Connect with us

Veteran’s Day: Jim DeMint Is The One Percent Who Voted Against Veterans

Published

on

Republican Senator Jim DeMint, as Rachel Maddow said Thursday evening, “has a frigging problem,” and is the one percent in the United State Senate who voted against a jobs bill for veterans. The Senate Thursday voted on the “Vow to Hire Heroes” bill, which offers a tax credit to businesses, helps vets get jobs, doesn’t add to the deficit, and, as Maddow proclaimed, it’s “the least-controversial bill ever,” that’s even “good for our souls.”

Senator Jim DeMint is the only Senator who voted against it, saying it was “inherently unfair,” not to veterans, but to America.

“We’re pandering to different political groups with programs that have proven to be ineffective,” DeMint said on the Senate floor, the Beaufort Gazette reported. “All Americans deserve the same opportunity to get hired. I cannot support this tax credit because I do not believe the government should privilege one American over another when it comes to work.”

So, exactly when should the government “privilege one American over another,” Senator? I’m finding it hard to think of a group more deserving, and a situation more necessary.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Transcript via MSNBC:

>>> veterans day is tomorrow. which sort of makes this veterans week. and on this veterans day, veterans week, spare a particular thought for republican senator jim demint of south carolina. not because he’s a veteran. i don’t think that he is. but because rather jim demint apparently has a frigging problem. today on capitol hill there was a vote on a hiring bill for our nation’s veterans. right now our national unemployment rate’s about 9% for iraq and afghanistan veterans. it is 12.1%. which is both miserable and sort of astonishing because iraq and afghanistan veterans are a ferociously competent group of americans. they have spent the last decade doing incredibly difficult, complex, exhausting, tireless, underappreciated work. i’m not being romantic about this. i mean it in practical terms. this is an impressive, professional class of americans with a lot to offer. they really did do more before 9:00 a.m. than most of us did all day. and they did it all decade long, and they are still doing it. for us as a country our iraq and afghanistan vets are a huge asset. if you are hiring people at your company, you should be looking for them for hiring. that said, they have trouble in the job 345rk9 in part because while the people they’re competing against for jobs have been working here veterans have been working and great experience but they have been doing it out of sight and out of mind in, say, landlocked central asia. so they are this very impressive group. they are underperforming in the job market. and we know why. and oh, by the way, we do kind of owe them as a country. and so today the world’s least controversial bill came before the senate, the vow to hire heroes act of 2011. a tax credit for businesses to hire new veterans. congress is debating all sorts of different tax credits to hire people. this one is to hire veterans. and it does not even add to the deficit. they moved money around from other veterans programs to pay for this one. this is in the running for least cop troshl thing in washington. it is good for the economy. it is good for our souls quite frankly. it is practically helpful to people who need practical help in a way that also helps all the rest of us too because it is a jobs program. the vote on this thing today was 94-1. the bill passed 94-1. the 1 was senator jim demint. why is senator jim demint against this? is it some cockamamie jim demint tea party fetishistic states’ rights idea about gold bullion or something? no, not in this case. it wasn’t anything like this. jim demint’s reasoning for voting against this was that veterans don’t deserve it.

>> i cannot support this tax credit because i do not believe the government should privilege one american over another when it comes to work.

>> yeah, those greedy veterans, wanting all this special treatment. greedy veterans expecting everything to be handed to them. yeah, happy veterans day, senator demint. i would salute you, but the way i want you is not something that’s allowed on television. it almost makes me want to sit on my hands. the veterans bill, aside from the blistering astonishment that is jim demint, is an example of things sort of secretly actually getting done in d.c. right now. here’s another example. yesterday the fcc announced that the nation’s biggest cable companies will start offering high-speed internet service to low-income families for the reduced price of $9.95 a month. any family that has a kid who qualifies for the free school lunch program will be eligible to get broadband internet service that they otherwise probably would not be able to afford. this is a real concrete step. it is connecting the poorest americans to the 21st century economic backbone of our country. so this week alone, veterans jobs bill, check. minus jim demint. broadband internet for low-income families, check. here’s one more. putting people back to work building roads and bridges. check. maybe? yeah. one of the other secret things that took a giant step forward toward getting done this week was a long-term infrastructure bill to fund highway projects across the country. yesterday the senate environment and public works committee advanced the highway bill by a unanimous vote of 18-0. every single democrat and every single republican voted for this infrastructure bill. i feel like i’m jinxing it by even reporting on it. listen in the hearing room. this is a quick clip. listen to what it sounded like right after they took the vote in that committee yesterday. here’s what happened right afterwards until they turned the mikes off.

>> the bill as amended is reported favorably to the united states senate. my thanks to everyone. we stand adjourned.

>> okay.

>> oh, my.

>> we did it.

>> okay, we did it. oh, my. i think what we just heard democratic senator barbara boxer saying there before the mike was cut out was “oh, my god, we did it.” oh, my god, is this really happening? joining us is chris hayes, host of msnbc’s excellent new weekend show called “up with chris hayes.” chris, it’s great to see you.

>> it’s great to see you, rachel.

>> do i have the soft bigotry of low expectations? am i applauding things that —

>> you need to come in and rain on the parade. no, i thought the senate– i thought there was a sort of vestigial senatorial functionality that we saw in those two bills you mentioned. the fact that mcconnell put out a good press release on it. this is the kind of thing that as you said is non-controversial, it’s almost sxrunt pramt routine and pramtic. it’s the kind of thing that the senate and the house should be able to come together and do. and we have been in such a horribly dysfunctional knot since the 2010 mid-terms they ha haven’t been able to do it. i think there’s something about that and the bill getting out of the senate. the other part of the story, the highway bill, is the house has its own version of the highway bill which does not reconcile very well with the senate version of the highway bill and spends a lot less money and the house is really where the kind of stopping gap is right now. there are things you can get in the senate with the democratic majority and with the sort of vestigial kind of collegiality. it’s the house i think that’s the really worrisome roadblock right now.

>> that said, when we had just an infrastructure bill put forward by senator amy cloeb shar, who is not known for her partisan legislating at all, put forward with joe manchin, who is maybe one of the most conservative democrats, definitely one of the most conservative democrats in the senate last week, ben nelson and joe lieberman voted against it and republicans were able to successfully filibuster it. but now we’re able to see some more roads and bridges stuff move forward in another way. so why do we get to move forward on the highway bill and we don’t get to move forward on the one that’s attached to president obama’s jobs bill?

>> well, i think implied in your question is the fact that it is clearly the case that — it’s a little like groundhog day reporting on it, right? because every day the republicans come in and every day they want to block what the president is doing. in fact, the veterans bill had to be so non-controversial that it could pass 94-1. and that’s the threshold? you know? things can either pass 94-1, you’re naming a post office, you’re giving tax save togz veterans, or they can get blocked. it’s those two options. there’s nothing in the middle. there’s nothing in this current political terrain that can pass by a five vote margin or vix-vote margin or two-vote margin in the senate. because the habitual use of the filibuster and the political commitment on the part of the minority caucus to politically destroy the president in the run-up to the election is so strong it means going after everything the president has his name attached to.

>> even in that environment do you have a veterans day wish for senator demint?

>> veterans day wish for senator demint. i will say is this to senator demint. it was — he displayed a genuine fidelity to his cockamamie principles.

>> what principles? if he’d come one some crazy tenth amendment like gold standard, like we shouldn’t legally elect senators thing, fine. but veterans don’t deserve it? really, jim? really?

>> but here’s the thing. look, the argument that that part of the republican caucus is making and that is clearly taking over the republican caucus is that everything is distorti distortion. and so when you come to view every single thing the government does as distortion, as some sort of pure and natural state of the market, then it’s very easy to view a tax credit to hire veterans as a distortion, as something unnatural, as opposed to the thing that is unnatural, being the 12% unemployment rate of veterans themselves. and that exactly is the kind of through the looking glass perspective that i think we see broadly from the base of the republican party and the most ideological members, is that the crisis we are in right now, the crisis of joblessness, the crisis of unemployment and foreclosures and personal bankruptcies is the natural state and the interventions to change them and fix them is unnatural.

>> is unnatural and — is unnatural and should not even be evaluated on its merits because —

>> because it is ideologically offensive.

>> well, i will just say, jim, if anybody runs into jim demint at a veterans day parade, please tell him hi for me. chris hayes, host of “up with chris hayes,” which you really are doing great work. i knew you would, but you are doing great work. the show is so good.

>> it means so much to me.

>> thanks, chris, appreciate it. spinal tap still ahead. and rick perry’s amazing brain freeze. and what’s important about it. and what to do with that pesky 30-foot crack in your nuclear reactor, ohio. that’s all

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Depraved Lie’: White House Claims Democrats Are Blaming Trump for Texas Floods

Published

13 hours ago

on

July 7, 2025

By

An increasingly “anxious” White House is lashing out at Democrats and the media, accusing them—without providing evidence—of blaming President Donald Trump for the catastrophic Texas floods that have killed over 90 people, including many children.

Critics are questioning whether cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) by the Trump administration hampered accurate forecasting and slowed emergency warnings. Others point to failures by local officials to communicate timely alerts to the flood-stricken area along the Guadalupe River.

“Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives,” the Associated Press reported Monday afternoon. “The Trump administration has cut hundreds of jobs at NWS, with staffing down by at least 20% at nearly half of the 122 NWS field offices nationally and at least a half dozen no longer staffed 24 hours a day. Hundreds more experienced forecasters and senior managers were encouraged to retire early.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

“The website for the NWS office for Austin/San Antonio, which covers the region that includes hard-hit Kerr County, shows six of 27 positions are listed as vacant,” the AP also reported, noting, however, that there were the usual number of staff members on hand the night of the flood.

Now, veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen writes that the White House is “very anxious that administration/DOGE massive staffing cuts to national weather service and related agencies not be seen as connected to flooding deaths in Texas, inadequate warning.”

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday, in a letter to Roderick Anderson, the Commerce Department’s acting inspector general, urged him to immediately “open an investigation into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding,” The Hill reported.

“He noted that The New York Times reported that key forecasting and coordination positions at the San Antonio and San Angelo offices of the NWS were vacant at the time of the Friday storm,” The Hill also reported. “Those local offices were missing a warning coordination meteorologist, a science officer and a senior hydrologist, among other ‘vital forecasting, meteorology and coordination roles.'”

Only once in Schumer’s letter does he mention Trump, and it is not to blame him for the flooding.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday strongly suggested Senator Schumer was indeed directly blaming Trump for the flooding.

READ MORE: ‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda

“Unfortunately, in the wake of this once in a generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning,” Leavitt told reporters (video below).

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz on Monday also falsely claimed that President Trump is being blamed for natural disasters, telling reporters, “you see that with a hurricane, with a tornado, with a wildfire, with this flooding, where people immediately say, ‘Well, the hurricane is Donald Trump’s fault.'”

Critics pushed back at the White House.

“Nobody is blaming Trump for the floods,” wrote journalist and environmentalist Michael Dominowski. “But he did decimate National Weather Service forecast offices, despite being told doing so would hamper the agency’s ability to accurately predict storms. He did it anyway. Look at what happened. Cause/effect is a thing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

 

 

 

Continue Reading

News

Ted Cruz Blasted for Defending Trump, Dodging Questions on Flood Warning System Failures

Published

16 hours ago

on

July 7, 2025

By

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is under fire for remarks he made in the wake of deadly Texas flooding that has killed over 80 people, claiming that now is not the time to politicize—or even examine—the tragedy, while also defending President Donald Trump.

Some are asking if the Trump administration’s staffing cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and specifically, the National Weather Service (NWS), which provides local weather forecasts and warnings across the country, were to blame for a possibly stunted response to the flash flooding on the Guadalupe River.

“State and local officials are calling out federal forecasters amid deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the extended Fourth of July weekend,” Texas NBC affiliate KXAN reported on Friday. “The criticism comes, as funding cuts and staff shortages plague the National Weather Service and other emergency management agencies nationwide.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

On Monday at Public Notice, Noah Berlatsky wrote: “Retired federal scientists warned that the cuts could hamstring forecasts and make extreme weather events less predictable and more dangerous.”

“The New York Times reported that ‘crucial positions at the local offices of the National Weather Service were unfilled as severe rainfall inundated parts of Central Texas … prompting some experts to question whether staffing shortages made it harder for the forecasting agency to coordinate with local emergency managers as floodwaters rose,” Berlatsky added. “Did Trump’s cuts cause excess deaths in Texas? It will probably be some time before we have a definitive answer to that question, if we ever do at all.”

Meanwhile, Senator Cruz on Monday told reporters (video below), “I think any time you’re dealing with major rivers, there’s a risk of flooding, and there’s always been a risk of flooding, particularly on the Guadalupe River.”

“One of the things that’s predictable is that you see some people engaging in, I think partisan games, and trying to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster. And you see that with a hurricane, with a tornado, with a wildfire, with this flooding, where people immediately say, “Well, the hurricane is Donald Trump’s fault.”

Cruz also insisted that there’s an “ordering of things,” and that not until after the search and rescue and not until after rebuilding can there be a “retrospective” to determine what could have been done differently.

READ MORE: ‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda

Critics blasted Cruz, with one noting that he “was asked a non-partisan question about a safety/warning system. His response was to be defensive and political in defending Trump.”

Others noted that Americans aren’t blaming the President for natural disasters, but for what some see as a hampered response given the drastic cuts made to the National Weather Service.

“No one is saying Trump caused the storm, Ted,” wrote “On Democracy” podcaster Fred Wellman. “We are asking if more could have been done to warn people? They were literally relying on a system of upstream camps calling one’s further down. It’s 2025. They should have had sirens, cell coverage improvements, and more. The county posted the warning on Facebook. Your job is to ask those questions not gaslight.”

“OK,” wrote actress Morgan Fairchild, “but was it ever communicated to you that it was a priority to have [a] warning system? Especially since the area is called Flood Alley…”

“Ted Cruz slams people for ‘engaging in partisan games’ just minutes after he praised Donald Trump as in essence the greatest president and said Trump made it clear he would be there for Texas,” observed SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah.

Watch the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

Published

18 hours ago

on

July 7, 2025

By

In what some critics describe as an example of “cancel culture,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—a high profile official in the Trump administration—is calling for an apology or the firing of a private citizen: Larry Summers, a Democrat who, coincidentally, once held Bessent’s current position and later served as president of Harvard University.

In remarks he made over the weekend, Summers likened the horrific Texas flooding fatalities—now over 80, with dozens reportedly still missing and more rain expected—to what experts say will be the result of President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” the GOP budget projected to lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually.

“A Yale and University of Pennsylvania study estimated that restricting Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage, the repeal of nursing home staffing regulations, and other adjustments in the bill could result in 51,000 preventable deaths each year across the country, making it a top 10 cause of death in the U.S.,” The Daily Beast reported over the weekend.

READ MORE: ‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda

Actually citing lower death projections, Summers on Sunday told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos (video below) that the GOP budget bill, signed into law in an Independence Day ceremony complete with fighter jets and B-2 bombers soaring overhead, “is the biggest cut in the American safety net in history.”

He cited “estimates that it will kill, over 10 years, 100,000 people.”

“That is 2,000 days of death like we’ve seen in Texas this weekend. In my 70 years, I’ve never been as embarrassed for my country on July 4th,” Summers lamented.

He went on to call it “a shameful act by our Congress and by our president that is going to set our country back.”

Secretary Bessent, reportedly under consideration to replace Jerome Powell as Trump calls for the Federal Reserve Chairman’s exit, lashed out.

Calling Summers’ appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” a “shockingly callous interview,” that portrayed “a lack of humanity and judgment,” Bessent charged, “Using the horrifying situation in Texas for cheap political gain is unfathomable.”

He offered no insight into what political advantage Summers hoped to gain, but alleged that Summers had “turned a human tragedy into a political cudgel,” characterized his remarks as “feckless and deeply offensive,” and demanded “a public apology for his toxic language.”

At no point did Secretary Bessent dispute the numbers Summers cited.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

But he did demand an apology, and absent that, said his remarks should be “grounds for dismissal.”

“I hope the nonprofit and for-profit institutions with which he is affiliated will join me in this call. If he is unwilling or unable to acknowledge the cruelty of his remarks, they should consider Harvard’s example and make his unacceptable rhetoric grounds for dismissal,” the Treasury Secretary wrote.

Critics blasted Bessent.

“‘Shockingly callous’ isn’t pointing out the reality that Medicaid cuts will kill tens of thousands. Shockingly callous is cutting Medicaid without knowing this, or worse, cutting it despite knowing this,” wrote Professor of Economics and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Justin Wolfers. “Notice something else: Not once does Bessent refute the numbers that Summers offers. He just finds the language offensive. Some may find the reality more offensive.”

“Thank goodness we’ve gotten rid of cancel cult…,” Wolfers also snarked. “oh, wait, the secretary of the treasury is pressuring a private university to strip a professor of tenure because he highlighted numbers in a way the regime never refuted, but found offensive.”

“It’s truly pathetic that a Treasury Sec is using a public account to launch ad hominem attacks on a former Treasury Sec,” wrote Neera Tanden, former Biden Director of the Domestic Policy Council. “Clearly Bessent can’t counter @LHSummers facts. Clearly the WH is so worried BBB is a political disaster they forced their toady Treasury Sec to attack.”

“This is none of your business, Scott,” charged writer and historian Joshua Decter. “Stop trying to interfere and meddle with independent academic institutions. These are neo-Stalinist or neo-Maoist tactics. This is not what should happen in America.”

“Calling for a private citizen to be punished for disagreeing with the Administration from his official government account is classic authoritarianism,” observed Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, a 22-year combat veteran who is now the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”

Civil liberties and national security journalist Marcy Wheeler charged: “Secretary: You ALL WERE WARNED. You were warned repeatedly about the deaths you were going to cause. You own them.”

Watch Summers’ remarks in the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.