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nfigone20ahsgov-blog · 4 years

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Executive Action Assessment of the Issue

On the White House Website, I was not able to find President Trump’s stance on gun control. I used a timeline from ABC News to help me find out what his stance is: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-trumps-record-gun-control-reform/story?id=64783662

1. Trump’s stance on gun control and gun violence is very paradoxical.Throughout the years, in response to some shootings, he has proposed and supported certain gun control legislation and several times backed away from it completely. From what I could gather, Trump has expressed interest in background checks, raising the age to buy assault rifles from 18 to 21, and an assault weapons ban. He also has banned bump stocks. Interesting aspects of all this are that he has stated that he is a huge second amendment supporter, doesn’t want anyone to take guns away, undid Obama-era gun control, and has said background checks don’t work. He seems to believe that gun control could help reduce violence but doesn’t know how to implement it while still supporting gun rights.

2. It’s hard to take a stance on President Trump’s stance on gun control as his stance isn’t evident. I agree with his stated belief that background checks don’t work as criminals with the desire to cause harm would simply find a way to avoid them. I do support the Second Amendment and believe that increased gun control will most of the time only place a burden on law abiding citizens, thus endangering them by making self defense more difficult.

1. The Department of Justice manages my issue using the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

2. The department’s mission statement is: “The Department of Justice enforces federal laws, seeks just punishment for the guilty, and ensures the fair and impartial administration of justice.” It relates to my issue as the department will make sure that those that face difficulties with gun laws (whether as criminals or falsely accused) are given the impartial justice they deserve.

3. Attorney General William Barr is the secretary of the department. Barr has an extensive history working in the executive branch in the justice department and in various legal careers, both private and governmental. He also has worked in high up positions for companies like Verizon as well. I believe he is qualified to run the department as he has worked closely with presidents and has had a long legal career that will have given him the knowledge needed to hold the position efficiently.

4. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a program that is suitable for addressing my issue. It brings together officials and members of communities to address the most pressing violent crimes and find solutions for them. To reduce violent crime, the justice department has recently taken steps to strengthen the PSN and its initiatives. The PSN is meant to address violence specific to communities by combining law enforcement and community intelligence efforts with United States Attorney efforts. There is also the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives within the department. The ATF is essentially a law enforcement agency that operates in and with communities and other law enforcement to crack down on the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. They use training and implement technology to help do this as well.

5. Based on my research, there is not a lot of specific executive action being taken on gun control. I am not satisfied with the lack of executive action. Trump got rid of an Obama-era legislation that made it more difficult for those with certain mental illnesses to buy a firearm legally. I believe that that is the best approach to gun control legislation along with education or training. Education, also is not being given by the executive department enough. It is only being administered by the NRA (a non-governmental organization) and ATF (which I have never heard of holding actual training) which is clearly not enough. Trump only wants to cut the Department of Justice’s funding by 1%. Although this isn’t significant, I believe that it shouldn’t be done as clearly not enough is being done to address gun violence and the Department of Justice is responsible for it. Decreasing it significantly would probably affect the issue even more as there would be almost no discussion of the issue in the executive branch which it seems there is already very little of.

SACAPS: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/us/gun-seizures.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

S: The article reports on a court case where a man recently had concerning posts on social media and had his guns confiscated due to red flag laws. A judge gave his guns back due to his referencing of his First and Second Amendment rights and disproving serious intent to kill. The article referenced both sides and gave the history of red flag laws.

A: The author is Mike Baker. He has had a long history in reporting as he has worked for several large news organizations.

C: This article comes as the debate about red flag laws has been heating up. Many people see the need for them to help reduce gun violence. Currently there is a lot of refining being done to make them better and this is an example of that. A: The intended audience is every American as it contains perspectives from both sides of the red flag law debate and takes a very informative, historical approach to the report. P: The purpose of the article is to inform Americans of how judges are trying to work out red flag laws and make sure they apply them correctly and efficiently. There is a lot to be understood about these laws in order to make sure they are just. S: The significance is that red flag laws are becoming more and more prevalent. With gun violence as prevalent as it is, something must be done to crack down on it. Although red flag laws are debatably constitutional, they are a step in that direction. It also shows how we must be ready to pick up all signs of danger even if they are false alarms and be aware of potential mental illness surrounding firearms.

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politicoscope · 5 years

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Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/bernie-sanders-biography-and-profile/

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

Born 8 September 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders attended James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont. In 1981, he was elected (by 10 votes) to the first of four terms as mayor of Burlington. Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress. The Almanac of American Politics calls Sanders a “practical and successful legislator.”

Throughout his career he has focused on the shrinking American middle class and the growing income and wealth gaps in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bernie Sanders in 2014 passed legislation reforming the VA health care system. Congressional Quarterly said he was able “to bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.”

Bernie Sanders Full Biography Independent politician Bernie Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in New York. He grew up in Brooklyn as the youngest of two sons of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father worked as a paint salesman. As part of a struggling working-class family, Sanders recognized early on America’s economic disparity. As he told the Guardian newspaper, “I saw unfairness. That was the major inspiration in my politics,” he said. Sanders also counts American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs as an important influence.

Sanders attended Brooklyn’s James Madison High School and then went on to Brooklyn College. After a year there, he transferred to the University of Chicago. Sanders became involved in the Civil Rights Movement during his university days. He was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE. With CORE, Sanders participated in a sit-in against the segregation of off-campus housing in 1962. He also served as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1963 he participated in the March on Washington.

“It was a question for me of just basic justice — the fact that it was not acceptable in America at that point that you had large numbers of African-Americans who couldn’t vote, who couldn’t eat in a restaurant, whose kids were going to segregated schools, who couldn’t get hotel accommodations living in segregated housing,” he told the Burlington Free Press. “That was clearly a major American injustice and something that had to be dealt with.”

After finishing college in 1964 with a degree in political science, Sanders lived on a kibbutz in Israel before settling in Vermont. He worked a number of jobs, including filmmaker and freelance writer, psychiatric aide, and teaching low-income children through Head Start, while his interest in politics grew.

During the Vietnam War, Sanders had applied for conscientious objector status. Although his status was eventually rejected, by then he was too old to be drafted.

Burlington and Beyond In the 1970s, Sanders made several unsuccessful bids for public office as a member of the anti-war Liberty Union Party, which he was a member of until 1979. His first taste of political victory came by the thinnest of margins. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, by only 12 votes. Sanders was able to achieve this win with the support of the Progressive Coalition, a grassroots organization. He was reelected three more times, proving that the self-described “democratic socialist” had staying power.

Known for his rumpled clothes and untamed mane, Sanders made an unlikely candidate for national office, but this political underdog scored a 1990 win for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an independent, Sanders found himself facing a dilemma. He had to find political allies to advance his issues and legislation. As Sanders explained to The Progressive, he considered working with the Republicans to be “unthinkable,” but he did caucus with the Democrats despite “a lot of opposition among conservative Democrats to my being in that caucus.”

Outspoken on the issues, Sanders criticized both parties whenever he felt they were in the wrong. He was a vocal opponent on the Iraq War, concerned about the social and financial impact that the conflict could cause. In an address to the House, he said “As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause.” Sanders also questioned the timing of military action “at a time when this country has a $6 trillion national debt and a growing deficit.”

Senator Sanders Sanders sought to switch to the Senate in 2006, running against Republican businessman Richard Tarrant. As a self-described “democratic socialist,” he managed to defeat Tarrant despite the latter’s much more substantial funding. Tarrant spent $7 million of his own personal wealth in this election battle.

In 2010, Sanders made the news with his more than eight-hour-long filibuster against the extension of Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy. He felt that this legislation was “a very bad tax agreement” between the president and Republican legislators, he later wrote in the introduction of The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class. Sanders ended his time on the Senate floor with a plea to his legislative colleagues to come up with “a better proposal which better reflects the needs of the middle class and working families of our country and to me, most importantly, the children of our country,” according to a Washington Post article.

During his time in the Senate, Sanders has served on several committees on issues important to him. He is a member of the Committee on Budget; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Joint Economic Committee. Sanders also champions campaign reform and advocates for an amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United. Sanders has advocated for expanding voting rights and opposed the Supreme Court decision to disband part of the landmark Voting Rights Act. He is also an advocate for universal single-payer healthcare system. Driven by his sense of protecting the environment, addressing climate change and interest in renewable energy, Sanders is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works and the Energy & Natural Resources Committee.

Presidential Ambitions In April 2015, Sanders announced that he was seeking the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party. This longtime independent made the party switch largely out of political necessity. “It would require an enormous amount of time, energy and money just to get on the ballot in 50 states” as an independent, he said to USA Today. “It made a lot more sense for me to work within the Democratic primary system where it’s much easier to get on the ballot and have a chance to debate the other candidates.”

Experts think it is unlikely that Sanders will be able to wrestle the Democratic nomination away from frontrunner Hillary Clinton. But, according to an Associated Press report, Sanders isn’t worried about being an underdog in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. “People should not underestimate me.” As a veteran independent, he has “run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates.”

In fact, Sanders has made impressive strides in challenging Clinton during the presidential primaries and gaining favor in the polls. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll (released in February 2016) shows that he was favored above all the top running candidates and would even beat out Republican frontrunner Donald Trump — 49 to 39 percent, respectively — in a general election. (Sanders’s numbers surpassed Clinton’s 46 to 41 percent matchup with Trump.)

Sanders’s platform focuses on issues of inequality in the United States. Economically, he favors tax reform that increases rates for the wealthy, greater governmental oversight of Wall Street and balancing the disparity between wages for men and women. He also believes in a state-administered health care system, more-affordable higher education — which includes tuition-free public college and universities — and an expansion of the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid systems. A social liberal, he also supports same-sex marriage and is pro-choice.

Trademarks of His Campaign One of the trademarks that defines Sanders’s campaign is his call for a “political revolution,” which asks for everyday citizens to become active in the political process and be the change they want to see on any given issue.

The other trademark is his fight to take corporate money out of politics, specifically, overturning the Citizens United ruling, which allows corporations and the wealthy elite to pour unlimited amounts of money into campaigns. Such money, Sanders vehemently argues, undermines democracy by skewing policies that favor the extremely rich.

Of the ruling, he has said: “As a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, American democracy is being undermined by the ability of the Koch brothers and other billionaire families. These wealthy contributors can literally buy politicians and elections by spending hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the candidates of their choice. We need to overturn Citizens United and move toward public funding of elections so that all candidates can run for office without being beholden to the wealthy and powerful.”

Record-Breaking Online Grassroots Fundraising Staying true to his principles, Sanders relies almost solely on small individual donations rather than Super PACs to run his presidential primary race. To the surprise of many and admittedly, to Sanders himself, he has made an unprecedented mark on campaign fundraising in American politics. In December 2015 Time magazine wrote “Bernie Sanders has broken the fundraising record for most contributions at this point in a presidential campaign,” even surpassing President Obama’s fundraising record for his 2011 re-election bid.

In February of 2016, it was reported that Sanders had “received 3.7 million contributions from some 1.3 million individual contributors,” averaging $27 a person. In March, Sanders’s campaign reportedly raised over $96 million dollars in total contributions.

Historical Michigan Primary Victory Sanders’s Michigan primary victory is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in modern political history. He won 50 to 48, despite the latest polls showing he was trailing Clinton at least 20 percentage points.

The only time such an egregious polling error was recorded was during the 1984 Democratic primary when polls showed Walter Mondale leading Gary Hart by 17 percentage points. Hart actually won Michigan by more than nine points.

Sanders’s shocking win was a testament that his liberal populist message could resonate within a diverse state such as Michigan and beyond. It was also a huge psychological blow to Clinton’s campaign which had hoped to seal her nomination with ease.

Democratic Primary Abroad Win, AIPAC Absence In March 2016 Sanders won the Democrats Abroad international primary by 69 percent. Over 34,000 American citizens cast their votes in 38 countries, with 13 delegates for the taking.

Sanders also made more headlines news in March as the first presidential candidate — and the only Jewish one — in the 2016 race to abstain from attending the AIPAC conference, an annual pro-Israel lobbying event. Although Sanders cited his busy campaign schedule for preventing him from participating, some considered his absence controversial. Pro-Palestinian groups, to their satisfaction, viewed his move as a defiant political statement.

Despite the different interpretations, Sanders gave a foreign policy speech remotely as a way of expressing what he would have said if he had attended AIPAC. In the speech he stressed the need for mutual respect and a push for eventual direct talks between Israel and Palestine.

Visit to the Vatican Sanders made history as the only presidential candidate to ever be invited to the Vatican to speak on moral, environmental and economic issues.

Amid a contentious New York primary, Sanders flew out for a brief visit to a conference on social sciences in Rome in April 2016. Sanders and Pope Francis have often been cited as carrying similar moral anthems in regard to the economy and the environment.

Sanders had the opportunity to meet the Pope briefly, but the latter stressed the meet-and-greet was purely out of courtesy so as to not politicize the event.

The DNC Platform and Endorsing Clinton As Sanders’ campaign came to a close, along with the reality that the odds were stacked against him, the Senator used his political clout to advance the DNC platform before putting his full support behind Clinton. Most of the issues his presidential campaign ran on — universal healthcare, free college tuition at public colleges and universities, a $15 minimum age, expanding Social Security, financial reforms for Wall St., and tackling climate change — were, by and large, included in the platform albeit tweaked in some cases. However, he notably lost his fight against his opposition to the TPP deal (the Trans-Pacific Partnership).

Still, Sanders’ overwhelming influence on the DNC platform was a huge victory for him and his legion of supporters and was touted as the most progressive platform in the Democratic Party’s history.

On July 12, 2016 in front of a rally in New Hampshire, Sanders did what many thought he would never do: He endorsed Clinton for president. It was a huge moment for both campaigns, but their resolve to prevent Trump from becoming the next Republican president superseded their differences.

DNC Email Leak In July 2016, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Wikileaks published over 19,000 DNC emails that revealed how officials seemingly favored Clinton over Sanders and sought to undermine his campaign; in one email exchange, DNC staffers discussed how they could question Sanders’ “faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters.”

The leak also showed the bitter tension between DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver, the collusion between the DNC and the media and the ways in which officials persuade big money donors.

As a result of the leak, Wasserman Schultz announced she would not be speaking at the convention and would step down as DNC chair. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence agencies launched investigations to determine whether the information was made available from the work of Russian hackers.

Despite the leak, Sanders urged voters and the nearly 1900 delegates supporting him at the DNC to vote for Clinton over Trump. Some of Sanders’ progressive base criticized him for his continued support of Clinton.

“We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Sanders said to an angry dissenting crowd. “This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue,” he noted, adding that the Republican candidate “has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.”

2020 Rumblings After Donald Trump’s stunning 2016 Election Day win over Hillary Clinton, Sanders vowed he would continue to stand up to the new president when necessary.

One year later, news outlets floated the idea that Sanders was positioning himself for another run in 2020. Among the evidence cited, it was noted he was developing a series of foreign policy speeches with Bill Clinton’s former defense secretary, and had the position of “outreach chairman” created for him by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a role he was using to establish relationships with entrenched Democratic Party bigwigs.

In December 2017, after Minnesota Senator Al Franken announced he was stepping down due to sexual misconduct allegations, Sanders was among the chorus of voices calling for President Trump to do the same. Referencing the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged about groping women, Sanders tweeted, “We have a president who acknowledged on tape that he assaulted women. I would hope that he pays attention to what’s going on and think about resigning.”

In February 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 presidential election brought the assertion that, along with backing Donald Trump’s campaign, the Russians actively favored Sanders over Clinton. Both Sanders and his former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, disputed that finding, and said that the Clinton campaign could have done more to stop Russian interference with the knowledge they had of such activity.

Later in the year Sanders went after Amazon and Walmart for not paying their employees enough to survive. In one video posted to his Facebook page, he said, “[Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos continues to pay many thousands of his Amazon employees wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on taxpayer-funded programs, such as food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing in order to survive. Frankly, I don’t believe that ordinary Americans should be subsidizing the wealthiest people in the world because they pay their employees inadequate wages.” As a result of these business practices, the senator said he planned to introduce legislation that would levy a tax on large companies equal to the value of the government benefits their workers receive.

Personal Life In 1964 Sanders married his college sweetheart Deborah Shiling, but the couple divorced two years later. In 1968 he met Susan Mott and the two had a son, Levi, in 1969.

Sanders met his second wife, Jane O’Meara, right before becoming mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981. A long-time educator, O’Meara would eventually become president of Burlington College. The two married in 1988. O’Meara has three children from a previous marriage. Between them, the couple has four children and seven grandchildren.

Sanders’s older brother, Larry, is a British academic and politician, who is currently the Health Spokesperson for the leftist Green Party of England and Wales.

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile (Bernie Sanders / Biography / Politicoscope)

#Bernie Sanders #US #USA

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hudsonespie · 6 years

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Maritime Industry Readies for a New Era of Choice with Iridium Certus(SM) Global Launch Partners

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced today that Marlink, Speedcast, Applied Satellite Technologies Ltd (AST) and Satcom Global are the initial global maritime launch partners for Iridium Certus. The first regional maritime launch partner, Arion, will focus on delivering Iridium Certus to the Asian market. These commitments represent a major milestone for the Iridium Certus program, allowing each company to deliver a new choice in the maritime industry and offer what will soon become the market’s fastest L-band satellite connectivity.

For decades, the maritime industry lacked truly global coverage and had only one real choice for L-band connectivity at sea. This changed with Iridium®, and with the introduction of Iridium Certus, a cutting-edge alternative has arrived for mariners. Offering a high-performing, competitively priced solution that features state-of-the-art technology, Iridium Certus is designed to meet the needs of the ‘connected ship.’ Operating on small-form-factor terminals with solid-state, active-array antennas, the service will enable more efficient business operations, cost-effective crew welfare solutions, and safety communications, while providing a pole-to-pole, truly global grid for Internet of Things (IoT) smart ship applications. Already undergoing live testing, Iridium Certus terminals built by Cobham and Thales will debut at speeds of 352 Kbps, later upgradable to 704 Kbps through a firmware update. With eventual speeds reaching approximately 1.4 Mbps, Iridium Certus will also enable multiple streaming classes and safety services designed to provide reliable connectivity in even the harshest environments.

The Iridium Certus launch partners represent the truly global nature of Iridium and will deliver business critical broadband solutions to all key maritime markets. Marlink, a leading global maritime communications, IT and digital solutions provider, is a long-time Iridium partner and will offer Iridium Certus as both a standalone service and as a companion to very small aperture terminals (VSAT). “We combine the industry’s most extensive portfolio of technology-agnostic multi-band connectivity services and value-added solutions with a consultative approach to address client needs,” said Ghani Behloul, chief marketing officer, Marlink. “Our long-term, non-exclusive alliances and commercial collaborations with Satellite Operators ensure we can deliver future-proof solutions, and we look forward to continuing our work with Iridium in order to bring the benefits of its next generation network to our global customer base.”

As a global leader in critical communications in maritime, energy, enterprise, and government, Iridium partner Speedcast brings its many years of expertise to the Iridium Certus family. “The uniqueness of Iridium Certus’ reliability and the unmatched global coverage expands our Managed Services portfolio, bringing a new choice to our tailored solutions for the maritime industry,” said Tim Bailey, executive vice president, products, marketing and business development at Speedcast. “The innovation in L-band broadband throughput which Iridium Certus promises, will address a wide range of services for the ship owner, and complements our broad portfolio of high-end, customized solutions we deliver today.”

With a proven track record in delivering market-leading maritime projects world-wide, The AST Group of companies, one of Iridium’s largest partners, joins the Iridium Certus program as a global launch partner, bringing over 25 years of expertise and innovation to the maritime market. “In today’s ‘bring-your-own-device’ world, managing communications on board vessels is critical,” said Mark Sykes, director, The AST Group. “AST’s unique suite of value-added services, combined with Iridium Certus, will deliver unprecedented capabilities to maximize efficiency and reduce costs at sea.”

Satcom Global, a worldwide expert in maritime satellite communications and engineering services, will deliver Iridium Certus to its wide network of customers as a global launch partner. As a valued Iridium partner with more than four decades of experience in the maritime market, Satcom Global will bring its value added approach to the Iridium Certus rollout. “Iridium’s signature full global coverage, coupled with the enhanced capacity and speed of Iridium Certus, has created a real buzz in the marketplace,” said Graeme Gordon, global commercial director, Satcom Global. “We’re excited to bring this new service to our diverse maritime customer base.”

An Iridium partner since 2015, Arion is a trusted supplier of marine and offshore safety systems and engineering services. Arion brings a strong footprint and expertise in Asian markets and will provide service as a regional Iridium Certus maritime launch partner.

Enabled by the $3 billion Iridium NEXT satellite constellation, Iridium Certus will provide high-definition voice capabilities, alongside enterprise-grade broadband functionality, covering all of the earth’s oceans. This investment leverages the inherent advantages of Iridium’s lowearth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, to deliver 100-percent global satellite broadband to the maritime market, catering to the needs of the ‘connected ship’ environment.

“Iridium Certus is creating a marketplace that brings choice and innovation, which is something the industry has been craving,” said Wouter Deknopper, vice president and general manager of maritime at Iridium. “For many years we have been listening to the market, and we know that mariners are often forced to sacrifice quality for bandwidth, or vice versa, due to high prices. But soon we will be delivering a standardized solution that helps solve this persistent issue. Iridium Certus is a game changer and is directly responding to the feedback we hear from our industry partners and customers.”

Iridium Certus is planned for commercial availability in mid-2018, and Iridium plans to announce additional maritime service providers in the coming weeks. Iridium NEXT is the Company’s next-generation satellite constellation, which will replace its existing network. To date, there have been four successful Iridium NEXT launches, deploying more than half of the new constellation. Four additional launches are planned in 2018.

For more information about Iridium Certus, please visit https://www.iridium.com/company/industryleadership/iridiumcertus.

For more information about Iridium NEXT, please visit www.IridiumNEXT.com.

About Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications. The company has a major development program underway for its next-generation network — Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services and partner solutions, visit www.iridium.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has based these statements on its current expectations and the information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements in this presentation include statements regarding the deployment and capabilities of the Iridium NEXT constellation and products and services to be offered over the constellation, including IoT and Iridium Certus, as well as the potential market for such products and services. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the words “anticipates,” “may,” “can,” “believes,” “expects,” “projects,” “intends,” “likely,” “will,” “to be” and other expressions that are predictions or indicate future events, trends or prospects. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Iridium to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties regarding potential delays in the Iridium NEXT deployment, the development and functionality of Iridium NEXT and related products and services, and the company’s ability to maintain the health, capacity and content of its satellite constellation, as well as general industry and economic conditions, and competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include those factors listed under the caption “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 23, 2017, as well as other filings Iridium makes with the SEC from time to time. There is no assurance that Iridium’s expectations will be realized. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if Iridium’s underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected, estimated or projected. Iridium’s forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Iridium undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Press Contact:

Jordan Hassin Iridium Communications Inc. +1 (646) 872-0067 [email protected] Twitter: @IridiumComm

Investor Contact:

Kenneth Levy Iridium Communications Inc. +1 (703) 287-7570 [email protected] Twitter: @IridiumIR

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deniseyallen · 7 years

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Rob's Rundown: Week of September 25 - 29,c 2017

This week, Senator Portman, along with his House and Senate Republican colleagues and the White House, unveiled a unified framework to achieve pro-growth tax reform. Senator Portman is working hard to simplify and reform our broken tax code to create more jobs and increase wages for Ohio families and workers. Also this week, Portman hosted Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry in Piketon, continued his efforts to get his Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) signed into law to help end online sex trafficking and get victims for the trafficking the justice they deserve, supported relief efforts in Puerto Rico, saw his priorities to strengthen focus on chronic care services for seniors pass the Senate and more. For a more in depth look at Senator Portman’s week, please see the following:

Monday, September 25

At Senate Finance Hearing on Graham-Cassidy Health Plan, Portman Shares Stories from Ohioans Impacted by Skyrocketing Costs

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) discussed the skyrocketing cost of health care in Ohio and the need for a better system that lowers the cost of coverage for Ohioans who are facing premium increases as high as 34 percent next year.

Transcript can be found here and a video can be found here.

Tuesday, September 26

Across Ohio, Portman Highlights Need to Pass Bipartisan Bill to Help Stop Online Sex Trafficking

Last week, Portman testified during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, legislation he authored to help victims of sex trafficking get the justice they deserve and hold accountable websites such as Backpage.com, which knowingly facilitates sex trafficking. Here are highlights from Ohio TV coverage on the hearing and on the subsequent video released by Portman highlighting the testimony of Yvonne Ambrose, whose daughter, Desiree Robinson, was trafficked on Backpage.com and tragically murdered.

Wednesday, September 27

Portman: Simplifying & Reforming Broken Tax Code Will Create More Jobs & Increase Wages

Portman issued the following statement after House and Senate Republicans and the White House unveiled a unified framework to achieve pro-growth tax reform on Wednesday:

“This is a big day for our country, our economy, and our efforts to create more jobs and provide better wages for all Americans. While our economy has been improving, not every American is feeling the effects of that improvement. Too many Ohio families are facing the middle-class squeeze of stagnant wages and a higher cost of living. They deserve relief, and a strong economy that enables them to live out their God-given potential.

“Our current tax code encourages U.S. companies to take jobs and investments overseas. The United States is falling behind while other countries are attracting more investment and more jobs at our expense. That is unacceptable. Our reform effort will encourage more investment in America, bring jobs home, and give American workers a competitive advantage.

“I’ve been working with Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Chairmen Hatch and Brady, my Finance Committee colleagues and the Trump Administration over the last nine months on this plan and I’d like to thank them for their hard work to get us to this point. I’ve been very pleased to see President Trump talking about the urgency of this issue around the country, including again today in Indiana. I’m optimistic about the prospects for getting tax reform signed into law this year. Working together, we can simplify our tax code in a common-sense way to increase investment here in America, create more jobs & increase wages for American workers.”

NOTE: The full framework can be found HERE, and a one page overview can be found HERE. Portman has been a leader in efforts to reform the tax code and protect taxpayer rights. This year, Portman has hosted tax reform roundtables in Columbus and Dayton with local business leaders, in Cleveland with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and in Cincinnati with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Last Congress, three Portman-authored bills designed to help in this effort to stop IRS abuses were signed into law by then-President Barack Obama. He has been named a “Hero of Main Street” and “Fiscal Hero” for his work on these issues.

Portman: Tax Reform is About Jobs, Wages, and Opportunity

Portman discussed how he believes tax reform will help create jobs, increase wages, and lead to greater opportunity for all Americans at the joint House-Senate Unified Tax Reform Framework press conference. Said Portman in his remarks, “This is about wages. It’s about jobs. It’s about opportunity.” Full transcript of his remarks can be found here and a video can be found below:

Senate Passes Bipartisan Portman Bill to Combat Harmful Algal Blooms

Portman announced that the Senate has passed bipartisan legislation he authored with Senators Bill Nelson (D- Florida) and Gary Peters (D-Michigan) – called the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act. This legislation would reauthorize the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA), which was first enacted in 1998. For almost two decades, the HABHRCA program has served as the federal government’s research and response toolkit for harmful algal blooms. Senator Portman worked with Senator Nelson to reauthorize the program in 2014 and negotiated a Great Lakes section that has ensured federal agencies prioritize monitoring and mitigation efforts in fresh water bodies such as Lake Erie. He issued the following statement:

“This legislation takes critical steps toward protecting Lake Erie and other freshwater bodies throughout Ohio and the nation from toxic algae. It is important that these water bodies are protected, as they supply drinking water to millions of Ohioans and are critical for Ohio’s tourism and fishing industries. I am pleased that this program has provided a toolkit and forecasts that help our communities prepare for and respond to the impact of HABs. For the first time, our legislation also allows funding to be potentially provided to communities with significant HAB outbreaks to help protect against environmental, economic, and public health risks. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important legislation to the president for his signature.”

NOTE: Portman was recently named Co-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force. Recent HABHRCA efforts include NOAA’s seasonal forecasts on the expected severity of HAB events in Lake Erie and a biweekly Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom bulletin issued by NOAA to provide forecasts of the movement and toxicity of HAB events in the lake. In addition, the HABHRCA program has provided a toolkit for communities with HAB outbreaks in freshwater bodies, such as Buckeye Lake or Grand Lake St. Marys, to help identify the cause of, monitor, and mitigate the HAB event.

The HABHRCA program has provided research on HABs, including the most recent report, “Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia in the Great Lakes Research Plan and Action Strategy: An Interagency Report”, released in August 2017. A second report, “Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Comprehensive Research Plan and Action Strategy”, was completed in February 2016.

At Hearing, Portman Questions DHS About Puerto Rico Relief Efforts & Bipartisan STOP Act to Address Fentanyl Crisis

Portman questioned Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland. He questioned Duke on steps being taken to help Puerto Rico in the aftermath of devastating hurricanes. Portman, who spoke Tuesday night on the Senate floor on our responsibility to respond quickly, said the federal government must play a pivotal role in their recovery efforts. Portman also questioned the department about his bipartisan Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, legislation designed to help stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders to drug traffickers here in the United States

Transcript can be found here and a video can be found here.

Thursday, September 28

Portman: Tech Community Should Partner With Us to Stop Online Sex Trafficking

In a speech on the Senate floor, Portman discussed the significant momentum behind the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. While noting the support of some in the tech community for this legislation, Portman expressed disappointment that others aren’t doing more to support this bipartisan effort to stop online sex trafficking, saying “They should be as concerned as anyone, if not more, because online, on the internet, this is taking place. They should want to support addressing this injustice where traffickers exploit women and children with immunity.”

Portman urged his colleagues to act quickly, citing the progress made during last week’s hearing and the testimony of Yvonne Ambrose, whose daughter, Desiree Robinson, was trafficked on Backpage and tragically murdered. Transcript of his remarks can be found here and a video can be found here.

Portman Calls on Senate HELP Committee to Save Perkins Loan Program

Senators Portman, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) wrote to leaders of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee urging them to immediately act to save the Perkins Loan Program before it expires this Saturday, September 30th.

In the letter to HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), the Perkins Loan Program Extension Act lead cosponsors urge for the committee to take up and pass legislation to extend this popular and effective campus-based financial aid program.

“We strongly support the Perkins Loan Program and write to urge the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to act on its extension expeditiously and allow the full Senate to swiftly follow suit,” the Senators wrote. “We urge you to take up and pass the Perkins Loan Program Extension Act without delay. We thank you for your consideration and stand ready to work with you to advance this important legislation.”

Unless Congress acts, approximately 1,500 colleges and universities across the country will not be able to make these low-interest loans, leaving approximately 700,000 students without access to an important source of financial aid.

Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) have also cosponsored the legislation. U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced companion legislation in the House that has gained over 220 cosponsors.

A copy of the letter is available here.

Friday, September 29

Portman, Energy Secretary Perry Visit Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Portman and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, as well as U.S. Representatives Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), visited the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and former American Centrifuge Project facility in Piketon. They toured the facilities, met with plant leadership and workers, and discussed the importance of this plant to the local economy and the United States’ national security.

“I was proud to show Secretary Perry the top-notch infrastructure and highly-skilled workforce at Piketon’s biggest employer—the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. For decades, the workers here provided our military and our energy sector with critical natural resources, including enriched uranium for our country’s nuclear defense system. It now employs nearly 2,000 Ohioans through the cleanup effort, which, when finished, will provide the infrastructure and resources to employ thousands more,” said Portman. “Unfortunately, during the Obama administration, we had to fight every year just to keep these efforts funded and move the project forward. I am pleased that we now have an Energy Secretary and an administration that supports these hardworking Ohioans and their important work. The United States should get back to producing its own enriched uranium, and it is the workers here at Piketon that can make that happen. I will continue to work with Secretary Perry and my colleagues in Congress to advocate for the work happening at the facility as well as its capabilities, and the role it could continue to play in strengthening our national security.”

NOTE: Portman last visited the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in June. Earlier this year, Portman invited Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to come to Piketon to see firsthand the decontamination and decommissioning operations. During his confirmation hearing, Secretary Perry committed to Portman that he would visit the Portsmouth site. Perry has also agreed that having a domestic capability to enrich uranium is a national security issue and that he is willing to re-evaluate the Obama Administration’s decision to end the domestic uranium enrichment demonstration program. Portman has worked every year to secure the funding necessary to keep the cleanup project on track and to protect jobs. Previously, Portman grilled former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for his department’s failure to use funding provided by Congress and therefore causing layoffs in Piketon. Portman repeatedly called on the Obama Administration to uphold their promises to the Piketon community to provide adequate funding to avoid layoffs.

Photos of today’s event can be found here.

Key Portman Health Care Priorities Pass Senate as Part of CHRONIC Care Act

Portman announced that several of his health care priorities have unanimously passed the Senate as part of the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act. The bipartisan bill will improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries living with chronic conditions.

“The CHRONIC Care Act will help strengthen our health care system by empowering patients with tools they need to better manage their health care and increasing the coordination of care to help patients and providers better manage chronic conditions,” said Portman. “The bill also includes a number of priorities I have worked on, including ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries can receive high-quality, personalized care at home, incentivizing beneficiaries to receive preventive services and better manage their health care, and ensuring the Medicare Advantage program includes accurate quality measures to incentive plans to continue to care for low-income seniors.”

Following is more specifics on key Portman priorities passed as part of the CHRONIC Care Act:

Independence at Home Act (IAH) Extension. This bill would extend the IAH demonstration’s expiration date by two years (until September 30, 2019), increase the cap on the total number of participating beneficiaries from 10,000 to 15,000, and give practices three years to receive a shared savings payment.

“I have seen the benefits the Independence at Home program has provided for seniors in Northeast Ohio—it has reduced hospital readmissions, prevented costly hospital and nursing home admissions, and, most importantly, kept patients healthy and in their preferred care setting,” said Portman. “I am pleased the committee included a two-year extension of this program in the CHRONIC Care Act to ensure beneficiaries in Ohio and across the country can continue to receive high-quality care in their preferred setting—at home. I will continue to fight to make the Independence at Home program permanent.”

Better Health Rewards Program in the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Setting. The CHRONIC Care Act includes a new program called the ACO Beneficiary Incentive Program, which would allow ACOs to make incentive payments to their members who seek out preventive care or chronic disease management services.

“I am particularly pleased the Senate has passed a measure that draws on the idea of the Better Health Rewards bill I have worked on with Senator Wyden. This program will allow Medicare to engage seniors in their healthcare—incentivizing seniors to set goals and meet health targets,” said Portman. “We should continue to promote programs that allow seniors the option to participate in programs that allow them to take control over their health care – enabling them to live better, healthier lives while also saving the Medicare system money without making cuts to benefits.”

Ensuring Medicare Advantage Quality Measures Account for the Most Vulnerable Population. The bill includes a provision that builds on Portman’s work with Senator Casey to ensure the most vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries—including low-income, disabled, and dually-eligible seniors—are able to maintain access to high-quality Medicare Advantage plans.

A section-by-section summary of the CHRONIC Care Act can be found here.

A one-page summary of the CHRONIC Care Act can be found here. The legislative text of the CHRONIC Care Act can be found here.

from Rob Portman http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/rob-s-rundown?ContentRecord_id=978E08C7-41C7-43FF-BB46-328D4F6A64F2

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csrgood · 7 years

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Teva Continues to Advance Care for Society’s Health and Wellbeing; 2016 Social Impact Report Released

In 2016, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) engaged more than 300,000 people in 35 countries in programs aimed to help and empower patients as they deal with their illnesses.

These patient support programs are among the outcomes of broader efforts aimed to better understand and support patient needs and are covered in Teva’s 2016 Social Impact Report. Released today, the report provides an overview of the company’s progress toward delivering affordable medicines to patients around world and reflects the company’s continued efforts to integrate Corporate Social Responsibility into its business practices.

Among other efforts to fulfill its ambition as a socially and environmentally responsible company, Teva contributed $48.4 million in 28 countries to support patients and communities, responded rapidly to drug shortages in several countries and provided rare medicines to enable organ transplants and prevented the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in countries who could otherwise not afford such drugs. Teva also continued to encourage diverse talent by maintaining a gender-equal global network of employees, with women representing 47% of the global workforce and 49% of managers.

“People are at the heart of everything we do. Our purpose is to improve health wherever we are,” said Iris Beck-Codner, Group Executive Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Communications at Teva. “We are committed to living this purpose every day by discovering new treatments, offering more convenient care, helping communities in times of need and making medicines more accessible and affordable. As one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, our goal is to make a positive impact far beyond medicines—improving lives and communities across the globe by threading societal and environmental good into the fabric of our business.”

Additional Highlights of Teva’s efforts in 2016 include:

Increased access to affordable, reliable, high-quality generic medicines. In 2016 alone, Teva launched nearly 1,000 generic medicines and donated more than $22 million of medicines for emergency relief.

Adopted more sustainable operations. In 2016, Teva increased renewable energy production by 56%, reduced educing total water withdrawal by 4%, decreased total waste by 24% and recycled 43% of waste and plans to exceed those numbers this year.

Enhanced transparency and integrity. Teva instituted a number of policies to improve and promote ethical, responsible and transparent business activities everywhere the company operates—including a new Supplier Code of Conduct and new policy on engagement with patient organizations.

With the world’s largest medicine cabinet with a unique specialty portfolio, Teva is committed to making treatments more accessible and affordable for patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals, while addressing future health needs in a responsible, sustainable way.

To access Teva’s Social Impact efforts, click here.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) is a leading global pharmaceutical company that delivers high-quality, patient-centric healthcare solutions used by approximately 200 million patients in over 60 markets every day. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world’s largest generic medicines producer, leveraging its portfolio of more than 1,800 molecules to produce a wide range of generic products in nearly every therapeutic area. In specialty medicines, Teva has the world-leading innovative treatment for multiple sclerosis as well as late-stage development programs for other disorders of the central nervous system, including movement disorders, migraine, pain and neurodegenerative conditions, as well as a broad portfolio of respiratory products. Teva is leveraging its generics and specialty capabilities in order to seek new ways of addressing unmet patient needs by combining drug development with devices, services and technologies. Teva’s net revenues in 2016 were $21.9 billion. For more information, visit www.tevapharm.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the potential benefits and commercialization of Fremanezumab, which are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: the uncertainty of commercial success of Fremanezumab; challenges inherent in product research and development, including uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our specialty medicines business, including: competition for our specialty products, especially Copaxone®, our leading medicine, which faces competition from existing and potential additional generic versions and orally-administered alternatives; our ability to achieve expected results from investments in our product pipeline; competition from companies with greater resources and capabilities; and the effectiveness of our patents and other measures to protect our intellectual property rights; our business and operations in general, including: our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; manufacturing or quality control problems, which may damage our reputation for quality production and require costly remediation; interruptions in our supply chain; disruptions of our or third party information technology systems or breaches of our data security; the restructuring of our manufacturing network, including potential related labor unrest; the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers; and variations in patent laws that may adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters, including: costs and delays resulting from the extensive governmental regulation to which we are subject; the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and reductions in pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and coverage; potential additional adverse consequences following our resolution with the U.S. government of our FCPA investigation; governmental investigations into sales and marketing practices; potential liability for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation; product liability claims; increased government scrutiny of our patent settlement agreements; failure to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations; and environmental risks; and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2016 (“Annual Report”), including in the section captioned “Risk Factors,” and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov and www.tevapharm.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

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source: http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/40367-Teva-Continues-to-Advance-Care-for-Society-s-Health-and-Wellbeing-2016-Social-Impact-Report-Released?tracking_source=rss

#CSR #corporate social responsibility #social good #philanthropy #employee engagement #workplace givi

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takebackthedream · 7 years

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Brace for Government Shutdown as Republicans Face Impossible Tasks by Mark Trahant

Can President Donald J. Trump and the Republicans actually govern? As we near the 100th day mark the answer has been a loud “no.” So far. This week the Congress and the president will once again try for wins to fund the government, repeal the Affordable Care Act, extra money for Defense, and to construct a wall on the southern border. A nearly impossible order.

The House of Representatives does not have a governing coalition. There remains, essentially, three parties: Republicans, Democrats, and the Freedom Caucus. Two of these three groups must work together in order to pass any legislation. And to complicate the politics even more, many of the Republican members are already worried about their own re-election, so they might not support their own party’s leaders. Especially if that deal is sanctioned by the Freedom Caucus.

Yet Speaker Paul Ryan told his caucus Saturday that funding the government is the priority. The president was equally optimistic. “I think we’re in good shape,” President Trump said.

There are two budgets at issue. First there is the one proposed by the White House, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” That budget would not begin until October and would result in a dramatic restructuring of the federal government. Many members of Congress have said there is no chance this budget will be enacted as proposed.

But this week there is another budget problem. Congress must pass budget extension for this year by April 29 or there will be another government shutdown.

Shutting the government has become too common: On Indigenous People’s Day in 1990 (Ok, back then it was called, Columbus Day) President Bush sent workers home after Congress failed to enact a spending bill. Then during the Clinton years there was a five-day closure in 1995 and another three-week shutdown in 1996. There was a 16-day shutdown in 2013, followed by the double-whammy of sequestration. Tribal governments were impacted almost immediately and had to suspend nutrition programs, foster care, law enforcement, schools and health care. Some tribes had to temporarily layoff workers.

A policy report by the National Congress of American Indians put this in perspective: “For many tribes, a majority of tribal governmental services is financed by federal sources. Tribes lack the tax base and lack parity in tax authority to raise revenue to deliver services. If federal funding is reduced sharply for state and local governments, they may choose between increasing their own taxes and spending for basic services or allowing their services and programs to take the financial hit. On the other hand, many tribes have limited ability to raise substantial new revenue, especially not rapidly enough to cover the reduction in services from the across the board reductions of the FY 2013 sequestration.”

That could be the good old days. The prospect of a serious meltdown is a far greater possibility in 2017 than it was four years ago.

First of all the White House is incompetent. Instead of laying out a plan that will lead to a working majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate it has offered nonsense. “I think we’ve made it very clear that we want border wall funding, we want greater latitude to deny federal grants to sanctuary cities,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last week. “We want hiring of immigration agents, and we want $30 billion to infuse the military budget. Those are our priorities.”

That adds up to a blank check for the wall and immigration control, at least $30 billion for Defense, and a cut of at least $18 billion to domestic spending.

Those priorities are not possible without at least a few Democratic votes in the Senate (unless the rules are changed) because it takes 60 votes to approve any new Continuing Resolution. There are only 52 Republicans. So which Democrats are going to favor punishing sanctuary cities? How about none. And that’s only point one. Leaders in the House will need nearly every Republican to vote yes as well, something that’s always unlikely.

(Building a coalition with Democrats is even more important when you consider that Congress must soon raise the national debt limit, something that many Republicans always oppose without conditions that are unacceptable to Democrats.)

But this week what makes a government shutdown even more likely is that the White House, Republicans, and Democrats, are all staking out claims on a variety of issues.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said he would not vote for another budget extension unless it increases military funding. In the past, Democrats have gone along with that notion as long as there is a mechanism to protect domestic programs budget cuts, including those that serve American Indians and Alaska Natives.

But the Trump administration (here is that competence thing) is already acting if its stingy budget is the law, telling agencies to shrink and reduce the number of federal employees.

An April 12 memo from OMB Director Mick Mulvaney says: “The president’s FY 2018 Budget request to Congress will propose decreasing or eliminating funding for many programs across the federal government, and in some cases redefining agency missions. The president’s FY 2018 Budget should drive agencies’ planning for workforce reductions and inform their Agency Reform Plans, consistent with final 2017 appropriations and current applicable legal requirements. OMB and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will work with agencies to facilitate reductions in the size of their workforce and monitor progress.”

Congress is unlikely to go along with President Trump’s budget plan. Unlikely is too strong a word. How about? There is absolutely no way to get 216 votes for such a radical restructuring of the entire federal government. But programs that serve American Indians and Alaska Natives could be hit hard if there is another government shutdown.

Yet there is no way Congress will agree with the restructuring of the federal government as proposed. The votes are not there. But the OMB is basically moving forward anyway, directing agencies to “begin implementing some reforms immediately while others will require congressional action.”

The White House message is stick it in your eye, Congress. (Oh, by the way, we still need your votes.)

So how does the White House move the ball forward? By threatening Democrats over the Affordable Care Act by proposing an exchange one dollar of funding for health care for every dollar spent on the wall. That took Democrats a few seconds to well, uh, no.

And coming next week the president said on Twitter that he will announce “big tax reform and tax reduction.”

That will subtract a few more votes for everything else that needs to happen this week.

Of course there is a way of out of this mess. The White House could work with Democrats and spend money on their priorities. It’s the basic formula that has led to enactments of budgets for the past 8 years. The bargain would mean continued spending for domestic programs as well as add money to the military. The wall? No. Cutting support for Planned Parenthood? Get serious. And health care funding? That’s why it’s called the art of the deal.

There are three doors on the governing stage. Door number one: An impasse and a government shutdown. Door number two: A deal with Democrats. And door number three: A short-term budget extension so the debate can go on. And on. And on.

Mark Trahant is the Charles R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Journalism at the University of North Dakota. He is an independent journalist and a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. On Twitter @TrahantReports

Cross-posted from TrahantReports

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politicoscope · 5 years

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Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/bernie-sanders-biography-and-profile/

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

During the Vietnam War, Sanders had applied for conscientious objector status. Although his status was eventually rejected, by then he was too old to be drafted.

Visit to the Vatican Sanders made history as the only presidential candidate to ever be invited to the Vatican to speak on moral, environmental and economic issues.

Sanders had the opportunity to meet the Pope briefly, but the latter stressed the meet-and-greet was purely out of courtesy so as to not politicize the event.

2020 Rumblings After Donald Trump’s stunning 2016 Election Day win over Hillary Clinton, Sanders vowed he would continue to stand up to the new president when necessary.

Personal Life In 1964 Sanders married his college sweetheart Deborah Shiling, but the couple divorced two years later. In 1968 he met Susan Mott and the two had a son, Levi, in 1969.

Sanders’s older brother, Larry, is a British academic and politician, who is currently the Health Spokesperson for the leftist Green Party of England and Wales.

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile (Bernie Sanders / Biography / Politicoscope)

#Bernie Sanders #US #USA

0 notes

politicoscope · 5 years

Text

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/bernie-sanders-biography-and-profile/

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

During the Vietnam War, Sanders had applied for conscientious objector status. Although his status was eventually rejected, by then he was too old to be drafted.

Visit to the Vatican Sanders made history as the only presidential candidate to ever be invited to the Vatican to speak on moral, environmental and economic issues.

Sanders had the opportunity to meet the Pope briefly, but the latter stressed the meet-and-greet was purely out of courtesy so as to not politicize the event.

2020 Rumblings After Donald Trump’s stunning 2016 Election Day win over Hillary Clinton, Sanders vowed he would continue to stand up to the new president when necessary.

Personal Life In 1964 Sanders married his college sweetheart Deborah Shiling, but the couple divorced two years later. In 1968 he met Susan Mott and the two had a son, Levi, in 1969.

Sanders’s older brother, Larry, is a British academic and politician, who is currently the Health Spokesperson for the leftist Green Party of England and Wales.

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile (Bernie Sanders / Biography / Politicoscope)

#Bernie Sanders #US #USA

0 notes