DAILY NEWS
Easier, not harder | Crying ‘trade war’ | Oklahoma is not OK | GOP silence is assent
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
THIS WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Inslee: ‘Every community, voice, vote counts’
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Democrats eye West Plains seats following departure of Sen. Michael Baumgartner — Three newcomers to state politics are hoping a rejuvenated Democratic Party is enough to give the region a new shade of blue.
LOCAL
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Salary cap for Spokane city employees part of budget reforms proposed by Stuckart — No Spokane city employee could earn more than $182,000 annually under a package of changes to City Hall’s budgeting process being proposed by Council President Ben Stuckart. He said his research indicated the restriction would only potentially apply currently to two people working at City Hall – the police and fire chiefs.
► From KUOW — Why the teachers’ union wants to delay search for new Seattle superintendent — The top job at Seattle Public Schools will open up in June, when superintendent Larry Nyland’s contract ends. The school board is preparing to hire a new superintendent by the end of April. Labor representatives, however, say the board needs to slow down and take time to involve people of color in the search process.
► In today’s Wenatchee World — PUD launches bitcoin moratorium to ease pressure on staff, power grid — The Chelan County PUD on Monday flipped the off-switch for bitcoin mining hopefuls by immediately halting applications for power to new cryptocurrency operations.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Read why.
IMMIGRATION
► From Politico — Border wall Dreamers deal implodes — The White House and congressional Democrats traded immigration offers futilely over the weekend, leaving little chance of an immediate deal to protect Dreamers.
► From Politico — Koch groups urge Trump to accept Democrats’ immigration deal — A trio of organizations supported by Charles and David Koch is urging Trump to accept congressional Democrats’ weekend offer, which would deliver $25 billion for a border wall and security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants.
► From Bloomberg — U.S. Supreme Court rejects Arizona on driver’s licenses for immigrants — The court refused to let Arizona deny driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants who are protected from deportation under a program started by President Obama.
TRADE
ALSO at The Stand — Enforcing trade rules is not a “trade war” (by Stan Sorscher)
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump prepared to hit China with $60 billion in annual tariffs — President Trump is preparing to impose a package of $60 billion in annual tariffs against Chinese products, following through on a longtime threat that he says will punish China for intellectual property theft and create more U.S. jobs.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From The Hill — GOP leaders see finish line on omnibus deal — House GOP leaders said they’re putting the finishing touches on an enormous 2018 spending bill, predicting the few remaining snags will be ironed out as early as Monday night. Finalizing a bipartisan omnibus agreement would set the stage for both chambers to vote on the $1.2 trillion package before Friday, when government funding is scheduled to expire.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Sound Transit lobbies Congress to keep Lynnwood line funded — As federal lawmakers negotiated the final content of an omnibus spending bill late Monday, the leader of Sound Transit kept close tabs to see if a critical source of funding to extend light rail to Lynnwood would make the cut. President Trump has threatened to cut such funding.
SILENCE IS ASSENT
► MUST-READ in today’s Washington Post — It’s not your imagination. Trump is getting worse. (by Eugene Robinson) — It’s not your imagination. Donald Trump’s occupancy of the White House is every bit as insane, corrupt and dangerous as you might fear. Witness this jaw-dropping message to the sitting president of the United States from the former CIA director:
“When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America… America will triumph over you.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Washington GOP Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dave Reichert, Jaime Herrera Beutler, and Dan Newhouse respond.
► From Politico — ‘I thought there would be more Jeff Flakes, more John McCains, more Bob Corkers’ — Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, who chief witness to the dysfunction of the Republican-led panel’s Russiagate investigation:
“I think one of the really sad realizations over the last year is not what kind of a president Donald Trump turns out to be — I think it was all too predictable — but rather, how many members of Congress would be unwilling to stand up to him, and more than that, would be completely willing to carry water for him. That is a very sad realization. I did not expect that. I thought there would be more Jeff Flakes, more John McCains, more Bob Corkers — people who would defend our system of checks and balances, would speak out for decency, who would defend the First Amendment.”
NATIONAL
► In the NY Daily News — Thousands of JetBlue flight attendants to vote on joining Transport Workers Union — Nearly 5,000 JetBlue flight attendants began voting Monday in an effort to join the Transport Workers Union. Ballots will be cast electronically or by phone in an election that will run until April 17. According to the TWU, an “overwhelming majority” of flight attendants last year signed cards declaring they wanted to unionize.
ALSO at The Stand — The way forward for a new labor movement (by Jonathan Rosenblum)
► In today’s Washington Post — Supreme Court refuses to block new congressional maps in Pennsylvania — The decision means that this year’s elections are likely to be held under a map much more favorable to Democrats, who scored an apparent victory last week in a special election in a strongly Republican congressional district.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Tougher climate policies could save a stunning 150 million lives, researchers find — According to the study, premature deaths would fall on nearly every continent if the world’s governments agree to cut emissions of carbon and other harmful gases enough to limit global temperature rise to less than 3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.