Friday, October 11, 2013

G.O.P. SHUTDOWN DAY 11

► In The Hill — No debt deal yet, but hopes rise after ‘constructive’ talks — President Obama and House Republicans failed to reach a deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling at a White House meeting Thursday night. Both sides, however, described it as constructive and said talks would continue as Washington, D.C. at long last appeared to be holding real negotiations to prevent a possible default on U.S. debt and end the 11-day shutdown.

► From Bloomberg — Federal workers stretch last paycheck until shutdown ends — John DiTroia has been guiding planes through Tampa International Airport since the government shutdown began, even though he’s not getting paid and his three-year-old son was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

► MUST-READ in today’s Spokesman-Review — Shutdown Cathy and GOP are in denial (by Shawn Vestal) — Shutdown Cathy has stood, loyally, at the flanks of Boehner as he winces his way through the latest pretense that they are the flexible ones. She has insisted that the obviously factionary GOP is absolutely united. She has angrily decried the “incendiary” rhetoric of Democrats — because these GOP desperadoes will force a government shutdown and threaten a default, but they cannot abide an unkind metaphor. She has taken to the pages of USA Today to assert that the American people support what she and her gang are doing — but also, at the same time, to assert that she and her gang are not the ones doing it. She will say anything, apparently. Anything at all.

► From AP — Establishment Republicans assail Tea Party on shutdown — From county chairmen to national party luminaries, veteran Republicans across the country are accusing tea party lawmakers of staining the GOP with their refusal to bend in the budget impasse.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Working families, progressive members of Congress rally against shutdown — AFGE J. David Cox: “Here we are on Day 10 — ten days of crazy, irresponsible nonsense. Ten days of people having to go to work without a paycheck. Ten days of people locked out of their jobs, prevented from doing the work the American people hired them to do. Ten days of the House of Representatives holding our tax dollars hostage.”

► In today’s Seattle Times — Local federal employees rally amid shutdown (photos)

► Poll-a-Rama — GOP in danger of losing House as popularity plummets

► 6 in 10 would replace every member of Congress

► Record demand (60%) for third party

► Obamacare has gotten more popular since the GOP shut down the government to defund it

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

► In today’s Yakima H-R — It’s full steam ahead on new health plans in Yakima County — Although computer glitches slowed them down on the first day of enrollment, local clinics have been going at full speed over the past week to get clients signed up for insurance under the new health care law. And they predict they’re only going to get busier as more people seek information on coverage. “In what I’ve heard, people have been pretty happy,” said Amy Gaulke of Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, the lead agency for Yakima and Kittitas counties tasked with training in-person assisters to guide clients through the enrollment process.

► In today’s (:Longview) Daily News — Enrollment improving as state health care exchange glitches waning — For 18 months, Joe Titus constantly worried about getting seriously ill after he lost his medical coverage after he was laid off from his job as a drug and alcohol counselor. But in just one hour, Titus — who is still unemployed — signed up for health insurance thanks to the Health Benefit Exchange, the state’s online marketplace. “I feel very relieved. I feel like an average citizen again,” said Titus, 43, of Longview. “It’s one less thing to stress about.”

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Obamacare needs single-payer system (by Amy Goodman) — While partisan bickering (between members of Congress who have among the best health and benefits packages in the U.S.) has shut down the government, the populace of the United States is still straitjacketed into a system of expensive, for-profit health insurance. We pay twice as much per capita as other industrialized countries and have poorer health and lower life expectancy. The economic logic of single-payer is inescapable. Whether Obamacare is a pathway to get there is uncertain. As Dr. Woolhandler summed up, “It’s only a road to single-payer if we fight for single-payer.”

ALSO at The Stand — Dems should negotiate, offer to drop Obamacare… for single-payer (by USW President Leo W. Gerard)

AEROSPACE

► MUST-READ at Leeham News — Chasing the 777X assembly site (by Scott Hamilton) — We’re told Boeing Commercial Airplanes wants to assemble the 777X at the Everett plant, but of course the decision will be made by headquarters in Chicago. Jim McNerney, the CEO, is known to generally favor the non-union, lower cost Charleston (SC) plant over the higher cost Washington even though the Everett unionized workforce is far more skilled. McNerney’s dissatisfaction with labor unions led to selecting Charleston for the second 787 assembly line in 2009, a year after a disruptive strike. But labor relations with the IAM, which assembles airplanes for Boeing, have improved since and there is a contract in place that extends to 2016 — just about the time assembly of the 777X would begin.

Many believe the business case for building the 777X at Charleston isn’t there, since the current 777 is assembled at Everett. But looking long-term, selecting Charleston may fit into McNerney’s strategic vision of diversifying out of Washington State. The wild card in site selection is McNerney, says the Boeing insider.

► At PS Business Journal — Boeing puts finance exec in charge of aircraft strategy — More bottom line and less imagination. That may be the essence of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes restructuring announced Thursday, in which two people — a finance man and a marketer — replace Mike Bair, long known as a creative leader of some of Boeing’s most innovative airplane programs.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Japan’s ANA unlikely to jump from Boeing, experts say — After the loss of a big Japan Airlines jet order to Airbus, rival ANA looks like a better bet to stick with Boeing. And at least for the near term, including 777X development, outsourcing of Boeing jet manufacturing to Japan will continue.

LOCAL

► In today’s Columbian — Judge set to rule on Tidewater complaint against union — A judge in Portland is expected to decide as early as today whether to bar the ILWU from interfering with the operations of Vancouver-based Tidewater Barge Lines when the union carries out pickets against Columbia Grain in Portland and United Grain in Vancouver.

NATIONAL

► At Huffington Post — Adjunct professor’s tragic obituary mobilizes union activists at Pittsburgh university — After the story of a former Duquesne University teacher who died in poverty went viral, adjunct professors and activists are petitioning the school to recognize the adjuncts’ labor union and bargain for a first contract — something the school has so far declined to do, arguing it deserves a religious exemption from labor law.

PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — Death of an adjunct professor: Broke with no health coverage (by Daniel Kovalik)

► In today’s NY Times — Health Act embraced in California — It is building the country’s largest state-run health insurance exchange and has already expanded Medicaid coverage for the poor. Officials hope that the efforts here will eventually attract more than two million people who are currently uninsured.

T.G.I.F.

► The Entire Staff of The Stand™ is taking one week off. We’ll be back Monday, Oct. 21 and remain hopeful that it won’t be Day 21 of #GOPshutdown. As these Canadians might say, “We’re s-oh-rry for the inconvenience.” Please ignore the unfortunate title and enjoy this stripped-down version of the song you couldn’t get away from in 1998.

P.S. These guys need to GET BACK TOGETHER!

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.