DAILY NEWS
Shutdown looms, ‘Relief for the Rich’ delayed, save Laura’s life
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
THIS WASHINGTON
MORE coverage in the (Everett) Herald and KUOW.
► From WFSE — File for unemployment benefits now — In the event of a shutdown, state employees can file for unemployment benefits if no state budget is passed by June 30 and they are temporarily laid off as a result.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Washington lawmakers, this is no way to run a state (editorial) — Lawmakers have had years to work this out. It is an embarrassment that just days until a possible government shutdown, the public has no real idea what is happening behind closed doors.
LOCAL
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Firefighters worry 500-acre Wenas blaze just the beginning — The cause of the Wenas fire was not immediately known. But with the warm weather forecast for the weekend, the sale of fireworks and a landscape of thick and dry vegetation, Yakima Valley firefighters say they’re concerned about more wildfires to come.
► From PubliCola — UFCW 21 — former McGinn backer — picks Jessyn Farrell for Mayor — The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 21 has endorsed Jessyn Farrell for mayor, citing her work on last year’s statewide minimum wage campaign and legislation to provide on-the-job protections for pregnant people.
► In today’s Washington Post — Seattle’s higher minimum wage is actually working just fine (by Ben Spielberg) — Here’s what’s wrong with a University of Washington study that found it hurt low-wage workers.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Real liberals wouldn’t be so defensive about UW minimum-wage research (by Danny Westneat) — Maybe this (UW minimum wage) study is wrong, and more research obviously is needed. But what’s puzzling about City Hall attacking it is that even this bad-news finding suggests only tweaking might be in order.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle’s minimum wage: The plot thickens (by Jon Talton) — Even if the Seattle wage “works” for many low-wage employees, and is profitable politics here, it is no substitute for progressive taxation, strong unions, public investments to create jobs, abundant quality education and job training. No substitute for a national consensus that frowns on imperial executive compensation, stripping companies for parts, and treating workers like commodities to be shed.
TRUMPCARE TRUMPCUT
► In today’s NY Times — Vote delayed amid GOP disarray on health care bill — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell postponed the vote as he works to corral support, dealing another setback to Republicans and setting up a long summer of health care battles.
► In today’s Washington Post — The GOP health-care plan threatens to kill jobs nationwide — It would reduce the country’s Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade. That could shut down nursing homes across the country, health-care leaders argue, and trigger widespread layoffs in one of the nation’s fastest-growing fields of employment.
► From The Hill — Warren Buffett calls ObamaCare repeal bill ‘Relief for the Rich Act’ — Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the country, said his tax bill would have been reduced by $679,999 or 17 percent from the House bill.
► From TPM — Poll: Just 17% of Americans approve of GOP health care tax cut plan — Since the bill was released last week, just 17 percent of Americans are enthused about the Senate Republican’s Obamacare repeal bill, 55 percent disapprove, and about a quarter of those surveyed said they didn’t know enough about it to form an opinion.
► In today’s Washington Post — ‘Repeal and replace’ was once a unifier for the GOP. Now it’s an albatross. — After seven years, Republicans’ promise to overhaul the health-care law is a sprawling objective still in search of a solution. It also has cost the Trump administration precious months of its first year, with tax reform and other priorities left unresolved.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Moral: Governing is harder than sloganeering.
► From TPM — A delay won’t solve the Senate GOP’s deep divide on health care — Republicans acknowledged that deep ideological divides remain, and that any changes to the bill made to win the votes of hardline conservatives like Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) would invariably lose those from Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
► From HuffPost — Elizabeth Warren calls for Democrats to embrace single-payer healthcare system — President Obama “tried to move us forward with health care coverage by using a conservative model that came from one of the conservative think tanks that had been advanced by a Republican governor in Massachusetts,” Warren said, referring to Mitt Romney. “Now it’s time for the next step. And the next step is single payer.” Her comments represent a shift to her position on the U.S. health care system.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s Washington Post — Rep. Chaffetz: Members of Congress should get stipends to afford homes in D.C. — The Utah Republican made the comment that lawmakers have trouble stretching their $174,000 salaries to cover housing weeks after stating that poor people should give up iPhones to pay for health insurance.
► In today’s Washington Post — Gorsuch asserts himself early as force on Supreme Court’s right — In his short 2½ months on the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch has proved himself to be a self-assured jurist unafraid of the big stage.
► In today’s Washington Post — Manafort files as foreign agent for Ukraine, discloses $17.1 million in payments over two years — The report makes Paul Manafort the second former senior Trump adviser to retroactively acknowledge the need to disclose work for foreign interests.
EDITOR’S NOTE — “Oh. Didn’t I mention that?”
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The various versions of health care reform being discussed in Washington D.C. terrify me and my new cancer friends. Getting rid of lifetime and/or annual limits? That means many of us will die when we hit those caps and can no longer afford treatment. Getting rid of pre-existing condition protections? Many of us will die, because we won’t be insurable anymore. Allowing insurers to remove essential health benefits (such as chemotherapy, or hospitalization, or many of the drugs we need to stay alive) means many of us will die, because our insurance won’t cover our treatment anymore.
This is not an academic question for me, because I am undergoing chemotherapy right now. I may need radiation after, or if this fails, immunotherapy. Will I be able to get affordable insurance next year, or will I die?
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.