Judd Legum

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

8. Fox News, 10/19/22: REPUBLICANS EYE USING DEBT LIMIT HIKE TO OVERHAUL ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS Fox News, 2/9/23: WHITE HOUSE TRIPLES DOWN ON FALSE CLAIM REPUBLICANS WANT TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE (This is not a parody.) https://t.co/fMNJzqrPh6 — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

7. Nevertheless, the media is accusing Biden of "lying" and "exaggerating" Republican support for cutting Social Security in Medicare This includes the usual suspects like Fox News But also mainstream sources like CNN and ABC News — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

6. That's really as far as you need to go. There are 156 members of the Republican Study Committee -- which is more than half of the Republicans in Congress. There are also plenty of non-members (and many Senators) who also support cuts https://t.co/UyZ7jYMvmX — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

5. The RSC budget cuts Medicare benefits by increasing the retirement age, first by "aligning Medicare’s eligibility age with the normal retirement age for Social Security and then indexing this age to life expectancy." Again, they are cutting benefits for many people to zero. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

4. The RSC budget also changes the benefit formula to reduce benefits for all workers who are 54 years and younger. It would weaken the health of the program by allowing workers to divert payroll taxes previously devoted to Social Security into private retirement accounts. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

3. The 2023 RSC budget cuts Social Security by raising the retirement age by three years, from 67 to 70. So it's taking a large population and cutting their Social Security benefits to zero It then indexes the retirement age to increases in life expectancy But there is more — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

2. The largest caucus of House Republicans is the Republican Study Committee (RSC) It currently boasts 156 members The RSC released a proposed 2023 budget that details the caucus' position on Social Security and Medicare And the position is both should be cut significantly https://t.co/zKRuL1joZW — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

1. Somehow this has become a point of controversy but it is an UNASSAILABLE FACT that the majority of Republicans in Congress right now support cuts to SOCIAL SECURITY and MEDICARE Follow along for receipts 🧾🧾🧾 — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

I blame Hunter Biden — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

It's almost like you need employees for a website to work properly. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

WWJE (What Would Jesus Email) https://t.co/YwKfNbBA5X — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@RepublicanAGs @comcast @ATT @TMobile @Uber @Mastercard @BankofAmerica These contributions are for the 2022 cycle. The corporations named publicly announced they would pay for abortion-related travel for their employees. More on the lawsuit here: https://t.co/2l2sMawDhZ — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Corporations who claim to support reproductive rights but are backing the AGs behind the lawsuit to ban abortion medication nationwide, via @RepublicanAGs @comcast (316K) @ATT (125K) @TMobile (100K) @Uber (50K) @Mastercard (25K) @BankofAmerica (25K) — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

RT @UltraViolet: Nothing we love more than following the money before, during, and after the Super Bowl. #ReproReceipts — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

12. The group behind this lawsuit, Alliance Defending Freedom, received $16.7 million from The Signatry, the group that ran the "He Gets Us" ads during the Super Bowl — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

12. Were you interested in this thread? Well, you made it this far. Prediction: YOU'LL REALLY LIKE OUR NEWSLETTER. ✅ UPDATES on this story ✅ More accountability journalism ✅ More in-depth research And ✅ It's free to sign up https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

11. In December 2022, the Department of Justice issued an opinion concluding the Comstock Act  "does not prohibit the mailing of certain drugs that can be used to perform abortions where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully." https://t.co/IUuQekfXOl — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

10. The Comstock Act also purports to make it illegal to "mail" a drug that "is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion." — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

9. It is named after Anthony Comstock who was the "head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice." Comstock famously arrested Ezra Heywood for mailing a copy of  "Cupid’s Yokes, in which [Heywood] asserted that women should have the right to control their own bodies" — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

8. The plaintiffs in the case are relying on the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that has been ignored or limited by federal courts for decades. The Comstock Act "made it illegal to send 'obscene, lewd or lascivious,' 'immoral,' or 'indecent' publications through the mail. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

7. It's not an accident that the case ended up before Kacsmaryk. Texas is exploiting a loophole created by Congress that guarantees plaintiffs who file federal lawsuits in Amarillo, Texas will get Kacsmaryk as their judge It has become the go-to venue for fringe legal arguments — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

6. Kacsmaryk is an impassioned critic of the "sexual revolution" who has openly questioned whether access to contraception is legally protected. He has quickly "gained a reputation as perhaps the most lawless jurist in the country." — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

5. There isn't much of a legal case for banning a drug that's been approved for two decades and used safely and legally. But Fitch and the plaintiffs have an ace up their sleeves: Trump-appointed judge Matthew Kacsmaryk — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

4. Mifepristone, which was approved by the FDA in 2000, now accounts for the majority of abortions in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That's because it's 99.6% effective and safer than Tylenol https://t.co/IRfTQflkND — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

3. The lawsuit is about prohibiting the use of mifepristone in the 31 states where abortion remains mostly legal. If successful, it could restrict access to reproductive healthcare to 64.5 million women — an even bigger impact than Dobbs https://t.co/2l2sMawDhZ — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@LynnFitchAG 2. On Friday, Fitch submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Mississippi and 21 other states, supporting the plaintiffs in effort to ban mifepristone, a drug used to induce abortions, nationwide This isn't about Mississippi, which already bans virtually all abortions... — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

1. Mississippi's @LynnFitchAG, who represented her state in its successful effort to invalidate Roe, wrote a November 2021 op-ed claiming the case was about "returning decision-making about abortion policy to the people." So much for that... 🧵 https://t.co/2l2sMawDhZ — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

For UPDATES and more reporting like this subscribe to Popular Information. It's not controlled by a billionaire. And it's free to sign up. https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Specifically, the group behind the ads, The Signatry, also donated $16.7 million to Alliance Defending Freedom Alliance Defending Freedom is providing legal representation to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking a nationwide ban on abortion medication https://t.co/2l2sMawDhZ — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Just FYI, the same group that is financing the “He Gets Us” Jesus ads is also helping finance the lawsuit seeking to ban abortion medication nationwide — PolitiTweet.org