Here in Washington all eyes were on health care last week, where Senate leaders were trying to move along a health bill that could throw 22 million Americans off their insurance. (That’s what Trump calls “winning,” Jill Richardson writes this week.)
The bill hasn’t moved just yet, thanks to steep partisan divisions as well as conflicts among Republicans. But meanwhile a much more encouraging news item slipped under the radar: a stunning bipartisan vote by a House committee to revoke the post-9/11 war authorization Congress passed back in 2001.
Over the last 16 years that resolution has been badly distorted, as three administrations have used it as a blank check to launch military operations in at least 14 countries — in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and far beyond.
Why the bipartisan action on this long overdue review now? As I write this week in OtherWords, Donald Trump didn’t build that war machine. But putting his face on it might’ve hastened lawmakers to do their job and reclaim congressional review of our seemingly endless wars overseas.
Also this week, former CEO Steve Clifford explains the ridiculous reasons CEOs get paid so much, and why that’s a problem. Jim Hightower lampoons the congressional GOP’s idea of “freedom” — as in, your freedom to be sick and unable to afford health care. And Khalil Bendib mocks the Trump administration’s insistence on pursuing its Muslim ban even as it ignores real evidence that Russia might’ve interfered in our elections.
Khalil Bendib/ OtherWords.org
- A Bipartisan Vote to Put the Brakes on War / Peter Certo
By putting such a sinister face on it, Trump might have finally inspired lawmakers to rein in America’s post-9/11 war machine. - There’s No Good Reason for Your Boss to Make 347 Times What You Do / Steven Clifford
Unlike movie stars and athletes, skyrocketing pay for CEOs has nothing to do with markets. - Are We Tired of ‘Winning’ Yet? / Jill Richardson
It’s hard to see how anything the president would call a “win” would be good for his voters, or for any of us. - Free As You Can Afford to Be / Jim Hightower
GOP leaders want to protect your “freedom” to be poor, powerless, sick, and uninsured. - The Real Threat / Khalil Bendib
