Deficit

Progressive Groups: Polls Show Deficit Panic Is Republican Illusion

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 25, 2011, 8:41AM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

A day after House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) confirmed that cuts to Medicare are a part of deficit reduction negotiations, progressives are out with new polling they say shows Democrats falling into a Republican trap.

The fresh numbers from Ohio, Missouri, Montana and Minnesota jibe with what national polls have shown in the past: Americans are far more concerned about job creation than they are about deficit reduction. Progressives say that shows Democrats should be leaving the deficit panic to the GOP and getting back to an agenda that protects entitlements and stimulates job growth.

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Social Security

New Polling Says Overwhelming Majority Wants Social Security Left Alone

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 23, 2011, 8:44AM

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)

Ask the voters and they'll tell you: Social Security cuts are off the table when it comes to cleaning up the budget mess in Washington.

Fresh polling from Ohio, Missouri, Montana and Minnesota published first by TPM show voters in the states overwhelmingly oppose any cuts to the Social Security entitlement program, even in the name of reducing the national debt. The coalition of progressive groups which sponsored the survey say the polls send a clear message to the Democratic Senate incumbents up for reelection in each state: cut Social Security and you'll incur the wrath of an angry electorate.

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Health care lawsuits

GOP Hails Purely Symbolic Victory In Missouri's Anti-Health Care Reform Vote

Christina Bellantoni | August 4, 2010, 12:41PM

A Tea Party protester

While yesterday's vote in Missouri against national health care reform will have little substantive impact on the federal health care reform law, Republicans nonetheless are hailing it as a major victory for their side. Voters in the Show Me State overwhelmingly voted to change Missouri statutes so the mandate for insurance coverage wouldn't apply, a symbolic gesture that everyone acknowledges is highly unlikely to have any effect on the federal health care reform law (absent major and unexpected changes to established legal precedent).

But don't tell RNC Chairman Michael Steele, House Minority Leader John Boehner or former Alaska governor Sarah Palin that.

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Health care lawsuits

Missouri Voters Poised To Reject Health Care Reform, Start Legal Challenges

Christina Bellantoni | August 3, 2010, 1:07PM

Protesting the health care bill in March.

Missouri Republicans today are preparing to celebrate the success of their ballot initiative on health care reform, which asks Missourians whether they want to roll back a critical element of the new law despite significant questions about the constitutionality of doing so.

But opponents of Prop C, the Republican-engineered ballot measure dubbed the "Health Care Freedom Act" that has more political significance than legal precedent behind it, number just in the hundreds and have scant help from the state's Democrats or even Gov. Jay Nixon. The teenage leader of the opposition, in fact, is managing a Facebook campaign against the ballot measure in between his job making sandwiches at Subway.

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Health care lawsuits

Missouri Health Care Reform Foes Hope Ballot Initiative Will Start National Trend

Christina Bellantoni | July 21, 2010, 12:45PM

A Tea Party protester

The first real test of health care reform won't take place before the Supreme Court, as some Republicans have promised. Instead, it will happen in the heartland, when Missouri voters take a stand on their Republican-written ballot measure dubbed the "Health Care Freedom Act."

The actual question from the Aug. 3 Proposition C measure centers around the individual insurance mandate included in the sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system. If it passes, it would amend state statutes to deny the federal government the authority to penalize people for not buying health insurance. Boosters are campaigning on the fact that it's the "first time" voters will get a chance to weigh in on health care reform passed this spring.

Repealing health care has become a central issue in the 2010 campaigns, and one we've followed closely at TPM. If this measure passes in the über-battleground state, critics with similar state ballot initiatives may feel emboldened this fall. Among those states with similar ballot initiatives are Arizona, Florida and Indiana -- all of which also have high-profile Senate races.

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Health Care

Missouri GOP Seeks Statewide Vote On Opting Out Of New Federal Health Care Plan

Christina Bellantoni | December 10, 2009, 3:25PM

Republicans in the Missouri state legislature are trying to opt the Show Me State out of any health care changes passed by the U.S. Congress.

The St. Louis Beacon reported about State Sen. Jane Cunningham's effort to secure enough votes to put an opt-out proposal on the 2010 ballot.

"We want to shield Missouri from unconstitutional mandates,'' Cunningham said.

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