FILE: Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
TRUMKA TAKES ON TRUMP, PUSHES DEMS TO THE LEFT: Primary season kicks off Monday with voters heading to caucus in Iowa and the AFL-CIO is among the groups hoping that voters will turn out to help deliver a candidate who will support their mission in the years to come. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sat down with Power Post[1] for a wide ranging interview on what he expects in the upcoming election and what labor is doing to make sure workers' rights are a part of the debate:
"Donald Trump says we make too much money already and he wants to lower our wages," Trumka said said in an interview after addressing House Democrats' retreat in Baltimore last week. "If you watch a Democratic debate, they talk about issues that affect people. If you watch the Republican debate, it's bickering about who can exclude the most people from this country."
As the head of the country's largest labor union, Trumka preaches what he believes is the key to Democrats increasing their numbers at the ballot box in November: a message of narrowing income inequality.
"All of the candidates, including the Republican candidates are talking about inequality and opportunity," he said. "The question now becomes what's the solution."
WHITE HOUSE BUDGET TO PROMOTE COMPUTER EDUCATION: President Obama is expected to release the final budget request of his presidency on Feb. 9 and administration officials have said the document will include a request for expanded funding for computer education. White House budgets typically act as a vision statement for how a president would like to fund the government and Congress is not expected to pass the upcoming budget but Obama plans to request $4 billion to spend on new computer education programs. The Post[2] has more:
The administration also is seeking an additional $100 million to fund a competitive grant program for school districts with ambitious plans to reach more students, especially those who have been underrepresented in computer science classes.
Just about 25 percent of the nation's K-12 schools offer computer science courses, according to the White House, and 22 states do not allow computer science courses to count toward high school graduation requirements.
Fewer than 15 percent of high schools offered Advanced Placement Computer Science in 2015, and the demographics of those AP classes were not representative of the student population. Just 22 percent of students who took the AP exam in 2015 were girls, and 13 percent were black or Latino.
IT IS TAX SCAM SEASON: Tax day is still a month and a half away but savvy scammers have been working for months to find new ways to separate the unwitting from their refunds and the latest scam appears to be targeting the uninsured. The New York Times[3] reports that scammers are capitalizing on recent press coverage of tax penalties for those who fail to buy health insurance.
In some cases, the agency said, unscrupulous tax preparers tell clients to pay the penalties directly to them, and they keep the money.
Most people do not owe the payment at all because they have health coverage, such as Medicaid or employer-sponsored insurance, or qualify for one of many available exemptions.
"However," the I.R.S. said, "if you owe a payment, remember that it should be made only with your tax return or in response to a letter from the I.R.S. The payment should never be made directly to an individual or return preparer."
References
- ^ AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sat down with Power Post (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ The Post (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ The New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
