Politics

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, May 11, the 131st day of 2022. There are 234 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 11, 2010, Conservative leader David Cameron, at age 43, became Britain’s youngest prime minister in almost 200 years after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government.

On this date:

In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant (STY’-veh-sunt) arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded during a banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

In 1946, the first CARE packages, sent by a consortium of American charities to provide relief to the hungry of postwar Europe, arrived at Le Havre, France.

In 1953, a tornado devastated Waco, Texas, claiming 114 lives.

In 1960, Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the “Pentagon Papers” case came to an end as Judge William M. Byrne dismissed all charges, citing government misconduct.

In 1981, legendary reggae artist Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital at age 36.

In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.

In 1998, India set off three underground atomic blasts, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. A French mint produced the first coins of Europe’s single currency, the euro.

In 2020, Twitter announced that it would add a warning label to tweets containing disputed or misleading information about the coronavirus. Jerry Stiller, best known for his role as George Costanza’s father in “Seinfeld” and earlier as part of a comedy duo with wife Anne Meara, died at 92.

Ten years ago: A Chicago jury convicted Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson’s former brother-in-law, William Balfour, of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. (Balfour was sentenced to life in prison.)

Five years ago: President Donald Trump signed an executive order launching a commission to review alleged voter fraud and voter suppression, building upon his unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election. (Trump disbanded the commission in January 2018 amid infighting and refusals by numerous states to cooperate.)

One year ago: The confrontation between Israel and Hamas, sparked by weeks of tensions in Jerusalem, escalated; Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza while the Israeli city of Tel Aviv came under fire from a barrage of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. The Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River was closed after authorities said they found a crack in the span linking Arkansas and Tennessee. (The bridge remained closed for nearly three months.) More than 1,000 gas stations in the Southeast reported running out of fuel, primarily because of what analysts said was unwarranted panic-buying among drivers, as the shutdown of a major pipeline by hackers entered its fifth day. Stage and screen actor Norman Lloyd, known for his role as a kindly doctor on TV’s “St. Elsewhere,” died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 106; his career had earlier put him in the company of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and other greats.

Today’s Birthdays: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is 89. Jazz keyboardist Carla Bley is 86. Rock singer Eric Burdon (The Animals; War) is 81. Actor Pam Ferris is 74. Former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly is 72. Actor Shohreh Aghdashloo (SHOH’-reh ahg-DAHSH’-loo) is 70. Actor Frances Fisher is 70. Sports columnist Mike Lupica is 70. Actor Boyd Gaines is 69. Actor Martha Quinn is 63. Actor Tim Blake Nelson is 58. Actor Jeffrey Donovan is 54. Actor Nicky Katt is 52. Actor Coby Bell is 47. Cellist Perttu Kivilaakso (PER’-tuh KEE’-wee-lahk-soh) is 44. Actor Austin O’Brien is 41. Actor-singer Jonathan Jackson is 40. Rapper Ace Hood is 34. Latin singer Prince Royce is 33. Actor Annabelle Attanasio (TV: “Bull”) is 29. Musician Howard Lawrence (Disclosure) is 28.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-leaning states of Nebraska and West Virginia will hold primary elections on May 10 for the U.S. House of Representatives and other offices.

Following are notable races that could help shape the Nov. 8 midterm elections when Republicans hope to win control of the U.S. Congress.

WEST VIRGINIA’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

The race between two incumbent Republican U.S. representatives could be another test of the power of former President Donald Trump’s endorsements. Polls suggest a tight race between Alex Mooney, who is backed by Trump, and David McKinley, who was endorsed by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.

The two incumbents are facing one another because West Virginia is losing a House seat due to a shrinking population. The winner of the nomination contest will likely win in November as the district is solidly Republican.

NEBRASKA GOVERNORSHIP

Trump’s endorsement power gets another test in the Republican gubernatorial primary in Nebraska, where Trump-backed Charles Herbster was recently accused by several women, including a state senator, of groping them. Herbster, a farming executive, has denied the allegations.

While recent public opinion polls have largely come from political campaigns rather than independent pollsters, they have pointed to a potentially competitive race between Herbster and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen, who has been endorsed by the departing Republican governor and the Farm Bureau.

The November contest is seen as an easy win for Republicans.

NEBRASKA 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Centered around Omaha, the state’s largest city, the 2nd district is seen as a potentially competitive race in November and has been held by Republican Don Bacon since 2017.

While Bacon is not expected to face stiff internal competition in May, the Democratic Party primary pits state Senator Tony Vargas against mental health practitioner Alisha Shelton. Vargas has touted his support for banning assault rifles while Shelton has pledged to help improve access to voting.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Voters in Republican-leaning Nebraska and West Virginia go to the polls on Tuesday to pick candidates for U.S. Congress and other state races, with multiple matchups again testing former President Donald Trump’s sway with voters.

The contests are part of a series of primaries that will set the stage for Nov. 8 elections in which Republicans are favored to win control of at least one chamber of Congress, which would give them the power to bring Democratic President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda to a halt.

Trump has endorsed more than 150 candidates this year as he lays the groundwork for a possible presidential bid in 2024, among them “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, who secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Ohio last week. He has also endorsed in high-profile Senate primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia later this month.

In Nebraska, Trump has endorsed business executive Charles Herbster in the governor’s race, even though several women have accused him of sexual harassment, a charge he denies. Herbster faces Jim Pillen, a hog farmer and university board member who has drawn the backing of the current governor and many other political figures in the Midwestern farm state.

In West Virginia, Trump has endorsed Representative Alex Mooney, a conservative who has backed the former president’s false accusations of fraud in the 2020 election, over Representative David McKinley, a centrist who is backed by Governor Jim Justice.

McKinley was one of 13 House Republicans to vote for Joe Biden’s infrastructure package, which will send billions of dollars in new spending for roads, bridges and other projects to the low-income state.

The unusual race pits two incumbents against each other, as the state lost a congressional seat due to its shrinking population. The winner of the primary contest is likely to win re-election in November in a new district that encompasses the northern half of the state.

In Nebraska, the race to succeed retiring Republican Governor Pete Ricketts has centered around accusations that Herbster had groped multiple women in recent years. Herbster has denied the charges and filed a defamation lawsuit against one of the accusers, state Senator Julie Slama. Slama has filed a countersuit alleging battery.

Trump, who also faces multiple accusations of harassment and sexual assault, said at a May 1 rally that he believed Herbster is innocent.

At that rally, Trump also urged his supporters to “vote like hell” against Republican Representative Don Bacon, who has criticized Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump said he backed challenger Steve Kuehl. The winner of that primary contest will face a competitive November election in the Omaha-based district against the Democratic nominee, either Tony Vargas or Alisha Shelton.

Also in Nebraska, Republican voters in the eastern part of the state will pick a nominee to succeed former Representative Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned in March after being convicted of lying to federal investigators about illegal campaign contributions.

State senator Mike Flood is favored to win that contest, which would put him in line for victory in November in the solidly Republican district. Flood has already won the Republican endorsement for a June 28 special election to fill Fortenberry’s vacant seat through January 2023.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic Del. Danica Roem, who made history as an openly transgender candidate in her initial bid for state office, announced Monday she is jumping into a 2023 race for an open northern Virginia state Senate seat.

In an interview, Roem said she did not expect a primary challenger in her bid to represent the competitive, newly redrawn 30th Senate District, which encompasses part of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, partly overlapping with Roem’s current district.

Roem’s mix of legislative experience, fundraising ability and her national profile will make her a formidable candidate in a year when Democrats will be looking to defend or expand their 21-19 Senate majority. So far only one Republican, former Manassas city council member Ian Lovejoy, has gotten in the race.

“I will not be outspent, I will not be out-organized, I will not be out-hustled,” she said.

With the news, the 37-year-old former journalist became the latest candidate to firm up plans for next year, when every seat in the House and Senate will be on the ballot. Thanks to last year’s redistricting process, the election cycle could result in a significant reshuffling the General Assembly’s membership.

Lawmakers must live in the district they represent, and the new lines were drawn without concern for incumbents’ addresses. The result was some lawmakers being doubled or tripled in a single district while other districts were left open.

Roem said she recently moved to an address that’s in both her current House district, as well as the 30th Senate District. An analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project shows the new 30th has leaned Democratic in recent years but Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin lost it by less than four points last fall.

A former reporter who covered the region before running to represent it, Roem has made local transportation issues and expanding access to school meals a focus of her time in office and said Monday she would continue doing so.

“My slogan this campaign is ‘fixing roads, feeding kids,’” she said.

Roem also said she would continue to advocate for LGTBQ rights, emphasizing in a video announcing her candidacy a wave of legislation in Republican-controlled states focused on LGBTQ youth.

Roem became the only openly transgender state legislator in the U.S. in 2018 and the first to both get elected and take office after defeating one of Virginia’s longest serving and most socially conservative lawmakers.

She was reelected in 2019 and 2021 by wide margins.

In her announcement, Roem acknowledged a pending lawsuit from a Democratic activist that seeks to force new House elections this year. The lawsuit argues that because last year’s House elections were held under old legislative boundaries because of pandemic-related delays in census results, members should run again sooner under the new lines.

Asked whether she thought delegates should have to run again this year, Roem said only that she would be “ready either way” and would seek reelection in the fall if the judge orders elections.

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By Tim Reid

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Laura Wilson is a mother of three who lives in the sprawling suburbs of north Phoenix, a hotly contested electoral area of Arizona that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate after November’s congressional elections.

Wilson, 61, is pro-choice, voted for Democratic President Joe Biden, and knew all about the news last week that the U.S. Supreme Court is likely poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision giving women the right to an abortion.

Yet Wilson said she is undecided about who she will vote for this November, and abortion rights are not a priority for her.

“It’s the economy and jobs,” Wilson said. She said she was disappointed in Biden, because of high inflation and “too many homeless people on the streets.”

Wilson was one of 21 women interviewed by Reuters in the northern suburbs of Phoenix – a key area for Democratic Senator Mark Kelly’s efforts to hold onto his seat – after news of the Supreme Court draft ruling broke. Most of the women said inflation, not abortion, was the galvanizing issue for them.

Significantly, the interviewees were from a key swing demographic group – suburban mothers – who are hotly sought after by both Democrats and Republicans in elections.

The interviews, while not a large sample, provide a sobering reminder for Democrats that inflation – which has reached 40-year highs – remains the most pressing issue for most Americans, who are grappling with soaring food and fuel costs and have given Biden low marks in opinion polls for his economic policies.

`MAJOR, MAJOR ISSUE`

Democrats, who face stiff headwinds to keep their razor-thin majority in the U.S. Congress, seized on the bombshell leak of the draft majority opinion from the country’s top court that said states should decide abortion access.

Democrats said they hoped it would help to mobilize Democratic voters, especially women, in an election year where the party has struggled to counter the enthusiasm of Republicans, who are widely seen winning at least the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.

Arizona is one of a handful of toss-up Senate races this November that will decide control of the upper chamber now controlled by Democrats. It is one of more than 20 Republican-run states where there would be an almost immediate ban on many abortions if the Supreme Court decides to overturn the Roe decision. A ruling is expected in June.

Maria Alvarez, 46, a mother and a realtor, said she is pro-choice, but “I really don’t have a strong opinion on it.” She wants politicians who will take care of pocketbook issues. She had just completed a grocery shop that cost her $400, twice what she used to pay a year ago.

Of the 21 women interviewed by Reuters, five said they were pro-life and Republican, while 16 said they were pro-choice. Just two of the 16 said the issue was the top priority for them when voting this November, while half of the 16 were undecided about who to vote for in the Senate race because of concerns about the economy. The other half said they would likely vote Democrat.

The women all live in the northern suburbs of Phoenix, a densely populated part of Maricopa County, Arizona’s biggest county. Those suburbs had leaned Republican but in recent election cycles have become more evenly split and are a target for both parties.

Christy Johnson, 51, described herself as an independent voter. She voted for former Republican President Donald Trump in 2020 but has voted for Democrats. Abortion rights are important to her but inflation is a “major, major issue” for her, along with climate change.

Sherica Bailey, 33, got tearful talking about her two abortions. She is now adamantly opposed to abortion and says she will vote Republican and for any candidate who is pro-life.

“I do support the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I had abortions during a very dark time in my life. I was naive and stupid,” she said.

Polls show most Americans support a woman’s right to an abortion. A majority of Americans – roughly 70% – believe abortion should be legal in most cases, polls say.

PARTIES MOBILIZE

Democrats and Republicans are already mobilizing around the issue, sending out fund-raising emails and mailers, knocking on doors and making ads.

Last week, the Arizona Democratic Party held a news conference outside the Arizona State Capitol, with a focus on Kelly’s re-election bid and the threat to abortion rights from his Republican challengers.

“This fall it is absolutely critical that we elect pro-choice candidates,” said Rebecca Rios, the top Democrat in the Arizona Senate.

Still, a spokesperson for Kelly’s Senate office appeared to acknowledge in a statement to Reuters that inflation remains the elephant in the room for most voters.

“Arizonans know they can count on Kelly to continue his work to protect access to abortion, lower costs for hardworking families, and get our economy back on track – at the same time,” spokesperson Sarah Guggenheimer said.

Kelly will discover his opponent after a Republican primary vote on Aug. 2. One challenger, Blake Masters, told Reuters: “Progressive activists were hoping they could gin up some abortionist outrage, but that has backfired.”

Two other leading Republican Senate hopefuls, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and businessman Jim Lamon – both abortion opponents – did not respond to a request for comment.

Stu Rothenberg, a non-partisan political analyst, said it was not clear the abortion issue will be a game changer for Democrats this November.

“The biggest issue is still inflation and the economy,” he said.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Ross Colvin and Andrea Ricci)

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HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston conservative activist charged with unlawful restraint and aggravated assault had asked a U.S. attorney in Texas to provide federal marshals to help his private investigator seize what were believed to be fraudulent voter ballots from an air conditioner repairman’s vehicle.

A transcript of a phone call from Dr. Steven Hotze to then U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick filed in district court in Houston says Hotze told Patrick of plans by private investigator Mark Aguirre to cause the repairman’s vehicle to crash and for Aguirre to make a citizen’s arrest.

Aguirre has also been charged with the same offenses and both men have said through their attorneys that they did nothing wrong. Patrick, now in private practice, declined comment. Both men are out on bail.

Aguirre had hoped to seize what was believed were thousands of fraudulent voter ballots, but the vehicle carried only tools, prosecutors have said.

Then-President Donald Trump and others falsely claimed there was massive voter fraud in the November 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

“He (Aguirre) needs to have a federal marshal with him,” Hotze said, according to the transcript of the Oct. 17, 2020 phone call. “He doesn’t want to get (the) Houston Police Department, he said all the evidence would disappear.”

The Texas Attorney General’s office was not helping, the transcript said and the county sheriff’s office could not be trusted “obviously because they’re Democrats.”

Ryan replied that no federal agents worked for his office.

“I can’t just send marshals … the marshals don’t work for me,” Ryan said, according to the document.

Hotze’s attorney, Jared Woodfill, said in a statement to KTRK-TV that Hotze is innocent.

“The Ryan Patrick tape further demonstrates that the indictment of Dr. Hotze was politically motivated and that Dr. Hotze is innocent of any criminal or civil wrongdoing. We look forward to proving Dr. Hotze’s innocence,” according to the statement.

Aguirre’s attorney, Terry Yates, also denied wrongdoing by Aguirre. “This is a political prosecution that is utterly baseless in fact or law,” Yates said.

Aguirre allegedly slammed his vehicle into the back of the repairman’s vehicle two days after the phone call, drew a weapon and ordered the man to the ground and put a knee on his back, according to prosecutors.

Aguirre was paid $266,400 to conduct the investigation by the Houston-based nonprofit Liberty Center for God and Country, whose CEO is Hotze, police have said. The group says on its website that it protects and promote citizens’ “God-given, unalienable Constitutional rights and liberties.”

Hotze, a conservative power broker, unsuccessfully sued to stop the extension of early voting in Texas for this year’s election. He also sued officials in Harris County to limit in-person and absentee voting, making allegations without evidence that Democrats were engaged in “ballot harvesting” by gathering votes from individuals who are homeless or elderly.

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By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON Reuters) -U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene should be allowed to run for reelection, Georgia’s secretary of state ruled on Friday, rejecting arguments by a group of voters that her comments about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol made her unfit for federal office.

Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger issued a final decision upholding the findings of Charles Beaudrot Jr., an administrative law judge in Atlanta. Free Speech for People, the group spearheading the legal challenge, vowed to appeal the decision to the Georgia Superior Court.

“In this case, Challengers assert that Representative Greene’s political statements and actions disqualify her from office,” Raffensperger said in his decision. “That is rightfully a question for the voters of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.”

Greene, a prominent supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump, is seeking reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives from a Georgia district. The Republican primary is scheduled on May 24 and the general election on Nov. 8.

In comments to the media, she has played down and justified the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol assault by Trump supporters in their failed bid to block congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“Democrats know they can’t beat me at the ballot box, so left-wing Communist activists tried to RIP my name off the ballot. And they failed,” Greene said in a statement. “This assault on our Constitution confirmed what we already knew: Democrats hate our system of free and fair elections.”

“Marjorie Taylor Greene helped facilitate the January 6 insurrection, and under the Constitution, she is disqualified from future office,” Free Speech for People said.

In a novel legal challenge, the Georgia group accused Greene of violating a U.S. Constitution provision called the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause by supporting an incendiary rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.

The constitutional clause, added after the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s, prohibits politicians from running for Congress if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort” to the nation’s enemies.

Trump at the preceding rally told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” repeating his false claims that the election was stolen through widespread voter fraud. The Trump supporters attacked police, ransacked parts of the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding for their own safety.

“I was asking people to come for a peaceful march, which everyone is entitled to do,” Greene told the judge at an April hearing on the effort to block her from the ballot. “I was not asking them to actively engage in violence.”

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Leslie Adler, Chizu Nomiyama Cynthia Osterman and David Gregorio)

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will set a mininum annual pay for its staff at $45,000, months after a non-profit report found that over 12% of congressional staffers did not have a living wage.

“I am pleased to announce that ….. the House will for the first time ever set the minimum annual pay for staff at $45,000,” Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers dated Friday.

The step would go into effect from September, she added.

A report from a non-profit earlier this year found that one in eight congressional staffers in Washington, DC, are not paid a living wage.

The report had compared staff salaries in Congress to the living wage in Washington, D.C., which is $42,610 for an adult without children, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In her letter on Friday, Pelosi also acknowledged that young staffers “often earn the lowest salaries.” The letter was first reported by Punchbowl News.

“This is also an issue of fairness, as many of the youngest staffers working the longest hours often earn the lowest salaries”, Pelosi said.

Last year, over 100 U.S. lawmakers, led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had called for higher wages for congressional staffers in order to better retain employees working for members of Congress.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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By Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers attempting to cut the cost of insulin for more than a million Americans to $35 per month are unlikely to succeed as November elections draw near and complicate bipartisan support, health policy and political experts say.

The U.S. House of Representatives in March passed a bill capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs for those with health insurance at $35. Senators are drafting a wider bill that also provides incentive for drugmakers to lower list prices.

Both houses must pass the same legislation for it to move forward.

The Democratic-backed legislation was once seen as likely to garner the support it needed because it sidestepped requiring drug companies to cut prices, which the pharmaceutical industry would have fought. Some Republicans have said they support drug pricing reform.

Health policy experts, pharmaceutical industry sources, patient advocates and Congressional staffers told Reuters that insulin legislation faces significant obstacles. Some said Democrats were still hoping to get support from 10 Republicans needed in the Senate to pass the bill.

“As we inch closer and closer to the summer and to the election, it seems like there may not be a lot of appetite to potentially give Democrats a win going into the elections,” said Ipsita Smolinski, managing director at research firm Capitol Street.

Around 8.4 million of the 37 million people in the United States with diabetes use insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association.

About one-in-five insured Americans pay more than $35 per month for the treatment, while the rest pay about $23 dollars per month, according to a 2021 report on drug prices by health information company IQVIA. Monthly out-of-pocket costs for insulin are already capped by 20 states and the District of Columbia. In nine of those states and D.C., the cap is $35 or lower, the ADA said.

The bill would help the estimated 1.7 million people who have private insurance or Medicare coverage and pay more than $35 a month for insulin because of their location, the design of their insurance plan, or the specific insulin they need.

Laura Marston, co-founder of advocacy group The Insulin Initiative, said the bill would only have lowered the co-pays for about 20% of diabetes patients, and that her organization will continue to battle for lower list prices.

“From my perspective, it’s not a setback in our fight to cap the price, not just the co-pay, of insulin for all,” she said.

About 17% of insulin users ages 18 to 64, or some 5 million to 6 million people, were uninsured or had a gap in coverage, according to a 2020 Commonwealth Fund study. Two thirds of that group paid the full price – an average of $900 a month – for the life-sustaining medicine.

That has left many people rationing or skipping insulin doses, endangering their health.

PHRMA VS AHIP

The legislation has the support of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry trade group, and insulin makers. Three companies, Sanofi SA, Eli Lilly and Co, and Novo Nordisk make up 90% of the market for insulin, which was invented in the 1920s.

“A $35 co-pay cap is an elegant policy solution to help people afford their insulin,” said Eli Lilly executive Shawn O’Neail.

Insurers would have to pass the after-market discounts they receive from drugmakers to patients rather than integrating them in the monthly premium price for everyone, O’Neail and other industry sources said.

AHIP, the health insurance industry’s largest trade group, said capping the co-pays would result in a cost shift that would result in higher insurance premiums.

CVS Health Corp, Cigna Corp, and UnitedHealth Group Inc are among the largest managers of pharmacy and health insurance benefits.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that setting that $35 co-pay would cost the U.S. government $20 billion over 10 years as premiums in government-sponsored Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid plans rise.

Higher private insurance premiums also would lead to lower wages and therefore lower tax revenue, the CBO said.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — One contender thinks West Virginia voters will see the value of federal spending on badly needed infrastructure in one of the nation’s poorest regions. The other is betting that loyalty to former President Donald Trump will matter more.

The May 10 primary in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District between Republican Reps. Alex Mooney and David McKinley will be a barometer of Trump’s clout in a state that wholeheartedly embraced him in two presidential elections.

The two incumbents were pitted against each other after population losses cost West Virginia a U.S. House seat. The divergent paths they’ve chosen as congressmen could give Republican candidates nationally an early sense of what resonates with hardcore conservative voters in 2022.

The contest comes during an intensifying stretch of the midterm election season as Trump aims to solidify his influence over the GOP. His preferred candidate in this week’s Ohio Republican primary, JD Vance, easily dispatched other rivals, but potentially tougher tests for the former president lie ahead this month in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.

Enthusiasm for Trump remains high in West Virginia, where he prevailed in every county in 2016 and 2020, winning more than two-thirds of the state’s voters. But West Virginians are also desperate to see upgrades in a state that consistently ranks among the worst in the nation for infrastructure. The state’s rugged landscape is rife with failing bridges and crumbling roads, and thousands of its citizens live without access to safe drinking water or internet.

Trump has made his position clear, endorsing Mooney on the day President Joe Biden signed the infrastructure bill into law. He’s repeatedly condemned McKinley and 12 other House Republicans for voting with the Democrats for Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, saying, “Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves.”

Mooney, a 50-year-old former Maryland state senator who moved to West Virginia to run for Congress in 2014 and is West Virginia’s first Hispanic congressman, has doubled down on Trump’s attacks. He called McKinley a RINO, or “Republican in Name Only,” and a sellout who betrayed his constituents. But the 75-year-old McKinley, a seventh-generation West Virginian and a civil engineer by trade, says the state’s infrastructure problems are too severe for anyone to be “playing party politics.”

“There’s no question that was the right vote,” he said, noting the state’s “D” infrastructure grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers. “West Virginia was rated last. Any commonsense, reasonable person would say, ‘You got a problem, fix it.’ I think it would have been a betrayal to do otherwise.”

The infrastructure vote earned McKinley the endorsement of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, a fervent Trump supporter who said his infrastructure vote took “courage,” as well as other government officials vying for infrastructure improvements, some of which are starting to take shape on the ground in West Virginia.

Paul Howe, president of the Clarksburg Water Board in Harrison County in northern West Virginia, called McKinley’s infrastructure bill vote “tremendous” and said his community desperately needs to replace lead service lines.

In July, the municipal water system was placed under an administrative order by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after three children were diagnosed with high lead blood levels. A subsequent study found that 4,000 customers have lead service lines. Replacing them would cost an estimated $52 million or more — a large burden on any small city.

Howe said McKinley worked with city officials to provide residents with bottled water and filters and complete an engineering study on replacing the lines. The congressman has traveled to Clarksburg repeatedly to tour the water plant and strategize about how to apply for infrastructure money.

Howe said he likes both congressmen, but given the circumstances, Mooney’s attacks on McKinley for his infrastructure vote helped make the choice clear.

“It’s hard to defend that,” he said. “If the government can do one thing right, it’s reinvest in infrastructure.”

Still, many of the infrastructure improvements that are expected to take place over the next few years won’t be visible to West Virginians right away. Meanwhile, Trump’s popularity in the state remains palpable.

“If you drive through West Virginia today, you’d think the (2020) election is still going on,” Mooney said in an interview. “There’s Trump flags everywhere. Trump signs — anti-Biden signs. It means a lot to voters.”

Voter Ron Howell, a manager for a lumber company from Buckhannon, said his decision to support Mooney is “50% Trump” and 50% McKinley’s decision to vote with Democrats.

“He supported President Donald Trump, whom I voted for and would again in a heartbeat,” he said. “I feel like McKinley is a RINO and supports much of the left’s agenda, and I don’t want that for my state.”

During their time representing West Virginia in Congress during Trump’s last two years of presidency, Mooney and McKinley voted together 87% of the time. But Mooney says there’s a consistent pattern of McKinley voting with Democrats on big votes, including his support for the creation of a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

In Harrison County, where Clarksburg is, 20-year-old Drew Harbert said he thinks that will lose McKinley more voters than supporting infrastructure.

“I don’t think people take it very kindly that he voted for that,” said Harbert, a Fairmont State University student and president of the Harrison County Young Republicans. “I think that will definitely hurt McKinley probably more than anything else that he’s done.”

Harbert said he knows infrastructure repairs are needed in the state, but said he has serious concerns about the rising national debt and believes it was irresponsible for McKinley to vote for a bill with such a big price tag.

Harbert said Trump’s endorsement bolstered his decision to back Mooney, but it was far from the only reason. He wanted a candidate who will defend gun owners’ rights. McKinley has supported red-flag laws, which permit law enforcement or family members to petition a court to remove firearms from someone who presents a possible danger to themselves or others.

McKinley, who says he voted with Trump over 90% of the time when he was in office, said he believes Mooney has misled voters about his vote on the infrastructure bill. He cited a Mooney campaign ad that attacks him for “backing Biden for a trillion-dollar spending spree,” but mentions infrastructure only in printed text.

Howell, the lumber company manager, said he thought McKinley voted for Biden’s Build Back Better plan — a proposal McKinley vehemently opposed — and initially cited that vote as a reason for supporting Mooney. After doing more research on McKinley’s voting record, he said the congressman voted the way he would have most of the time. But he said he couldn’t forgive McKinley for his Jan. 6 and infrastructure votes.

“I wish we were in different times and I could be nonpartisan, but the Democrats have made that impossible,” he said.

Nate Orders, a bridge-building contractor who is president of the Contractors Association of West Virginia, said there’s a lot of hypocrisy in criticisms of the infrastructure bill and the Republicans who voted for it. Trump supporters were on board with infrastructure spending when the former president introduced his $2 trillion proposal, which Democrats blocked.

“If Alex Mooney wins, it’s another sign that our democracy continues down the road to dysfunction, where all that matters is party politics,” he said. “If David McKinley wins, it shows me a little bit of hope that even though we can agree or disagree on some big issues, we can also agree on the things that really make a difference to Americans.”

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This story has been corrected to show the name of the organization is the Contractors Association of West Virginia, not the West Virginia Contractors Association.

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