" - other than to trick people? As you'll see from the ITT article below, they were Socialists inthesetimes.com/article/dsa-...
— thecommonills.bsky.social (@thecommonills.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 11:45 AM
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There's nothing wrong sith Socialists. But the SEP doesn't hide in a political closet. So trickster Waleed wants us to trust him? He lied about Socialists but he wants us to trust him now. Sorry, Waleed, you get caught in one lie, it exposes your character.
— thecommonills.bsky.social (@thecommonills.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
October 30th -- days before the US presidential election -- Linley Sanders (AP) reported on the latest AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll:
But there’s a big partisan split on whether the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility for the war’s escalation. About 6 in 10 Democrats say they do — similar to the share of Democrats who say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility — while only about one-quarter of Republicans say the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility.
“The next Secretary of Education must fight for the best interests of students and families, not greedy and predatory for-profit colleges and inept loan servicers, and must reject extreme policies and efforts to eliminate the Department.”
“[Y]ou have a minimal track record on education issues and strikingly little experience pertaining to education policy.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, sent Linda McMahon, Secretary-Designate for the U.S. Department of Education, a 12-page letter with 65 questions on McMahon policy views in advance of her nomination hearing this week.
“[Y]ou have a minimal track record on education issues and strikingly little experience pertaining to education policy,” wrote the senators. “This lack of a public record means that the American people have not been afforded the opportunity to evaluate your views on topics related to the Education Secretary’s core responsibilities.”
Given McMahon’s lack of experience, the senators pushed McMahon to explain her views and the extent to which they overlap with certain extreme stances taken by President Trump, his Project 2025 allies, and President Trump’s former Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.
These include her views as they relate to:
- President Trump’s extreme views, including his
repeated call to “abolish ED” and his reported plan to do so by
executive order; his history of proposing severe cuts to the Department
of Education’s budget, and his proposal to eliminate the Public Service
Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which millions of teachers,
firefighters, police officers, and other public servants have relied
upon for debt relief.
“President Trump has said that he wants you to ‘put [your]self out of a job’ by helping him eliminate the Department. The harm that such a proposal would cause to students and families is grave,” wrote the senators. - Project 2025’s extreme proposals, such as allowing
unaccredited, often predatory, schools to receive federal funding;
privatizing the federal student loan system, leaving students at the
mercy of unaccountable private lenders, and replacing existing student
loan income-driven repayment (IDR) plans with a new repayment plan that
would raise costs for millions of Americans.
- Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ extreme policies,
such as rescinding a rule that would hold shady for-profit colleges
accountable for graduates’ employment outcomes; obstructing federal and
state regulators’ investigations into the misconduct of federal loan
servicers; refusing to enforce existing regulations requiring that ED
provide debt relief to students who were defrauded or misled by their
schools, and dismantling the team at ED responsible for investigating
predatory for-profit colleges.
“During her tenure, Secretary DeVos implemented numerous policies that harmed students while allowing incompetent student loan servicers and greedy for-profit colleges to rip off students and taxpayers,” wrote the senators. “The American people deserve to know whether you will repeat Secretary DeVos’s extreme policies.”
Senators Warren and Kim are demanding that McMahon arrive at her February 13 hearing prepared with answers.
“We need a higher education system that is accessible to all Americans, not just those with the means to afford skyrocketing costs without taking on student debt,” concluded the senators. “The next Secretary of Education must fight for the best interests of students and families, not greedy and predatory for-profit colleges and inept loan servicers, and must reject extreme policies and efforts to eliminate the Department.”
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Boy fight! It's a boy fight!9 hours ago
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The lawless 'leader'9 hours ago
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We're all dragged along on his bender9 hours ago
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The trickster that is DSA9 hours ago
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Who put him on TV?9 hours ago
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We can't help you when you hurt us9 hours ago
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