It seems that congressional Republicans—or some, at least—are finally coming to the realization that their constituents are poor and unemployed. On Tuesday the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with the bill that would extend unemployment benefits, which expired three days after Christmas. It provides benefits to roughly 1.3 million eligible workers for three months,…

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are patting their backs as if simply doing their job deserves a gratuity. Their budget deal, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, has now gone to the president’s desk for signing. But though this moment may represent a temporary cease-fire of Republican obstructionism, the Ayn Rand-ian principles that have guided…

It is a strange and ironic truth that in the world’s richest democracy, many Americans are going to work in the morning, but they and their families are going to bed hungry at night. As Christmas fast approaches, and the warming memories of Thanksgiving dinner give way to yet another work week, it is a…

The untold success story in the Obamacare rollout is that the working poor are enrolling in Medicaid. Sadly, the media have largely chosen to ignore this fact. Positive statistics are crowded out by incessant Republican distracters who prefer obsessing over glitches on the Healthcare.gov website than highlighting the thousands of families already benefiting from the…

The modern-day Republican Party appears to have a problem with black people—and especially black people in positions of power. Perhaps that can explain why they spend so much political capital trying to deny, undermine or prevent African Americans from entering or staying in the ruling class. Earlier this year, in anticipation of then-U.N. Ambassador Susan…

(The Root) — The Republican Party has done a masterful job distorting the facts about Obamacare. From its inception to the official launch, members of the GOP and conservative talking heads have twisted a tale of lies about the Affordable Care Act with the clear aim to undermine both the policy and the president. The…

(The Root) — From its initial inception to the official launch, members of the GOP and conservative talking heads have fought the Affordable Care Act. But millions of impoverished Americans and the working poor do not have and cannot afford health insurance coverage. This is especially the case in the 26 states that opted out…

(The Root) — The conventional wisdom among the Washington, D.C., chattering class had been that the GOP — despite its dangerous display of extremism — was at little risk of losing a majority in the House of Representatives at the 2014 midterm elections. But a host of surveys and polling data suggests that the government…