NEWS ROUNDUP
Reichert comes out, heartthrob AG, Trump’s budget…
Thursday, March 16, 2017
TRUMPCARE
► From KING 5 — McMorris Rodgers confident health care bill will pass House — The GOP health care replacement bill could head to the House floor as early as next week, but does it have the votes to pass? Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the No. 4 ranking Republican in the U.S. House, tells KING 5 the health care bill has the votes.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Perhaps as soon as next week, all four of Washington’s congressional Republicans are poised to vote for Trumpcare, which gives massive tax cuts to the wealthy by stripping $880 billion from Medicaid. (None of them are listed among the Republicans who are either opposed or undecided/unclear in The Hill’s whip list.) Their statements echo Paul Ryan’s rhetoric about the newly uninsured simply being people exercising their “freedom” to go without health insurance.
ALSO at The Stand — Join candlelight vigils Saturday to reject Republican health plan — Vigils begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 18 in Issaquah, Spokane, Vancouver, Wenatchee, and Yakima.
► In today’s Seattle Times — 700,000 Washingtonians would be uninsured under GOP health plan, Inslee says — Inslee and Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said 700,000 Washingtonians would not be insured under the proposed GOP health plan unless the state came up with more than $2.5 billion a year.
► From AFL-CIO Now — 9 ways Trumpcare would make health coverage in America unaffordable, out of reach — For more than a century, working people in their unions have fought to make health care a right for every American. The Republican plan contradicts this very idea by making care less affordable and less accessible. It’s bad for our health care, it’s bad for working families, and we fully oppose it. Here’s why…
LOCAL
► In today’s News Tribune — Doctors, nurses at two MultiCare urgent care clinic chains file papers to form union — Doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at nearly two-dozen urgent care clinics owned by MultiCare are in the process of unionizing with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (a California-based affiliate of AFSCME).
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Staff cuts part of Trios Health’s plan to improve troubled finances — Trios Health is taking steps to improve its troubled financial position, including making staffing cuts. The target is to reduce enough hours to equal 93 full-time hospital employees and 23 full-time Trios Medical Group clinic workers.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Three county jail workers hurt in alleged assault by inmate — Two corrections deputies and a sergeant were injured Wednesday after they were assaulted by an inmate at the Snohomish County Jail.
► In the PSBJ — Amazon’s air force is hiring to fill aerospace jobs in Seattle
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Seattle Times — Rethink capital-gains tax for education funding (by Brier Dudley) — Proposals for a capital-gains tax to cover Washington’s school funding shortfall should get a fresh look, in light of federal tax changes proposed by President Trump and Republicans in Congress.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Levy cliff avoided, but lawmakers left out details (editorial) — As we’re talking about schools, let’s grade this by subject: In passing legislation that extended the “levy cliff” deadline by a year, lawmakers earned A grades for timeliness, compromise and bipartisanship. But as for legislative clarity, even a D-plus may be a little generous.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From Reuters — Trump wants to privatize air traffic control in the U.S. — President Trump is proposing to shift oversight of the U.S. air traffic control from the federal government to an independent group. Trump, who called the U.S. air traffic control system “obsolete” in a meeting with airline executives last month, is proposing $16.2 billion for the Department of Transportation’s discretionary budget for fiscal year 2018, a reduction of 13 percent.
► From The Hill — Trump makes $1.5B request for border wall — The request could trigger a fierce partisan showdown over the controversial wall proposal, as well as Trump’s broader efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
► In today’s Huffington Post — Trump budget makes it official: You’re paying for the wall, not Mexico
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Border agency anticipates years to hit Trump’s hiring goal — The Trump administration says the U.S. Border Patrol won’t lower hiring standards to satisfy the president’s order to add 5,000 agents and will need several years to hit its target.
MUSLIM TRAVEL BAN
► In today’s NY Times — Two federal judges block Trump’s latest travel ban — A federal judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order Wednesday evening blocking Trump;s ban on travel from parts of the Muslim world, dealing a stinging blow to the White House and signaling that Trump will have to account in court for his heated rhetoric about Islam. A second federal judge in Maryland ruled against Trump with a separate order forbidding the core provision of the travel ban.
► From Huffington Post — Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric continues to haunt his travel ban in court — A federal judge says Trump’s own words provide “significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus.”
NATIONAL
► From KNKX — U.S. Women’s Hockey Team boycotting world championships to protest low pay — The U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team — the reigning world champions — won’t be defending their title this year… The players are asking for higher wages — pointing out that in the past, USA Hockey paid them $1,000 a month for six months every Olympic cycle, and “virtually nothing” for the other 3 1/2 years. That works out to $1,500 a year.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.