Eye on the Right

The challenge for progressives from this “states rights” movement is not that any of these laws are likely to survive in court, but that conservatives too often get away with claiming to stand for constitutional values without significant challenge from progressives.  The reality is that the right wing has no credibility in promoting their states’ rights arguments and should be challenged more directly.  As this Dispatch will outline, their arguments fail on multiple grounds:

• First, conservative constitutional history is dead wrong.  The progressive vision of collaborative federalism between federal and state governments clearly reflects the “original intent” of the Constitution’s creators  – including those who promoted the Constitutional Amendments enacted throughout our history.
• Second, conservative leaders are constitutional hypocrites, talking about “states rights” even as they support federal laws that restrict state authority in order to protect corporate special interests. 
• Finally, unlike conservatives, progressives practice real respect for state authority by promoting and supporting state innovation and flexibility, a far more compelling practice of federalism than the rigid and false constitutional doctrine promoted by the right wing.

 

In the weeks following the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health care reform were joined by multiple, conservative Attorneys General from states across the nation, despite widespread condemnation that such challenges were frivolous, wasteful, and almost certain to fail in the courts.  In early April, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius commented that she believed the lawsuits had "more to do with politics than policy."

The drumbeat of research papers, talking heads and issue briefs attacking the scientific consensus around climate change has been carefully bankrolled by the oil and gas industry.  This includes Koch Industries, the energy industry giant and second-largest privately held corporation in the country, which is a key funder of a vast network of right-wing groups -- including many focused on state policy -- who have promoted climate change denial, according to a recent report released by Greenpeace.

PSN has noted in previous Dispatches, these credits are costly, favor out-of-state workers, offer minimal to no returns, do not create permanent jobs, and place an excessive burden on taxpayers in a time of economic uncertainty.  The Massachusetts Department of Revenue recently determined that in twelve states that administer a film tax credit, the return is extremely meager-- finding that states were only getting back "$.0.07 to $.0.28 per dollar of tax credit granted."

As Congress debates the last steps needed to pass historic comprehensive health care reform, state legislators around the country have sent a letter to President Obama and Congress to urge them to complete the process and pass the health care reforms needed by the American people. The letter below, written on behalf of over 1000 legislators organized by the Progressive States Network in support of comprehensive reforms, urges that any compromises between the Senate and House use the majority vote process of reconciliation to circumvent obstruction through the use of a filibuster.

This body of over 1000 state legislators supporting federal reform stands in contrast to the smaller group of legislators organized by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) who issued a press release last week opposing reform, yet propose no solutions for the American people other than their own obstruction.  Given the corporate cash driving ALEC's agenda and that representatives of the insurance industry sit on the ALEC task force executive committee writing its model legislation, it's hardly a surprise that ALEC seeks to defend the status quo of industry profiteering at the expense of American families.

Even as federal reform moves forward, the letter below emphasizes that state legislative leaders across the country continue to promote needed state reforms and stand ready to implement federal reforms in the states as soon as Congress enacts the legislation. 

 

 

A recent blog post from the Immigration Policy Center decries a recent report from the anti-immigrant think tank Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which calls on the Republican Party to essentially give up courting Latino immigrant voters for the time being and remain anti-immigrant.

How do we know the Recovery Act is working?

Over 70 members of the House of Representatives vociferously opposed ARRA, but returned to their home districts to take credit for job creation, investments in infrastructure and the green economy, and spending on critical community needs.  Many of these same lawmakers requested further federal funds for projects in their states.

How are Arizona's right-wing legislators responding to the state's most severe fiscal crisis since the Great Depression?

Massive corporate income tax cuts, of course.

Under the guise of "choice" in health care, conservatives are launching a state-based campaign to derail health reform.  With support from the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), conservative legislators in at least 24 states are introducing a bill that says no one shall be required to purchase health care from the government or a government-defined health plan or be prevented from buying private insurance, and that residents shall have the right to pay for health care directly out of pocket.