MORNING MESSAGE
50 Years On, MLK Calls For a Radical Revolution of Values
Fifty
years ago today, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most prophetic
and powerful speeches, ‘Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence’, at Riverside
Church in New York City. One year later – to the day – he was assassinated in
Memphis. King’s words are as urgent and powerful as ever. He declared his
opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam in his strongest terms to date, but
perhaps more importantly for us, King identifies a broader challenge for the
future.
Thursday Vote On Nuclear Option
At
least 41 Dems will filibuster Gorsuch. Politico: “To [confirm Gorsuch],
Republicans will have to invoke the so-called nuclear option … no Republican has
said they would oppose the controversial parliamentary move … The showdown over
the nuclear option is expected on Thursday.”
Some
senators seek last-minute compromise. LAT: “…conversations have been quietly
underway behind the scenes among a handful of lawmakers from both parties who
are trying to find a way to deescalate. Their ability to strike a compromise
remains doubtful…”
“Both
sides do it” is not the story, says NYT’s David Leonhardt: “Republicans have
taken a much more aggressive, politicized approach to the courts than Democrats
… The failure rate of Democratic nominees to federal trial courts since 1981 has
been almost twice as high as the Republican failure rate: 14 percent versus 7
percent … The gap between the parties would be even larger if Democrats hadn’t
eliminated the filibuster on lower-court nominees in 2013 … Republican nominees
have been less centrist than Democratic nominees…”
Republicans Trying Making ACA Repeal Worse
Republicans
try to resurrect ACA repeal. Bloomberg: “Vice President Mike Pence and White
House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus met with House conservatives late Monday to
lay out the details of the plan … House GOP leaders said earlier that no
health-care vote is planned, but several lawmakers, including a close ally of
Trump’s, said they think a vote could still occur this week … the White House
and Republicans are discussing a plan that would allow states to apply for
waivers on some of Obamacare’s requirements…”
“Republican
Health Proposal Would Undermine Coverage for Pre-existing Conditions” reports
NYT: “[States] could decide to opt out of provisions that require insurers
to cover a standard, minimum package of benefits … And they could decide to do
away with a rule that requires insurance companies to charge the same price to
everyone who is the same age … [The opt-outs] would make the insurance options
for those with pre-existing conditions … meaningless.”
Veto
of Medicaid expansion in Kansas sustained. NYT: “…the [state House] vote was
81 to 44, three short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override … While
two Republican lawmakers who had originally voted against expanding Medicaid
switched sides and voted to override, two others who had supported the expansion
bill when it passed the House in February voted to sustain the veto.”
Breakfast Sides
Sen.
Bernie Sanders introduces the “College for All” Act. The Nation: “[The bill]
aims to eliminate college tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and
universities for students from families that make up to $125,000 per year …
Sanders and several of the co-sponsors clearly see the bill as a valuable
organizing tool … There are five Senate co-sponsors for the bill … and fourteen
in the House … When Sanders introduced a similar bill in 2015, it had zero
co-sponsors.”
“Unions
help narrow the gender wage gap” finds EPI: “…gender wage gaps exist across
the wage distribution and among workers of every education level … working women
in unions are paid 94 cents, on average, for every dollar paid to unionized
working men, compared to 78 cents on the dollar for non-union women as a share
of non-union men’s dollar…”
National
Priorities Project crunches the “Militarized Budget”: “… the militarized
budget includes the traditional military budget, as well as spending on
veterans’ affairs, homeland security, incarceration, law enforcement,
immigration enforcement, and the still-ongoing war on drugs … At $618.8 billion
in 2016, military spending accounted for more than 53 percent of the federal
discretionary budget … the militarized budget totaled $741.3 billion – amounting
to 64 percent of discretionary spending…”
Rail
privatization failed in UK, says Owen Jones in NYT oped: “…Britain’s rail
commuters spend up to six times more on rail travel than their European
counterparts have to … While British workers are suffering the most protracted
wage squeeze since the Napoleonic wars, rail fares in recent years have gone up
at twice the rate of wage increases … On all scores, the privatization of
Britain’s railways is an embarrassment.”
California
Senate passes “sanctuary state” bill. Time: “The bill, formally known as
Senate Bill 54, would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from
using resources to investigate, detain, report or arrest persons for the
purposes of immigration enforcement. The Senate voted 27 to 12 along party lines
to pass the measure, which will next be considered by the state Assembly before
possibly going to the governor’s desk.”
Progressive
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