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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2026 Resisting Authoritarianism - Free Washington Project Cindy Domingo The Trump administration’s systematic attacks on human rights call for the broadest and most united response possible by all who oppose the implementation of Project 2025’s agenda. PSARA heard this call, and, in January, joined with 12 other Washington state organizations to launch the Free Washington Project (FWP). Inspired by other unified efforts such as Free DC, ICE Out of California, Hands Off Chicago, and Bay Rising, FWP brings together grassroots groups, nonprofits, unions, religious organizations, student groups, and anti-intervention organizations to connect and coordinate efforts against authoritarianism, especially to stand against military escalation and the criminalization of protest. Organizing the Resistance In Free Washington Project’s first large public event, the webinar “Organizing the Resistance: Voices from Minnesota” was organized in early February and drew 250 participants. With all eyes on the struggle between the resistance movement and Trump’s militarized ICE forces, FWP sought to learn applicable lessons and build solidarity with the forces that comprise Minnesota’s resistance. Guest speakers from Minnesota included Mark Tilson from Freedom Trainers, Sophie Breen of Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Bernie Burnham and Todd Dahlstrom from Minnesota AFL-CIO, Friendly Vang-Johnson with Friendly Hmong Farms, and Rabbi David Basior who is from Seattle and traveled to Minnesota with 1,000 faith leaders to support the resistance. The speakers’ clear message was that Minnesota’s tremendous response to Trump’s militarized attacks against the people of Minnesota, who are acting in defense of immigrants and want justice for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, was a result of years of the movements there working in coalition. According to Burnham, “We started organizing for a number of things that we felt were good for working people and families, one of those being paid family medical leave. So that goes back a lot of years. Since that time, people have stayed in coalition…It’s labor, community groups, faith groups. You name it… a lot of people stuck together…One of the things that has made this a bit easier [is that] we’ve been in a relationship for a long time.” Breen from MIRAC also noted that the networks that came together after George Floyd’s May, 2020, murder by police reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and contributed to the response to repression in the state. Since the webinar, Tilson and Breen have been contacted by local Seattle groups to assist in rapid response training as Washington groups prepare for a potential uptick in ICE activity. Mission and Goals In addition to building a network of anti-authoritarian groups, Free Washington Project also seeks to build a diverse network that would be multi-racial, multi-sector, and multi-generational to coordinate actions and events by FWP’s member organizations. Through FWP’s website, freewaproject.org , member organizations can share resources, trainings, and announcements to reinforce all efforts of the network at the local, regional, and state levels. A broad network will also protect those most impacted such as LGBTQ-IA+, immigrant, and refugee communities. FWP has been working with One America and NWIRP and others on efforts to protect immigrant communities, since mass deportation continues to be the most visible centerpiece of Trump’s domestic repressive policies. Organizations that want to join Free Washington Project’s work should start by going to the website to see FWP’s complete mission and goals and points of unity. Minnesota’s resistance movement makes it clear that a unified movement with diverse response tactics can force the Trump administration to start removing some of their armed ICE forces. These tactics include rapid response, mass mobilizations that range from local to national, civil disobedience, utilization of social media to override false propaganda and misinformation, general strikes, and pressuring elected officials to protect all people from violent militarized actions. Minnesota’s resistance movement has also forced Congress to begin taking concrete action around ICE. However, it is clear from Alex Pretti’s and Renee Good’s murders and the violence perpetrated in Minnesota by ICE, that ICE must be abolished. ICE cannot be reformed. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 Final Legislative Budget Overview Pam Crone The 2025 Washington legislative session ended on April 27. The information below reflects the final legislative budget. The Governor has until May 20 to sign the budget and exercise his veto authority. The budget does not be- come final until he acts. This overview was prepared before the Governor has taken action. As a reminder, the Governor has line-item veto power, meaning he can eliminate funding but cannot add new spending or shift dollars around. Over the final weeks of the session, the Legislature returned to the drawing board multiple times to draft a budget that included new revenue to navigate a $16 billion deficit projected over the next four years. Why did the Legislature have to return multiple times to the drawing board? The Governor repeatedly and consistently expressed opposition to a wealth tax, as well as concerns about relying too heavily on new revenue to balance the budget. As a result, the final budget includes more, and deeper, cuts. Another major concern is the potential impact of looming federal Medicaid reductions. Although these cuts are largely unpopular – effectively reducing healthcare access for many Americans while further lining the pockets of the wealthy – the Repub- lican-controlled House continues to move closer to a budget proposal that includes them. If these cuts are en- acted, the Governor is expected to call a special legislative session to address the resulting healthcare crisis. Current Budget Snapshot: Final operating budget: $77.8 billion Four-year outlook: $7 billion in total reductions New revenue (2025–2027): $4.3 billion New revenue (2027–2029): $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund: $2 billion remaining Cash reserves: $225 million Investments in K–12 Education: $750 million for special education services $213 million for materials, supplies, and operating costs $200 million in local effort assistance for low-income school districts Investments in State Workers: Approximately $1 billion to fund and approve collective bargaining agreements for state employees Housing Investments: $605 million to the Housing Trust Fund $117 million in grants to local governments to offset lost document recording fee revenues Maintaining Core Services: $93 million for emergency food assistance organizations $27.9 million for senior nutrition programs $20 million to expand resources for crime victims Pam Crone is a retired lobbyist and Chair of PSARA's Government Relations Committee (GRC). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 Are You Considering Residential Solar? Resources and Tools to Help You Get Started Anne Shields Are There Still Financial Incentives for Installing Solar? Yes! State sales tax exemption: Washington provides a sales tax exemption for solar energy systems, including rooftop solar panels,other materials and their installation. The exemption is available through 2029 and is usually provided through your contractor. You can request a refund if you are charged sales tax on eligible materials. Residential renewable energy tax credit: The federal government first enacted a solar investment tax credit in 2006, which allows people who install solar panels on their homes or businesses to claim a reduction in the income taxes that they would normally pay to the IRS. The amount of this reduction is capped at 30% of the amount invested in the solar array. WA’s Community Solar Program Might Save You Money Olympia Community Solar’s non-profit group purchasing model might reduce your costs and help simplify the installation process. The Solarize program is currently open to enrollment by residents of Island, Mason, Lewis, East King, Skagit, Thurstonand Whatcom counties and the cities of Bellevue, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Redmond, Sammamish, Kirkland, and Kenmore. What about the Tariffs on Solar Panels? The Trump administration tariffs on solar imports are unlikely to slow the rollout of solar power in the US. Even if it becomes a little more expensive, solar remains one of the cheapest clean energy sources. The good news is that Washington State’s solar panel manufacturing industry is growing rapidly and now supplies many local installers. Where Can I Learn More? The Dept. of Energy online Homeowner’s Guide to Going Solar is a great resource for learning the basics of residential solar installation. Olympia Community Solar’s 11-minute video, Five Steps to Going Solar, might also be a useful starting point. These resources and tools will help you get started, but make sure to work with solar installers for custom estimates of how much power your own system would be likely togenerate. Getting Bids and Choosing a Contractor The non-profit Solar Washington recommends getting at least three bids and checking references on all contractors that you decide to consider. Solar WA also recommends finding vetted local installers through the Washington Solar Energy Industries Association (WASEIA). You will be able to find a wide range of reputable, local solar installers through the WASEIA online tool foridentifying installers in your region. Comparing Installation Bids Solar WA offers a detailed list of Questions for Solar Shoppers and advice on comparing bids that you may find useful. Many factors go into an installer’s bid and cost structure, including labor required, the equipment used, the amount of power generated, warranties, and financing options. Overhead costs: Some solar equipment suppliers have high overhead costs, resulting in higher bid amounts. However, homeowners should be wary of bids significantly lower than other bids, as this may signal that an installer is cutting corners. Equipment costs: The number, type and quality of panels installed can be a significant factor in the estimates you receive. Different types of solar panels produce varying amounts of electricity, and some panels last longer than others. Warranties and production guarantees : Many installers provide warranties, but what those warranties include and do not include will vary. Generally, higher solar bids may include better warranties that could save you money in the long run. Some companies provide additional guarantees, such as production guarantees and coverage for any potential damage to your roof. When reviewing your bids, you should always read through warranty information carefully and check if the information you receive is clear about its coverage, process, and coverage amounts. Permits and policies: Your bids should include state or local permit costs for solar panel installation or usage. Be sure to review and compare these costs across all your bids. Anne Shields is a member of PSARA's Climate and Environmental Justice Committee and Third Act Washington. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents November 2025 Trump Administration Takes Advantage of Government Shutdown Steve Kofahl On October 15, Susan Illston, Senior US District Judge for the Northern District of California, issued a temporary restraining order to block the Trump Administration from firing 4,000 furloughed employees at the Department of Education and other agencies. A 2019 law, signed by Trump, requires that furloughed employees receive pay that had been withheld when a shutdown ends. The Administration now questions the interpretation of that law. Judge Illston suggested that the Administration has “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore and that they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like.” The next day, the Senate failed, for the tenth time, to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to pass a stop-gap spending bill that does not protect those who rely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The current shutdown is now the third longest in history, with no end in sight, surpassing the 16-day shutdown over the issue of ACA implementation. The record 35-day shutdown over border wall construction ended when Federal employee absences disrupted air travel during Trump’s first term, forcing Congress to resolve it. What’s happening at the Social Security Administration (SSA) this month, and what is not happening, illustrates how the Trump Administration is imposing structures and disregarding the laws. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appointed SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a made-up position not subject to Senate confirmation, to replace the IRS Commissioner forced out (as was the prior Acting SSA Commissioner) over data access issues. Bisignano now “leads” both agencies. His placement threatens the security and integrity of the largest and most sensitive databases and repositories of private information. Reportedly, these records, along with those possessed by the Department of Homeland Security, are being consolidated or cross-referenced in order to track, surveil, and deport undocumented immigrants. So, how is SSA under Bisignano doing with what it is actually supposed to be doing? During the shutdown, SSA is not providing benefit verification letters needed by low-income recipients to apply for, or continue eligibility for, a host of federal, state, and local government programs. Updates and corrections to the earnings records that SSA relies upon to calculate payment amounts are suspended. Lost Medicare cards cannot be replaced. The cost-of-living adjustment announcement is delayed, in part because nearly all Bureau of Labor Statistics personnel that provide the needed data have been furloughed. Most SSA employees continue to work, unpaid, at least for now. Those who need to use earned leave benefits to deal with issues caused by loss of income too often face excessive documentation requests, have requests denied, or are charged with Absence Without Leave (AWOL), while dealing with personal and family emergencies that are often caused or exacerbated by the shutdown. Those having trouble paying transportation costs are denied opportunities to work from home, even those whose duties are entirely portable, so can be fulfilled from home. On October 16, Reuters reported that email communications from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reveal that the Administration intends to pay over 70,000 law enforcement personnel who have been working without pay by October 22. Back pay since October 1, plus payment for the next 2-week pay period, would be included. The Administration had already said it would pay military personnel and FBI agents. Excluded are the 50,000 Transportation Security Administration workers who staff airport security checkpoints. The laws, indeed, don’t apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on this “government situation.” It’s high time for Congress to react to the Administration’s consolidation of power, and to do its job, and for all of us to demand it. Steve Kofahl is a retired President of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, a member of PSARA's Executive Board, and Co-Chair of PSARA's < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2026 Book Review: The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests, by Lynda V. Mapes Lisa Dekker Recent efforts in Clallam County, and elsewhere, to protect our remaining legacy forests from logging, led me to this recently published book. Per Stephen Kropp, founder of the Center for Responsible Forestry, coined the term, ‘legacy forest’ means a “naturally regrown, mature forest that preserves the biological, functional, and structural legacies of the forests they replaced.” Although not everyone respects this relatively new term, we know that there are other legacy forests scattered throughout the publicly-owned lands in Washington, managed by the Department of Natural Resources. In fact, these legacy forests already have great value as they cool the air, hold carbon, and harbor wildlife. Precisely why these forests matter is eloquently described in the first part of Mapes’ book as she travels to regions in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. Through interviews on site and forest walks with luminaries like Dr. Jerry Franklin, often called the "father of modern forestry" through his work at the University of Washington, we learn how research has radically changed our understanding in the space of just 60 years. Likely due to their dark understories with little sun, older forests with big trees went from once being described as “biological deserts,” to currently being recognized as the complex, life-giving, carbon-capturing, watershed- preserving treasures we know them to be today. In the chapter titled “Salmon Forests,” she travels for a week among both the remaining healthy forests and the desolate clearcuts of Vancouver Island, with Teresa Ryan (traditional name Sm’hayetsk) an indigenous knowledge and natural science lecturer at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and Susan Simard, an eminent forest ecologist, also at UBC. Both Ryan and Simard are part of the Mother Tree Project, a crew of researchers looking at the changes in soils, especially the decline in the amount of carbon in soils of areas that have been clearcut. Simard has also led the project’s deep dive into examining the richly complex soils of the uncut forests, bringing insight into how the trees connect via the mycorrhizal fungi network between them. Also evidence of the value of older forests are the proven, "sustainable" traditions of the Tribes, stewards of these lands and forests for centuries before colonization. Their practices and protocols recognized that care for the forests meant that the forests would care for them. New evidence for this appeared in a paper published in 2022, based on an archeologic study done in the land of the Nuun-chah-nulth peoples of British Columbia, (whose family ties and culture extend down to the Makah reservation in northwest Clallam County.) Botanists and archaeologists found that “old growth trees [still there] are witnesses” to the fact that these people were more than hunter-gatherers and that they “took care of and managed…forest gardens abundant with crab apples, berry patches, and wild rice root crops.” At the same time, because they stripped off only narrow pieces of cedar bark for shelter and clothing, these same cedar trees lived on for centuries. In the preface, Mapes declares that “The need for a paradigm shift is readily apparent.” After presenting data and real-world accounts to justify that shift, she ends with examples of successful restoration projects, new ideas for community solutions, and a belief in the potential for people to change their way of thinking. This should encourage the reader to hope, as does the author, for a “new ethos of conservation, based on reciprocity and respect in our relations with one another, and with nature.” < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 Who Owns Your Care Choices? Katie Harris George Orwell’s 1984 envisioned that Big Brother, our government, would be watching us and managing our lives by that year. We didn’t get there in 1984, but, that same year, two companies in the private sector were laying the groundwork to do just that. Forty years later, these companies are reaping the fruits of their vision and controlling significant aspects of our lives and health. In 1985, I happened upon a 1984 annual report for National Medical Enterprises (NME). It was a shocker. The company trumpeted a growth model called vertical integration. NME intended to buy companies, procuring all goods and services a hospital needed. They would source goods and services from companies they owned, at prices they set. They bought psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and acute care centers. They bought companies providing diagnostic equipment, hospital beds, lifts, wheelchairs, and linens. 1984 was also the year that NME moved into health plans, becoming the second largest investor-owned health care company. This enabled NME to control patients’ access to benefits and fees for medical insurance, as well as the price of everything the patients might need. But NME became mired in scandal. In the 1990s, it had to sell its specialty hospitals after its psychiatric hospitals committed fraud. It then rebranded as Tenet Healthcare, today capitalized at almost $17 billion, with assets of $8.3 billion. But in this universe, $8.3 billion is small potatoes. Also in 1984, a relatively small company called United Health-care went public. Fast forward forty years. In 2025, United Health Group’s (UHG’s) revenues are $435 billion, up 10.48% over 2024. It ranks #3 on the Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies. UHG has swallowed up more than 2,700 companies. It is Orwellian and very Big Brother. UHG has diversified its holdings to include whether we are eligible for care, what care we’ll receive, where we’ll obtain it, how much we’ll be charged, what information we’ll receive about our care, and how our data will be shared. And this strategic approach has landed UHG on Forbes’ List of Most Admired Companies for fifteen consecutive years. Our data is a marketable asset for UHG. Wendell Potter, whose Sunlight Report on United Health Group analyzes UHG’s acquisitions, reports, “The company increasingly even controls much of the information we have available to us online about medical care and health insurance. One of its transactions created RVO Health, which is now a massive, privately held digital media and marketing company that reaches more than 300 million people every month, and manages more than 100 news and information sites.” Potter also notes that information sources appearing to be independent often are not; for example, UHG operates Health-markets, an online site that appears to provide unbiased insurance information, despite its inherent conflict of interest. Vertical integration is hitting specialized caregiving industries, too. For example, Redwood Family Care Network (RFCN) provides residential programs, community homes, specialized home care, community supports, day programs, employment supports, and behavioral services. On a given day, a client might proceed from a community home to a day program, and then receive therapies and job coaching, all under RFCN’s umbrella, while appearing to receive services from discreet providers. The rapid pace of consolidation affects service quality, as well as the bottom line. Since 2020, my family has experienced issues three times. My mother required caregiving in New York. A small agency provided aides, supervision, and medical coordination. Then the company was bought out. Mom’s care went sideways. A social worker, assigned to oversee her care, worked for a different agency under the same umbrella. My mother’s caregiving agency didn’t supervise the social worker, and the social worker wasn’t supervising Mom’s aides. My daughter, who has disabilities, is in Supported Living, a DSHS program. Her service provider was bought out by a company offering diversified caregiving services. Staff turnover was astonishing. My daughter’s home had five managers in three months. She missed appointments. Her household supplies disappeared at an impressive rate, and the promised inventory system wasn’t implemented. I transferred my daughter’s care to another provider. Within weeks, her new provider was bought out by yet another company for $835 million. The purchasing company added 14,000 to its client base of 50,000 in 40 states. The company tells us that nothing will change. But, actually, my experience is that it just takes the purchaser a while to implement changes. As for now? I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Please join me for a deeper look at the impacts of vertical integration in health and caregiving industries in upcoming issues of The Advocate. If you have examples of your own that you’d like to share, please send them to organizer@psara.org and put Vertical Integration in the subject line. Katie Harris is the Retiree Advocate's copy editor and a member of the Retiree Advocate Editorial Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 Throw It Away! But Where Is “Away”? Bobby Righi As we shop this season, we need to be awakened to the fact that we are drowning in refuse – plastic, clothes, electronics, shoes, etc. These are things that “go away” to landfills and incinerators and are shipped around the world to poorer countries. They eventually end up in rivers and flow whole or in their chemical parts to litter beaches and then flow into the oceans. Garbage is all around us. Watch the film “Buy Now” on Netflix or in theaters to get a graphic view of this process and an explanation of why we are in this fix. Plastic, in nearly all manufactured goods, is everywhere – mountain-sized heaps in landfills, jamming up rivers, and continent-sized islands in the oceans. It breaks into tiny particles that are in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. So it is inside us as well, even in mothers’ breast milk and the placentas of new born babies. What is it doing to our DNA and all the planets’ organisms? That’s under investigation. People who live near garbage land- fills and those near refineries that make the chemicals for plastic have shortened lives from the toxic pollution. People who try to make a living from polluted waters and lands are struggling to feed their families. Meanwhile, the plastic is piling up higher. We produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste each year, and global production of primary plastic is forecasted to reach 1,100 million tons by 2050. Most gets sent “away” to poor countries in Africa or Asia. Alarms about plastic are being raised around the world, and people are trying to address the problems. In Washington State the Rewrap Bill was introduced last year and will come up again during this legislative session. Packaging manufacturers will be responsible for paying for the full lifecycle of their products, including disposal and recycling. At the federal level, the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act has been around for several years and will, hopefully, come up again this year. The bill will shift the burden of cleanup and waste management to where it be- longs: on the corporations that produce this waste. It establishes source reduction targets for single-use plastic products, creates a nationwide beverage container refund program, and bans certain single-use plastic products that are not recyclable. It will pause plastic manufacturing facilities until critical environmental justice and health issues are addressed. The fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, “The High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution,” just ended their meeting in Busan, Korea. It had one job – to come up with a treaty to curb plastic pollution. Since 2022 there have been five of these meetings, but the attendees reached no agreement. They will reconvene in 2025. At every level, oil producing countries and oil companies block any agreement that cuts down on the amount of plastic produced or phases out certain problematic chemicals and products. At this meeting, it was Saudi Arabia and Russia who blocked progress. The Biden administration joined them in refusing to ask for a cap on plastic production. The US reversed their position from August 2024, when Biden administration representatives raised hopes that the US would join countries like Norway, Peru, and the United Kingdom in supporting limits on plastic production. But United States delegates supported a “flexible” approach in which countries set their own voluntary targets for reducing plastic production. We are very aware that “voluntary” targets get us nowhere. The plastic producers work hard to convince us that things would be clean and pristine if we just recycled our plastic refuse. Less than 10 percent is being recycled, so they say it is the consumer’s fault. This is a big lie. Most plastic cannot be recycled. It cannot be broken down and safely reused. PET, the type in most beverage containers, can be reformed into clothing and bottles, but it is expensive. Coca-Cola, a top plastics polluter, has completely dropped its 2022 goal of achieving 25 percent reusable packaging by 2030. Instead, Coca-Cola continues to focus on failed recycling goals that will do little to address the plastic crisis. The high costs of recycling, coupled with low oil prices, means that recycling plastic now costs more than manufacturing virgin plastic. So the producers want to keep on filling our lives, lungs, and gut with polyethylene terephthalate (PET – what Coke bottles are made of) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE – the material for milk cartons and toys). Then there is polyvinyl chloride (PVC – used in medical applications and construction and known to leach dangerous toxins like lead, dioxin, and vinyl chloride throughout its entire lifecycle). These are the most common types but there are others, like the plastic of shopping bags and cling wrap, which are almost impossible to recycle. We can fight this by getting the WA Legislature to pass the Rewrap Bill and also pressuring Congress to pass the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act. We should not be stopped by a House and Senate controlled by Republicans. Those reps and senators have families who are ingesting and breathing plastic, and their babies and grandchildren are being affected even before they are born. There really is nowhere to hide from this plague of plastic, and they should be open to correcting the situation by lowering the amount of plastic produced. Let’s demand that they do! Bobby Righi is Co-Chair of PSARA's Climate and Environmental Justice Committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents April 2025 GiveBIG Challenge 2025 Robby Stern Our goal for the GiveBIG campaign this year is $35,000. PSARA faces some significant new financial chal- lenges in 2025. The demands of the work we do have grown and will re- quire greater financial resources. We are organizing to resist the at- tacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, programs essential to the lives of seniors, people with disabilities, children, and low-income adults. We will also assist other organizations in fighting the racist, sexist, homophobic, autocratic, and cruel actions amount- ing to the fascist policies of the Musk/ Trump administration and the national Republican Party. When fighting for a decent future for our communities and future generations, education and organizing are essential. We will continue to advocate positive, progressive policies that lead to a much greater degree of economic and social justice for all people. While we oppose fascism, our policies also describe what we are fighting for. PSARA is growing. Our ability to make a significant contribution to the broader resistance battle is increasing. We now have an effective and expanding PSARA chapter in Pierce County, joining King County and Clallam County as a powerful voice in the broader struggle for economic and social justice. Most recently, for the very first time, PSARA is the lead organization for a piece of legislation in the 2025 legislative session in Washington State. At the suggestion, and with the encouragement, and support of Sen. Bob Hasegawa, PSARA decided to help draft and lead advocacy for SJM (Senate Joint Memorial) 8002. Sen. Hasegawa, a PSARA member, is the prime sponsor of the legislation. The PSARA Education Fund has provided critical educational material as SJM 8002 goes through the legislative process. Most recently, the WA State Senate, by a 30-19 vote, passed the legislation, going on record supporting leveling the playing field between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage. SJM 8002 now goes to the House. We will work to educate House members to take a stand against the total privatization of Medicare. Our goal is to give Medicare beneficiaries a genuine choice of which program they want to enroll in without suffering the necessity to purchase supplemental insurance or a prescription drug policy from private insurers. Social Security is under attack by the Musk/Trump regime in a way we have not seen in our lifetimes. The former Commissioner of Social Security, Martin O’Malley, warned of a system collapse in the months ahead because of reduc- tions in work force by various means and the vicious attacks by Musk/Trump, with Musk claiming Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. They say that there is fraud in Social Security of $500 to $700 billion. Both of these assertions are lies. They are looking for ways to steal our benefits to finance their tax breaks and at the same time privatize this vital social insurance program. We must have the resources to respond to these attacks. The PSARA Education Fund donations help to cover the costs of creating and distributing The Retiree Advocate. Your contributions also support the development of new educational and advocacy materials and in-person pro- grams on why Congress should Scrap the Cap on Social Security and expand benefits; on stopping the privatization of Social Security and Medicare and making significant improvements to the public Medicare system; and on defending Medicaid, a healthcare program critical to seniors who need long term care, children, people with disabilities, and very low income adults. The Board members of the PSARA Education Fund and PSARA will be asked to generously donate to the PSARA Education Fund, and our members will be asked to collectively match the Board’s donation for the 2025 Give- BIG campaign. In the coming year the Education Fund will sponsor educational pro- grams in different parts of the region, state, and nationally that will focus on how we can best resist Musk/Trump/ Vance attacks. We will highlight how we can create a better and more humane alternative to the dangerous direction the President’s administration and the national Republican Party and their al- lies want to take our country. We need your generous financial assistance now more than ever. GiveBIG days are May 6 and 7. Early online giving for GiveBIG starts on April 22. Donations can be made from April 22 through May 7 by going to wagives.org/donate/Psara-Education-Fund . For members who prefer not to donate online or want the Education Fund to receive the full amount of your donation, send a check to the PSARA Education Fund any time between now and May 7. Write “GiveBIG” in the memo line, so we know your donation is in response to the GiveBIG campaign. Mail your check to the PSARA Education Fund, 321 16th Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98144. Choosing this option saves the PSARA Education Fund a small percentage processing fee that PSARA pays for online donations. Please contribute as generously as you can. Thank you. Robby Stern is President of the PSARA Education Fund and serves on the PSARA Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 Trump Revives Gunboat Diplomacy Mike Andrew In a rambling inaugural address, Don- ald Trump denounced the US-Panama treaty that turned over the Panama Canal toPanamanian sovereignty. “We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should never have been made,” Trump said. “And Panama’s promiseto us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” Trump claimed as he threatened to take backcontrol of the canal by force. "The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation,” he continued, “one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.” Earlier this month, Trump doubled down on his aggressive threats against Panama. “China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated theagreement, and we’re go- ing to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,” Trump told reporters on February2. Consciously or not, Trump’s remarks hark back to the era of Teddy Roosevelt, the granddaddy of US imperialism, and foundingfather of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt was a protégé of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, the theoretician of US naval power. Mahan envisioned a US strategicallyprotected by an enormous navy controlling the oceans that bordered it on east and west. Mahan and Roosevelt noticed that US warships took too long to sail from their bases on the east coast, around the southern tipof South America, to the Philippine theater of the Spanish American War. This observation led them to take an interest in aFrench project to build a canal through Central America, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Wouldn’t it be great, theysaid to themselves, if US warships took only half as long to sail to newly acquired US colonies in the Pacific! When Roosevelt unexpectedly became President in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley, he decided to buy out theFrench company that had been working – with very little success – on the canal. After that, the only remaining hurdle was theapproval of the local government. Panama was then a province of Colombia, so the US began negotiations for rights to build a canal and install troops to occupy landon both sides of the project. Roosevelt deemed this necessary because his primary interest in the canal was military. The canal was intended to be the US Navy’s primary communications link between its Atlantic and Pacific fleets, and therefore the USmilitary had to control it. Colombia, however, had other ideas. The Colombian government showed little enthusiasm for foreign troops permanentlyoccupying part of its sovereign territory. The canal negotiations stalled on this point. Roosevelt was not deterred by petty problems like national sovereignty. The US made contacts with Panamanian secessionists and, with the intervention of US warships and marines, sponsored a new, independent Panama. Needless to say, the new Panamaniangovernment signed the desired treaty giving the US rights to the canal and the so-called “Canal Zone.” Fast forward 75 years to 1977.Panama, now a long-established independent country, resented the contin- ued presence of UStroops bisecting its territory. At the same time, technological advances – especially the introduction of aircraft – made the canalroute far less important militarily than it had been in 1903. Therefore, Jimmy Carter saw a political benefit in returning the Canal Zone to Panama, with no corresponding militarydownside. The two countries concluded a treaty to transfer the canal to Panama that took effect in 1999. What does Donald Trump hope to gain by threatening to take back the canal? Maybe he just wants to look like a tough guy inhopes of pleasing his MAGA audience. Maybe he hopes to intimidate other countries into falling in line with his foreign policy.Maybe he wants to provoke a small scale war to justify suppressing domestic dissent. In any case, Trump's reversion to the gunboat diplomacy of a bygone era benefits no one, certainly not the Panamanian people,and not the people of the US either. Mike Andrew is the Executive Director of PSARA and Editor of the Advocate < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 Blockading the Cuban Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination Cindy Domingo For the 25 years that I have been traveling to Cuba, the Cuban people and their Revolution have served as a key inspiration for my political work. Cuba became the proof that a better world is possible, especially for Black and Brown people. Infant mortality and life expectancy were once comparable to the US. Free education resulted in Cuban women being more than equitably represented in professions such as medicine, law, teaching, and elected office. However, today it is painfully clear that 63 years of the US blockade against Cuba is having its intended and devastating impact on this tiny nation located 90 miles off our coast. According to an internal memorandum written by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, dated April 6, 1960: “...every possible means should be under-taken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba...a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” US presidents have taken various paths trying to achieve this aim of overthrowing the Cuban Revolution, and Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, makes evident the present administration’s aim to establish US hegemony in Cuba and all of Latin America, at any cost. Consider the recent US military aggression in Venezuela and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Trump’s redesignation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism has drastically increased the economic isolation of Cuba. In a report submitted to the UN General Assembly by Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, material damages and losses caused by the US blockade against Cuba were estimated at USD $7.5561 billion for the year March 2024 to February 2025. “The cost of six days of blockade is equivalent to the financing required [annually] to import medical consumables (cotton, gauze, syringes, needles, sutures, catheters, IV equipment, among others) and [chemical agents] needed by the national health system,” according to the same report. What this means is that the healthcare system is collapsing. Once a model of what human-centered healthcare could look like, now it is failing. Cuba is unable to purchase medications to treat cancer and heart ailments, materials to produce vaccines and for medical research, and machines as simple as EKG monitors and as complex as x-ray and anesthesia devices. Pharmacy shelves are bare and it can be difficult to find something as simple as an aspirin. Twenty years ago, the doctor-patient ratio in urban areas was one neighborhood doctor to 100 patients. Our December 2025 delegation visited a small medical clinic in central Havana and met a doctor whose case load is now 3,700 patients. This courageous doctor has no intention of leaving, she says, “because my patients need me.” But over one million people have left Cuba due to economic hardships (10% of Cuba’s population); many are professionals who have benefitted from the free education system—including doctors. This last year has brought constant electrical blackouts, the spread of mosquito-borne diseases including the variant called chikungunya (more serious and painful than dengue), and a severe gasoline shortage that has impacted transportation and the ability to bring food from the farms to the cities, all creating unbearable hardships on the Cuban people. But, of course, all of this is the intended impact of the US blockade, the longest and most comprehensive and coercive economic sanctions measures ever imposed on a country. I saw the impact of the blockade on faces of people everywhere, especially older people who are surviving on their small pensions, drastically impacted by inflation. When I went to Cuba in May 2024, $1 USD was equivalent to 45 pesos. Today, $1 USD equals 400 Cuban pesos. The Cuban people are resilient fighters, however, and pockets of hope I witnessed inspire my continuing fight for them and their right to self-determination. Teresa de Jesus Fernandez Gonzalez, National Coordinator of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, told me with pride and a smile on her face that their work is expanding because of the new constitution that gave expansive rights to the LGBTQI+ communities. Fernando Funes, leader of Finca Marta, is leading the way for agroecology farming. Norma Guillard, a social psychologist and group leader for Afrodescendents of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Reinier Buceo Libre, who leads a small but enthusiastic environmental conservation organization called Mar vivo Cuba, remind me that the spirit of the Revolution lives on as they celebrate the 100th birthday of Fidel Castro. It is up to us to ensure that we change US policy towards Cuba so that they can determine their own futures and carry on their progressive nation-defining work. Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist and is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 SJM 8002 Hearing in Washington State Senate Tim Wheeler In a crowded hearing room in Olympia, WA, on Feb. 11, Sen. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle) introduced SJM-8002, addressed to President Trump and the US House and Senate. The Senate Joint Memorial 8002 urges the lawmakers in Washington D.C. to enact a law to halt Medicare Advantage overcharges and fraud and to “level the playing field” by adding benefits to traditional Medicare and capping out-of-pocket expenses. Hasegawa told fellow Senators and a crowd that included members of PSARA, “This memorial comes from the people themselves. They drafted this legislation.” Medicare was enacted in 1965 as a “public good,” Hasegawa added, “one of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s star programs” to benefit all senior citizens, paid for from a payroll tax on employees and employers. More than $1.6 trillion has accumulated in the Medicare Trust Fund, a target for runaway Wall Street greed. “Unfortunately, there is a move to privatize Medicare,” he continued, with Medicare Advantage permitted to pocket 15 percentof every Medicare dollar in administrative costs and profits. “No one has explained to me how Medicare Advantage provides more efficient healthcare while also collecting 15 percent in profits,” he said. Traditional Medicare administrative costs are under two percent. There are no profits. This Senate Joint Memorial 8002, if approved by the Washington State Legislature, demands that Congress enact and Trump sign a law to terminate Medicare Advantage profiteering and preserve original Medicare. Ed Weisbart, a retired physician and Vice President of Physicians for a National Health Program, hailed the Hasegawa measure. Speaking via Zoom from St. Louis, he stressed the importance of recouping the tens of billions – some estimates are as high as $140 billion – stolen from the Medicare Trust Fund by Medicare Advantage providers and using the money to help finance expanded Medicare benefits. Karen Richter, PSARA Co-President, told the hearing that PSARA strongly supports SJM-8002. “Leveling the playing field,” she said, “would scrub overcharging and fraud from the Medicare system while allowing Medicare beneficiaries a real choice about which program they would prefer." A level playing field will give traditional Medicare recipients the same benefits provided to Medicare Advantage enrollees –now just over half the 60 million Medicare recipients. Legislation is needed, said Richter, to restore Medicare “as the public good it was created to be in 1965 and to continue the tradition of Medicare being the lowest cost and most effective health care program in the United States.” Anne Watanabe, speaking for the PSARA Race and Gender Equity Committee, also endorsed SJM 8002. “Unsurprisingly, higher percentages of seniors of lower income and seniors of color enroll in private Advantage plans,” she said, because they can’t afford supplemental insurance to cover the 20 percent not covered by traditional Medicare. They discover too late “that their private advantage plans impose limits on coverage or limited networks, especially in rural areas. Medicare Advantage profiteers delay or deny treatment recommended by their doctors….” Ellen Menshew, a PSARA member from Clallam County, cited Olympic Medical Center (OMC) in Port Angeles, a public hospital that provides urgent care from Neah Bay on the Pacific coast to Quilcene near Hood Canal. “OMC is more than just a healthcare provider,” she said “It is a lifeline. As the largest employer in our county with 1,500 employees, OMC plays a crucial role in our local community. “The most glaring common denominator in the failure of rural hospitals is the impact of for-profit corporate insurance companies,” Menshew continued. These profiteers impose “delays, denials, and slow payments….leaving providers struggling to maintain financial stability and forcing hospitals into mergers or total acquisitions...” The result, she charged, is reduction in services, staff cuts, and ultimately “a decline in the overall health and well being of the community.” The presentations by PSARA leaders and allies both in oral and written testimony were compelling. Two days after the hearing, SJM 8002 was passed out of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee with a “do pass” recommendation. The Republicans on the Committee voted against it. Now legislation goes to the Senate Rules Committee, this is empowered to send the bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote by the entire Senate. Here is the link to SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8002: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Joint%20Memorials/8002-Medicare.pdf#page=1 Tim Wheeler is a veteran activist and journalist, a member of PSARA's Executive Board, and a leader of PSARA organizing in Clallam County. < Back to Table of Contents