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President Donald Trump's plan tosign an executive order requiring the U.S. Education Department to study and scale back the federal footprint in K-12 education came as no surprise to accountability hawks critical of the administration's retreatand encouragingnews to conservatives, who say it can't happen fast enough.

Charles Barone, director of policy forDemocrats for Education Reform, said no one needed an executive order to signalthat Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would be backing away from"all kinds of things when it comes to the federal role in education." He said barely a week ago they announced they were moving away from federal oversight of the student loan industry. Hechargedthe administraton withputting the interest of lenders above students and their families.

"That's like rooting for DarthVader in a crowded showing of the Star Wars series," Barone said in an email. "It's hard to imagine it will get even more brazen than that, but I guess anything's possible."

DeVos and department employees will have 300 days to study regulations and guidance issued by the Obama administration to confirm if theyre consistent or inconsistent with federal law, Rob Goad, a senior White House advisor on education, told reporters Wednesday morning.

The order directs DeVos to modify or repeal any regulations and guidance where D.C. has overstepped its legal authority, Goad said.

Lindsey Burke, director of Education Policy Studies for the Heritage Foundation, said the move was necessary and overdue.

"It is long past time to review the regulations and red tape that are handed down from Washington that burdenthe day-to-day operations of local schools and the teachers who teach in them," she said via email.

The executive order delivers on [Trumps] commitment to ensure education decisions are made by those closest to students, Goadsaid. President Trump has reaffirmed his commitment to getting the federal government out of the way.

Text of the executive order, released Wednesday afternoon, said the review of regulations would focus specifically on "the curriculum or program of instruction of any elementary and secondary school and school system," "school administration and personnel," and "selection and content of library resources, textbooks, and instructional materials."

The review will focus specifically on the Department of Education Organization Act, the General Education Provisions Act, and the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Republicans in Congress throughout the Obama administration complained about what they saw as inappropriate executive overreach into state and local education decisions.

In particular, they criticized waivers granted from the strict accountability standards in No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top grants, which required or incentivized states to adopt the Common Core State Standards, implement tough school turnaround plans, or tie teacher evaluations to student test scores, among other education reform proposals.

"The administration is correct to recognize that education is a state and local issue and that federal intervention has greatly exceeded Washington's share in the funding of education," Burke said. "The federal government funds just 10 percent of all education spending, yet is responsible, by some estimates, for more than 40 percent of the regulatory burden on states. This is a welcome review of that burdensome arrangement.

A heavy federal role was supposed to be largelywiped out byESSA, which contains an entire section of prohibitions including banning the Education Department from mandating any states curriculum. It specifically says the department cant dictate decisions on the Common Core, one of Trumps top education targets on the campaign trail.

(The 74: Trumps Education Paradox: Return Schools to Local Control - By Expanding Federal Power?)

Goad said the executive order goes a step beyond ESSA by having a comprehensive review of all the guidance and regulations issued by the previous administration.

Outside of the general K-12 education programs covered by ESSA, the department is also responsible for implementation of a host of education initiatives, including those serving students with disabilities, and enforcement of student privacy and civil rights protections in schools.

The Trump administration already repealed one major K-12 education guidance, the Dear Colleague letter from the Education and Justice departments requiring schools to allow transgender students to use locker rooms and bathrooms matching their gender identities.

(The 74: After Reported Opposition, DeVos Defends Ending Transgender Protections to Friendly CPAC Crowd)

"I don't see how they could enforce much of anything even if they wanted to given how sparsely they're staffed at the moment," Barone said. "I think I speak for many in saying we really look forward to reading the report and that it's a bit surprising that they want to take the time to put it all on paper. That's a piata everyone will want a swing at."

(The 74: Meet the 9 New Staffers Tapped to Fill Key Roles in Secretary Betsy DeVoss Department of Education)

The department will share its findings with the White House and produce a report at the end of its 300 days late February 2018.

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Conservatives Embrace, Progressives Deride Trump's Order to Scale Back Federal K-12 Role - The 74

U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur's amendment to revive the Republicans' stalled health care legislation drew closer to a possible vote Wednesday, even as it continued to draw fire from Democrats and progressive groups who claimed it makes the original bill worse.

MacArthur, R-3rd of Toms River, introduced the amendmentthis weekafter spending most of the last month crafting it with input from Vice President Mike Pence and Rep. Mark Meadows, of North Carolina, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

The so-called "MacArthur Amendment" to the American Health Care Act is intended to breathe life into the GOP's effort to overhaul President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act after the party's first effort crashed and burned last month due to opposition from both conservatives and moderate members of the party.

The amendment aims to flip some of the opponents with key changes to the original bill, among them giving states the option to seek a waiver from some, but not all, of the Affordable Care Act's insurance requirements and standards.

House Speaker Paul Ryan praised the amendment Wednesday, but stopped short of saying it has garnered enough votes needed to push the controversial legislation through the House. While there were indications that the revisions appeal to conservatives, there was little evidence that it was winning backing from moderates, leaving the measure's fate uncertain.

"We think it's very constructive," Ryan said of the proposed revisions. "I think it helps us get to consensus."

In a statement, the Freedom Caucus said Wednesday that it could support the proposal as amended by MacArthur.

"While the revised version still does not fully repeal 'Obamacare,' we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower health care costs," the statement said. "We look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to improve the bill. Our work will continue until we fully repeal Obamacare."

MacArthur, who is co-chairman of the centrist Tuesday Group caucus, said he was "cautiously optimistic" that his changes would move enough members that leadership will be comfortable bringing the bill back for a vote.

The formerinsurance executiveaddressed the entire Republican conference Wednesday, telling members that the amendment'sgoal was to give states enough flexibility to bring costs for health insurance down, while still protecting the most vulnerable residents.

"I respect that other people may see things differently, but I believe if we don't fix this soon, the individual marketplace will collapse and a lot of people will get hurt," he said.

His amendment would restore the ACA's essential health benefits and protections, such as the mandate that insurers provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and not discriminate against consumers based on gender. But it also would allow states to seek waivers from some of the coverage requirements and restrictions, provided they attest that the changes were intended to bring down the costs of health care or increase the number of people covered.

Among the most controversial provisions that states could potentially waive is the so-called "community rating" rule restricting insurers from charging higher premiums based on health status. MacArthur's amendment permits that rule to be waived if a state participates in a federal "high-risk pool" for people with serious health conditions or creates its own high-risk pool with subsidies to help obtain affordable coverage.

MacArthurinsists that people with pre-existing conditions would still be protected and able to obtain reasonably priced insurance coverage. He said the federal government was providing about $130 billion to aid people with health care costs, on top of $160 billion in assistance included in the original GOP bill.

"This is significant help from the federal government," he said.

Opponents countered that the amendment does little to address the original bill's faults and creates new problems.

"Tom MacArthur calls it a compromise, but it only makes the American Health Care Act worse," said Maura Collinsgru, a leader with the progressive advocacy group New Jersey Citizen Action, which has helped organize protests outside MacArthur's district offices in Evesham and Toms River.

Left-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective also criticized the amendment Wednesday, saying it would likely cause hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans to lose insurance coverage.

Ray Castro, an analyst with the think tank, said the amendment's language mandating that people with pre-existing conditions can't be refused coverage means little if insurers are free to charge them more.

"They can't deny, but they can increase premiums to such a level that they won't be able to afford it," Castro said, adding that while the waivers are optional, states will be under pressure to seek them in order to keep the costs passed on to other consumers from spiraling up.

Risk pools won't work unless they are adequately subsidized, which will be difficult because of the high cost of covering seriously ill patients, he said.

Opponents also jumped on language in the amendment that would guarantee that members of Congress and their staffers, who are required to obtain insurance from the same ACA marketplaces where individuals and small groups shop, would continue to have access to plans with essential health benefits, even if they reside in states where those minimum benefits are waived.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee planned to highlight the language in digital ads targeting MacArthur and other Republican lawmakers.

Rep. MacArthur is leading the charge to remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which will go down in infamy as one of the most heartless acts of this Republican Congress. As proof of the repeal bills devastating impact, Rep. Tom MacArthur is exempting himself from the punishment his own amendment will inflict on his constituents, DCCC spokesman Evan Lukaske said. This digital ad campaign will educate voters in MacArthurs district about this morally bankrupt congressional carve-out.

MacArthur said the exclusion was not intended, but was added to his amendment at the behest of the Senate Budget Committee so that the legislation would comply with its rules regarding reconciliation with an earlier budget resolution passed to avoid a Senate filibuster. He promised it would be removed with separate legislation at the same time the bill is brought to the House floor.

"Leadership has already committed to a fix. If we vote on health care, we'll vote on that at the same time. I'm personally committed to it," he said.

Collinsgru said the language was insulting to consumers.

"It just adds insult to injury to this whole mess," she said. "It sends the message that this may be good enough for you to swallow, but not good enough for (members of Congress)."

MacArthur said the technical language was unfortunate and added to the "noise" surrounding the controversial legislation. But he vowed to continue pressing for a solution.

"The anchor for me has always been that this is about people, not politics," he said. "I'm trying to bring my professional and personal experience to bear. And if we can fix the individual marketplace, it will help a lot of people."

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MacArthur amendment praised by conservatives, panned by progressives - Burlington County Times

Former San Diego Mayor and Congressman Bob Filner has written a new book, Trumping Trump: Making Democrats Progressive Again.

On sale on Monday, the self-published paperback discusses Filners career in public service and politics, and what he still wanted to accomplish before he left public life in 2013. Filner resigned less than a year into his term as mayor after he was accused by several women of sexual harassment and making unwanted advances. He was sentenced to home detention and probation after pleading guilty to charges in connection with some of the acts.

A copy of the book was not immediately available Monday, and Filner declined an interview until a reporter could read the publication. Official reviews on Amazon.com say that the book talks about Filners personal problems as well as how progressives can make their values resonate with voters.

"Bob Filner is the first to acknowledge his fall, Shad Meshad, president of the National Veterans Foundation, wrote in a review. That said, what follows in these chapters is a look at his first-hand experience in how government on a local, really local, level can serve the people.

Carl Stein, another reviewer, wrote that Filners experience and the lessons drawn are all the more compelling given Dr. Bob's personal struggles and coming to terms with the disorienting effects of power. His willingness to frankly confront these issues stands as an important benchmark in the current political conversation."

The book, which is on sale on Amazon for $17.95, also appears to focus on how priorities are set in Congress, where Filner served for two decades, and was one of the organizers of the Progressive Caucus in the House of Representatives.

Although they continued to meet throughout his term in the House, it didn't take long to realize that legislative power is held securely in the hands of the party leadership, the books official summary says.

The possibility of radical changes in key issues that are important to progressives is bound up in an arcane process hemmed in by rules and controlled by powerful congressmen who are heavily influenced by persuasive, well-financed special-interest groups,

Its Filners first published book, but he has also written the preface to Filipino World War II Soldiers: America's Second-Class Veterans, a collection of pictures and stories. Filner had served as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841

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Former Mayor Bob Filner writes book about progressives and Trump ... - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Khalid Kamau, a very progressive activist lawyerendorsed by Our Revolution,earned a city council seat in South Fulton, Georgia, a newly incorporated municipality outside Atlanta. He won bya landslide with a grassroots message. He engaged average Americans on their turf. High-priced ads did not get him elected:engaging with people did.

Progressives from around the country invested more than$8 millionin getting Jon Ossoff into a runoff. How many additional dollars will be spent trying to take the seat? If he wins, it will bea symbolic victory. But win or lose, it willhave been a waste of resources that could otherwise get spent in local elections to bring more progressives into office in races throughout the country.

Most Americans are progressive in the majorityof their values. When asked about policies like Social Security, Medicare, the right to health care, or public education, they support these by overwhelming margins.So why is it that progressives, the folks who by definition will materially make the lives of the middle class and the poor better, have a hard time winning? The answer is: afailure to communicate.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. How many times do we hear consultants tell Democrats that theyjust need to bring out the base for a win? What happens when many in that base come out but instead vote against their interests, as they did in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin during the last presidential election? When will Democratic leaders realize what Republican consultants know but do not say? Party affiliation when folks enter the confines and privacy of the voting booth is fungible. And the party or group thatreaches voters on the carnal level ultimately wins.

The corporate establishment always knew that. Over the last several decadesthey've executed the Powell Manifesto, written by Democrat Lewis Powell, with abandon. The Republican Party and corporate Democrats have not deviated from its tenets. It is the reason we have an Affordable Care Act that benefitsinsurance companies that pilfer the average American citizen. It is the reason pharmaceutical companies are allowed to charge us exorbitantprices for drugs originally developed with taxpayer dollars. It is the reason we do not havesingle-payer/Medicare-for-allhealth care and universal health care, which is in effect in some form in every democratic industrialized country in the world.

So how does one stopthe insanity? Remember that party affiliation is fungible. People vote for those they connect with in their gut. One can demonstrate that Republican policies materially hurt most Americans. But the GOP wrap themselves in the flag andAmerica First rhetoric, and they instill a fear of the other. Progressives must use those same impulses, with the truth framed in similar terms.

Progressives must understand that it is about more than bringing out the base. It is about expanding and educating the base. The right counts on ignorance, and we must remember that ignorance defines our original state of being. The process of growing and teaching must start locally. We build trust locally.

All Americans want a good education for their children. That is one place where people can work together to elect school boards that are looking out for children. Parents working together will soon realize that the funding and laws they need to do better by their kids need legislation and financial support from the state. If the state politicians do not oblige, those same politicians get booted out. If the federal politicians do not support the requests of the state andlocal politicians, they are voted out. The common interest, with people working together, can create an actualwe, the people government.

The aforementioned scenario may be overly simplistic, but the process is definitely on point. It requires hard grassroots work to bring people together while fighting the misinformationdistributed bymany Washington think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and others. But it can be done. We must do it. If progressives win locallyby winning the hearts and minds of their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances throughworking together on issues of shared concernthe national wins will follow.

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If progressives win locally, the national wins will follow - Daily Kos

Photos by AP

This is going to anger some of my progressive friends but here is the hard ugly truth; Trump supporters are united. Progressives are fractured.

Lets break it down.

According to a new ABC/Washington Post poll,96% of Mr. Trumps voterssay they would vote for him all overagain. This in spite of assaults on their health care, a gross diminishment of theprograms that they use, no legislation passed, staffing his cabinet with swamp creatures, possible war on several fronts, the evolving Russian collusionstory and a lumbering economy that is not improving.

Even though the polls show that Trump votersdo not like the nepotism, his tax secrecy and find him to be untrustworthy, they do like his image, his anti immigrant stance, his anti government fury, his war on the free pressand that he is anti gun control. Theycomplained continually about Mr. Obamas off-time while he was in office yet they have no problem that Mr. Trump seems to be constantly playing golfnor with the enormous amount of tax dollars we are spending so that he can.

On the other hand, I am still seeing that progressives are attacking each other wantonly. There are highly emotional, deeply biased and unreasonable anti Bernie and anti Hillary memes and fake newsstories popping up daily on my internet feed, many re-posted by hardcore progressive partisans.

Some claim that Bernie is anti woman in spite of the fact that he gets enormously high marks from national womens groups and of course others feel that Hillary stole the election from Bernieand the old guard that remains at the DNC must go. The poll numbers in regard to either candidate would not come close to Trumps 96% support at this time.

It is doubtful that either Hillary or Bernie will be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 but that is not the issue. Not by a long shot. The point is that unlike neocons, the left simply can not get it together. We are far too willing to believe bad or fake news about other progressives while neocons stridein almost cult-like unisonto nearlyany tune Mr. Trump plays.

The most obvious lesson from the last election seems to havebeen totally missed by many disgruntled progressives. That lesson is that we have a common adversary and that defeating that adversaryin the upcoming elections is the ONLY important thing. This is a message that is at the forefront on the right but appears to beonly a dream on the left. The truth is that too often progressives are theirown worst enemy.

This is a difficult column to write after such inspiring and successful protests likethe Womens March on DC,the worldwide Earth Day Science Marchesand the amazing town hall confrontations that Republicans are experiencing back home. It is clear that on the issues progressivesare united but that somehow we get hung-up in personalities when it comes to elections and that is when wefall apart.

This is the exact weak spot that the Russians exploited in the last election. It has been shown that the hard feelings in the Bernie camp (I was a supporter) were the happy hunting ground for Russian bots and trolls who pumped out nonsense and lies about Hillary at a yeomans ratein the lead-up to the election. Many Bernie supporters accepted the propaganda not because it was true, in fact many knew that it was complete BS. They accepted it because it was about Hillary and they could not stand her. As a result, they either supported Jill Stein who had dinner with Putin and Mike Flynn in Russia and who the European Greens see as badly flawed or they did not vote at all. This was one major reason Mr Trump won the electoral college and is now sitting in the White House.

On the other hand, Hillary supporters are still angry still angry because they feel that Bernie and his followers werea reason Hillary lost steam and then lost the election. That anger turns into a willingness to accept fake facts about who Bernie actually is and what he supports. In turn, thisdrives the wedge deeper into the progressive baseand is a foreboding sign coming up to the mid term elections.

Recently, Berniewent on the road with new DNC Chairman Tom Perez in what was billed as a unity tour. Both progressives were trying to stimulate the electorate on the left to find common ground and to work together. However, there are film clips where young progressives in the audience actually booed Mr. Perez who has a strong and reasonedprogressive record and whose policies most of those who booed him agree with.

I find it frustrating that almost none of the progressives who are anti Perez even watched the DNC debates wherein Mr. Perez was a stand out with concise and pionted answers to the questions put before him. If they had taken the time to research beyond a Facebook meme, they would have known that. However, it seems that having their own way can bemore important and so they consume one BS meme after the other and then pass them on.

In closing, I beseechprogressives to do one thing. Go outside and look around you. We live in a country that is still functioning on a high level. Most of us have a place to live and food to eat. The street lights work and the highways are clear. We are still living in a fairly open society where we can speak out without fear of arrest or worse. All of that is at risk, big time, if progressivesdo not unify and coalesce around issues instead of personalities.

We may not, in fact probably wont, have the perfect candidates we agree with 100% to run in the upcoming elections.. There will be things that our candidates will support that we do not like and things they will not support that we do. However, it is up to us to stop swallowing and passing on foulpropaganda about progressives who are not our choice simply because we childishly want it our way or no way at all. We must focus on the issue and vote accordingly. The counter productive intolerance for members of our own group is what Mr. Trump is depending upon and it is what the Russian trolls enjoyfeeding on.

Our priority has to be tostop satisfying Mr. Trump and providing Russia an easy target.If not, Mr. Trump and the Russians will surely appreciate anyeffort to divideus once again as Mr. Trumpenjoys a disastrous second term.If we wish to avert that fate, progressivesmust remember that resistance and unity go hand in hand, not foot in mouth.

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A note to progressives - Field of View - Blogs - Times Union - Albany Times Union (blog)