Democrats, run on what you’ve delivered
Yes, inflation, saving democracy, and women’s reproductive health are on the ballot this fall. The Dobbs decision in June weighs on many people’s minds. How much it will affect voting patterns remains unknown. Republicans are tripling down on hyping crime with the most vile, openly racist attack ads we’ve ever seen.
Still, someone on one of my listservs complained that Democrats are not talking about all the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, student loan forgiveness, etc., for which they deserve credit. New polling shows that “voters most concerned with the economy favored Republicans overwhelmingly, by more than a two-to-one margin.” So examine why Democrats are more show and less talk.
If you are one of 40 million Americans who qualify for President Biden’s student loan forgiveness, you can apply online as of last Friday. Tell your friends (Buzzfeed News):
The program covers more than 40 million Americans, who are eligible if, in 2021 or 2020, they earned under $125,000 as an individual or $250,000 for families. Applicants can receive up to $20,000 if they were a Pell Grant recipient or up to $10,000 if they were not.
The application — which is due over a year from now, on Dec. 31, 2023 — is extremely short and straightforward, requiring little more than the applicant’s contact info and Social Security number.
Eighty-seven percent of program benefits go to people earning less than $75,000 per year.
All those “Shingles doesn’t care” ads? Here’s something to care about. Even with Medicare, the shots cost nearly $200. Each. (It’s a series of two. The spouse hasn’t received them yet.) But they won’t cost Medicare recipients beginning in January. Why? The Inflation Reduction Act:
People with Medicare drug coverage will pay nothing out-of-pocket for adult vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), including the shingles and Tetanus-Diphtheria-Whooping Cough vaccines, starting in 2023.
I had to hear about that word-of-mouth.
The IRA will cap monthly out-of-pocket costs for insulin to $35 per month starting January 1 (with no deductible). Medicare Part B premiums will decline for the first time ever.
Social Security recipients (about 70 million Americans) will get the largest cost-of-living increase in decades beginning in either December or January: an 8.7-percent increase in their monthly payments.
Out friend Mike Lux at American Family Voices cautions that Democrats need to address inflation on the stump and in ads. It only beats them if they don’t talk about it. Polling suggests voters in small- and medium-sized towns are not blaming inflation on Joe Biden. But it’s still their top issue this fall.
If voters never hear ads from candidates mentioning inflation; if the mail they receive never mentions it; if they only hear it touched on in stump speeches; if the answers to the inflation question in debates are mushy; voters are going to decide those Democratic candidates are not prioritizing the issue they are most focused on in their day-to-day lives.
Lux offers five key inflation-related points Democratic candidates should hammer home:
1. Wealthy corporations with monopoly power are jacking up their prices, and their profits are going through the roof. Big oil, food, shipping, health care, and real estate companies have been making record profits over the last two years. I will crack down on price gouging, but to be clear – my opponent has proposed nothing to combat this abuse.
2. Drug prices and health insurance premiums are going to go down because of the Inflation Reduction Act, and I will fight to do even more to build on that and put more money in your pocket. I want to do even more to lower costs, but the Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, while having no plan of their own.
3. Seniors will be getting the biggest increase in their Social Security payments in 40 years; their Medicare premiums are going down for the first time in over a decade; and their drug costs will go down because Democrats passed a law forcing the big drug companies to negotiate with Medicare. Republicans are talking about ending Social Security and repealing the bill that lowers drug costs.
4. Manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States; new plants are opening; new jobs in solar and wind energy manufacturing and semiconductor chips have been created; and our infrastructure is being rebuilt. All of this will end our supply chain problems and create millions more good jobs. My opponent opposes most or all of these measures.
5. I will fight for the Child Tax Credit, which will give parents up to $600 a month to help with groceries, gas, and housing. And I’m going to pay for it by taxing wealthy corporations and millionaires who are paying little or nothing in taxes right now. My opponent is against the Child Tax Credit.
Women’s reproductive freedom is a major issue. But it competes with Russia-Ukraine, gun policy and immigration for voters’ attention. Economic concerns remain the top issue for 2022. Democrats have to talk about the economy while reminding voters, despite recent polling, that Republicans have no plans for fixing anything. Democrats have delivered.
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