Tell Lawmakers To Vote NO! On Health Care Repeal
Health care repeal is moving again in the Senate! Stop the GOP's new plan to end health care for millions before it's too late. Call your senators NOW at 888-981-9704. Tell them to vote NO! on Cassidy-Graham.
GOP Makes All-Out Drive for Health Repeal
How Obamacare repeal came back with a fury. CNN: "It's a repeal-and-replace proposal that less than a week ago seemed dead on arrival in the Senate... behind the scenes, Cassidy and Graham were engaged in a full-court press, reaching out to colleagues and leadership and trying to get them to back their plan publicly. By Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan was calling the plan the 'best, last chance' the GOP has to overhaul Obamacare - and the Senate's finance committee had announced a hearing on the proposal. Asked what Cassidy's role had been in the process, South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune, a member of leadership, called Cassidy a "grave robber.' 'He's the grave robber,' Thune said. 'This thing was six feet under and I think he's revived it to the point where there's actually a lot of positive buzz and forward momentum but it still comes down to, in the Senate, getting 50 votes.'"
Cassidy-Graham Bill Ends Health Insurance for Millions
Cassidy-Graham plan would add millions to uninsured, destabilize individual market. CBPP: "In releasing a revised version of their legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Senators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, along with co-sponsors Dean Heller and Ron Johnson, claimed that their bill isn’t a “partisan” approach and doesn’t include “draconian cuts.” In reality, however, the Cassidy-Graham bill would have the same harmful consequences as those prior bills. It would cause many millions of people to lose coverage, radically restructure and deeply cut Medicaid, eliminate or weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increase out-of-pocket costs for individual market consumers."
Community Health Care Funding Expires in Two Weeks
Another health funding cliff puts care for millions at risk. The Hill: "There’s another health deadline at the end of the month that has nothing to do with ObamaCare — but which puts millions of the nation’s most vulnerable patients at risk. Billions of federal dollars for community health centers, which provide care for some 26 million patients, is on the line with a Sept. 30 funding deadline looming. The funding path is murky, with an agreement not yet reached and the House in session for only a week until the program expires. In the Senate, Republicans are examining a last-ditch effort to repeal ObamaCare, which could make time on the legislative calendar tricky. A lapse in funding could have huge implications. Community health centers are the largest source of comprehensive primary care for medically underserved populations, and they must take everyone who walks through the doors — regardless of if the patient can pay."
Georgia Tech Student Leader Shot Dead By Campus Police
Georgia Tech student leader is shot dead by campus police. NYT: "A campus police officer shot and killed the president of a gay and transgender student group outside a Georgia Tech dormitory in Atlanta on Sunday. A cellphone video shared widely online showed the student, who was believed to be holding a knife, yelling 'shoot me' at the officers before one opened fire. The student, Scout Schultz, 21, died at a local hospital from a single gunshot wound, according to a statement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the altercation. The killing, which happened in full view of students in the dormitory, immediately raised questions about why the campus police were so quick to use deadly force. After what the university called a peaceful vigil for Schultz on Monday night at Georgia Tech, about 50 people marched to the campus Police Department, where a police car was set on fire and two officers received minor injuries, the authorities said. Three people were arrested on charges of inciting a riot and battery of an officer."
Zinke Proposal to Un-Protect National Monuments
Zinke memo reveals unprecedented assault on public lands. CommonDreams: "Conservationists are outraged by Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke's proposal... to revoke or alter federal protections for at least 10 national monuments and expose protected lands and waters to commercial activity. 'If President Trump accepts Zinke's advice, and moves to eviscerate monument protections, he'd be ignoring the law—and the will of the American people,' said Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) president Rhea Suh, who also vowed to fight the changes in court, should the president act on the secretary's suggestions. Suh was not alone in her charge that it would be illegal for the president to make the proposed changes."
More from OurFuture.org:
New Data on Tax Havens and Income Reveal America’s Great Divide. Sam Pizzigati: "New figures on incomes and tax havens reveal a United States pulling ever further apart. Wages are going nowhere, and huge chunks of grand American fortunes are hiding overseas. America's Great Divide is getting deeper, and wider."
