The fate of our Democracy is on the ballot this fall. Get the inside story on how a coalition of Democrats, independents and Liz Cheney Republicans can combine forces to stop the Trump faction from winning big offices in swing states and gaining control of future elections. The media treats the 2022 campaign like the rerun of a traditional mid-term election where the in-party takes a shellacking and loses control of Congress. But smart voters know the stakes are much higher than that this year.
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Have 25 million undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. and stayed during the Biden-Harris administration?
Sep 09, 2024
This fact brief was originally published by Wisconsin Watch. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.
Have 25 million undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. and stayed during the Biden-Harris administration?
No.
Authorities estimate the number of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration and remained at far less than the 25 million that Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance claimed.
Vance said Aug. 28, 2024, in De Pere, Wis.:
"Kamala Harris let in 25 million illegal aliens ... the 25 million people who are here in this country illegally."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 10 million migrant encounters — one person one or more times — from February 2021 through July 2024.
However, millions were turned away, returned or deported.
The nonprofit Migration Policy Institute estimates there were 6 million entries between January 2021 and April 2024.
Customs and Border Protection also estimated about 2 million “got-aways” — border crossers who evaded authorities — 385,707 in 2021, 737,244 in 2022, and 694,685 in 2023.
Vance's spokesperson cited conservative media reports, including one saying there may have been 1 million got-aways in one year.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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Sources
WLUK-TV FOX 11 JD Vance rallies voters in Wisconsin
Customs and Border Protection Nationwide Encounters
News release Chairman Green for RealClearPolitics: No, Biden and Harris’ Border Crisis Is Not Over
USA Today No, 51M 'illegals' have not entered US under Biden, Harris | Fact check
PolitiFact There aren’t 20 million to 30 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, as Sen. Marco Rubio claimed
Google Docs Migration Policy Institute Aug. 29, 2024
Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year 2025 Congressional Justification
Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year 2024 Congressional Justification
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The power of volunteerism
Sep 06, 2024
Frazier is an assistant professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University and a Tarbell fellow.
We’re collectively capable of amazing feats, so long as two conditions are met: first, that we’re generous with our time and energy and, second, that we’re willing to trust one another. That’s my takeaway from a 20-hour, 40-minute experience I had with the Fat Cat Track Club last month.
About 200 miles separate Mt. Hood from the Oregon coast. Every year, teams of 12 runners conduct a relay across that route as part of the appropriately named Hood to Coast Relay. The Fat Cats were one of more than 1,000 teams in this year’s race. Made up of former members of the Princeton rowing squad, that running crew can go toe-to-toe or, more accurately, stride for stride with the best of them — they averaged a 6:19-per-mile pace.
I only happened to join this impressive bunch because of a late scratch by one member of the team. Stuck between Timberline Lodge and a hard place, they turned to me to fill in. Though it was my third Hood to Coast Relay, the incredible volunteerism that defines the race was particularly evident this time around.
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The logistics of the relay, on paper, are fairly simple: When a runner finishes one leg of the 36-part race, they hop in a van and wait for the other 11 to complete their legs; this process repeats until they collectively make it to Seaside. In reality, the 12 runners make it to the coast only because of the support of hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers.
Commentary on the race usually focuses on the participants — the crazy or courageous athletes who opt to spend between 20 and 30 hours of their lives racing across half of a state. Less attention is paid to the community of volunteers who make the race possible. That’s unfortunate because this staggeringly large and committed network proves an important idea: When people are given the chance to meaningfully contribute to a big, bold endeavor, they’ll step up. A quick review of the volunteers encountered by the Fat Cats on our journey demonstrates just that.
It was snowing at 11:40 a.m. in the middle of August, when we started our journey outside Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. Volunteers were there. Smiling. Handing out gear. Cheering us on.
When I nearly veered off course as a result of trying to run fast enough to impress the Fat Cats, I only managed to keep going in the right direction thanks to a sign planted by a volunteer. Other runners similarly reported that not even the most directionally challenged individual could stray too far from a course that had been meticulously labeled for the entire 198-mile trek.
At 3:30 p.m., after the first six runners had completed their first legs, we headed to Polar King, a diner near Gresham, to refuel. When the chef learned we were running in the relay, he cooked up an extra plate of hash browns to keep us going. He wasn’t even a volunteer but wanted to contribute.
Several hours later — around 1 a.m., the team reached Jewell — a small community in the middle of the coast range that had been transformed into a sprawling area for runners to rest. Volunteers had pitched tents, mapped out parking areas and set up aid stations. It was a sight to behold. At the time, though, I could barely muster a thank you as exhaustion had set in. Other runners likewise walked (or limped) through the camp without fully recognizing the scale and significance of the volunteer effort.
On Sunday, when I hobbled through Portland International Airport, a few people congratulated me for completing the relay — they saw my Fat Cat Track Club gear and put two and two together. No one, however, was applauding the volunteers who were surely walking those same terminals. That needs to change.
We need to not only improve our recognition and celebration of all those who give so much to minor and major causes but also make sure that more people have the chance to serve. If hundreds of Oregonians are willing to spend their weekend in the middle of nowhere to help their friends, family and strangers like the Fat Cats achieve their dreams, imagine the response to more significant opportunities to give.
Now more than ever, as our institutions struggle amid distrust and our neighbors fight economic insecurity and instability, we need to dream up bigger goals that assign each of us bigger roles. This year’s Hood to Coast may be over, but its spirit of volunteerism needs to be channeled and spread.
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In swing states, D's and R's agree on how to lower health care costs
Sep 06, 2024
As the price of health care continues to rise faster than wages, a new public consultation survey by the Program for Public Consultation finds bipartisan majorities of Americans in six swing states, as well as nationally, support major proposals for lowering health care costs.
This survey is part of the “Swing Six Issue Surveys” series being conducted in the run-up to the November election in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on major policy issues. Unlike traditional polls, respondents in a public consultation survey go through an online “policymaking simulation” in which they are provided briefings and arguments for and against each policy. Content is reviewed by experts on different sides to ensure accuracy and balance.
“Even with the airwaves of the swing states filled with divisive messages, when people there focused on possible solutions for lowering health care costs, we found tremendous bipartisan common ground,” said Steven Kull, director of the Program for Public Consultation.
This survey was fielded May 23-July 8 with 6,854 adults participating, including 3,649 in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (approximately 600 in each), and 3,205 nationally. PPC is a program within the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.
Capping drug prices
The federal government capping the price of all drugs to what is charged in other developed countries is favored by large majorities in every swing state (77 percent to 81 percent), including majorities of Democrats (84 percent to 87 percent) and Republicans (72 percent to 82 percent). Nationally, a large bipartisan majority (78 percent) is also in favor.
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In the advance briefing, respondents were informed that drugs in the United States generally cost twice as much as in other developed countries and that this proposal would result in fewer new drugs being developed, per aCongressional Budget Office study.
Making higher ACA subsidies permanent
Making permanent the pandemic-era law that temporarily increased Affordable Care Act subsidies for lower- and middle-income households is favored by nearly two-thirds in every swing state (62 percent to 68 percent), including majorities of Democrats (71 percent to 78 percent) and Republicans (55 percent to 62 percent). Nationally, a bipartisan majority of 67 percent is in favor.
Subsidies are scheduled to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2026.
Revoking patents for unaffordable drugs developed with federal aid
Allowing the executive branch to revoke patents for drugs developed with federal aid, which are unaffordable for most who need them,is favored in every swing state (74 percent to 77 percent), including Democrats (79 percent to 84 percent) and Republicans (70 percent to 75 percent), as well as nationally (73 percent).
Prohibiting deals that delay the release of generic drugs
Prohibiting “pay-to-delay” — in which brand-name drug companies preserve their ability to charge high prices by paying generic drug companies to delay bringing their generic version to market — is favored by majorities in every swing state (72 percent to 77 percent), including Democrats (75 percent to 84 percent) and Republicans (68 percent to 72 percent), as well as nationally (71 percent).
Requiring price transparency for health care costs
Price transparency — requiring that health and insurance providers make prices publicly available as a means of promoting competition and lowering costs — has been enacted by both the Trump and Biden administrations through executive orders.
Making price transparency requirements permanent through legislation is favored by more than three-quarters in every swing state (75 percent to 84 percent), including Democrats (82 percent to 88 percent) and Republicans (74 percent to 80 percent), as well as nationally (77 percent).
Funding substance abuse treatment
Providing $13 billion in additional federal funding to help make treatment for substance use disorder low-cost or free to nearly everyone who needs and wants it is favored by majorities in every swing state (65 percent to 79 percent), including Democrats (77 percent to 86 percent) and Republicans (56 percent to 77 percent). Nationally, a bipartisan majority (80 percent) is in favor.
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Project 2025: A threat to American values
Sep 06, 2024
This is part of a series offering a nonpartisan counter toProject 2025, a conservative guideline to reforming government and policymaking during the first 180 days of a second Trump administration. The Fulcrum'scross-partisan analysis of Project 2025 relies on unbiased critical thinking, reexamines outdated assumptions, and uses reason, scientific evidence, and data in analyzing and critiquingProject 2025.
Kettering Foundation Senior Fellows David Pepper and Alexander Vindman spoke with the organization’s chief external affairs officer and director of D.C. operations, Brad Rourke, about Project 2025, the controversial Heritage Foundation plan to reshape American democracy.
Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, adjunct professor, former elected official, former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. While leading the party in Ohio, he was engaged in numerous battles and extensive litigation over voter suppression and election laws in the Buckeye State, as well as reform efforts to enhance voting and end gerrymandering. Pepper is the author of “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines” and “Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual for Every American.”
Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, was the director for European affairs on the National Security Council. He previously served at the Pentagon as the political-military affairs officer for Russia and as an attaché at the American embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. While on the joint staff, he authored the U.S. National Military Strategy for Russia. His military awards include two Legions of Merit and the Purple Heart, having sustained wounds in an IED attack during the Iraq War.
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Pepper and Vindman unpack the dangers and profound changes posed by Project 2025, including threats to the rule of law, civil service integrity and military loyalty. This eye-opening conversation explores the potential future of U.S. governance and the values at stake.
Enjoy this insightful podcast:
This conversation was filmed on July 10 before the assassination attempt of former President Trump. The Charles F. Kettering Foundation condemns political violence. Such acts work against a healthy, inclusive democracy, and we must work toward a future where everyone can engage in the democratic process without fear.
More in The Fulcrum about Project 2025
- A cross-partisan approach
- An Introduction
- Rumors of Project 2025’s Demise are Greatly Exaggerated
- Department of Education
- Managing the bureaucracy
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- The Environmental Protection Agency
- Education Savings Accounts
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Agency for International Development
- Affirmative action
- A federal Parents' Bill of Rights
- Department of Labor
- Intelligence community
- Department of State
- Department of the Interior
- Federal Communications Commission
- A perspective from Europe
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Voting Rights Act
- Another look at the Federal Communications Commission
- A Christo-fascist manifesto designing a theocracy
- The Schedule F threat to democracy
- The Department of Justice
- A blueprint for Christian nationalist regime change
- How anti-trans proposals could impact all families
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Meet the change leaders: Caleb Christen
Sep 06, 2024
Nevins is co-publisher ofThe Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of theBridge Alliance Education Fund.
A lawyer by trade, Caleb Christen has served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps since 2007, including two deployments to the Middle East. He is now a senior officer in the Navy Reserve. Attending seminary and an executive education program in organizational leadership helped Christen identify that communities are not thriving as they were intended and that people must work together to transform American democracy and civic health.
As a result, Christen co-founded the Inter-Movement Impact Project to promote organizing for collective impact. His new focus is on “Better Together America,” a collaborative network providing support to the local democracy hubs that are emerging in communities across the United States.
Christen holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, a master of arts degree in Christian practice from Duke Divinity School, a post-graduate diploma in organizational leadership from Oxford University’s Said Business School and both a graduate certificate in international politics and practice and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kristina Becvar, co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance, had the opportunity to interview Christen a few weeks ago for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of his democracy reform work:
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- YouTubewww.youtube.com
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