Government Shutdown Looms
Spending crisis looms as Dems and GOP tussle on priorities. Bloomberg: "Republicans and Democrats in Congress are once again far apart on a government spending bill with just days to go before a partial shutdown. The next deadline is Jan. 19, and after Republican leaders met with President Donald Trump and cabinet officials over the weekend at Camp David there was no indication either side had budged on some of the policy disputes -- most prominently immigration -- that are tied up in the debate over funding... A key test will be whether Democrats and Republicans can agree to add other items to the new stopgap, including a two-year agreement to raise budget caps, changes to immigration laws, funding for natural disasters, and health-care law revisions. Unlike the tax cuts enacted by the GOP in December, Republicans will need votes from Democrats, and significant differences remain in each area, particularly immigration."
Child Health Expiring In Some States
CHIP funding could run out as soon as this month in some states. CNN: "The CHIP program provides health coverage to nine million children from lower-income households that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Its federal authorization ended Oct. 1, and states were then forced to use unspent funds to carry them over while the House and Senate try to agree on a way to continue funding. Congress extended funding on Dec. 21 as part of a temporary spending plan to fund the federal government through Jan. 19. Lawmakers touted that states would have money to last while they worked on a long-term funding solution. But it's still not enough for everyone. 'Some states will begin exhausting all available funding earlier than others," a CMS official said Friday. "But the exact timing of when states will exhaust their funding is a moving target.'"
Salvadorans May Face Deportation
Salvadorans in U.S. brace for TPS decision. WaPo: "Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is expected to decide whether the United States should allow TPS to expire for Salvadorans in March, following similar decisions last year that ended the protection for Haitians and Nicaraguans. Salvadorans are the largest group with the status, and the effects would be wide-ranging — from Washington to Los Angeles and in the Central American nation itself."
CAP Urges Dems To Stand Firm On DACA
Defending Dreamers is a moral imperative and a defining political moment for
Democrats. CAP: "Nearly 15,000 DACA recipients already have lost protection
from deportation; each time Congress forgoes an opportunity to pass legislation—as it
did on September 8, December 8, and December 21—more lives are thrown into disarray
and ruined. Now is the time for Democrats to stand on principle and to fight hard.
The fight to protect Dreamers is not only a moral imperative, it is also a critical
component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success. Donald Trump and the
Republican Party continue to jeopardize the futures of millions of Dreamers and their
families and throw up roadblocks to meaningful legislative reform, and it is up to
Democrats to stand up for them."
More from OurFuture.org:
The Free Market Made Us Do It! Sam Pizzigati: "A new global CEO pay comparison, the most rigorous and comprehensive yet, demolishes the standard-issue corporate rationale for America’s over-the-top executive compensation. Does anyone really think these fat cats deserve 100 times more than the hard-working people who prop up their business empires?”
