Fighting Back: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand – “The cruel Republican ‘healthcare’ bill goes against our American values.”

May 13, 2017 JanF Editors' Choice, Fighting Back 6

The weekly Fighting Back post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

Found on the Internets …

The Weekly Democratic Party Address was delivered by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY):

Senator Gillibrand on the AHCA:

“It’s time to stop the nonsense, and put people over politics. I look at my kids, and I don’t know what I would do if our family was going to be on the losing end of this cruel bill. Please imagine how heartbreaking it would be if your child was sick and needed care, but couldn’t afford the medicine, the treatment, or the surgery that was needed to save their lives. It’s unbearable to consider, and it goes against our American values.”
-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)

(CSPAN link to Weekly Democratic Address: here)

(Link to Nancy Pelosi Newsroom here)

There was no Minority Leader News Conference as Leader Pelosi was out of the country.

Here is Michelle Obama speaking at a health summit this past week:

Former first lady Michelle Obama served as the honorary chair for the Partnership for a Healthier America and talked about the origins and progress of her Let’s Move! initiative to help reduce childhood obesity. Mrs. Obama said that if you want to make this country great again, children need to be healthy and spoke out against the delay in regulations pertaining to school meal programs and nutrition labels requirements. She was joined by former White House Chef and food advocate Sam Kas

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6 Comments

  1. Leader Pelosi sent a letter to her Democratic House colleagues calling for an Outside, Independent Commission to Investigate Trump-Russia Ties:

    May 10, 2017

    Dear Democratic Colleague,

    It has been reported that days before President Trump fired Comey, the FBI Director had asked for more resources for the Russian investigation. Given Director Comey’s confirmation of the Trump-Russia inquiry, the President’s actions raise questions about whether this dismissal was an attempt to undermine that investigation. The fireworks at the Department of Justice demand that we remove the investigation from the Trump-appointed Justice Department leadership.

    It is clear that in the 2016 campaign, the Russians interfered with the election by hacking and leaking information. It is also clear that during the campaign there were repeated contacts between the Russians and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. It is further clear that the public deserves to know the extent to which there was collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign to influence the result of the election.

    I am calling upon Speaker Ryan and Republicans in Congress to join Democrats to support H.R. 356, the Protecting Our Democracy Act to create an outside, independent commission to investigate the Trump-Russia connection. One hundred percent of House Democrats support this bipartisan bill.

    Speaker Ryan must call up this legislation immediately upon our return next week. If Republicans continue to work to hide the truth from the American people, it will be necessary for Democrats to file a discharge petition to force a vote on the Swalwell-Cummings measure.

    If the President has nothing to hide, then he should welcome the creation of a commission providing an independent investigation to remove all doubt of a coverup.

    I hope we can move forward in a bipartisan way to protect the integrity of our electoral system and the rule of law, both of which are fundamental to our democracy.

    I welcome your thoughts on this critical issue.

    Best regards,

    Nancy Pelosi

  2. Nancy Pelosi statement on the Republican Party’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission:

    Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after it was announced that President Trump signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Advisory Commission on ‘Election Integrity’:

    “The President’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission is purpose-built to encourage and enable voter suppression. Selecting Kris Kobach as vice-chair reveals exactly the kind of discriminatory witch-hunt the American people can expect from this commission.

    “For some time, we have seen a monstrous campaign to raise discriminatory new barriers to the ballot. Again and again, ‘voter fraud’ has been used as a pretext to disenfranchise working families and communities of color in particular. The President’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission is clearly intended to accelerate the vile voter suppression efforts in states across the nation.

    “The integrity of our elections has been undermined because of the disenfranchisement of American citizens, not the bigoted delusions of widespread voter fraud. If President Trump cannot believe that the majority of Americans voted against him, he should review his own conduct instead of trying to steal the vote from millions of citizens.”

    Zing!!!

  3. Paul Ryan will never give up his dream of seeing the spirits of every decent person crushed as he kills grannies and children and impoverishes the elderly and sick:

    House Speaker Paul Ryan hasn’t let go of his cherished idea of privatizing Medicare and in an interview with a local Wisconsin radio station Friday, suggested that a blueprint for overhauling Medicare would advance in the Budget Committee again this year.

    Earlier in the interview Ryan said overhauling Social Security and Medicare — two programs President Trump vowed not to touch on the campaign trail — has “long” been his “plan.”

    • Sessions demands harshest possible drug sentences, ending Obama-era flexibility

      Federal prosecutors should resume the old practice of pursuing the sternest possible charges and longest available sentences for all drug crime suspects, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered on Friday.

      The new instructions reverse a memo issued in 2013 by then-Attorney General Eric Holder which sought to radically change America’s prison problem through simple changes to prosecutor behavior.

      Holder had ordered U.S. attorneys to drop the across-the-board tough-guy act Sessions is reviving and instead reserve the harshest sentencing enhancements and multi-layered indictments available in the law for offenders with clear links to violent crime and organized criminal syndicates.

      Appalachia’s approach to drugs at odds with AG policy

      LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In Appalachian states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, the tough-on-crime policy announced Friday by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions runs counter to a recent emphasis on treatment and less prison time for low-level drug offenders.

      Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul strongly opposed the Department of Justice directive, which reverses an Obama-era policy that prescribed leniency for nonviolent, low-level drug offenders.

      “We should treat our nation’s drug epidemic as a health crisis and less as a ‘lock ’em up and throw away the key’ problem,” Paul said in a statement released shortly after Session’s announcement.

      Sessions argued that a spike in violence in some big cities and the nation’s opioid epidemic call for a return to harsher prison sentences. The memo announced Friday would urge U.S. attorneys to charge steeper crimes that would trigger long mandatory prison sentences, including for drug offenders.

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