Mark Pocan

Democratic members of Congress are incensed at the outsized power billionaire-turned-Trump lieutenant Elon Musk appears to be exercising over the policymaking process.Why it matters: Musk's fervent public opposition helped scuttle a federal funding deal Democrats were prepared to support en masse – putting the government on the brink of a holiday shutdown.Some Republicans have cheered Musk's role, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) even floating him as a replacement for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).What they're saying: Coming in and out of a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday, Democrats had an array of colorful descriptors for Musk's standing in Trump's orbit."If this is the type of power he has, then he is going to be the unelected co-president of this country and we've got to be super blunt about it," said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)."He's president and Trump is now vice president," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).Said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.): "A lot of the Republicans are pushing for him to become speaker of the House, which might be a demotion for him because he's basically the fourth branch of the government."Between the lines: Some Democrats are transparent about their efforts to aggrandize Musk's stature to drive a wedge between the president-elect and one of his most empowered deputies.That includes Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), who has posted AI-generated memes to X depicting Trump swearing in Musk as president, Trump as a court jester and Musk as a king, and Musk walking Trump like a dog."This is going to turn out to be an epic problem at some point for Donald Trump — the two biggest egos on the planet colliding thinking they are in charge," Pocan told Axios in an interview.He added: "Donald Trump at some point is not going to accept that. So I'm just going to invest in popcorn for the next year."Yes, but: Others insist there is genuine anger over the way in which Musk seems to be holding sway."It's rage. It's not just frustration — it's rage that we are in a place right now where the House GOP is allowing our government, wholesale, to be bought," said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.).Fumed Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.): "He's not American. He doesn't know about our democracy. He doesn't know about our processes." (Musk was born in South Africa but became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002).The Trump transition team and Musk's communications department at X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The bottom line: "I'm going to be talking to my folks back home in Vermont who voted for Trump: You thought you voted for Trump, but in fact, Trump just caved to Musk," said Balint."It's terrifying," she added.

After weekend reporting indicated President-elect Donald Trump is actively thinking about avenues to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, progressives decried any such efforts and once again directed their ire on the much-reviled Postermaster General, appointed to run the USPS during Trump's first term.Citing people familiar with recent talks within the incoming team's camp, the Washington Post reported Saturday that Trump is "keen" for a privatization scheme that would hand the USPS over to for-profit, private interests.According to the Post:Trump has discussed his desire to overhaul the Postal Service at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary and the co-chair of his presidential transition, the people said. Earlier this month, Trump also convened a group of transition officials to ask for their views on privatizing the agency, one of the people said.Told of the mail agency's annual financial losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, the people said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations.Trump's hostility to government programs that serve the public interest—including Medicare, Social Security, public education, and consumer protection agencies—is well-documented."The United States Postal Service is a crucial asset that was built and is owned by all of us, and there is zero mandate from the public to turn it over to an oligarch."Trump's attacks on the Postal Service, including his blessing of the 2020 appointment of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a former logistics industry executive, sparked alarm about Republican desires to gut the agency from the inside out.While calls to fire DeJoy from the USPS top leadership post persisted during the last year of Trump's first term and remained constant during Biden's time in office, he remains Postmaster General despite repeated accusations that his ultimate aim is to diminish the agency to such an extend that it will be more possible to justify its dismantling.While the Post's reporting on Saturday stated that Trump's "specific plans for overhauling the Postal Service" in his upcoming term "were not immediately clear," it did quote Casey Mulligan, who served as a top economic advisor during the last administration, who touted the private sectors performance compared to a Postal Service he claimed was too slow and costly."We didn't finish the job in the first term, but we should finish it now," said Mulligan.Progressive defenders of the Postal Service, in response, denounced any future effort to privatize the agency, one of the most popular among the U.S. public."The Post Office is in our constitution," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Saturday. "There is no way we let Donald Trump privatize it. Fire his former pick for postmaster, DeJoy, and let a real professional run it like it should be run. The first priority is delivering mail. Cut the Pentagon's bloat if you want to save money."Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner also defended the USPS, saying that "72% of Americans approve of the U.S. Postal Service, it's how many seniors receive medication, especially in rural areas."Progressive critics of right-wing attacks on the Postal Service have noted for years that the "financial performance" issues are a direct result of the "burdensome and unnecessary" pre-funding of liabilities mandated by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which forces the USPS to pay billions each year towards future postal worker retirement benefits."No matter what your partisan stripe," said Micah Rasmussen, director of the The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, "we should be able to agree the United States Postal Service is a crucial asset that was built and is owned by all of us, and there is zero mandate from the public to turn it over to an oligarch."

Senate Democrats failed to confirm a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board after Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin opposed the nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats failed Wednesday to confirm a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board after independent Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposed the nomination, thwarting their hopes of locking in a majority at the federal agency for the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s term.

You have three days left, if you got suckered in by those omnipresent ads for Medicare Advantage and left regular Medicare for the siren song of cheaper coverage, “free” vision, hearing, or dental, or even “free” money to buy groceries or rides to the doc.The open enrollment period for real Medicare closes at the end of the day Saturday, December 7th; after that, you’re locked into the Medicare Advantage plan you may have bought until next year.If you’ve had Medicare Advantage for a year or more, however, the open enrollment period is still “open” until December 7th, but you will want to make sure you can get a “Medigap” plan that fills in the 20% that real Medicare doesn’t cover.Companies are required to write a Medigap policy for you at a reasonable price when you turn 65, no matter how sick you are or what preexisting conditions you may have, but if you’ve been “off Medicare” by being on Medicare Advantage for more than a year, they don’t have to write you a policy, so double-check that and sign up for a Medigap policy before making the switch back to real Medicare.So, what’s this all about and why is it so complicated?When George W. Bush and congressional Republicans (and a handful of bought-off Democrats) created Medicare Advantage in 2003, it was the fulfillment of half of Bush’s goal of privatizing Social Security and Medicare, dating all the way back to his unsuccessful run for Congress in 1978 and a main theme of his second term in office.Medicare Advantage is not Medicare. These plans are private health insurance provided by private corporations, who are then reimbursed at a fixed rate by the Medicare trust fund regardless of how much their customers use their insurance. Thus, the more they can screw their customers and us taxpayers by withholding healthcare payments, the more money they make.With real Medicare, if your doctor says you need a test, procedure, scan, or any other medical intervention you simply get it done and real Medicare pays the bill. No muss, no fuss, no permission needed. Real Medicare always pays, and if they think something’s not kosher, they follow up after the payment’s been made so as not to slow down the delivery of your healthcare.With Medicare Advantage, however, you’re subject to “pre-clearance,” meaning that the insurance company inserts itself between you and your doctor: You can’t get the medical help you need until or unless the insurance company pre-clears you for payment.These companies thus make much of their billions in profit by routinely denying claims — 1.5 million, or 18 percent of all claims, were turned down in one year alone — leaving Advantage policy holders with the horrible choice of not getting the tests or procedures they need or paying for them out-of-pocket.Given this, you’d think that most people would stay as far away from these private Medicare Advantage plans as they could. But Congress also authorized these plans to compete unfairly with real Medicare by offering things real Medicare can’t (yet). These include free or discounted dental, hearing, eyeglasses, gym memberships, groceries, rides to the doctor, and even cash rebates.You and I pay for those freebies, but that’s only half of the horror story.Give a gift subscriptionThis year, as Matthew Cunningham-Cook pointed out in Wendell Potter’s brilliant Health Care un-covered Substack newsletter, we’re ponying up an additional $64 billion to give to these private insurance companies to “reimburse” them for the freebies they relentlessly advertise on television, online, and in print.And here’s the most obscene part of the whole thing: the companies won’t tell the government (us!) how much of that $64 billion they’ve actually spent. They just take the money and say, “Thank you very much.” And then, presumably, throw a few extra million into the pockets of each of their already obscenely-well-paid senior executives.For example, the former CEO of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage provider, UnitedHealth, walked away with over a billion dollars in total compensation. With a “B.” One guy. His successor made off with over a half-billion dollars in pay and stock.Good work if you can get it: all you need do is buy off a hundred or so members of Congress, courtesy of Clarence Thomas’ billionaire-funded tie-breaking vote on Citizens United, and threaten the rest of Congress with massive advertising campaigns for their opponents if they try to stop you.And while the companies refuse to tell us how much of the $64 billion that we’re throwing at them this year to offer “free” dental, etc. is actually used, what we do know is that most of that money is not going to pay for the freebies they advertise. As Cunningham-Cook noted, in one study only 11 percent of Advantage policyholders who’d signed up with plans offering dental care used that benefit.Another study showed over-the-counter-drug freebies were used only a third of the time, leaving $5 billion in the insurance companies money bins just for that “reimbursable” goodie. A later study found that at least a quarter of all Advantage policyholders failed to use any of the freebies they’d been offered when they signed up.That’s an enormous amount of what the industry calls “breakage”; benefits offered and paid for by the government but not used. Billions of dollars left over every month. And, used or not, you and I sure paid for them.In my book The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich, I lay out the story of this scam and how badly so many American seniors — and all American taxpayers, regardless of age — get ripped off by it.And now it looks like things are about to get a whole lot worse.When he was president last time, Donald Trump substantially expanded Medicare Advantage, calling real Medicare “socialism.” Project 2025 and candidate Trump both promised to end real Medicare “immediately” if Trump was re-elected; at the very least, they’ll make Medicare Advantage the “default” program people are steered into when they turn 65 and sign up for Medicare.These giant insurance companies ripped off us taxpayers last year to the tune of an estimated $140 billion over and above what it would’ve cost us if people had simply been on real Medicare, according to a report from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).If there was no Medicare Advantage scam bleeding off all that cash to pay for executives’ private jets, real Medicare could be expanded to cover dental, vision, and hearing and even end the need for Medigap plans.But for now, the privatization gravy train continues to roll along. The insurance giants use some of that money to buy legislators, and some of it for expensive advertising to dupe seniors into joining their programs. The company (Benefytt) that hired Joe Namath to pitch Medicare Advantage, for example, was recently hit with huge fines by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising.The FTC news release laid it out:“Benefytt pocketed millions selling sham insurance to seniors and other consumers looking for health coverage,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company is being ordered to pay $100 million, and we’re holding its executives accountable for this fraud.”And what was it that the Federal Trade Commission called “sham insurance”? Medicare Advantage. Nonetheless, the Centers for Medicare Services continues to let Benefytt and Namath market these products: welcome to the power of organized money.And it’s huge organized money. Medicare Advantage plans are massive cash cows for the companies that run them. As Cigna prepares for a merger, for example, they’re being forced to sell off their Medicare Advantage division: it’s scheduled to go for $3.7 billion. Nobody pays that kind of money unless they expect enormous returns.And how do they make those billions?Most Medicare Advantage companies regularly do everything they can to intimidate you into paying yourself out-of-pocket. Often, they simply refuse payment and wait for you to file a complaint against them; for people seriously ill the cumbersome “appeals” process is often more than they can handle so they just write a check, pull out a credit card, or end up deeply in debt in their golden years.As a result, hospitals and doctor groups across the nation are beginning to refuse to take Medicare Advantage patients. And in rural areas many hospitals are simply going out of business because Medicare advantage providers refuse to pay their bills.California-based Scripps Health, for example, cares for around 30,000 people on Medicare Advantage and recently notified all of them that Scripps will no longer offer medical services to them unless they pay out-of-pocket or revert back to real Medicare.They made this decision because over $75 million worth of services and procedures their physicians had recommended to their patients were turned down by Medicare Advantage insurance companies. In many cases, Scripps had already provided the care and is now stuck with the bills that the Advantage companies refuse to pay.Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorder told MedPage Today:“We are a patient care organization and not a patient denial organization and, in many ways, the model of managed care has always been about denying or delaying care – at least economically. That is why denials, [prior] authorizations and administrative processes have become a very big issue for physicians and hospitals...”Similarly, the Mayo Clinic has warned its customers in Florida and Arizona that they won’t accept Medicare Advantage any more, either. Increasing numbers of physician groups and hospitals are simply over being ripped off by Advantage insurance companies.Traditional Medicare has been serving Americans well since 1965: it’s one of the most efficient single-payer systems to fund healthcare that’s ever been devised. But nobody was making a buck off it, so nobody could share those profits with greedy politicians. Enter Medicare Advantage, courtesy of George W. Bush and the GOP.While several bills have been offered in Congress to do something about this — including Mark Pocan’s and Ro Khanna’s Save Medicare Act that would end these companies’ ability to use the word “Medicare” in their policy names and advertising — the amounts of money sloshing around DC in the healthcare space now are almost unfathomable.So far this year, according to opensecrets.org, the insurance industry has spent $117,305,895 showering gifts and persuasion on our federal lawmakers to keep their obscene profits flowing.It’s all one more example of how five corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court legalizing political bribery with Citizens United have screwed average Americans and made a handful of industry executives and investors fabulously rich.They get away with it because when people choose to sign up for Medicare Advantage at 65 (or convert to these plans in their 60s or early 70s) they’re typically not sick — and thus cost the insurance companies little.Tragically, the people signing up for these plans have no idea all the hassles, hoops, and troubles they might have to jump through when they do get sick, have an accident, or otherwise need medical assistance.And since the last three years of life are typically the most expensive years for healthcare, the insurance denials are more likely to happen then — long after the person’s signed up with the Advantage company and it’s too late to go back to real Medicare.This is why it typically takes a few years for people to figure out how badly they got screwed by not going with regular Medicare but instead putting themselves in the hands of private insurance companies.The New York Times did an exposé of the problem in an article titled “Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds.” It tells the story of “Kurt Pauker, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor in Indianapolis” who’d bought an Advantage policy from Humana:“In spite of recommendations from Mr. Pauker’s doctors, his family said, Humana has repeatedly denied authorization for inpatient rehabilitation after hospitalization, saying at times he was too healthy and at times too ill to benefit.”This is not at all uncommon, the Times notes:“Tens of millions of denials are issued each year for both authorization and reimbursements, and audits of the private insurers show evidence of ‘widespread and persistent problems related to inappropriate denials of services and payment,’ the investigators found.”If you have “real” Medicare with a heavily regulated Medigap policy to cover the 20% Medicare doesn’t, you never have to worry.Your bills get paid, you can use any doctor or hospital in the country who takes Medicare, and neither Medicare nor your Medigap provider will ever try to collect from you or force you to pay for what you thought was covered.Neither you or your doctor will ever have to do the “pre-authorization” dance with real Medicare: those terrible experiences dealing with for-profit insurance companies are part of the past.But if you have Medicare Advantage — which is not Medicare, but private health insurance — you’re on your own.As the Times laid out:“About 18 percent of [Advantage] payments were denied despite meeting Medicare coverage rules, an estimated 1.5 million payments for all of 2019. In some cases, plans ignored prior authorizations or other documentation necessary to support the payment. These denials may delay or even prevent a Medicare Advantage beneficiary from getting needed care...”Buying a Medicare Advantage policy is a leap in the dark, and the federal government is not there to catch you. And it’s all perfectly legal, thanks to Bush’s 2003 law, so your state insurance commissioner usually can’t or won’t help.Thus, here we are, handing billions of dollars a month to insurance industry executives so they can buy new Swiss chalets, private jets, and luxury yachts. And so they can compete — unfairly — with Medicare itself, driving LBJ’s most proud achievement into debt and crisis.Enough is enough. Let your members of Congress know it’s beyond time to fix the Court and Medicare, so scams like Medicare Advantage can no longer rip off America’s seniors while making industry executives richer than Midas.And if you got hooked into switching out of real Medicare and now find yourself in a Medicare Advantage plan, you have three days to back out and return to real Medicare. For more information, you can also contact the nonprofit and real-Medicare-supporting Medicare Rights Center at 800-333-4114.NOW READ: Agenda 47: Alarm sounded about Trump’s dystopian plans for his second term

President Joe Biden is making a rare jump into the 2024 political battleground fray with visits to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, key battleground states.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is making a rare jump into the 2024 political battleground fray since taking a step back after ending his reelection bid.

In a letter obtained by HuffPost, lawmakers urge the State Department and Pentagon to apply a human rights law to U.S. military support for Israel.

Lawmakers said during a contentious congressional hearing Thursday they are uneasy about the U.S. Postal Service’s readiness for a crush of mail ballots for the November election because some of them feel burned by other Postal Service actions.Postmaster General Louis DeJoy sought to reassure a House Appropriations subcommittee that the Postal Service is well-positioned for an extraordinary effort to deliver mail ballots to election officials on time to be counted and that close to 100% will make it promptly. In recent weeks, DeJoy has pushed back on suggestions from state and local election officials that the Postal Service has not addressed problems that led to mail ballots arriving too late or without postmarks, disenfranchising those voters.But as subcommittee members asked DeJoy about how the Postal Service has addressed election officials' concerns, they criticized a larger, 10-year plan to make the mail delivery system more efficient and less costly by consolidating mail processing centers, suggesting it could slow mail delivery, particularly in rural areas. DeJoy disputed that.

Bipartisan efforts to ban TikTok nationwide will be scrutinized Monday by a federal appeals court tasked with weighing whether axing the social media giant’s U.S. presence runs afoul of the First Amendment. The social media platform and a group of content creators have sued over a new law that could ban the app, placing free [...]

The Harris campaign is casting a drastically wider net in recruiting House Democrats to stump for the presidential ticket, gauging the interest of almost every member, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Over a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides described a "night-and-day" contrast with the surrogate operation under President Biden.To many House members, the shift is evidence of their new importance under the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former House member.What we're hearing: Harris' campaign has widely canvassed House members about their openness to being surrogates, an effort that began almost immediately after Biden dropped his candidacy in July. The center-left New Democrat Coalition polled their nearly 100 members at the campaign's request to "find out who's available," Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), the group's chair, told Axios.A senior House Democrat said the Harris campaign has "asked all members if they are interested in being surrogates," and those who agreed have been contacted each week about their availability to travel."They've asked what our interest level is in a way I haven't been asked previously. Often it's the people who really want to go do it who say something. This time, they're approaching everyone," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).Zoom in: Several House Democrats who were not stumping for Biden have signed on to do so for Harris."I wasn't a Biden campaign surrogate because I wasn't asked ... But Kamala, it's a different story," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).A top aide to another House Democrat told Axios their boss has been tapped to travel twice and do swing-state media for Harris – a "glaring" difference from their non-existent role for Biden."They have asked for as many members as possible ... to be surrogates," said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), adding that Harris made the request to her directly when they were at an event together.Between the lines: The Harris campaign knows "the Biden team had an issue of many members not feeling included and are attempting to address the issue of including more people," said the senior House Democrat.Lawmakers saw Biden's approach as a function of his age and reliance on his tight inner circle and campaign co-chairs, including Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.)."He has his circle, and they have their friends, and their friends have their friends, and that's it. And that's maybe what they're comfortable with," said another House Democrat.Biden was "leaning on the ones that were his surrogates when he was running the first time" in 2020, said Kamlager-Dove, while Harris "basically jumped into this a month ago."Yes, but: Sources noted that the general election was just starting at the time of the disastrous debate that precipitated Biden's withdrawal weeks later.The Harris campaign has also retained most of Biden's staff infrastructure, including Hillary Beard, a former chief of staff to Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) who oversees relationships with House members.Harris is also facing a truncated schedule, with Pocan telling Axios the vice president called many members the day Biden dropped out because she "realized that if you're starting a campaign with little runway, you've got to hit [the ground] more than sprinting."And Harris is trying to expand the map. "You're seeing surrogates go to Florida, you're seeing surrogates in Texas," said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).Zoom out: House members, feeling more highly regarded by Harris and her team, are rewarding the vice president in turn with far greater enthusiasm.One House Democrat who expressed interest in speaking at the Democratic National Convention was told by their staff that while it may have been feasible under Biden, there is far more competition for public-facing roles in Harris' candidacy.The Harris campaign has been hearing from members proactively reaching out with offers of assistance, according to a source familiar with the matter.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios the campaign has "more interested surrogates than they know what to do with."The bottom line: "It's night-and-day," said Kuster, who told Axios roughly three-fourths of her group's members expressed interest in being Harris surrogates."Everybody wants in on this campaign, and they're excited about it."

CHICAGO — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has silenced the Democratic doubters. Heading into the Democratic National Convention, there were questions swirling inside the party about the wisdom of Vice President Harris picking the Minnesota governor — a relatively unknown figure from a safely Democratic state — as her running mate. But Walz has stormed [...]

Republican Erik Olsen defeated his Republican primary opponent Tuesday night in Wisconsin's 2nd District, setting up a battle to unseat Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan in a deep-blue district.

Many LGBTQ+ Americans are making it increasingly clear that they view Trump and the broader Republican agenda as an existential threat.

Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, left and Republican challenger Eric Hovde have been battling each other for months, making Tuesday’s primaries more of a formality.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — For a brief moment this week, the fierce competition for swing voters in swing-state Wisconsin converged on the tarmac of the tiny Chippewa Valley Regional Airport.

If Vice President Kamala Harris ends up selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, he will in part have his former congressional colleagues to thank.Why it matters: A House member from 2007 to 2019, Walz' congressional relationships have manifested into what one senior House Democrat described as "quiet diplomacy" on his behalf.Walz's political bases of support are members from the Midwest and progressives, but others with whom he has deep personal relationships are campaigning for him as well."People like me think the world of him. A truly great human being," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) a House veteran who serves as ranking member of the House Rules Committee.Zoom in: Walz is believed to be a finalist along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has his own base of support on Capitol Hill.Several House Democrats from Pennsylvania, including swing-seat Reps. Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright, have lobbied hard for Shapiro, as Axios previously reported.What we're hearing: In addition to public pronunciations of support, many lawmakers have privately reached out to the Harris campaign voicing support for Walz, according to lawmakers familiar with the outreach.A second senior House Democrat told Axios that "a lot of members really like Tim, myself included, and have made that known to the campaign."The senior lawmaker estimated that dozens of members are advocating for Walz in public and private.Another House Democrat told Axios that Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), a veteran progressive from Walz's home state, has reached out to colleagues urging them to "to call [Harris] and talk to press" in favor of Walz.Between the lines: Walz's record as governor has made him the favorite of the party's left flank."A number of [members] on the progressive caucus side like him most," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), the former chair of the Progressive Caucus, told Axios, noting that some have taken to social media to tout their support.Another House Democrat said of Walz's support among progressives and Midwesterners: "He definitely seems to be the only one who can draw from both of those camps within our caucus."The bottom line: "Whoever she picks I — and I think all Democrats in the house — will enthusiastically support," said McGovern.

The Apostle Islands would become Wisconsin's first national park under a bill introduced by northern Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, opening more access to federal resources.

A federal judge said that Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy has not been officially dismissed because the former New York City mayor has refused to pay administrative expenses — even though he seems to have the funds to do so.In July, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said he would dismiss the bankruptcy case at the request of Giuliani and two former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Giuliani had initially declared bankruptcy after a court ordered him to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million for defamation.In a five-page order on Thursday, Lane noted that the order to dismiss the case had not been entered into the court record because Giuliani claimed he could not afford to pay related administrative expenses."The administrative expenses in question are the fees for the financial advisors retained by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors," the judge's Thursday order said. "What little we know about the Debtor's financial situation makes his stance here more troubling.""Even assuming that the Debtor does not have the funds on hand to immediately pay these bankruptcy expenses, he certainly has considerable assets upon which he can draw to pay such expenses," Lane continued. "It is undisputed that he owns two apartments of considerable value."Giuliani's New York apartment was said to be worth $5.6 million, and his Florida apartment was valued at approximately $3.5 million.EXCLUSIVE: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNCLane explained that the "most obvious path forward" would be to hold hearings to determine Giuliani's financial conditions and possibly force him to testify."[T]here may come a point when dismissal is no longer an option because the Debtor is unwilling to pay these administrative expenses, a necessary requirement under the law for dismissal of the case," Thursday's order said. "Under such circumstances, the Court may be forced to reevaluate the alternative of a Chapter 11 trustee to supervise the administration of the Debtor's financial affairs and to promptly liquidate assets such as the New York apartment as appropriate."Lane gave Giuliani and his creditors until July 31 to submit proposals for a path forward.

A GOP strategist unleashed an attack on Kamala Harris that was dripping in sarcasm Thursday after losing his cool over positive media coverage of the Democratic Party’s presumed presidential candidate.Doug Heye was on CNN as the vice president finished a rally speech in Houston. As his co-guest, Democratic Party strategist Maria Cordona, finished praising the candidate’s performance, Heye got flustered.Raising his voice, he said, “Everything we heard is 'Oh my god, Kamala Harris is the greatest thing ever. She's the greatest cook that we've ever had near the Oval Office. She knows more about wine than anybody other than maybe Thomas Jefferson. Everything she does is amazing.'“So we should just cancel the election because clearly she's going to win by 25 points?”He then tried to bring the CNN panel back from what he saw as rose-colored adoration.ALSO READ: ‘Creepy weirdos’: Senator fears Trump WH staff would destroy government from ‘inside’“The reality is, i'm not going to get in Donald Trump's head, don't want to be there, don't know what's in there. But he sees the same polling that we do," he said.“Kamala Harris is marginally less unpopular than Joe Biden. She's not winning in the polls. Maybe that changes in a week or two, or six or eight, but at this point, Donald Trump is still winning despite this barrage of nothing but positive press for Kamala Harris and has been marinated in the public's mind.”Cardona had set him off by suggesting that Trump was “going through a mental meltdown” because of his opponent's popularity.“Not just that she is incredibly accomplished as DA, AG, senator, VP,” she said, “but the fact that she is also very attractive. I mean, I have to say it.“...In addition to that, she's not only a woman, she's a woman of African American Asian descent, daughter of immigrants, Jamaican descent.I mean, it's it's this sort of cauldron of all of the things that Trump has nightmares about every single night.”Watch the video below or click the link here.

While Republicans are looking forward to Netanyahu’s speech, most Democrats are approaching the occasion with bated breath and dread — if they plan to attend at all.

A number of Democratic lawmakers, governors and past leaders were quick to rally behind Vice President Harris as she pursues the Democratic Party's presidential nomination following President Biden's withdrawal from the race. Shortly after dropping out of the presidential race, Biden endorsed Harris as his successor, stating it is "time to come together and beat" [...]

Donald Trump’s political team has been preparing to run against Vice President Kamala Harris for weeks, something they got one step closer to on Sunday after President Joe Biden said he is dropping out of the 2024 race.

Vice President Harris is racing to lock down support for her White House bid, just hours after President Biden announced that he would no longer seek re-election. Harris on Sunday spoke with the chairs of three key coalitions on Capitol Hill: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) of [...]

A growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called Friday for Biden to drop his reelection bid, even as the president insisted he'll return to the campaign trail next week.

More than 30 congressional Democrats are publicly panicking that he can't defeat Donald Trump and urging the president to "pass the torch."

A total of 34 Democrats in Congress have called on Biden to drop out following a rocky debate performance and two gaffe-filled public appearances.

In a statement, the president said he looks forward to getting back on the campaign trail, an unwelcome prospect for a growing number in his party.

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey signed onto a joint statement calling on Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee in a new letter Friday.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee's rulemaking arm held a meeting Friday, pressing ahead with plans for a virtual roll call before Aug. 7 to nominate the presidential pick, ahead of the party’s convention later in the month in Chicago.

A total of 28 Democrats in Congress have called on Biden to drop out following a rocky debate performance and two gaffe-filled public appearances.