DAILY NEWS
BPA by Amazon®, shutdown prep, Doug’s available, CBO’s body-slam
Thursday, May 25, 2017
LOCAL
ALSO at The Stand — America for sale—cheap! (Needs work.) — The Trump administration is drafting plans to privatize public assets, including airports, bridges, highway rest stops and other facilities. “Rather than taxing the wealthy and then using the money to fix our dangerously outdated infrastructure, the states and the federal government increasingly are giving rich investors tax credits to encourage them to do it,” writes Robert Reich.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Damn you, job-killing $15 minimum wage!
► In today’s Seattle Times — Jesse Jackson back at Amazon stockholders’ meeting, crusading for workforce diversity (by Jerry Large) — It’s 2017, and much has changed since Jackson marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. But some old problems remain unresolved — like access to good jobs.
► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Longview council to vote on raises for fire fighters — The Longview City Council is expected to approve a three-year contract with the city’s firefighters union Thursday night. The agreement with the International Association of Firefighters would give firefighters a 3 percent raise for 2017 and a cost of living adjustment ranging between 2 percent and 4 percent.
► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — U.S. denies visa to Togo man who works with Rotary Club to build toilets for his village — “Taouvik applied for a visa and had all his required documents including letters of invitation and support during his visit (including from Congressman Derek Kilmer). He was turned down.”
THIS WASHINGTON
TRUMPCARE
► From The Hill — New CBO score triggers backlash — The Republican healthcare bill would result in 23 million fewer people with insurance over a decade, steep premium increases for older people and price hikes for many people with pre-existing conditions, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. The long-awaited analysis of the ObamaCare repeal bill found that a controversial amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) — added at the last minute to secure conservative votes — would have a significant effect despite Republican assurances to the contrary.
ALSO at The Stand — Unions to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Shame on you
► From KNKX — Patient, doctor groups say new CBO score reveals health bill’s flaws — “Last-minute changes to the AHCA made by the House offered no real improvements,” said Andrew Gurman, president of the American Medical Association, in a statement. “Millions of Americans will become uninsured — with low-income families on Medicaid being hit the hardest.”
► In today’s Washington Post — Senate Republicans have all the evidence they need to reject the House-passed health-care overhaul (analysis) — The congressional analysts — led by a Republican handpicked by Ryan — found that 23 million more people would be left uninsured than under current law, the Affordable Care Act… For a core group of Senate Republicans, those facts may be all they need to bury the House version of a health-care overhaul once and for all.
► In today’s NY Times — How the GOP sabotaged Obamacare (by Abbe R. Gluck) — Obamacare is not “collapsing under its own weight,” as Republicans are so fond of saying. It was sabotaged from the day it was enacted. And now the Republican Party should be held accountable not only for any potential replacement of the law, but also for having tried to starve it to death.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s Washington Post — A Freedom Caucus Republican says the foundation of the Trump budget is ‘a lie’ — Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina sharply challenged the economic growth assumption of 3 percent, one that is sharply more optimistic than those projected in recent Obama administration budgets and by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
ALSO at The Stand — Trump budget ‘most significant betrayal yet of working people’
► In today’s Olympian — Budget cuts include U.S. heart (editorial from The Record) — The poor and the elderly don’t pay as much taxes as the 1 or 2 percent, but their needs are just as real. Federal budgets are a mixture of politics and policy competing for a finite amount of revenue. But Congress must not lose sight of the most important part of the American treasury: Americans. All Americans. A budget without a heart should be dead on arrival.
► In today’s Washington Post — Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress — 1) States should have the flexibility to decide whether private schools that accept students with publicly funded vouchers can discriminate against students for any reason.
► In today’s NY Times — Election wars at the Supreme Court (by Linda Greenhouse) — Struggles over Congressional redistricting and campaign finance are about power — who has it, who gets to keep it. Expect more.
NATIONAL
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump said he would save jobs at Carrier. The layoffs start July 20 — The company that President Trump pledged to keep on American soil informed the state of Indiana that it will soon begin cutting 632 workers from an Indianapolis factory. The manufacturing jobs will move to Monterrey, Mexico, where the minimum wage is $3.90.
► In today’s NY Times — Uber to repay millions to drivers, who could be owed far more — The company concedes taking tens of millions in excess commissions. But records point to improper tax deductions costing drivers even more.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.