Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

HEIDI WINS FIRST DEBATE. Last night’s debate proved once again why North Dakotans sent Heidi to the U.S. Senate six years ago. She’s an independent, adult voice for North Dakota who will always put their interests firsts – unlike Kevin Cramer. Missed the debate? Don’t worry, the Dem-NPL was busy holding Cramer accountable for papering over his anti-North Dakota record and we’ve got the receipts. 

TRIPLING DOWN ON GUTTING MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY. Cramer has frequently admitted that he’s open to cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the tax cut he gave to the wealthy, but this week he tripled down on his anti-senior agenda, admitting three separate times that he wants to make changes to these programs.

1. In an interview with the Jamestown Sun, Cramer advocated for raising the retirement age and making cuts to programs like Medicare.
2. During a town hall sponsored by AARP, Cramer endorsed Mitch McConnell’s suggestion of gutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the rising deficit and reiterated his support for making changes to these vital programs.
3. In a radio interview, Cramer said it was “a mistake” that President Trump “has pledged not to deal with Social Security and Medicare.”

HEALTH CARE ON THE BALLOT. Cramer’s Washington, D.C. bosses admitted their disastrous plan to repeal the current health care law after the midterms – a plan that, if successful, could remove protections for more than 300,000 North Dakotans who have a pre-existing condition and could spike costs and strip coverage.

Our Take: North Dakotans’ access to affordable care is on the ballot this November – and with 52 percent of North Dakotans saying health care is “very important when deciding their vote for the U.S. Senate” and 53 percent having a “major concern” with Cramer’s votes to repeal the current health care law and undermine protections for pre-existing conditions – Cramer is in trouble.

CRAMER’S HEALTH CARE AGENDA WORSE THAN EXPECTED. Kaiser Health News is now reporting that the Cramer-endorsed lawsuit could also jeopardize care for folks who get coverage through their employer. Here’s what else the Cramer-endorsed lawsuit could do:

• “[E]liminate the ACA’s cap on how much enrollees pay out-of-pocket and its ban on annual and lifetime limits.”
• “For small businesses, the lawsuit would knock down the ACA’s ban on charging higher premiums based on health status or gender, and its limits on age variation.”

TRADE WAR THREATENS FARMERS – CRAMER BRUSHES OFF CONCERNS. From the Washington Post and running in this week’s Forum: “North Dakota soybean farmers, caught in the trade war, watch the season run out on their crop.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

Why?

…Because he doesn’t have any

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(BISMARCK, ND) – During an AARP town hall last night, Congressman Cramer endorsed Mitch McConnell’s suggestion of gutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the rising deficit and reiterated his support for making changes to these vital programs. See for yourself:

Cramer: “I think Senator McConnell’s simply being honest with the American people and I think that’s encouraging.”

Cramer: “President Trump, ironically, here’s one of the areas that he and I don’t agree on […] he promised not to touch your Social Security […] he and I already disagree on, on Social Security.” 

Reminder: This isn’t the first (or second or third or fourth) time Cramer has suggested making changes to these earned benefits programs. Read more here and here.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – IN CASE YOU MISSED IT from C.S Hagen at the High Plains Reader on how the Cramer-endorsed lawsuit threatens to not only strip folks with pre-existing conditions of their coverage but could spike insurance costs for everyone in North Dakota:

• “What in the world got into [Stenehjem]?” former U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy said. “And the fact that he won’t explain it is a complete mystery. I’ve never seen it. People have the right to expect that those holding public responsibility because of their elected office have a duty to explain why they’re taking the action they are on behalf of the public.
• “…North Dakota deserves better. We at least deserve to know what he was thinking. Why does he hate this coverage so much? Why when the legislature passes Medicaid Expansion does he put the whole thing at risk?”
• If the federal lawsuit is successful, the Affordable Care Act will be declared unconstitutional. Approximately 320,000 North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions will be in danger of losing their health insurance policies. Coverage for 47,000 others in the state will be lost, and everyone will see a “catastrophic” hike in insurance premiums, Pomeroy said.
• “What happens if almost 50,000 people lose their coverage?” Pomeroy said. “People understand what is at risk relative to pre-existing conditions, but what they may not understand are the threats to premium rates in North Dakota.”
• If the lawsuit succeeds, thousands will be out of health insurance. Hospitals will not turn the sick people away, but those who cannot pay will possibly face either a lifetime of doctor bills, or the bad debt will be passed on to other rate payers, Pomeroy said. “Uninsured individuals still needing medical services often can’t pay for them and that produces bad debt, and bad debt factors into the charges to everyone else,” Pomeroy said. “So costs go up, insurance claims go up, and the next thing you know insurance rates go up.
• “In a state with the population of North Dakota this is a very substantial number that would be moving from insured to uninsured. Using the scale of our insurance market in the state, if 47,000 people suddenly lost their coverage it would be a cataclysmic event.”
• Everyone will one day face pre-existing conditions, he said. “Everyone understands a couple of things: that they are at some point in their life’s journey going to develop health conditions,” Pomeroy said. “We’re all mortal. Right now they have the assurance that even if they need to go shopping, they are going to be able to get coverage because of the law that says they cannot use pre-existing conditions against you. The Stenehjem/Cramer lawsuit throws that law out, and then we’re back to the old days.”
• A recent survey of 967 registered voters in North Dakota and performed by Change Research discovered that 60 percent of North Dakotans voted for Trump, and 54 percent want to keep what works with the Affordable Care Act and fix what doesn’t work. A total of 52 percent of those surveyed also stated that healthcare issues are the deciding factor on who to vote for in the U.S. Senate race between U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp and Cramer.

Read the full article here.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – It wouldn’t be a day that ends in ‘y’ if Kevin Cramer wasn’t spreading another falsehood about his health care record. During a filled-with-friendly faces town hall, open to the public only if you managed to find out its not-announced time and location, Cramer claimed that he supports coverage for pre-existing conditions and that, through CHAND – the state’s high-risk pool – there’s always been coverage for pre-existing conditions in North Dakota.

But CHAND, like every other health care policy Cramer supports, doesn’t offer the same protections as the current health care law. Don’t take it from us… From the Washington Post fact checker:

“CHAND, which charges premiums 35 percent higher than similar policies in North Dakota, has a 180-day waiting period for people with preexisting conditions and a $1 million lifetime cap on expenses. (There is no cap in the ACA.)”

Reminder: 52 percent of North Dakota voters say health care is very important when deciding their vote for U.S. Senate.

More on Cramer’s empty health care promises:

• Cramer voted 65 times to repeal or undermine the current health care law, including five votes to repeal the law without a replacement. These votes could have increased health care costs and stripped away coverage, not to mention imposing an ‘Age tax’ on older North Dakotans.
• Cramer supports an ill-advised partisan lawsuit that would gut vital patient protections that North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions rely on.

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Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

25 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT POLITICAL OPPORTUNIST CRAMER. 25 days until Election Day + 25 must-know facts about Kevin Cramer = one political opportunist who will always put himself and his self-serving interests above North Dakota. Get all 25 facts here.

NORTH DAKOTANS RALLY FOR ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE CARE. On Tuesday, North Dakotans gathered to call on Cramer to finally put North Dakotans first and stop jeopardizing their health care. Among them was Jennifer Restemayer whose daughter Allison suffers from a genetic disorder and relies on protections in the current health reform law to get the treatments she needs to stay alive. But Cramer’s 65 votes to repeal or undermine the current health reform law and his support for the ill-advised partisan lawsuit threaten those protections. Read more about Jennifer and Allison’s story here.

“NO INSURANCE COMPANY SHOULD BE ABLE TO PUT A CAP ON THE LIFE OF MY CHILD.” High Plains Reader reports on the “tale of two economies” that is plaguing North Dakota thanks to decisions made by Cramer regarding agriculture and health care. From Jim Dotzenrod, state senator and Agriculture Commissioner candidate: “‘This lawsuit that is going on now, North Dakota should have stayed away from, but North Dakota has joined in and if it is successful it will take away about $27 million from rural hospitals.’ A hit, Dotzenrod said, that rural hospitals won’t recover from.”

POLLING CONFIRMS HEALTH CARE IMPORTANT IN SENATE RACE. New polling from Protect Our Care demonstrates just how big a factor health care is in this race. 52 percent of voters “say health care is very important when deciding their vote for the U.S. Senate” and 61 percent of voters have a “major concern” with Cramer’s votes to repeal the current health care law.

CRAMER “ALMOST DERAILED” TRADE TALKS WHILE SOYBEANS HAVE NOWHERE TO GO. Important grain grading trade negotiations in USMCA were “almost derailed” thanks to Cramer’s actions and rhetoric on trade, according to Canadian officials involved in the talks. On top of that, Cramer’s reckless support of the trade war is leading to “refugee” soybeans. According to CNBC, soybeans from 2017 are still in storage after China pulled its contracts. “Of the 15.9 million bushels left from that year’s crop, 12.1 million bushels are sitting in grain elevators. That is an increase of 68 percent.”

HIDING FROM DEBATES. Mark another debate that Cramer has declined, bringing the total to seven. Cramer and his team are trying to weasel out of the Prairie Public debate that was postponed due to Senate votes. Clearly, he’s too scared to debate the issues.

TWEET CARTOON OF THE WEEK. From the Forum’s Steve Stark:

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Kevin Cramer’s history of pay-to-play is well-documented. While he was on the Public Service Commission, Cramer “willingly took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a coal mining company they were making decisions about.” This lead to a suit alleging that Cramer took “improper campaign contributions,” with the judge writing that Cramer’s actions were “ill-advised, devoid of common sense, and raises legitimate questions as to the appearance of impropriety.” As The Forum’s Jim Shaw writes, his actions “sure didn’t pass the smell test.”

Bottom line: Kevin Cramer always has, and always will, put himself first.

More on Cramer’s political opportunism:

Associated Press:

• The Dickinson-based Dakota Resource Council and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit last year aiming to stop the PSC from regulating the mining industry. The groups accused […] former [Public Service] commissioner Kevin Cramer — now the state’s sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives — of taking improper campaign contributions from coal mining officials.
• [The judge who ruled on the case] said that while accepting such contributions maybe be legal, the decision to do so is “ill-advised, devoid of common sense, and raises legitimate questions as to the appearance of impropriety.”
• The environmental groups allege $50,000 had been funneled to the commissioners from coal industry officials since 2006. According to the lawsuit, Cramer received more than $10,000 in donations from Houston businessman Corbin Robertson Jr. and his wife, Barbara, from 2008 through 2011.

Bismarck Tribune editorial:

• “[W]hen it comes to campaign contributions and industry regulation, perception is reality.” Cramer’s decision to take these contributions “raises questions about… impartiality.”

Politico: “Paying family with campaign funds could dog Cramer in Senate bid.”

HEADLINE: KFYR: Rep. Kevin Cramer’s campaign fund use comes into question

McFeely: “It looks for all the world like Cramer is running because the pieces were in place to get a better job, even if he wasn’t convinced he wanted it in the first place. Opportunism.”

High Plains Reader: “Hamm and his net worth of $19.5 billion became the decision maker for Cramer accepting Hamm as his national finance chairman.”

WDAY: “[Cramer] didn’t want to risk losing his seat in the House… It was a call from oil tycoon Harold Hamm, whose net worth is $18 billion, that finally tipped the scales” to him running for U.S. Senate.

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