After the House passed the CASH Act on Monday, which would give $2000 to individuals instead of the $600 in the Covid-19 relief bill just signed by Trump, and then successfully overrode his veto of the must-pass, annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the action turned to the Senate. I'm NICOLE SANDLER, back today guest hosting the BradCast, making sure we don't fall behind on the end of the year plethora of news, which we knew would be somewhat chaotic due to the madness of Lame Duck Donald (or is that Lame Donald Duck?)

When we last got together, yesterday, the House was still voting on overriding Trump's NDAA veto, and they did so in a big way. The final vote was 322-87. Many of the 87 "No" votes weren't Republicans afraid of crossing dear leader, but progressives balking at another $740 billion windfall for the military industrial complex. Today, the action moved to the Senate, where Majority Leader 'Moscow' Mitch McConnell did exactly what he's best at: blocking the Democrats' call for an up or down vote on the CASH Act.

Senators Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey and Chris Murphy all spoke passionately about the need to help out Americans suffering through the worst crisis in our lifetimes. McConnell just grunted out his objection to their motions. The bottom line? McConnell blocked Schumer's request to approved the $2000 checks by unanimous consent. The Senate then adjourned until 3pm tomorrow, making me shake my head in disbelief. He said there would be a quorum call at 5p Eastern Time followed by a vote on overriding the NDAA. Then we learned that McConnell decided to combine Trump's demand for repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act with legislation to increase the stimulus checks to $2000, effectively poisoning the pill to make it unpassable in the Senate.

This still doesn't address Bernie Sanders' threat to keep the Senate in DC through the holiday weekend if McConnell doesn't agree to a vote on the CASH Act bill passed by the House Monday night. So, I'll be back on Wednesday, hopefully with some answers.

One thing this whole episode has reinforced is the fact that the Democratic Party, as an institution, is just not very good at being an effective opponent of the Republicans. I believe there are many contributing factors, including the generational disconnect of Democratic Congressional leadership. But I've also harbored ill will toward the DNC for a long time due to what I view as their inept management of everything they do.

So one night last week as I was suffering though another bout of insomnia, I happened upon a Twitter thread by DAVID ATKINS. He's a writer (Washington Monthly, The American Prospect among others), and a progressive activist who is also a Democratic Party Regional Director and recently became an elected member of the DNC. The thread was about what he's learned about the DNC's dysfunction since he's been on the inside. It was quite dispiriting, but fascinating. So I invited him on for a conversation about what it would take to turn this party around.

This interview originally aired on my program, The Nicole Sandler Show, last week. Afterwards, a listener sent me this photo of a letter written by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1928, detailing his own issues with the DNC and his suggestions about how to run the Party. They sound a lot like what David Atkins was saying when we spoke! FDR knew what he was talking about. He was elected President four years later.

The more things change, the more they stay the same apparently...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

                 

Article Categories: DNC, U.S. Senate, Dept. of Defense, Democrats, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Military Industrial Complex, BradCast, FDR, DCCC, Coronavirus/COVID-19