DAILY NEWS
10% fewer Boeing jobs | Jaime ‘good’ with tax plan | When unions are gutted
Monday, November 20, 2017
LOCAL
PREVIOUSLY at The Stand:
— Use state’s aerospace tax breaks to bring Airbus to Washington (by John Burbank, Oct. 19, 2017)
— Amid Boeing job cuts, legislators eye tax break accountability (May 3, 2017)
► In The Stranger — Seattle defends income tax in court, judge expected to rule next this week — If it can hold up in court, the tax will charge .25 percent on income above $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers). The city would use the money to fund social services, reduce regressive taxes, or replace lost federal funding. In a state with the most regressive tax system in the country and a city that is particularly generous to the wealthy, passing the tax was a popular move for Seattle’s left. But the tax will faces court challenges, which will likely reach the state Supreme Court. Friday’s hearing was the first battle.
► In the Yakima H-R — Long dependent on immigrant workers, Yakima Valley growers laboring with new reality — After decades of enjoying a robust low-wage labor force mostly comprised of Mexican immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, growers here and across the state are finding fewer laborers interested in coming here to work. Increasing border security, Mexico’s improving economy and declining birth rate and anti-immigrant policy in the U.S. are all forces obstructing the once abundant flow of low-cost foreign labor into the country.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In the Columbian — Republican minority unfazed by ‘blue wall’ — “I’m in very good spirits,” said Sen. Ann Rivers (R-La Center), just days after the Democrats were poised to take control of the Senate. “I don’t really think it changes very much for me personally, because I have very strong relationships with (members of the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House and Senate).”
► In the (Everett) Herald — Is the state Transportation Commission irrelevant? — A report says the citizen panel often is ignored, and its duties overlap with the Transportation Department.
TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH
► In today’s Washington Post — With business booming, corporate owners push GOP for tax cuts — Republicans are acutely aware that if they fail to deliver on the tax overhaul it would upset the business interests that have long been key party allies, and donors.
► From TPM — GOP Sen. Collins: I haven’t decided whether I’ll vote for tax bill with ACA provision — Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who voted against the Senate’s previous effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, on Sunday said she has not yet decided whether she will vote against a tax bill that includes a provision repealing ACA’s individual mandate, as Senate Republican leaders are proposing.
► In today’s NY Times — Dropping mandate won’t necessarily pay for the tax cuts — Americans dislike the requirement that everyone have health insurance. But eliminating it doesn’t mean that they’d stop buying coverage — or accepting subsidies.
► From TPM — Republicans learn the hard way: You break Obamacare, you own it — As Republicans in Congress inch towards striking what could be the biggest blow yet to the ACA — sticking a provision repealing the individual mandate into their tax bill — even some on the right are starting to sweat that the GOP will fully own the issue going forward. Said a grave-faced Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):
“You can make an argument that Obamacare is falling of its own weight, until we repeal the individual mandate. I hope every Republican knows that when you pass a repeal of the individual mandate, it’s no longer their problem. It becomes our problem.”
THAT WASHINGTON
► From HuffPost — Thousands march on national mall to demand Puerto Rico disaster relief — Thousands gathered Sunday on the National Mall in Washington to demand the federal government increase its commitment to disaster relief on hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
ALSO in The Stand — Donate to Operation Agua to help Puerto Ricans get safe water
NATIONAL
EDITOR’S NOTE — The anti-union Freedom Foundation attempted to pass local RTW laws here in Washington a few years ago, targeting cities and counties with conservative Republican leaders. But they failed and ended up being sued by the state Attorney General for failing to publicly disclose they were financing the effort.
► From The Nation — How the labor movement can win under national ‘right to work’ — Labor’s biggest gains have been made not when the law has been on our side but when workers have been most willing to stand up and fight.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
► From CNN — Here’s what happened to teachers after Wisconsin gutted its unions — Along with diminished leverage with school boards, teachers have seen lower pay, reduced pension and health insurance benefits and higher turnover as educators hop from one district to another in search of raises, a new report finds. With the Supreme Court preparing to hear a case that could make paying dues to unions voluntary for public sector employees — like they already are in right-to-work states — Wisconsin’s experience could soon confront teachers across the country as well. In the five years since Act 10 was passed, median salaries for teachers in the state have fallen by 2.6% and median benefits declined 18.6%, according to an analysis of state administrative data by the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.