August, 29 2017, 01:45pm EDT
California Democratic Party Endorses Single Payer Bill, SB 562
In a unanimous vote by its executive board, meeting over the weekend in Anaheim, the California Democratic Party has endorsed SB 562, the Healthy California Act which would guarantee health coverage to all Californians and eliminate premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket health costs.
The vote Sunday by the CDP's executive board followed a recommendation by the CDP Legislative Committee Saturday, which also voted unanimously to endorse SB 562. The executive board includes some 320 members including both Democratic elected officials and appointed CDP representatives.
WASHINGTON
In a unanimous vote by its executive board, meeting over the weekend in Anaheim, the California Democratic Party has endorsed SB 562, the Healthy California Act which would guarantee health coverage to all Californians and eliminate premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket health costs.
The vote Sunday by the CDP's executive board followed a recommendation by the CDP Legislative Committee Saturday, which also voted unanimously to endorse SB 562. The executive board includes some 320 members including both Democratic elected officials and appointed CDP representatives.
In effect, the vote is a tacit rebuke to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, one of the top Democratic Party office holders in California, who acted unilaterally in late June to block legislative action on SB 562 after the bill passed the California Senate.
"This represents the leadership of the Democratic Party recognizing that the activists are not going to stop working to enact this bill, and that this is going to have to be addressed," said David Welch, a Chico RN who is a member of both the CDP executive board and the board of directors of the California Nurses Association, lead sponsor of SB 562.
The activists, who do the day-to-day work of the Democratic Party, feel very strongly about this issue. There is enormous support among them for single payer healthcare reform, and that it is the only way to solve the ongoing healthcare emergency for so many people in this country including in California," Welch said.
CNA members along with an outpouring of activists across the state, including some who serve on the CDP leadership bodies, opposed Rendon's decision to halt the public legislative process and have been actively campaigning to demand action on the bill before the end of the current legislative year.
While the legislature was on its summer break, activists paid visits to a number of Assembly members in their district offices, asking them to support the bill and to prod Rendon to do his job, authorize public legislative hearings, and consider amendments to address his claim that the bill needs changes.
Additionally, over the past two weekends CNA, Our Revolution, the Healthy California Campaign #KnockEveryDoor begun canvassing in Assembly districts around the state, including last Saturday in Speaker Rendon's Los Angeles area district.
In the first two weekends volunteers knocked on more than 1,100 doors, with up to a third of the residents committing to contact their Assembly member to express support for SB 562. Volunteers will continue knocking on doors in four additional Assembly districts this coming weekend.
National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.
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China Announces 'Major Military Drills' Around Taiwan in Wake of Massive US Arms Sale
The Chinese military drills appear to be "an effort to gain air and maritime superiority and cut off external military support" for Taiwan, said one expert.
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The Chinese military on Monday announced it was conducting "major military drills" around Taiwan weeks after the US announced an $11 billion arms deal with the island nation.
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Taiwan's government, meanwhile, responded by accusing China of conducting a campaign of "military intimidation," while vowing to "take concrete action to defend the values of democracy and freedom."
Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that China's military drills appear to be "an effort to gain air and maritime superiority and cut off external military support."
William Yang, a senior Northeast Asia analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, told DW that while Chinese military exercises around Taiwan are now regular occurrences, the speed with which China ramped up its latest exercises "shows that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is becoming increasingly capable of rapidly deploying forces to combat-ready positions."
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Citing data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the Washington Post reported over the weekend that at least 717 US companies filed for bankruptcy through November 2025, the highest figure recorded since the aftermath of the Great Recession and a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.
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The bankruptcy figures add to the growing pile of evidence showing that Trump's tariffs and broader policy agenda have harmed the US economy—weakening job growth, driving the unemployment rate up to the highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic, and worsening the nation's cost-of-living crisis.
Democrats immediately seized on the new reporting as evidence of Trump's failed stewardship of the US economy, messaging that's likely to be central as the 2026 midterms approach.
Trump's economic policies did this. pic.twitter.com/tRfcNxAyAU
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) December 27, 2025
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The US State Department said the funds will be tied to reform efforts pushed by the administration, as it warns individual UN agencies to "adapt, shrink, or die"—all while giving massive handouts to billionaires.
"The agreement requires the UN to consolidate humanitarian functions to reduce bureaucratic overhead, unnecessary duplication, and ideological creep," said the State Department.
Al Jazeera reported that the reduced commitment "is a sharp contrast to the assistance of up to $17 billion the US has provided as the UN’s leading funder in recent years."
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