Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Medicaid in Puerto Rico; social psychology and religion; New York Times flag redesign contest is a bad idea; three libertarian archbishops in Australia.
Distinctly Catholic: Underneath the tiring and tiresome drama of government as entertainment, the administration's decisions are undermining the common good.
Trump's trade war has not dented farmer support for him. Meanwhile, outside rural corners, issues like health care and tax cuts are factoring into Iowa's 1st District race.
We say: When we lift our rose-colored glasses, we find a fragile economy made even more fragile by the GOP's December 2017 tax plan, along with the "2.0" plan that would cement it.
With proposed policy changes, says one immigrant advocate, "We're asking parents to make a choice between food, health care, and maybe being able to stay here permanently in this country."
When you meet a candidate, Republican or Democrat or Green or Socialist, ask him or her some pointed questions about public policy on housing, hunger and, yes, pain.
We say: The House committee plan would repeal a state's flexibility to extend nutrition assistance benefits to working families who earn enough to put them barely above the income eligibility limit for the program. These aggressive changes are a blunt hammer.
NCR Today: The women and men of the Catholic lobbying group are a blessing on the Hill, because they speak the Gospel message in the face of legislation such as this.
Updated: Catholic health advocates who fought the Graham-Cassidy bill are hoping members of Congress will return to bipartisan work on improvements to the health care law.
