OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas

After efforts to repeal Obamacare were dealt a deathblow (we hope), GOP leaders in Congress are turning their attention to so-called tax reform. CAP budget guru, Harry Stein, joins us to lay out the fight ahead: In a time of crushing income inequality, Americans want tax reform that ensures everyone is paying their fair share but the Republican Party wants a wealth grab for the highest earners in the country. Later in the show, Maura Calsyn, CAP's Managing Director of Health Policy, talks with us about Trump's continued efforts to sabotage Obamacare markets. A self-described feminist Muslim, Iranian-American comedian, Zahra Noorbaksh, shares how she uses comedy to break through bigotry in America. And Rebecca closes the show with some thoughts on efforts by Trump's Department of Education to make colleges campuses safer... for students who commit sexual assault.

Paul Ryan said it best back in March: "Obamacare is the law of the land." On Friday, for the first time in months, millions of Americans woke up with the comfort of knowing that their healthcare will remain intact. After a nail-biting week and multiple last-ditch efforts by Republicans to strip people of their coverage, Democrats snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress and one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act, unpacks how we secured this victory, and what's next for healthcare (because is this fight ever really over?). Later in the show, Jeremy shares what we all missed while we were paying attention to healthcare. And finally, Stephen Pimpare explores how movies have portrayed poor and homeless people throughout history, and why their portrayals matter.

There’s been no shortage of news this week, between the healthcare debate, a House GOP budget proposal that slashes nearly every program that helps families afford the basics to pay for millionaire tax cuts, and Sean Spicer’s resignation. But Rebecca spent the week far away from all of that at Sundance, alongside dozens of incredible artists, comedians, writers, documentarians, and others using art and culture to make change, at the Opportunity Agenda's annual Creative Change retreat. This week’s episode features a few of Rebecca’s conversations with some of those artists--who are working to close the book on solitary confinement, achieve comprehensive immigration reform, stop police brutality, and much, much more, all through cultural means.

Following the election, it seemed all but certain that the Affordable Care Act would be immediately repealed. And while its fate remains uncertain, constituents have made it more and more difficult for Congress to strip them of their healthcare. Rebecca speaks with Jeff Stein, a Congressional reporter at Vox who’s been covering activism to kill the bill in communities across the country. Next, she speaks with a member of Indivisible’s Phoenix chapter, whose efforts to swing Senator Jeff Flake to the “no” column are informed by her time as a claims analyst at a health insurance company. Then, with July marking eight years since the last time the federal minimum wage was raised, Rachel West of the Center for American Progress explains the trend that has enabled Republican-controlled legislatures to stop wage hikes in their states. And finally, thousands of LA families are facing serious health and safety consequences due to the now-closed Exide battery plant. Hilda Solis — former Secretary of Labor and current member of LA County’s Board of Supervisors — joins with the story of how the community has stepped up— and what it’s like to see the progress she helped create in the Obama Administration get unraveled by his successor. But first, Jeremy Slevin joins with this week’s edition of In Case You Missed It.

With #TrumpCare deeply unpopular in all 50 states, the Senate has delayed voting on the bill for now—but the fight is far from over, as Rebecca and Jeremy explain in this week’s edition of In Case You Missed It. Meanwhile, disabled activists have made headlines getting arrested and even dragged out of their wheelchairs by police. To help tell the amazing history of ADAPT, Rebecca speaks with David Perry, a disability rights journalist, and Anita Cameron, a longtime ADAPTer. Next, with unaffordable water bills now a major driver of poverty and even foreclosure in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez shares the story of how Philly became the first city to set low-income families’ water bills based on ability to pay. And finally, with the Supreme Court’s most recent term now at a close, ThinkProgress’s Ian Millhiser breaks down the most important cases—and what we’ve learned about Neil Gorsuch so far.

The mainstream media was all but silent on healthcare — until Thursday, when the Senate unveiled its own repeal legislation, crafted in secrecy. To unpack what’s in the bill, Rebecca and Jeremy are joined by Ryan Collins of the Center for American Progress for this week’s In Case You Missed It. Next, with all eyes on Nevada Senator Dean Heller and other moderate Republicans, Nevada has made moves in the opposite direction. Rebecca speaks with State Majority Leader Aaron Ford about how Nevada almost became the first state to offer Medicaid for all. Next, Wonkblog’s Max Ehrenfreund shares the nitty-gritty on Kansas’s failed experiment with trickle-down economics — and how the state should be the canary in a coal mine for Republicans in Washington. And finally, CAP’s Larry Korb breaks down what the GOP health plan means for veterans, a group President Trump vowed to protect.

June is a celebratory month for the LGBTQ community — but, this year, it also marks the one-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre. The anniversary also coincides with a shooting that targeted Republican members of Congress this past week. To discuss what’s unfolded since the Pulse shooting, as well as the paths forward for LGBTQ rights and gun violence prevention, Rebecca is joined by three colleagues from the Center for American Progress: Laura Durso, Audrey Juarez Rubio, and Chelsea Parsons. Also, as Congressional Republicans gear up to drop their own budget proposal following President Trump’s, Congressman John Yarmuth and Representative Barbara Lee join to discuss what’s at stake for everyone who isn’t a millionaire — or a big corporation. But first, Jeremy joins for this week’s installment of In Case You Missed It.

On Thursday, while Comey was testifying, Congress quietly took the opportunity to hack even further away at consumer protections and healthcare. Rebecca and Jeremy walk through what we missed while all eyes were on Comey, in this week’s installment of In Case You Missed It. Next, Mustafa Ali of the Hip Hop Caucus explains how communities of color and low-income people will bear the brunt of Trump’s climate denial agenda and the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris accord. Then, what the Washington Post’s latest swing and miss on Social Security disability says about the mainstream media’s failure to properly report on poverty and disability, with Ned Resnikoff of ThinkProgress. And finally, it’s not just Trump’s budget that’s a Trojan horse for tax cuts for the wealthy. Ed Lazere of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute shares the good, the bad, and the ugly from D.C.’s own budget, which the D.C. Council is set to pass this coming week. This week’s guests: Mustafa Ali, Hip Hop Caucus Ned Resnikoff, ThinkProgress Ed Lazere, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute

What does President Trump’s rollback of Obamacare’s contraception mandate mean, and what’s on deck for healthcare more broadly? Andy Slavitt joins to discuss. Next, Liz Kennedy explains the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Ohio’s voter-purge case, and what it means for the future of voter suppression. Finally, Aditi Juneja discusses what an inclusive resistance looks like. But first, Jeremy Slevin joins for another edition of In Case You Missed It, to unpack this week’s biggest stories in poverty. This week’s guests: Andy Slavitt, formerly of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Liz Kennedy, Center for American Progress Aditi Jeneja, Resistance Manual

President Trump released his budget this week, and as expected, it’s a bodyslam to everybody but the wealthy. Harry Stein joins Rebecca and Jeremy to walk through some of the budget’s most egregious cuts. Next, Anna Chu and Bishop Dwayne Royster break down how the budget hits women and communities of color--and what advocates can do to stop these cuts. And finally, Alex Lawson joins to debunk the myth that President Trump's budget didn’t break his promise not to cut Social Security.

Last week, the Center for American Progress hosted its Ideas Conference, where progressive thought leaders put forth a bold agenda that looks beyond the current administration, with its policies that set us back decades. Host Rebecca Vallas sat down with grass-roots resistance leaders, like DeRay Mckesson and Indivisible’s Leah Greenberg, and those leading the charge from Capitol Hill, including Rep. Keith Ellison and Rep. Maxine Waters, and more.

As we commemorate this week's ‘Day Without a Woman’ strike, this week’s Off-Kilter is an episode without Jeremy Slevin. Instead, Rebecca is joined by Michelle Chen, co-host of Dissent’s Belabored podcast, to unpack what this week’s strikes say about the future of establishment feminism. Next, Sarah McBride of the Human Rights Campaign, and the first openly transgender speaker at a major party convention, discusses the fight ahead for the LGBTQ community under Trump—and why she’s managed to remain optimistic. Next, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, joins to break down Trump’s other war on the media playing out quietly at the FCC. And finally, with Republican efforts to repeal and “replace” the Affordable Care Act continuing to advance full speed ahead, Rebecca sits down with three women whose personal stories highlight how the GOP’s Medicaid cuts would set the clock back on disability rights 50 years or more.

This week, President Trump delivered a joint address to Congress, promising to ring in a “new era of greatness.” But he forgot to mention the $54 billion in cuts he’s seeking to programs that serve low- and middle-income Americans. Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities joins to unpack what Trump said—and didn’t say. Next up, Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower-Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy, joins the show. Bryce Covert of ThinkProgress talks about the return of general strikes, and finally Sarah Borgstede, a woman whose husband’s life would have been saved if the Affordable Care Act had been in place, shares her family's story. But first, Jeremy Slevin returns with this week’s news in poverty and inequality.

To kick off the inaugural episode, host Rebecca Vallas is joined by Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, which examines resistance movements in the U.S. and how they have the power to reshape American politics. Next, Ezra Levin of Indivisible talks about what’s next for the movement that’s responsible for some spirited town halls this week. And Dorian Warren of Center for Community Change Action joins to unpack Trump’s attacks on immigrants and how they fit in with a broader divide-and-conquer strategy. But first, Jeremy Slevin breaks down this week’s biggest news

This week, House Republicans took a deeply unpopular step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act and ending Medicaid as we know it. Rebecca and Jeremy unpack—and vent about—their so-called replacement plan, and what comes next. With millions of Americans worrying about what this means for their healthcare, we air an encore presentation of two women with disabilities and a mother with a disabled child who stand to lose everything if Medicaid is dismantled. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to sabotage the ACA in other ways—including subsidizing states that refused to expand Medicaid. Rebecca speaks with an Arkansas woman who stood up to Senator Tom Cotton at a town hall a few months ago by sharing why the ACA is vital for her and her family. And finally, the nationwide trend of school lunch shaming, and what New Mexico lawmakers are doing to curb the practice.