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As thousands celebrated the 4th and fireworks over Lake Union, nobody dumped tea — or coffee — in Elliott Bay but dozens of political leaders signed on this Independence Day weekend to a declaration opposing the Trump administration’s tax and spending cut bill.
“Washington leaders are now calling for measures to meet this moment. State lawmakers must urgently act to prepare for the harm done by the authoritarianism of the federal government. Local government leaders must enact progressive revenue, like the Seattle Shield Initiative, which can reduce harm to essential programs in major metropolitan areas from budget cuts,” the letter reads.
“The undersigned elected officials represent all levels of government including state, local, and special district governments. We commit to working together in the immediate term to develop meaningful solutions to protect residents. The time is urgently prudent for local leaders across Washington state to live up to the progressive values which have long made us a target of the Trump regime and their corporate cronies.”
The letter, sent out from the office of Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, follows the passage of the Trump-championed bill described by the Associated Press as a “sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.”
Washington officials including Governor Bob Ferguson say the bill could force a special session of the legislature to respond to billions in cuts including health care and food aid.
“Fergusonβs office estimated the state will lose $3 billion a year in federal Medicaid dollars, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected nearly 330,000 Washington residents will lose Medicaid coverage or health insurance obtained through the Affordable Care Act,” the Seattle Times reports.
In Seattle, Rinck and Mayor Bruce Harrell have championed measures to offset the federal cutbacks to social programs including a proposal that could go to Seattle voters this fall that would eliminate the B&O tax for most of the city’s small businesses while increasing the tax rate on its largest. Rinck, head of a special council committee dedicated to helping the city withstand Trump administration changes, is calling the effort the Seattle Shield Initiative.
Trump signed the tax and spending legislation during the White House 4th of July picnic.
The full letter is below.
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Remind me again how many billions Washington remits to the other Washington to support Alabama and Mississippi and the rest of the former confederacy? Consider that Washington, Oregon and California did not exist when those states were founded and yet California, as a country, would be the 5th largest economy in the world, and the other two west coast states are economic powerhouses compared to those much older states. We should face up to the fact that some people are always looking for a handout, rather than a hand up, would rather stay dependent than become independent. This is the same language legislators from those states use about big cities across the US, but especially the west coast. It’s past time we turned it back on them.
At my angriest moments, I have shared these sentiments. I do wonder what “turning it back on them” would be, exactly?
“We should face up to the fact that some people are always looking for a handout, rather than a hand up, would rather stay dependent than become independent.”
And that’s it.
If you look at it through history. It’s ALL about what I can get for free.
If it can’t come from the land? They have no idea how to make money. They got free land and still have done nothing other than til it into powder for a federal tax bailout. For federal tax subsidies. They are constantly on Uncle Sam’s teet. They’ve done nothing.
Even the Civil War taught them nothing. They are still racists. They still can’t manufacture a thing. There’s ZERO innovations. ZERO outside investments.
But there’s a lot of polluting and destroying the Earth going on. The Earth is their credit card. If they don’t let people exploit the land? They’ll have nothing. That’s the thought. We need businesses to save us from going hungry. The true independant!
It’s truly pathetic how ignorant they are. Their identity is cruelty.
I have been saying for years and years and years that economically-dynamic blue states simply must have their congressional delegations laser focused on eliminating subsidization of parasitic red states.
It’s beyond ridiculous that we in blue states subsidize these corrupt banana republics, and the worst part are liberals in states like ours who speak in lofty terms about how we’re “all in this together” when we’re plainly not.
It sounds great: support development in red states. It feeds into the desire to feel morally superior that far too many Boomer libs love.
But it doesn’t work in practice: we are, in fact, not all in this together.
The core goal of all blue state congressional delegations simply must be eliminating the subsidies that characterize this parasitic relationship.
And future Democratic presidents need to stop directing the benefits of legislation to red states — Biden, for example, had the majority of IRA benefits directed to red states, in some futile effort to garner support. One of the few (only?) good things the current administration has done was essentially cancel the IRA, and with it the benefits these red states would’ve received.
Cut these parasites off.
As much as you might feel this, it doesn’t work like that, and the two states you mentioned have completely effed legislative maps that would otherwise take Federal intervention, but the prior tools were taken off the table by SCOTUS.
As much as you imagine bring ‘red states’ to heel, you’re relying on a completely botched electoral structure to do it with a party that can’t even make hay about voting rights in themselves.