Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, U.S., May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
They agree with Bernie: Majority of Americans support single-payer, “Medicare-for-all” health care system
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 2:02 PM
A majority of Americans support the single-payer, “Medicare-for-all” style health care system proposed by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
A new Gallup poll found that almost six in 10 U.S. adults would prefer a federally funded health care system that provides insurance for all Americans.
Gallup presented the three leading presidential candidates’ proposed health care policies, without naming the candidates, and asked participants what they thought of them. A majority of Americans agreed with Sanders’ proposal, without knowing that it was his.
A substantial 58 percent of Americans said they favored the idea of replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, with a Medicare-for-all style system.
Move over Speaker Paul Ryan, it’s Donald Trump’s Republican Party now
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 1:04 PM
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan all but reversed course Thursday and moved toward accepting Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee, saying he was “very encouraged” after meeting with the billionaire businessman and optimistic about unifying the party to fight Democrats in the fall.
The speaker’s comments offered a sharp shift from his public show of discomfort with Trump just a week ago. The sudden about-face showed the pressure on Ryan, the intellectual torchbearer for the conservative movement, to drop his ideological purity tests and unify Republicans behind their unorthodox nominee.
“Great day in DC,” Trump wrote in a message on Twitter. “Things working out really well.”
The move toward unity exposes Ryan to the political risk that comes with linking his well-polished political brand to that of Trump — an outsider whose policy views and public persona differ dramatically from those of the GOP leaders Ryan has tried to emulate.
[source: Move over Speaker Paul Ryan, it’s Donald Trump’s Republican Party now]
Eric Fanning becomes first openly gay US Army Secretary after Senate confirmation
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 7:06 PM
Eric Fanning testifies before a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of the Army on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 21, 2016. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
The U.S. Senate unanimously backed President Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Fanning as secretary of the Army on Tuesday, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service branch.
Fanning previously worked as undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
He was confirmed by unanimous voice vote, eight months following his nomination, after Pentagon leaders assured Senator Pat Roberts that it was now too late for the administration to transfer prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Roberts’ home state, Kansas.
Roberts had held up Fanning’s nomination for months to underscore his opposition to any possible transfer of detainees.
[source: Eric Fanning becomes first openly gay US Army Secretary after Senate confirmation]