Progressive Breakfast: In the Spirit of the GI Bill, Cancel All Student Debt

MORNING MESSAGE

Mary Green Swig | Steven L. Swig | Richard Eskow: In the Spirit of the GI Bill, Cancel All Student Debt
...what about the 43 million people who are already burdened with student debt? We believe that it is time to declare a “jubilee” and forgive all student debt in the United States. We can do it. The federal government already holds most of the nation’s student debt, and we feel that such an action would be consistent with the spirit of the G.I. Bill.

GORE RETURNS TO FLORIDA

Al Gore stumps for Hillary Clinton in Florida. Time quotes: ““Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority … Her opponent, based on the ideas he has presented, would take us toward a climate catastrophe … Please take it from me, every single vote counts.”
Voting rights win for Native Americans in NV. The Hill: “…Judge Miranda Du of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada ruled that officials in Mineral and Washoe counties would have to set up additional in-person early-voting sites and in-person Election Day polling stations on the tribes’ reservations. The rural, impoverished tribes would have otherwise had to travel anywhere from 32 miles to 70 miles, round trip, in order to vote…”

TRUMP v. GOP

Trump rips Speaker Paul Ryan on Fox News. Time: “He indicated that Paul Ryan was bad on ‘open borders and amnesty’ and the budget, saying, ‘Frankly the only one that Obama negotiates well with is Paul Ryan.’ When O’Reilly asked how he would get along with Ryan and other Republican critics if he is elected president, he said it would be fine, and that maybe Ryan would be ‘in a different position’ than House Speaker.”
GOP strife could affect down-ballot. NYT: “Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has concluded that at least two traditionally Republican states, Georgia and Arizona, are realistic targets for her campaign to win over … Clinton used a visit on Tuesday to Miami to attack both Mr. Trump and Senator Marco Rubio … in a sign that Republicans now view the presidential race as a lost cause, several Senate candidates are preparing ads asking voters to elect them as a check on Mrs. Clinton … the party’s candidates must choose between two unpalatable options: alienating much of their party’s base, or standing behind a nominee who is unacceptable to most mainstream voters.”

PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION SPARKS FURTHER PROTEST

Construction resumes for Dakota Access Pipeline. AP: “…protesters said they’re discussing nonviolent opposition measures, including chaining themselves to equipment. And at least eight people were arrested Tuesday … Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners resumed digging trenches and laying pipe … two days after a federal appeals court ruling Sunday that allowed construction to resume within 20 miles of Lake Oahe … Energy Transfer Partners still needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on a separate parcel of federal land bordering and under Lake Oahe…”
Activists disrupt five oil pipelines. The Hill: “Protesters with the group Climate Direct Action said at least nine activists were arrested for disrupting the operations of five oil pipelines Tuesday, often tampering with the equipment … The activists targeted Enbridge Partners’ lines 4 and 67, TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone, Spectra Energy’s Express Pipeline and Kinder Morgan Inc.’s TransMountain.”

COURT DINGS CFPB

Federal appeals court rules CFPB structure unconstitutional. Morning Consult: “‘Never before has an independent agency exercising substantial executive authority been headed by just one person,’ [Judge Brett] Kavanaugh, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote … the decision gives the president the authority to remove the CFPB’s director for any reason … Industry groups welcomed the decision … Sen. Elizabeth Warren … said the decision ‘will likely be appealed and overturned. But even if it stands, the ruling makes a small, technical tweak to Dodd-Frank and does not question the legality of any other past, present or future actions of the CFPB.'”
TNR’s David Dayen dissects the ruling: “…if the ruling holds up, it will shift CFPB from an independent agency—structured so that it would be insulated from politics—to a kind of cabinet agency that changes with each presidential administration. That’s hardly ideal … [But] Republicans and their allies wanted to use these cases to eliminate the CFPB, not make it legal. It was very possible that the D.C. Circuit judges would follow this directive and just blow up the consumer bureau. They didn’t.”

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