DAILY NEWS
Today’s vote of shame, burn it down, no infrastructure
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
TRUMPCARE
► From Politico — Affordable Care Act repeal vote still too close to call — Senate Republicans are barreling toward a dramatic and highly unusual vote on Obamacare Tuesday without knowing whether they’ll have the votes to start dismantling the health care law. At stake is not just the seven-year-old campaign pledge to repeal Obamacare, but also demonstrating that Republicans — when given full control of Washington — can govern.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Hey, look! We can “govern” by taking away health care for millions of Americans to pay for a tax break for the rich! Look at us go!
► From TPM — McConnell is betting most GOPers will cave on their ACA repeal demands — If Senate Republicans pass their Frankenstein monster of a health care plan this week, it’s because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) bent the dozen or so Republicans previously against it to his will, and not the other way around.
► In today’s NY Times — How the health bill could cost senators in the next election — If they pass the bill, some Republicans might put themselves in a difficult situation because many of them won their last election by fewer votes than the number of people who would lose health coverage in their state under the proposed legislation.
LOCAL
► From The Stranger — Feds can’t block local nonprofit from giving legal aid to unrepresented immigrants, judge rules — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Monday in favor of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), a Seattle nonprofit, effectively signaling to nonprofits nationwide that they’re free to help undocumented immigrants without going through the cumbersome process ordered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions of formally signing onto the case of every person that they advocate for.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford workers exposed to vapors could seek help at proposed center — The Department of Energy would be required to establish a resource center to help Hanford workers exposed to chemical vapors, under proposed federal legislation. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both D-Wash., inserted the requirement into the appropriations bill that would set the budget for the Hanford nuclear reservation for the next fiscal year.
ALSO at The Stand — Murray, Cantwell add protections for Hanford workers to budget bill
► From The Stranger — Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s Town Hall in Dave Reichert’s district was a really good idea — Because Republican Congressman Dave Reichert wouldn’t hold a town hall in his own district, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal stepped in and did the work for him. Though Jayapal represents Washington’s 7th district, she said she accepted Indivisible WA-8’s invitation to speak at a town hall in the 8th because she was concerned about the country as a whole, and because people in the 8th deserved to know what was going on in Washington, D.C.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Horizon Air scheduling havoc will continue into the fall — The pilot-shortage crisis at Alaska Air subsidiary Horizon Air continues after multiple flight cancellations. The airline is contracting with SkyWest as well as bringing in Alaska Airlines jets to handle hundreds of flights in the fall.
THIS WASHINGTON
► From the Seattle P-I — ‘Burn baby, burn’ – Watchwords of Olympia’s budget impasse? (by Joel Connelly) — The state’s 2017-19 capital budget promised $15 million that would have been spent to thin 15,000 acres in four fire-prone corners of the state. The money for the Department of Natural Resources would have funded 40 Firewise communities in Eastern Washington, educating home and cabin owners in tree and brush removal around vulnerable buildings. “Would have” — “promised” but not to be. An impasse over well drilling in rural areas blocked passage of a capital budget that would have done badly needed work in rural areas.
► In the (Longview) Daily News — Capitol budget, Hirst decision tangle frustrates local legislators — The capital budget would have included about $70 million for various efforts for the 19th District, including an update of Tam O’Shanter Park in Kelso. “That budget was so important to our district,” Sen. Dean Takko (D-Longview). “They shouldn’t have held it hostage for the Hirst bill. The two are completely separate and should be dealt with separately.”
► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Grays Harbor County frets state budget stalemate — The Port of Grays Harbor has applied for the necessary Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Ecology permits for dredging Westport Marina, but the failure of state lawmakers to pass a capital budget has the project on hold.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From HuffPost — School choice — past and present (by Randi Weingarten) — At the exact time I was giving a speech last week to 1,400 educators about ensuring that all children have access to a powerful, purposeful public education, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was addressing the American Legislative Exchange Council — a group of corporate lobbyists and conservative legislators who are working to privatize and defund public education, and cloaking their efforts as school “choice.”
► In today’s NY Times — The Democrats’ agenda — and the art of the possible (editorial) — Democrats’ proposals to help the middle class would need Republican cooperation. They should seek it.
► From HuffPost — Trump’s ’embarrassing spectacle’ at Boy Scout Jamboree panned by former Scouts — Dozens of former Boy Scouts condemned Trump’s address Monday, saying efforts to politicize his speech were “embarrassing,” “mortifying” and a “disgusting display.”
NATIONAL
► In today’s NY Times — Economy needs workers, but drug tests take a toll — The economic impact of drug use on the work force is being felt across the country, and perhaps nowhere more than the Rust Belt, which is struggling to overcome decades of deindustrialization. Indeed, the opioid epidemic and, to some extent, wider marijuana use are hitting businesses and the economy in ways that are beginning to be acknowledged by policy makers and other experts.
► From Reuters — Massachusetts cannot hold immigrants so U.S. can detain them, court rules — The decision amounts to a rejection of requests by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for courts and law enforcement agencies to hold illegal immigrants, who are facing civil deportation orders, in custody for up to 48 hours after their cases are resolved.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.