Category Archives: Republican

The top Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Committee is raising questions on whether biometric data was collected on the thousands of now-released terrorists from Bagram Air Base prison in Afghanistan, and pressing the White House on whether the location of these individuals is known.

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., told Fox News that he sent a list of questions to the White House, demanding they provide information on the exact number of prisoners released from Bagram by the Taliban, and how the administration is tracking them after the Taliban released them in August.

ISIS-K SUICIDE BOMBER WAS PRISONER RELEASED FROM BAGRAM AIR BASE, SOURCES SAY

Calvert said collection of that data is a "matter of normal procedure in theater," telling Fox News it would be "surprising" if the administration did not have that information available to "identify and track these terrorists."

"Ignoring a problem doesnt make it go away. You cant deny that these people were released, and you cant deny theyre out there," Calvert told Fox News. "It would be a deadly mistake not to confront that issue seriously and hunt these people down especially if they got into the United States."

But a senior administration official told Fox News that, broadly, the U.S. military has intelligence collection procedures in any area they have a long-term presence. The U.S. had a presence in Afghanistan for 20 years.

The official told Fox News that if an individual was housed in a U.S. military facility, their information would be in the shared interagency intelligence databases.

Calvert first told Fox News in September that the suicide bomber that killed 13 U.S. service members outside Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport in August was one of the roughly 7,000 prisoners who had been housed at Bagram prison, and released by the Taliban.

The Aug. 26 suicide bombing took the lives of 13 U.S. service members 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier. Eighteen other U.S. service members were wounded. The bombing also left more than 150 civilians dead.

AllU.S. forceswere removed from Bagram, the largest military base inAfghanistan, in July.

The Pentagon said on Aug. 27 "thousands" of ISIS-K prisoners were freed by the Taliban during their takeover of Afghanistan in the days leading up to the bombing near the Kabul airport.

Calvert is also questioning the administration's process in vetting the more than 120,000 Afghans who were evacuated from Kabul in the final days of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, saying "we have no idea who they are after the chaotic exit."

"It would not surprise me if some of these individuals from the prison got on airplanes and got to the U.S.," Calvert said.

But senior administration officials told Fox News that "every single" Afghan has had biometric data collected from them at Lily Pad bases in Europe and Asia, and again during an additional layer of screening upon arrival to U.S. bases.

"Intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionalsare coordinating a rigorous process for screening and security vetting, including reviewing fingerprints, photos, biometric and biographic data for every single Afghan before they are permitted entry into the United States," an official told Fox News, noting that the information is then run through a series of databases shared by the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, and other intelligence community agencies.

"The screening and vetting process is multi-layered and we have surged resources to evaluate each case and are working around the clock to process these reviews as efficiently as possible to protect homeland security," the official explained.

The official told Fox News that DHS has deployed approximately 400 personnel from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration, United States Coast Guard, and United States Secret Service to Bahrain, Germany, Kuwait, Italy, Qatar, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates to conduct processing, screening, and vetting in coordination with the Departments of Defense and State and other federal agencies while Afghans are still overseas.

TOP REPUBLICAN SAYS ISIS SUICIDE BOMBER WAS PRISONER RELEASED FROM BAGRAM AIR BASE, CITES INDIAN INTEL

If an individual fails the checks while they are still overseas at a Lily Pad base, the official told Fox News that individual "will not be permitted to board a flight to the United States."

The official said additional inspection is conducted when each Afghan does arrive at a U.S. port of entry, and said a secondary inspection is conducted.

"If, upon landing in the United States, further security vetting at the Port of Entry raises a concern about a person, CBP has the authority to not grant them entry into the United States," the official told Fox News, adding, though, that "those cases are rare, and they demonstrate that our robust vetting system is working to protect the homeland."

The official added that the president "takes no responsibility more seriously than keeping Americans safe," and said the administration "will use every tool we have to ensure that no known or suspected terrorists enter the United States."

Meanwhile, Calvert also warned that individuals released from Bagram could enter the U.S. along the southern border.

"I hope that doesn't happen, but, as my old man used to say, hope isn't a planning strategy," Calvert said. "We need to track these people and find out where they are at."

He added: "Unfortunately, they never should have been released."

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Top House Republican raising questions on whereabouts of released terrorists from Bagram - Fox News

Republicans continue to morph into an Extremely Online party where much of their communication only makes sense if you are steeped in meme culture and the Conservative Expanded Universe. The most interesting meme is the partys adoption of the slogan Lets Go Brandon.

Two weeks ago NASCAR driver Brandon Brown won the race at Talladega. After the race, he was being interviewed by reporter Kelli Stavast and the crowd began chanting Fuck Joe Biden. Which is a perfectly normal thing for non-political sporting event in 2021 America.

In any event, Ms. Stavast supposed the crowd was chanting Lets Go Brandon when they obviously were not. Thus was born a Republican meme.

The Lets Go Brandon meme has become a popular catchphrase used not just on Gab or MAGA merch, but by Republicans in Congress. And not just the ones youd expect, such as Lauren Boebert, but even mainstream Republicans such as Chip Roy and Ted Cruz.

They all know what it means.

The chant has also become tied to the Biden administrations proposed vaccine mandateit popped up at Southwest Airliness Dallas headquarters after the company announced it would mandate vaccination for all employees. This stance put the company further out on mandates than the Biden administration was willing to go; Southwest eventually relented and will allow non-vaccinated employees to work if they have an approved or pending religious or medical exemption and wear a mask and social distance while on the job. It is unclear if there will be a testing regimen, since Southwest is also a federal contractor. Which seems to satisfy most of the people involvedeven though this policy is not far removed from the one that Bidens not-yet-enacted federal mandate would require. And yet, somehow, Lets Go Brandon was deemed an appropriate response.

Lets Go Brandon has become such a viral koan that a rap song based on it shot up the iTunes charts as conservatives hyped it into the right-wing bloodstream. Like with Kyrie Irving and sports stars making political statements, rap music seems to be currently acquiring strange new respect.

And now we have a new entrant in the meme wars: In-N-Out burger, a beloved west coast burger chain known for its secret menu.

At its sole location in San Francisco, the local government shut down In-N-Out because the store would not comply with the citys vaccine passport mandate. The company responded:

We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government, Arnie Wensinger, the companys chief legal and business officer, said in a statement shared with The Washington Post. It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant Associates to segregate Customers into those who may be served and those who may not, whether based on the documentation they carry, or any other reason.

The chain received glowing praise from Fox News, and an outpouring of support from conservative activists on social media, including one, who want to support companies that support human rights.

Will In-N-Out become the next conservative darling of fast food, a la Chick-fil-A? Probably not. You may recall that Chick-fil-A was briefly a badge of conservative virtue signalinglike Freedom Friesthough that ended in 2019 when the company cut ties with Christian groups and opted out of the culture war. (Chick-fil-As bottom line seems to have neither benefited during its Favored Dining status nor been hurt by conservatives turning away from it after it said, No thanks.)

In-N-Out is regional, with fewer than 400 locations. And while it is California-based, the other locations are in southwestern statesand most localities dont currently have COVID protocols as aggressive as San Franciscos.

Besides which: The company has already sort of caved. While the In-N-Out spokesman told the Post that the chain is committed to the highest form of customer service, and wants unvaccinated people to be able to eat indoors at their restaurant, they have opted to reopen the San Francisco location, but with a closed dining room.

Which is the kind of response that a normal business trying to get along in a once-in-a-century pandemic would have. It is not ideal to have only take-out and drive-through dining. It is also not ideal to have 1,500 Americans dying of a communicable disease every day.

Everyone has to give a little. And most peoplemaybe not most people on Twitter, but most people nonethelessunderstand this.

Correction [10/21/21 10:06 AM]: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Southwest will require unvaccinated employees to submit to COVID-19 testing. It is unclear whether that is the case.

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Dispatch from the Republican Meme Wars - The Bulwark

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) There is still a push by Senate Republicans to audit the 2020 election nearly a year after it happened. But on Tuesday, there was pushback and it might surprise you whos behind it.

Its a drive-by and its a shot at GOP lawmakers in Pa. pushing to audit the 2020 election. But the twist?

This time its other Republicans pulling the trigger. Who are really upset as to what theyre seeing happen across the country in terms of the Republican party and their behavior, Olivia Troye said.

Troye worked in the Trump white house but now is the Director of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project, which placed the billboards. She says so-called audits perpetuate the myth of a stolen election despite all evidence to the contrary. I think that sets a dangerous precedent for where were heading as a country when you have elected officials directly lying about the reality of the election, Troye said.

Billboards for Republicans. An inflatable pig for activist Gene Stilp. Its pink but Stilp is upset at all the green thats being spent. Its gonna cost millions of dollars in taxpayer money and also there has been a secure way of election to make sure everything has been done right. Thats been done a number of times so why waste money? Stilp said.

Lots of pork for lawyers as courts decide whether the Senate has the power to audit an election. The Department of State already spent $3.1 million. That meter is still running. Add in legal fees for the Senate and Attorney General and its no doubt millions more.

We remain hopeful the case will be resolved as quickly as possible so we can continue our efforts to restore faith in our voting system, Spokesman for the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, Jason Thompson said.

Its a waste of money. The election was back in November of 2020 and were still having this conversation? Governor Wolf asked. He says there will be no audit on his watch. The most recent subpoenas that came to my administration asked for your social security number and Im not gonna give it to them Dennis.

The Republican Accountability Project has paid for billboards in several states where legislatures are trying to audit the 2020 election.

The rest is here:

Republican-backed billboards blast Republican-backed election audit in Pa. - ABC27

It's not every day when a sitting member of Congress gets criminally charged, so when an elected lawmaker announces to the public that he's expecting to face a felony charge, it's bound to get some attention.

The Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska reported this morning:

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry expects the federal government to charge him with lying to the FBI during its investigation of campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire. The nine-term Republican from Lincoln said he is being wrongly accused.

The report coincides with the release of this YouTube video, which the Nebraska Republican posted late yesterday, in which Fortenberry said: "We will fight these charges. I did not lie to [FBI investigators]."

The title of the congressman's video read, "I wanted you to hear from me first."

Though Fortenberry's controversy hasn't generated much in the way of national news, the fact that he's expecting an indictment doesn't come as a complete surprise. Roll Call reported a few weeks ago that the GOP lawmaker opened a legal expense fund in August to help pay for his legal expenses.

The online fundraising page for Fortenberry's legal expense fund said he was facing the Deep State's bottomless pockets," and went so far as to claim that President Joe Biden's FBI "is using its unlimited power to prosecute me on a bogus charge."

In reality, the controversy pre-dates Biden's election.

As the Lincoln Journal Star's report explained, it was during the Trump administration that the FBI began investigating illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent. His donations were reportedly funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016, and went to several politicians, including Fortenberry.

Members of Congress cannot, of course, accept foreign funds for their campaigns, but in this case, that's not the principal problem: The Nebraskan and his team have said they didn't realize the $30,200 in contributions he received at a Los Angeles fundraiser in 2016 came from a Nigerian billionaire. The congressman later donated the money to local charities.

Rather, based on Fortenberry's own remarks, it appears the Justice Department believes the Republican misled the FBI in 2019 as part of the investigation.

As for why a foreigner would target a relatively low-profile Nebraska congressman with illegal money, the Justice Department believes Chagoury was allegedly eyeing U.S. politicians "from less-populous states" because the money would be "more noticeable" and provide greater access.

To be sure, there are plenty of unanswered questions about the controversy. We don't have a full list of politicians the foreign donor set out to support. We don't know the identities of possible straw donors. We don't even know what Fortenberry may have lied about or why.

Nevertheless, it appears we may soon see the first charge against a sitting member of Congress since then-Republican Reps. Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter were charged a few years ago.

Update: A few hours after this post was published, Fortenberry was, in fact, charged.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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Republican congressman expects to be charged with lying to the FBI - MSNBC

Mr. Reed said that the former presidents comments about Republicans not voting should warrant a sanction from the Republican National Committee. He warned, It will impact the 2022 midterms severely.

The tension between Mr. McConnell and Mr. Trump has escalated lately, as the former president has ratcheted up his attacks on the minority leader, accusing Mr. McConnell of folding to Democrats in a recent agreement to raise the nations debt ceiling. He called for the leaders ouster in a recent interview with Fox News, saying, Mitch is not the guy.

Mr. Trumps allies did not deny that he was content to see Republicans pay the ultimate political price for what he and a significant portion of his voters saw as disloyalty.

President Trump is saying: Hey, Im putting you guys on notice. My people arent coming out, said Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief White House strategist, who has been using his podcast to further amplify Mr. Trumps false claims about the 2020 election. There could not be a bigger shot across the establishment bow.

But the harder Mr. Trumps allies push their election fraud claims, the harder it becomes to satisfy their most hard-core followers. Even Ms. Taylor Greene, who is as far-right and pro-Trump as they come in the Republican Party, cannot seem to always please the fringe. Lately, she has been feuding online with L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta attorney who helped Mr. Trump sow doubts over his loss in Georgia, over which of them truly represents the Trump movement. Mr. Wood has accused her of not doing enough to uncover instances of voter fraud. She has said that Mr. Wood is not one of us.

Such radicalization comes at a cost, said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida who is critical of the former president. At a time when the larger political trends are pointing toward trouble for the Democratic Party in 2022, he said, Mr. Trumps actions risk interfering with what should be a good environment for Republicans.

This should be a 100 percent, straight-up referendum on Biden, Mr. Jolly said. Instead, you have Trump the narcissist trying to inject himself into what should be a glide path for Republicans to an incredibly successful election, by making it all about him.

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As Trump Thunders About Last Election, Republicans Worry About the Next One - The New York Times

Texas Republicans are on the verge of enacting new voting maps that would entrench the states Republican and white majority even as its non-white population grows rapidly.

Texas Republicans approved the congressional plan on Monday evening, sending it to Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is expected to sign the measure.

The Texas maps offer perhaps the most brazen effort in the USs so far this year to draw new district lines to benefit one political party, a practice called gerrymandering. The proposed congressional map would blunt growing Democratic strength in the Texas suburbs. Texas Republicans already have a 23-13 seat advantage in the states congressional delegation and the new maps would double the number of safe GOP congressional seats in the state from 11 to 22, according to the Washington Post.

Democrats would have 12 safe seats, up from eight. There would be just one competitive congressional district in the state, down from 12.

The map also clearly blunts the growing political strength of minorities in Texas. Over the last decade, the Hispanic population has grown by nearly 2 million people in the state, while the white population increased by about 187,000 people. Ninety-five per cent of the states population growth over the last decade has come from minorities, but the proposed congressional map actually lowers the number of districts in the state where non-white people comprise a majority. There would be one additional district where whites make up a majority of voters.

You have to try real hard to draw districts that dont contemplate the 95% growth in communities of color. I mean you have to be really intentional, said Rafael Anchia, a Democrat in the Texas house who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. In district after district the voting power of minority populations was diluted over and over again.

Republicans have rushed their map proposals through the state legislature, giving the public little opportunity to have their say. Sometimes hearings were announced with just 24 hours notice, and several votes to advance the plans took place in the late hours of the night. The legislature just rammed this through, Anchia said.

Its pretty demoralizing, to be honest with you, he added. You have a rigging of the rules of the game from the last decade, that permits the majority to manipulate the rules from the redistricting process to then continue to hold on to power and deny people policy outcomes that will materially impact their lives.

Civil rights groups have already filed one federal lawsuit seeking to prevent the state from using the maps in the future. The suit, filed on Monday in federal court in San Antonio, argues that the maps violate both the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 14th amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. The maps unlawfully dilute the voting strength of Latinos, lawyers representing the plaintiffs wrote, and intentionally discriminate against them on the basis of race and national origin.

Republicans have complete control of state government in Texas, which also means they have complete control over the redistricting process. The new maps offer a clear example of how lawmakers can stop political change and virtually guarantee their re-election for the decade over which the maps are used.

The Republican effort to entrench power is clearest in the suburbs, which are the fastest-growing and some of the most diverse in the state. In several places, Republicans annexed areas with fast-growing minority populations to rural areas that are more likely to vote for GOP candidates. The tactics ensure the districts will remain reliably red.

What this map tells me is [Republicans] are not sure theyre getting white suburban voters back, so theyve decided were just going to use rural voters to neutralize the suburbs, said Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Its a strategy on full display in places like the suburbs of Dallas, which includes the 33rd congressional district.

Hispanic voters make up nearly a majority of the district, according to the Texas Tribune. But in their new map, Republicans carved out a heavily Hispanic portion of the 33rd and attached it instead to the sixth congressional district nextdoor, which stretches over 6,000 square miles all the way into rural east Texas. The Hispanic voters will be shifted from a Democratic district in which they had significant political weight to one in which white people nearly make up a majority.

A similar strategy is on display in Fort Bend county, which includes the south-west Houston suburbs. It is one of the fastest-growing and most diverse across the country nearly evenly split between whites, African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans. Democrats have been making clear gains there; Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden both carried the district in 2016 and 2020.

Under the new Republican map, some of the most Democratic-leaning areas in the county would be lumped in with already heavily Democratic districts in Houston. The remaining portion of the county will be attached to rural areas that are solidly Republican. Its a configuration that will ensure a Republican candidate can hold on to the congressional district.

Because of the supreme courts 2013 decision hollowing out the Voting Rights Act, this will be the first time since 1965 that Texas does not have to submit its maps to the federal government for approval before they go into effect. It will be a huge boon to Texas, where courts have repeatedly struck down districts as violations of the Voting Rights Act in every decade since the law went into effect.

In 2011, when Texas still had to submit its maps for pre-clearance, federal courts blocked the maps from going into effect. Later, a federal court found that the 2011 maps were passed with an intent to discriminate against minority voters.

A federal voting rights bill, the For the People Act, which is pending in the Senate, would most probably block the Texas congressional plan, Li said. The bill would allow a court to block a plan from being used if computer simulations showed the plan would result in a level of bias beyond a certain threshold in two of the four most recent US Senate and presidential elections. The Texas plan would fail in all four elections, Li said.

Democrats are set to hold a vote on the legislation on Wednesday, but Republicans are likely to block it using the filibuster, a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance legislation. There are calls for Democrats to get rid of the rule to pass voting rights legislation.

Earlier this year, Anchia and his fellow Democrats left Texas for several weeks, denying lawmakers a quorum as they sought to advance sweeping voting rights legislation. They spent that time in Washington lobbying senators to pass federal voting rights legislation.

The Senate has to act. They have to act because democracy requires it, Anchia said.

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Texas Republicans pass voting maps that entrench power of whites - The Guardian

Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, strode into the Burlington County GOP headquarters in Medford on Tuesday afternoon to chants of we back Jack as he welcomed a high-profile Republican to visit the state and back his campaign.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel declared its time New Jersey finally has a good governor by electing Ciattarelli in two weeks and kicking Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy out of office.

I dont know, I think Phil Murphy is a little bit scared right now. I think hes shaking in his boots, McDaniel said.

McDaniel slammed Murphy, who is seeking a second term in the Nov. 2 election, over New Jerseys high taxes and unemployment. She said the Garden State has a worse governor than the place she calls home, Michigan, where Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmen holds the governors office.

Peoples families are being hurt under Phil Murphy and everybody knows it, McDaniel said. This is the time where New Jersey needs to make that change.

Ciattarelli welcomed the national Republican with open arms and the largely maskless crowd that packed the county GOP headquarters cheered him in return.

Guess what, two weeks from today he can call me governor elect, Ciattarelli said, referring to Murphy. In two weeks, were swinging (the door) wide open and Im marching in as your governor.

He added: We can win this race.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks about Jack Ciattarelli in Medford, NJ on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance Media for NJ.comDave Hernandez | For NJ Advance

Ciattarelli also implored his audience not to stay home because they think the election is rigged, something the most popular member of the party, former President Donald Trump, has called for since losing to current President Joe Biden in the last presidential election.

The event occurred the same day Vice President Kamala Harris husband, Doug Emhoff, visited the state to pitch vaccines and the climate change fight.

Emhoff is the latest in a string of top Democrats to make trips to the state in recent weeks. Kamala Harris appeared with Murphy nearly two weeks ago on a similar trip, and others have campaigned with the governor: First Lady Jill Biden was here last week, along with former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

The biggest name by far for Murphy will be former President Barack Obama, who will visit in Newark on Saturday, the same day early in-person voting begins for the first time in the state.

Murphy has led Ciattarelli in all public-opinion polls so far, most by double digits, though the lead has narrowed. The most recent survey, released late last month by Stockton University, showed Murphy up by 9 percentage points.

Political observers agree the final results all come down to turnout in Democratic-heavy New Jersey, where there are more than 1 million registered Democrats than Republican voters.

Yes, he has a chance. Yes, Phil Murphy has a chance to lose, said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship.

It is coming down to turnout. Murphy and Democrats have a significant numerical advantage. But that advantage dissipates if those voters dont show up to the polls, he said. Both sides are spending these last two weeks trying to motivate and energize their identified supporters to go out and vote.

And a good way to energize the base is by bringing in big names.

As we head into final weeks, we know its going to be about base turnout, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth Polling Institute. The question is whether differing enthusiasm in each party will have an impact in the margin.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.

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Top Republican says Murphys shaking in his boots over upcoming election - NJ.com

Oct. 18, 2021 4:21 pm ET

Republican Party leaders need to woo Sen. Joe Manchin to their ranks immediately. We can ill afford to wait for the outcome of next years midterms. President Bidens proposed $3.5 trillion legislation is a malignant forced march into an unaffordable welfare state (The Entitlements of U.S. Decline, Review & Outlook, Oct. 7). Mr. Manchin has sound reasons to consider a party change. His principles are more aligned with Republican centrists, his West Virginia constituents would likely support the switch and, most important, his voting as a Republican would swing the balance of power in the Senate.

President Bidens train of abuses and usurpations, to borrow Jeffersons phrase from the Declaration of Independence, stand common sense on its head: his self-inflicted southern border crisis; his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan; his anti-fossil-fuel policies that cede our energy independence and threaten national security; his divisive claims of systemic white racism and demands for economic equality, not equality of opportunity; his Covid-19 shutdowns and vaccination mandates that threaten citizens livelihoods; and so forth.

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Why Joe Manchin Should Join the Republican Party - The Wall Street Journal

Then theres the political calculus. Several Republican governors, including Abbott in Texas, are facing primary challenges from their right. Some, like DeSantis in Florida and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, have eyes on 2024. Both of those factors are sending GOP governors scrambling to shore up support among the partys base.

That audience is front and center in all of these decisions, Republican consultant Brendan Steinhauser said.

And right now that base is anti-mandate. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that 64 percent of Republicans would prefer to vote for a candidate who encourages vaccines but that an even greater number 75 percent want a candidate who opposes mandates. A Morning Consult/POLITICO poll from August found only about 35 percent of Republicans were in favor of mandatory coronavirus vaccines.

Vaccine requirements remain very unpopular with the Republican base, GOP strategist Ryan Williams said. Any support for a vaccine mandate at this point would be damaging for any governor thinking of running for president as a Republican.

DeSantis has built a national reputation for fighting any type of Covid restrictions, including school mask mandates and efforts to force businesses to implement vaccine mandates on staff for customers.

As the Delta variant surged and DeSantis battled schools over mask mandates, his approval rating dropped below 50 percent, according to an August Quinnipiac University poll.

But DeSantis dug in. And as the Delta variant began receding and the number of new infections decreased, DeSantis saw his poll numbers nationally remain high among Republicans. A GOP poll found that DeSantis led former Vice President Mike Pence, 22-15, in a theoretical presidential matchup without former President Donald Trump on the ballot.

Now DeSantis is opening a new battle with the Biden administration over the proposed federal vaccine mandate, vowing to challenge the requirement in federal court and fining a local county $3.57 million after it ordered hundreds of its employees to be vaccinated.

We basically don't want people to be discriminated against, DeSantis told reporters this past week. This has become about politicians wanting to control people. Why would you want to see people lose their livelihoods?

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These Republicans torpedoed vaccine edicts then slipped in the polls - POLITICO

By Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, North Carolina Health News

Nearly an hour into the August meeting of Macon Countys board of commissioners, Casey Cooper approached the podium. Cooper is the CEO of the Cherokee Indian Hospital. In addition to running the hospital, Cooper serves on a handful of different boards and has three kids in other words, hes busy.

In the interest of efficiency, I will just jump right to the punchline, he began. Its my hope that at the conclusion of this presentation tonight that you will feel compelled to support a resolution to help close the coverage gap in North Carolina.

By close the coverage gap Cooper was talking about expanding Medicaid to offer health insurance to the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid right now, but dont earn enough to qualify for subsidies to buy an insurance plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

He had good reason to believe Macon County commissioners might support it. Cooper had already given the same presentation to Swain and Jackson counties Boards of Commissioners the month before, after which they unanimously passed resolutions supporting Medicaid expansion.

Jackson and Swain, both rural counties in western North Carolina, arent exactly outliers. In signing their resolutions, they joined two towns in the region, Waynesville in Haywood County and Franklin in Macon County, which already signed resolutions supporting expansion, along with Reidsville in Rockingham County, and two other rural counties Watauga and Franklin that signed their own resolutions.

Brian McMahan, the chairman of Jackson Countys Board of Commissioners, explained that he was in favor of Medicaid expansion before Cooper came to speak with the board, but he described the presentation as thorough and compelling. He said it strengthened his resolve.

We literally have people who are dying because they dont have access to health care, McMahan said. And if thats not enough reason, the fact [is] that its a job creator.

Ben Bushyhead, the chairman of Swain Countys Board of Commissioners, said the same.

We cant afford not to do it, he said. It is not a Republican-Democrat thing at all. Its what the needs are within our county and the people who need these services.

Though Swain and Jackson voted for Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election, their county commission boards are majority Democratic. Franklin and Wataugas boards were also majority Democratic at the time they passed the resolutions, while the mayors of Waynesville and Franklin were elected without party affiliations.

In North Carolina politics, the issue of Medicaid expansion usually falls along rigid partisan lines: Democrats support it, Republicans oppose it. But Cooper held steadfast to the belief that this Republican region of the state could be persuaded to depart from the party line if only someone would give residents the straight facts.

Macons board agreed to hear Coopers presentation, but gaining the countys support would perhaps pose a greater ideological challenge than Cooper faced in the other WNC counties: four Republicans and one Democrat sit on Macons Board of Commissioners. Nonetheless, he was ready to make his case.

Back in 2019, Dale Wiggins, the Republican then-chairman of Graham Countys Board of Commissioners, publicly clashed with Senate leader Republican Phil Berger (Eden) over Medicaid expansion. Graham Countys board passed a unanimous resolution supporting a bill, co-sponsored by then-Rep. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin), which would have expanded Medicaid coverage.

What we have learned is if you cut out all the political rhetoric and just get down to the real facts of this issue, which then that puts it on a human being level, its not about Republicans. Its not about Democrats, Wiggins said in a recent conversation. Its about my neighbors, your neighbors, [who] are human beings. And in 2021, people need health care.

Wiggins and Cooper began working closely together at the end of 2020 while serving on the North Carolina Council on Health Care Coverage, a bipartisan group convened by Gov. Roy Cooper tasked with studying how other states expanded health care coverage to its residents, and coming up with plans for how North Carolina might do the same.

North Carolina is one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid coverage. The Affordable Care Act originally mandated that states expand their Medicaid coverage, but a 2012 Supreme Court ruling overturned that part of the law, instead making expansion of each states Medicaid program an opt-in policy.

In order to qualify for Medicaid coverage in North Carolina today, Casey Cooper explained in an interview, If you are an adult, you have to be below 42 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify, and, I mean, thats horrible. Thats like $7,000 or $7,300 a year.

If youre a mama with two babies and its not uncommon, right, to be a single mom with two babies you dont qualify for Marketplace subsidies until you get to $21,000 a year, Cooper said. If you make between $9,000 and $21,000 a year, you cant get coverage.

People who work full-time minimum wage jobs in North Carolina fall squarely into this gap. State minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, meaning someone working 40-hours a week would bring home $14,500 before taxes.

Expansion would open up eligibility to workers with and without children earning below 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($23,791 for a family of two).

In North Carolina, there are about a million nonelderly people who are uninsured, according to a 2020 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Were the state to expand Medicaid, between 400,000 and 626,000 of those people would become eligible for coverage. A good chunk of those people live in Western North Carolina.

Cooper said it was overwhelmingly clear that rural North Carolinians and their health systems would benefit from expansion. As he and Wiggins began planning how to get the message out, the advocacy coalition Care4Carolina also got involved.

In March Brittney Lofthouse, engagement coordinator in WNC for Care4Carolina, joined Cooper and Wiggins on a Medicaid expansion information panel held at Southwestern Community College.

I lost my dad to cancer in 2013. And one of the biggest reasons why we lost him as quick as we did was he didnt have health insurance, so he couldnt get treatment for his cancer, said Lofthouse, a Sylva native.

For decades, studies have found that people who are uninsured are far more likely to die from cancer than those with insurance. Lofthouses father died just a month before she gave birth to her first child.

We wanted to focus on how else other families in western North Carolina could be impacted, she said. Knowing that I lost my dad to cancer, and I knew that not having insurance was a primary factor in that, we wanted to see what we could do to kind of bolster that support in the west and kind of dispel a lot of those myths.

They imagined that by addressing each county individually they could tease out the specific data that might persuade people, regardless of their party affiliation, such as how many more people would gain coverage, how many jobs would be created, how much money the counties might save on things like health care for people in jail awaiting pretrial detention, and more.

Cooper gives essentially the same presentation to each county. He begins with context about who conducted and who funded the research hes about to present Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the task force on coverage expansion that he sits on.

He follows with a disclaimer: This data has been shared pretty widely across the state and to my knowledge has not been contested or questioned by anybody.

Then, he customizes his presentation with county specific facts.

While making his case to Macon County this summer, Cooper said about 21.7 percent of your working, nonelderly adults are uninsured, and closing the coverage gap could lead to providing coverage for about 1,300 of your citizens, create about 62 jobs and about $169,000 in county revenues, and about $10 million a year in new business activity.

Then Cooper goes through the myths about expansion.

One of the misconceptions about closing the coverage gap is that the folks that are uninsured are too triflin to work, and its simply not true. The data clearly demonstrates that the majority of folks that are uncovered are working, he told the Macon commissioners. Unfortunately, theyre working and theyre working poor.

Cooper points out that many of the uninsured in the western part of the state are white people, mothers and veterans.

Most of the time, its mamas who are taking care of babies who still have Medicaid, they got their babies covered, theyre getting well child visits for the babies, but these mamas are going without coverage, he said.

Cooper argues that expanded coverage would help rural hospitals by decreasing the number of uninsured people who use the health care services, but arent able to pay their bills. Uninsured patients overusing the emergency room often put rural hospital budgets in the red.

The more folks you can bring into your system that have health insurance coverage, the more people that you can use to offset the loss youre going to have from the uncompensated care, Cooper said.

Then, he gets to the biggest sticking point for many: Theres another misconception that the state of North Carolina cant afford [Medicaid expansion].

Over the next three years, Cooper explains, the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage in the state is estimated to cost about $5 billion. Federal law guarantees that the federal government pays 90% of the cost of expansion beneficiaries indefinitely, leaving the state to cover about $500 million over the next three years.

The state has identified a number of ways to foot its 10% of the bill, he said. Options include premium tax collections on the health care entities now providing coverage through the states Medicaid transformation program, taxes on hospital assessments, and money the state will no longer need to spend on uninsured people.

Now is exactly the right time for North Carolina to expand because there is an additional $1.7 billion worth of incentives for the state of North Carolina if it expands Medicaid, he told the commissioners.

In an effort to convince the 12 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid to do so, the federal government is offering to increase their contribution to each states program by 5%. In 2022, the federal government will pay almost 74% of North Carolinas Medicaid cost, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. If the state expanded, the federal government would pay 79% of the cost for those already enrolled in the program, and 90% of the cost of coverage for those newly added.

On your regular Medicaid, that increase by 5% is estimated to be $1.7 billion over the eight quarters following expansion. And that $1.7 billion has been estimated to cover the state share for six years. That gives the hospitals and the health plans six years to ramp up and to be able to pay the assessments, Cooper said.

Not only is it affordable, this is exactly the right time for the state to do it.

After a few minutes of discussion and questions, the Macon County Board of Commissioners set the resolution to a vote. It passed, 4-1.

Republican commissioner Paul Higdon, the sole no, said at the meeting he thought Coopers presentation was good and compelling, but that the commissioners were the wrong audience for it, considering its a policy voted on at the state level.

Those who voted in favor of Medicaid expansion resolutions disagree.

McMahan, the chairman of Jackson Countys Board of Commissioners, said, It sends a message to the state government to say, We feel like its important for our community, for our area.

Im here. I live and work in the district Sometimes theres this sense of disconnect. [State and federal representatives] dont really have the connections that local people have, McMahan said. I think having that recommendation coming from a local government entity carries some weight.

If you can get all 100 counties in our state to speak with one voice, its probably the most powerful thing you can have, concurred Macon County Commissioner Ronnie Beale. If you get the 548 County Commissioners pulled in one direction, you can get about anything you want passed.

Following Macon Countys yes-vote, Cooper gave his presentation to the commissioners in Haywood, Clay and Cherokee counties. Majority Republican Clay County passed a unanimous resolution in support of expansion last week.

Cherokee Countys board has not yet voted on the resolution, and no commissioners responded to requests for comment.

Kevin Ensley, the Republican chairman of Haywood Countys Board of Commissioners, said he does not plan to put the resolution to a vote.

I mean, I support it. And I think another one of my commissioners does, but I got three more that are a little uncomfortable with it, I guess, he said. Im not ready to put it on the agenda to vote on because I dont think itll pass.

Jennifer Best and Tommy Long are two of the hesitant Haywood County commissioners. Best is an insurance agent. She hasnt sold health insurance for a few years, but when she did she saw many people who fell in the coverage gap.

They deserve coverage, too, but I just dont know who pays for it, Best said.

The funding of the program is also what gives Long pause, though he complimented the presentation.

His comments were well taken and his points about the impoverished western counties health care needs sobering, he said, Certain counties here in the mountains and the Eastern Band have circumstances that limited Medicaid expansion would certainly help.

The Raleigh News and Observer reported in early October that Senate leader Berger indicated behind closed doors that he was open to negotiations involving expansion. However, in a statement last week, Bergers office maintained the senators opinion has not changed, and that he believes Medicaid expansion is bad policy.

At the federal level, legislators are considering offering Marketplace subsidies for residents in non-expansion states who make up to 138% of the federal poverty line and providing coverage through a federal Medicaid program.

In the meantime, Coopers presentations and the votes on local resolutions chug on. At the end of September, Brevard, the largest town in Transylvania County, signed a resolution supporting expansion. Monday evening, Cooper is set to make his case before the Transylvania County Commission.

Story note: A representative for Care4Carolina is quoted in this story. Care4Carolina pays for a sponsorship on NC Health News website.

Correction: This story initially said Medicaid expansion would open eligibility for those making 100% to 138% of the federal poverty rate. Medicaid expansion would open eligibility for anyone making up to 138% of the federal poverty rate.

North Carolina Health News is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina. Visit NCHN at northcarolinahealthnews.org.

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From NC Health News: Six Republican counties in WNC pledged their support for Medicaid expansion. What's changed? - Mountain Xpress