Launch Party for Candidates

Jennifer Ruth Keller is the point of contact for this. Check her FB page for updates.

White House Memo -- Is it a Joke?!

In order to restore the public confidence in the FBI, President Donald J. Trump accepted the recommendation of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and removed FBI Director James Comey from his position yesterday. It was a necessary move to reinstitute faith in America’s crown jewel of law enforcement after a series of high profile and political missteps. The search for new leadership that restores public trust and confidence in the FBI's vital law enforcement mission will begin immediately.

 

10:30AM: President Trump meets with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia

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No, this is an actual White House memo emailed to me b/c I subscribe. Why? b/c you can't believe everything the "fake news" tells you, so you have to hear it from the horse's mouth (or another part of his anatomy).

End Debtors' Prisons

House Bill 1783 is about giving people a fair chance to get back on their feet once they get out of prison. Our current system prevents offenders from being able to get their lives back on the right track. The bill prioritizes restitution and establishes a more rational standard for determining ability to pay. Imposing intereston legal financial obligations (LFOs) was first thought to be an incentive for offenders topay, but instead it has been shown to be an impediment. The current 12 percent interest rate is onerous and makes the LFO debt skyrocket. This results in what amounts to a debtors' prison. H.B. 1783 would change this. The bill is currently in the State Senate as E2SHB 1783.

We want offenders to rebuild their lives once they are released from prison. There are many barriers to reentry, but LFOs are one of the hardest to overcome. Ask your state senator to support E2SHB 1783.

Happening Now!

To all Democrats in our local area: Come join the Benton, Franklin, Tri City, and Young Democrats in a show of solidarity to show our town we are here!! We've got a lighted float for the Cinco De Mayo Parade this Friday. Meet us at 1st and Columbia in Pasco across from Mission Gospel no later than 6:30. Grab a bag of candy and come walk with your people. Kids and those who don't want to walk are welcome to sit on the float. You can text or call Allison at 859-803-5905 or you can email her at alliedab25@gmail.com This is the facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/273737136388106/ We look forward to seeing you at the event! Thank you for your continued support, Skye  Chair 8th LD 8thldchair@bencodems.org 509.554.7208

Why Are Republicans Pushing a Vote on AHCA Without a CBO Analysis?

Read my lips!

via GIPHY

Republicans Determined to Pass AHCA, But Hurdles Grow

Michigan Representative Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), a respected moderate Republican lawmaker came out against the latest iteration of the GOP American Health Care Act (AHCA), throwing another hurdle in the way of Paul Ryan's all out push to get the measure passed. Upton said the AHCA in its latest iteration would undermine insurance protections the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the current law, gives people with pre-existing illnesses, a view disputed by supporters of the legislation.

The Detroit Free Press writes,

"Under Obama’s 2010 law, insurers may not charge seriously ill customers higher premiums than healthy ones. The latest revised GOP bill bars insurers from limiting access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But states can obtain federal waivers letting insurers raise premiums on people with pre-existing illnesses, though only if the customer has let their coverage lapse during the previous year. The state must also have a high-risk pool or another mechanism to help such people afford a policy. Supporters of the GOP legislation say it protects people with pre-existing conditions and that the exclusion would affect only a small proportion of them. Opponents say it diminishes their protections by letting insurers charge unaffordable prices. They also say high-risk pools have a mixed record of effectiveness, often because the government money provided to finance them proves inadequate."

Speaker Ryan and other GOP House leaders are working with reluctant members to try pushing the AHCA measure through before the end of this week.

For 4th CD voters, Rep Dan Newhouse may be contacted via form email, or telephone ((202) 225-5816).

Please don't harangue Rep. Newhouse about his wife's illness. Just say your piece about why you oppose GOP efforts to repeal the ACA and replace it with an inferior measure.

Only Two Weeks Left

"Every echo system performs 'services' that maintain the conditions necessary for all life. Forests store and pump out vast quantities of water, thereby modulating weather and climate; they remove carbon dioxide from the air and generate oxygen by photosynthesis; they inhibit erosion; and they provide essential habitat to countless other species. Such 'echosystem services' are priceless: they keep the plenty healthy." (David Suzuki, The Legacy, 2010)

An article in "The Hill," points out that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking for all those dreaded "onerous and burdensome" regulations, especially Obama-era regulations, to repeal.

A regulatory reform task force, established by President Trump’s Feb. 24 Executive Order 13777, is seeking public input on which rules to roll back, the agency said Wednesday in the Federal Register.

The task force is also working with program heads inside the agency to identify rules that they believe impede job growth and impose more costs than benefits, according to The Hill. Republicans are, of course, speaking to the costs levied on their big business campaign donors, and the negligible benefits of preserving a livable planet.

The task force will take this information into consideration before it recommends to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt which rules to repeal. Pruitt, who denies CO2 has promoted global warming, blamed the Obama administration for “abusing the regulatory process to advance an ideological agenda.” Presumably, Obama's ideology was to prevent wholesale destruction of the biota.

“We are supporting the restoration of America’s economy through extensive reviews of the misaligned regulatory actions from the past administration,” Pruitt said in a statement.

“Moving forward, EPA will be listening to those directly impacted by regulations, and learning ways we can work together with our state and local partners, to ensure that we can provide clean air, land, and water to Americans,” he added.

Frankly, I don't believe that Denier Pruitt gives a hoot what you, the general public think about the regulatory rollback. And whatever regulations are left in place will be hard to enforce with a looming 31% cut to EPA funding. Nevertheless, if one doesn't comment, Scott Pruitt will sleep soundly thinking the public doesn't really care about what kind of shithole we leave to future generations.

So go to the EPA comment page here, read the memo containing the criteria for identifying "repealable" regulations, then click the "Comment Now" button in the upper right corner, and make your input. You have until May 15, 2017, to do so -- because Administrator Pruitt thought one month (he posted his memo April 13th) was plenty of time to allow the public to comment on his dismantling of environmental protections.

Two weeks from now.

Do it now!