DAILY NEWS
Jaime faces reality, update on grocery talks, Inslee on transportation…
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
G.O.P. SHUTDOWN DAY 16
► At Politico — House to vote first on Senate plan — The House will vote first on an emerging Senate proposal to open government and lift the debt ceiling, a move that would expedite bipartisan legislation developed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. If the House passes the bill first and sends it to the upper chamber, it would eliminate some burdensome procedural hurdles in the Senate.
► In the Atlantic — If we hit debt ceiling, default unlikely but recession certain — President Obama, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and most Republicans agree that a debt default, not paying interest on federal debt, would be a calamity far worse than the Lehman crisis.
► In today’s NY Times — Debt default deadline clear, implications are not — Ask officials at the White House to pinpoint the debt ceiling deadline and they will give you a fairly precise answer: Thursday. But ask them when a failure to increase the debt ceiling will start to hurt — when the bills will start going unpaid and America’s creditors will start calling in their debts — and just about everyone in President Obama’s administration will quickly clam up.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford furloughs, layoffs might start Monday — The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council expects its 2,300 Hanford workers to be off work starting Monday if the federal shutdown continues.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Shutdown threatens Washington aerospace jobs — Aviation Technical Services might have to lay off 80 newly hired workers in Moses Lake because the FAA cannot process routine paperwork.
First it was supposed to be to cancel Obamacare. Then it morphed into the general war over the size of government. Both are legitimate issues, but at least previously, who won policy fights like these was decided by elections. By the people. Not by whoever threatens to inflict the most financial pain on the people. But that’s the new school GOP hardball. Give us what we want or we’ll shoot the country. I covered Congress when it was considered radical politics to impeach a president for lying about sex with an intern. Seems kind of quaint now, doesn’t it?
LOCAL
► In today’s Kitsap Sun — Kitsap Transit, union agree on new bus driver contract –Kitsap Transit’s board approved new bus driver contracts and a lease with the city for more conference space Tuesday.
► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Transit the main ballot issue for many Harborites — When voters go to the polls this fall to choose city council members and vote on fire levies and such, they will also be voting on whether Jaime Jamtaas will have a ride to the grocery store or be able to visit his family.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s News Tribune — State forecaster: Tax revenues still top forecast but shutdown hitting consumer confidence — The latest revenue collections report for state government shows Washington continued to take in more money over the past month than even in the most recent quarterly forecast had predicted in September.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Washington Medicaid increases dental coverage — A quarter-million adults in Washington will gain dental coverage over the next two years as the state expands its Medicaid rolls under the Affordable Care Act and re-establishes programs dropped in budget cutbacks.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Lax oversight helped embezzler steal, state Democratic records show — The embezzlement of up to $330,000 in campaign donations by former Democratic political operative Michael King was abetted by a lax system of controls that allowed his deceit to go undetected for many months, newly released records show.
NATIONAL
► At AFL-CIO Now — Why taxpayers subsidize fast-food companies to the tune of $7 billion a year — Fast-food workers receive money from numerous federal programs — receiving benefits at twice the overall rate of the workforce — and the $7 billion total doesn’t include state and local programs.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Low fast-food wages cost Washington state’s taxpayers
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.