MORNING MESSAGE
Tuesday Senate Protests Mark The Next Step In The Resistance
People’s
Action, MoveOn.org, Working Families Party, and other allies across the country
are holding actions at the offices of Democratic and Republican senators on
Tuesday with a clear message: “Stop the #SwampCabinet.” Many organizations will
continue weekly protests against Trump and Trumpism every Tuesday as part of
#RiseUpTuesdays, initiated by People’s Action.
BREAKING: DAKOTA, KEYSTONE BACK ON
Trump
to sign orders advancing Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines reports
Bloomberg.
PRICE IN TROUBLE?
Ethics
concerns expected to dominate HHS nominee Tom Price hearing today. CNN:
“…Senate Finance Committee staff released a bipartisan memo to lawmakers
disclosing several red flags that were raised in the course of reviewing the
congressman’s tax returns and financial disclosure statements … The accusations
include Price’s alleged failure to disclose late tax payments on rental
properties; undervaluing stocks he owns in a pharmaceutical company both to the
committee and in his financial disclosure forms; and failure to disclose to the
committee that he was previously investigated by an ethics panel for fundraising
activities.”
Obamacare
is not in a “death spiral.” The Hill: “Under the death spiral scenario, the
healthcare system then falls victim to a vicious cycle in which more and more
healthy people drop out, causing premiums to rise and rise until insurers pull
out of the market entirely. The problem with the argument, according to [the
American Academy of Actuaries’ Cori] Uccello, is that ObamaCare’s enrollment is
actually holding steady and not dropping off … a report from analysts at
Standard & Poor’s in December found that 2017 was a ‘one-time pricing
correction’ and premium increases for 2018 would be ‘well below’ that amount …
Uccello … warned that repealing the mandate could actually bring about a death
spiral…”
At
least not yet. Politico: “With only eight days left to sign up for 2017
plans, many consumers — not to mention, insurers and brokers — were stunned and
confused by Trump’s order Friday night encouraging federal agencies to dismantle
parts of the law even before Congress repeals it. By authorizing agencies to
roll back some provisions of the law — but not requiring them to do so — the
order added to the uncertainty of already jittery consumers and insurers.”
GOP
divided over Medicaid block grant plan. Politico: “At the crux of the matter
is an impossible task set forth by Trump: In recent interviews he has said he
wants to block-grant Medicaid funding to the states but also ensure the roughly
11 million people who received coverage under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid
expansion do not lose it.”
SEVERAL CABINET PICKS TO ADVANCE
Five
nominees get committee votes today. Roll Call: “Five Cabinet hopefuls will
receive committee votes on Tuesday: Ben Carson for Housing and Urban
Development; Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general; former Labor
Secretary Elaine L. Chao for Transportation; Wilbur Ross for Commerce, and South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be U.N. ambassador. Confirmation votes for Montana
Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke to head the Interior Department, and former Texas
Gov. Rick Perry on Energy were originally scheduled for Tuesday as well. But
those votes were postponed indefinitely, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
leadership said late Monday, without offering an explanation.”
OMB
pick expected to get rough questioning. The Hill: “Liberal senators, most
notably Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), are expected to grill Rep. Mick Mulvaney …
Mulvaney has led calls to reform Medicare and Social Security. In April 2011, he
criticized then-House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget for
not going far enough to overhaul Medicare and called for raising the Social
Security retirement age from 67 to 70.”
Neil
M. Gorsuch dubbed SCOTUS frontrunner. LAT: “He currently serves on the U.S.
10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver … His best-known opinions grew out of
the dispute over the Obama administration’s regulation requiring employers to
provide female employees with the full range of contraceptives as part of their
health insurance … Gorsuch voiced support for the religious claimants …”
TRADE RATTLES GOP
Congressional
Republicans worried Trump will pull out of NAFTA. CNN: “…his plans over
NAFTA have prompted growing concern, especially if he takes the extra step to
pull out of the 23-year-old agreement … Whether Trump listens to those warnings
remains to be seen. Trump has the authority to unilaterally pull out of NAFTA …
Republicans are urging Trump to proceed with caution, a sign the issue could
prompt a revolt in his party.”
Canada,
Mexico prepare for NAFTA renegotiation. Bloomberg: “White House spokesman
Sean Spicer on Monday said Trump plans further talks about modifying Nafta at
meetings with the two leaders in the next 30 days … Canadian officials are
holding out hope they’re not Trump’s target, and will do everything they can to
make sure they don’t get sideswiped if the president goes after Mexico … On
Monday, [Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto] laid out 10 goals for his
government in upcoming negotiations with the Trump administration, including
ensuring the free flow of remittances and seeking any return of Mexican migrants
to be orderly. He said Nafta should remain free of all tariffs.”
Australia
pushes for TPP without US. Bloomberg: “Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said
he discussed the deal on Monday night with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, and
held talks with the leaders of New Zealand and Singapore … Without the carrot of
the large American market, it would be hard to get member countries to agree the
same access as decided under the TPP … Japan currently isn’t considering a TPP
without America … Singapore, one of the biggest potential losers from a slump in
global trade, has signaled it will push for the implementation of the TPP…”
Trump
opaque on border tax. Politico: “He has said he wants a border tax — does
that mean he wants to institute tariffs or the border adjustment plan, the move
favored by the Hill GOP? MESSAGE TO 1600: You’d be putting a lot of GOP minds at
ease if you made this clear soon.”
Trump
to meet with auto CEOs today, as Detroit scrambles to adjust. WSJ: “Union
bosses are being called in to consult on how to reshuffle factory work, board
members are trying to figure out who has friends in President Donald Trump’s new
administration, and task forces have been created to monitor his Twitter account
…”
Trump
flinches on DACA. LAT: “Trump left it to Press Secretary Sean Spicer to
indicate the administration has put off ending a controversial program that
temporarily shields from deportation more than 742,000 young people who came to
the U.S. illegally as children, despite promising during the campaign to
‘immediately terminate’ it … Spicer said, ‘Give us a little bit of time; we’ll
see what Congress moves forward with.’ Trump aides have signaled in recent days
that the president is also looking at ways to punish so-called sanctuary
cities…”
DEMS PRESS TRUMP ON INFRASTRUCTURE
Trump
insist he’ll back infrastructure in meeting with construction and building trade
union leaders. NYT: “…President Trump reiterated on Monday his interest in
directing hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure investments, some of
it from the federal government … two union leaders said they had discussed a
number of specific projects with the president and his aides, including the
Keystone XL Pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Jordan Cove liquefied
natural gas export and storage facility in Oregon … [One] raised one point of
possible discord between the labor leaders and the Trump administration: the
so-called Davis-Bacon Act, which requires the federal government to pay
contractors and subcontractors ‘locally prevailing wages,’ … The president was
noncommittal in response.”
Senate
Dems to propose $1T, 10-year infrastructure plan today. AP: “Details of the
plan provided to The Associated Press include $200 billion for a ‘vital
infrastructure fund.’ … Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said
he doesn’t want another infrastructure plan that is effectively an economic
stimulus program …”
EPA IN DEEP FREEZE
Trump
freezes EPA. ProPublica: “The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on
grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that
could affect a significant part of the agency’s budget allocations and even
threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality
testing … One EPA employee aware of the freeze said he had never seen anything
like it in nearly a decade with the agency. Hiring freezes happened, he said,
but freezes on grants and contracts seemed extraordinary.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's
Action. more
»