Public Overwhelmingly Supports The New Law By Congress

The chart above is from the Gallup Poll. They questioned 2,817 adults nationwide on March 28th and 29th, and the survey has a 4 point margin of error.

They asked people if they approved or disapproved of the new $2.2 trillion law passed last week by Congress. They found the people supported the law by a huge margin -- adults by a 54 point margin, Democrats by 62 points, Independents by 40 points, and Republicans by 52 points.

What Did Trump Promise A Foreign Leader - And Why Is He Trying To Hide It From Congress?

You have probably heard about the latest Trump administration scandal. On a call to a foreign leader (likely Putin), Trump made a promise. That promise troubled an official in the intelligence community so much that he properly filed a whistleblower report.

Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson found the report determined the complaint was credible and of "urgent concern" (which would require its reporting to Congress). He forwarded the complaint to Joseph Maguire (acting director of national intelligence).

Maguire, after conferring with the Justice Department (and probably the White House) is now refusing to turn over the complaint to Congress -- even though the seven day time limit to do so has expired. He did meet in secret with a congressional committee, but refused to turn over the complaint or to even tell them what it contained.

In other words, he's breaking the law -- probably on orders from the White House.

What did Trump promise that foreign leader? Would it be damaging to this country or our allies? Or just embarrassing to Trump?

This is just one more example of Trump flouting the law, and refusing to honor the Constitution's division of power. He thinks he can do whatever he wants, and refuse any oversight from Congress when questioned. He's not acting like a president. He's trying to rule like a dictator!

Here's what the editorial board of The Washington Post says:

A NEW dispute has arisen between Congress and the Trump administration over a whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community. By law, it should be shared with Congress, but the administration is refusing to do so. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) is entirely correct to insist that the administration follow the law. He should pursue the matter until it does.

According to Mr. Schiff, on Aug. 12 a whistleblower within the intelligence community filed a complaint that met the legal description of a disclosure involving a “serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order, or deficiency” related to funding, administration or operation of classified intelligence activity. Neither the subject of the complaint nor the whistleblower’s agency has been disclosed, but the complaint was deemed of “urgent concern” by the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson.

Mr. Atkinson sent it to Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence. According to the congressman, a preliminary review by the inspector general determined that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” the information “is credible.” So far, this is how the system is supposed to work under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 and subsequent presidential directives and laws. Mr. Maguire, the law says, “shall” forward such a whistleblower complaint to the congressional intelligence committees within seven days.

So far, that hasn’t happened. Mr. Schiff says the intelligence community’s explanation to him is that the complaint “concerns conduct by someone outside of the Intelligence Community” involving “confidential and potentially privileged communications.” The congressman says he thinks the intelligence community may be covering up misconduct involving the White House or the president. We don’t know. But Mr. Schiff says this is the first time he’s aware of that a director of national intelligence has overruled the inspector general and concealed a whistleblower complaint, for which the director has “neither the legal authority nor the discretion.” And that is suspicious. Mr. Schiff has issued a subpoena and demanded action by Tuesday, or appearance at a public hearing Thursday.

Mr. Trump has made plain his distaste for congressional oversight. Elsewhere, he’s resisting disclosure of his tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, although the law in that case also is straightforward. Oversight is a vital function of Congress, one that’s not always performed as strenuously as it should be. At the same time, the Supreme Court has ruled that it can’t lead to boundless inquisitions, or what Mr. Trump would call witch hunts. The court said the investigating must be limited to “a legitimate task of the Congress.”

In the case of the intelligence-community whistleblower, this clearly falls under the definition of a legitimate task of Congress. Someone inside the intelligence community decided to follow the rules and filed this complaint for a reason. Neither Mr. Maguire nor Mr. Trump should be able to conceal such information. They should respect and uphold the law, not contravene it.

Voters Still Have A Very Poor Opinion Of Congress

These charts show the results of the latest Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between July 21st and 23rd of a national sample of 1,212 registered voters, with a margin of error of 2.9 points.

The fact is that voters remain very disappointed in the U.S. Congress. Only about 15% approve of the job Congress is doing, while a whopping 64% disapprove. But those voters don't blame the two parties equally.

While about half disapprove of both parties, the Democrats are viewed more favorably by a larger percentage than the Republicans. About 44% of voters approve of the Democrats in Congress, while only 33% approve of congressional Republicans -- an 11 point difference.

That 11 points is a significant difference, and could be setting up a repeat of the 2018 election (which was disastrous for Republicans) -- especially with a very unpopular president at the top of their ticket.

McConnell Is The "Grim Reaper" Of The Legislative Process

The House of Representatives has been busy in the 116th Congress -- conducting investigations of Trump wrongdoing, and fulfilling their legislative function. The Senate has done neither.

That's because the Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell) has decided he will block everything the House sends him -- regardless of whether it will help most Americans or not. While he has changed Senate rules to allow the ratifying of more right-wing judges for the federal court, he has blocked (killed) almost all legislation.

The current Senate is the most "do-nothing" Senate of modern times.

Here is part of a May 13th op-ed by David S. Bernstein at wgbh.org:

Barring something unexpected, this Tuesday will mark two months since the U.S. Senate held a roll call vote on passage of any type of legislation. That was a joint resolution to nullify President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border (which Trump later vetoed).

It’s been three months, as of Sunday, since the Senate last took yeas and nays on a genuine, full-fledged bill: the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. It passed, 92 to 8, and was later signed into law. 

So there was some eye-rolling last week when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell harshly criticized House Democrats, telling them to “move on” from investigating the Trump administration, and get back to the business of legislating for the country. When, some Democrats mused, will McConnell allow the Senate to move on to that business? 

The United States Senate, that great deliberative body, has effectively ceased legislating this year. It has shut down. Closed for business until 2021. . . .

With little hope of seeing legislation actually reach the floor, Senators on both sides of the aisle have largely given up on trying to craft bills in committee. 

Senate committees have held hearings on just a dozen bills this year, according to Library of Congress data at congress.gov; there are typically hearings on at least a couple hundred in a two-year session. On average, over the past 10 sessions, nearly 600 bills go through “markup,” a key step in finalizing the contents. Just 57 bills have been marked up in the Senate so far. 

Perhaps the most telling statistic, showing the dearth of deliberation and debate in this Senate, is the number of amendments considered to the legislation moving through. 

Over the previous 10 years, the Senate has seen an average of 443 amendments proposed on the floor each year, ranging from technical fixes to complete replacement bills. Many were adopted by voice vote, and others were ultimately tabled or withdrawn. But on average, 113 of those amendments received full roll call votes. 

So far this year, just 28 amendments have even been allowed on the floor. Only eight of them have received roll call votes. The last action of any kind taken on an amendment in the Senate was six weeks ago, on April first. . . .

While the Senate stands still, the House of Representatives has kept busy. Roughly 100 bills passed by the House of Representatives are awaiting Senate action. 

The latest, passed on Thursday, relates to health insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. It was the first of a series of health care bills House Democrats plan to vote on this month. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been publicly calling the Senate a graveyard for House bills. Some of those, to be sure, are liberal wish-list items of limited interest in the Republican-led Senate. But many are relatively uncontroversial measures, with bipartisan support. 

One bill, to help veterans get skills and jobs in STEM and computer science fields, had bipartisan House sponsors and passed by voice vote in February. Another, the Financial Technology Protection Act, was introduced by Republican Ted Budd of North Carolina, passed the House unanimously in late January. Both now sit in the Senate, assigned to committees along with many others like them, receiving no attention or action. 

“McConnell is treating anything that comes from the House as a non-starter,” said Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Congress Passes The Budget (And It's Veto-Proof)

There won't be a shutdown. The 116th Congress passed a budget for the rest of this year. Sources are saying that Trump will sign the budget, but it doesn't really matter.

The House passed the budget 300 to 128. The Senate passed it 83 to 16. Those are veto-proof margins. If Trump surprises Congress and vetoes the budget (which would shut down the government again), Congress will just override his veto.

McConnell, and others close to Trump are saying that he will now declare a national emergency, and use military and disaster funds to build his wall. Speaker Pelosi has already said she is considering going to court to stop that -- and the Justice Department has warned Trump that the courts are likely to stop the emergency order (at least temporarily).

I think he knows that he won't be able to get away with declaring a national emergency and using funds designated by Congress for other purposes. He just playing a public relations game. He wants to be able to tell his base that he did everything he could to build a wall, but Democrats (and the courts) stopped him.

The fact is -- Trump has lost this fight. There will be no wall -- not this year, and not next year.

116th Congress Is The 5th In A Row With Increased Diversity

These charts are from the Pew Research Center. The top chart shows some good news. For the fifth Congress in a row, Congress has become more ethnically diverse. The 116th Congress is the most diverse Congress we have had in this country. That means the Congress looks more like the actual make-up of the country's population than ever before.

But there's also a bit of bad news. Whites still make up more of the 116th Congress (78%) than their percentage of the U.S. population (61%).

Congresswomen In White Celebrate Trump Faux Pas

(Photo Of Democratic congresswomen in white prior to SOTU is from Rep. Haaland's Facebook page.)

The following is part of a great article by Alexandria Schwartz in The New Yorker:


The congresswomen wore white. At President Trump’s second State of the Union address, a triangular tranche of the House of Representatives stood out in the familiar sea of suits, as if lit by a spotlight: the female members of the 116th Congress, dressed in cream, eggshell, and alabaster, the traditional shades of the suffragette movement. Shown from above, they looked like a slice of wedding cake on a dark tablecloth. When the camera came in low to pan across their faces, they looked like a choir between numbers, murmuring a remark to a neighbor, raising an eyebrow. (Their conductor, Nancy Pelosi, shuffled papers from her station, behind the President, in a pants suit the color of a fresh ream bound for the printer.) Before the Presidential pageantry began, the congresswomen posed on a spiral staircase in two long rows, as if ready to descend, Busby Berkeley style, into the chamber below. You can’t compose an image like that if you don’t have the numbers for it. A hundred and three women are serving in the House of Representatives, which makes the 116th Congress the most female in history, as well as the most diverse. Seated in front of the President, they looked like a battalion: purposeful, united, prepared to fight together against their adversary in the skewed red tie. . . .

Not far into his speech, Trump began, somewhat ironically, to salute the recent gains made by American women. “No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled fifty-eight per cent of the new jobs created in the last year,” he said. The congresswomen in white looked at one another dubiously. Was this even true? They started to stand up. Even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got to her feet. They were going to take Trump’s statement as a compliment. Some of them shimmied, and pumped their fists in the air. Trump, risking an ad-lib, joked, “You weren’t supposed to do that.” More women are in the workplace than ever, he went on. “And we also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before.” Nancy Pelosi, stirring to life, stood and extended her hands to the bloc in white, as if to say, Screw the d.j., but he’s playing our song! The congresswomen again leapt to their feet. A robust, surprising “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” chant started up in their honor. Maybe it was a case of positive cultural appropriation, or subversion, that macho cheer given some new meaning. Anyway, for once, Trump had spoken the truth.

(Photo of congresswomen celebrating Trump's faux pas is by Zach Gibson/Getty images.) 

The Religious Makeup Of The 116th Congress

I just found this interesting, and thought you might also. These charts are from the Pew Research Center.

Record Number Of Women (Mostly Democrats) In House

These photos are from Facebook. They show the Democrats (top photo) and Republicans (bottom photo) being sworn in as members of the 116th Congress in the House of Representatives. There is a striking difference in the photos. The Democrats show a remarkable diversity -- and represent the diversity that makes this country great. The Republicans are mainly just old white men.

One of the things that's great about the new House is the record number of women now serving (over 100). That's not enough and we still need that number to be much higher (like about 200 or more), but it is a big improvement.

Here's how Elise Viebeck describes the new House for The Washington Post:

Women lawmakers had to wait until 2011 to get a restroom off the floor of the House.

On Thursday for the first time, there was a line to get in.

The opening day of the 116th Congress was heavy with symbolism underscoring women’s historic gains in power as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) retook the speaker’s gavel and more than 100 women were sworn in on the floor of the House.

Beneath the portraits of male speakers past, history seemed to be changing.

Dozens of newly elected women queued to receive their member pins. Husbands affixed those pins to their wives’ lapels. They held tote bags, corralled relatives and quieted children.

The day served as a powerful reminder of the shifting gender dynamics of the House as Democrats ascend to power. When Pelosi arrived on Capitol Hill in 1987, there were 23 female members. As of Thursday, there are 102, nearly 90 percent of whom are Democrats. . . .

Pelosi underscored these hopes in her opening speech to the House as speaker, noting that her election comes amid the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. . . .

The difference between the Democratic and Republican caucuses was striking as members assembled midday on the House floor.

To the left of the dais — the Democratic side — the typical sea of men’s suit jackets was balanced by pops of green, blue and white worn by women. Bald heads alternated with bobbed haircuts. Scanning the rows, the record number of women and lawmakers of Hispanic, Asian and African American heritage who will serve this term was clear.

To the right of the dais — the Republican side — older white men occupied nearly every seat. Visually, granddaughters provided most of the contrast.

House Of Representatives Of The 116th Congress

The 55th Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California).

The House of Representatives of the 116th Congress has 235 Democrats and 199 Republicans. There is one open seat -- the 9th District of North Carolina. This gives the Democrats a current advantage of 36 seats (votes).

From Vox.com, here are 10 new Democratic committee chairs who will provide oversight of the Trump administration:

Intelligence Committee — Adam Schiff (D-California)

Oversight Committee — Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)

Judiciary Committee — Jerry Nadler (D-New York)

Ways and Means Committee — Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts)

Financial Services — Maxine Waters (D-California)

Foreign Affairs Committee — Eliot Engel (D-New York)

Energy and Commerce — Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey)

Natural Resources — Raúl Grijalva (D-Arizona)

Veterans’ Affairs — Mark Takano (D-California)

Science, Space, and Technology — Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas)

House Democrats Reveal Their First Bill For 116th Congress

Now that the Democrats have flipped 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and will control what that body does, there has been a lot of talk by pundits about what the Democrats should or will do.

Last Friday, House Democrats announced what their first action will do. House Resolution 1 will be an omnibus bill covering campaign finance, ethics, and voting rights.

This is probably a pretty smart move. There are problems in all three of those areas that need to be addressed, and the American public knows it. The bill is very likely to have broad support.

It also puts pressure on the Republican Senate. If they pass the bill, it will hurt their financing and voter suppression, and will force them to be more ethical in their conduct. If they kill the bill (which is likely), it will just be one more black mark against them that Democrats can use in 2020.

I hope the follow this bill with a significant raising of the minimum wage, a fix for Obamacare (allowing more access and lower costs), and an infrastructure bill.

Here is what HR 1 includes:

There are three main planks the bill covers: campaign finance reform, strengthening the government’s ethics laws, and expanding voting rights.

Campaign finance

• Public financing of campaigns, powered by small donations. Under Sarbanes’s vision, the federal government would provide a voluntary 6-1 match for candidates for president and Congress, which means for every dollar a candidate raises from small donations, the federal government would match it six times over. “If you give $100 to a candidate that’s meeting those requirements, then that candidate would get another $600 coming in behind them,” Sarbanes told Vox this summer. “The evidence and the modeling is that most candidates can do as well or better in terms of the dollars they raise if they step into this new system.”
• Passing the DISCLOSE Act, pushed by Rep. David Cicilline (RI) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), both Democrats from Rhode Island. This would require Super PACs and “dark money” political organizations to make their donors public.
• Passing the Honest Ads Act, championed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Mark Warner (VA), which would require Facebook and Twitter to disclose the source of money of political ads on their platforms, and share how much money was spent. 

Ethics

• Requiring the president to disclose his or her tax returns.
• Stopping members of Congress from using taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment cases or buy first-class plane tickets.
• Giving the Office of Government Ethics the power to do more oversight and enforcement and put in stricter lobbying registration requirements.
• Create a new ethical code for the US Supreme Court, ensuring all branches of government are impacted by the new law.

Voting rights

• Creating new national automatic voter registration that asks voters to opt out, rather than opt in, ensuring more people will be signed up to vote. Early voting and online voter registration would also be promoted.
• Restoring the Voting Rights Act, part of which was dismantled by a US Supreme Court decision in 2013. Ending partisan gerrymandering in federal elections and prohibiting voter roll purging.
• Beefing up elections security, including requiring the Director of National Intelligence to do regular checks on foreign threats.

Americans Say It's Important To Raise Minimum Wage

The current Republican-controlled Congress has ignored the plight of workers who make at or near the minimum wage (set by the federal government at $7.25 and hour). They were far more interested in providing tax cuts for the richest Americans -- the only people that did not need that help.

It showed that the Republicans didn't care for American workers. They didn't care that soon about 20% of the American work force will be working at/near the minimum wage -- a wage that keeps workers in poverty even when working a full-time job.

That's not what the public wants though. About 46% say it's very important that the new Congress raise the minimum wage, and another 26% say it somewhat important. Only 28% agree with the Republicans that raising the minimum wage is not important. The numbers are similar for registered voters. And in fact, all demographic groups have a significant majority saying it is at least somewhat important to raise the minimum wage (and either a plurality or majority saying it is very important).

We can argue about how much the minimum wage should be raised, but we are long overdue for it to be raised -- and Americans know it. They want Congress to act. I think the new Democratic-controlled House will pass a bill to raise the minimum wage. Will the Republican-controlled Senate agree? If they don't, they will incur the wrath of the voting public (which is already not happy with the Republicans, as the last election showed).

The chart above reflects the results of a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between November 18th and 20th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,328 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 3.3 points, and for registered voters is 2.9 points.

Interesting Facts About 116th Congress Freshman Class

The folks at Politico.com give us some interesting facts about the new members of Congress, who will be sworn in when the 116th Congress convenes in January.

We looked at the newest additions to the House and Senate — 100 non-incumbent winners* — and found their average age is 49. That makes this incoming class the youngest in the past three cycles. It is also the most diverse cohort to date. 

63 of the new members are Democrats.

37 of the new members are Republicans.

40 of the new members are women.

60 of the new members are men.

At least 24 of the new members elected to the House this cycle are Hispanic, Native American and people of color. All of the newly elected senators are white.

Marsha Blackburn is the first woman elected senator from Tennessee.
Sharice Davids (KS-03) and Debra Haaland (NM-01) are the first two Native American women elected to Congress. Davids is the first openly LGBTQ elected to Congress from Kansas.

Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) are the first two Latinas elected to Congress from Texas.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) is the youngest woman elected to Congress. She is 29. 

Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) are the first two Muslim American women elected to Congress. Omar will also be the first member of Congress to wear a headscarf and first woman of color elected to Congress from Minnesota.

Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) is the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
Jahana Hayes (CT-05) is the first black Democratic woman elected to Congress from Connecticut.
Kyrsten Sinema is the first woman elected senator from Arizona, and first openly bisexual person elected to the Senate.
It is a highly educated group. More than 70 percent of the freshman class went to graduate school. A third of them have law degrees and 12 have MBAs. Seven freshman earned at least two graduate degrees. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has three.
At least 19 members of the incoming class have served in the military. Six served in the Army, 11 in the Navy, and two in the Air Force.
The newest members of the 116th Congress have a diverse résumé. There are at least four former professional athletes: two NFL football players, one professional hockey  player, and one mixed martial arts fighter.
There are at least five medical professionals: three doctors, one dentist, and one nurse.
Five worked in education or were teachers.

116th Congress Will Have A Record Number Of Women

The 115th Congress had 107 women in it (House and Senate combined). The 116th Congress will have 123 women. That's a record for the number of women in Congress. And it is mainly due to Democrats, who ran a record number of women. The number of Democratic women in Congress was 78 in the 115th Congress, but grows to 104 in the 116th Congress. Meanwhile the number of Republican women dropped from 29 in the 115th Congress to only 19 in the 116th Congress.

Democrats took a big step toward becoming a more gender-inclusive party, while Republicans moved closer to being an all-male party in Congress.

But while 123 women in Congress is a move in the right direction, it's not good enough. Women make up slightly more than half the population, and should compose about half of the members of Congress.

We still have a lot of work to do to end the political patriarchy in this country.

The First Thing House Democrats Should Do In January

(This caricature of the Democratic Party symbol is by DonkeyHotey.)

The Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives in the midterm election on November 6th. It looks like they will have a big enough majority to do whatever they want once the 116th Congress begins in January.

There's been a lot of talk about what the Democrats should do with their substantial majority. Much of it has to do with subpoenas and investigations. That needs to be done, and it will be done -- but if all the Democrats do is attack the Trump administration, then they will have squandered this opportunity to show the voters they are the party to that the country needs.

They must pass some legislation -- and it should be legislation that will help this country and legislation the public wants.

An infrastructure bill is needed, and a bill to fix Obamacare. Both would make the public happy, and if done right, might even have enough support to get through the Senate also. But neither is going to be easy to do, and it will take some time to hold hearings and write a bill.

There is something else that would make a better start. It could be done very quickly, and has the support of a substantial majority of Americans. It is to raise the minimum wage significantly. That would give an economic boost to millions of Americans, and do it without more federal spending. And it would not just benefit those making at or near the minimum wage. It would put upward pressure on the wages of all working men and women. And a side benefit would be to take many hard-working families off the public dole. It would even benefit businesses, because they would be able to sell their products to the workers with more money to spend.

Sending a bill to the Senate that significantly raises the minimum wage would also be a smart political move. If the Senate approves it, then Democrats look good for proposing and passing it. If the Senate kills it (which is likely), Democrats still look good because the public will know it was the Republicans would killed it. Either way it's a win for Democrats.

What Should The House Democratic Majority Do Now ?

(This map is from The New York Times.)

The election is over, and the final votes are being counted. The one thing that is not in doubt is that the Democrats will control the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress. Right now, they have 225 seats to 197 seats for the Republicans, and it is looking like the final total will probably be 230 seats for the Democrats and 205 seats for the Republicans. It only takes 218 to be the majority party in the House.

The question now is -- What should the Democrats do with their new majority in the House?

Ronald A. Klain has written an op-ed for The Washington Post in which he talks about what the Democrats should and should not do.

Klain says the Democrats should not issue any subpoenas or quickly initiate any investigations into the Trump administration. I disagree. Trump has had two years of a Republican white wash, and it's time to do some serious and honest investigations. That's why the Democrats were given that majority by the voters. Most voters want to know just how corrupt Trump's administration is.

But while I disagree with Klain on what the Democrats should do regarding investigations, I think is is right on target when it comes to what the Democrats should do with legislation.

Klain lists five pieces of legislation the House Dems should pass and send to the Senate -- and they are all things that should be done. They are also things that would reflect very badly on Senate Republicans if they vote against them, and would hurt Trump if he vetoed them.

Here are the five pieces of legislation House Democrats should pass in the first 100 days:

First, a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 and restore Trump-repealed rules protecting overtime pay. Democrats should show their support for hard-working people who are doing everything right and still not earning enough to live on. During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to support a minimum-wage increase; on the eve of the 2018 election, his chief economic adviser proposed abolishing the law altogether. Democrats should find out where the president and the Trump-dominated Senate really stand.

Second, legislation to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, expand its coverage and patch up the gaps that the Trump administration has punched in it. Put aside the big debate over comprehensively changing the system for later; deliver on the core promise of most Democratic campaigns in 2018.

Third, a bill to restore the Voting Rights Act and reverse Republican voter-suppression efforts. The cause of democracy should not be carried by Democrats alone, but that is what it has come to. The greatest democracy in the world should not be the one where it is hardest to participate in the democratic process.

Fourth, a simple, non-porked-up infrastructure bill, with funding for bridges and roads, airports and mass transit, clean-energy projects and new schools. Avoid the complexity and exotica that — while good policy — ultimately made the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act bad politics. If it doesn’t employ workers in hard hats, it isn’t “infrastructure” for this purpose.

And finally, a clean bill, free of extraneous issues, that grants legal status to the immigrant children known as “dreamers.” Trump has promised to sign such a bill; it’s time to end the uncertainty of these young people, who have so much to contribute.

Should Pelosi Be Speaker If Dems Take The House ?

The latest squabble from left-wing Democrats is that Rep. Nancy Pelosi should be replaced as Speaker of the House if Democrats regain control in the coming election. Is that a good idea?

The Republicans are trying to use Pelosi as a scare tactic to get out their voters. That's because they have no real issues to run on, because they made a real mess of the 115th Congress. Everything they tried to do (including passing a budget) has flopped -- and the one thing they accomplished, tax reform, has been exposed as a huge giveaway to the rich and to corporations. They are left with nothing but to demonize Pelosi to try and get out their voters.

Sadly though, it seems the GOP scare tactic is not just affecting their own voters, but also some Democratic candidates. At last count, about 51 Democratic House candidates have said they would not support Pelosi for Speaker. I think they're making a mistake. The Pelosi-haters are not going to vote for them regardless of which Democrat they support for Speaker, and not supporting Pelosi is not a big vote-getter among Independents.

These candidates say it's time for younger people to take over the party leadership. I'm not opposed to passing the torch, but is this next Congress the time to do that? Here are some things Democrats need to consider.

1. There's a reason that Republicans hate Nancy Pelosi. It's because she is smart, tough, and knows how to use the rules against them. She's also a good negotiator, who won't be run over by right-wing Republicans. With Trump still in the White House, we will need a tough and smart Speaker to stand up to him.

2. Pelosi id the only woman among the Democratic House leadership. If she is replaced, it will be by a man, and once again the party in the House will be ruled by an all-male leadership team. Is that what we want? Is that fair, considering that Democrats are running more female candidates than ever before?

3. Pelosi is the biggest fundraiser of all. She has raised about $91 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee through July (more than twice what anyone else has done) -- money badly needed if the Democrats are to flip Congress. If the Democrats are successful, it will be largely due to Pelosi's remarkable fund-raising.

I think Pelosi should be elected Speaker for the 116th Congress. At her age, she won't hold the position too long, and it would give Democrats some time to groom younger people to assume leadership positions -- and there should be some women among those being groomed to take over.

Replacing Pelosi right now would be like Democrats shooting themselves in the foot -- and borrowing a gun from Republicans to do it.