MORNING MESSAGE
Bernie
Sanders’ “political revolution” scored some impressive wins this weekend at the
Democratic Party Platform Committee meeting in Orlando, adding to its victories
last month in St. Louis. ABC News called the resulting document “exceptionally
progressive.” Apparently Sanders had more leverage after the California primary
than his critics were willing to admit.
PLATFORM DONE, ENDORSEMENT TOMORROW
Sanders
to endorse Clinton tomorrow. Politico: “Sanders will campaign with Clinton
at a high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at 11 a.m. Tuesday … the two
former primary rivals will ‘discuss their commitment to building an America that
is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at
the top.'”
Follows
several Sanders wins in Dem platform. W. Post: “The Democratic Party shifted
further to the left in one election than perhaps since 1972, embracing
once-unthinkable stances on carbon pricing, police reform, abortion rights, the
minimum wage and the war on drugs … What else did the Sanders forces win?
Support for the senator’s college-tuition plan (also backed by Clinton) and
tough new antitrust language.”
And
one notable loss. NBC: “…Bernie Sanders failed to get strong language
opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership … Instead, the committee approved an
amendment backed by a large swath of labor unions that called for tough
restrictions on trade deals, but did not explicitly oppose the trade pact …
Sanders will now have to decide whether he wants to use a parliamentary
mechanism to push the issue to a fight on the floor of the Democratic National
Convention…”
Sanders
backers argue TPP omission gives Trump an opening. The Nation: ” The failure
to explicitly reject the TPP, they argued, would be used by Trump and his allies
in their appeals to working-class voters in states that have been hit hard by
deindustrialization and the offshoring of jobs.”
CLINTON PREVIEWS POVERTY AGENDA
Clinton
talks poverty with Vox: “…when welfare reform was passed, there was an
expectation … that there would be a requirement that states would have to be
contributing to the broadest possible safety net, particularly in economic
downturns … after 2001, there were a lot of decisions made that basically did
not carry on what had been not just the spirit but the requirements in the law …
I think we have to do much more to target federal programs to the poorest, where
intergenerational poverty is once again a cycle.”
The
Atlantic explores why welfare reform hasn’t lifted many out of poverty:
“Sectoral employment programs … are good at filling this skills gap because they
pool together different employers, who can best identify which jobs are in
demand … Federal law mandates that at least half of all families receiving
[welfare benefits] engage in work or work-related activities … [But sectoral
employment programs] rarely count as such training…”
Women
more likely to face poverty in retirement. AP: “The National Institute on
Retirement Security, a nonprofit research center, reports that women are 80
percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older. Women age
75 to 79 are three times more likely.
GOP FACES DIVISIONS BEFORE CONVENTION
GOP
prepares platform one week before convention. USA Today: “…preparations
begin in earnest Monday with platform hearings that may spotlight party
differences over trade, immigration, and other issues likely to linger during
and after the era of Trump. Later this week, a meeting of the convention rules
committee gives Trump’s opponents a chance, however faint, to somehow derail his
candidacy.”
Both
Trump and Ryan would cut taxes for rich. NYT: “…the [House GOP] blueprint,
shepherded by Paul D. Ryan… embraces a transformational shift … away from taxing
income to a system that basically taxes consumption … Despite their conceptual
differences, however, there is a crucial feature that Mr. Trump’s plan and the
House Republicans’ plan share: The biggest tax cuts are reserved for the
wealthiest.”
Ryan
to speak at GOP convention. Politico quotes: “I want to talk about our
ideas, our solutions and how our party should unite…Our agenda, our solutions
and how we ought to unite around our common principles and how we apply those
principles to problems…”
OBAMA, BUSH TO SPEAK IN DALLAS
President
and former president to address memorial service. CNN: “President Barack
Obama and former President George W. Bush on Tuesday will speak at an interfaith
memorial service in Dallas for five police officers slain late last week … Obama
will also meet with families of the fallen officers … Obama said that police and
activists need to work together and ‘listen to each other’ in order to mobilize
real change in America.”
Protests
continue through weekend. W. Post: “Renewed protests over the latest fatal
shootings of black men by police took place in Dallas, Baton Rouge, La., and the
District, although they remained peaceful, unlike the unrest that erupted late
Saturday … protests in five cities nationwide [Saturday] resulted in more than
200 arrests…”
New
study finds racial bias in use of police force, except for shootings. NYT:
“[African-Americans] are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the
ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how,
where and when they encounter the police. But when it comes to the most lethal
form of force — police shootings — the study finds no racial bias … Officers
face great costs, legal and psychological, when they unnecessarily fire their
weapons. But excessive use of lesser force is rarely tracked or
punished.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's
Future. more
»
