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Monday, Oct 8 2018

Senate Brief: T-Minus 4 Weeks.

Oct 08, 2018

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 billionNational 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

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