DAILY NEWS
Celebrate bad times, fired scientists, forced Fox, Radium Girls…
Monday, May 8, 2017
TRUMPCARE
ALSO from The Stand — Flying blind, Republicans pass Trumpcare
► In today’s NY Times — Measure on pre-existing conditions energizes opposition to health bill — A blast of organized and grass-roots energy in opposition to the bill has been generated by one measure, added to the legislation to assure its passage, that allowed states to seek federal waivers to ignore the Affordable Care Act protection blocking insurance companies from charging people more because of pre-existing conditions.
► In the Seattle Times — Seattle’s Harborview could lose $627M under new health-care law, director says — Hospital officials said the potential loss would come through a combined decrease in federal revenue and increase in costs of charity and uncompensated care… Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) estimated that the repeal of Obamacare would take $1.4 billion out of state’s economy each year.
► In today’s NY Times — Republicans party like it’s 1984 (by Paul Krugman) — What really stands out, however, is the Orwell-level dishonesty of the whole effort. As far as I can tell, every word Republicans, from Trump on down, have said about their bill — about why they want to replace Obamacare, about what their replacement would do, and about how it would work — is a lie.
► From Huffington Post — Republicans are building an alternate reality around their health care bill — President Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail that he would not cut Medicaid, the government program that provides health coverage to millions of Americans. But now Trump and Republicans are moving a health care bill that would slash Medicaid funding dramatically. Confronted with Trump’s campaign promise on Sunday, the president’s health secretary Tom Price insisted there would be no Medicaid cuts at all under the GOP plan, even though the cuts are undeniable.
► From The Hill — House healthcare bill faces upheaval in Senate — Republicans are using special budget rules to prevent Democrats from filibustering the legislation. But the Senate has long warned the House that the rules could prohibit certain things in the bill from being included.
► From The Onion — Republican congressman terrifies constituents even more by assuring them he read every part of healthcare bill
LOCAL
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Columbian — Legislature goes slow on affordable housing — Lawmakers are in the midst of a 30-day legislative session with the goal of passing the operational budget and adequately funding the state’s public schools. But going into this session, many legislators hoped to ease the state’s affordable housing crisis and decrease the growing homeless population. Sen. Annette Cleveland (D-Vancouver) said she was disappointed more wasn’t done this session.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In the NY Times — House Republicans move to gut bank regulations — Republicans took a big step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, and they took a small step toward dismantling another of President Barack Obama’s signature pieces of legislation, the Dodd-Frank Act.
► In today’s Washington Post — 35 of 37 economists said Trump was wrong. The other two misread the question. — President Trump’s administration says his tax cut will pay for itself. It turns out it’s really hard to find an economist who agrees.
► From The Independent — U.S. federal staff being forced to watch Fox News instead of CNN, leaked email suggests — An email has been sent to staff at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing that all their agency’s televisions will show Fox News, apparently by order of the Trump administration.
NATIONAL
► In the Washington Post — Researchers have answered a big question about the decline of the middle class — America is getting richer every year. The American worker is not. Far from it: On average, workers born in 1942 earned as much or more over their careers than workers born in any year since, according to new research — and workers on the job today shouldn’t expect to catch up with their predecessors in their remaining years of employment.
► From AFL-CIO — Indiana Republican leader admits prevailing wage repeal hasn’t saved money — Indiana passed a law in 2015 to repeal prevailing wage standards for public works projects in 2015. Video has surfaced from an April 24 forum in Milwaukee, where Indiana’s House Assistant Majority Leader Ed Soliday (R) admits that the repeal in his state didn’t save a penny.
► From AP — Crumbling roads and bridges bring higher taxes and fees — It’s happening in both Democratic- and Republican-led states as their transportation departments strain to overcome backlogs deepened by the last recession.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.