Fiorina Trumps Trump
Carly Fiorina seen as winner of GOP debate, despite numerous falsehoods. Vox's Ezra Klein: "Her answer on Russia, for instance, was bizarre. The Sixth Fleet is already huge ... President Obama is already conducting military exercises in the Baltics ... 'Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.' ... Nothing like that happens in the Planned Parenthood tapes."
Sen. Bernie Sanders live-tweets the debate. NPR quotes: "Have you heard anyone use the word 'poverty' yet? 47.7 million Americans living in poverty ... Yup. Bush was a great president. Yes. No doubt. Great president. All Obama's fault."
McConnell Surrenders On Sequester
Sen. Mitch McConnell says spending will have to be higher than sequester levels. The Hill: "The GOP leader blamed Democrats for not allowing Republicans to move forward on any appropriations bills, which he said had delayed any progress. 'And so we are inevitably going to end up in a negotiation that will crack the Budget Control Act once again,' McConnell said ... The discussions McConnell and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are holding are expected to include a measure lasting a short number of weeks or months to buy time for Congress to work out a deal funding the government through the rest of fiscal 2016."
Top House GOPers try to snuff out Boehner putsch. Politico: "The only two viable potential replacements for John Boehner as speaker of the House say they back the Ohio Republican and will oppose any effort to remove him from power ... House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) forcefully backed Boehner and called for an end to the intraparty warfare..."
Union Win In Missouri
Anti-union bill vetoed in Missouri. NYT: "...Republicans failed Wednesday to override the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill that would have allowed workers who chose not to join unions to avoid paying fees ... [But the bill is] poised to be a major issue in Missouri’s 2016 election for governor."
Target pharmaceutical workers in Brooklyn vote for union. WSJ: "...the first time in the retailer’s history that its workers have decided to join a labor union."
Group pushing to unionize Walmart splits. Reuters: "Both wings are claiming the name OUR Walmart and vow to continue their work, moves that could sow confusion among supporters."
Obamacare Still Working
More insured, poverty edges down, in 2014 Census report: "The share of uninsured fell to 10.4% in 2014 [falling] by 8.8 million people, to 33 million, from 2013. Separate studies show that the decline continued during the first half of 2015 ... the median annual household income stayed all but flat ... The official poverty rate remained level at 14.8%. A broader gauge of the rate, which uses a wider definition of income, fell to 15.3% from 15.8%, driven primarily by government benefit programs that expanded significantly after the 2007-09 recession."
Sanders takes on prison industry in criminal justice reform bill. W. Post: "Under the proposal by the Democratic presidential hopeful, the federal government would have three years to end its practice of using private companies to keep people behind bars. The ban would also apply to state and local governments, which have increasingly turned to private contractors in a bid to save money ... Sanders said in an interview Wednesday[,] 'You should not be making a profit off of putting people in prison.'"
