2018 Mid Terms & Caucus

1. How did voter turnout in this election compare to recent mid term elections?

• It rose 11.5% from 41.9% to 53.4%.

2. How did voter turnout in  2018 of voters aged 18-29 compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 15.7% from 19.9% to 35.6%.

3. How did voter turnout in  2018 of voters over 65 compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 6.7% from 59.4% to 66.1%.

4. How did voter turnout in  2018 of voters aged 18-29 compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 15.7% from 19.9% to 35.6%.

5. How did voter turnout in  2018 of female voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 12.0% from 43.0% to 55.0%

6. How did voter turnout in  2018 of white voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 11.7% from 45.8% to 57.5%

7. How did voter turnout in  2018 of Asian voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 13.3% from 26.9% to 40.2%.

8. How did voter turnout in  2018 of black voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 10.8% from 40.6% to 51.4%.

9. How did voter turnout in  2018 of voters with a Bachelor's degree compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 12.5% from 53.2% to 65.7%.

10. How did voter turnout in  2018 of urban voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 12.2% from 41.5% to 53.7%.

11. How did voter turnout in  2018 of rural voters compare from mid term elections in 2014?

• It rose 7.7% from 44.3% to 52.1%.

12. What does the author think will be likely in the future if these trends continue?

• The democrats will win more because they have the young population vote, the urban area's vote, and the women's vote.

Campaign Check In

1. How much has Trump raised so far in 2019?

• $30.3 million

2. Who are the top fund-raising Democrats so far?

• Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris

3. Who does Trump classify as "small dollar donors"? What is his average donation?

• $200 or less; $34

4. What two other major factors indicate that Trump may be very likely to win reelection?

• The strong economy and incumbency

5. What is Trump's current approval rating? What is the highest that it has been during his presidency?

• 45%, this is the highest it has been

Taxes!

1. What would the Taxpayer First Act do?

• The Taxpayer First Act would prohibit the IRS from creating an online tax preparation system that would compete with TurboTax and H&R Block.

2. Who are the sponsors of this bill?

• House: Democratic Rep. John Lewis and Republican Mike Kelly
• Senate: Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden

3. Why are these Congressmen pushing for this bill?

• They are pushing for the bill because of the amount of money that tax preparers have spent lobbying to Congress.

4. Why would the IRS easily be able to compete with TurboTax and HR Block?

• The IRS would easily compete with TurboTax and HR Block because it is free and also it would prepare taxes automatically for the vast majority of Americans for whom it has all the required information.

5. What do countries in Europe do differently to help people file their taxes?

• These countries in Europe have pre-populated returns where the filer can choose to send it in or do it by hand themselves. 

6. What reforms did both Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan propose regarding filing taxes?

• Under Obama, “The Simple Return” was proposed in 2006, providing pre-populated returns for everyone not itemizing their deductions. 
• Under Reagan, he also proposed return-free filing, basically the same idea.

7. Why does anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist support the Taxpayer First Act?

• He opposes automatic filing because it makes tax season not actually that bad, which might reduce people’s aversion to taxes, which in turn makes it easier for politicians to increase taxes.

Religious Freedom

1. What does the Indiana RFRA say?

• The government can't intrude on a person's religious rights unless it has a compelling government interest and has to be the least intruding as possible.

2. In what way could this law possibly allow other forms of discrimination?

• It could allow other forms because it could protect employers, landlords, and business owners to discriminate against LGBT people on religious grounds.

3. Why did then Governor Mike Pence clarify his interpretation of the law?

• He clarified the law because he became the central figure in a civil rights battle.

4. What happened in the 1990 Supreme Court case that inspired the creation of the first RFRAs?

• They ruled that someone could be fired for using peyote during a Native American religious ceremony.

5. Why did "Advance America" support the new law?

• They support it because they say it would help Christian business owners (bakers, florists, photographers) to not be punished for refusing to "participate in homosexual marriage."

6. How did the Supreme Court use the federal RFRA to alter the regulations in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)?

• They used it to exempt some employers from the birth control mandate.

7. What situation caused these two parties to end up in the Supreme Court?

• Craig and Mullins wanted to buy a cake from the bakery for a wedding reception but the owner, Phillips, refused on the grounds of his Christian beliefs and did not want to seem like he endorses homosexual marriage.

8. What was Craig and Mullins' argument in the case?

• They said that it was discrimination, citing a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation by public accommodations.

9. How did Phillips defend his actions?

• Phillips says that he is not discriminating against homosexual couples because he would have served them nonwedding goods, and that by baking the cake then he would be forced to celebrate something he is opposed to which he says violates the first amendment.

10. How do we know that the Trump administration supported Phillips in this case?

• The DOJ filed a friend-of-the-court brief to support the bakery.

11. How do Phillips and his attorneys argue that the wedding cake is different than normal services he provides?

• They say that it forces him to condone something that he is fundamentally against (homosexual marriage) while the other services are not representative of the sanctity of marriage.

12. What do Colorado state laws say that might protect Craig and Mullins?

• The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act says that it’s "unlawful to deny goods or services to someone due to their disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry."

Election Do Over

1. What was the result of this election in November 2019?

• There was ruled to be a ballot tampering scheme with the absentee ballots where Republican Mark Harris led Democrat Dan McCready by fewer than 1,000 votes. His win was never certified by the state after allegations of electoral misconduct became public.

2. What do the state investigators accuse Leslie Dowless of doing to alter the election?

• Leslie was accused of directing a coordinated scheme to unlawfully collect, falsely witness, and otherwise tamper with absentee ballots.

3. What amendment gave Mr Dowless the right to refuse to testify to the investigators?

• 5th Amendment

4. What power does the state have to solve this problematic election?

• The state can call for a new election if the basic fairness of the election was tainted.

5. What did Mr Dowless do to absentee ballots in order to help the Republican candidate?

• He first used absentee ballot request forms from previous elections to “pre-fill” forms for the 2018 election and sent out workers to find the voters so they sign and request a ballot. The workers were paid for bringing him the forms and then they were sent to the board. There were about 780 of them. Then, he sent workers to collect the absentee ballots and they gave him the ones that weren't signed by witnesses or were not sealed. He had the workers sign as witnesses.

6. What is the makeup of the state election board and how does that ensure fairness?

• 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans. Ensures fairness because it does not really favor a side.

7. What did the group do with incomplete and unsealed absentee ballots?

• They would fill in names for the empty offices.

8. Why is there no danger of prosecution for Mark Harris, the Republican candidate?

• There is no danger of prosecution for Harris because he had no idea of the plan. He himself even said that a new election should be called, and the testimony by his son and Yates left him in tears.

National Emergency

1. What powers does the National Emergencies Act of 1976 give POTUS ?

• It lets presidents issue an emergency declaration but under certain constraints, such as only using powers that Congress has codified by law and the President has to say which powers he uses.

2. What congressional power in the constitution is Trump trying to get around by declaring this?

• Power of the purse

3. How would Congress pass a joint resolution disputing the emergency?

• Both houses of Congress would need to approve the resolution by a majority

4. What action can the president take in response to the joint resolution?

• He can veto it (which could be overridden by a 2/3 vote in both houses)

5. Why would landowners potentially sue the president to stop the wall?

• The people in the area where the land is supposed to be built would potentially sue the president because their land could be seized in eminent domain and they want to keep their land.

6. What happened to the eminent domain lawsuits filed against President Bush?

• 60 to 70 of the 334 lawsuits against him are still pending.

7. Why would the ACLU sue the president to stop the wall?

• They say that it is an illegal declaration of a national emergency and it is an unconstitutional power grab that hurts communities.

8. How could states serve as a check on presidential power?

• States could be a check because they can sue the president, especially because their funds could be affected.

2020 Election Already!

1. What are the two reasons for a person to form an exploratory committee, according to this article?

• They can raise a lot of money, and they can start polling and traveling and hiring staff. This makes them ready for their campaign.

2. What do the candidates do during the "exploratory phase"?

• They document and report their fundraising and spending, conduct polling, travel, and hire staff. They get their names out there.

3. What do candidates have to do with the bureaucracy to make their exploratory committee official?

• They have to file a statement of their candidacy to the Federal Election Commission and use the word "exploratory" on the name of their campaign's committee.

4. Why did Elizabeth Warren's exploratory committee hire staff in Iowa?

• It is an important early state on the primary calendar.

5. What is the most important task of the exploratory committee for the candidate?

• Raising money.

6. Why are Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders less likely to use an exploratory committee?

• They already have much name recognition and a strong political infrastructure.

Trump SOTU #3

1. What issues does President Trump identify as bipartisan (both parties support them) issues?

• American jobs, free trade, the nation's infrastructure, reducing the price of health care and prescription drugs, creating a safe and secure immigration system, and foreign policy that puts America first.

2. Which amazing NASA bureaucrat was honored during the speech?!

• Buzz Aldrin.

3. What economic achievements did President Trump focus on early in his speech?

• How they created 5.3 million new jobs, 5 million Americans have been taken off food stamps, lowest unemployment rate in half a century, tax cuts, and how they eliminated the "very unpopular" Obamacare individual mandate penalty.

4. What impact has the Trump administration had on the regulatory agencies?

• He has lowered regulations so they are not doing as much.

5. Which of the president's judicial powers does Trump mention using in the past year?

• Commuting a prison sentence.

6. What policy proposal does Trump focus on?  In what ways does he justify the need for this policy?

• Building the wall (curbing illegal immigration). He says we need it because of sexual assault cases, drug cartels, human traffickers, reduced jobs, lower wages, crowded schools and hospitals, increased crime and gang violence, and a "depleted social safety net". 

7. What achievement of women in government does Trump recognize?

• More women serving in Congress than there has ever been.

8. What trade policies has Trump changed since he's been in office?

• Imposing tariffs on Chinese goods and he is wanting to replace NAFTA with U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

9. What policy proposals does Trump talk about that would impact health care in the US?

• Lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs and protect people with pre-existing conditions.

10. What foreign policy proposals does Trump discuss?

•  U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA and United States Reciprocal Trade Act to place the same tariff that countries would place on American products on their products. He also says that the US is leaving the INF treaty and that troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Syria and to confront counter-terrorism. He also says the US will confront Iran.

11. What nation does Trump identify as the number one national security threat to the US?

• Russia

12. Why does the crowd sing Happy Birthday?!

• It was Judah Samet's 81st birthday. Judah Samet is a Pittsburgh synagogue massacre survivor and he also survived a Nazi concentration camp more than 7 decades ago.

Emergency Powers & The Wall

1. What are the two potential outcomes regarding the border wall that Trump implied in his speech?

• The government will shut down again or he implied that he would declare a national emergency. 

2. What would Democrats argue if Trump declared a national emergency to slow illegal immigration?

• They say that Trump can’t declare a national emergency to get the border wall funded.

3. How did Bush and Obama use the emergency powers of the president?

• George W. Bush used the emergency powers after 9/11 and Barack Obama during the swine flu outbreak in 2009.

4. What restrictions does the National Emergencies Act of 1976 put on the president?

• It says that the president can only use specific powers that Congress has codified by law, and the president has to say which powers he’s using.

5. If Trump does declare a national emergency, what obstacles may he face?

• He and his legal team would have to find laws and statutes that he could actually use to get money for border wall funding. He also may face obstacles in Congress.

6. How could the president use the military to accomplish this policy goal?

• He could reallocate military spending on construction projects for the wall through having the defense secretary direct the army’s civil works program to construct a structure needed for defense and use the military budget to do it. He can do this after a national emergency is declared. The secretary can direct other military services for construction projects as well.

7. What did the Supreme Court rule in Youngstown Sheet & Tube V Sawyer?

• The Supreme Court ruled that Truman’s attempt to nationalize US steel mills during a strike in the Korean War was unconstitutional.

8. How can Congress stop the president if he does declare an emergency?

• Congress would have to override him with a two-thirds majority in each chamber because it would be difficult to pass a joint resolution to override it because it needs the president's signature.

The Threat to Medicaid

1. What agency is mentioned as developing a plan for Trump to turn Medicaid into block grants?

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

2. How would Medicaid change if the program was changed to a block grant style implementation?

• With block grants, states would receive a set amount of federal funding instead of the open-ended funding they currently receive from the feds.

3. What was the effect of some states adding work requirements to receiving Medicaid benefits?

• Thousands of people in those states have lost coverage.

4. Which president's administration was responsible for the creation of the Medicaid program?

• Lyndon B. Johnson!!!!!!!!!

5. How many people are insured by the Medicaid program in the United States?

• 75 million

6. What was the effect of the Affordable Care Act on the Medicaid program?

• The ACA expanded the Medicaid program greatly.

7. What types of Medicaid recipients would be exempt from work requirements?

• Children, elderly, disabled, or pregnant.

8. What groups of people were originally entitled to Medicaid benefits?

• Children, the elderly, people with disabilities, pregnant women (if your income was low enough).

9. What were the requirements to get Medicaid benefits after Obamacare?

• Anybody with an income in/near poverty ($27,000 and below for a family of three) would be eligible for Medicaid.

The Govt is Shut Down

1. When was the second longest government shutdown?

• In December of 1995 (21 days)

2. Which government departments are not affected by this shutdown?

• Departments of Energy, Labor, Defense, Health and Human Services, Veteran Affairs, and Education.

3. What is the difference between essential and nonessential employees?

• Essential employees have to keep going to work even though they won’t receive immediate pay, while nonessential employees are furloughed and have to stay home until the shutdown ends.

4. Which two departments have the highest % of furloughed employees?

• Department of Commerce and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

5. Which two agencies (They aren't called "Dept. of ___" have the highest % of  furloughed employees?

• NSF and NASA/EPA.

6. Which states have the most employees impacted by the shutdown?

• Maryland, Alaska, and Montana. 

7. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE PANDA CAM AT THE NATIONAL ZOO?!

• It was deemed nonessential and it will not stream until the government reopens.

8. How is real GDP impacted by the government shutdown?

• It could have $1.2 billion shaved off it every week the government is closed.

9. How much has the shutdown impacted real GDP as of Jan 11?  How will that change by Jan 25?

• As of January 11, the shutdown has cost the US Economy $3.6 billion. By January 25, it is projected to cost the economy $7.1 billion.