MORNING MESSAGE
Families Have a Lot to Lose – and Protect – Long Before Inauguration Day
The
battle to take away our health care, retirement benefits, and even food aid has
already begun, with the Republican right-wing in Congress conspiring to hand the
federal budget over to big corporations and slip in devastating deregulatory
measures before they adjourn this year, while few are paying attention. The
Republican Congress has to pass legislation by December 9 to fund the government
or cause a shutdown, and it wants to exploit the moment to get a head start on
unraveling the programs that are a lifeline for ordinary people.
TRUMP TRANSITION OPERATES IN THE DARK
“Trump’s
Transition Team Is Dirty, and It’s Dark” reports The Nation’s George
Zornick: “Seventy percent of Trump’s landing team members have some
corporate affiliation … Several lobbyists are simply de-registering as lobbyists
in order to join the transition team … In 2008, Barack Obama created a website
that disclosed every meeting his transition team had with three or more
non–transition team members … [Trump] is deliberately keeping the public in the
dark about his transition activities, which are made all the more glaring
because the Trump children are both serving in key transition roles while also
preparing to run the Trump Corporation come January.”
Fast-food
CEO considered for Labor Secretary. NYT: “Andrew F. Puzder, a wealthy
California donor to Mr. Trump’s campaign whose company, CKE Restaurants,
oversees chains such as Hardee’s, is said to be a leading candidate for labor
secretary. Mr. Puzder has been extremely critical of the Obama administration’s
labor policies, including its push for a higher minimum wage and for new
overtime rules for workers.”
Gore
meets with Trump on climate. NYT: “…as the president-elect was sitting down
with the former vice president, his transition team continued to court ardent
opponents of climate control policies to fill key posts in the government …
[Gore called] it ‘a sincere search for areas of common ground.’ … Environmental
activists looking for straws to grasp pointed to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka,
who met separately with Mr. Gore on Monday and who is reportedly seeking to use
her platform as first daughter to speak out on climate change.”
SOME GOP RESISTANCE TO TRUMP ... AND RYAN
House
GOPers knock Trump’s proposed offshoring tariff. NYT: “‘I don’t want to get
into some kind of trade war,’ Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of
California and majority leader, told reporters … Speaker Paul D. Ryan also
pushed back … saying an overhaul of the corporate tax code would more
effectively keep companies in the United States than tax penalties …”
As
do Senate GOPers. Time: “‘Some of these things do have to face a harsh
reality but you have to be very careful if you’re going to add costly tariffs,’
said Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch … ‘We’re all going back to the ‘30s when they
started playing around with this and that and caused a lot of trouble.’
Republican Sen. John McCain, when asked whether he would support a 35% tariff,
scoffed and and answered emphatically. ‘No!’ he said.”
Anti-immigrant
forces press Trump on Homeland Security pick. The Hill: “Texas Rep. Michael
McCaul is at the center of the pressure. Hard-line organizations like
NumbersUSA, FAIR and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) are already
signaling they would see it as a betrayal for Trump to pick the Texas lawmaker
as his Homeland Security secretary. They warn that McCaul is too close to House
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the Republican leadership to be entrusted with
Trump’s immigration agenda.”
House
Freedom Caucus throws wrench in GOP Obamacare repeal strategy. Politico:
“Politico reported last week that GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are
coalescing around a two- or three-year repeal strategy, which would allow them
ample time to come up with a replacement … Freedom Caucus members fumed at that
idea. Most said they wouldn’t settle for anything longer than a two-year
replacement process … [Rep. Mark] Meadows even suggested that Republicans could
replace the law early next year, ahead of the fall enrollment period for 2018.
Many leadership sources don’t believe that timetable is feasible.”
Ryan
faces resistance to privatizing Medicare, reports The Hill: “In addition to
Trump’s views, one of the complications for Ryan is that Senate Republicans are
less enthusiastic about his Medicare plan. Senate Democrats are already
signaling they plan to put fighting changes to Medicare front and center in the
2018 battle for control of the chamber. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman
of the Senate Health Committee, said last week that a Medicare overhaul is
‘biting off more than you can chew.’ Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) [said] she has
‘reservations’ about a ‘complete upending’ of the program.”
TRUMP BACKS PIPELINE
Trump
reaffirms support for Dakota Access Pipeline. WSJ quotes spox: “With regard
to the Dakota Access Pipeline, that’s something that we support construction of
and we’ll review the full situation when we’re in the White House and make the
appropriate determination at that time.”
ABC
explains Trump’s options: “Trump could let the Army Corps of Engineers
perform the Environmental Impact Statement that it said this weekend it wants to
complete, and see what alternatives are presented there, though that could take
several months … Trump could work with Congress to ‘carve out a protection’ for
this specific pipeline … Trump could ask the Army Corps to re-examine its
decision … But that would likely lead to lawsuits…”
Opponents
have legal avenues. The Hill: “Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice lawyer who
represents Standing Rock in its lawsuit against the project, said any Trump move
is ‘subject to judicial review’ and that the tribe is planning to sue.”
“How
We Won the ‘No’ in #NoDAPL – And What We Must Take On Next” from OurFuture.org’s
Judith LeBlanc: “Never has there been such close collaboration between more
than 300 tribes alongside Native nonprofits and social movement activists.
Standing Rock has changed everything … Our hope is to create a project to
protect the Missouri River from top to bottom by empowering tribal governments
with scientific backup.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Dems
fight for coal miner pensions. The Hill: “Democrat Sens. Joe Manchin
(W.Va.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Bob Casey(Pa.) and Mark Warner (Va.) said Monday
they will block the Senate from passing any bills by unanimous consent until the
upper chamber has ‘adequately addressed’ legislation to protect retired coal
miners’ pension and healthcare benefits … Thousands of retired miners and their
families are expected to lose their healthcare benefits at the end of the year
unless Congress acts.”
Amazon
retail store plan would eliminate cashier jobs. Yahoo! News: “Amazon says
the company brought together the most advanced machine learning and artificial
intelligence to eliminate cash registers in a new 1,800-square-foot store in
Seattle … The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are 3,478,420
cashiers in the U.S. earning a mean hourly wage of $10.09 per hour.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
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