Wednesday, July 19, 2017

LOCAL

► In today’s Columbian — Ferguson champions consumer protection — Two separate conventions packed the Hilton Vancouver Washington on Tuesday and drew the attention of state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee. On the docket: consumer protection and labor unions… The Washington State Labor Council, a division of the national AFL-CIO, began its three-day convention Tuesday complete with workshops and guest speakers.

ALSO at The Stand — WSLC Convention: Resist. Persist. Repeat.

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s News Tribune — Sen. Braun’s wife selected as his fill-in. She might vote on important legislation in his absence. — The state Senate got a temporary new member Tuesday as the chief Republican budget writer was replaced by his wife while he completes military duty. Marlo Braun, a nurse in Centralia, was sworn in at the Capitol to take the spot of Sen. John Braun, who is on brief, scheduled leave this week for required service with the Navy Reserve. Marlo Braun will be in office until roughly Sunday and might be asked to vote on a $4 billion capital budget plan and divisive legislation involving rural water rights.

► From NW News Network — Sexual assault, near drowning, choking to death: Report highlights ‘failures’ at state institutions — Last year, developmentally disabled residents in Washington state institutions choked to death, were sexually assaulted and nearly drowned. That’s according to a report being released Wednesday by Disability Rights Washington. The report titled “No Excuses” chronicles what it calls “failures and tragedies” that occurred in 2016 at Washington’s Residential Habilitation Centers.

TRUMPCARE

► In today’s Washington Post — Senate Republicans’ effort to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare all but collapses — Senate Republicans all but admitted defeat Tuesday in their seven-year quest to overturn the Affordable Care Act, acknowledging that they lacked the votes to make good on their vow to “repeal and replace” President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment. Hours after GOP leaders abandoned a bill to overhaul the law known as Obamacare, their fallback plan — a proposal to repeal major parts of the law without replacing them — quickly collapsed. A trio of moderate Republicans quashed the idea, saying it would irresponsibly snatch insurance coverage from millions of Americans.

► In today’s NY Times — How the Senate health care bill failed: GOP divisions and a fed-up president — President Trump was fed up with the grind of health care legislation, and at a dinner with Republican senators on Monday at the White House, he let them know it. He told the lawmakers how annoyed he was with one Republican who was not there, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.), who had gone on television over the weekend to oppose a Senate health care bill that once held the promise of victory for Trump.

► From the People’s World — Trumpcare dies in the Senate, the people fight on — Activists and advocates for better U.S. health care vowed to keep the pressure on Congress after two more Senate Republicans’ defections killed the latest GOP plan to repeal and allegedly replace the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s 7-year-old comprehensive health care law. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka vowed further activism against GOP health care schemes, because of McConnell’s goal to use the dollars yanked from health care to finance a tax cut for the rich and corporations:

“No payoff to any senator already opposed to this bill can justify giving tax cuts to large corporations and stripping health care from millions. We are determined to stop this dangerous bill and hold accountable everyone responsible for it.”

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — With GOP plan dead, Washington Democrats call for bipartisan health care bill — Congress should make it easier for states to offer a “basic health plan” similar to what New York and Minnesota have developed, said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) It allows people who don’t have insurance through work or another organization to be in a statewide pool rather than buying individual plans.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Trump’s ‘let it fail’ sums up why Republicans are losing on health care (by Danny Westneat) — The party in charge knows what it’s against. But after seven years of demagoguing about health-care reform, it still has no clue what it’s for.

► In today’s Washington Post — Republicans, ignore Trump’s call to ‘let Obamacare fail.’ Do this instead. (editorial) — “LET OBAMACARE FAIL,” President Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. Has there ever been a more cynical abdication of presidential responsibility? Trump is apparently indifferent to the pain that sabotaging the individual health insurance market would cause millions of Americans. Congress must therefore act responsibly.

► In today’s NT Times — The Trumpcare bonfire (editorial) — Threats to the Affordable Care Act by Congress and the president destabilized insurers, and require bipartisan repair.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From The Nation — Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA is starting to look a lot like the TPP — The Trump administration’s negotiating objectives for NAFTA are mostly vague, and in parts revisit the well-worn tactic of using trade rules to guarantee corporate profits. In fact, several provisions are ripped directly from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the corporate-friendly deal Trump loudly rejected in January.

► From The American Prospect — Trump’s National Anti-Labor Relations Board — In his first seven months in office, President Trump has made quick work undoing a host of Obama-era labor regulations. Now that he finally got around to making two nominations to the National Labor Relations Board, he’s beginning the pernicious, though slow-moving, assault on worker and union rights that typically plays out when the board has a Republican majority.

► In today’s NY Times — Trump and Putin held a second, undisclosed, private conversation — Hours into a dinner with world leaders who had gathered for the Group of 20 summit meeting, President Trump left his chair at the sprawling banquet table and headed to where President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was seated.

The two presidents had met earlier in the day for the first time and, as the White House put it, had developed a rapport even as they talked about Russia’s interference in the United States’ 2016 elections. The July 7 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, was the single most scrutinized of the Trump presidency. But it turned out there was another encounter: a one-on-one discussion over dinner that lasted as long as an hour and relied solely on a Kremlin-provided interpreter.

NATIONAL

► From Food & Wine — Restaurant workers are campaigning for stable schedules — America’s food industry labor movement is picking up speed: Its first triumph came in June, when New York City passed a measure that required fast food restaurants to inform their workers of their schedules at least two weeks in advance, giving employees stability at work. Now, a similar bill is awaiting the governor’s signature in Oregon, as well as in five other states. These laws are being championed by the “Fight for $15” campaign, which hopes to give fast food workers a $15 minimum wage and a union. The organization has been advocating on behalf of restaurant workers since 2012.

► From Reuters — UAW representation vote set at Nissan plant in Mississippi — Workers at a Nissan plant in Mississippi will vote early next month on whether to be represented by a union, according to an agreement announced on Monday by the Japanese automaker and the United Auto Workers as the union once again seeks a major foothold after decades of failed attempts.

► From The Hill — UFCW says Amazon-Whole Foods merger could lead to job automation — The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has urged the FTC to look at the potential implications for jobs that the proposed merger could have.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.