by People's Action | Mar 23, 2018 | Breakfast
Congress Approves $1.3T Spending To Avert Shutdown Congress OKs $1.3 trillion budget, averting another shutdown. WaPo: "Congress gave final approval Friday to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late scuffles and...
by Pavan Vangipuram | Mar 23, 2018 | Blog
With the passage of the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA), democracy in Washington State is about to get a lot more vibrant! This month, Governor Inslee signed this Act into law, with other measures that will improve voter turnout, ushering in a new era for local...
by People's Action | Mar 22, 2018 | Breakfast
Congress Releases $1.3T Budget Bill Here’s what Congress is stuffing into its $1.3 trillion spending bill. WaPo: "Congressional negotiators reached a tentative agreement Wednesday night on a $1.3 trillion federal spending bill, releasing it to the public just 52 hours...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 22, 2018 | Blog
True to form, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's testimony before Congress this week was yet another example of how her utterances about American public education and her governance over the system send people into fits of frustration and outrage. Appearing...
by People's Action | Mar 21, 2018 | Breakfast
Counting Down To New Government Shutdown Congress stymied on $1.3t bill with days to go before shutdown. Bloomberg: "Congressional Republicans missed another target to unveil a $1.3 trillion spending bill, as talks continued early Wednesday with just days remaining...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 21, 2018 | Blog
There is increasing public concern about the political manipulation of Facebook and Twitter by private corporations and foreign actors, and it's certainly warranted. Social media, especially Facebook, are increasingly mediating their users' realities in ways that...
by Tim Wilkins | Mar 20, 2018 | Uncategorized
SCOTUS Defends PA District Redraw SCOTUS denies GOP request to block new Pa. congressional map. The Hill:"The Supreme Court on Monday refused an emergency appeal by Pennsylvania Republicans to block the implementation of a new court-ordered congressional map, a...
by Mark Trahant | Mar 20, 2018 | Blog
A special election in Pennsylvania is a good sign for Native American #NativeVote18 candidates running for office. Why? Because this cycle is already favoring out-of-power Democrats and, quite possibly, independents. It’s hard to peg any constituent group more...
by People's Action | Mar 19, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Firing Sparks Warnings On Both Sides ‘You Will Not Destroy America’: A Trump battle is no longer one-sided. NYT: As President Trump has voiced his grievances against the F.B.I. with a series of insult-laden tweets, his targets have responded nearly in kind,...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 19, 2018 | Blog
On Tuesday in Western Pennsylvania, a novice candidate, a 33-year-old Democrat who had never before run for office, upset an experienced politician who President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. all stumped for and who received more than $10 million...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 19, 2018 | Blog
A movement without memory is adrift. And a movement that picks the wrong heroes is lost. Two milestones should serve as reminders to self-styled members of the Resistance. One marks a turning point in the life of an ill-chosen hero. The other is a reminder that true...
by Adrienne Evans | Mar 19, 2018 | Blog
Idahoans are fed up with lawmakers like Gov. Butch Otter who cave to the interests of deep-pocketed donors rather than than step up to defend quality, affordable health care in our state. Thousands in Idaho fall into what we call the Coverage Gap. These hard-working...
by People's Action | Mar 16, 2018 | Breakfast
Health Care Tips PA Voters To Dems PA voters say the GOP’s health care antics cost Saccone their vote. ThinkProgress: "While many Republican strategists and conservative pundits struggled to make sense of how a Democrat could have been so successful in Pennsylvania’s...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 16, 2018 | Blog
Conor Lamb’s stunning win in the special election for Pennsylvania's 18th House District showed the blue wave building as the November midterms approach. It also triggered an immediate debate about what the victory says about Democratic strategy this fall, amid...
by People's Action | Mar 15, 2018 | Breakfast
Students Walk Out Nationwide To Protest Gun Violence 'ENOUGH': U.S. student walkout sends message on gun violence. US News & World Report: "U.S. students spilled out of classrooms by the tens of thousands on Wednesday, chanting slogans like "No more silence" and...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 15, 2018 | Blog
The revolution may not be televised, but it is happening in public schools. This is evident in the growth of student and teacher actions across the country, from walkouts to strikes. This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who's been paying attention. Public school...
by Tim Wilkins | Mar 14, 2018 | Blog
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks about proposed changes to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which she helped pass to curb risky lending practices in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Warren spoke at the Democratic Caucus Center...
by People's Action | Mar 14, 2018 | Breakfast
PA Race Neck-And-Neck, With Dem In Lead Lamb clings to tiny lead with all precincts reporting. Politico: "The closely watched special election race for a congressional seat in western Pennsylvania is still too close to call — but Democrat Conor Lamb, leading by fewer...
by Adrienne Evans | Mar 14, 2018 | Blog
Every Idahoan deserves quality, affordable health care. That’s the simple truth, and a vast majority in our state believes it. Now we have a chance to come closer to that goal, if our lawmakers will finally stand up and act for the people they say they represent. In...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 14, 2018 | Blog
In the much-written-about 60 Minutes interview of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos by CBS reporter Lesley Stahl there was a telling exchange when Stahl queried DeVos on whether she had visited any “bad schools.” DeVos replied, “I have not intentionally visited...
by People's Action | Mar 13, 2018 | Breakfast
Senate Advances Bank Law Rewrite Senate votes to advance changes to Dodd-Frank rollback. The Hill: "The Senate voted Monday to advance a set of updates to a bipartisan bill to loosen strict banking rules that are part of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 13, 2018 | Blog
Why would Democratic senators join their Republican colleagues in pushing a bill that lays out a rich banquet of goodies before some of America's worst bankers, and increases the risk that taxpayers will have to bail them out? Here are 24 million reasons: These 16...
by People's Action | Mar 12, 2018 | Breakfast
Warren Fights To Defend Dodd-Frank Warren goes on attack over Dodd-Frank rollback. WaPo: "The Senate banking deregulation bill looks primed to pass this week. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a clear signal Sunday that whatever happens will come with some...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 12, 2018 | Blog
A great wailing and gnashing of teeth arose across the land after the Trump administration announced its plan to place tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Some conservatives cried that the tariffs, 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, would incite an...
by Rev. Kenneth Glasgow | Mar 11, 2018 | Blog
In 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. led marchers to the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Alabama to demand their right to vote. When they got there, they were arrested. That arrest, and the police brutality that followed it, galvanized the nation and forced passage of...
by People's Action | Mar 9, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Imposes Tariffs, Allies Embrace Free Trade Without U.S. As Trump imposes tariffs, allies sign on to free-trade pact — without U.S. WaPo: "As the Trump administration took another step away from free trade on Thursday, 11 nations bordering the Pacific Ocean made...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 9, 2018 | Blog
This weekend, the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center hosts its annual Strategy Summit in Baltimore, bringing leading members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) together with more than 350 progressive leaders and activists from across the country. Since...
by People's Action | Mar 8, 2018 | Breakfast
HUD To Remove Anti-Discriminatory Language Carson's HUD to remove commitment to discrimation-free communities. Newsweek: "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is changing the mission statement of his agency, removing promises of inclusive and...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 8, 2018 | Blog
Striking public school educators in West Virginia overcame all odds in getting lawmakers to agree to a five-percent pay raise and a realistic commitment from the state to address a broken public employee health insurance program. Equally remarkable is how the West...
by People's Action | Mar 7, 2018 | Breakfast
WV Teachers Win Victory For Public Employees West Virginia’s Striking Teachers Win Narrow Victory. NYM: "West Virginia’s teachers, bus drivers, and school cooks will soon be a bit less underpaid. By mounting a wildcat strike that shuttered the Mountain State’s school...
by Valarie Blake, Simon Haeder | Mar 7, 2018 | Blog
Republicans in Congress spent much of 2017 seeking to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. After repeated attempts failed, they celebrated a victory with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. While the tax bill left most of the ACA intact, it...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 6, 2018 | Blog
Every four years, we add an extra day to our calendars to make up for the fact that they don’t accurately reflect the movement of the planet. The Kerner Commission report was released on just such a day, fifty years ago. Unfortunately, too little has changed...
by People's Action | Mar 5, 2018 | Breakfast
Senate To Roll Back Banking Regulations 10 years after financial crisis, Senate prepares to roll back banking rules. WaPo: "The Senate is preparing to scale back the sweeping banking regulations passed after the 2008 financial crisis, with more than a dozen Democrats...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 5, 2018 | Blog
In preservation attempts, conservation groups pull at heartstrings and purse strings with photos of threatened animals – adorable baby elephants, majestic Amur leopards, sentient Sumatran orangutans. A less photogenic endangered species, the American aluminum and...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 5, 2018 | Blog
Will the Democratic Party open itself up to the new grassroots energy and activism that is rising in American politics, or will its insiders assume they can continue business as usual yet still reap the benefits of the resistance to Donald Trump? A key test will come...
by People's Action | Mar 2, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump To Impose Tariffs On Steel, Aluminum Trump to impose sweeping steel and aluminum tariffs. NYT: "President Trump said on Thursday that he would impose stiff tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, making good on a key campaign promise and rattling stock markets...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 2, 2018 | Blog
Ben Carson, the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, received some unwanted attention this week over a $31,000 dining room set that was ordered for his office, reportedly at his wife’s request. The average income for a rural household receiving rental...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 2, 2018 | Blog
In our deeply unequal age, we’ve become accustomed to talking about concepts like income and wealth, affluence and poverty. Researchers at the OECD, the developed world’s official economic research agency, would like to toss another concept into the inequality mix:...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 1, 2018 | Blog
Democratic Senators were positively "giddy," according to the New York Times, when President Donald Trump, during a live televised meeting, declared his strong support for gun control and urged Congress to pass a comprehensive bill that would expand background checks,...
by People's Action | Mar 1, 2018 | Breakfast
WV Teachers Demand Affordable Health Care WV public schools closed despite deal that was to end strike. CNN: "All West Virginia public schools will remain closed Thursday, which was the day teachers were to return to work after what is turning into a week-long strike...
