NEWS ROUNDUP
Inslee acts, Boehner skips, Walker derails…
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s Olympian — Inslee’s victory lap after 176-day ride (editorial) — When it’s all said and done, state government policy is moving broadly in the direction the Democrat mapped before session. Overall, Democrats steered both the size of the state budget and what it spends money on… In the end, the state’s going to be in better shape than it has been. Inslee earned a victory lap, but he needs to stay both upbeat and aggressive in pursuing the goals he didn’t achieve in the last session — tax reform and real action on climate change. Both are urgently needed.
LOCAL
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Teachers ask Pasco School Board for improved curriculum — The current contract expires Aug. 31. Teachers have a union meeting scheduled Aug. 12 and are considering their first strike since 1978. The union represents more than 1,000 people. The district says teachers are asking for an 11% pay increase, while teachers say much of the $15 million in new money they are looking for over the next year is for improved curriculum.
TRANSPORTATION
► From AFL-CIO Now — Trumka calls on Congress to cancel early recess — AFL-CIO president: “Speaker Boehner is once again showing a complete disregard for the priorities of working people. Every member of Congress should remain in Washington until the job of passing a long-term highway bill is done.”
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Get highway, Ex-Im Bank bills done (editorial) — Rep. Rick Larsen and others in the House have proposed the Grow America Act, which would inject $478 billion into the federal Highway Trust Fund. That scale of investment is necessary and it is likely to require an increase in the federal gas tax of about 8 to 10 cents a gallon. It’s time for Congress to have that debate.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► From Politico — GOP Congress faces fall from hell — Lawmakers have teed up a hellish final few months of 2015, as a series of high-stakes deadlines looms on everything from keeping the government open to doling out money for roads and then, for good measure, raising the federal government’s borrowing limit. It promises to be a major test of the Republican Party’s ability to govern as the GOP prepares to ask voters to continue one-party control of Congress.
► From Bloomberg — Goldman-busting Senate Committee shifts away from Wall Street probes — A U.S. Senate investigative subcommittee, which has used its power for more than a decade to scrutinize corporations and financial institutions for wrongdoing, is shifting its focus to keeping tabs on the government.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
ALSO at The Stand:
ARA sets Medicare 50th birthday event for July 30 in Spokane
Celebrate Medicare, Social Security success Aug. 8 in Seattle
► In the NY Times — Zombies against Medicare (by Paul Krugman) — The program has provided a huge improvement in financial security for seniors and their families, and in many cases it has literally been a lifesaver as well. But the right has never abandoned its dream of killing the program. So it’s really no surprise that Jeb Bush recently declared that while he wants to let those already on Medicare keep their benefits, “We need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others.”
CAMPAIGN 2016
► From The Hill — Christie to Colorado (and Washington): Pot party ends with me — “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it,” he said. “As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.”
NATIONAL
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