MORNING MESSAGE
Did You Vote For Unfair Pay and Unsafe Workplaces?
President
Trump just signed a bill, passed by the Republicans in the House and Senate,
that repealed President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order ...
The rule stated that our government should contract with companies that have “a
satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics.” ... This rule was a big
deal, because companies that get federal contracts employ one in five American
workers.
GOP Prepares to Nuke
McConnell
readies nuclear option for Gorsuch. Politico: “Mitch McConnell told his
leadership team in private [that] Neil Gorsuch probably won’t get 60 votes to
avoid a filibuster [and] Republicans should have no compunction about pulling
the trigger on the ‘nuclear option’ … ‘Feel no guilt,’ McConnell said … GOP
leaders can generally lose two Republicans on a simple majority vote, but their
margin may be even narrower on the nuclear option with the absence of Sen.
Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who is recovering from back surgery.”
Sen.
Bill Nelson opposed Gorsuch after progressive push. Politico: ” … he’s an
institutional centrist with a history of allowing Supreme Court picks to get a
full vote … Faced with the prospect of a primary challenge in the event he
didn’t filibuster and the likelihood of a tough general election campaign
against GOP Gov. Rick Scott either way, Nelson chose to lock down his left
flank.”
Grand Bargain for Infrastructure?
“Optimism
rising for infrastructure deal” says The Hill: “The rebuilding package was
expected to sit on the sidelines until the fall, but lawmakers on Capitol Hill
think that timeline could be accelerated with more room on the legislative
agenda and an administration eager to score a victory … Some lawmakers warn that
Trump’s infrastructure agenda could actually be complicated by the failure to
repeal ObamaCare … Tax reform legislation could include ‘repatriation,’ … This
would provide new revenue for the government, but with healthcare off the table
might be used to pay for tax reform instead of infrastructure.”
“Grand
bargain” won’t work, says Salon’s Heather “Digby” Parton: “Republicans are
not going to go along with big increases in government spending. Any plan they
would even be willing to contemplate would have to be a corporate boondoggle of
epic proportions, and Democrats are not going to sign on to that.”
House
and Senate GOP divided over health care strategy. ABC: “House GOP leaders
expressed confidence Tuesday morning that the party would be able to repeal and
replace Obamacare after a conference meeting with members — a total reversal
just four days after pulling the plug on their first effort — while their Senate
counterparts seemed eager to abandon the issue entirely.”
Trump Signs Climate Order
Trump
executive order doesn’t kill Clean Power Plan, yet. ABC: “The first hurdle
for the Trump administration will be moving Obama’s rule out of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit where it currently stands in
legal limbo. The rewriting of the Clean Power Plan could take over a year … for
every rule the EPA plans to rewrite, the administration will have to justify why
the rule is being rolled back. Then, comments will be made on each of the new
rules that the administration must respond to. This complex re-writing period
will likely face hefty litigation from environmental advocacy groups opposed to
the executive order.”
Dem
AGs pledge to fight climate order. The Hill: “A coalition of 17 Democratic
attorneys general and city attorneys from six cities said they would consider
what legal actions could be taken to block Trump’s order … [California Gov.]
Jerry Brown and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) reaffirmed their states’
commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years to well
below previous highs…”
Coal
jobs still not coming back. NYT: “Some of the fiercest coal country critics
of the Obama administration have acknowledged as much. Robert E. Murray, an
outspoken mining executive, recently suggested tempered expectations for a coal
rebound. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky,
cautioned in November that the potential impact of a regulatory rollback would
be ‘hard to tell.'”
Politico
reporter Matthew Nussbaum observes: “There are ~50,000 coal miners in US.
There are ~520,000 fast food cooks. Coal miners seem to loom a lot larger in our
politics. Wonder why.”
Breakfast Sides
Republicans
eye SNAP cuts. USA Today: “Democratic members of the House subcommittee on
nutrition said they’re anxious about Republican leaders’ talk of separating the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from the 2018 Farm Bill, like they
tried in 2013, or creating unrealistic work requirements for eligibility …”
Republicans
signal removal of controversial measures to keep government open. The Hill:
“Senate Republican leaders signaled Tuesday they would set aside President
Trump’s controversial request for a military supplemental bill that would
include funding to begin construction of a wall along the southern border …
Speaker Paul Ryan [said] language defunding Planned Parenthood should be kept
out of the spending legislation that needs to pass by April 28 [but addressed
later] through a special budgetary process that requires only 51 votes to pass
the Senate.”
Progressive
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