Tuesday, December 5, 2017

IMMIGRATION

► From The Hill — Supreme Court allows full Trump travel Muslim ban to take effect — The Supreme Court on Monday gave President Trump another major win by granting his administration’s request to fully reinstate the third version of his travel ban. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and a federal district court in Maryland had said Trump could only block the entry of nationals from the six majority-Muslim countries in the ban — Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad — if they lacked a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The high court’s decision now puts those rulings on hold.

► From The Hill — Immigration in spotlight as budget battle intensifies — Congressional leaders are jockeying for position in the legislative battle to keep the government open that is expected to dominate their final weeks in session this year. Democrats driven to win a legislative fix to an Obama-era program allowing hundreds of thousands of young immigrants to stay and work in the United States signaled flexibility.

► In the Washington Examiner — Guest worker bill will put hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work (by UFCW President Marc Perrone) — The Agricultural Guestworker Act is a direct threat to America’s hard-working families, the incomes they depend on, and the food we all eat. This is not hyperbole. If the AGA becomes law, it will allow 450,000 foreign visa holders to work in agricultural and meat processing jobs that are currently held by hard-working American men and women. The impact of this bill, particularly upon the hundreds of thousands of people employed by the meat and poultry industry, would be devastating.

► In today’s Seattle Times — ICE arrest of immigrant who spoke to press is troubling (editorial) — The detention of Baltazar “Rosas” Aburto Gutierrez flies in the face of ICE officials’ claims the agency is focusing enforcement on those who pose a threat to national security or public safety.

LOCAL

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Now hiring: Younger factory workers, at Boeing and elsewhere — While Boeing’s overall workforce in Washington contracted by nearly 10 percent during the past year, it’s hiring for other jobs, especially in assembly roles. Many of positions lost through involuntary layoffs were engineers and drafters. Most Machinists who have left recently took voluntary departures, as part of a strategy to manage a bulge of older employees… Of roughly 27,000 Boeing Machinists in Washington, half will be eligible to retire over the next five years. And the company will need to replace them.

► From KNKX — Longview coal terminal developer filing appeals, lawsuit to keep project alive — the Millennium Bulk Terminals project has suffered repeated setbacks, mainly in the form of permit denials. The company is fighting back in court.

TRUMP’S TAX SCAM

► From CNN — The GOP tax plan is heading for conference committee. What happens next? — House Speaker Paul Ryan announced over the weekend that he’d announce folks to negotiate the tax bill today… The next few days will be important to watch. Republicans don’t have much time to work out their differences if they expect to pass a tax bill before the holiday break. Republicans are going to be forced to juggle several key priorities in upcoming days as they seek to fund the government, find a way to pay for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, negotiate on immigration, find a way to renew a key spying program and all as the Russia investigation and Alabama Senate election swirl around them.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — It’s not over! Call Representatives to stop this tax scam for the rich — Take one minute to click here to make a call to your Representative now. Or just call 1-844-899-9913 and you’ll be connected to your Representative. Tell them to vote NO on this tax scam that puts corporations and the wealthy ahead of working families.

► From The Hill — Economist Larry Summers: 10,000 people will die annually from GOP tax bill — Economist Larry Summers said Monday that roughly 10,000 more Americans will die each year if Republican tax-reform legislation passes and includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.

► In today’s Washington Post — Wall Street got almost everything it wanted in tax package

EDITOR’S NOTE — Which brings us to…

THAT WASHINGTON

► From HuffPost — Bank deregulation bill will leave taxpayers holding the bag (by Damon Silvers) — With the Senate passing a multi-trillion dollar job-killing giveaway of our tax dollars to the people and companies who need it least, you might have missed the bill moving through the Senate to deregulate Wall Street and consumer finance. Senator Mike Crapo’s (R-Idaho) so-called “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act” being marked up by the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday is a serious threat to the stability of our financial markets and our economy.

► From The Guardian — Where did you go, Ivanka? How the first daughter’s family leave plan fizzled — At the Republican national convention, Ivanka Trump pledged to fight for mothers. But her proposal was rebuffed amid the Republican tax overhaul.

► In today’s NY Times — Roy Moore gets Trump endorsement, Republican Party funding — President Trump on Monday strongly endorsed Roy S. Moore, the Republican nominee for a United States Senate seat here, prompting the Republican National Committee to restore its support for a candidate accused of sexual misconduct against teenage girls.

► In today’s Washington Post — Woman shares new evidence of relationship with Roy Moore when she was 17 — Debbie Wesson Gibson, who says she dated Roy Moore in 1981 when he was 34 and she was 17, recently found a high school graduation card he gave her at the time and inscribed to her.

► From The Onion — FCC Chair unveils premium comment line to fast-track net neutrality complaints for $49.99/month — “We hear everyone’s concerns loud and clear, and we are now offering Americans expedited access to the FCC office for less than 50 dollars a month,” said FCC Chair Ajit Pai.

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

► In today’s Washington Post — A bold new legal defense for Trump: Presidents cannot obstruct justice — The brazen assertion Monday by one of President Trump’s lawyers that a president cannot be found guilty of obstruction of justice signaled a controversial defense strategy in the wide-ranging Russia probe, as Trump’s political advisers are increasingly concerned about the legal advice he is receiving. Trump tweeted over the weekend that he knew then-national security adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador before firing him in February — and before FBI Director James B. Comey said Trump asked him to be lenient while investigating Flynn. Experts said the president’s admission increased his legal exposure to obstruction-of-justice charges, one of the core crimes under investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

► In today’s NY Times — Yes, the president can obstruct justice (editorial) —  Trump’s top personal lawyer, John Dowd, said the “president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer” under the Constitution and “has every right to express his view of any case.” This will come as news to Congress, which has passed laws criminalizing the obstruction of justice and decided twice in the last four decades that when a president violates those laws he has committed an impeachable offense.

► From Reuters — Deutsche Bank gets subpoena from Mueller on Trump accounts — U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked Deutsche Bank for data on accounts held by President Donald Trump and his family, a person close to the matter said on Tuesday. Germany’s largest bank received a subpoena from Mueller several weeks ago to provide information on certain money and credit transactions. Deutsche Bank, which has loaned the Trump organization hundreds of millions of dollars for real estate ventures, said it would not comment on any of its clients.

► From CNN — Manafort worked on op-ed with Russian while out on bail, prosecutors say — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was ghostwriting an op-ed while out on bail last month with a Russian who has ties to the Russian intelligence service, Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said Monday. Investigators said Manafort was working on an editorial in English as late as last Thursday and that it related to his political work for Ukraine, which factored into his money-laundering and foreign lobbying criminal charges. The filing asks for the court to revisit a bail agreement Mueller’s office and Manafort’s lawyers made jointly last week.

NATIONAL

► From Politico — U.S. trade gap soars as imports from China hit record high — The U.S. trade deficit jumped 8.6 percent in October as imports from China and other suppliers hit a record high ahead of the holiday shopping season, a Commerce Department report released Tuesday showed. The monthly trade gap totaled $48.7 billion, the highest level for a full month since President Donald Trump took office.

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