WSJ What’s News - Why Isn't Anyone Talking About Republicans’ Historic Shift on Abortion?

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

P.M. Edition for July 17. Republicans are moving away from abortion politics. WSJ’s Luke Vargas reports from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on what is behind the shift. And Democratic leaders push to delay President Biden’s nomination as more lawmakers call on him to step aside. Plus, WSJ’s Arian Campo-Flores explains why aging migrants in the U.S. are paying taxes but not receiving retirement benefits. Sabrina Siddiqui hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to Smart Water Alkaline 9.5 plus pH with antioxidant, there's nothing to overthink. So, while you may be performing mental gymnastics over whether the post-work gym crowd is worth it, if you'll be able to find a spot for your yoga mat, or if that spin instructor will make you late for dinner again, don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart Water Alkaline is a simple one. A top Democrat says President Biden should step aside while party leaders push to delay his nomination.

And in the days before this week's convention, Republicans made a historic shift on an issue that's long been core to their platform, abortion. So why isn't anyone talking about it? Plus, many migrants who pay taxes are hitting retirement age without benefits. For those who are undocumented, it can sometimes look pretty grim. For one thing, they've often worked in pretty low-paying jobs, and so it's much harder for them to accumulate any savings. What that leaves many of them is a situation in which they basically have to continue working until their bodies give out. It's Wednesday, June 17th. I'm Sabrina

Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. The calls for President Biden to step aside are growing. Congressman Adam Schiff, a prominent antagonist of Donald Trump, said Biden should end his reelection campaign to make way for another candidate. Schiff, the 19th House Democrat to say so, said he has serious concerns about whether Biden can win in November. said he has serious concerns about whether Biden can win in November. Schiff, who is currently running for Senate in California, is one of the most high-profile Democrats to make such a call since Biden's debate performance last month kicked off a sense of panic within the party over his capabilities and age. Democratic leaders

are also increasingly concerned. People familiar with the matter say Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries both pushed for Democratic officials to delay their efforts to formally nominate Biden. Party officials were initially set to prepare for a nomination vote that could have come as early as next week, a process many rank-and-file Democrats felt was overly rushed. Democratic Party officials are now saying they will hold off until next month before calling a vote. Party officials are now saying they will hold off until next month before calling a vote. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle is being summoned to publicly testify before Congress next week about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to Cheadle, along with a letter in which Committee

Chairman James Comer said Americans aren't getting accountability and transparency from the Secret Service about security failures that allowed a gunman to fire shots at Trump during a rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Comer also questioned Cheadle's ability to lead the agency. The congressional hearing is currently scheduled for the morning of July 22nd. This week, The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the Republican National Convention from Milwaukee. We've been bringing you some of the team's coverage with our own Luke Vargas on the ground there, relaying the big topics being discussed. But today, he tells us about something that isn't getting as much attention. In the days before this week's convention, Republicans made a historic shift on an issue that's long been core to their platform, abortion. I'll start with the significance

of the worrying that is not in this platform. That's reporter Laura Casisto, who covers abortion for the journal. For the last four decades, the GOP has explicitly called for a so-called life amendment, an amendment to the Constitution that would protect unborn children. And you'll see that you don't have that kind of explicit language in the platform this time. Instead, the platform is vaguer, saying the Constitution's 14th Amendment guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that states can do what they want to protect it. That shift puts the party more in line with Donald Trump's position after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, but it also puts the party out of

step with its anti-abortion base. And I expected to come to Milwaukee and hear a lot about that, base, and I expected to come to Milwaukee and hear a lot about that. Except practically no one here is talking about it. It's strange, because anti-abortion groups are typically very vocal, and so are lawmakers who've gotten A-pluses from SBA Pro-Life America, the group that scores members of Congress on their efforts to end abortion. Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of those A-plussers. She's also famously willing to spar with GOP leadership. And while she told me she knows some anti-abortion groups are frustrated with the platform change and that she shares some of those frustrations. Right now where we are in this time is I think the Supreme Court did the right thing and they gave it back to the states to decide.

And that's our position with the Republican Party. I pushed her to share more of her thoughts on this a couple of times, but she didn't elaborate. Again, I've told you it's been moved back to the states, and at this time, I'm satisfied. So why aren't anti-abortion groups raising their voices? Where's home for you? Orange County, California. Very good. Mauricio Leone is the senior operations director for the pro-life organization Live Action.

He told me he came to Milwaukee with 25 other activists to protest the platform change. But on the relatively quiet streets here, where the number of people protesting anything this week has been modest, Mauricio said he was hoping for a bigger presence. We were expecting more people to attend, but unfortunately we didn't have that many activists here. But across the nation and internationally, we have a lot of support. Leone said the fact that the platform shift was only announced last week

didn't give him much time to mobilize ahead of the convention. Other anti-abortion groups, including the Family Research Council and its leader Tony Perkins, say they plan to press the issue here, too, until the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Saturday. Here was Perkins speaking on C-SPAN's Washington Journal on Monday. It's changed the dynamics of the convention. We're kind of stepping back. We were very engaged in this platform and not happy with the way it turned out, not happy with the fact that they silenced people who were opposed to their agenda. But, you know, it's not the time. It is time to come together.

We reached out to the Family Research Council, and in a statement, Perkins said, although the platform has been adopted, that doesn't mean the group won't revisit the issue. Quote, there is more to come. So while current events have shifted the mood here at the RNC, people who track public opinion on abortion think larger forces are at play. The biggest shift is the share of voters who say that abortion is their most important issue. the share of voters who say that abortion is their most important issue. That's Ashley Kurtzinger, the associate director of polling at the non-profit health policy research organization KFF. Pre-Dobbs decision, single-issue abortion voters were largely Republicans who wanted Roe to be overturned. They were pro-life. They wanted abortion to be illegal.

And we have seen a complete flip in that. Now the single issue abortion voters are Democratic women who are motivated because they want abortion to be legal and they identify as pro-choice. Our poll shows that it's not a motivating issue for Republican women. It's not going to be the issue that's going to be getting Republican women out to vote this election and to vote for former President Trump. Back on the streets of Milwaukee, Maurizio agreed. He thinks electability concerns have eroded some of the sway that anti-abortion groups had over the Republican Party. Their main goal is to win elections, right? Is to have Trump get back to power and be the next president of the Republican Party. Their main goal is to win elections, right? Is to have Trump get back to power

and be the next president of the United States. And for that reason, they're watering down the pro-life position and also making sure that the current platform is not as explicit in support of the pro-life position anymore this year. And a lot of Democrats, traditional Democrats, have been disenfranchised. They're no longer aligned with the Democratic Party. So I believe

that the Republican Party and MAGA Republicans, they are trying to win those Democrats to support the Republican position. But if that implies that Republicans are changing their longstanding positions on abortion in practice, Laura told me they're not. They're just focusing on the less flashy but no less significant ways that Trump could back their positions if he regains the presidency. Part of that question is, who might he appoint to his administration? We've seen the Biden administration carry out a number of policies that Trump could roll back. For leaders in the anti-abortion movement, that's where the rubber will hit the road. Many of them are fine with him for campaign purposes, saying this is a

state's rights issue, but they're going to be looking very closely at who does he appoint to positions in the FDA, people who could enact on the policy level restrictions to the abortion pill, could enforce the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that bans mailing abortion pills, that sort of thing. The Biden campaign, meanwhile, is set to make abortion access a central part of its pitch to voters. And Democrats will have a chance to tell the public their views on abortion at their own nominating convention in Chicago next month. Federal debt has long been a political football, but we're not hearing about it as much on the campaign trail this year. What questions do you have about the national debt and what it means for the U.S. and its citizens?

Send a voice memo to WNPOD at WSJ.com or leave a voicemail with your name and location at 212-416-4328. We might use it on the show. at 212-416-4328. We might use it on the show. Coming up, many aging migrants in the U.S. pay taxes, but they stare down a retirement with no benefits. That's after the break. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste,

there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same or is doing nothing because you look the same and whatever the heck red light therapy is, it's definitely not that. Don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smartwater is a simple one.

And now for a look at the markets today. A drop in Magnificent 7 shares helped send the tech-heavy gauge down 2.8%, its biggest one-day decline since December 2022. gauge down 2.8%, its biggest one-day decline since December 2022. The S&P 500 fell 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, added 0.6%, clinching a fresh high. Investors fear high-flying chipmakers will face more U.S. trade restrictions regardless of who wins the November presidential election. TSMC got knocked after Donald Trump took aim at Taiwan and its dominance in global chip manufacturing, saying in a Bloomberg Businessweek interview published yesterday that the American ally should pay for U.S. defense. In the same interview, the former

president said that the Federal Reserve shouldn't cut interest rates ahead of the election and give the economy a boost. In a separate development, the International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest report published yesterday that a fresh wave of tariffs could revive inflation and pressure central banks to keep their key interest rates high. The IMF slightly lowered its growth forecast for the U.S. this year. A growing number of undocumented immigrants are hitting retirement age in the U.S. without the savings necessary to support themselves. According to the Center for Migration Studies of New York, roughly 100,000 of them were ages 65 or older in 2022. While many migrants of all ages work under the table, some find jobs in the formal sector. Those who do generally pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. And according

to the most recent analysis by the Social Security Administration, in 2010, unauthorized migrants made a net contribution of about $12 billion to the Social Security system. But they are barred by law from receiving benefits from the program. My colleague Pierre Bien-Aimé spoke with Wall Street Journal reporter Arian Campo-Flores and asked him how aging migrants are dealing with this reality. For those who are undocumented, it can sometimes look pretty grim. For one thing, they've often worked in pretty low-paying jobs, and so it's much harder for them to accumulate any savings. What that leaves many of them is a situation in which they basically have to continue working until their bodies give out.

For some, they can rely on perhaps younger family members if they have them in the country, and they have the ability to help them out. And then there are some as well who just decide that they just need to head back to their native countries. Is anything being done to address the situation? The National Day Laborer Organizing Network that advocates on behalf of day laborers in the U.S., many of whom are undocumented, launched a campaign earlier this year to try to persuade the Mexican government, which has this new universal pension system that it passed, to include unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. in that system. That proposal did not gain traction

in the most recent legislative session of the Mexican Congress, but it will be taken up again. And the argument that they're making is that these folks have been contributing to the Mexican economy because they've been sending back remittances. There are people as well who argue that there is no justification for undocumented migrants in the U.S. to receive any of these federal benefits like Social Security or Medicare because they have already received numerous benefits from the U.S. by being here. For instance, if they have children, they are being educated in the public school system. There are others who maybe receive emergency services over the years. There's also been some analyses that have shown that the first generation immigrants on balance draw more in

benefits than they contribute. But that study also found that the children of those immigrants are among the strongest contributors to the U.S. economy. So it's a mixed picture. That was Wall Street Journal reporter Arianne Campo-Flores speaking to my colleague Pierre Bien-Aimé. And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon. Today's show was produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé and Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Michael Cosmitas. Additional reporting by Luke Vargas. I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The

Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening. Thank you. database, application development, and AI needs. Do more and spend less like Uber, 8x8, and Databricks Mosaic. Take a free test drive of OCI at oracle.com slash wallstreet, oracle.com slash wallstreet.