Last week we had a great meeting of the state party central committee in Walla Walla. It was fun connecting with so many Democrats and seeing the energy and enthusiasm for our party, especially in Eastern Washington. We’re fired up to compete across the state in our 2017 and 2018 elections!
1. 100 days of Trump
Today is Trump’s 100th day in office – while he’s pursued an extreme conservative agenda, we’re fighting to oppose him on every front we can. Here are some of the key issues Trump and Washington state Democrats have contrasted on over the past 100 days:
Donald Trump
What he’s done:
Passed legislation to let states to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood.
Rolled back protections for student loan borrowers and nominated a Secretary of Education with no experience in public education whatsoever.
Delayed benefits payments to and hiring of veterans.
Trips to Mar-a-lago costing taxpayers an estimated $10 million.
Mass deportations that have left U.S. children without their parents.
Delayed the implementation of a rule requiring financial advisors to work in the best interest of the retirees they’re advising.
Repealed rules that protected workers from labor-law violators.
Dismantled protections to ensure clean water.
Allowing your browsing information to be sold without your consent.
Blocking cut to mortgage insurance premiums that would have made it easier to buy a home.
Washington State Democrats
What we’ve done:
Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Trump to stop the Muslim travel ban in court – and won!
Grassroots activists made thousands of phone calls to save ACA and prevent vote on TrumpCare proposal to repeal health care.
House Democrats passed legislation to protect internet privacy.
Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell helped defeat the nomination of anti-worker Andrew Pudzer for Secretary of Labor.
The people of Washington held some of the largest marches and rallies in history of United States to protest Trump’s inauguration.
Congressional Democrats blocked funding for Trump’s wall on Mexican border.
Democrats exposed foreign financial tiesand possible criminal wrongdoing of former Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.
Legislators expanded access to birth control by passing bill allowing 12 month prescriptions for contraception.
Congresswomen Suzan Delbene and Pramila Jayapal and thousands more Washingtonians rallied at Sea-Tac airportto provide legal aid and support to refugees and Muslim travelers when illegal ban suddenly implemented.
Democratic legislators introducedprogressive and comprehensive school funding plan for Washington students.
2. TrumpCare & Pre-Existing Conditions
Republicans updated their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and are breaking one of their big campaign promises while doing so. The updated bill repeals protections for people with pre-existing conditions, taking us back to the bad old days when you had to list your entire medical history when signing up for insurance and your insurer could deny you coverage for conditions like cancer, diabetes, disabilities, maternity care and more.
What’s more, the Republicans inserted a special loophole for themselves in the bill – the pre-existing conditions protections wouldn’t be repealed for the plans purchased by members of Congress themselves! Republicans would end these protections for everyone but themselves.
This is a profoundly broken and unfair bill. We can’t let it move forward!
3. Being President Is Harder Than He Thought
Trump has been doing a round of media interviews to try to spin the failures of his first 100 days. They haven’t been going well…
He misses driving, feels as if he is in a cocoon, and is surprised how hard his new job is.
President Donald Trump on Thursday reflected on his first 100 days in office with a wistful look at his life before the White House.
“I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,” Trump told Reuters in an interview. “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that being President is kind of a hard job. But that must be why Trump is spending millions of taxpayer dollars on trips to the golf course nearly every weekend.
4: Raise The Wage! Thank You Cantwell & Murray For Your Leadership Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Bernie Sanders had a strong op-ed in the Seattle Times this week calling for a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour nationally. Read it here:
IN the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a basic principle of American economic life should be that if you work 40 hours or more a week, you do not live in poverty. Sadly, that is not the case today.
While large corporations make record-breaking profits and top CEOs earn about 335 times more an hour than the average worker, millions of Americans are trying to survive on totally inadequate wages. The situation has become so absurd that there is not a single state in our country where a full-time minimum wage worker can easily afford a one-bedroom apartment.
The current $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage. That is why we will be introducing legislation to raise it to $15 an hour by 2024 and automatically adjust it thereafter to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Thank you for your leadership! Both Sen. Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell have signed on in support of the bill. Washington is lucky to have two fighters for a better, fairer economy in the Senate!
What you can do:
1. Call Reichert on TrumpCare
Congressman Dave Reichert of the 8th Congressional District has refused to take a stance on the latest draft of the TrumpCare bill. He’s too scared to share his position on the bill with his constituents or hold a town hall meeting to hear feedback. So we have to contact him ourselves.
Call Reichert’s office at 425-677-7414 or 202-225-7761 and let him know he needs to vote NO on TrumpCare. The bill would take health care away from 24 million people, including 82,060 people in the 8th Congressional District. It would eliminate federal protections that ensure people with pre-existing conditions can get coverage and it would allow insurers to discriminate against and hike premiums for women and the elderly.
The Republicans aren’t giving up on repealing the Affordable Care Act and we can’t give up either! Lives are at stake – we need your help.
2. Tina at Civic Cocktail event
This coming Wednesday on May 3rd, our party chair Tina Podlodowski will be speaking at the Seattle City Club’s Civic Cocktail event on “Social Justice and Effective Activism”. It’ll be a great event about how we can get involved to make real progressive change in our communities.
Tina will be speaking with former Republican Party chair Chris Vance, so we want to pack the place with Democrats! If you’re in the area, it would be great to see you there!
The event will be:
Wed., May 3 | Doors open at 5:30 p.m., Program at 6 p.m.
Palace Ballroom | 2100 5th Ave, Seattle WA
Tickets $20-25 | Register
If you aren’t in the area, there will also be a link to watch online afterwards.
3. Help Fund Our Grassroots Organizing – Join The Resistance!
We’ve rolled out our new program to fund grassroots field organizing across the state – The Resistance! We’ve heard from the activists of the party that field organizing working with local party organizations is the most effective thing we can do to help, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. This is an exciting new program that will help us build the progressive movement, win elections, and retake our state and our country!
Click here to find out more and help fund our grassroots efforts at $3, $7 or $14 dollars a month – even $27 – makes a huge difference! Thanks for considering and again, here is the link.
Thank you for your support!
