Jobs Bill update:

Keep the calls coming!  It’s crunch time for putting America back to work. Now is the chance for Congress to put their rhetoric into action by approving The Promoting American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213), which the U.S. House may vote upon TODAY. Word is the Reps. Jay Inslee, Brian Baird and Adam Smith, plus Sen. Maria Cantwell, have yet to commit to supporting H.R. 4213. Call 877-442-6801 NOW to urge their support. Learn more.

►  In today's NY Times -- Cost of jobs bill leaves some Democrats leary -- The emergence of the escalating federal debt and government spending as a defining political issue is complicating efforts this week to push through a major package of tax breaks and unemployment aid over the reluctance of some wary Democrats.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Bill on jobless benefits, state financial help scaled back -- After struggling to reach a compromise, House leaders scheduled a vote today on the slimmed-down package in hopes of pushing it through both chambers before the 10-day Memorial Day recess, set to begin Friday. Unless they act before June 1, millions of people could cease to be eligible for up to 99 weeks of jobless benefits and doctors' Medicare payments could fall by 20%.

Today's essential Tea Party reading:

►  In today's Washington Post -- Gulf oil spill offers a lesson in capitalism vs. socialism (E.J. Dionne column) -- "Deregulation" is wonderful until we discover what happens when regulations aren't issued or enforced. Everyone is a capitalist until a private company blunders. Then everyone starts talking like a socialist, presuming that the government can put things right because they see it as being just as big and powerful as its Tea Party critics claim it is. But the truth is that we have disempowered government and handed vast responsibilities over to a private sector that will never see protecting the public interest as its primary task. The sludge in the gulf is the product of our own contradictions.

►  In today's Olympian -- Just try to get Big Government out of your life -- and see what's left (column) -- Huge, clunky, intrusive, exorbitant -- that’s Uncle Sam. Get off our backs, get out of our lives and let go of our wallets. So let's go ahead and pick what we want to get rid of. Medicare? The FDIC? The FDA? The USDA? How about the FBI, TSA or CIA? OK, let's keep those things, but as for the rest of Big Guv’ment, get your shiftless boot off our hard-working necks and let us be -- at least until we’re old enough for Social Security.

Local news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Two workers killed in fire at Auburn propane company -- Two workers died Wednesday afternoon after a boom on a truck they were operating struck a power line at the at the company yard of Ferrellgas, an Auburn propane company.

►  Yesterday's posting -- Town Hall on workplace safety reform on June 19 -- With the series of deadly workplace tragedies in recent months at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, at the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and at the Tesoro oil refinery here in Anacortes, there has been a renewed national focus on the issue of workplace safety. Union members and everyone else concerned about this subject are invited to participate in "Reforming Our Workplace Safety and Health Laws," an important town hall meeting scheduled for Saturday, June 19 from 10 a.m. to noon at the South Seattle Community College's Georgetown campus.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Large grocers support measure to privatize liquor sales -- The Northwest Grocery Association, which represents major chains including QFC and Safeway, has joined one of its largest members -- Costco Wholesale -- in supporting a voter petition to put Washington state out of the liquor-store business.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- CWU protesters say enough with the cuts -- Members of the Public School Employees of Washington march throughout the Central Washington University campus, protesting what they describe as unfair and inequitable cuts to certified staff.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Shareholder suit against Boeing over 787 schedule dismissed -- A federal judge has dismissed a fraud lawsuit against Boeing by a pension fund that claimed its executives intentionally deceived investors in 2009 about the 787's testing and flight schedule.

►  From AP -- BIAW sues over new Wash. home energy standards -- The Building Industry Association of Washington is suing a state agency over new energy efficiency standards, saying they exceed federal requirements and add too much to the price of a new home.

National news:

►  In today's Washington Post -- 100,000 teachers nationwide face layoffs -- Senior congressional Democrats and the Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to line up support for $23 billion in federal aid to avert an estimated 100,000 or more school layoffs.

►  In today's NY Times -- Immigration overhaul advocates question sending troops -- In deciding to deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to bolster security at the Mexican border, Obama has stepped into one of the thorniest issues facing U.S. presidents -- illegal immigration -- and has confounded allies who say he is squandering his chance to address it in a comprehensive way.

►  From AP -- Democrats stop bid to send 6,000 troops to border -- Senate Democrats repel Sen. John McCain's effort to send an additional 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexico border.

►  At Huffington Post -- Foxconn suicides continue -- The latest employee suicide came just after Foxconn's chairman led a media tour at the Chinese factory that is one of Apple's "main manufacturer contractors" of iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Among the steps taken by the company to address the problem is asking their employees to sign a "no suicide" pledge. Labor activists say the string of suicides backs up their long-standing allegations that workers toil in terrible conditions at Foxconn.

►  In The Onion -- BP pledges to continue being huge profitable company -- "We promise the good people of Louisiana or Texas or wherever that this horrific oil spill will not, even for a moment, stop us from pursuing unspeakably massive profits," said BP spokesman Reginald Clacton-Thorpe. "We are even now working around the clock to make this historic PR disaster as painless for us as possible."