Gov. Jay Inslee and the State of the State
Today, our Governor Jay Inslee was sworn in to begin his second term after his big win in this past November’s election. We’re so proud of Gov. Inslee, the work he’s done as governor, and the repeated support he’s won from Washington voters.
In the annual State of the State address he gave this morning, he outlined the great steps we’ve already taken to improve our education system and create jobs – expanding all-day kindergarten and lowering class sizes, investing in our roads and transit, lowering college tuition, and more – and he talked about the steps we need to take next.
He talked about the need to transform our mental health care system to better serve patients, to expand affordable housing and social services to help the homeless and the most vulnerable, and to create jobs and invest in infrastructure on both sides of the state.
Gov. Inslee made it clear that our top priority as a state must be our education system and providing students, teachers, and schools with the full funding that they need and deserve. From early learning, to our K-12 schools, to our colleges, universities, and career and technical education, Gov. Insleeoutlined a clear plan to improve our entire education system so children and young adults have every opportunity to succeed. Making a multi-billion dollar investment in schools might not be easy, but it must be done, and it’s clear that Gov. Inslee and our Democratic legislators are up to the task.
You can watch Gov. Inslee’s State of the State speech here, and you can call the governor’s office at 360-902-4111 to say thank you for his leadership of our state!
Rally for Health Care!
The passage of the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) as expanded health insurance to more than 750,000 Washingtonians and provided critical protections like preventing discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Despite its nationwide successes, President-elect Trump and the Republicans have made it clear that repealing the ACA, privatizing Medicare, raising prescription drug prices, and defunding Planned Parenthood are their top priorities this year.
It’s time for us to stand up and fight back!
This coming Sunday, January 15th, please join us at a rally in Westlake Park in Seattle to say NO to taking health care away from hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians and millions more Americans. The rally will be from noon to 1 PM at Westlake Park at 401 Pine St, Seattle. There is a Facebook event through which you can RSVP here or just show up and be there! We’re also planning on organizing additional events later across the state and outside of the Seattle area.
We’re looking forward to a great turnout of Democrats standing up to protect health care. Hope to see you there!
More Hearings on Trump Nominees
Today the Senate continued its hearings on Trump’s cabinet nominees – this morning it was the turn of Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil who was nominated by Trump to be Secretary of State.
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s nomination to be Secretary of State is a big “thank you” to Vladimir Putin for helping Trump win the election. At ExxonMobil, Tillerson pushed pro-Kremlin policies that benefited Putin’s bottom line, spending years lobbying Congress against Russian sanctions that threatened a multi-billion dollar joint drilling deal between Putin and ExxonMobil.
Tillerson’s connections to Russia are particularly concerning given the close relationship between Trump and Putin, and the hacking that the Russians undertook to influence our election. And it goes without saying that we don’t need the CEO of a huge oil company making decisions about our country’s foreign policy. We need to be working to combat climate change, not enriching these massive corporations at the expense of our environment.
Sen. Bob Corker from Tennessee is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – you can call his office at 202-224-3344 and let him know that Tillerson is the wrong choice to be America’s Secretary of State.
Thanks for reading – you can reach us at communications@wa-democrats.org with your thoughts and feedback. Let’s keep a spotlight on the legislature this year and we’ll stay in touch with you about how we can work together to fight back, beat the Republicans, and deliver wins for the people of Washington!
The WA Democrats Communications Team
