DAILY NEWS
Capital budget damage | Bargaining CHIPs | More Walmart cuts
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
THIS WASHINGTON
EDITOR’S NOTE — As Republican negotiators are reportedly holding out for a slightly better deal on the Hirst water rights issue, their nearly year-long strategy of taking the capital budget hostage continues to have significant consequences out in the real world.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Housing projects depend on capital budget passage by Jan. 17 — Communities throughout Snohomish County and around the state are struggling with an affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Yet funding to build income-restricted homes was held up last year by the Senate Republican leadership’s refusal to pass a capital budget unless a water rights issue was addressed first.
► In the Olympian — Federal tax cuts make state tax reform urgent (by Sumayyah Waheed) — Low- and middle-income Washingtonians should pay attention: We will be hit doubly hard thanks to Washington’s tax code, the worst in the nation… Now is the time to begin cleaning up our tax code and protect Washington from the looming impact of the federal tax bill. This legislative session, our representatives should work to close wasteful tax breaks, especially the tax break on capital gains.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Don’t add a work requirement to Medicaid (editorial) — The last thing Washington state should do is accept the Trump administration’s invitation to add a work requirement to Medicaid. Contrary to an administration letter, working itself does not help improve the health of poor people. Medicaid health insurance can help ailing people get healthy enough to work.
LOCAL
TAKE A STAND! — Click here to sign the petition urging ICE not to target Maru Mora-Villalpando and others advocating for immigrant and human rights.
► From Teamsters 174 — Hertz Equipment Rental Teamsters ratify strong new 3-year contract — HERC employees will see over 11% improvement in their wage and benefit package in the first year of the contract, and over 5% improvements in each of the subsequent years. The agreement also includes a change from a company medical plan to a superior Teamster medical plan.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Find out how YOU can negotiate better wages and benefits by joining together in a union. Contact an organizer today!
BOEING
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing opens new $17 million training center in Auburn — The Workforce Readiness Center is the Auburn site’s first new building in 25 years. Workers and dignitaries marked the grand opening of the facility, which is dedicated “to enhancing the skills of Boeing Fabrication employees in Puget Sound and, in particular, the Auburn site’s 6,000 employees,” according to Boeing.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing jumps into aircraft-seat production in threat to suppliers — Fed up with delays that have plagued production of luxury jetliner cabins, Boeing is forming its own company with a major seat supplier to the auto industry.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s Washington Post — A burst of acrimony on Capitol Hill threatens immigration deal — A burst of public acrimony across Capitol Hill on Tuesday exposed how much negotiations on immigration and border security have been set back since President Trump’s use of a vulgar expression during a meeting on the issue.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Bottom line: President Donald Trump, a racist, is prepared — perhaps even eager — to shut the federal government down because the bipartisan deal to keep it open doesn’t keep enough people of color (from “shithole countries”) out of America. So what are Republicans in Congress — including those from Washington state — doing about it?
EDITOR’S NOTE — Read that last part again. That’s right. Denying health coverage for about 9 million children costs more money than it saves, but Republicans STILL refuse to extend the program. Instead, they cynically use the health of millions of children as a bargaining chip. Truly shameful.
► In today’s Columbian — Herrera Beutler offers another call-in meeting — U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA3) is hosting another call-in event Monday, Jan. 22. The hourlong call is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. The announced theme is tax cuts and tolling, but constituents are invited to ask about any subject.
► In today’s Washington Post — Unexpected defeat in rural Wisconsin special election sets off alarm bells for Republicans — While the midterm elections are 10 months away, a stunning Democratic victory deep in the heart of Trump country suggests a blue tsunami could be forming.
► From The Onion — New report finds adult film star may have paid over $130,000 to cover up sexual encounter with Trump — “Newly uncovered legal documents seem to indicate that Ms. Daniels paid out six figures to keep Trump quiet about a sexual encounter that undoubtedly would have proved embarrassing and perhaps career-threatening,” said the report.
NATIONAL
► From The Guardian — How America’s ‘childcare deserts’ are driving women out of the workforce — This summer, researchers at the Center for American Progress, a progressive thinktank, analyzed census data in 22 states and found that 51% of the population resides in “childcare deserts.” In most other advanced economies, parents don’t pay for childcare by themselves but share the cost with the government, their employers, or labor unions. That’s usually not the case in the U.S., where in 2011, a typical two-income family paid more than twice their share of income toward childcare compared with families in other countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.