DAILY NEWS
House’s go-home budget, soft on slavery, citizens are united…
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
STATE GOVERNMENT
TAKE A STAND — All union members and community supporters of quality public services are urged to click here to send your legislators a message urging them to stop playing political games and fully fund the state employee contracts.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Democrats’ new budget trims spending, keeps capital-gains tax — As time grows short for lawmakers to reach a budget agreement, Democrats on Monday released a new budget plan that comes down in spending — and preserves a proposed tax on some capital gains.
ALSO see budget coverage in the (Everett) Herald, News Tribune/Olympian, (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, (Vancouver) Columbian, KUOW, and the Associated Press.
► From HA Seattle — What Olympia needs is a two-thirds compromise (by Goldy) — The Democrats control two-thirds of state government. And if they want to hold on to the two-thirds they have, they can’t disillusion the Democratic base by rewarding the three-seat Senate Republican majority for their uncompromising obstruction… The Republicans control only one-third of government. Give them a third of what they want. If Republicans want anymore than that, force them to make a case for it at the polls.
FAST TRACK
ALSO at The Stand — Wednesday is ‘Stop Fast Track’ Call-In Day
► From the United Nations — UN experts voice concern over adverse impact of free trade and investment agreements on human rights — A group of UN experts have issued a statement to express concern about the secret nature of the TPP and TTIP and the potential adverse impact of these agreements on human rights. They are urging that “all current negotiations of bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements should be conducted transparently with consultation and participation of all relevant stakeholders including labour unions, consumer unions, environmental protection groups and health professionals… All draft treaty texts should be published so that Parliamentarians and civil society have sufficient time to review them and to weigh the pros and cons in a democratic manner.
ALSO at The Stand — Larsen back Fast Track, but will he fight slavery, Medicare cuts?
► In today’s Washington Post — Hastert case shows it’s no time to cave on child sex trafficking (by Marc Thiessen) — With former Republican House speaker J. Dennis Hastert under indictment over hush money to cover up the alleged sexual abuse of a minor while he was a high school wrestling coach, now is probably not the best time for House Republicans to be weakening proposed laws against sex trafficking of minors. But that is exactly what the House GOP is apparently preparing to do with the TPP.
► From Huffington Post — TPP reduces human trafficking, child labor to misdemeanors (by Stan Sorscher) — Ultimately, trade deals are moral, social, political and economic documents that express our values as a country. Our own labor and environmental standards are already under downward pressure. “Setting the rules” at the level of Malaysia’s human trafficking would be a miserable and ironic outcome for President Obama’s 21st Century trade deal.
NATIONAL
► From The Hill — Texas court upholds labor board’s union election rule — The Obama administration should be allowed to speed up the process by which employees unionize, a federal judge ruled Monday. A U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Texas tossed out a lawsuit from business groups challenging the NLRB union election rule.
► In today’s LA Times — L.A., Long Beach ports losing to rivals amid struggle with giant ships — The ports are scrambling to respond to rapid changes in global shipping, most notably the advent of giant cargo ships now clogging the docks with massive loads.
TODAY’S MUST-READS
► From Huffington Post — Comic strip nails why poor American’s aren’t just ‘asking for handouts’ — America’s poor don’t have it easy. They’re subjected to a range of false stereotypes: They’re accused of being lazy and of abusing drugs, among others. “On A Plate: A Short Story About Privilege” by Toby Morris challenges many of these damaging ideas.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.