Tag Archives: 2020 United States presidential election

Apology, no firing: Official stated US scientists harm Trump

[ad_1]

WASHINGTON — A Trump well being appointee who’s accused of attempting to muzzle an essential scientific publication within the midst of the coronavirus pandemic apologized Tuesday for a separate video wherein he reportedly says scientists battling the virus are conspiring in opposition to President Donald Trump and warns of taking pictures in America if Trump loses the election.

Michael Caputo, the highest spokesman for the Division of Well being and Human Providers, apologized to his employees for the Fb video, stated an administration official, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate inner issues.

The division is standing by Caputo to this point within the face of calls by congressional Democrats for his dismissal — and for the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. However Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has develop into a major new downside for a White Home that has struggled all 12 months with its coronavirus response.

He might be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats do not desire a coronavirus vaccine earlier than the election in an effort to punish Trump. Though Trump has made the identical assertion, with no proof to assist it, such broadsides are usually not in a division spokesman’s regular portfolio.

Information studies alleged final week that Caputo’s workplace tried to take over and muzzle a scientific weekly from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention that publishes what is meant to be authoritative, unvarnished details about disease-fighting efforts, together with, most significantly at current, COVID-19.

Then on Monday got here an account of the video on Caputo’s private Fb web page wherein he accused authorities scientists of conspiring in opposition to Trump and advised violence might escape after the election.

Caputo was named the highest HHS spokesman in April, throughout a tense interval in relations between the White Home and HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

On a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer season he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine till after the elections in an effort to defeat Trump.

“There are individuals in america authorities on the Democrats’ facet … (who) don’t want a vaccine,” he stated.

“They don’t desire a vaccine till November 4th,” he added, citing the day after the presidential election. It is extremely uncommon to make use of an company communications platform for such a blatantly political message.

Over the weekend, Caputo made headlines when Politico and The New York Instances reported that his workplace had tried to achieve management over a CDC publication generally known as the MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In earlier administrations, political appointees within the HHS secretary’s workplace maintained a hands-off coverage.

The story took a wierd flip Monday, after the Instances reported a few reside video hosted by Caputo on his private Fb web page. In it, Caputo reportedly accused authorities scientists of conspiring in opposition to Trump as a part of a “resistance.”

The message turned apocalyptic when Caputo reportedly predicted that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would refuse to concede defeat to Trump within the election, and violence would escape. The Related Press was unable to independently view the video.

HHS supported Caputo, with a press release calling him a “crucial, integral a part of the president’s coronavirus response, main on public messaging as People want public well being info to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

There was no instant assertion from the White Home.

Makes an attempt to interview Caputo have been unsuccessful.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., referred to as on Azar to fireside Caputo, accusing the spokesman of attempting to intrude with CDC studies. And Senate Minority chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., referred to as on Azar himself to resign, citing interference with the CDC as one instance of what he termed the administration’s failures.

Officers at CDC have privately complained of current efforts by political appointees at HHS to attempt to edit or press for modifications within the company’s weekly MMWR publications, a go-to useful resource for public well being professionals.

MMWR articles are technical, however they reveal telling particulars. One revealed earlier this 12 months famous that whereas Trump’s journey restrictions dramatically lowered journey from China in February, nothing was being achieved at the moment to limit journey from Italy and Europe, the place the coronavirus was spreading broadly and quickly. Evaluation of virus samples from hard-hit New York in March advised it was launched there from Europe and different elements of the U.S., the CDC article reported.

Caputo is an dependable Trump loyalist. His current ebook, “The Ukraine Hoax,” claims the president’s “phony” impeachment was rooted in an enormous conspiracy.

His appointment at HHS was seen as an try by the White Home to exert extra management over Azar, whom different administration officers have been attempting in charge for the federal government’s sluggish response within the preliminary weeks of the pandemic.

At HHS, he is been carefully affiliated with Operation Warp Pace, the federal government’s effort to have thousands and thousands of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine prepared for distribution as quickly as one is authorised by the Meals and Drug Administration.

Caputo interviewed Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a prime outdoors adviser to the vaccine effort, on an HHS podcast July 31. Commiserating with Slaoui over Democrats and information articles that have been crucial of the physician, Caputo stated:

“I do know that’s laborious to consider, however the people who find themselves abusing you, and who’re beating down Operation Warp Pace, and the unbelievable historic work that’s happening, they don’t desire a vaccine till November 4th. I don’t wish to discuss politics right here, however November third is a crucial day. They don’t desire a vaccine now due to politics, sir.”

———

Related Press information researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Supply hyperlink

Regardless of calls to start out over, US well being system covers 90%

[ad_1]

America’s much-maligned well being care system is masking 9 out of 10 folks, a proven fact that hasn’t stopped the 2020 presidential candidates from refighting battles about the way to present protection, from Bernie Sanders’ name for changing non-public insurance coverage with a authorities plan to President Donald Trump’s pledge to erase the Reasonably priced Care Act and begin over.

The politicians are depicting a system in meltdown. The numbers level to a unique story, not as dire and extra nuanced.

Authorities surveys present that about 90% of the inhabitants has protection , largely preserving features from President Barack Obama’s years. Unbiased consultants estimate that greater than one-half of the roughly 30 million uninsured folks within the nation are eligible for medical health insurance via current packages.

Lack of protection was a rising drawback in 2010 when Democrats below Obama handed his well being regulation. Now the larger difficulty appears to be that many individuals with insurance coverage are struggling to pay their deductibles and copays.

“We have to have a debate about protection and price, and we’ve seen much less concentrate on price than we’ve on protection,” mentioned Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet. He’s among the many Democratic presidential candidates who favor constructing on the present system, not changing it totally, as does Sanders. “The associated fee difficulty is a large difficulty for the nation and for households,” Bennet mentioned.

A report this yr by the Commonwealth Fund suppose tank in New York discovered fewer uninsured People than in 2010 however extra who’re “underinsured,” a time period that describes policyholders uncovered to excessive out-of-pocket prices, in comparison with their particular person incomes. The report estimated 44 million People had been underinsured in 2018, in contrast with 29 million in 2010 when the regulation was handed. That is a few 50% improve, with the best soar amongst folks with employer protection.

“When you’ve got 90 p.c of the American folks coated and they’re drowning of their well being care payments, what they wish to hear from politicians are plans that can deal with their well being care prices, greater than plans that can cowl the remaining 10 p.c,” mentioned Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Household Basis, a nonpartisan analysis group that tracks the well being care system. “When Democrats discuss common protection greater than well being care prices, they’re taking part in to the goals of activists and progressives … a lot much less to the precise issues of the 90 p.c who’ve protection right this moment.”

Sanders’ workplace responds that the Vermont senator’s “Medicare for All” plan would resolve each the protection and price issues for particular person People. Medical care could be supplied with no deductibles or copays. Nobody could be uninsured or underinsured.

“The easy reply is that our well being care system turns into extra unmanageable for increasingly People yearly,” Sanders spokesman Keane Bhatt mentioned in a press release. “This isn’t a system that wants just a few tweaks. This can be a system that wants an entire overhaul.”

However different nations that present protection for all and are held up by Sanders as fashions for the U.S. do not provide advantages as beneficiant as he is proposing. If he’s elected president, there is no method of telling how his plan would emerge from Congress, and even whether or not one thing prefer it may move.

4 different 2020 Democrats are co-sponsors of Sanders’ invoice: Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

On the opposite facet of the political spectrum, Trump is speaking about massive adjustments. His administration is searching for to have federal courts declare the complete Obama-era well being care regulation unconstitutional, jeopardizing protection for 20 million folks, jettisoning protections for sufferers with preexisting circumstances, and upending the remainder of the 970-page statute, now practically 10 years previous.

The president says there’s nothing to fret about. Earlier this summer time Trump instructed ABC Information that he was engaged on a plan that would offer “phenomenal well being care,” shield folks with preexisting circumstances, and could be “inexpensive than ‘Obamacare’ by lots.”

White Home spokesman Judd Deere mentioned in a press release that the Obama regulation was “offered and handed on a litany of damaged guarantees” and now “Democrats are proposing much more radical authorities takeovers of our well being care system.”

As president-elect, Trump promised a well being plan however by no means provided one upon taking workplace. As a substitute he backed payments from congressional Republicans, together with one he known as “imply” throughout a personal assembly.

Trump says he may come out together with his new plan inside months, however that passing it might hinge on his getting reelected and Republicans profitable again the Home in 2020 whereas maintaining management of the Senate.

That is a little bit of political deja vu.

Republicans managed Washington again in 2017 when Trump, then-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tried for months to repeal and change the Obama regulation, solely to fail. The repeal effort was extensively seen as contributing to Republicans dropping the Home in 2018.

Since then, many GOP lawmakers have tried to keep away from the difficulty altogether.

Economist Sara Collins of the Commonwealth Fund, who led the research about underinsured People, says price and protection issues are intertwined. Citing the Democrats’ debate over Medicare for All, she says what’s lacking from that dialogue is that “one does not should go that far with the intention to enhance the monetary scenario for thousands and thousands of individuals — you are able to do that with rather more focused, incremental insurance policies.”

[ad_2]

Supply hyperlink

Kamala Harris proposes bill to invest in safe drinking water

[ad_1]

Sen. Kamala Harris is introducing legislation designed to ensure all Americans, particularly those in at-risk communities, have access to safe, affordable drinking water, the latest response to burgeoning water crises across the country.

Interested in Democratic Party?

Add Democratic Party as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Democratic Party news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

The California Democrat and presidential candidate’s “Water Justice Act” would invest nearly $220 billion in clean and safe drinking water programs, with priority given to high-risk communities and schools. As part of that, Harris’ plan would declare a drinking water infrastructure emergency, devoting $50 billion toward communities and schools where water is contaminated to test for contaminants and to remediate toxic infrastructure.

The legislation, being introduced on Monday, also would establish a $10 billion program to allow states to offset the cost of water bills in low-income communities and environmentally at-risk households. Additionally, Harris would invest $20 billion in a variety of sustainable water supply, recycling and conservation programs.

Harris is focusing on the issue as she and other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates turn their sights on Michigan, where the city of Flint has faced a major water crisis . Harris, who launched her campaign in January, is among the party’s candidates speaking at the NAACP’s national convention in Michigan this week. And 20 candidates seeking their party’s nomination will take the stage for the party’s second set of presidential debates in Detroit on July 30-31.

Harris is partnering with Michigan Reps. Dan Kildee, who represents Flint, and Brenda Lawrence. While Flint has dealt with lead that leached into some homes after officials tapped into the Flint River in 2014, the problems also are dire in Harris’ home state, where 1 million of its nearly 40 million residents don’t have access to clean drinking water because of pollution from humans or natural causes.

“Every American has the right to clean water, period,” Harris said. “We must take seriously the existential threat represented by future water shortages and acknowledge that communities across the country — particularly communities of color — already lack access to safe and affordable water. Achieving true justice in our nation will require us to recognize the precious nature of water and take bold action to invest in long-term, sustainable solutions to ensure it is accessible for all.”

Harris is not the only presidential candidate to focus on the water crisis plaguing communities around the country. Among them are former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, who earlier this year visited Flint and released a plan to combat lead exposure, and Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who traveled to Denmark, South Carolina , where residents have struggled with tainted water.

[ad_2]

Source link

Joe Biden reverses position on federal dollars for abortions

[ad_1]

After two days of intense criticism, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden reversed course Thursday and declared that he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions.

“If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment” that makes it more difficult for some women to access care, Biden said at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Atlanta.

The former vice president’s reversal on the Hyde Amendment came after rivals and women’s rights groups blasted him for affirming through campaign aides that he still supported the decades-old budget provision. The dynamics had been certain to flare up again at Democrats’ first primary debate in three weeks.

Biden didn’t mention this week’s attacks, saying his decision was about health care, not politics. Yet the circumstances highlight the risks for a 76-year-old former vice president who’s running as more of a centrist in a party in which some skeptical activists openly question whether he can be the party standard-bearer in 2020.

And Biden’s explanation tacitly repeated his critics’ arguments that the Hyde Amendment is another abortion barrier that disproportionately affects poor women and women of color.

“I’ve been struggling with the problems that Hyde now presents,” Biden said, opening a speech dedicated mostly to voting rights and issues important to the black community.

“I want to be clear: I make no apologies for my last position. I make no apologies for what I’m about to say,” he explained, arguing that “circumstances have changed” with Republican-run states — including Georgia, where Biden spoke — adopting severe restrictions on abortion .

A Roman Catholic who has wrestled publicly with abortion policy for decades, Biden said he voted as a senator to support the Hyde Amendment because he believed that women would still have access to abortion even without Medicaid insurance and other federal health care grants and that abortion opponents shouldn’t be compelled to pay for the procedure. It was part of what Biden has described as a “middle ground” on abortion.

Now, he says, there are too many barriers that threaten that constitutional right, leaving some women with no reasonable options as long as Republicans keep pushing for an outright repeal of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The former vice president, who launched his 2020 presidential campaign in April, said he arrived at the decision as part of developing an upcoming comprehensive health care proposal. He has declared his support for a Medicare-like public option as the next step toward universal coverage. He reasoned that his goal of universal coverage means women must have full and fair access to care, including abortion.

A Planned Parenthood representative applauded Biden’s reversal but noted that he has been lagging the women’s rights movement on the issue.

“Happy to see Joe Biden embrace what we have long known to be true: Hyde blocks people — particularly women of color and women with low incomes — from accessing safe, legal abortion care,” said Leana Wen of Planned Parenthood, the women’s health giant whose services include abortion and abortion referrals.

Other activists accepted credit for pushing Biden on the issue.

“We’re pleased that Joe Biden has joined the rest of the 2020 Democratic field in coalescing around the Party’s core values — support for abortion rights, and the basic truth that reproductive freedom is fundamental to the pursuit of equality and economic security in this country,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL, a leading abortion-rights advocacy group.

Repealing Hyde has become a defining standard for Democrats in recent years, making what was once a more common position among moderate Democrats more untenable, particularly given the dynamics of primary politics heading into 2020. At its 2016 convention, the party included a call for repealing Hyde in the Democratic platform, doing so at the urging of nominee Hillary Clinton.

At least one prominent Democratic woman remained unconvinced.

“I am not clear that Joe Biden believes unequivocally that every single woman has the right to make decisions about her body, regardless of her income or race,” said Democratic strategist Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked for Clinton in 2016. “It is imperative that the Democratic nominee believe that.”

Republicans pounced, framing Biden’s change in position as a gaffe.

“He’s just not very good at this. Joe Biden is an existential threat to Joe Biden,” said Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

A senior Biden campaign official said some aides were surprised at the speed of the reversal, given Biden’s long history of explaining his abortion positions in terms of his faith. But aides realized that as the front-runner, the attacks weren’t going to let up, and his campaign reasoned that the fallout within the Democratic primary outweigh any long-term benefit of maintain his previous Hyde support.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Biden’s decadeslong position first gained new scrutiny several weeks ago when the American Civil Liberties Union circulated video of the candidate telling an activist who asked about the Hyde Amendment that it should be repealed.

His campaign later affirmed his support for his fellow Democrats’ call for a federal statute codifying the Roe v. Wade abortion decision into law.

———

Associated Press writer Elana Schor and Juana Summers in Washington, Steve Peoples in New York and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

———

Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP



[ad_2]

Source link

Bernie Sanders relaunches ‘Medicare for All’ amid 2020 glare

[ad_1]

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will unveil a new version of his “Medicare for All” plan on Wednesday, shaking up the 2020 presidential election by reopening the debate over his call to eliminate private health insurance.

Four of Sanders’ fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination are set to sign onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. The bill’s reintroduction promises to shine a bright light on Democratic presidential candidates’ disparate visions for the long-term future of American health care.

Under fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans for the astronomical price tag of Medicare for All, some candidates who support the plan tout it as one of several ways to achieve more affordable coverage and lower the number of uninsured. And others who don’t back it are instead focusing on safeguarding popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions.

“Of course, our No. 1 goal should be to make sure we keep in place those protections so people don’t get kicked off their insurance,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar , a Minnesota Democrat who isn’t signed onto Sanders’ bill, told reporters Tuesday. “Then we also have to see the Affordable Care Act as a beginning and not an end.”

Klobuchar supports a so-called public option, versions of which would allow Americans to buy into Medicare or Medicaid. Four other Democratic senators also running for president — Elizabeth Warren , Cory Booker , Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand — back Sanders’ single-payer plan, which would replace the current mix of private and government health insurance in the U.S. with a new system run by the government. But they have also signed onto at least one version of a public option.

Warren pointed to “a lot of different pathways” to universal coverage during a televised CNN town hall last month. “What we’re all looking for is the lowest cost way to make sure that everybody gets covered.”

The debate is unfolding in the early stages of a Democratic primary in which some candidates have pointed to their support of Medicare for All to prove their progressive bona fides. But other Democratic contenders, including former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper , have criticized Sanders’ measure as politically infeasible.

Under Medicare for All, Americans would no longer pay premiums or face insurance deductibles as the government-run system replaced private health insurance offered through employers, the mainstay of coverage for more than 160 million Americans.

Big tax increases would be needed to finance such a system. The transition is likely to be complicated, dismantling the private health insurance industry and making major changes for hospitals, doctors, drug companies and other medical providers.

“What our system does is get rid of insurance companies and drug companies making billions of dollars in profit every single year,” Sanders told CBS News for an interview set to air Wednesday, adding that private insurance would largely exist solely for elective medical care such as cosmetic surgery.

With Sanders’ idea returning to the forefront, Republicans have a fresh opportunity to slam his plan as too costly and unworkable.

“So-called ‘Medicare for All’ means private insurance for none, kicking 180 million Americans off of their current plans,” said Kayleigh McEnany, spokeswoman for Trump’s re-election campaign. “‘Medicare for all’ is a euphemism for government takeover of healthcare, and it would increase wait times, eliminate choice, and raise taxes.”

She touted Trump’s “free market policies” as a better alternative.

Trump has said he will take up health care after next year’s election , essentially making it a central campaign issue. And his administration is arguing in court for the full eradication of the Affordable Cart Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned in a Tuesday floor speech that the cost of Sanders’ proposal “is so steep that even left-leaning analysts are quietly admitting that the tax burden is virtually certain to land on the shoulders of the middle class.”

Sanders’ office released a paper outlining options to pay for his last version of Medicare for All, estimated to cost upwards of $1 trillion per year, although none of those options was included in the legislation itself. He and other supporters of Medicare for All have generally sidestepped the question of how they would pay for their plan. Instead, they say it offers the best chance for the nation to get control over health care costs by eliminating profiteering. His newest edition of the bill would also cover long-term care, an unmet need for most middle-class families.

Several independent studies of Medicare for All have estimated that it would dramatically increase government spending on health care, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. But a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that the cost could be much lower.

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, noted the emphasis by most Medicare for All supporters on “multiple pathways” to universal coverage as a potential point of contrast and “fodder for debate” with Sanders. In the absence of former Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to launch a candidacy, Sanders is leading the Democratic field in early fundraising and campaigning as a front-runner.

“I think it really matters what you say to voters. That’s the most important thing,” Tanden said.

Her group has proposed a Medicare opt-out plan known as “Medicare for America,” supported by former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, that would allow people to choose to keep employer-sponsored insurance.

Earlier this year, a poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans like the idea of Medicare for All but that support flips to disapproval if it would result in higher taxes or longer waits for care.

The poll found initial support of 56% to 42%. But support fell to 26% when people were told Medicare for All could lead to delays in getting care and to 37% when they were told it could mean higher taxes.

[ad_2]

Source link