*By Carlo Versano*
Young Americans face a double burden from crushing student debt and the ballooned federal deficit that resulted from President Trump's tax cut, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Pelosi called the economic position many millennials find themselves in, even as the economy remains strong, "unconscionable."
"Republicans foisted onto future generations \[an\] economy that is unfair, that is not really lending itself to growth in a strong, predictable, confident, certain way," Pelosi said.
Democrats have already begun making the case to young voters that they are the party of fairness. Pelosi pointed to encouraging millennial turnout in the midterm elections and said that H.R. 1, a sweeping anti-corruption and voting rights bill that's currently in committee, is among her top legislative priorities. That bill is getting "tremendous response" from young voters who want to see more transparency around so-called "dark money" in elections and know that their vote matters, Pelosi said.
That bill also includes provisions that would create automatic nationwide voter registration and crack down on gerrymandering. Conservative lobbyists have [called](http://conservativeactionproject.com/conservatives-oppose-h-r-1-the-ultimate-fantasy-of-the-left/) it "the ultimate fantasy of the left," and the GOP opposition means it has virtually no chance of becoming law while Republicans control the Senate and White House.
Nevertheless, Pelosi sees that type of legislation as key to attracting broad millennial support in 2020.
"That's hard to break down the skepticism that is there, but we're on a path to do it," she said.
While President Trump and the GOP will likely run on a message of tax cuts and economic prosperity, Pelosi seems to believe they are vulnerable on the fairness message.
"Eighty-three percent of the benefits of their tax bill went to the top 1 percent," Pelosi said. " I think that it's important to note that we want an economy that works for you... not for the top, the wealthiest people in our country."
On the burden of student debt, Pelosi said she recognized that it weighed on millennials "like an anvil" as they begin their professional lives, and makes everything harder ー from getting married to starting a business. She did not mention to Cheddar any specific actions Democrats in Congress will take with regard to student debt relief, though she noted that a now-expired provision of Obamacare was built to expand funding of community colleges and Pell grants and mitigate interest rates. "We have to go back to that," she said.
With a temporary break in the impasse over border wall funding heading toward a Feb. 15 appropriations deadline, Pelosi didn't show her cards on how House Democrats are negotiating to ensure the government isn't shut down again.
"I think that the shutdown was a bitter pill for some of the Republicans to swallow and they might like to avoid that," she said.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
The two-sentence footnote raised serious concerns about accuracy and credibility.
