Sanders Still In It To Win It
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says don't "rush to judgment" as primary polls open in six states. "The spokesman, Michael Briggs, said Clinton hasn't secured the nomination because superdelegates, party leaders who can choose whom to support, won't vote until the convention in July. “Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," Briggs said in a statement. "
Hillary Clinton will call Sanders Tuesday night. ""Our campaigns are certainly talking," Clinton said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that aired Monday. "I’ll be reaching out after tomorrow night because I obviously want to unite the party.""
Sanders says he will assess next steps after Tuesday primaries. "“Let’s assess where we are after tomorrow before we make statements based on speculation,” the Vermont senator said Monday at a news conference here, when asked whether he is willing to endorse rival Hillary Clinton in the coming weeks."
The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald's take: "Anonymous Super-Delegrates Declare Winner Through Media": "This is the perfect symbolic ending to the Democratic Party primary. The nomination is consecrated by a media organization, on a day when nobody voted, based on secret discussions with anonymous establishment insiders and donors whose identity the media organization – incredibly – conceals."
Key California Senate race tests the influence of people of color voters, writes Priscilla Alvarez at The Atlantic. "In California, Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez are seeking to replace retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer ... Tuesday’s primary will likely pave the way for a contest between two female, minority candidates in the fall. ... Either woman would make history if she were elected in November: Harris as the first black woman to win a Senate seat since Carol Moseley Braun, and Sanchez as the first Latina elected to the chamber."
Paul Ryan's Bitter 'Way'
House Speaker Paul Ryan kicks off his conservative so-called "Better Way" anti-poverty initiative. USAToday: "At an event in Washington Tuesday, he is expected to unveil recommendations drawn up by a task force of House Republicans ... work requirements for welfare recipients ... consolidating or streamlining 18 federal food-assistance programs and myriad housing programs ... rolling back federal requirements and regulations for technical education programs and for colleges and universities."
Tianna Gaines-Turner is a low-income mother who testified at a Paul Ryan poverty task force hearing two years ago. Here's what she thinks. "It’s clear as we look at how many people are struggling on low wages, forced to make impossible choices between basic necessities, that we still have plenty of work to do. It’s also clear that you could still learn a lot from me and many others who are experiencing poverty."
Head-smacker: Rental assistance to families with children is falling as the need rises. Via Moms Rising: "... the number of families with children receiving federal rent subsidies has fallen by over 250,000 since 2004 and is at its lowest point in more than a decade ... the number of families with “worst case housing needs,” meaning they paid more than half their income for rent or lived in severely substandard housing, rose by 53 percent between 2003 and 2013, to nearly 3 million."
Assaults and Wing-nuttiness
House GOP unveils plan to dismantle Dodd-Frank financial reforms. "The Financial Choice Act ... would strip financial regulators of significant authority to oversee some of the country’s largest financial institutions. ... The legislation would also restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and remove some of its powers."
Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner fuels spending cuts that have "ripped the guts out" of higher education in the state. From In These Times: "This past March, squeezed by the ongoing budget crisis in Illinois, the [John A. Logan College] board of trustees voted to lay off 55 employees, eliminating entire disciplines and services from the school’s curriculum. ... While these cuts are particularly devastating for a small institution like JALC, they are by no means unique."
The cost of right-wing, anti-immigrant fervor: rotting crops, Bloomberg reports. "The death of meaningful U.S. immigration reform ... is leaving crops withering in the field and the farm lobby with nowhere to turn as a labor shortage intensifies. ... An immigration policy focused on closing the border would shift up to 61 percent of U.S. fruit production to other countries due to domestic labor shortages, sending jobs to Mexico and other nearby competitors, according to a 2014 study commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest U.S. farmer group."
Republican moves to block transgender restrooms in the Capitol. "Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King is attempting to attach hot-button amendments to a House spending plan starting with a proposal to prevent transgender bathrooms on Capitol Hill. ... King's flurry of amendments ranged from transgender and immigration issues to the right to carry firearms on Capitol grounds by members and House employees."
