What A Day: Import/extort

BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA

Thursday, June 6, 2019

—Ja Rule. Who wants to tell him?

TAR-RIFT

Trump says he’s close to imposing tariffs on roughly $350 billion worth of Mexican imports starting next week because he thinks Mexico—America’s largest trading partner—isn’t making enough progress to end illegal immigration into the U.S.

Faced with Trump’s threats, Mexican officials have proposed a deal to increase immigration enforcement and give the U.S. more leeway to deport asylum seekers:

They promised to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to their border with Guatemala as a show of force meant to deter migrants from heading north.
They’re negotiating a plan with the U.S. to require Central American migrants to try and seek refuge in the first foreign country they set foot into after leaving their own. This would allow the U.S. to deport many asylum seekers to Mexico and Guatemala.

Republican Senators have joined Democrats in threatening to block these tariffs if they go through. But Republicans have said they are hopeful that “a deal will get done.” We, of course, remain hopeful that these cruel, harebrained ideas are a thing of the past after 2020 → https://votesaveamerica.com

Earlier this week, Walmart announced that it will offer free SAT/ACT prep and will expand its $1-a-day college tuition benefit to high schoolers who work at the company. This is part of Walmart’s attempt to recruit younger employees in a tight labor market, and they’re not the only ones doing it: McDonald’s, Kroger, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A all offer similar benefits.

Nearly every 2020 presidential hopeful has also zeroed in on Americans’ concerns about student debt. Elizabeth Warren has presented the field’s most detailed plan to eliminate up to $50,000 in student loan debt for households making under $100,000, while making public universities tuition-free. Other proposals range from offering two years of free community college (Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro), to debt-free college (Kamala Harris and Cory Booker), to free community college and undergraduate public education for students whose families make under $125,000 (Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand).

At the end of 2018, the amount of student debt in America totaled $1.47 trillion. Trump’s plan? Eliminate student loan forgiveness programs.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told senior Democrats that she wants to see Trump “in prison” instead of impeached, and would prefer to see him defeated in an election than prosecuted for his alleged crimes. Though Pelosi has held this line after the Mueller report was released, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler reportedly pressed her to allow his committee to open an impeachment inquiry into Trump—a big development since he has publicly stuck with her position against impeachment so far. Right now, 60 House members support an impeachment inquiry, including a number of members on Nadler’s Judiciary Committee.

Feel strongly about it? Call your House rep to see where they stand → (202) 224-3121

Trump recognized the 75th anniversary of D-Day by bashing Robert Mueller and Nancy Pelosi, live from a cemetery of Americans who died in World War II. For the record, Mueller is a decorated war veteran, and Trump continues to be an utter disgrace.

Joe Biden reversed himself on the Hyde Amendment, and says he can no longer support the ban on the use of federal funds for abortions. Biden came under fire from other Democrats on Wednesday for reaffirming his prior support for the ban, which critics say discriminates against low-income women and women of color.

According to CNN, China helped Saudi Arabia make major upgrades to its ballistic missile program. The Trump administration, which has been buddy-buddy with the Saudi royal family, didn’t tell Congress it knew about this classified development—probably because the U.S. has spent decades trying to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Fun fact: This development threatens a potential arms race between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The DNC rejected Jay Inslee’s request for a primary debate focused solely on climate, and said he wouldn’t be invited to future debates if he “participated in anyone else's climate debate.” …what? Beto O’Rourke, who was also interested in a climate-centered Democratic debate, told CBS afterwards that it’s something Democrats “deserved.”

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have rapidly increased spending on lobbying over the past three years, and are hiring up lobbyists with ties to the White House, DOJ, and Congress. They’re expected to exceed the $55 million they spent last year as they face an oversight investigation from the House Judiciary Committee.

Some military members deployed near the border will spend a month painting a mile of the border wall to improve its “aesthetic appearance.” That “national emergency” thing continues to check out.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will pay for some of the nine million veterans in its health care system to get treatment outside of traditional V.A. hospitals as part of a law Trump signed last summer. According to the New York Times, this is the “biggest shift in the American health care system since the passage of the Affordable Care Act nearly a decade ago.” This will let vets who have to wait longer than 20 days or drive over 30 minutes to receive primary or mental health care at a V.A. facility see a non-V.A. doctor instead.

The Obamas scored a podcast production deal with Spotify. We’re happy for them, wish them the best, still like their pics on Instagram, definitely don’t tear up a little bit when we think about them, etc.

A woman leaned over Beyoncé to talk to Jay-Z at last night’s Warriors game and the internet is not okay with it.