Tim Ryan
Top congressional Democrats left the door open on Sunday to pursue the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump, but said they would first need to complete their own investigations into whether he obstructed justice in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Democratic Party leaders have cautioned against impeachment just 18 months before the 2020 presidential election, although prominent liberals have called for the start of proceedings to remove Trump from office since the release on Thursday of Mueller’s report.
U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, whose panel would spearhead any impeachment proceedings, said Democrats would press ahead with investigations of Trump in Congress and “see where the facts lead us.”
“Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable,” Nadler said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
A redacted version of Mueller’s long-awaited report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the product of a 22-month investigation, built a broad case that Trump had committed obstruction of justice. While it stopped short of concluding Trump had committed a crime, it did not exonerate him.
Mueller noted that Congress has the power to address whether Trump violated the law, and Democrats said it would be a matter of discussion in the coming weeks.
“That’s going to be a very consequential decision and one I’m going to reserve judgment on until we have a chance to fully deliberate on it,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Nadler has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department to hand over the full Mueller report and other relevant evidence by May 1, although the Justice Department called the request “premature and unnecessary.”
With Republicans standing by Trump, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cautioned against an impeachment effort that would have no chance of success in the Republican-led Senate.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren became the first major contender for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination to call for the start of impeachment proceedings, saying on Twitter on Friday that “the severity of this misconduct” demanded it.
Democratic House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Congress needed to look at Trump’s finances and gauge Mueller’s intentions with his report.
He said even if Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic impeachment effort, “I think history would smile upon us for standing up for the Constitution.”
Democratic presidential contender Tim Ryan, a member of the House, said the party should wait until the multiple ongoing investigations of Trump in Congress have had a chance to uncover more evidence.
“Let the process play itself out,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “I would just rather us take this next step: educate the American people, really get these details out, let the Judiciary Committee do its work.”
Trump, who has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt,” has claimed vindication from Mueller’s report. Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers, tried to undermine the credibility of Mueller’s investigators on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t think his people are fair,” Giuliani said of Mueller’s team. “I don’t think that report is fair.”
Source: NewsMax Politics
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The 2018 election was a great victory for Democrats, as we swept the U.S. House of Representatives and elected more women and minorities than ever before to Congress.
Our party has always strived to be an inclusive, big tent party, and we should welcome anyone who wants to support our progressive agenda. However, as we work to grow our party, we have to be sure we don’t lose touch with the backbone of our country — working-class Americans.
Unfortunately, some Democrats are. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost white non-college-educated voters (many of which represent the working class) by a whopping 31 percentage points, handing Donald Trump the White House.
If this continues, Democrats could be in real trouble. David Byler, a data analyst and political columnist at the Washington Post, accurately addressed this concern when he stated, “It’s […] possible that if a Democrat neglects the working-class white voters who stuck with the party or intentionally tries to trade them for some other voters, a Republican will take that trade and again surprise the political world by winning on blue-collar white strength.”
This unfortunate pattern is hurting the image of our party nationwide. In Kentucky, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, came under fire from worker’s rights groups and union leaders for proposing a pay freeze for all city employees. In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is currently proposing a 20-cent-per-gallon increase of the gas tax, which is a regressive tax that disproportionately hurts the poor and working class.
In California, the nation’s largest and one of its most progressive states, there are a few other examples of Democrats damaging our party’s image with the working class.
For starters, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg recently announced the city is offering $33 million in tax breaks to build a soccer stadium. This is troubling behavior for a Democrat, as that money could be going to benefit all people through education, infrastructure, or local hospitals, not just helping wealthy sports teams save a buck.
This isn’t the first-time Steinberg has taken actions that harm workers. For instance, a few years ago he authored a bill in the state Senate, SB-25, which would force farm workers into a government-ordered labor contract in spite of those contracts lowering the workers’ take-home pay. Workers would not even be allowed to vote on these contracts.
As Democrats, we should support unions, as they often fight nobly for workers’ rights and protections. However, that doesn’t mean we should stand by if unions don’t uphold their duties and promises to workers.
This happened recently in California, where the United Farm Workers union abandoned immigrant farm workers for decades, essentially leaving them without a voice. When the workers understandably pushed back and tried to change their representation, Democrats on the state’s Agriculture Labor Relations Board tried (and failed) to block their vote.
Even worse, one of the ALRB’s current members, former state Sen. Isadore Hall (who supported Steinberg’s SB-25), has come under fire for having close ties to the UFW. This poses what many people would consider a potential conflict of interest since Hall is supposed to be impartial regarding decisions affecting unions such as the UFW and workers across the state.
What’s disheartening about all this is that Democrats are supposed to be the party of the working class. Whether it’s President Trump’s largest budget cuts coming from places like the Labor Department, or his tax bill, Democrats have more than enough ammunition to draw a stark contrast between our party and the GOP when it comes to working-class issues.
However, none of these points will matter if Democrats continue to take actions and implement policies that only feed into the narrative that we have become detached from the working class.
Coming into 2020, I’m happy to see that many of the candidates who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president, including Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Ryan, and Bernie Sanders, are championing working-class policies and values.
No matter who wins the nomination, it’s essential that he/she ensures workers’ rights and protections are a cornerstone of their platform — and more importantly, once they are elected, that they fight for all working-class Americans on day one.
Rep. Tim Ryan, who announced his presidential campaign last week, said Wednesday he is concerned about a 2018 Gallup poll showing Democratic voters view socialism more favorably than capitalism because it will be up to the free market rather than the government to “decarbonize the American economy.”
“It’s going to be part targeted government investments that do need to be robust,” the Ohio Democrat told CNN’s “New Day.” “It’s going to be the free market that’s going to make that happen. They have the magic of the free market, they have the innovation, the creativity, the profit motive…we can’t be hostile to the free enterprise system.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is at the top of current polls for the Democratic nomination, identifies himself as a Democratic Socialist, and policies he and other prominent Democrats are often referred to by Republicans as being socialist.
Ryan said he does support the call made by Sanders and other Democratic candidates for Medicare for all healthcare coverage, however.
Meanwhile, Ryan said he believes the United States needs an industrial policy that will drive the next generation of jobs.
“We are so divided right now that we are starting to lose the long-term economic battle,” said Ryan. “The president should be sitting down with the private industry, the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and say, okay, how do we win the electric vehicle market?” said Ryan.
He noted that by 2030, there will be 30 million electric vehicles in the United States, and he wants them to be U.S.-made, as well as the batteries and charging stations for them.
Source: NewsMax Politics
Democrats in the House and Senate have reintroduced legislation to direct the Internal Revenue Services to create a free tax-filing service available to the public online, The Hill reports.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a candidate for president in 2020, is a lead sponsor of the Senate bill, the Tax Filing Simplification Act.
“Taxpayers waste too many hours and hundreds of dollars on tax preparation each year, which disproportionately burdens low-income and minority taxpayers,” she said in a statement. “This bill will require the IRS to offer easy, free, online tax-filing for all taxpayers. This is a simple idea with a long history of support from both Republicans and Democrats, and it’s time to make it a reality.”
Her fellow presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., joined her and other senators in offering the bill. Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Katie Hill, D-Calif., joined to reintroduce the House bill.
“Millions of Americans each year who are eligible for cash refunds like the Earned Income Tax Credit don’t claim them — either because tax filing is too complicated, or they don’t know they’re eligible,” said Adam Ruben, the director of Economic Security Project Action. “This creates a system where only the wealthiest Americans can afford to take advantage of the tax breaks and deductions available to them. Senator Warren’s Tax Filing Simplification Act is a commonsense improvement that would make tax filing easier and more fair, and mean millions more hardworking Americans will get the refunds like the EITC they’re entitled to.”
Source: NewsMax Politics
Democratic presidential primary contender, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, said Sunday he supports the Obamacare healthcare model, but also favors a “public option” — a government-run heath insurance agency.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Ryan said Democrats need to rally around “issues we can unify around and pass” if they want to retake the White House, suggesting healthcare as an example.
“I want more people to have more affordable coverage,” he said. “I want there to be some kind of public option where middle class people who work hard and play by the rules can get some help so they’re not getting squeezed by the pharmaceutical companies and the health care companies.”
“And so what does that look like after it goes through the process? It ended up with the Affordable Care Act, so I voted for it,” he said. “I also supported the public option in the Affordable Care Act but we couldn’t get it done. I’m saying let’s move the ball forward. President Trump and the Republicans right now want to kick people off of healthcare. That’s going in the wrong direction.”
Ryan said his other presidential platform priority is “creating an industrial policy in the United States.”
“We are getting our clocks cleaned by China right now when it comes to electric vehicles, when it comes to solar panels, when it comes to additive manufacturing,” he said.
“These are areas that are growing significantly and for electric vehicles there’s two million electric vehicle cars now, there’s going to be 30 million in 2030. Who’s going to make those cars? I want us to be making those cars in the industrial Midwest in America.”
He added it will involve “public-private partnerships.”
“The old coal community, steel communities, rubber and auto communities that have lost jobs the last 30 years, there’s been no plan to help those communities at all. That’s going to be a priority for me and we’re gonna get it done.”
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Source: NewsMax Politics
Rep. Tim Ryan, who on Thursday joined the widening number of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination, said Friday he believes he can bring back people who voted for Donald Trump, and that he’ll win in several Midwest states while representing the working class.
“The country is divided and I believe I can heal it,” the Ohio Democrat told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I got a lot of voters who President Trump go,t and I think we can bring those folks back into the fold. I can win Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.”
Ryan, whose home district in the Youngstown area has been hit hard by layoffs in the auto industry, said the United States needs an industrial policy and is losing to China on electric vehicles, solar power and more.
Ryan said the problems with the economy are not new, but he wants to push forward to make sure the United States has its place as technology emerges.
“We’re going to figure out how we go from two million electric vehicles to 30 million,” said Ryan, noting he’ll be speaking with the auto industry. “I want those made in the United States, I want the charging stations made in the United States.”
The congressman also discussed his foreign policy experience, noting that he has been a member of the House Armed Services Committee and currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee.
“The most patriotic thing we could do was start listening to each other and respecting each other, and then we can project force into the world,” said Ryan. “We have to outcompete China.”
Source: NewsMax Politics
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