This Week's News - from the Washington State Democratic Party
The Muslim Ban Is Back
Trump’s back with a new, revised version of the Muslim travel ban, and we’ve got good news and bad.
The good news – Trump has admitted defeat. This is an admission that his initial Muslim ban was illegal and unconstitutional, a huge win for human rights spurred by the work of Gov. Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and the millions of Americans who spoke out and marched in the streets.
The bad news – we’ll still need to be working to defeat Trump’s proposal and defend people who want to come here to America to improve their lives and invest in our country. Immigrants, DREAMers, and innocent Muslims are still being rounded up or blocked from entering our country for no reason other than Donald Trump’s xenophobia. Just slapping a fresh coat of paint on an unconstitutional and hateful proposal isn’t an acceptable path for Trump’s administration to take.
This is especially important right now, when tragedies are happening in our country like the hate crime that was just committed in Kent. A Sikh man was working on his car in his driveway when a masked man walked up, told him to “go back to your country” and shot him.
Our community is in shock, and we can’t condemn this strongly enough. All Americans should be united against this sort of hate and violence. This shows the danger in the hate and division that Trump and his executive order are fomenting.
As of this minute, Washington’s legal team is still evaluating the new ban and the best legal path forward. But be assured, no matter the immediate next steps – our party will not shirk its commitment to human rights and justice for all people.
GOP In Disarray On ACA
Republicans have made it one of their top goals in the new Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But Republicans are quickly learning, as Trump put it himself, that “nobody knew health care could be so complicated.”
The Republican plans, which would take health care coverage away from as many as 32 million Americans, is so unpopular that even some Republicans are balking. The Washington Post reports:
Four key Republican senators say they oppose new plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act set to be released as early as Monday evening by House Republicans, because they believe it would leave millions of Americans uninsured.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (R. W.Va.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said they would vote against any reform bill that fails to protect Americans who became eligible for coverage under the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, the government-run health program for the poor and disabled.
With 52 Republicans in the Senate, the GOP would be unable to pass an Affordable Care Act repeal without these votes. With extreme Tea Partiers demanding a full Obamacare repeal that would kick millions off their insurance and some Republican Senators skeptical, Trump and his fellow conservatives are in a bind.
Expect to see Trump, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell working overtime to find a scheme that they can get support for. What we know for sure is, any Affordable Care Act replacement that passes the Republican House of Representatives will come with massive tax cuts for the rich, slashing insurance coverage for working families, and rolling back benefits that women, seniors, and the sick rely on to keep them alive and our of medical bankruptcy.
Upcoming Town Halls
We’ve been encouraging people to call their legislators, but there’s nothing you can do more effective than speaking with them face to face at a town hall meeting.
We’re assembling a list of town hall meetings across the state being scheduled by state legislators, many of them on this coming Saturday March 11th. Click here to see the list! We’ll update it with more information as we get it.
At town hall meetings, voters can emphasize the importance of funding education, preventing school funding cuts by passing the “levy cliff” bill, protecting the rights of immigrants and minorities in the face of attacks by Trump’s administration, protecting health care, and other important issues.
Let’s stand up and be heard!