The Democratic presidential field continues to be in flux, with Julian Castro dropping out and Michael Bloomberg ramping up his campaign. Participation in the January 14th debate is, as of yesterday, limited to now six candidates. Those five — Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, and Bernie Sanders — have hit the polling and donation thresholds to qualify.
Ben Ritz, Director of the Center for Funding America's Future, for Forbes
Congress voted this week for a $1.9 trillion tax and spending deal, over a quarter of which was added to our $23 trillion national debt. Thanks to this and other fiscally irresponsible legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump, the federal government will run an annual budget deficit of over $1 trillion this year and every year that comes after it. Yet of over 500 questions asked throughout six presidential debates, not a single one has raised the issue.
Our limited power to raise tax revenue, those who want to make some programs universal — as well as those who want to criticize other candidates’ universal program proposals — need to justify or critique universality on an issue-by-issue basis, not on its general merits.
Ahead of the #DemDebate in Los Angeles, Democrats can draw useful lessons from last week's #UnitedNations Conference of Parties (COP25) in Madrid, which by all accounts failed to kickstart progress toward implementing the Paris Climate Accords.
