Dreamers, the CFPB & trumpcare … The progress report


July 21, 2017

In the last 48 hours, Senate Republicans moved from nearly giving up on Trumpcare to cutting deals for its passage. As we’ve seen time and time again, no deals or tweaks can make Trumpcare better. Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new score for the tweaked BCRA; which confirmed 22 million people will still lose their health care.

Senate Republicans are offering $200 billion to Senators from Medicaid expansion states to trick them into supporting a health care repeal bill that slashes $756 billion from the program. The bribe doesn’t come close to making-up for the drastic cuts to Medicaid. As Aviva Aron-Dine, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn, “It’s only going to be more expensive to cover these people through private plans with a wrap. So you’re talking about covering a minority of the expansion population at best.”

Despite not even knowing what bill they’re trying to pass, they’re aiming to vote on a motion to proceed that would start debate on Trumpcare Tuesday. If Senate Republicans pass their motion, a series of votes that decide between the health of Americans and the wealthy few will follow.

 

 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the Dream Act of 2017, which would grant legal status and establish a path to citizenship for DREAMers. Eight out of ten voters, including more than 7 in 10 Republicans, believe DREAMers should be allowed to remain in the US legally. Ending DACA would result in a loss of $460.3 billion from the national GDP over the next 10 years, and remove an estimated 685,000 workers from the nation’s economy. Attorneys general from 19 states plus DC signed a letter to President Trump asking him to protect and preserve DACA — they understand that it’s about the lives of the 787,580 beneficiaries deferred action protects, as well as our nation as a whole. “The consequences of rescinding DACA would be severe, not just for the hundreds of thousands of young people who rely on the program — and for their employers, schools, universities, and families — but for the country’s economy as a whole,” the attorneys general write.

#RipOffClause. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule prohibiting class action bans in forced arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts.  The rule restores our day in court for widespread violations of the law. Forced arbitration simply gives companies a license to steal. One example:Wells Fargo allegedly committed fraud by creating millions of fake accounts and then told its customers: “Too bad, you can’t have your day in court.” Although the CFPB rule is final, our work has just begun. Conservatives plan to repeal the CFPB arbitration rule under the CRA with a vote in the House as soon as Tuesday.