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MORNING MESSAGE
Amanda Ballantyne
Small Businesses Tell Us What Works, If We Listen
Imagine a vibrant community with jobs that pay a living wage, hospitals that can meet every community member’s health needs, and 21st-century infrastructure like good public transportation and safe drinking water. That’s what small businesses – and most people – say they need. Small-business owners are often held up as examples of the virtues we prize as a nation: they’re risk-takers, inventive, and most of all, invested in their communities. But lawmakers are too busy catering to Wall Street to listen to this kind of common sense from Main Street.
Trump Wants To Cut Child Health
Trump tries to woo conservatives with bid to cut spending. Politico: “The administration had last week planned to send Congress a package of $11 billion in spending reductions. But since then, some conservatives have quietly pushed for an even bolder proposal, particularly after the GOP’s spending binge in recent months, said Republicans familiar with the discussions. One of the White House’s biggest targets in the cuts package is $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health care to 9 million low-income children… It’s hard to see a lot of Republicans up for reelection wanting to cut health care for poor kids no matter where it comes from. The package is expected to pass the House. Its future is more uncertain in the Senate.”
Races To Watch In Today’s Primaries
Every May 8 primary election you should know about. Vox: “The 2018 midterms begin in earnest on Tuesday, with four primary elections in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and North Carolina. The candidates for crucial Senate, House, and governors’ races will be decided. It’s a heckuva lot to keep track of. Here is the absolute bare minimum you need to know about every important election on May 8.”
Dem Candidates Back Jobs For All
Likely 2020 Democratic candidates want to guarantee a job to every American. NPR: “The 2018 midterm primary season is really heating up this week, which means it’s time to think about elections… like the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. No major candidates have declared that they’re preparing a run against Donald Trump in two years, but whispers are already building around potential candidates. A few of them have coalesced around a seriously ambitious policy idea — guaranteeing a job for every American who wants one. If enacted, such a program could be big or small; it could create massive reverberations in the private sector; and it could reshape monetary policy. One thing that’s more certain is that Americans will be hearing about the idea of job guarantees for the next few years.”
U.S. To Separate Immigrant Families At Border
Sessions threatens jail and separating children from parents at border. NYT: ” The Trump administration announced Monday that it is dramatically stepping up prosecutions of those who illegally cross the Southwest border, ramping up a “zero tolerance” policy intended to deter new migrants with the threat of jail sentences and separating immigrant children from their parents. ‘If you cross the Southwest border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,’ Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in announcing a policy that will impose potential criminal penalties on border crossers who previously faced mainly civil deportation proceedings — and in the process, force the separation of families crossing the border for months or longer. The new policy could flood the immigration courts, already suffering severe backlogs, and create new detention space shortages for federal agencies that even now have been forced to release many undocumented immigrants until their cases can be heard.”
Trump To Eject Hondurans
Trump’s denial of TPS to Hondurans will break up thousands of families. The Nation: “The Trump administration announced that it was ending Temporary Protected Status for tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the United States. Immigrant-rights groups estimate this will affect at least 57,000 individuals. Behind those numbers are real people, with real emotions, and real families about to be torn asunder. Women like Sonia Paz, a longtime Los Angeles resident, with three children and seven grandkids. Men like Victor Diaz, who fled starvation wages on a coffee plantation in the early 1990s and now lives and works in Richmond, California; and Mario Guzman, who departed Honduras after being tortured in an army-run jail and has worked as a trash collector in Northern California for nearly a quarter-century.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People’s Action.
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