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Common Ground: Across the Divide
When Bernie Sanders and John McCain Wrote a Veterans Bill Together After the 2014 Phoenix VA wait-list scandal, a democratic socialist from Vermont and a Republican war hero from Arizona wrote a reform law together. How they did it, and what came after. Clean Slate Laws Spread From Pennsylvania to Red and Blue States Pennsylvania made record sealing automatic in 2018, and states from Utah to New York followed. Here is the case for clean slate laws, the objections, and why the idea crosses party lines. Farmers, Phones and Tractors: Why Right to Repair Crosses Party Lines Colorado's 2023 law gave farmers the right to fix their own equipment. Here's why repair rights unite rural and urban voters, what the industry argues, and how the movement keeps winning. George W. Bush and the Second Chance Act for People Leaving Prison How a Republican president, an evangelical ex-convict and a Chicago Democrat built the 2008 Second Chance Act, what reentry money pays for, and why the law keeps getting renewed. How Iowa Became a Wind Power State Under Republican Governors Iowa now makes more than half its electricity from wind. The story runs through a 1983 law, a Republican senator's tax credit, farm lease checks and governors of both parties. How Texas Republicans Chose Treatment Over New Prisons in 2007 In 2007 a Republican engineer from Plano and a Houston Democrat persuaded Texas to fund treatment and probation instead of new prisons. Here is how the deal worked and what it changed. How Texas Under Rick Perry Built the Lines That Made It a Wind Giant A 2005 Texas law ordered thousands of miles of high-voltage lines to carry West Texas wind to the cities. Here is how the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones worked and what they teach about building. How the First Step Act Passed a Divided Congress in 2018 How a federal prison and sentencing bill won 87 senators and a Republican president in 2018, what it changed, what it left out, and what the coalition behind it teaches now. Rural Broadband and the 69 Senators Who Voted to Pay for It The 2021 infrastructure law set aside tens of billions of dollars to wire rural America. Here is what the 69 senators voted for, what changed after 2024, and who is still waiting for a connection. The 1983 Social Security Rescue and the Deal Between Reagan and O'Neill How a Republican president and a Democratic Speaker saved Social Security from a cash crunch in 1983, what each side gave up, and what that bargain says about the shortfall ahead. The PACT Act and the Long Fight for Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits How veterans sick from burn pit smoke won health care after years of denials, a stalled Senate vote and days camped on the Capitol steps, and what the PACT Act shows about winning together. The Rural Electrification Act and the Co-ops That Still Light the Countryside How the 1936 Rural Electrification Act used cheap public loans and farmer-owned co-ops to light rural America, and why those same co-ops now matter for the clean energy shift.