#U.S. Senator Rick Scott

[minnesotafollower]

U.S. Senators Rubio and Scott Propose Resolution To Hold Cuban Regime Accountable for Heinous Crimes 

On August 12,  U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and  Rick Scott (Rep., FL) introduced a Senate resolution to hold “the Cuban regime accountable for its heinous crimes.”[1] After 16 Whereas clauses, the proposed resolution contains the following nine proposed resolutions whereby the U.S. Senate would state that it: (1) opposes any revision of United States policy towards Cuba as established in United…

[filosofablogger]

Senator Rick Scott's Narrow Mind

Senator Rick Scott’s Narrow Mind

Speaking of Republicans … I do seem to do that a lot lately, don’t I?  They just give us so much fuel for the fires!  Republican Senator Rick Scott from Florida crosses my radar at least once a week, but I’ve largely learned to ignore him just as I have so many others.  He does, however, manage to make my antennae twitch when he goes all-out riding the bigot train as he did recently. Last week,…

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

The richest and meanest Republican member of the Senate. He’s never won by more than a single percentage point or in an election year.

He spends summers on a massive mega yacht off the coast of Italy.

[hungwy]

dont look im being a hater

(thing that mostly affects domestic chinese markets and has been extremely cracked down on but because of one incident ten years ago conservatives are STILL hooked on this topic because china)

(thing U.S. honey manufacturers perpetuate because they can undercut actual honey in prices)

(something american republican senator rick scott made up, citing "online videos", in an attempt to scare conservatives into tightening imports from china)

also passes bidoof's law with flying colors

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kevin Robillard and Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

CHICAGO ― Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stood on stage at the Democratic National Convention and made a very bold prediction. “We’re going to hold the Senate again, and we’re poised to pick up seats,” he told the delegates in the United Center. The fact Schumer feels confident in his prediction reflects the remarkable strength of most Democratic incumbents in swing states. But it also flies in the face of a tough reality for Democrats: Even if they win every swing state race, it might not be enough to get them control of the U.S. Senate. To keep the word “majority” in Schumer’s title, Democrats will need to win at least one of three states where Republican nominee Donald Trump is a significant favorite in November: Texas, Florida or Montana. Each of the three states presents distinct challenges for the party, and it’s difficult to describe them as favored in any of the three.

It’s the culmination of a long-standing problem for the party: The Senate’s bias toward rural states advantages the GOP’s political coalition, forcing Democrats to repeatedly pitch the political equivalent of perfect games to stay in control of Congress’ upper chamber. Republicans clearly believe the social conservatism of those voters will be more than enough for them to flip the Senate, with a win in West Virginia essentially guaranteed following the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W. Va.). Democrats currently have a 50-49 edge in the chamber.

“Securing the border is top of mind for voters, and Senate Democrats are delusional if they think they’re going to win with candidates like Colin Allred, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Sen. Jon Tester, who have long records of opposing border security,” said Torunn Sinclair, the communications director for Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC controlled by allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In Montana, Democrats have the advantage of incumbency, but it might not be enough for Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to overcome a challenge from Republican Tim Sheehy. In Texas and Florida, Democrats are running against unpopular GOP incumbents Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, but are also on long-standing statewide losing streaks.

The road for the Democrats to retain even a 50+VP majority, let alone an outright one, in the Senate will be a very tough one, as West Virginia is assured of flipping Republican.

For the Donkeys to keep control, they need to either have Kamala Harris/Tim Walz win the Presidency and no other Democratic candidate lose (50+VP scenario), or flip either Texas and/or Florida and keep what they got.

[nodynasty4us]

From the April 2, 2024 story:

It would be hard to design a setup more amenable to Democratic turnout. Women will presumably show up to the polls in droves to register their opinion on abortion. Young people will turn out to support marijuana legalization AND abortion access. And because 60% is the bar, it will be an all-hands-on-deck sort of election. Nobody who cares about either issue can tell themselves "Ah, I'll stay home. My vote's not needed." Meanwhile, even if the pro-choice and/or pro-marijuana forces can't get to 60%, there are lots of important races that are determined by a simple majority, or, in the absence of a majority, a plurality. The state's electoral votes. The U.S. Senate race, featuring the never-won-any-election-by-more-than-2% Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). The various House races, which could return a Congress that protects abortion access nationwide. The state legislative races, which could seat a legislature that overturns the 6-week ban. Yes, there are certainly some anti-choice and/or anti-marijuana folks who will get themselves to the polls. But the zealots were already voting, and non-zealots tend to be less motivated when the status quo is already acceptable and/or when their side only needs to get to 40%. It's nearly inconceivable that yesterday's [state supreme court] decisions could drive Republican turnout more than they drive Democratic turnout. And, as a reminder, Donald Trump won the state by 3 points in 2020 and by 1 point in 2016, while Scott won election to the Senate by 0.13% in 2018. It won't take all that much of a Democratic surge to produce very different results in 2024.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Adam Kredo

Lawmakers like Budd, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have taken a great interest in the Palestine Chronicle and its nonprofit parent company, the People Media Project, since the Free Beacon first reported on Monday about its links to Iranian regime-controlled propaganda sites. The outlet’s editor in chief, Ramzy Baroud, wrote for two now-defunct websites that the U.S. government seized in 2020 for being part of a propaganda network controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). At least six of the outlet’s writers also wrote for these IRGC-controlled sites.

Following Aljamal’s death during an Israeli raid in Gaza to free the hostages, the Palestine Chronicle published a glowing obituary, claiming its writer was just an innocent civilian trying to perform journalism. As Budd and his colleagues note in their letter, however, Aljamal "previously served as a spokesman for the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Labor in Gaza."

"While Aljamal may have played a journalist by day, the evidence clearly suggests he was, at a minimum, a Hamas collaborator, if not a full-time terror operative, responsible for keeping hostages captive," according to the letter, which is also backed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), Rick Scott (R., Fla.), Pete Ricketts (R., Neb.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

With questions now swirling about the Palestine Chronicle and its editor Baroud, the senators say a multi-pronged federal investigation is necessary to determine if the outlet and its parent company were "actively employing an individual with apparent ties to and support for Hamas." The Palestine Chronicle downplayed its ties to Aljamal in a Monday piece, saying Aljamal "was a freelance writer who contributed articles to the Palestine Chronicle on a voluntary basis, mostly since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza."

"It is possible that this tax-exempt media outlet had no knowledge of its correspondent’s Hamas affiliation; however, given the organization’s recent attempts to cover up evidence of its ties to Aljamal, this seems unlikely, making them complicit in supporting terrorist propaganda on their platform," the senators wrote.

The lawmakers also instructed the IRS to "prepare a report on the findings of this investigation for the [Senate] Finance Committee to review in the appropriate venue."

[antidrumpfs]

Help Lucas beat Hawley!

Missourians deserve a Senator who’s willing to stand and fight. That’s why Lucas Kunce, a 13-year Marine veteran, is building a record-breaking movement to replace Josh Hawley. Hawley showed us he’s a fraud and a coward — and now his approval among Missourians is even worse than Ted Cruz in Texas and Rick Scott in Florida. Chip in now to help Lucas take this seat back for working people >>

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

After the Biden administration issued a final rule last week that would require airlines to automatically issue refunds to passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled, four lawmakers bankrolled by the airline industry introduced must-pass legislation that could undermine the effort.

As The Lever reported, the lawmakers — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) — introduced a new Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization deal that would require passengers to send a “written or electronic request” in order to receive a full refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight.

The publication notes that, under this provision, “airlines would only have to pay refunds to the subset of passengers who have the disposable time and patience to go through a notoriously arduous refund process.” The FAA’s current authorization expires May 10.

The legislation comes after Cruz attempted to pass a measure that would give lawmakers their own security escorts at airports. Despite hailing from a bright red state, Cruz is once again facing a surprisingly competitive reelection campaign. Given that the two-term Texas junior senator begged for donations on Fox News earlier this month while complaining that “Democrats are coming after me,” it’s no surprise that he might attempt to placate donors where he can.

The provision in the FAA reauthorization would chip away at the Biden administration’s promise to streamline the refund process for airline customers — which has become a bigger issue as airlines have routinely sold tickets on flights they do not have the capacity to operate. “There are a number of airlines who cannot fly their schedules,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said last year. “The customers are paying the price. They’re canceling a lot of flights. But they simply can’t fly the schedules today.”

In an announcement last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared that passengers “deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them — without headaches or haggling,” adding that their rule “sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the measure on Monday, writing on X that the “latest deal in Congress could mean that travelers are still bearing the burden of airlines’ mishaps,” and that this “would be a gift to the airlines, who know many travelers won’t have the time or resources to navigate the bureaucratic process they designed.” Warren added, “Congress should protect travelers’ rights, not pad airline executives’ pockets.”

[plethoraworldatlas]

Immigrants helped build this country, a fact no amount of racism or xenophobia can erase. Immigrants, including children, work in fields and factories, driving our economy. A group of immigrant men were working late last Tuesday night, filling potholes on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

At 1:27 am, the Dali, a massive cargo vessel, 948-feet long and laden with roughly 4,700 shipping containers, lost power and rammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Two survived the disaster, six died. Only two of their bodies have been recovered from the cold, murky water of the Patapsco River.

Their tragic deaths occurred as increased immigrant arrivals are being exploited by former President Donald Trump and his right-wing extremist allies to foment division and to boost Trump’s presidential campaign. Just hours after the bridge collapse, FoxNews host Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, attempted to link the maritime disaster to immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border:

“I want to understand the threats or the potential threats that this country is facing right now given the wide open border, the fact that we don’t know who is in the country. The FBI is looking… to ensure there was no foul play.”

“While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

This is the same dog-whistle racism that Trump invoked in 2015, launching his first campaign: “When Mexico sends its people…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Trump continues his white supremacist ranting, saying at a recent Ohio campaign rally, “I don’t know if you call them people… These are animals and we have to stop it.”

Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based Real News Network, interviewed coworkers of the deceased. He said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

The six who died while working on the Key Bridge were hardworking men, from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Miguel Luna was a welder, a 49-year-old father and grandfather, a native of the Usulután Department in El Salvador, ravaged by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military and paramilitaries in the 1980s. He played on the professional soccer team in the town of Berlin in his home region. His widow, Maria del Carmen, owns a food truck. Miguel was a beloved member of his community.

Miguel and another victim of the collapse, Maynor Suazo Sandoval, were members of CASA, an immigrant rights non-profit founded in 1986 to build solidarity with those impacted by the U.S.-backed violence in Central America. CASA wrote, “Maynor migrated from Honduras over 17 years ago, and he alongside his brother Carlos were active members in the activist committee of Owings Mills… Carlos said ‘He was always so full of joy, and brought so much humor to our family.’ He was a husband, and father of two.”

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Millions of enslaved people also built this country, a point worth remembering as we mourn the immigrant laborers on the Key Bridge. The bridge was named after Francis Scott Key since, while watching the British navy bombard Fort McHenry in 1814, not far from where the bridge was built in the 1970s, Key wrote the poem that would become the national anthem. His poem has four stanzas, the first made famous as “The Star Spangled Banner.” Key was a slave owner, and denounced those who fled enslavement in 1814 to fight against the United States, for the British, who promised them freedom in return.

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” Key wrote in his poem, words left out of the national anthem, but which nevertheless noticeably rhyme with “Land of the free and home of the brave.” This should be considered by those tasked with naming the replacement bridge.

The lives of Miguel and the five other workers have been cut short, but the hatred of immigrants, sadly, is alive, well and growing this election year. Pledges from President Joe Biden to quickly open Baltimore’s port to commerce parallel campaign rhetoric on both sides to “shut down” the southern border to people seeking asylum.

“Immigrants like Miguel are building bridges to connect communities, not building walls to divide them,” CASA wrote, eulogizing Miguel Luna. Let those words inspire an embrace of immigrant communities, an anthem we can all rally around.

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

Aug. 13, 2024

"What Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election results if he loses," the U.S. senator said.

Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned Tuesday that former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, is laying the groundwork for another round of election denial if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

Taking aim at Trump's false claim that a photo showing thousands of people waiting to greet Harris and her Democratic running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a Michigan airport is a fake generated by artificial intelligence, Sanders said in a statement that "Donald Trump may be crazy, but he's not stupid."

"When he claims that 'nobody' showed up at a 10,000-person Harris-Walz rally in Michigan that was live streamed and widely covered by the media, that it was all AI, and that Democrats cheat all of the time, there is a method to his madness," the senator continued.

"Clearly, and dangerously, what Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election results if he loses," Sanders argued. "If you can convince your supporters that thousands of people who attended a televised rally do not exist, it will not be hard to convince them that the election returns in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and elsewhere are 'fake' and 'fraudulent.'"

"This is what destroying faith in institutions is about. This is what undermining democracy is about. This is what fascism is about," he added. "This is why we must do everything we can to see that Trump is defeated."

Trump infamously tried to overturn the results of his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, an effort that culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and resulted in a historic second impeachment by the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and a slew of federal and state felony charges in two separate election interference cases.

As his polling lead evaporates amid surging liberal enthusiasm over the Harris-Walz ticket, Trump has reverted to his oft-repeated 2020 claim that if he loses, it will be due to "cheating."

Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and many Republican officials have recently ramped up attacks on undocumented immigrants. Although the myth of the "illegal immigrant voters" has been widely debunked—including by right-wing groups—Republicans and others including billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who interviewed Trump on his social media platform X Monday evening, have been amplifying false claims about undocumented voters affecting the outcome of the election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—who led the legal fight to overturn the 2020 election results—also recently accused undocumented immigrants of attempting to "disrupt our elections."

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)—one of just eight senators who refused to certify Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory—said in July: "I traveled to the future to an imaginary world where actually Joe Biden got reelected... In my dream I met the ghost of Biden's future... It was easy for Democrats to rig the elections; they simply allowed all the non citizens to vote."

On Monday, the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a report revealing that 35 county officials around the country who were involved in efforts to subvert the 2020 election are still in positions to do so again.

"I think there's almost no question that this is going to happen," CREW president Noah Bookbinder said of another attempt to overturn the election. "And it seems to be happening in a way this year that is more systematic than it has been in the past. So that's deeply, deeply concerning."

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Sibarium

Published: Jun 12, 2024

Congressional Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday that would eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion positions in the federal government and bar federal contractors from requiring DEI statements and training sessions.

The Dismantle DEI Act, introduced by Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R., Texas), would also bar federal grants from going to diversity initiatives, cutting off a key source of support for DEI programs in science and medicine. Other provisions would prevent accreditation agencies from requiring DEI in schools and bar national securities associations, like NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange, from instituting diversity requirements for corporate boards.

"The DEI agenda is a destructive ideology that breeds hatred and racial division," Vance told the Washington Free Beacon. "It has no place in our federal government or anywhere else in our society."

The bill is the most comprehensive legislative effort yet to excise DEI initiatives from the federal government and regulated entities. It offers a preview of how a Republican-controlled government, led by former president Donald Trump, could crack down on the controversial diversity programs that have exploded since 2020, fueled in part by President Joe Biden’s executive orders mandating a "whole-of-government" approach to  "racial equity."

From NASA and the National Science Foundation to the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S Army, all federal agencies require some form of diversity training. Mandatory workshops have drilled tax collectors on "cultural inclusion," military commanders on male pregnancy, and nuclear engineers on the "roots of white male culture," which—according to a training for Sandia National Laboratories, the Energy Department offshoot that designs America’s nuclear arsenal—include a "can-do attitude" and "hard work."

The Sandia training, conducted in 2019 by a group called "White Men As Full Diversity Partners," instructed nuclear weapons engineers to write "a short message" to "white women" and "people of color" about what they’d learned, according to screenshots of the training obtained by the Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo.

The bill would ban these trainings and close the government DEI offices that conduct them. It would also prevent personnel laid off by those closures from being transferred or reassigned—a move meant to stop diversity initiatives from continuing under another name.

The prohibitions, which cover outside DEI consultants as well as government officials, would be enforced via a private right of action and could save the government billions of dollars. In 2023, the Biden administration spent over $16 million on diversity training for government employees alone. It requested an additional $83 million that year for DEI programs at the State Department and $9.2 million for the Office of Personnel Management’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility—one of the many bureaucracies the bill would eliminate.

A large chunk of savings would come from axing DEI grants made through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has a near monopoly on science funding in the United States. The agency hosts an entire webpage for "diversity related" grant opportunities—including several that prioritize applicants from "diverse backgrounds"—and has set aside billions of dollars for "minority institutions" and researchers with a "commitment to promoting diversity." All of those programs would be on the chopping block should Vance and Cloud’s bill pass.

Cosponsored by Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), Rick Scott (R., Fla.), Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.), Bill Cassidy (R., La.), and Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) in the Senate, the Dismantle DEI Act has drawn support from prominent conservative advocacy groups, including Heritage Action and the Claremont Institute. At a time of ideological fracture on the right—debates about foreign aid and the proper role of government bitterly divided Trump’s primary challengers, for example, both in 2016 and 2024—Wednesday’s bill aims to provide a rallying cry most Republicans can get behind: DEI needs to die.

"It’s absurd to fund these divisive policies, especially using Americans' tax dollars," Cloud told the Free Beacon. "And it’s time for Congress to put an end to them once and for all."

The bill has the potential to free millions of Americans—both in government and the private sector—from the sort of divisive diversity trainings that have become an anti-woke bête noire. Its most consequential provisions might be those governing federal contractors, which employ up to a fifth of the American workforce and include companies like Pfizer, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, and Verizon.

Each firm runs a suite of DEI programs, from race-based fellowships and "resource groups" to mandatory workshops, that have drawn public outcry and in some cases sparked legal challenges. By targeting these contractors, the bill could purge DEI from large swaths of the U.S. economy without directly outlawing the practice in private institutions.

Targeting accreditors, meanwhile, could remove a key driver of DEI programs in professional schools. The American Bar Association and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredit all law and medical schools in the United States and derive much of their power from the U.S. Department of Education, have both made DEI material—including course content on "anti-racism"—a requirement for accreditation, over the objections of some of their members.

Those mandates have spurred a handful of law schools to require entire classes on critical race theory. The transformation has been even more acute at medical schools, which, per accreditation guidelines released in 2022, should teach students to identify "systems of power, privilege, and oppression."

Yale Medical School now requires residents to take a mandatory course on "advocacy" and "health justice," for example. And at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, students must complete a "health equity" course that promotes police abolition, describes weight loss as a "hopeless endeavor," and states that "biomedical knowledge" is "just one way" of understanding "health and the world."

While the bill wouldn’t outlaw these lessons directly, it would prevent accreditors recognized by the Education Department from mandating them. Such agencies, whose seal of approval is a prerequisite for federal funds, would need to certify that their accreditation standards do not "require, encourage, or coerce any institution of higher education to engage in prohibited" DEI practices, according to the text of the bill. They would also need to certify that they do not "assess the commitment of an institution of higher education to any ideology, belief, or viewpoint" as part of the accreditation process.

Other, more technical provisions would eliminate diversity quotas at federal agencies and end a racially targeted grant program in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Unlike past GOP efforts to limit DEI, which have focused on the content of diversity trainings and the use of explicit racial preferences, the bill introduced Wednesday would also ax requirements related to data collection. It repeals a law that forces the armed services to keep tabs on the racial breakdown of officers, for example, as well as a law that requires intelligence officials to collect data on the "diversity and inclusion efforts" of their agencies.

Though officials could still collect the data if they so choose, the bill would mark a small step toward colorblindness in a country where racial record-keeping—required by many federal agencies—has long been the norm.

"DEI destroys competence while making Americans into enemies," said Arthur Milikh, the director of the Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life, one of the conservative groups supporting the bill. "This ideology must be fought, and its offices removed."

==

I don't care who raised it. If the Dems raised it, I'd support it. DEI is absolute poison.

[tomorrowusa]

Filthy rich Republicans wish to tax poor people more so that the rich can get even more tax brakes when the GOP is in power. That's pretty much the story of Eric Hovde.

Hovde is running against incumbent Wisconsin US Senator Tammy Baldwin.

Wisconsin is a fairly moderate state. But it features some of the most despicable Republicans outside the old Confederacy.

In 2017, Sunwest Bank CEO Eric Hovde advocated for reforms that would raise taxes for 72 million Americans, including retirees and low-income earners. Hovde, a Republican, is expected to announce a U.S. Senate campaign in Wisconsin soon. Hovde, who has been endorsed by national Republicans to challenge Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2024, made the proposal in a Nov. 18, 2017, appearance on the radio program “The Vicki McKenna Show.”  [ ... ] Analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found the plan would have also raised taxes for middle- and working-class families as well as retirees. “More than 80 percent of the tax increase would be paid by households making about $54,000 or less, and 97 percent would be paid by those making less than about $100,000,” wrote Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow with the organization. “Low-income families with children would pay the most: Achieving Scott’s goal would slash their after-tax incomes by more than $5,000, or more than 20 percent. A Scott-like plan would raise taxes on middle-income households by an average of $450.” Scott’s plan failed to pass, but he has not given up pushing for it. If Hovde were to join him in the Senate and support the measure, it could gain traction. In Wisconsin, Scott’s plan would have raised taxes for 32% of people, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. 

Hovde wants to take away your healthcare in addition to raising your income tax (if you're not a millionaire).

Hovde ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012, and during that campaign he called for a total repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which in 2022 made it possible for 212,209 individuals in Wisconsin to obtain affordable health insurance coverage.

The Eric Hovde and Donald Trump Agenda: Take Away Critical Health Care Protections From Wisconsinites

Hovde doesn't even live in Wisconsin. Just sayin'...

Bice: Eric Hovde may run for Senate in Wisconsin, but he's living large in Laguna Beach, California

Did I mention that Eric Hovde is an anti-abortion fanatic.

ERIC HOVDE ON ABORTION

[beardedmrbean]

The Senate approved a measure Wednesday evening to override President Biden's move last year to allow Chinese solar panel makers to avoid tariffs for 24 months.

In a bipartisan 56-41 vote, the Senate voted in favor of the resolution which was sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the latest congressional action to face an expected veto from President Biden. The vote comes less than a week after the House passed a companion resolution with 12 Democrats voting in favor.

"This measure is pro-American jobs and anti-Chinese forced and child labor. It's that simple," Scott remarked on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

"It's time for the Senate to finish the job in Congress and send this to President Biden's desk. This isn't partisan, it's about human rights," he continued. "I will not stand by, and I hope the U.S. Senate will not stand by, and accept excuses to turn a blind eye to communist China's human rights atrocities."

CONGRESS GEARS UP TO SMACK DOWN PRESIDENT BIDEN'S CHINESE SOLAR HANDOUT

Overall, Chinese companies control a more than 80% share in the global solar panel industry, controlling the supply chain in all the manufacturing stages of the product, according to the International Energy Agency. The Chinese solar industry has been tied to forced labor in China's Xinjiang province.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

In addition to Manchin, several Democrats including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., voted with Republicans in favor of the legislation.

"Ohioans are manufacturing solar panels that can power our economy," Brown said in remarks of his own Wednesday. "They just need a level playing field. You can’t say you want American manufacturing to lead the world, while allowing Chinese companies, often subsidized by the Chinese government, to skirt the rules and dump solar panels into the U.S." 

"This comes down to whose side you’re on: Do you stand with workers in Ohio, or do you stand with the Chinese Communist Party?"

CHINESE TECH COMPANIES ARE EXPLOITING US GREEN ENERGY GOALS, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS WARN

In June 2022, Biden implemented the 24-month moratorium on the enforcement of solar panel anti-circumvention tariffs introduced under the Obama administration to protect U.S. companies. The White House characterized the move as a two-year "bridge" that would allow companies to build solar panel production capabilities on U.S. soil.

The move, however, came after the Commerce Department said months earlier it would investigate whether Chinese manufacturers were routing solar panels through countries in Southeast Asia to avoid U.S. tariffs. And in December, the agency published its preliminary findings showing four large solar companies had routed products through Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam to circumvent duties. 

The Commerce Department is expected to release its final findings in May. Still, the White House vowed last week that Biden would veto the resolution passed Wednesday if it made it to his desk regardless of the findings. 

"From day one, the President has prioritized investments that will create good-paying jobs and build secure supply chains in the United States, including for solar energy," the White House said on April 24. "The Administration is working aggressively to support domestic solar panel manufacturing."

DEM CONGRESSWOMAN SILENT ON WHY SHE SIGNED HUSH AGREEMENT INVOLVING CHINESE TECH COMPANY

The resolution, meanwhile, earned the support of pro-tariff groups like the Coalition for a Prosperous America and human rights groups like the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Environmental groups and green energy organizations like the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) have opposed it.

"We are urging senators to see through this political charade and examine the facts at hand," SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said last week.

"The United States cannot produce enough solar panels and cells to meet demand, and the remaining 14 months of this moratorium gives us time to close the gap," she continued. "The United States can get there and become a global leader in clean energy manufacturing and development. Overturning the moratorium at this stage puts that future at risk." 

Following the vote Wednesday, Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., who sponsored the House version of the bill alongside Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., applauded the Senate vote.

"I am pleased to see the U.S. Senate, in a strong bipartisan vote, pass my legislation that supports American workers," Kildee said in a statement. "We must hold those who violate U.S. trade laws accountable, including China." 

"When we fail to enforce our trade laws, it hurts Michigan and American businesses and workers. I will continue standing up for fair trade and the American worker, including support efforts to expand the domestic manufacturing of solar panels."

[griseldagimpel]

Making a Better Democratic Party: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is a Democrat looking to replace Republican Senator Rick Scott as one of Florida's Senators. She is NOT currently in the House of Representatives, but she served there in the past.

I have emailed her campaign asking if elected, would she stand against genocide even if it were perpetrated by a U.S. ally. I am calling on all Floridians to do the same. Email her campaign and press her for a position. If she gets a lot of emails on the subject, it'll pressure her to assert a position.

Here campaign email address is: info@debbieforflorida.com