Around some Democratic circles, Mitch McConnell's GOP-controlled Senate has become known as a "Graveyard," where bills go to die. Despite Republican stonewalling on some of the Democratic-controlled Houses's legislative priorities in the 116th Congress - like the For The People Act or the Equality Act - House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn stays focused on his district and uplifting communities disadvantaged by the technological changes of the 21st Century.
"We have to make America's greatness accessible and affordable," Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told Cheddar.
<i>Democratic Speaker of the House from California Nancy Pelosi speaks about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. / Photo Credit: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock</i>
For Clyburn, improving American communities starts with the basics. He wants to make healthcare and housing more affordable and has a specific plan to build up broadband infrastructure in rural areas.
"Healthcare is number one," Clyburn said. "I represent a state that refused to expand Medicaid, which is a significant block of delivering healthcare to low-income people in my state."
As 2020 presidential candidates debate how to reinvent affordable, and perhaps even universal, healthcare coverage in America, Clyburn wants to start smaller, focusing on communities.
Clyburn spoke about his plan to expand "telemedicine" - broadband healthcare access to rural areas.
"We are not going to be able to save these rural hospitals to effectively deliver healthcare to rural communities unless we have, what I call, telemedicine," he said.
Although every school in the country is required to have high-speed internet access, poor internet access at the home can impact a child's ability to get homework done.
"Broadband in these communities is just a top priority," Clyburn said, stressing its importance to healthcare and education. "So many young people [are] going to parking lots of fast food places and other places to do their homework because they do not have internet available to them in their communities."
Yet before Clyburn can get to his policy agenda, he will host his "World Famous Fish Fry" in Columbia, South Carolina on Friday. The event, which occurs every four years and had become a necessary campaign stop for any presidential hopeful, will be attended by 22 of the 23 Democratic candidates.
"This is to give them a beyond-ordinary opportunity to rub shoulders, to maybe dance to the 'Electric Slide,' for someone who could very [well] end being President of the United States," Clyburn said. "That is what happened when Bill Clinton came to the Fish Fry, when Barack Obama came to the Fish Fry, and hopefully one of these 22 people who are gonna be here tomorrow will end up President of the United States."
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
A new report finds the Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress.
A new poll finds U.S. adults are more likely than they were a year ago to think immigrants in the country legally benefit the economy. That comes as President Donald Trump's administration imposes new restrictions targeting legal pathways into the country. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds Americans are more likely than they were in March 2024 to say it’s a “major benefit” that people who come to the U.S. legally contribute to the economy and help American companies get the expertise of skilled workers. At the same time, perceptions of illegal immigration haven’t shifted meaningfully. Americans still see fewer benefits from people who come to the U.S. illegally.
Shares of Tylenol maker Kenvue are bouncing back sharply before the opening bell a day after President Donald Trump promoted unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism. Trump told pregnant women not to use the painkiller around a dozen times during the White House news conference Monday. The drugmaker tumbled 7.5%. Shares have regained most of those losses early Tuesday in premarket trading.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday signaled a cautious approach to future interest rate cuts, in sharp contrast with other Fed officials who have called for a more urgent approach. In remarks in Providence, Rhode Island, Powell noted that there are risks to both of the Fed’s goals of seeking maximum employment and stable prices. His approach is in sharp contrast to some members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee who are pushing for faster cuts.
