This is what a real Populist looks like:
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Wednesday that he sees a "clear disconnect" between what President Trump has said he wants in tax reform and the Senate Republicans' actual tax-reform proposal.
In an interview on CNN, Brown said that Trump has personally told him that he likes his tax-reform suggestions. The bill backed by Senate Republicans, on the other hand, has largely been crafted behind closed doors, Brown said.
"There's a clear disconnect between what he said he wants in his campaign and in those conversations, and what's going on in the back room," Brown said.
"I mean, this is a bill that's been written in the back room — in the Majority Leader's office — sitting down with Wall Street lobbyists and Koch brother lobbyists and drug company lobbyists and oil interests."
The Ohio Democrat accused Republicans of changing the bill "every couple of nights," pointing to the decision to add a provision repealing the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate while the measure was in the Senate Finance Committee.
For more proof, here’s Brown grilling Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R. UT):
And bless him for being relentless on this:
Sen. Sherrod Brown is expressing frustration at the lack of movement on funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. The program, which covers 9 million children nationwide, is reauthorized through 2019 but funding for it expired in September.
Brown says approving the funding needs to be a top priority for Congress.
"It should be done. I don't care how we do it,” Brown says. “There's five different ways, but the easiest is just to move the bill to the floor. Get an agreed-upon bill and move it to the floor in both houses and do it this week."
CHIP helps lower- and middle-income families that otherwise earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, as well as thousands of pregnant women. Though it has broad bipartisan support, CHIP funding lapsed on Sept. 30 while lawmakers were busy with Affordable Care Act repeal bills.
"These are families often that have two working parents," Brown says. "They aren’t lucky enough to work for companies that offer good health coverage for their entire family, or they’re families with children who have special needs. CHIP helps provide access to specialty providers so said kids are never faced with a situation -- or their parents are never faced with a situation, where they can’t afford the therapy or prescription drugs that they need."
It’s important we keep real Populists like Brown in the U.S. Senate to keep up the fight against clowns like Trump and Hatch. Click here to donate and get involved with Brown’s re-election campaign.