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DEBATE COUNTDOWN: Those Who Know Trump Best Say He’s Unfit for the Presidency

By
Blue Virginia
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13

From President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign:

DEBATE COUNTDOWN: Those Who Know Trump Best Say He’s Unfit for the Presidency

Former Aides Label Trump “Wannabe Dictator,” “Threat to Democracy”

Former Top Trump White House Aide: “This man is unfit to be president”

Today, ahead of tonight’s debate, Biden-Harris 2024 released “Unfit,” a video that lifts up former aides of Donald Trump who have seen up close his lack of fitness for the highest office in the land. “Unfit” highlights the views of Trump’s vice president, top military advisor, top communications advisor, national security advisor, and secretary of defense, who see Trump as a “wannabe dictator” “unfit to be in office.”

Here are just some of the most striking reasons why Trump cannot return to office, according to some of those who know him best:

  • Trump’s Secretary of Defense Mark Esper expressed serious concerns that Trump would use the military and attempt a coup before the election in 2020, and said Trump suggested using the U.S. military to shoot protesters.
  • Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence: “President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. … I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States … again.”
  • Trump’s Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin called Trump one of, if not the, most divisive presidents and believes “he is wholly unfit to be in office.”
  • Trump suggested his top military chief Mark Milley be executed after Milley pushed back against Trump.
  • Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton: “If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse. … Trump really cares only about retribution for himself, and it will consume much of a second term. … It is a close contest between Putin and Xi Jinping who would be happiest to see Trump back in office.”

“Unfit” comes ahead of tonight’s Atlanta debate, which will put on full display the contrast between President Biden’s competent leadership and convicted felon Donald Trump’s lack of fitness for office. Alongside “Unfit,” Team Biden-Harris announced seven-figure investments into paid media and visibility across Atlanta and battlegrounds to help bring that message to voters.

The following is a statement from Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler:

“If the people who know Donald Trump best can’t trust him, neither can the American people. He encouraged a violent mob to overturn a free and fair election. He embraces dictators and wants to be one himself. He promises more violence if he loses again. Americans suffered enough chaos, division, and violence during Trump’s term in office; we cannot afford another Trump presidency. We can stop him, and we will by reelecting Joe Biden.”

WATCH

Mark Milley: Dictator. Tyrant.

Alyssa Farah Griffin: Dangerous.

Mark Esper: Threat to democracy.

Mike Pence: I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump.

Mark Milley: We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant, or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.

Alyssa Farah Griffin: We worked with him. We knew him. This man is unfit to be president. A second term would be more dangerous than a first.

John Bolton: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, they’re fully prepared to take advantage of him.

Mark Esper: Yes, I did regard him as a threat to democracy and all those things that make America great.

Donald Trump: Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath.

###

Paid for by Biden for President

Video: Biden-Harris 2024 Releases New TV Ad on the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Emergency Medical Care

By
Blue Virginia
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7

From the DNC:

Biden-Harris 2024 Releases New TV Ad on the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Emergency Medical Care
Dr. Lauren Miller: “Donald Trump Did This: He put women’s lives in danger.”

Today, following the Supreme Court ruling in Moyle v. United States on access to emergency abortion care, Biden-Harris 2024 is releasing a new TV ad reminding voters that more than 20 abortion bans remain in effect across the country, putting women’s lives at risk. The ad features a testimonial from Dr. Lauren Miller, a high-risk obstetrician who was forced to leave Idaho because of the extreme abortion ban at the heart of today’s Supreme Court case, which left her facing potential criminal charges for treating her patients – even in cases to protect their lives.

Unfortunately, Idaho is not the only state where doctors and patients are in danger. When Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, he unleashed extreme bans across the country that threaten doctors with jail time for caring for their patients. Because of these bans, women across the country are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to the brink of death before receiving the care they need. President Biden has been clear: we must pass a federal law restoring the protections of Roe to undo Trump’s damage and protect reproductive health care access in all 50 states.

The following is a statement from Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez:

“Women’s health, lives, and freedoms remain in peril across the country because of Donald Trump. Because Trump’s Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v. Wade, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to the brink of death before receiving the care they need. If Trump returns to the White House, he and his allies would ban abortion in all 50 states – without the help of Congress or the courts – putting even more women’s lives at risk. The only way to stop Trump and his MAGA allies is to vote this November and  re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris. They will never stop fighting for reproductive freedom, and they are working to restore the protections of Roe so that women in every state have access to the care they need.”

Following Donald Trump’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, women have faced devastating life-threatening consequences of extreme abortion bans. Now, Trump wants to ban abortion nationwide if he wins. Here are just a few examples of what women have faced because of Donald Trump, which will become even more common in all 50 states if he wins in November:

  • In Texas, one woman miscarried in the lobby restroom of an emergency room after front desk staff refused to admit her.
  • In Florida, another woman faced life-threatening denials of care following a miscarriage. She was sent home from the hospital, then miscarried and lost half the blood in her body over the course of a day.
  • In Missouri, a woman’s water broke before labor. Even though her pregnancy was not viable and a threat to her life, she underwent a horrific process searching for care across three states, ultimately going into labor while en route to obtain care in a different state.

WATCH
DR. LAUREN MILLER: In a medical emergency, seconds matter.

When you’re the only person in the emergency room at 2 AM in the morning, and someone comes in hemorrhaging, and they are pregnant, you’re responsible.

Two years ago, Trump overturned Roe v Wade. Because of the abortion bans across the country, women’s lives are at risk.

Physicians could be tried with a felony for saving that woman’s life too early. The penalties are so severe; felony, imprisonment, loss of license, those are terrifying things.

These laws are truly barbaric. They are putting us back decades, if not centuries.

Donald Trump did this. He put women’s lives in danger.

This election is the most important election of my generation and my daughter’s generation.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will protect our fundamental rights, putting healthcare decisions back in the hands of women and their doctors.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message.
###Paid for by Biden for President

REMINDER: Donald “Dictator on ‘Day One’” Trump Is an Existential Threat To Our Democracy

By
Blue Virginia
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6

From the DNC War Room:

REMINDER: Donald “Dictator on ‘Day One’” Trump Is an Existential Threat To Our Democracy
President Biden will always defend American democracy and the institutions that our nation was founded on. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who’s repeatedly promised to be a dictator on “day one” if elected and warned of a “bloodbath” if not, continues to give election deniers and insurrectionists a platform — from installing dangerous conspiracy theorists to leading “election integrity” efforts at the RNC and promising pardons for January 6 insurrectionists. Democracy is at stake this November and if Donald Trump retakes power the survival of our democracy will be at risk.

Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of bending our institutions to serve a third term if he retakes power. 

Politico: “Former President Donald Trump on Saturday floated the idea of a third term if he wins in November.

“‘You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?’ Trump quipped at the National Rifle Association annual meeting, speaking before a crowd of gun rights supporters.

“Some in the crowd shouted in response: ‘Three.’

“It’s not the first time Trump has mentioned extending his stay in the White House, an idea he suggested while on the campaign trail in 2020.”

MSNBC: “Five years ago this month, Trump retweeted Jerry Falwell Jr. — before his ignominious fall from grace — arguing that the president deserves a six-year first term ‘as payback for time stolen ’ by the investigation into the Russia scandal. Trump echoed Falwell’s sentiment in a pair of tweets an hour later, writing that nefarious forces ‘have stolen two years of my Presidency that we will never be able to get back.’”

Forbes: “President Trump said Saturday that he plans to ‘negotiate’ to run again in 2024 if he wins reelection in November, his latest in a series of comments that have alarmed critics who say he has little regard for constitutional boundaries.”

Trump refused to pursue a peaceful transition of power in the last election, instead inciting a violent assault on our Capitol, and is leaving the door open for political violence if he loses.

ABC News: “Former President Donald Trump is playing down but not ruling out the possibility of political violence if he loses the November election.

“‘I don’t think we’re going to have that. I think we’re going to win,’ Trump told Time magazine in a cover story published on Tuesday.

“He had been asked about an earlier comment to Time that ‘I think we’re gonna have a big victory and I think there will be no violence’ — but ‘what if you don’t win, sir?’ the Time reporter said.

“‘If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election,’ Trump went on to say.

“He has previously warned of problems if things go wrong for him, writing on social media last year, before he faced any of his four criminal indictments, that ‘false’ charges against him would bring ‘potential death & destruction.’”

Associated Press: “​​President Donald Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.

“‘We’re going to have to see what happens,’ Trump said at a news conference, responding to a question about whether he’d commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.’”

CNN: “Trump has previously refused to say whether he would accept the election results, echoing his sentiments from 2016. And he has joked – he says – about staying in office well past the constitutionally bound two terms.”

Trump’s campaign is centered around using the government to serve himself instead of hardworking Americans.  

The Atlantic: “Late Friday night, the former president of the United States—and a leading candidate to be the next president—insinuated that America’s top general deserves to be put to death. That extraordinary sentence would be unthinkable in any other rich democracy. But Donald Trump, on his social-media network, Truth Social, wrote that Mark Milley’s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was ‘an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.’”

New York Times: “Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands. […]

“Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.” 

Washington Post: “Trump says on Univision he could weaponize FBI, DOJ against his enemies”

“In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to ‘go after’ Biden and his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations against them that are not supported by available evidence.

“To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have drafted plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and unconstitutional.”

Video: New Ad Argues, “Tim Kaine is working to lower costs for Virginians while Hung Cao would raise costs for hardworking Virginia families”

By
lowkell
-
2

From Sen. Tim Kaine’s reelection campaign:

Kaine For Virginia Campaign Launches New Digital Ad, “Perfect”

Tim Kaine: “When You Work Hard, You Deserve To Get Ahead.”  

Richmond, VA – Today, the Kaine for Virginia campaign launched a new digital ad, “Perfect,” contrasting how Tim Kaine has lowered costs for Virginia families, while Hung Cao’s agenda would make living in Virginia more expensive.

WATCH:

The ad highlights how Tim Kaine is putting more room in Virginia families’ budgets so they can keep their hard-earned money, while Hung Cao has called Florida Senator Rick Scott’s plan to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block and raise taxes on Virginia families and small businesses, “perfect.”

“Virginians deserve a Senator like Tim Kaine, who has been laser-focused on cutting costs for Virginia’s families, including lowering prescription drug costs and cutting taxes for working families in the U.S. Senate,” said Michael Beyer, Communications Director for Kaine for Virginia. “The contrast in this race couldn’t be clearer: Tim Kaine is working to lower costs for Virginians while Hung Cao would raise costs for hardworking Virginia families.” 

Watch the ad here and view a full transcript below:

  • VO: The radical plan that would make living in Virginia more expensive?
  • Reporter: That would raise taxes on half of Americans, and potentially sunset programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
  • VO: Hung Cao supports it.
  • Hung Cao: I mean, it was perfect… I couldn’t have asked for something better.
  • Senator Tim Kaine: I passed a law bringing down drug prices because too many Virginians were getting squeezed.
  • And I’m fighting to reduce the costs for child care and college while cutting taxes for Virginia families.
  • When you work hard, you deserve to get ahead.

###

The MAGA Enemies List for Federal Employees

By
Blue Virginia
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3
Sen. Joe McCarthy

By Kindler

Look, I know it’s hard to keep track of all the insanity that the MAGA GOP throws in our faces every day. And some of it, quite honestly, is just clickbait that’s better left unclicked.  But mixed in with the meaningless bluster are some genuine threats to US democracy.  And one that chilled my bones, while flying under most of the media’s radar, popped up just the other day.

The story – thanks to AP News for covering it – is that the Heritage Foundation, guardians of the openly fascist second Trump term plan Project 2025, is sponsoring the creation of a list of Federal employees who may be too progressive for right-wingers’ tastes:

“With a $100,000 grant from the Heritage Foundation, the goal is to post 100 names of government workers to a website this summer to show a potential new administration who might be standing in the way of a second-term Trump agenda — and ripe for scrutiny, reclassifications, reassignments or firings.”

As the story notes, such tactics harken back to Sen. Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare campaigns of the 1950s and have not been seen since. And the idea of publicly posting the names of Federal workers is particularly disturbing when you consider all the terrorist violence that MAGA rhetoric has inspired for years now – from the January 6th attack to multiple mass shootings of immigrants to the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

Dictatorship and terrorism are methods to control the public through fear, and that is a big part of Trump’s modus operandi – to get everyone from the media to corporations to members of the public to avoid challenging him or risk attack from his crazed mobs of supporters.  Way too often, the tactic works, as people and institutions chicken out and choose personal safety over truth and democracy.

Purges of government employees deemed disloyal are also a big part of the totalitarian playbook. Josef Stalin was notorious for his purges of hundreds of thousands of “undesirables” from the Soviet government and Communist party.  Such mass actions sow not only terror but deep mistrust as individuals are pressured and rewarded for turning their fellow workers, neighbors, relatives, etc. in to the authorities.

It’s just one more example of how the MAGA Republican party is determined to split us apart rather than bringing America together. Their brand of politics requires scapegoats to be sacrificed on the altar of their followers’ frustrations, anger and lust for what Trump calls “revenge and retribution.”

The Heritage Foundation refers to the Federal employees it will be targeting as “anti-American bad actors” constituting a “deep state of entrenched Leftist bureaucrats”. And no, we’re not talking here about the 4,000 or so political appointees at the top of the government, who every president gets the right to replace, or even just the Senior Executive Service that defines the top tier of the civil service.  According to Tom Jones, the Trump thug put in charge of this effort, they are also focused on employees down to the GS-13 level.  To put that in perspective, according to the Federal Office of Personnel Management, if you were to average out all the GS (General Schedule) career levels in the government, the average grade nationwide would be GS-10.38 – and in the Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV area specifically, GS-12.53.

So, of the more than 2.2 million Federal employees, a witch hunt going all the way down to the GS-13 level could involve investigating hundreds of thousands of people –whose only crime is serving the public as a government employee who just maybe expresses his or her First Amendment-protected opinions in their spare time.

Keep in mind that Heritage is spending $100,000 on this effort and the right-wing group they hired to do it is employing six full time researchers. So this is not some small effort being run out of a blogger’s mother’s basement – these people are planning a serious large scale reactionary campaign with a lot of potential victims.

I’m no lawyer, but a conspiracy to smear hundreds if not thousands of innocent people sounds like fine grounds for lawsuits, and I encourage legal, labor and civil liberties groups to look deeply into this foul plan and do all they can to fight it.

And I implore everyone reading this right now to let everyone you know that it’s not intended as a mere insult when people like me call today’s Republican party fascist. These guys are dead serious about their plans and are forming them before our very eyes, in the open through campaigns like Project 2025. It’s not just about Trump – he’s their lunatic figurehead but a lot of truly malevolent actors are working to make sure that this time he succeeds in turning our beautiful country into the ugliest possible version of Putin’s Russia.

Please don’t wait until you see your neighbors or co-workers being dragged away in the street, because by then it will be way too late.  Get involved and sound the alarm today to your list of friends because – hey, we’re not the ones who do enemies’ lists.

Please check out my Substack.

Thursday News: “Biden border restrictions bring sharp drop in illegal crossings”; SCOTUS Right Wingers “just basically legalized bribery”; “How the Hell Is CNN Going to Keep This Debate on the Rails?”; Hung Cao’s “record doesn’t back up claims on combat wounds”

By
lowkell
-
18

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, June 27.

FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Announces First-of-Its-Kind Funding to Lower Housing Costs by Reducing Barriers to Building More Homes

By
lowkell
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1

From the White House, Office of the Vice President

FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Announces First-of-Its-Kind Funding to Lower Housing Costs by Reducing Barriers to Building More Homes

The $85 million in PRO Housing funds announced today will empower communities nationwide to lower housing costs and boost housing supply through locally-led planning, infrastructure, development, and preservation activities in 21 communities.

WASHINGTON – Today, Vice President Harris announced the recipients of new grants under the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) grant competition with the goal of building more housing, and lowering housing and rental costs for American families. The President and the Vice President know that the cost of housing is too high. That’s why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created PRO Housing a first-of-its-kind program that provides funding to communities actively addressing barriers to building new units. Funding will support updates to state and local housing plans, land use policies, permitting processes, and other actions aimed at building and preserving more affordable housing.

We are starting to see some progress. More housing units are under construction during this Administration than at any time in the last 50 years, rents have fallen over the last year in many places, and the homeownership rate is higher now than before the pandemic. But rent is still too high, and Americans who want to buy a home still have difficulty finding one they can afford. That is why President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to lower housing costs, including by increasing housing supply by building and preserving more homes. In the State of the Union, President Biden called on Congress to pass his and Vice President Harris’s plan to build two million additional homes, increase rental assistance, and help first-time and first-generation homebuyers.

Recognizing that every community is different, the grants announced today are critical to breaking down local barriers that stand in the way of housing development and lower costs. Common barriers to housing identified in the PRO Housing applications include the high cost of land and development, underutilized vacant land and property, aging housing stock, inadequate infrastructure, displacement pressures, risks of extreme weather or environment hazards, and outdated land-use and permitting policies and processes.

The demand for these awards was substantial, with requests exceeding $13 for every $1 available. Applications came from more than 175 communities across 47 states and territories, representing diverse demographics and geographic settings. The Biden-Harris Administration will also release an additional $100 million in PRO Housing funding later this summer.

The awards announced today build upon the historic levels of funding made available for housing, infrastructure, and community resilience by the Biden-Harris Administration. The President’s FY25 Budget proposes a historic investment of more than $258 billion in housing, including a $20 billion Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion, which would provide critical support to further eliminate barriers to housing, spur development, and encourage innovative housing solutions. The President’s FY25 Budget also proposes an additional $100 million request for PRO Housing grants. Vice President Harris has been highlighting the Administration’s investments in affordable housing and homeownership as part of her nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.

“President Biden and I believe that every American deserves affordable housing so they have a roof over their head and a place to call home. That is why we have a plan to build millions of new units of affordable housing in communities all across our nation, which will bring down the cost of housing for renters and help more Americans buy a home,” said Vice President Harris. “Today, I am proud to announce that we are taking a critical step forward by investing $85 million to help more than 20 communities throughout our country remove barriers to building more affordable housing.”

HUD is awarding $85 million in funding through PRO Housing to 21 winners. The winners include jurisdictions ranging from under 5,000 residents in a rural community to millions of people across an urban county. In addition to the grant funding, winners will be invited to participate in a technical assistance cohort to facilitate peer learning and implementation support. HUD will also offer technical assistance for communities who applied for round one funding and other HUD grantees committed to addressing barriers to housing – highlighting how annual grants and low-cost federal financing can be used to adopt housing-forward strategies and boost housing supply.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris have prioritized reducing housing costs,” said HUD Acting Secretary Todman. “As I travel across the country, I hear from people all the time, including builders, elected officials, and other stakeholders, about how difficult it is to build housing. This is why I am pleased to announce our first round of PRO Housing funding, which will provide communities with incentives to address their local housing barriers. This expands on our ongoing efforts to lower housing costs by increasing the housing supply.”

The PRO Housing winners have already invested in strategies to boost housing supply, reform local regulations, incentivize development, prevent displacement, and encourage community driven solutions.

This announcement fulfills a commitment made in the Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan, and builds on sweeping actions to reduce barriers, boost housing supply, and lower costs, including:

  • Leveraging discretionary grant programs to encourage state and local action to build more housing. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has updated its scoring criteria to reward applications from communities with pro-housing policies in place; already, DOT has announced approximately $22 billion in competitive grant funds using the revamped criteria. In addition, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has updated its Investment Priorities to encourage economic development projects that enhance density.
  • Updated guidance for converting commercial property to housing. Last fall, the White House released a Commercial to Residential Federal Resources Guidebook with over 20 federal programs across six federal agencies that can be used to support conversions. These programs include low-interest loans, loan guarantees, grants, and tax incentives, which, subject to the requirements of each program, may be used together to increase the economic viability of conversion projects.
  • Provided low-cost capital for housing. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Federal Financing Bank (FFB) Risk Sharing program provides capital to state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs), enabling them to insure multifamily loans at reduced interest rates to create and preserve high-quality, affordable rental homes. After the previous Administration suspended the program, the Biden-Harris Administration restarted it in 2021. Since then, more than 12,000 affordable housing units have been created or preserved, supported by almost $2 billion in FHA-insured loans made through the program. In February, HUD and Treasury extended the program indefinitely, which will create an estimated 38,000 additional units over ten years, as well as bolster HFA participation in the program.
  • Finalized the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) “Income Averaging” rule. To qualify for LIHTC, developers must make commitments to create housing that is affordable to households that meet specific income thresholds. Income averaging allows a developer to meet the same affordability goals by taking the average of the income for some households who are in the property as opposed to requiring all to meet the same threshold. This “average-income test” for LIHTC qualification will enable the creation of more financially-stable, mixed-income developments and make LIHTC-supported housing more feasible in sparsely populated rural areas. It will also facilitate the production of additional affordable and available units for extremely low-income tenants. Treasury has also provided needed guidance to developers using LIHTC equity to build multifamily housing that is rented to tenants across a wider income spectrum.
  • Streamlined and modernized the HOME program. Earlier this spring, HUD published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the HOME Investment Partnership Program. The proposed rule, if finalized as proposed, would streamline program requirements for states and localities, better align HOME funding with other federal housing resources, reduce administrative burden for communities and housing developers, improve assistance and protections for renters, strengthen the use of HOME for homeownership activities, and encourage green and climate resilient building practices. The HOME program is a critical tool to bolster housing supply and preserve existing affordable housing at a time of need.
  • Invested in making our nation’s affordable housing more energy efficient and resilient. This week, HUD announced an additional $142 million in funding to support energy efficiency and climate resiliency renovations to combat the climate crisis and improve the lives of residents in HUD-supported housing through the Green and Resilient Retrofit program (GRRP). As of today, HUD has announced a total of $686 million under this program.
  • Published a $235 million funding opportunity to support manufactured housing communities. Through the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program, HUD has made $225 million available to support manufactured housing communities and residents of manufactured homes. Applications are due July 10th.
  • Increasing loan limits for Title I Manufactured Housing. FHA published a final rule increasing loan limits for the Title I Manufactured Housing program, which insures loans to finance the purchase or refinancing of manufactured homes titled as personal property. Doing so will allow FHA to better serve low- and moderate-income and first-time buyers of manufactured housing whose financing needs have not been well-served by the private market. Historically, HUD’s Title I program has been an important source of financing for manufactured homes, but low loan limits have made the program dormant in recent years. The rule will increase loan limits to be in line with current market prices and enable HUD to regularly update the limits in the future. To support this action, Ginnie Mae revised eligibility requirements for Issuers of its Manufactured Housing Mortgage-Backed Securities program. These actions are intended to reduce barriers to entry for Issuers and increase participation in its securitization program for Title I loans.
  • Made historic investments in homebuilding and community development in Indian Country. HUD announced the largest ever funding investment in Native American housing for affordable housing activities including new housing construction, rehabilitation, housing services, and more.
  • Expanded access to financing for homes with accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Announced a new policy to allow for the inclusion of rental income from an ADU in a borrower’s income. This action enables more homebuyers to purchase a home with an ADU or seek to add one to qualify for FHA-insured financing.

The Vice President’s announcement builds on her career of working to protect homeowners and address housing supply and affordability. As Attorney General of California, she helped pass the California Homeowner Bill of Rights to provide protections to homeowners facing foreclosure. As U.S. Senator, she introduced several bills to increase the supply of affordable housing and lower costs for renters.

Now as Vice President, she has led several announcements to ensure all families have a safe and affordable place to live, including $5.5 billion in new funding to boost affordable housing, invest in economic growth, build wealth, and address homelessness across America. The Vice President has also led the charge on addressing racial bias in home appraisals by announcing key actions of the PAVE Action Plan, including steps taken to make it easier for more homeowners to appeal home appraisals that may be undervalued because of racial bias.

Wednesday News: “From Trump’s immunity to abortion, the Supreme Court’s most controversial decisions this term are about to drop”; “The Nuclear Weapons Document Trump Stashed under Bubble Wrap and a Christmas Pillow”; Boebert Wins, Bowman Loses; Vicious Good vs. McGuire Primary Is “MAGA in Microcosm”

By
lowkell
-
27

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, June 26.

MAGAnomics Receives Straight Fs on Economic Report Card Showing Second Trump Term Leads To Recession, Spiking Inflation, and Tax Hikes

By
Blue Virginia
-
2

From the DNC War Room:

MAGAnomics Receives Straight Fs on Economic Report Card Showing Second Trump Term Leads To Recession, Spiking Inflation, and Tax Hikes

Moody’s estimates Trump’s extended tax proposal would lead to a recession by 2025

 CAP estimates Trump’s tariff plan would raise taxes for middle-income households by up to $8,300

Congressional Budget Office estimates Trump’s tax plan would cost $4 trillion over the next decade, add $4.6 trillion to deficit

DNC National Press Secretary ⁨Emilia Rowland⁩ released the following statement:

“Report cards are in and Trump’s MAGAnomics tax plan received straight F’s. Reports from Moody’s, the Congressional Budget Office, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and CAP showed that Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda would tank the economy and trigger a recession by 2025, cost $4 trillion over the next decade, add trillions to the deficit, and raise taxes for middle-income households by $5,100 to $8,300 in exchange for another handout to the top 0.1 percent. While Trump is hellbent on rigging the economy for himself and his billionaire donors at the rest of the country’s expense, President Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot are fighting to stop corporate price gouging and continue growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out.”

Today, 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists are worried Trump’s economic plans would reignite inflation and cause lasting economic harm. 

Axios: “Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists are jumping into the presidential campaign with a stark warning: Former President Trump’s plans would reignite inflation and cause lasting harm to the global economy if he wins in November.”

Moody’s recent report demonstrates how Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda will lead to slower growth and higher inflation — triggering a recession by 2025.

USA Today: “‘Biden’s policies are better for the economy,’ says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. ‘They lead to more growth and less inflation.

“According to a Moody’s study, Trump’s plan would trigger a recession by mid-2025 and an economy that grows an average 1.3% annually during his four-year term vs. 2.1% under Biden. (The latter is in line with average growth in the decade before the pandemic.)

“Next year, under a Trump administration, inflation would rise from the current 3.3% to 3.6%, well above the 2.4% forecast under Biden, the Moody’s analysis shows. Compared with Biden, the U.S. would have 3.2 million fewer jobs and a 4.5% unemployment rate, a half percentage point higher, at the end of a Trump tenure.”

The Hill: “Republicans are getting ready to fast-track the extension of the Trump tax cuts through the reconciliation process if they win big in November. Nearly seven years after the GOP used budget reconciliation to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the party is gearing up to use the same maneuver to renew key provisions set to expire in 2026. While most legislation needs the support of 60 senators to avert a filibuster, budget reconciliation allows lawmakers to pass major tax and spending bills with a simple majority — and without bipartisan backing…

“While changes in business and corporate taxes from the 2017 tax law changed investment flows within the economy, it did not add substantially to economic growth.”

According to the Congressional Budget Office, permanently extending Trump tax cuts would cost taxpayers $4 trillion dollars over the next decade, adding $4.6 trillion to the deficit.

Senate Budget Committee: “According to the latest report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), extending the Trump tax cuts for the next 10 years—as Republicans have proposed—would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.

“The report, written at the urging of Senator Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Senator Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, finds that the extension would cost $1.1 trillion more than previously estimated.”

Center for American Progress: “According to new estimates released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), permanently extending the expiring provisions of the Trump tax cuts would cost $4 trillion over the next 10 years, $400 billion per year.* This includes $3.4 trillion from extending the expiring individual and estate tax provisions as well as $551 billion from extending business provisions.

[…]

“An extension would provide, on average, a larger tax cut for extremely rich households than for everyone else. Households with incomes of more than $500,000 per year—roughly the top 2 percent of households by income—would receive a larger tax cut than households making $200,000 per year, not just in dollars terms but also as a percentage of their after-tax income. And the households making $200,000 per year would receive a larger tax cut than those making $50,000 or less per year.”

Tax Policy Center: “CBO’s Latest Budget Estimates May Make Extending The TCJA More Complicated”

Trump’s latest tax scheme would raise taxes on middle-income Americans by up to $8,300 while giving the top 1% another handout.

Center for American Progress: “Trump’s latest idea to replace all income taxes with tariffs is mathematically impossible, but even if it were feasible, it would dramatically increase income inequality and raise taxes for the bottom 90 percent of households. It would raise taxes for middle-income households by $5,100 to $8,300 while cutting taxes for the top 0.1 percent by at least $1.5 million annually.”

President Biden’s administration is protecting consumers from price gouging.

Vox: “His administration has also tackled monopolies like it’s the Roosevelt era, filing a flurry of sweeping lawsuits against major companies, including four Big Tech companies, on the grounds that they are harming competition in their industries and, therefore, American consumers.”

Business Insider: “The Biden administration has launched investigations and antitrust lawsuits against several mega corporations, many in the tech sector, that it accuses of behaving like monopolies — and it’s setting him apart from his predecessors.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: “Biden-Harris Administration to Make First Offer for Drug Price Negotiation Program, Launches New Resource Hub to Help People Access Lower-Cost Drugs”

President Biden’s economic plan lowered costs on everyday grocery items and increased food assistance programs including SNAP for families across America.

Biden-Harris Lowering Costs Agenda: “Providing the typical low-income family of four about $2,000 more for groceries each year by improving SNAP—lifting about 3 million people out of poverty, including 400,000 Black children, 350,000 Hispanic children, and 18,000 Asian American children—and launching Summer EBT for nearly 21 million children.”

White House ICYMI: “President Biden’s top economic priority is lowering costs for American families—including calling on grocery chains making record profits to lower prices. The President and his team have been meeting with CEOs and business leaders, including Target CEO Brian Cornell, to discuss the elevated costs that families face. Target, Walmart, and other grocery chains have begun to answer the President’s call to lower prices for household goods.”

Washington Post: “This week, Target announced it would lower prices on roughly 5,000 items, including staples such as milk, produce, bread and coffee, as well as diapers and pet food. The reductions will ‘collectively save consumers millions of dollars this summer,’ the company said in a news release. The White House — which has been pressing retailers to lower prices — took credit for the rollbacks, posting on X: ‘President Biden called on grocery chains making record profits to lower prices for consumers — and they’re answering the call.’”

President Biden is fighting to make housing more affordable for people of all ages.

White House Fact Sheet: “The President’s budget… Increases the Supply of Affordable Housing Financed by Existing HUD programs.”

“In addition, the Budget provides $931 million to support housing for older adults and $257 million to support housing for persons with disabilities.”

White House Fact Sheet: “President Biden is calling on Congress to pass a mortgage relief credit that would provide middle-class first-time homebuyers with an annual tax credit of $5,000 a year for two years. This is the equivalent of reducing the mortgage rate by more than 1.5 percentage points for two years on the median home, and will help more than 3.5 million middle-class families purchase their first home over the next two years.”

Biden-Harris Lowering Costs Agenda: “Their Administration is cutting mortgage insurance premiums and expanding rental assistance, and they are calling on Congress to help build more homes and lower costs for homebuyers and renters. Their plan will give more Americans a chance at the American Dream. Congressional Republicans voted to raise housing prices by cutting programs that increase affordable housing and provide assistance to renters.”

HuffPost: “Biden is eager to get credit for lowering housing costs, proposing a $10,000 mortgage relief tax credit for families making less than $250,000 a year during his State of the Union address.”

President Biden is delivering on student loan debt forgiveness and making child care more affordable. 

Forbes: “The burden of student loan debt has reached crisis levels, disproportionately affecting students of color and amplifying the racial wealth gap. Now, President Biden’s latest step will help 125,000 borrowers by erasing $9 billion in debt through existing programs. This debt load is not distributed evenly across populations, it falls disproportionately on students of color and their families who are actively trying to close the racial wealth gap.”

Biden-Harris Lowering Costs Agenda: “Lowering child care costs for more than 100,000 lower-income families by capping costs at no more than 7% of their income, saving an average of $2,400 a year… Saved families $1,250 per child on child care by helping more than 225,000 child care providers that serve as many as 10 million children stay open during the pandemic.”

CNN: “About 4 million people have seen their federal student debt canceled under Biden, totaling about $144 billion.”

The Guardian: “Biden launches ‘most affordable ever’ student loan repayment plan”

Washington Post: “Biden administration cancels $1.2B in student loans with new repayment plan”

President Biden is cracking down on junk fees, making life-saving medications more affordable, and creating more good-paying jobs.

CNN: “More Americans can now get insulin for $35”

“Congress, the White House and new players in the market have increased pressure on insulin manufacturers to lower their prices. Eli Lilly and Sanofi announced that they would institute $35 caps shortly after President Joe Biden called on drugmakers to do so in his State of the Union address last year. 

“Medicare enrollees now pay no more than $35 a month for each of their insulin prescriptions, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democratic lawmakers pushed through Congress in 2022.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: “As a result of negotiations, people with Medicare will have access to innovative, life-saving treatments at lower costs to Medicare and taxpayers.”

The Hill: “A surge in manufacturing construction across the country is grabbing the attention of economists and workers on the ground as legislative efforts to reinvigorate the U.S. industrial base are bearing fruit.”

Washington Post: “U.S. caps credit card late charges in new Biden crackdown on junk fees”

“The rules arrived as part of a suite of fresh federal efforts to promote competition and crack down on unfair or illegal pricing across the economy, which President Biden has blasted as one of the primary sources of rising costs facing American families over the past year.”

Yahoo News: “Under President Biden, however, a manufacturing boom finally seems to be getting started. Since the beginning of 2022, construction spending on new factories has more than doubled, from an annualized rate of $91 billion in January 2022 to $189 billion in April 2023, the latest data available. That’s the biggest jump, by far, in data going back to 2002.”

Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes: VP Contenders Would Help Trump Rig the Economy for Himself and His Ultra-Wealthy Donors

By
Blue Virginia
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From the DNC War Room:

Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes: VP Contenders Would Help Trump Rig the Economy for Himself and His Ultra-Wealthy Donors
As Donald Trump’s VP contenders trip over themselves to prove they will continue to help him push his failed MAGAnomics agenda, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump’s VP contenders are willing to help him rig the economy for himself and his ultra-rich donors at the expense of hardworking families. But no amount of spin from his desperate MAGA lackeys changes Trump’s failed MAGAnomics record of ballooning the deficit and letting billionaires pay less in taxes than working Americans for the first time in history, and leaving with the worst jobs record since the Great Depression. The American people rejected this extreme and out-of-touch MAGAnomics agenda in 2020, and they’ll reject Trump and whichever MAGA minion ends up as his running mate again in November.”

Donald Trump’s VP contenders support his disastrous MAGAnomics agenda that rigged the economy for the ultra-wealthy and failed hardworking Americans.

Tim Scott: “We make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts permanent.”

Doug Burgum: “I believe in these economic policies, I believe the tax bill is a great thing.”

Marco Rubio: “Overall, the Republican tax-cut bill has been good for Americans. That is why I voted for it.”

Tom Cotton: “Trump’s tax cuts helped deliver the strongest economy in recent history.”

CNBC: “Ben Carson leads prayer for tax cuts at Trump Cabinet meeting”

KOTA: “Republicans are calling President Trump’s tax plan the biggest tax overhaul in history. … Representative Kris[ti] Noem was a big part in pushing this bill.”

Fox Business: “Trump’s tax policies have worked out for all of America: Rep. Byron Donalds”

Vivek Ramaswamy on a suggestion to make permanent or expand the Trump tax cuts: “I’d go a little further, Larry, than that, to be honest with you.”

Alabama Political Reporter: “Katie Britt on Monday released a memo with her policy positions … [including] a bill to make permanent the individual tax cuts and extend the expanded standard deduction contained in President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. … a pro-growth tax reform bill reducing business tax rates, repealing the Death Tax, and making the expensing of capital assets permanent. … a bill to repeal the state and local tax deduction.”

Wesley Hunt: “I supported the 2017 Tax Reform bill.”

Trump’s VP contenders are standing by him as he promises his ultra-wealthy backers political favors while begging for campaign cash…

Washington Post: “Trump makes sweeping promises to donors on audacious fundraising tour”

“As he closed his pitch at the Pierre Hotel, Trump explained to the group why it was in their interest to cut large checks. If he was not put back in office, taxes would go up for them under President Biden, who vows to let Trump-era tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations expire at the end of 2025.

“Seconds after promising the tax cuts, Trump made his pitch explicit. ‘So whatever you guys can do, I appreciate it,’ he said.”

Fox News: “VP hopefuls dueling for dollars as they show off their fundraising clout for Trump”

“As they audition for the role of Donald Trump’s running mate, potential vice presidential nominees are showing off their ability to help the former president raise much-needed campaign cash. 

“Closed-door fundraisers with top-dollar Republican donors appear to be the latest screen test venue for those vying to land on the GOP ticket alongside Trump, joining a list that includes teaming up with the former president at his rallies and showing up at his criminal trial in New York City in support of Trump.”

Reuters: “Senator J.D. Vance, a potential running mate for Trump who previously lived in San Francisco and worked in venture capital, will attend the event, according to a source familiar with his plans. Vance helped organize the fundraiser and was a point of contact between [David] Sacks and the Trump campaign.”

Axios: “Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a top possible VP pick for former President Trump, has spent the past six months lobbying some of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley to back Trump.”

Fox News: “Senator’s fundraising skill could be winning ticket for Trump’s veepstakes”

New York Times: “A financial show of force for [Tim] Scott’s group could lift his chances of being selected by Mr. Trump, who has spoken to advisers at Mar-a-Lago about which potential running mates could help the campaign raise money.”

Politico: “Trump’s vice presidential contenders have been taking aggressive steps to distinguish themselves, such as doing interviews with national news outlets, fundraising for the former president and attending his hush money trial in New York.”

…and even asked Big Oil and Gas CEOs to give $1 billion to his campaign and vowed to immediately roll back environmental regulations in exchange.

Washington Post: “What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign”

“You all are wealthy enough, [Trump] said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting.

“Giving $1 billion would be a ‘deal,’ Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people. … Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid.

“The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. … Trump has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years.

“Despite Trump’s huge fundraising ask, oil donors and their allies have yet to donate hundreds of millions to his campaign. They have contributed more than $6.4 million to Trump’s joint fundraising committee in the first three months of this year, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Climate Power.”

The Guardian: “Trump promised US oil bosses to scrap climate laws for $1bn donation”

REMINDER: Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda left him with the worst jobs record in modern American history, as jobs were offshored and he ballooned the deficit.

Fortune: “Trump to leave office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover”

Washington Post: “President Trump took office at the crest of the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. He leaves presiding over the worst labor market in modern U.S. history, as an already-sputtering economic recovery has turned negative.”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”

Bloomberg: “The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch”

Washington Post: “Trump promised ‘America First’ would keep jobs here. But the tax plan might push them overseas.”

Washington Post Analysis: “One of President Donald Trump’s lesser-known but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch. The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt. The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office… The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration.”

Politico: “The nation’s fiscal outlook looks ever bleaker, thanks in part to deficit spending during President Donald Trump’s first term, Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper projected Tuesday.”

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