Got a to-do list? Is signing up for healthcare on it? If it is, quit reading this and go because time is running out! The official deadline to sign up for the Affordable Care Act is coming up–March 31, to be exact. Though some Republican governors have tried to thwart signups by refusing to fund navigators in their states, places like Florida and North Carolina are exceeding expected enrollment numbers. As the hours dwindle down, there is palpable tension brewing on both sides of the aisle looking ahead to just how the law will work.
On Sunday’s Melissa Harris-Perry, we’ll break down the enrollment numbers and discuss what they might mean when it comes to voter turnout in November.
Politics is a world beholden to polling data. Numbers mean everything and there’s nothing worse than seeing numbers that don’t spell out victory. This week, data journalist Nate Silver sent some Democrats into a tailspin when his FiveThirtyEight site suggested that the Democrats could lose the Senate come this November. Back in 2012, when Silver predicted an Obama victory using empirical data, he was every Democrat’s best friend. Now, not so much.
Back in 2010, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations, like individual citizens, are covered by the First Amendment in so far as it relates to the freedom of speech. In this case, freedom of speech was equated to political donations. Now, in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, the court is being asked to again decide if corporations are covered by the First Amendment. However, this time, it’s not freedom of speech that’s being questioned, it’s freedom of religion.
If you want to see how the White House is framing its push to encourage Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, look no further than this week’s address from Vice President Biden, where he stated:
Right now women make up more than half of the workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage. Folks, a low minimum wage is one of the reasons why women in America make only 77 cents per every dollar that a man makes. But by raising the minimum wage, we can close that gap by 5%. And it matters, particularly to a lot of hardworking families and moms raising children on the minimum wage.
Oh, and we’re going to talk about Gwyneth Paltrow too.
Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Sunday at 10 a.m. EST on msnbc! Also, don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.
Rachel Zuckerman