MORNING MESSAGE
You’ve
heard people ask, “How come they can come up with a couple trillion dollars to
invade Iraq, or hundreds of billions for corporate tax cuts, but say we’re broke
when we need to fix our infrastructure so pipes don’t contaminate children with
lead poisoning?” The answer is that the priorities of our current rigged
“system” lead to choices like these by our current Congress ... these priorities
more and more often reflect the values and wishes of the “donor class” and less
and less often reflect the values and wishes of the rest of us. You might not
know there is an alternative budget proposal that is much more in line with the
priorities and values of “We the People.” That budget is the Congressional
Progressive Caucus’ (CPC) Budget for Fiscal Year 2017, also known as “The
People’s Budget.”
BURNING ISSUES: WILL MORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS MAKE US SAFER?
Joe
Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, discusses the drawbacks of
investing in our nuclear arsenal in the latest video installment of Burning
Issues.
Click
here for the full Burning Issues series.
SANDERS PLOTS LONG GAME
Some
Dems counsel Clinton not to ignore Sanders. The Hill: “Sanders supporters,
particularly young voters, will be crucial in the general election, Democrats
say, and Clinton risks alienating them if she acts like the race is over … ‘They
have to approach this with kid gloves,’ said Democratic strategist Jim Manley,
who has endorsed Clinton. ‘She and her team have to be very, very careful that
they don’t unduly antagonize Sen. Sanders or, more importantly, Sen. Sanders’s
supporters.'”
Sanders
eyes California. LAT: “… he is counting on a ground game of liberal
organizations — including the labor and environmental movements — to help him
continue to attract large crowds and, he hopes, generate momentum. ‘You’re going
to see me here more than you feel comfortable with,’ Sanders told the Los
Angeles Times during a 50-minute meeting with the editorial board Tuesday. ‘We
think we have a path to victory and that path absolutely has to come through
California.'”
Clinton
delivers counterterrorism speech. NYT: “…in her own policy prescriptions —
which included an ‘intelligence surge’ to collect more data on the Islamic
State, partnerships with Silicon Valley firms that have been suspicious of
Washington, and beefing up security on soft targets like airport check-in areas
— Mrs. Clinton resisted calls to distance herself from the Obama
administration’s actions, and instead called for an acceleration of the
approaches already underway.”
REPUBLICANS RESIST BROKERED CONVENTION
Republican
voters OK with Trump winning nomination by plurality. Bloomberg: “…63
percent of those who have voted in this year’s Republican primaries and
caucuses, or plan to do so, back the billionaire’s view of the nominating
process and think the person with the most delegates should win, even if he
lacks a majority.”
Kasich
wont quit. NYT: “…He campaigned Wednesday in Wisconsin, where the next
Republican primary will be held April 5, and his advisers argued that the race’s
final stretch of 20 states, mostly in the Northeast, Middle Atlantic and the
West Coast, put Mr. Kasich in a far stronger position than Mr. Cruz to halt Mr.
Trump.”
Some
Republicans think Trump can be stopped in Wisconsin. W. Post: “It’s [in] a
region that has basically split between [Sen. Ted] Cruz, Donald Trump and Gov.
John Kasich … Even a narrow win would given Cruz a shot at all 42 of the state’s
delegates … In the ‘WOW’ counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington, [Trump’s]
negative rating among Republicans is 39 points.”
W.
Post investigates another shady Trump business: “[Trump Network] sold
customized vitamins and other health products as part of a controversial
business model known as multilevel marketing … [Trump] became involved in an
industry that consumer advocates had long criticized as promising financial
independence to sales recruits but rarely delivering it … Although many
multilevel marketing companies are legal, the FTC has called some thinly
disguised pyramid schemes.”
W.
Post’s Dana Milbank slams Speaker Paul Ryan for flinching on Trump: “…Ryan
tiptoed, floating an alternative to Donald Trump’s hatred but not mentioning the
bigoted billionaire by name … Ryan isn’t denouncing him, or even saying he won’t
support Trump.”
GOP DONORS FOCUS ON CONGRESS
Dems
being outspent for Senate races. Politico: “Republicans are outspending
Democrats in key races so far. There’s little indication that Democrats will
close the gap as Election Day approaches, and signs the chasm will grow thanks
to the longer roster of deep-pocketed outside groups on the right.”
Kochs
may abandon Trump, focus on Congress. W. Post: “A key element of the [$900M]
strategy will be a springtime wave of television ads that slam Democratic
contenders and tout Republican incumbents as attuned to hometown concerns.
Strategists hope the efforts will help inoculate congressional candidates
against association with Trump’s incendiary remarks.”.
BIDEN TO PRESS FOR GARLAND VOTE
VP
Biden to deliver Supreme Court speech. Politico: “…he’ll try to reclaim the
‘Biden rule,’ a Republican talking point drawn from the first half of a June
1992 speech he made on the Senate floor … leaving out the part of the speech in
which Biden said he’d consider supporting a consensus candidate if a spot opened
… Biden will say his record as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman should indeed
be the model: Hold a hearing, have a vote.”
GOP.
Sen Pat Toomey to meet with Garland. NYT: “…Mr. Toomey emphasized that he
had not changed his mind about opposing Judge Garland’s confirmation … In
Pennsylvania, Democrats vying to replace Mr. Toomey have sought to tie him to
more extreme Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas…”
CORINTHIAN SOCKED
Corinthian
Colleges hit with $1.2B fine. Inside Higher Ed: “The ruling came in a suit
filed by Kamala D. Harris, the California attorney general. The ruling said that
Cornithian had misled students through false statistics about job placement
rates and the unlawful use of U.S. military seals in advertisements, among other
practices. The ruling calls for Cornithian to pay $820 million to former
students and $350 million in civil penalties. It is unclear how much money
Corinthian still has.”
Progressive
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