Week of Monday, October 8.
IN BRIEF: 4 weeks out from Election Day, one issue has risen above the rest to define this cycle: healthcare.
On the campaign trail, Republican Senate candidates are on defense, forced to answer to constituents who are terrified by GOP attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act.
And they’re not doing a very good job. This week, Mike Braun gets a gold star for healthcare disingenuousness on the campaign trail.
- For months, Braun has touted his company’s healthcare plan as a proof point for his commitment to affordable healthcare. Watch him talk it up here and here.
- There’s just one problem: Braun’s employees say his healthcare plan was “not real insurance.” Politico reports that former employees of Braun’s company, Meyer Distributing, complained about the “horrendous” benefits that came with a $5,000 individual deductible and a $10,000 family deductible.
- Braun has been asking Hoosiers for their votes based on his healthcare record. Braun had already been caught white-washing his business record. He can’t afford to lose another talking point.
THREE TO WATCH:
- Josh Hawley (and Martha McSally, Mike Braun, Patrick Morrisey, and Kevin Cramer) spurned events in their states last Thursday to attend a fundraiser at New York City’s Knickerbocker Club, which luxury lifestyle magazine Haute Living helpfully points out is “about as old as money gets in the New World.”
- Kevin Cramer continued his campaign of sexist rhetoric, this time calling the #MeToo movement a “movement toward victimization.” The irony of Kevin Cramer mansplaining #MeToo is just too much.
- Marsha Blackburn lost out on a major endorsement.
THREE NUMBERS:
- 1.085 trillion. National deficit, in dollars, projected by the Office of Management and Budget for Fiscal Year 2019.
- 207 billion. National deficit, in dollars, projected by the House GOP for Fiscal Year 2019.
- 439 billion. National deficit, in dollars, after Fiscal Year 2015.
ONE FOR THE ROAD: “…Ready for It?” by Taylor Swift (2017)
AND HAPPY MONDAY from American Bridge. Follow us at @AmeliaPenniman @EmmaBeckerman1
Published: Oct 8, 2018