MORNING MESSAGE
#Holdthefloor: Senate Democrats’ All-Night Vigil Against DeVos
Every
Democrat in the Senate plans to vote against Trump’s nominee, joined by two
Republicans. Vice President Mike Pence may cast the tie-breaking and deciding
vote in a historical first for a cabinet confirmation ... Regardless of how the
vote turns out, the effort to oppose DeVos could be a turning point in the
ongoing conflict over education policy in the Democratic Party and the nation in
general.
TELL YOUR SENATOR TO VOTE "NO" ON DEVOS
At
noon today, the full Senate is expected to vote on billionaire Betsy DeVos,
Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education. DeVos has raised bipartisan concerns
and is now only one vote away from losing the nomination. Act now to Dump DeVos!
Call
your senators at 202-224-3121 and demand they vote “No” on
DeVos.
DEVOS VOTE TODAY
Pence
expected to drag DeVos over finish line. NYT: “On Monday, Senate Democrats
said they would spend the final 24 hours before Ms. DeVos’s confirmation vote
speaking out against her on the floor in a last-ditch effort to woo Republicans
to their side. But as the evening wore on, it looked increasingly likely that
Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski would be the only Republican defectors, setting up
a 50-50 tie. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to break the deadlock…”
“Trump’s
Labor Secretary Pick Andrew Puzder Admits to Employing Undocumented Worker”
reports ABC: “‘My wife and I employed a housekeeper for a few years, during
which I was unaware that she was not legally permitted to work in the U.S.,’
Puzder [said] … Puzder’s hearing has been stalled but he still plans to pursue
confirmation for the position.”
SCHUMER TO MEET GORSUCH
Sen.
Chuck Schumer makes case for a 60-vote threshold for Gorsuch in Politico
oped: “Nominees to our nation’s highest court must demonstrate that they are
mainstream and independent enough to earn the support of at least 60 senators
from both parties. Both of President Obama’s nominees to the Supreme Court
exceeded that level of support. The simple question we are asking is: Can
President Trump’s nominee meet that same test? If the nominee fails to meet 60
votes, the answer isn’t to change the rules; it’s to change the nominee.”
Gorsuch
courts Dems. AP: “Judge Neil Gorsuch met Monday with California Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Montana Sen.
Jon Tester, a Democrat running for re-election in a state that Trump won
handily. Unlike some Senate Democrats who have already said they will oppose
Trump’s nominee, both have said they will wait to decide … [Schumer] will meet
with Gorsuch on Tuesday…”
GOVERNING IS HARD
Dodd-Frank
rollback and Obamacare repeal in “slow lane.” Bloomberg: “On the House side,
there’s no agreement on a plan to replace either Obamacare or Dodd-Frank. Even
if they reach one soon, it’s almost certain to go beyond what Senate Republicans
are likely to accept, and it won’t be able to attract Democratic votes. And
putting forward new regulations will take years.”
“Campaign
Talk on Health Law Meets Reality” reports NYT: “…Trump and his Republican
allies on Capitol Hill have recast their ambitions … ‘The reality of the
difficulty of getting things done is sinking in,’ Senator Chuck Schumer [said,]
‘Democrats are feeling much better that there’s some chance of success.'”
GOP
divide over CFPB’s Richard Cordray. Politico: “…some are informally
compiling a dossier that would give Trump cover to fire him, should he choose to
do so, for ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.’ … [But] some Trump
advisers are ambivalent about the idea, saying it might be easier to live with
Cordray until his term expires in July 2018 … Ejecting Cordray could be
especially risky for a president who campaigned against Wall Street and vowed to
protect the economic interests of working Americans…”
“GOP
tees up more Obama energy rules for repeal” reports The Hill: “The House
will consider a resolution this week to undo the Bureau of Land Management’s
‘Planning 2.0’ regulation [which] reorganize[s] the agency’s natural resources
planning and management strategies … The House is planning to vote on three
other … education and labor rules finalized in the closing days of the Obama
administration.”
GOP PLOTS LEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN
Trump
ally targets legal immigration. Politico: “[Sen. Tom] Cotton will start off
with legislation being unveiled Tuesday that will dramatically slash the number
of immigrants who can obtain green cards and other visas every year … The bill
also dumps the diversity visa lottery, which allots about 50,000 visas per year
for citizens of countries that traditionally have low rates of immigration to
the United States. And it would limit refugees to 50,000 annually.”
Former
Bush & Obama aide Seth Stodder explains the Australian refugee deal in
Politico: “…they were intercepted before landing on Australia’s shores and
were promptly relocated to the Pacific Islands of Nauru and Manus. These
refugees … have been languishing … in what Amnesty International calls ‘open-air
prison’ conditions, some for as many as four or five years … this deal helps
solve a humanitarian crisis affecting one of the U.S.’s closest allies—all while
not putting the U.S. at risk.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Mother
Jones explores the rise of Keith Ellison: “As a young activist in
Minneapolis, Ellison learned to build coalitions outside the scope of party
politics. He also learned the limits of what such activism could achieve without
political power. For Ellison, it was a time of experimentation, education, and
sometimes radical dalliances that ultimately imbued in his politics a hard-edged
pragmatism.”
BLM
taking on Trump. Mother Jones: “Shortly before Trump’s inauguration,
Campaign Zero rolled out a Trump Resistance Manual, broadening its focus on data
gathering beyond police reform. The site includes descriptions of various Trump
policy proposals and assessments of their potential impact; it encourages users
to crowd-source information about ways people can get involved in local
organizing…”
Bloomberg
explores the “New Face of American Unemployment”: “20 million Americans are
left behind. They’re looking for work, out of the labor force but unhappy about
it, or report working part-time when they’d prefer more hours … Because of where
the structurally unemployed live, what they’ve done, or the skills they lack,
employers can’t or won’t hire them. The problems that keep today’s jobless stuck
on the sidelines are different than those of past recoveries: a complex web of
often interrelated issues from disability and drug use to criminal records.”
No,
Trump didn’t cut the cost of the F-35. Politico: “The main factors driving
down the price of each jet include the fact that the military was planning to
order them in larger quantities for U.S. forces and allies … Earlier pressure
from the Obama administration and Congress to shave expense also played a
role.”
Progressive
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