Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 6-27-17

White House And Political News
Replace, Repeal -- Obamacare Is Legendary In U. S. Politics: Now Republican Senate
Black Caucus Declines President Trump’s Invitation To Meet
Reveals Its Revised Plan
In a scathing three-page let- ter released Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus announced that it was declin- ing an invitation to meet with President Donald Trump.
“We have seen no evidence that your Administration acted on our calls for action, and we have in fact witnessed steps that will affirmatively hurt Black communities,” CBC chair Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-LA) wrote in the letter.
According to the CBC’s Twit- ter, the group came to the de- cision after a vote.
The declined invitation is the latest in a series of incidents between the Caucus and the President. The CBC first reached out to meet with Trump back in January, but did not hear back. At a Febru- ary press conference, reporter April Ryan asked Trump if he would meet with the CBC. In response, Trump asked if Ryan wanted to set up the meeting, and if the CBC’s
Attempting to thread a very tight needle, Senate Republi- cans on Thursday released a health-care reform bill in- tended to undo major parts of the Affordable Care Act while still supporting the public's access to health insurance.
The 142-page bill, “Better Care Reconciliation Act,” as the Senate bill is called, was written in near-total secrecy, with no public hearings. Even senators tasked with crafting it said they didn’t know what was in it. A draft was leaked to the media on Wednesday. Though it contains some modifications to the version the House passed in May—in- cluding more generous subsi- dies for people who can’t afford insurance—the New York Times reported that it is still substantially similar to that bill, which the Congres- sional Budget Office esti- mated would leave 23 million more people uninsured within the next 10 years. The centerpiece of the Senate bill is more gradual, but deep cut to Medicaid.
But the Senate bill also at- tempts to soften other much- derided aspects of the House's health-care plan, in an effort to attract moderate votes.
For instance, the Senate GOP proposal would still for- bid insurance companies from raising premiums or withholding coverage to peo- ple with preexisting medical problems -- one of the hall- marks of the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Oba- macare.
The bill also would main- tain federal tax credits to help people afford health insur- ance, and those credits would be based primarily on in- come.
The Black Caucus is made up of Black U.S. Representatives and Sen- ators.
However, the credits would require people to purchase a less comprehensive plan, and would not be available to as many low-income people, ac- cording to published reports.
The tax credits would be tied to income -- similar to the Affordable Care Act, but different from the House bill that would link the funding to a person's age. The nonparti- san Congressional Budget Of- fice has stated that basing tax credits on age would increase out-of-pocket costs for many low-income Americans, ac- cording to the Associated Press.
The Senate bill would also cut all taxes related to the Af- fordable Care Act, including mandates that everyone have health insurance and that em- ployers with more than 50 workers provide health cover- age for their workers.
Also under the Senate pro- posal, insurers would be able to charge older customers more for their coverage than they could under the Afford- able Care Act, the Washing- ton Post reported.
States would have more flexibility in determining the essential health benefits that all insurance companies must provide, such as prescription drug coverage, preventive health screenings, and cover- age of mental health services.
members were her friends, presumably because Ryan is black.
The caucus eventually did meet with Trump in March. At that meeting, they discussed voting rights and how Trump has been portraying black communities as “crime-rid- den,” Politico reported. The caucus also gave the president a 130-page policy document ti- tled “We Have A Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century.”
Since then, Trump’s ad- ministration has not re- sponded to the policies suggested by the caucus in the document, according to the CBC’s letter.
And that’s not all: Appar- ently, various parts of the ad- ministration have not responded to many of the CBC’s attempts to reach out to them either about policy mat- ters including health care, con- sent decrees, Flint, and hate crimes.
Rep. Stacey Abrams Could Become First Black Female Governor In U. S. History
Georgia General Assembly House Minority Leader Rep. Stacey Abrams, a Demo- cratic representative from the Atlanta area, says she has what it takes to usher in a new era in Georgia politics.
Abrams, 43, announced a few weeks ago that she would be running for governor. If Abrams is elected next year, she will become the first African-American female gov- ernor in American history, which makes her campaign monumental.
This won’t be the first time Abrams has sought to make historic strides in politics. She is the first woman to lead ei- ther party in the Georgia Gen- eral Assembly and the first African-American to lead in the House of Representatives.
Before becoming a politician, Abrams interned at the White House in the Office of Manage- ment and Budget, worked on environmental racism at the EPA, and worked for the city of Atlanta as a Deputy City Attor-
Rep. Stacey Abrams could be the first Black female governor in U. S. history.
ney.
She visited the Moses Jack-
son Community Center in Sa- vannah over the weekend. There, she told community members that she wants to im- prove the economy, education and government efficiency throughout the state if she’s elected. Rep. Abrams also spent one-on-one time with several community members at the community center. She
says events like the one on Sat- urday in Savannah are the key to victory
Outside of politics, Abrams is an entrepreneur, an award- winning romance novelist (her pen name is “Selena Mont- gomery”). She holds three de- grees: a J.D. from Yale Law School, a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Univer- sity of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Spelman College.
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017