Progressive Breakfast: Cuomo Wants to Privatize Penn Station; That's a Bad Republican Idea

MORNING MESSAGE

Richard Eskow

Cuomo Wants to Privatize Penn Station; That’s a Bad Republican IdeaNew Yorkers face a “summer of hell” as Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie seek to hand over the city’s historic Penn Station to private investors. This “hell” is the result of our leaders’ “bipartisan” reluctance to invest in needed government infrastructure.

Tell the Senate We Know What They’re Doing: Trading Our Health Care Away in the Dead of Night

Senate Republicans are scheming behind closed doors to raise our premiums, cut and cap Medicaid, and hurt people with preexisting conditions. Let’s stop this silent and deadly plan!

Join millions and call today – 866-426-2631 – and tell your senator to stop repealing our health care

Health Care Double-Take

Trump tells senators House health bill is “mean.” AP:“President Donald Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that the House-passed health care bill he helped revive is “mean” and urged them to craft a version that is “more generous,” congressional sources said. Trump’s remarks were a surprising slap at a Republican-written House measure that was shepherded by Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and whose passage the president lobbied for and praised.”

Why Republicans want to hide their dirty little health-care bill. The Week:“When Republican senators heard about Montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body-slamming a reporter who was so rude as to ask him a question about health care, they apparently said to themselves, “We need to make sure that never happens to us.” So the answer they came up with was to minimize the terrifying prospect that they’d have to answer questions from the press when they didn’t want to.”

Sessions Speaks

Sessions refuses to say whether he spoke to Trump about Comey’s handling of Russia. WaPo:“Attorney General Jeff Sessions repeatedly refused to answer questions from senators Tuesday about his private conversations with President Trump… In a number of testy exchanges with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions said he would not answer many of their questions because of a long-standing Justice Department policy that he said protects private conversations between Cabinet secretaries and the president.”

Dems Sue on Emoluments

Dems in congress to Sue Trump Over Foreign Business Dealings. NYT:“Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress are expected to file a federal lawsuit on Wednesday accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by profiting from business dealings with foreign governments. The plaintiffs — believed to be the most members of Congress to ever sue a sitting president — contend that Mr. Trump has ignored a constitutional clause that prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, or emoluments, from foreign powers without congressional approval.”

SCOTUS Weighs In on Gerrymanders

Supreme Court could tackle partisan gerrymandering in watershed case. WaPo: “The Supreme Court is being asked to uphold a lower court’s finding that the Wisconsin redistricting effort was more than just extraordinary — it was unconstitutional. Such a conclusion would mark a watershed moment for the way American elections are conducted.”

Protest Not Allowed

Lawmakers across the US are finding ways to turn protesting into a crime. VOX: “A spate of incidents, including the prosecution of a protester at the confirmation hearings of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and get-tough proposals and laws at state and local levels, are testing the nation’s commitment to the First Amendment.”

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.more »