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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents August 2025 PSARA Signs an Open Letter Rejecting the House Homeland Security Committee’s Unfounded Inquiries into 200+ Nonprofit Organizations PSARA Board We, the undersigned more than [...] nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations and community leaders, stand united inopposition to the House Homeland Security Committee’s and Senator Josh Hawley’s unfounded demands for information from hundreds of nonprofit organizations. These charities and organizations have done nothing but carry out their work, including what is outlined in the federal grants some of them were awarded, and include religious organizations and groups working on advocacy and services for immigrants, workers, youth, and a vast array of other organizations serving their communities. These letters of inquiry target civic organizations that have provided services under valid federal contracts that were authorized and appropriated by Congress, filling a need the government cannot perform itself. No allegations of wrongdoing, or evidence is provided for these extraordinary and burdensome inquiries. This effort appears to be an attempt to weaponize Congressional power and create the appearance of wrongdoing against those who the signers believe disagree with their political agenda. The process these lawmakers intend to drag these law abiding, community serving organizations through is the punishment. As nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations and community leaders, we work in communities across the country to feed the hungry; house those without shelter; protect our air and water, our rights to vote, worship, and organize; we fight for consumers, workers, and our children; we advocate for civil and human rights at home and abroad; we have made it safer to drive on our roads, easier to start a business, and healthier to live in our cities. We span the full ideological spectrum. And today, we stand together for our democracy and in solidarity with those nonprofit organizations unjustly targeted by these Congressional letters. Let us be clear – this investigation is Congress weaponizing its powers to target and intimidate nonprofit organizations that are fulfilling the guidelines of federal grants, simply because they disagree with the policy those grants advance. This unfounded inquiry is not about protecting Americans, rooting out waste and fraud, or defending the public interest. It is about using un- checked power to chill constitutionally protected activity, community activism, and voices those sending the letters may disagree with. That is un-American and flies in the face of the Constitution. This specific attack on nonprofits is not happening in a vacuum. Rather, this attack exists in the context of a wholesale offensive against organizations and individuals the administration and its allies find objectionable. We are standing in solidarity with the organizations targeted in this unfounded investigation because nonprofits of all types, members of the clergy and religious groups, advocates, and community serving organizations should not be punished for their work – even if those in power find it threatening to their policy agenda. Our government is meant to serve the people, not those in office. Efforts by members of Congress to attack nonprofit groups they disagree with are reprehensible, dangerous, and a violation offundamental American freedoms. Speaking out for the voice- less is, and has always been, our collective mission. As such,we stand with those organizations wrongly targeted, and with one another. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents October 2025 Trump Tariffs and Stagflation: Why TACO is the Least Bad Option Robert Pollin (reprinted from Left Hook Economics) The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies. Is stagflation—the toxic blend of high unemployment and high inflation—taking hold now in the U.S. economy? The most recent evidence mostly signals “yes.” If stagflation is on the way, we can mainly thank President Donald Trump’s imposition of unprecedented tariffs—that is, taxes on the products we import from more than 90 countries. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that only 106,000 jobs had been added to the U.S. labor market between May and July. This represents a nearly 80% drop in job growth relative to the 474,000 jobs created over the same three-month period last year. Meanwhile, wholesale prices spiked by 0.9% in July, the largest monthly wholesale inflation increase since May 2022. It was in response to the dismal May-July job report that Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, after claiming, without evidence, that she had “rigged” the numbers to make him look bad. How could Trump’s tariff polices produce stagflation? According to the Yale Budget Lab, as of July 30, U.S. consumers are facing an average import tax/tariff rate of 17.5%, the highest since 1934. At the same time, imports account for 14% of overall purchases in the U.S. economy. Therefore, if the average 17.5% tariff rate were simply passed on, dollar for dollar, to U.S. consumers, this alone would raise average prices in the United States by 2.5% (that’s 17.5% x 0.14 = 2.5%). But price increases resulting from the tariffs don’t need to be confined to imported products only. This is because higher prices for imports create cover for businesses to raise prices on domestically produced goods and services as well, enabling them to boost their profit margins. Of course, nobody forces businesses that sell imported products to raise their prices. The alternative is for them to pay the tariffs to the U.S. Treasury and then just eat their average 17.5% cost increases by cutting their profits. Obviously, businesses would much rather raise prices before letting their profit margins shrivel. Why should employment conditions also get worse in this situation? This is because businesses worry that the tariffs will cut into their profits. They therefore hold off on plans to expand their operations and hire new people. To date, the Trump program to combat stagflation has two prongs. First, cook the government data to make reality disappear. Second, lambaste Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve (which is the US central bank, and commonly referred to as “the Fed”), into cutting interest rates. Trump regularly ridicules Powell as a “stiff,”“numbskull,” or “moron” for not having cut interest rates so far. Most recently, Trump also began attacking and demanding the resignation of Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a member of the Fed Board of Governors and a Biden appointee. Trump and company claim that Cook committed mortgage fraud in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook vehemently denies the charges and insists that she will not resign. Trump’s real purpose here is to replace independent voices at the Fed with loyalists who will toe his policy line, whatever that line happens to be. In fact, by maintaining relatively high interest rates to fight inflation, Powell, Cook, and the other Fed policymakers are only following the standard Fed playbook. The aim with high interest rates is to slow the economy and increase unemployment. The higher unemployment rate then weakens workers’ bargaining power, which lowers labor costs for businesses, enabling businesses to maintain their profit margins without raising prices. Thus, it is baked into the standard Fed inflation control program that working people are the designated sacrificial lambs, even if their wage increases have not caused the inflation in the first place. Trump’s tantrums aside, there are indeed major problems with this standard Fed approach. To begin with, workers gaining excessive bargaining power has never been the driver of stagflation in the United States. In the 1970s and early 1980s, stagflation resulted because global crude oil prices rose roughly tenfold between 1973 and 1980, from $3.56 to $39.50 a barrel. The only other bout of stagflation was after the COVID lockdown was lifted. In this case, stagflation resulted because the production of major items, like new cars, had been cut during the lockdown conditions. Demand for cars then returned quickly when lockdown conditions lifted, but with new cars in short supply, used car prices rose by 40%. From a longer-term perspective, we also have to remember how the U.S. working class has fared, on average, under the 50 years of neoliberalism that preceded Trump. The most central facts are that average wages for nonsupervisory workers are basically where they were 50 years ago, at roughly $50,000 per year (in 2024 dollars), even while average worker productivity has increased by 150%. Meanwhile, over this same 50-year period, average CEO compensation has risen nearly tenfold, from $1.5 million to almost $15 million. In fact, in a major August 22 speech, Powell signaled that, at its next official meeting in September, the Fed is likely to modestly reduce the main interest rate that it controls (the federal funds rate), due to mounting evidence of worsening employment conditions. As Powell knows well, this will accomplish nothing to reduce the inflationary pressures created by Trump’s tariffs. In other words, through deploying the Fed’s main policy tool of manipulating interest rates, you can either reduce inflation through raising unemployment or reduce unemployment at the cost of higher inflation. What you can’t do is combat both sides of stagflation—inflation and unemployment—at the same time. The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies. We shouldn’t rule that option out. Trump didn’t earn the nickname TACO—“Trump Always Chickens Out”—for nothing. But even if Trump does chicken out on the tariffs, we will still be stuck at square one in terms of advancing inflation control policies that also enable U.S. workers to get the long-overdue raises they deserve. Robert Pollin is Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 4,000 Attend No Kings Event at People’s Park, Tacoma! John Alessio Our Vote, Our Choice, Our Power, Our Voice!” “Power to the People, We Insist-Billionaires Should Not Exist!” “Say it Once,Say it Twice, We Will Not Put Up With ICE!” These are just a few of the chants heard at People’s Park Saturday, June 14th. PSARA joined Indivisible Tacoma and many other organizations to create an informative, riveting, and festive event on “No Kings Day”. Other participating groups were: 350 Tacoma; AF- SCME Council 28; Evergreen Resistance Tacoma; Black Panther Party, The TSM Shop; Jewish Voice for Peace Tacoma; La Resistencia; Rainbow Center; The Tacoma Urban League; LD27, LD28, and LD29 Democrats; Oscar’s Enemies; Pierce County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Pierce County Immigration Alliance; Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America; Tacoma Fellowship of Reconciliation; Tacoma for All; Tacoma Veterans for Peace; The Conversation 253; Washington Wildlife First; and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 367. Careful planning included meetings and continuous communication between the leaders of many of these organizations to assure a safe and meaningful protest of the Trump administration’s immoral and unconstitutional activities. Preparation included de-escalation training sessions that resulted in a roaming Safety Team during the event. A First Aid Sation was created, with drinking water, snacks, and other relevant supplies. Various groups had their own information booths, plus a booth for sign-making, and even a face painting booth. People’s Park was humming with excitement and enthusiasm. Four thousand people, peacefully demonstrating, were completely rapt for two and a half hours listening to inspiring speeches about what is being done, and what still needs to be done, to stop Trump and his minions from destroying our democracy and inflicting more grievous harm on large segments of our population. The event started and ended with lively protest music, and there were clever chants interspersed throughout. The importance of local elections was emphasized, and people were encouraged to get involved by door-knocking, providing support to progressive candidates, and especially voting in the upcoming 2025 Primary on August 5 and again in the General on November 4th! Action events were announced, such as a June 18th “Door-Knocking for Introverts” to help people become effective doorknockers. On July 9th Indivisible Tacoma endorsed candidates will participate in a Candidate Forum at 6:30PM at Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Church, 1115 So. 56th, Tacoma. La Resistencia and others will continue to strategize and call for united actions against the activities of ICE and the Northwest Detention Center - a critical court hearing is set for September. Some people may want to attend the “Breakfast With the Sheriff” meetings to remind Pierce county Sheriff Keith Swank that Washington state laws protect people from unconstitutional harassment and arrest. The next scheduled breakfast is 7-9AM Saturday, June 21st. We know he would love to see us. A Facebook message to a friend read: “I was at People’s Park with my brother who is blind and paralyzed on his left side. We had the best day. He felt part of society.” That statement captures the mood and inclusive spirit of the Tacoma “No Kings Day”. Let’s keep it going! John Alessio is a member of PSARA and Indivisible Tacoma. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents April 2025 A Letter to Congress on Social Security The Social Security Administration (SSA), which administers our Social Security system at an extraordinarily low cost of under one percent of expenditures, is undergoing major, destabilizing changes. These changes threaten agency viability and the benefits of over seventy million current beneficiaries. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which appears to be engineering these major changes, has access to the most sensitive personal and confidential information – including Social Security numbers, lifetime earnings records, benefit computations, and even medical records– of hundreds of millions of U.S. workers and current beneficiaries. Former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley believes that DOGE’s actions pose a significant and imminent risk to the benefits paid by SSA. The National Academy of Social Insurance, founded in 1986, annually awards a prize named in honor of Robert Ball, who served as Social Security Commissioner for eleven years under three Presidents (Democrats John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and Republican Richard Nixon), to people whose work has significantly contributed to the U.S. social insurance system. We recipients of the Ball Award join in expressing our alarm at current ac- tions of DOGE that threaten the viability of Social Security benefits for current beneficiaries and workers. We write to warn of the risk that this interference with SSA’s vital operations poses to all who have a stake in our nation’s Social Security program. Social Security this year commemorates the 90th anniversary of its enactment in 1935 under the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. Throughout its extraordinary existence, SSA has provided retirement, survivor, and disability benefits to the right people in the right amount at the right time, while carefully preserving the privacy of the personal data of workers and beneficiaries alike. Congress needs to monitor vigilantly the changes being undertaken to ensure that accurate benefit payments will in fact be made on time. Economic security for millions of Americans is at stake. An Acting Commissioner is currently leading the agency, until the U.S. Sen- ate confirms a new Commissioner. The previous Acting Commissioner, a civil servant with decades of executive-level experience, was replaced after refusing to provide a DOGE team member with access to such sensitive information. The unprecedented actions by SSA, presumably instigated by DOGE, have included, and reportedly will include, the following: Personnel reductions: Approximately 7,000 out of around 57,000 SSA employ- ees will be either fired “for cause” or let go as “redundant.” It should be noted that being fired for cause or given an artificial “choice” to be reassigned to a significantly lower-paying position in another geographical location without moving expenses deprives the affected staff of severance pay and health insurance coverage, and blocks them from qualifying for unemployment insurance. These cuts, if effectuated, will reduce over twelve percent of the staff of an agency that is already laboring under a severe shortage of employees and a hiring freeze – this at a time when nearly 12,000 Boomers turn 65 each day. In addition to new terminations, many senior SSA staff have already been fired, announced their resignations, or taken early retirement. More departures loom in response to emails that advise them to take an “early out” or to accept a voluntary separation incentive payment, as they may lose their jobs through reorganization and elimination of their positions. Removal of these seasoned SSA professionals means a loss of vital institutional leadership and knowledge, which will degrade service to the public. Field office closings: In just its first six weeks in office, the current Administration has closed ten field offices. The General Services Administration has been directed to terminate all federal leases. Closing leased Social Security offices will further obstruct access to benefits, especially by disability claimants but also by others, who need or want in person assistance with their benefits. Headquarters restructuring : SSA’s leadership structure is being reorganized and reduced to only five Deputy Commissioners, plus a Chief Actuary and a Chief Information Officer. Every Deputy Com- missioner will be a political appointee – a major shift from the norm. Elimination of divisions : The Administration is closing the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity and the Office of Transformation, which has led efforts to improve efficiency, cut costs, and enhance customer service. The staff of these offices were fired “for cause.” The Administration also fired the SSA Inspector General, an odd move if the goal is truly to identify waste, fraud, and abuse. Research terminations: Among the programs being abolished is SSA’s Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, a group of six university based research groups, whose elimination will deprive the public of important research on how to improve Social Security legislatively and administratively. These actions come against the back- ground of existing staff shortages that have already caused growing delays in processing benefits, especially claims for new disability benefits. Two million Disability Insurance applicants are now awaiting decisions—and the number is growing. Approximately 10,000 disability benefits applicants have died in recent years while awaiting the processing of their claims. Staff reductions will cause further delays and more deaths. DOGE has also made false claims that SSA is paying benefits to many deceased individuals. In fact, SSA diligently identifies beneficiaries who die and immediately cuts off benefits. An Inspector General study found that of the 88,000 people aged 100 or older in December 2020, only 44,000 were receiving benefits. (Starting in 1937, SSA has been issuing Social Security numbers.) While nearly 19 million individuals with Social Security numbers had birthdays one hundred or more years ago, fewer than one-half of one percent – just 44,000-- were receiving benefits in 2020. While it is possible that one or more of those benefits may be going out in error, DOGE has presented no evidence of this. But DOGE advocates spending millions of dollars to find and prune from SSA records the names of the remaining ninety nine-plus percent who are not receiving benefits. Such a step would be pure waste, some- thing that one might suppose an entity pledged to eliminate waste would shun. DOGE meddling to date has hindered efficiency, not enhanced it. Multiple staff have spent thousands of hours in emergency meetings called to correct erroneous and unsupported allegations that people 150 years old or more are getting paid benefits. DOGE has fostered waste, the very problem it purports to want to solve. The current Administration and some in Congress have issued statements claiming that SSA downsizing will not affect the payment of Social Security benefits. Payments come from the U.S. Treasury upon transmission of data by SSA. Getting benefits to the currently and newly eligible, and accurately determining how much those benefits should be, requires the work of current SSA staff and more. Congress is duty-bound to monitor the changes currently being implemented to ensure that they do not reduce the access of current and new beneficiaries to the benefits promised under current law. The economic security of millions of Ameri- cans is at stake. Signed by: Henry Aaron, Senior Fellow Emeritus, The Brookings Institution Nancy Altman, President, Social Security Works Stuart Altman, Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University William Arnone, Chief Executive Officer Emeritus, National Academy of Social Insurance David Blumenthal, former President, The Commonwealth Fund Peter Diamond, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marian Wright Edelman, former President, Children’s Defense Fund Peter Edelman, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center Martha Ford, Senior Advisor, The Arc of the United States Stephen Goss, former Chief Actuary, SSA Robert Greenstein, President Emeritus, Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, and Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution Jacob S. Hacker, Professor, Yale University Kilolo Kijakazi, former Acting Commissioner, SSA, and Social Security and Medicare Trustee Jacob Lew, former Secretary of the Treasury and Social Security and Medicare Trustee Theodore Marmor, Professor Emeritus, Yale University School of Management Marilyn Moon, former Fellow, American Institutes for Research Alicia Munnell, Senior Advisor, Boston College Center for Retirement Research Robert Reischauer, President Emeritus, The Urban Institute, and former Social Security and Medicare Public Trustee Virginia Reno, former SSA Deputy Com- missioner for Retirement and Disability Policy John Rother, former President, National Coalition on Health Care Bruce Vladeck, former Administrator, Health Care Finance Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents October 2025 Alert Your Community to this New Threat to Medicare: WISeR Rick Timmins Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper is a good way to inform your community about important issues and to suggest actions that will address the problems. It’s simple to do. Select the newspaper most read in your community and go to the “Opinion” page or the “Letters” page to find instructions for submitting a letter. The Everett Herald, for example, asks you to submit your hard copy letter to: Letters Section, The Daily Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. You can email the letter to: letters@heraldnet.com . You need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. The paper will not share this with anyone, but uses the information to verify your identity. The Herald has a limit of 250 words. The Seattle Times provides the following instructions: “Join the discussion at let- ters@seattletimes.com . Please include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.” When writing a letter, focus on one topic. Remember to adhere to the word limit. Be conversational, not academic. It is best to explain how the situation affects you personally. Your members of Congress (or their staff) read the local papers and are alerted when their name comes up. If it’s relevant, include your Representative’s or Senator’s name and either express thanks for their action or tell them why it is important that they act. We are asking you today to write a letter to your local newspaper, expressing opposition to the WISeR Model, which is adding requirements for prior authorization in Original Medicare. Prepare by reading Robby Stern’s article “CMS Expands Prior Authorization in Original Medicare” in the August, 2025, issue of The Retiree Advocate and Wendell Potter’s and Rachel Madley’s article “Lawmakers Oppose WISeR Program Expanding Prior Authorization in Medicare” in the September Advocate. With that information, you’re ready to write your letter. Below is a sample letter with 250 words (too many for the Times.) Use this as a template. Include examples of harm suffered from prior authorization by you, your family or friends. Call out your Congressperson if she/he hasn’t signed a letter of opposition. Stir up your community! Example of a Letter to the Editor: Contact your Representatives and Senators now and tell them to stop the WISeR (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) program by co- sponsoring the Resolution introduced by Representatives Pocan and Schakowsky. This Resolution demands that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) withdraw this program, which requires prior authorization (PA) for certain procedures recommended by physicians for their patients who are on Traditional Medicare. Authorization would be determined by private companies using algorithms or artificial intelligence (AI). These companies will be paid based on how much money they save Medicare-an outrageous incentive to deny necessary care. In Medicare Advantage plans offered by private insurance companies, where PA is already prevalent, patients often face extended delays or denials with coverage deci- sions based on algorithms or AI-driven processes rather than individual medical needs. Misuse of prior authorization by insurance companies, resulting in declining health and even death of patients, has been documented in investigative reports and in Senate hearings. More than 32 major healthcare systems will no longer accept Medicare Advantage, often due to prior authorization requirements. Profit-driven companies prioritize cost-saving measures over what is best for the patient. About half the Medicare beneficiaries, including me, have chosen Traditional Medicare instead of Medicare Advantage because we trust our doctors with our healthcare more than private insurance companies. We must demand that all of our Representatives co-sponsor the Resolution introduced by Representatives Pocan and Schakowsky, and protect access to timely, medically necessary care for our seniors on Traditional Medicare. Thank you, [Your Name] Editor's note: Representatives DelBene, Jayapal, and Smith have already co- sponsored the resolution. If you live in their districts, your letter to the editor could urge people to thank them for their stand. Rick Timmins is a retired veterinarian and a member of PSARA's Level the Playing Field task force. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 Wrapping It Up: Final 2024 Election Results Pam Crone The final tally wasn’t in when we summarized the 2024 Washington State election results in the December Advocate. Some races were too close to call, and seats of retirees were yet to be filled. We can now report on the final results and the composition of the 2025 Legislature. New faces and big Democratic majorities highlight the new session. Washington State Senate The Democrats flipped a seat in the 18th Legislative District. Senator-elect Adrian Cortes replaces Ann Rivers and gives the Senate Democrats a 30-19 majority. Cortes beat Brad Benton, son of former Senator Don Benton. As noted in December, Sen. Jamie Peder- sen, 43rd Leg. District, is the Senate’s new majority leader. Additional new senators are Deb Krishnadasan succeeding Emily Randall in the 26th Legislative District, and former Rep. Tina Orwall appointed to fill the seat formerly held by Karen Keiser in the 33rd. Washington State House Democrats in the House also picked up a seat giving them a 59-39 majority. Adison Richards beat former Representative Jesse Young to take one of the House seats in the 26th Leg. District. Richards replaces Republican Spencer Hutchins, who did not run for re-election. 2025 Session Calendar Session begins Jan. 13 and runs for 105 days. Policy Committee Cut-off in the first house is February 21 Bills must be out of their house of origin March 12 Policy Committee Cut-off in the second house is April 2 Bills must be out of the second house April 16 Session ends April 27 PSARA Dates of Note Legislators began pre-filing their bills Dec. 1. These bills will be formally introduced in the House and Senate on January 13. See our website at psara.org for the link to pre-filed bills. The Government Relations Committee is finalizing PSARA’s 2025 legislative agenda, to be unveiled at the Legislative Conference on January 7. Featured speakers will be former House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senator Bob Hasegawa. Thanks to all our members who have completed and submitted the legislative survey. Please mark your calendars for our in-person Lobby Day in Olympia on March 18. Stay tuned for action. 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 December 2025 Election 2025: So Many Questions Mike Andrew There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth When Stephen Stills wrote those words in 1966, he was thinking of teenagers re- belling on Sunset Strip. But we could say the same thing about the 2025 elections. Sure, let’s celebrate – the election was a stunning repudiation of Trumpism. In some places it also seems to be an embrace of progressive people-centered politics. But, in my opinion, the results are deeply contradictory. In the headline news of the night, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York. In Seattle, Katie Wilson – called a “white, female Mamdani” by the Daily Mail – was also elected. In Tacoma too, Anders Ibsen beat a pro-business incumbent on promises of more people-oriented government. Democratic Party leaders are claiming the election as a huge victory and a harbinger of even greater success in the mid-term elections next year. Their lips to the voters’ ears. But the Democratic Party is still…well, the Democratic Party. As Bernie Sanders told The Nation (November 2025 issue): “[T]he Democratic Party (at its top) is mostly made up of folks who have money and consultants, and politicians who work with folks who have money and consultants…They spend an enormous amount of time raising money…They’re not about to take on the people who provide them with the money.” At the same time that Mamdani and Wilson were elected, two mainstream Democrats – one of them a former CIA agent – were elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey. Even in New York City, some Democratic Party regulars – having refused to endorse Mamdani when he won the party’s primary – distanced themselves even further from him after his electoral victory. In fact, The Staten Island and Queens Democratic Committees explicitly unendorsed him after the November 5 final election. “We have a lot of Democrats in Queens who do not support Mamdani,” the local Democratic Party Chair told MSN. “There is a reckoning occurring in the Democratic Party. There is a growing concern that socialism is hijacking the Democratic Party.” Bernie Sanders – who still draws huge, enthusiastic crowds at his rallies – tried twice and failed twice to turn the Democratic Party into a vehicle for progressive politics. Was he merely ahead of his time? Or are the institutional barriers that prevented Bernie from taking leadership of the Democratic Party still in place? Mamdani won election running against particularly loathsome opponents – an incumbent mayor who was saved from federal indictment only by cozying up to Donald Trump; a former governor forced to resign after multiple sexual harassment allegations; and the founder of a racist vigilante organization. Can that victory be replicated in other places under other circumstances and against respectable opponents? Katie Wilson’s victory in Seattle against mainstream Democrat Bruce Harrell suggests it can. But two examples don’t prove the case. Young people speaking their minds Getting so much resistance from behind In some ways, the split between pro and anti-Mamdani forces reflects a generational divide in the Democratic Party and among the party’s varied constituencies. Remember the four-and-a-half-month tenure of 25-year-old David Hogg as Vice Chair of the DNC? Hogg was driven out of his seat by old guard Democratic Party operatives, who objected to his plans to primary do-nothing Democratic incumbents with younger, bolder, and more aggressive candidates. The Mamdani and Wilson campaigns raise the same issues. What’s the value of Democratic incumbents if they can’t or won’t deliver on their party’s promises? After the election, “affordability” became the new buzz word for Democrats. Nice slogan, but what does it mean? For Mamdani it means publicly-owned grocery stores, a rent freeze, and $30 an hour minimum wage. For Wilson it means spending $1 billion on social housing and preventing private equity firms from buying up vacant homes. For young workers who find it less and less possible to live in New York or Seattle, these are practical measures that will help them sustain themselves and their families. What does “affordability” mean to Chuck Schumer? And if it doesn’t mean something concrete to him and his brand of Democrats, if it’s just the slogan du jour, maybe it’s time for all of them to step aside in favor of younger, bolder, and more aggressive candidates. We can and we should celebrate the election of 2025. But we should also be prepared for even more political struggles ahead. < 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 June 2025 Resisting Immigrant Deportations – This Is Just the Beginning Cindy Domingo Two hundred fifty people packed Seattle’s International Association of Machinists Local 751 union hall on May 3rd, with another 60+ online, to de- liver a powerful message to the Trump administration that they would resist deportations occurring at a massive level in the US. In a show of unity, a multi-racial crowd of Asian Americans, Latinos, and white people coming from over 150 organizations/affiliations listened to three different panels composed of immigrant rights organizations and advocates, elected officials, lawyers, educators, and representatives from faith-based organizations, labor, and community-based organizations. The new organization Standing for Democracy was the convenor of the conference, which was cosponsored by another 20 organizations, including PSARA and the major statewide immigrant rights organizations NW Immi- grant Rights Project and Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network. Opening keynote speaker Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director and cofounder of Community to Com- munity, provided a vision for Standing for Democracy as she recalled the history and work of the Washington State Rainbow Coalition (WSRC) of the 1980-90’s. WSRC, often portrayed as a multi-racial movement that had an inside/outside Democratic Party strategy, was part of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, but maintained its independence from Jackson. The WSRC developed a comprehensive forward- looking program, which encompassed a local, state, national, and international platform that guided its domestic and foreign policies that remain relevant today. Elected officials and political candidates coming to the WSRC for endorsements were measured by that program. For many during that period, the WSRC became the model of what participatory democracy could look like in the context of a progressive program and party. Presentations by County Council member Teresa Mosqueda and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (via video message) both signaled that the first 100 days of the Trump administration’s policies are quickly moving us towards fascism. The attacks on immigrants, misinformation, denial of due process, and Trump’s seizure of power held by Congress and the Courts is the classic playbook of dictators and authoritarian regimes. Both women called on conference attendees to continue to resist and organize because it is the power of the people that will stop the dismantling of our democracy. The conference reflected the willing- ness of people to come together to de- fend immigrants but also peoples’ need to develop concrete strategies and plans to further disrupt Trump’s over- all move towards fascism. As Jayapal stated, the attacks against immigrants are about all of us and all our democrat- ic rights. While Standing for Democracy in Washington State is just beginning, some ideas from the conference are already taking form. Out of the conference panel on litigation strategies, a group of lawyers led by Attorney Michael Withey are developing a legal “Strike Force” that will use various tools like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to uncover information on the strategies of ICE and local police forces in Washington State. As a sanctuary state, local police forces are not allowed to cooperate with ICE on sharing information on immigrants or cooperating on arrests for federal civil immigration violations. Information from FOIAs could lead to further lawsuits to stop illegal activity. King County Councilmember Jorge Baron, a longtime leader on immigration policy in Washington State and nationally, and Mosqueda both called upon Standing for Democracy and attendees to assist in developing and supporting policies that resist the Trump administration’s attacks on im- migrants, diversity/equity/inclusion, and programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. Washington State has already been targeted by Trump for severe federal budget cut- backs. Although that policy has been contested in court, the two Councilmembers along with Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who presented on the allies panel, need a strong movement to develop new revenue to support core programs for working class people of our state and those most impacted by poverty and racism. Organizers for Standing for Democracy are considering going to the vari- ous organizations that cosponsored the conference and others across the state who are interested in building an inter- sectional movement to resist Trump’s anti-democratic policies and his moves toward fascism. There are many organizations operating throughout Washington State that work on a variety of issues, including in rural Washington and in municipalities of various sizes. These organizations do great work in their communities. As a new organization, we want to know how we can move forward together without usurping what others are doing already. One of the ideas that evolved out of the Social Forum model was the concept of Peoples’ Assemblies where communities of particular areas or sectors come together to develop their own platform based on their experiences, knowledge, and aspirations. This model has the potential of develop- ing a statewide platform similar to the Washington State Rainbow Coalition. Another tool that the National office of Standing for Democracy has developed, which was tested at the conference, was a curriculum on fascism that could potentially be adapted for use in particular sectors or communities. Standing for Democracy is holding a follow-up Zoom gathering on May 22. It is open to conference attendees who would like to further develop ideas and strategies for working together to grow our movement. Cindy Domingo is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach and a veteran activist with LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 Rural Protestors Urge Senate to Kill Trump Medicaid Cuts Tim Wheeler Senior citizens stood near Clallam County’s only full service public hospital, June 7, holding signs proclaiming “85% of OMC Patients on Medicaid, Medicare” and chanting “No Cuts to Medicaid or Medicare.” The vigil, initiated by PSARA, attracted 18 participants who lined First Street a couple of blocks south of the Olympic Medical Center (OMC), a public hospital that serves 111,000 on the isolated, rural Olympic Peninsula. The protesters held up their signs and waved as passing motorists honked and gave thumbs-up salutes. In the crowd were two candidates for the OMC Board of Commissioners constantly struggling with millions of dollars in debt due to the low reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid. The vigil was in protest against President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill passed by the House and now pending in the US Senate. The bill would inflict $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $300 billion in cuts to the SNAP nutrition programs to defray the trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and millionaires. Laurie Force, a retired nurse and a candidate in the August primary for the OMC Board, was holding a sign as was her husband, Larry, whose hand-lettered message was “Stop the Steal.” Her campaign slogan is “A Force For OMC.” The other candidate for the OMC Board, Dr. Gerry Stephanz, Medical Director of the Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic, pointed out that Trump’s budget bill is a grave risk to rural hospitals across the nation, including the OMC, that are totally dependent on Medicare and Medicaid payments to stay afloat financially. OMC, he said, should file to be designated a “Rural Health” provider, like the hospital in Port Townsend. If recognized as a rural hospital that provides life and death services to more than 100,000 people, OMC would enjoy far higher reimbursement rates for the 85% of its patients now covered by Medicaid and Medicare. The vigil took place one week after a “town hall” meeting, also organized by PSARA at the senior Shipley Center in nearby Sequim. Speaking at the Shipley Center in Sequim on May 24, PSARA leaders Robby Stern and Anne Watanabe urged fightback against President Trump’s so-called budget “reconciliation” bill that will inflict hundreds of billions in cutbacks to Medicaid, the SNAP food stamp program and other human needs benefits while handing trillions in tax cuts to themselves and their billionaire cronies. Said Watanabe, “The GOP ‘big, beautiful bill’ means that by 2034, 8.6 million lose health insurance because of cuts. Another 5.1 million lose health insurance through loss of tax credits….13.7 million total will lose healthcare insurance.” She cited the disastrous impact the cuts would inflict in Clallam County where 20,866 children, 38 percent of youngsters, are protected by Medicaid and 21 percent of those 55 years or older. In neighboring Jefferson County 7,641 people, over 29 percent of children and 27 percent of those 55 years are older are enrolled in Medicaid. Rural hospitals, she said, like the Olympic Medical Center (OMC) in Port Angeles that serves 111,000 people, are at grave risk of closing or losing their public status, being privatized through merger with private for-profit hospitals like Providence, a Catholic hospital chain that bans abortions and other reproductive health care. These hospitals, she charged, are being forced into bankruptcy due to ruinously low reimbursement rates for their Medicaid and Medicare patients. In the past twenty years, 200 rural hospitals across the nation have been forced to close due to this crisis in rural America. OMC is the only full service hospital in an isolated region two hours drive from Silverdale or Tacoma and a long ferry ride from Seattle. Treatment for a heart attack or delivery of a baby is care needed instantly not after a two hour drive. Enactment of the Trump-MAGA budget bill will be a death sentence for tens of thousands of low income people, children, immigrant and native-born alike. Already approved by the House, Stern and Watanabe urged the crowd to bombard the U.S. Senate with mes- sages demanding the Senators vote down the budget scam, the most sweeping attack on federal human needs programs ever. Both Stern and Watanabe addressed the issue of defending traditional Medi- care from privatization by so-called “Medicare Advantage.” Stern described in detail the life-threatening struggles by PSARA member Richard Timmins, of Whidbey Island, who was forced to undergo intense treatment for skin cancer because his so-called Medicare Advantage (MA) provider refused to approve in time treatment by a dermatologist despite his physician’s recommendation. By the time the MA provider reversed course and approved examination, the tumor had metastasized into cancer. Stern told of his own family forced to file multiple appeals against a Medicare Advantage provider to win skilled nursing coverage for a parent/ grandparent in a nursing home. Medicare Advantage was authorized in 1982 said Watanabe. “The intention was to lower the cost of Medicare and improve outcomes for patients. So what happened?” Corporate insurers paid a per patient capitation fee, seek to inflate their profits through massive overcharges, false claims, "upcoding" in which patients are over-diagnosed to allow MA providers to receive higher capitated payments from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The total overcharges by MA is estimated to be $80 billion to $140 billion annually. Much of this corrupt profiteering has been exposed by the MEDPAC, a commission that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. PSARA is part of a nationwide coalition seeking to preserve Medicare against privatization by “leveling the playing field,” enacting reforms that allow traditional Medicare to offer the same extra benefits offered by MA like dental, vision, and hearing, and capping out-of-pocket costs for traditional Medicare enrollees. PSARA also supports “Medicare For All” or universal publicly paid healthcare for every person in the U.S. native born and immigrant, said Watanabe. Ellen Menshew, a member of PSARA and also Chair of the Clallam County Democratic Party (CCD), and Lisa Dekker, an Outreach Vice President of PSARA from Clallam County, introduced the guest speakers from Seattle. Dekker told the crowd that PSARA members and other volunteers are standing in front of the Federal Building in Port Angeles every Friday at 1 p.m. to protest the Trump-Musk attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid focused now on demanding that the U.S. Senate reject the MAGA-Trump budget bill. It was Memorial Day weekend and many in the crowd came directly from a “Hands Off Our Veterans” protest by hundreds at the main intersection in Sequim denouncing cuts by Trump and unelected Elon Musk to the Veterans Administration, and sharp reductions in healthcare and other benefits for war veterans and their families. In the audience were members of PSARA from Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Gig Harbor, and Tacoma. US Army vets, and active union members were present. Tim Wheeler is a veteran activist, journalist, and a leader of PSARA's Clal- lam County organizing committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 Organizing for Immigrant Human Rights Cindy Domingo Every day for the last month we have been assaulted by the Trump administration’s coup and the dismantling of our government that upholds our US democracy. However, nothing is more heart breaking than the media coverage of handcuffed and shackled immigrants, many of them children, being loaded onto planes for deportation. US citizens are being questioned and asked for birth certificates and pass- ports because they spoke Spanish in public or looked like they were Mexican or Latino. Weare again hearing about parents being deported leaving their children behind. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents sit outside nonprofits that serve predominantly Latinos merely to intimidate clients, striking fear in employees that one day they won’t see particular beloved people because they were deported. On the legal front, Trump has cut legal aid funding that assists immigrants in their asylum requests. They fled countries where they faced economic hardships and violence. Funding has even been cut for lawyers of children unaccompanied by parents when they crossed the US southern border, leaving them vulnerable to human and sex trafficking. Trump ran on a platform blaming the ills of our society on undocumented immigrants of color. Unemployment, the housing crisis, lack of money for social services, gang and gun violence, and drug addiction are all a result of our southern border not being secure. According to Trump, President Biden and Vice President Harris allowing thousands of “bad” immigrants into our country. Congress followed suit in late January when they passed the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man. That act, passed with bipartisan support, including Washington State Congresswomen Marie Gluesencamp Perez and Kim Schrier. It is a broad sweeping law that allows for the detainment of non-citizens for almost any crime, including shoplifting. Non-citizens can include DACA students and people on special visas, like the Temporary Status Program. Trump has also canceled funding for refugee resettlement programs that are impact- ing Ukrainian, Sudanese, and other peoples fleeing war torn countries. In Washington State, this is having a devastating impact even though we have one of the best refugee resettlement programs, initiated by Republican Governor Dan Evans in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Washington State's legal aid programs have already been cut due to Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts to federal funding, and ICE has stepped up the numbers of deportees flown out of King County International Airport. However, Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants and refugees has not gone without a response by the immigrant rights communities, labor movement, legal community, and others. But it will take a mass movement, a broad united front, to both protect immigrants and refugees and project a vision of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Standing for Democracy (see February issue of The Retiree Advocate) aims to build that united front by calling for a conference in April/May to bring together all those who want to stop the mass deportations, and to support immigrants and refugees who are the target of Trump’s inhumane immigration policies. Building for this conference has already begun enabling groups who work in their own silos to work together. Participants for planning include Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), Casa Latina, Washington Immigrant Rights Network (WAISN), One America, LELO/A Legacy for Equality Leadership and Organizing, Pride At Work, PSARA, Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, AFT Washington, UFCW 3000, SEIU Local 6, Unite Here Local 8, APALA Seattle, Communities for Colleges, the Offices of King County Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Jorge Baron, and Rod Dembowski, the Office of Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Community to Community, and other community organizations. If you are interested in planning this conference and ongoing work with Standing for Democracy, please contact Cindy Domingo at cindydomingo@gmail.com or Moon Vazquez at jmoom57@earthlink.net Committee meetings have been scheduled for program, site/logistics, and outreach. Cindy Domingo is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach and a veteran activist with LELO/A Legacy for Equality Leadership and Organizing and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents September 2025 Workgroup on Data Centers Convened This Year Anne Shields Data centers provide the infrastructure, computing resources, and efficient cooling systems needed to train and run complex AI models. In February, Governor Ferguson issued an executive order commissioning a workgroup to recommend policies on data centers in Washington State. The workgroup will report on their findings about how data centers impact our state's economy, tax revenue, energy use, tribal resources, and the environment. The next workgroup meeting is scheduled for late September. You can follow workgroup membership, meetings, and materials on this webpage: https://dor.wa.gov/about/data-center-workgroup PSARA members on Third Act WA’s Power Up Team are partnering with the all-volunteer Washington Clean Energy Coalition to monitor workgroup proceedings and develop recommendations. The preliminary recommendations to the workgroup will include: WA emissions goals upheld. Data centers operating in Washington State should be powered by renewable energy. Data centers should not com- promise goals in reducing emissions specified in the Climate Commitment Act and the Clean Energy Transformation Act. No cost increases for WA customers. Data centers should not increase the cost of electricity for residential or commercial customers in our state. No financial support through our taxes. Local and state tax increases should not contribute to the construction and operation of data centers. No adverse impacts on nearby WA communities and habitats. Data centers should not affect the availability of clean water in nearby communities, as happened elsewhere, or harm fish and wildlife by releasing heated water into the environment. Public information available on costs and benefits. Builders and operators should be required to provide timely and transparent data on the costs and benefits of data centers. The public needs sufficient information to understand how these facilities will meet their obligations before construction begins. Electric service capacity and resiliency intact. Data centers should not reduce grid capacity or resiliency during extreme weather events or natural disasters. If you’d like to get involved in the coalition’s work on data centers or other utilities and electrification projects, contact Chris Goelz or Anne Shields on the PSARA Climate and Climate Justice Committee to learn about ways you can contribute to these efforts. Anne Shields is a member of Third Act and an active member of PSARA's Climate and Environmental Justice Committee < Back to Table of Contents