Union Plus benefits for members, their families (WSLC Reports

► At Huffington Post -- White House: Health care should get "simple up-or-down" vote -- In voicing support for a simple majority vote, White House health reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle on Sunday signaled President Barack Obama's intention to push the Democratic-crafted bill under Senate rules that would overcome GOP stalling tactics.

► In today's NY Times -- Pelosi says she'll get votes needed -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident she will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House, even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party.

► At Huffington Post -- Warren Buffett: Health care is like an economic tapeworm -- The revered investor says that America's health care system needs fundamental reform to attack costs because it's not practical to continue devoting roughly 17% of the nation's gross domestic product to health care. He noted much of the rest of the world is paying about 9% of their GDP's on health care.

► In the Spokesman-Review -- Health care's bottom line (Gary Crooks column) -- President Obama has jolted the health care discussion back to life, but insurance companies also deserve credit because their recent premium increases serve as a useful reminder of the cost of doing nothing.

► In The Olympian -- How would Republicans fix the budget? -- They all say that taxes are not needed to bridge a $2.8 billion state budget gap. But they refuse to say how they would do it without new revenue. Says Rep. Gary Alexander: "Why would you come up with ideas when they (Democrats) have no intention to do anything with these proposals?"

The economic harm of privatization

State legislators should focus not only on the quality and value of the services provided by hard-working state employees, but also the negative ripple effects experienced in local communities when good public-sector jobs are eliminated for no reason other than to achieve "smaller government" -- not cheaper, just smaller. These days, the lives and livelihoods of real people, in both the public and private sectors, deserve more consideration and care than they are getting from bottom-line-blinded international corporations. And they deserve better from the public's employer. Read our Feb. 26 Legislative Update.

► In Sunday's News Tribune -- Senate's budget mum so far on new taxes -- Senate Democrats barely passed a plan Saturday, on a 25-19 vote, for erasing the red ink in the state’s budget without deciding exactly where they will get all the money to do it. The plan combines spending cuts, federal funds, reserves and transfers, and counts on at least $940 million in new revenue, which senators did not discuss or vote on Saturday.

► In today's Tri-City Herald -- Senate adds $71 million back to budget -- A plan to fold Fish & Wildlife and Parks & Recreation into the Department of Natural Resources has been scrapped, but the departments have been told to find $10.6 million in savings, and they can't close any state parks to do it. Another change would close McNeil Island Corrections Center by the end of the biennium and keep Larch Corrections Center open with 480 beds. The Senate budget originally proposed to close Larch and reduce the size of McNeil Island.

► In Sunday's Olympian -- Senate votes to close McNeil prison -- The Senate approved a spending plan that would shut down McNeil Island Corrections Center, leaving only sex offenders confined there. The Teamsters, whose ranks include more than 500 McNeil employees, complained that closing the prison would mean lost jobs and lack of space for a prison population projected to grow.

► At HeraldNet.com -- Senate budget vote may shake up Democrats -- Is Sen. Rodney Tom out of the budget process? Why did he and Sen. Rose Franklin vote "no" on the budget Saturday? Is that why Sens. Chris Marr and Claudia Kauffman had to switch from "no" to "yes"?

► At Olympia Newswire -- State cuts hit Olympia-area economy -- Take what Boeing and Microsoft mean to the economy of King and Snohomish counties, multiply it a few times, and you start to get the picture. About 37% of workers in Thurston County are government employees, with the large majority of those workers drawing a paycheck from the state. When that state government faces severe budget shortfalls, Olympia’s economy bears the brunt of the cuts. In 2007, the food bank had about 90,000 individual visits. Last year, it was about 120,000 -- a 33% increase.

► In today's News Tribune -- Trust fund can help preserve state's health care safety net (Rep. Tami Green column) -- It’s time to step up and preserve the health care safety net for lower-income seniors by passing common-sense, proven proposals to safeguard quality care and living-wage jobs. HB 3021 establishes a trust fund for quality long-term care eligible for federal Medicaid matching funds. Its revenue comes from care facilities that serve Medicaid-eligible populations.

Spokesman-Review photo -- click for more info

► In Sunday's Spokesman-Review -- Forgery case fuels debate on signature-gatherer rules -- Before Dennis O’Shea took his own life, he placed a box on the seat of his car with information acknowledging his role in petition forgery. A coalition of labor and social-action groups have raised the case to support bills introduced this winter that required paid signature-gatherers to register with the Public Disclosure Commission; swear they know the law; not have been convicted of a felony for five years; and carry picture ID when working.

► In today's Columbian -- Training workers (editorial) -- Rep. Tim Probst’s (D-Vancouver) background and expertise in work-force issues and job training programs are paying big dividends as the first-term state representative maneuvers through his second legislative session. One of his most promising efforts is a bill that would create an Opportunity Express program with two dramatic benefits: a tax break for small businesses and a boost in job training programs of about 10,000 positions.

► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Skilled worker shortage looms in health care, even construction -- In 2013, skilled workers will be in high demand again. State projections indicate there could be a shortage of trained workers in fields that recently dropped workers into the unemployment line, including aerospace manufacturing and possibly even construction.

► In Sunday's Daily World -- Injunction stops release of building department report -- Employees (AFSCME 275) in the county’s building department get a temporary injunction in Grays Harbor Superior Court to stop the public release of a critical operations review done by consultants.

► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Drop in sales tax revenue a hit to Sound Transit budget -- The agency predicts a $3.1 billion shortfall from 2009 to 2023. This means a drop to $14.7 billion from $17.8 billion. Officials say they’re concerned, but as of now they don’t expect the reduced tax revenue to delay any major projects, including extension of light rail to Lynnwood by 2023.

► In today's Columbian -- 3rd Congressional District up for grabs -- If geography is destiny, the 3rd is destined to vote for a moderate this year, as it has for the past decade. It's one of only a handful of true swing districts in the nation, making it a bellwether in the 2010 election.

► From AP -- Senate impasse puts federal employees out of work -- Two thousand federal transportation workers will be furloughed without pay on Monday, and the Obama administration said they have Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning to blame for it.

► Today from McClatchy -- Congress will pass jobless benefits extension, GOP senator says -- Congress will pass legislation aimed at keeping certain jobless benefits, highway and transit money and other government programs funded, Sen. Jon Kyl , the Senate's No. 2 Republican, said Sunday. But the approval is highly unlikely to come before Monday morning. Several programs expire at midnight, and Congress has failed to extend them because of an objection by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.)

► At Politico -- Sen. Jim Bunning holds the floor: "Tough shit" -- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) was pleading for Bunning to drop his objection, when the Kentucky Republican got fed up. "Tough shit," Bunning said from the back row, overheard by the floor staff and others in attendance.

► At SeattlePI.com -- Machinists don't want to "build them both" -- Boeing union machinists Friday declined to support a new campaign pushing the Air Force to buy aerial refueling tankers from both Boeing and a competing Northrop Grumman-Airbus team.

► In today's LA Times -- Things are looking up for U.S. airlines -- After more than a year of slumping demand and sinking revenue, the nation's airline industry is beginning to show signs of a recovery, with modest increases in revenue and forecasts of growing demand this year.

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Thousands tell Whirlpool: Keep it Made in America -- More than 5,000 workers, community and religious activists converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind., to say with a unified and loud voice: “Keep It Made in America.” The massive crowd stretched nearly a mile along the road leading to the plant. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka along with 40 people, including children and grandchildren of workers, clergy and retirees, used a Whirlpool refrigerator to wheel petitions with 70,000 signatures to the plant’s locked front gate. The petitions urged Whirlpool executives to reconsider their decision to shutter the Evansville plant, laying off 1,100 people and moving jobs to Mexico.

► In today's Wall St. Journal -- AFL-CIO pushes for its own jobs plan -- The AFL-CIO labor federation is pushing for a jobs package far bigger than the $15 billion bill the Senate passed, and it wants to fund the package in part through a tax on securities transactions. Such a tax has the backing of some prominent investors but is largely opposed by business.

► In today's LA Times -- Payday lenders giving advances on unemployment checks -- The industry has found a new and lucrative source of business: the unemployed. Critics say its high loan fees send the jobless into a cycle of debt. The industry sees it as a service for people in need.