Author: scatty

The United States House of Representatives has seen a youth movement over the past few years, with millennials beginning to take some of the seats that were once filled by members of the Boomer generation and Gen X. Many of these younger representatives have been part of the Democratic Party, with nine in particular often joining forces on topics that appeal to younger liberals.

This group of nine representatives is known as “The Squad.” The Squad was spearheaded by New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and originally also consisted of Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), and Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts). Since then, several other members have been added, including Cori Bush (Missouri) and Greg Casar (Texas).

This group has received a lot of criticism from the right side of the aisle. Republicans have said that The Squad has ideals that are “too extreme” to the left, and The Squad has proven to be a thorn in the side of older right-wing politicians. If you’re not familiar with The Squad, here’s a look at some of their basic economic policies:

Student Loan Forgiveness

In 2022, student loan debt became one of the biggest news stories of the year. There were many that were above their eyes in debt, and the COVID-19 pandemic saw a lot of relief in terms of that debt as payments were postponed each month. President Joe Biden then said that he wanted to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year.

Members of The Squad were strongly in support of Biden’s ideas, including Squad leader AOC. “I’m 32 years old now, I have over $17,000 in student loan debt,” she said when the idea was being floated around. “And I didn’t go to graduate school because I knew that getting another degree would drown me in debt.” 

AOC wasn’t the only member that shared their personal stories about student loan debt. All of the members said that put together, their debt was between $180,000 and $400,000. Of course, there were members of the Republican Party that criticized The Squad for not paying off their student loan debt sooner.

Build Back Better

One of the more divisive bills that has been introduced in recent memory is the Build Back Better Act, which was introduced as part of President Biden’s plan to rebuild American infrastructure in every state. The bill wouldn’t be a cheap one, as the budget for the project was said to have been $3.5 trillion from the start.

There was a lot of in-fighting in Congress about the infrastructure bill, with members of the Republican Party wanting a separate infrastructure bill passed. The Squad didn’t want any of the bills to be passed until there was more spending on battling climate change and supporting American citizens financially. In the end, members of The Squad voted against a bipartisan bill that was put in place of Build Back Better, with AOC correctly predicting that the latter would be ultimately blocked by Joe Manchin.

Universal Basic Income

Members of The Squad feel that it’s too hard for Americans to earn a living wage, and the future use of AI and robotics will leave many people unemployed. With that in mind, they support the idea that was introduced by Andrew Yang of a universal basic income. This was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people lost their jobs.

“This is not the time for half measures,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the height of the pandemic. “We need to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health and economic effects. That includes making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work requirements guaranteeing healthcare, UBI, detention relief.” 

Medicare For All

There are a lot of people in the United States that don’t have any health insurance at all, with more than eight percent of the country falling into this category. Members of The Squad have been supporters of the Medicare For All Act, which would allow everyone in the country to receive medicare, no matter their employment status, healthy history, age, etc.

More than 120 Democrats have cosponsored the bill, but it has never been brought to a vote. At one point, AOC even said that she wouldn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House until she brought the Medicare For All Act to the floor. The act would allow for a single-payer healthcare system in the US, but it seems that it’s dead in the water for now. Still, Squad members want it to be a big part of the country’s future.

Whenever there is an opening in the United States Supreme Court, the President of the United States selects a person to be appointed to that spot. Typically, that Supreme Court Justice will have somewhat similar political ideologies as the president, especially when it comes to hot-button topics like abortion and gun control. Justices that have been appointed by the Republican Party have had a stranglehood on the majority for decades.

During the days of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democrats had a slight majority at 5-4, but that would change in 1970 when Richard Nixon was able to pack the Supreme Court. During his presidency, Nixon was able to appoint four Justices, while following President Gerald R. Ford was able to select one.

Jimmy Carter then became the next President of the United States, but during his one term, there was not an open position on the Supreme Court, and therefore didn’t appoint a Justice. That wasn’t the case for Ronald Reagan, though, as he had a big impact on the Supreme Court during his two terms.

Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy. George H.W. Bush then served just one term, but he was able to appoint both David Souter and Clarence Thomas during that time. Bill Clinton served two terms, but had just as many Supreme Court appointees in the form of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

In the 21st century, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama appointed two Justices, while Donald Trump got three spots in just one term. In 2022, Joe Biden made Ketanji Brown Jackson the 116th Supreme Court Justice in history, so it goes to show that it’s all about timing when it comes to appointees.

At one point in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Republicans held a 8-1 edge in the Supreme Court, though it would dwindle during the days of Barack Obama when it dropped down to a 5-4 majority. Following Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016, Obama attempted to fill the seat, but Republicans blocked him until a new President was appointed, allowing Donald Trump to keep a Republican majority in the Supreme Court.

The Republicans now hold a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court with Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all being appointed as Justices between 2017 and 2020. The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 an retirement of Stephen Breyer in 2022 made things difficult for the Democrats, but Breyer held off retirement until Biden was firmly into his first White House term so a new appointee could be made.

So how long will the Republicans have a majority in the Supreme Court? A 6-3 edge seems pretty sustainable, especially since the Republicans have held the majority for more than half of a century now. It really comes down to a couple of key players in the coming years to decide just how long that stretch will last.

Clarence Thomas surpassed 30 years of service as a Justice in 2021, with many wondering just how much longer he has. If he were to leave his seat before Joe Biden leaves, that would allow the Democrats to bring the count to 5-4 in favor of the GOP. Then, there’s Biden himself, who would give the Democrats a massive advantage if he were to secure a second term, or at least help the Democrats retain the White House.

The three longest-serving Supreme Court Justices were all appointed by Republican Presidents, as John Roberts and Samuel Alito are holdovers from the George W. Bush era. The Trump appointees and Ketanji Brown Jackson figure to be mainstays of the Supreme Court for years, so the eyes are on the older appointees.

Outside of Thomas, the oldest Justice is Samuel Alito, who was born in 1950. If the Democrats are able to stay in the White House through the 2028 election, it would be difficult for both him and Thomas to stay in the Supreme Court through that entire time. With that in mind, the 2024 Presidential election would be one of the biggest in Supreme Court history.

If the Democrats were to retain, that would likely signal the first Democrat majority in the Supreme Court since the late 1960s. If the Republicans win, those two would be able to retire comfortably, and the Republican majority would likely last for the foreseeable future.

There was a time when it was extremely rare that a sitting member of Congress would draw national attention on a near-daily basis. That has changed in recent years with 24-hour news coverage and social media, however, and there is a handful of Congresspeople who are borderline celebrities due to their following and policies.

Among those that are the most popular (and polarizing) is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC for short. AOC is a darling for the modern Democrat while also being the bane of many conservatives’ existence. AOC has had some policies that she truly believes in that are considered “out there” by some, but she sticks to her guns no matter what. Here are five of her policies that have people divided, even amongst the liberals.

Medicare For All

Medicare for All has been a bill that has been sitting in Congress ever since it was introduced by Michigan Representative John Conyers in 2003. The bill has been brought up multiple times since then, though it has yet to make it into law. If eventually passed, the Medicare for All Act would create a single-payer national insurance system, and Senator Bernie Sanders has been one of the figureheads of the act.

Ocasio-Cortez became one of the other members of Capitol Hill to push the act into law, which has been met with some backlash on the other side, and even some in the Democratic Party. There are many that don’t like the idea of a government-run healthcare system. However, Ocasio-Cortez said that “When you can’t provide for your kids working a full-time job…When you can’t have health care. That is not dignified.”

Immigration/ICE Abolishment

Estimates say that there are more than 11 million people in the United States that are living in the country as illegal immigrants. On the Republican side of the aisle, there are many that want that number to be zero. In the case of Ocasio-Cortez, though, she says that all illegal immigrants should be able to get a path to citizenship without the fear of being deported or charged with a crime.

To add to that, AOC mentioned that ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) should be abolished. She tweeted in September 2020 that “It’s astounding that after a massive family separation operation…trapping immigrants in COVID-infected detention centers…(that) abolishing ICE is controversial.”

Abortion

Roe v. Wade was the landmark Supreme Court decision in 1973 that allowed women the right to have an abortion in the United States. Naturally, there were many (mostly Republicans) people that were vehemently against this decision, and that’s still the case many decades later. In 2022, the act was overruled, with the Republican-majority Supreme Court saying that it was unconstitutional to force states to allow abortions.

AOC was one of the biggest critics of the 2022 decision and has since been on the path of getting that ruling to go back to what it was in 1973. AOC was critical of men that didn’t speak up on the ruling, too. “I think men, sometimes they think, ‘I’m not a woman. This doesn’t affect me the most,’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “For almost every woman that has gotten an abortion, there’s a man who has either been affected or liberated by that abortion too.”

Taxes

Those that are further on the left side of the aisle in the United States all agree on one thing, and it’s that the richest people in the country should be paying a lot more in taxes than they do right now. Things came to a head in 2021 when the billionaires of the United States saw their overall net worth increase by $1 trillion but paid just 8 percent in taxes.

This has led to a revolt for the most liberal of people, including AOC. She has worn clothing urging Congress to tax the rich, and it has been one of her biggest policies. AOC has come up with a proposal that the richest should be paying a 70 percent marginal tax rate to help boost the US economy as billionaires stack up net worth while laying off employees.

Unions

Unions are another one of those things that billionaires and many Republicans aren’t fans of while being a huge selling point for those on the far left. Unions are established in workplaces to increase wages and benefits while making jobs safer and limiting hours to find a work-life balance.

Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC are among the biggest proponents for unions in the United States. “Far too often the United States government chooses to side with corporate wealth at the expense of working people and small business,” AOC said. “This must end.”

There are many polarizing people in the world of politics, and one member of the US House of Representatives that certainly fits that description is Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard has been a member of the United States Army since 2003, joining after becoming a state representative in Hawaii. In 2013, Gabbard made her way to Washington D.C. after becoming the Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd District until 2021.

Since then, Gabbard has been one of the more well-known politicians thanks to a decently long run at the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. In 2022, though, Gabbard changed her political affiliation, dropping the (D) from her name and serving as an independent. As a result, she’s changed some of her policies and is seen as a bit of a controversial figure. Let’s look at five of her policies that have created a lot of responses from both sides.

Russia

In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and it sparked a worldwide response. In the United States, just about everyone on the left side of the aisle was in favor of sanctioning Russia and supporting Ukraine in any way possible. Even a vast majority of those on the right agreed, but there were still some politicians like Gabbard that didn’t really want to take the side of Ukraine during the war.

Gabbard has even been to Russia during the conflict, seemingly showing support for Vladimir Putin. “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO,” Gabbard tweeted. “Which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border.” Instantly, many called her a Putin sympathizer, rubbing both sides of the aisle the wrong way.

LGBT Rights

There have been plenty of politicians that have changed their opinion on the LGBT community since the 1990s, but not many have continued to go back and forth the way that Gabbard has in the past couple of decades, though. Early on in her career, Gabbard was vehemently against gay marriage being legally recognized and even protested against it.

It wasn’t until the early 2010s that Gabbard changed her stance, and even became a member of the LGBT Equality Caucus in Congress. Ever since then, though, Gabbard has shown both support and opposition to the LGBT community. In 2022, she supported the controversial Parental Rights Bill in Florida, leading many to believe she never truly changed her opinion.

Immigration

Throughout her time as a Democrat, Gabbard frequently voted with the Republicans many times when it came to immigration. As a Congresswoman, Gabbard supported increased vetting of refugees from Middle Eastern countries and was in favor of beefing up the security on the US-Mexico border.

When the idea of a large border wall was introduced, Gabbard was in favor. “What’s at the heart of this is we have Democrats and Republicans, frankly, in Congress who are failing at their most basic and foremost responsibility,” Gabbard said. “Which is to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of the American people, and that starts with securing our border.”

COVID Vaccine

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Tulsi Gabbard was in favor of a vaccine being developed to help combat the spread of the virus. However, she was not too happy with who was able to get the vaccine. After first responders were given top priority, Gabbard said that it should have been elderly people first.

“They’re recommending 100 million ‘essential workers’ (i.e. healthy people working at liquor stores or phone companies) can get the vaccine before our grandparents,” Gabbard said. With that, she refused her vaccine until elderly people got theirs. It’s unclear if she ever received the vaccine, and has slammed vaccine mandates in the United States.

Drugs

Gabbard has sided with Republicans on a lot of things over the past few years, but she has remained incredibly left-leaning when it comes to the legalization of drugs. Gabbard has been adamant about the legalization of recreational marijuana and also wanted to put an end to cash bail and private prisons.

Gabbard even went more extreme than many Democrats on the issue, saying that all drugs should be legalized and regulated. Gabbard pointed to the country of Portugal, which has decriminalized all drugs. In the first 18 years of Portugal’s program, the country saw near-eradication of overdose deaths and HIV cases (from injection), while the arrests for drug-related offenses were reduced to less than ⅓ of what they were.

In what will certainly be one of the most talked about elections of all time, former Vice President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 to become the 46th President of the United States. The Democratic Party leader quickly took action when he was inaugurated, overturning many of the executive orders that Trump initiated.

Biden has been a very polarizing president (as most of them are), with opinions and policies that have split the country nearly in half. Let’s take a look at the five most controversial policies that Joe Biden has had as president, and what side of the topic that he stands on for each policy.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Student loan debt is one of the biggest contributors to individual debt in the United States, with an estimated 13 percent of Americans all having at least some student loan debt. Nearly 10 million people in the country have student loan debt of at least $20,000 and a maximum of $40,000. During Biden’s presidency, he said that he wanted to forgive student loan debt up to $10,000 for all debtors.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, student loan payments were frozen and it continued into the Biden administration. Biden’s plan was to offer forgiveness for all that were making under $125,000 per year (or $250,000 for couples). The idea was controversial and even led to some lawsuits from those that had paid student loans in the past saying it was unfair. The forgiveness plan was then put on pause as a result.

Vaccine Requirements

The COVID-19 pandemic was devastating to every country in the world during the height of it, and many of those in the United States, particularly on the Republican side, downplayed the severity of the situation. A COVID-19 vaccine was introduced by multiple companies, and Biden wanted to make it so that the vaccine was mandatory to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Biden announced as part of his executive order that any business that had more than 100 employees would either have to have their employees vaccinated or submit weekly tests to prevent eh spread. This was controversial as many people became anti-vax during the pandemic, and many employees left their companies as they didn’t want to adhere to the mandate.

Abortion

There have been some issues on which Joe Biden has changed his mind over the years, and one of them is abortion. During the 1970s when Roe v. Wade was passed, Biden said that the decision was the “wrong” one. Since then, Biden has said that Roe v. Wade should be a national law, despite attempts during the 1980s to overturn the ruling.

Even in the 2000s, Biden said that Roe v. Wade was a “tragedy” and during his first attempt at running for president, he wanted to appoint Supreme Court justices that would help to overturn Roe v. Wade. During his lead-up to the 2020 election, though, Biden reversed his stance and was in favor of legalizing abortion. Perhaps much of it was due to the overall belief of the Democratic Party and he needed to change his stance to appeal to the party as a presidential candidate.

Marijuana

During the original “War on Drugs” during the 1980s, there were few people in the movement that was as prominent as Joe Biden. Biden was the head of a committee that fought hard against drug offenders and issued longer prison sentences. He even asked for more funding during this time, and his feelings against drugs didn’t change into the 21st century.

It wasn’t until the start of the 2010s that the idea of decriminalizing marijuana became part of his list of policies. Though Biden has said that he’s still not a fan of marijuana use, he no longer feels that anyone that’s caught with marijuana should be facing a prison sentence. With that, he passed an executive order in 2022 where those who had federal convictions for marijuana possession would be pardoned.

Gun Control

Joe Biden himself owns a pair of shotguns, but he has felt that assault weapons should be banned for much of his time in politics. Originally, Biden had supported the NRA-led Firearm Owners Protection Act, but he has since said that there needs to be many more restrictions on gun ownership in the United States.

This has included increased background checks, the ban of assault weapons owned by private citizens, and reducing the power of the National Rifle Association. Of course, staunch Second Amendment supporters have been highly opposed to the ideas.

Mitch McConnell may have been born in Alabama, but he’s a long-time Kentucky resident that has represented the state for many years. After serving as a judge in the state, McConnell won the election in 1984 to serve as a Senator in Washington D.C. 

McConnell has remained in the position ever since and has twice been the Senate Minority Leader, and from 2015 to 2021 was the Senator Majority Leader. Along the way, McConnell has had some controversial policies, with these five being at the forefront of his beliefs.

Criminal Justice Reform

Those that have been incarcerated in the United States end up getting out of jail or prison with a huge disadvantage in life. Many are not able to vote, own guns, and can be blocked from getting a wide range of jobs. Because of this, there have been many bills that have been brought up over the years regarding criminal justice reform, allowing former convicts to get back on their feet once they’ve been released.

One of the bills was called the First Step Act, which was a bipartisan bill that was even supported by then-President Donald Trump. For a while, McConnell was seemingly the only one that wasn’t on board with the bill. McConnell felt that criminals shouldn’t be released back into the public early, but eventually was talked into signing off on the bill even if he wasn’t truly in favor of it.

9/11 First Responders

September 11, 2001 marked the largest terrorist attack in United States history and many of those that responded to the scene either ended up losing their lives or contracted a chronic or terminal illness. In 2010, the Zadroga Act was introduced that would help make sure that the first responders from 9/11 would receive all of the medical care that they needed.

However, McConnell voted against the bill, saying that he wanted the tax cuts proposed by George W. Bush to be passed first. There were multiple instances afterward in which McConnell blocked the support of first responders, and it wasn’t until former “Daily Show” host John Stewart addressed Congress in 2019 that the bill was finally passed, with many saying that it took mainstream media pressure for McConnell to change his tune.

Climate Change

There have been countless scientists who have said that climate change is real and needs to be addressed before it becomes a problem that has catastrophic results. Much of the movement toward preventing climate change happened in the early 1990s, and McConnell was one of the first to deny climate change, saying that the evidence was not conclusive.

While there were some that weren’t early adopters of the belief in climate change that ended up coming around on the issue, McConnell wasn’t one of them. McConnell said that climate change was a hoax that was made up to create more expensive sources of renewable energy. This has led to a lot of controversies, especially amongst scientists, as McConnell has attempted to convince his constituents that fossil fuels aren’t harming the environment.

Russia

Prior to 2022, members of the Republican Party weren’t quite against the country of Russia as they once were during the Cold War. After Russia invaded Ukraine, however, there were many Republicans that jumped ship on supporting Russia, even if they didn’t put their full support behind Ukraine. McConnell was not only in support of Ukraine years before the invasion, but he has been tough on Russia altogether.

McConnell has been in favor of just about every proposed sanction against Russia, and he spoke directly to the Republicans after the 2022 invasion. “The Ukrainians need help,” McConnell said. “They need it now. Particularly do they need the kinds of weapon systems that go after not only helicopters but higher-flying planes.” He added that Republicans supporting Russia were “lonely voices.”

Taxes

As the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, Mitch McConnell has served as the mouthpiece for a lot of issues, and many arguments either for or against higher taxes are directed toward him. McConnell has consistently been against higher taxes for the wealthiest tax bracket and helped reduce the rate from 39.6 to 35 percent for this bracket.

When a proposal was brought up by fellow Senator Rick Scott that would raise taxes and around 40 percent of Americans, McConnell was opposed. “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years,” McConnell said. When Democrats brought up a bill that would increase tax rates on the richest people, McConnell was against that as well.