Progress Michigan blog posts.
Since Justice Anthony Kennedy’s recent retirement, the battle for control of the U.S. Supreme Court has taken center-stage in many political conversations. President Trump’s nominee to replace him, Brett Kavanaugh, falls to Kennedy’s right and would undoubtedly shift the court in a more conservative direction. Democrats in the Senate have promised to do everything they…
“It’s the economy, stupid,” is a slogan that has guided campaigns for decades. It makes a good point; voters certainly do care about the economy, and just about everyone can agree we want the economy to be good. It also leaves us with important questions: What do we mean by the economy and how do…
In recent years, debates about health care have taken center-stage in the political landscape, both in Michigan and across the country. While ensuring everyone can access the care they need seems like something we should all be able to agree on, many of our elected officials are fighting for exactly the opposite. Here in Michigan,…
After gathering more than 430,000 signatures, Michigan’s Promote the Vote campaign has submitted a proposed ballot initiative that, simply put, would make voting easier. The changes proposed include allowing straight-ticket voting, no-reason absentee voting, same-day registration, and automatic voter registration. Each of these policies would be a step toward ensuring every Michigander can exercise their…
In a tenure marked mostly by continued attacks on Michigan’s most vulnerable communities, Governor Rick Snyder, with the help of progressive groups on the ground, accomplished one really good thing: the Healthy Michigan Plan, a Medicaid expansion plan allowing hundreds of thousands of low-income Michiganders to receive health insurance. Expanding Medicaid was a welcome departure…
It’s seem like it’s every other day a corporation shows up in Lansing with its hand out asking for tax dollars to conduct business. From FoxConn to Dan Gilbert to Amazon, there is no shortage of wealthy folks asking hard working Michiganders to give them money. The Michigan Strategic Fund is the entity that decides…
This week, Michigan legislators passed a budget that continues to chip away at women’s reproductive rights through funding cuts to Planned Parenthood. Part of a broader agenda to prioritize pleasing religious conservatives over women’s right to health care, these cuts threaten low-income women’s access to services such as contraception, STI treatment, and cancer screenings in…
Right now, you or someone you know might be one of the 62.4 million people in the U.S. who gets birth control without any out-of-pocket costs. And that’s great, because when people have access to affordable birth control, they’re in control of a whole bunch of important things in their lives. But copay-free birth control…
For three decades, Attorney General Bill Schuette has had the chance to stand up against discrimination, Islamophobia and racism, and he has continually — and willfully — chosen the wrong side. Case in point, when asked about anti-Muslim comments made by one of his primary opponents, State Senator Patrick Colbeck, Schuette’s spokesperson had this to say: Schuette…
Today is Tax Day and a big topic of discussion has been the fallout from the GOP Tax Scam that was passed in 2017. Republicans like Congressman Mike Bishop and Attorney General Bill Schuette have been singing the plan’s praises ever since it passed. They claim that the tax plan is benefitting working families. But…