Thursday, November 9, 2017

ELECTION REDUX

► From the Stranger — Teresa Mosqueda wins Seattle City Council seat, now what? — Mosqueda, who worked at the Washington State Labor Council and helped draft last year’s statewide minimum wage increase, will be sworn in on Nov. 28… First, a campaign lesson: Don’t f— with labor: Mosqueda won the backing of basically every labor union in town. As the new council member put it in her speech Tuesday night: “In order to win in Seattle, you must stand with labor. You must stand with the labor movement. You cannot divide us.”

ALSO at The Stand — Manka Dhingra and Teresa Mosqueda win!

► In today’s Seattle Times — With Manka Dhingra’s state Senate win, Democrats plot ambitious course in Olympia — With Manka Dhingra’s victory, Democrats will hold both chambers in the Legislature and the governorship. Gov. Inslee and Democratic legislators Wednesday said they’ll use the upcoming session to press forward on a range of issues. Those priorities include passing a capital-construction budget and finding an agreement on a rural water-use bill that led to an impasse this year over both those bills. Democrats also want to enact a state voting-rights bill intended to protect the opportunity for minorities to participate in local elections.

FROM the WSLC’s 2017 Legislative Report:

For the 5th time, GOP kills Washington Voting Rights Act — For the fifth straight year, Republicans in the Legislature shot down the Washington Voting Rights Act, a bipartisan compromise proposal that would provide local governments an opportunity to create equitable, accountable election systems. It passed the House 51-46, but was killed without a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate.

► In today’s Seattle Times — EMILY’s List boosts Democrat Kim Schrier in Washington’s 8th CD race — Kim Schrier, a pediatrician running for Congress in Washington’s 8th District, has picked up an endorsement from EMILY’s List, giving her a boost in a crowded primary field. The open-seat race to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Dave Reichert could help determine control of the U.S. House in 2018.

LOCAL

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Kalama Export dockworkers rally for better benefits — Wearing orange shirts with slogans calling for “equal benefits,” about 300 longshoremen marched at the Port of Kalama Wednesday to draw attention to stalled labor talks between the Kalama Export Company and ILWU Local 21. The rally drew union dockworkers from up and down the coast, but representatives from the media and other labor groups were not invited. It’s the first direct action Local 21 has taken during the three-year contract dispute.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford nuclear waste tank inspectors looked for leak, found 7 — An inspection of Hanford’s oldest double shell tank found not just one leak from the inner shell — it found seven. Tank AY-102 had a slow leak of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste from its inner shell into the space between its inner and outer shells.

► In today’s Seattle Times — A Washington county that went for Trump is shaken as immigrant neighbors start disappearing — Many in Pacific County thought President Trump would take away “drug dealers, criminals, rapists” with his immigration crackdown. They were shocked to see who started to go missing. In a county of small, close-knit communities — Long Beach, population 1,400, is one of the largest — it’s noticed when someone goes missing. The number is magnified by those who have moved, gone into hiding or followed family after a deportation. People have lost neighbors, schools have lost students and businesses have lost employees.

TRUMP TAX BILL

► In today’s Washington Post — GOP bill would hike taxes on 31 percent of middle-class Americans by 2027, study finds — A growing number of nonpartisan analyses show that some middle-class Americans would not get more money in their pockets under the GOP plan. Instead, they would face higher tax bills, a potential pitfall in selling this plan to the public and to enough lawmakers for it to pass.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Desperate GOP advancing Trump tax bill — Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-1st) offered several amendments this week to protect working families, including one to repeal the so-called “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans, but those efforts were summarily rejected by Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8th) Republicans desperate to ram the tax bill through Congress by Christmas-time.

► In today’s NY Times — Paul Ryan’s middle-class tax hike (by David Leonhardt) — In effect, Ryan and other House leaders are proposing an enormous tax cut for the wealthy and then trying to hold down the bill’s cost by raising taxes on middle-class and poor families. The cynicism of this proposal is jarring, even for anyone who is already cynical about Washington. After decades in which the middle class and poor have been struggling, congressional leaders want to raise taxes on many of them, all while claiming that the bill would do the opposite.

► From The Hill — Blue Dog Democrats taking hard line on GOP tax bill — The Blue Dogs had initially expressed an eagerness to join Republicans in the push for sweeping tax reform, which stands among the GOP’s top priorities. But the fiscally minded Democrats are quickly racing away from the GOP proposal, largely over projections the bill will hike taxes on millions of middle-class families and lead to a spike in deficit spending.

► From CNBC — GOP tax cut plan would add $1.7 trillion to the deficit, CBO projects — The House Republican bill would increase federal budget deficits by $1.7 trillion over 10 years, according to Joint Committee on Taxation estimates shared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

► From The Hill — Senate set for clash with House on tax bill — Senate Republicans are set to unveil a tax-reform bill that differs significantly from legislation in the House, setting up a battle within the GOP as it tries to hand President Trump his first major legislative victory.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s NY Times — Don’t let Congress cheat workers out of basic rights (by Christine Owens) — Under a bill passed by House Republicans on Tuesday, large corporations that outsource jobs would get virtually full immunity from workplace violations like wage theft, sexual harassment or safety problems, while the typically smaller, poorly capitalized local contractors that provide the workers would bear all the liability. This could leave these small businesses exposed to bankruptcy, leaving workers in danger of having no remedies at all… It’s not too late to stop this bill from becoming law. The Republican Party should see this bill for what it really is: just the latest way to keep America’s workers down.

► From the AP — Affordable Care Act sign-ups top 600,000 in first week — The government says more than 600,000 people signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage in the first week of open enrollment season. About 23 percent were new consumers. So far, sign-ups seem to be running about the same pace as last year, despite Trump administration cutbacks in advertising and enrollment assistance for consumers.

► Today from the Washington Post — White House chief of staff tried to pressure acting DHS secretary to expel thousands of Hondurans, officials say — On Monday, as the Department of Homeland Security prepared to extend the residency permits of tens of thousands of Honduran immigrants living in the United States, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called Acting Secretary Elaine Duke to pressure her to expel them. Duke refused to reverse her decision and was angered by what she felt was a politically driven intrusion.

NATIONAL

► From The Hill — Carrier plans more layoffs at plant Trump vowed to protect — Carrier, which struck a deal with President Trump last year to keep jobs at its Indianapolis plant, is reportedly planning more layoffs at the facility. More than 200 additional employees will lose their jobs in January. Robert James, the president of the union that represents plant workers, said employees “just don’t have any faith in this plant staying in Indianapolis.”

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