MORNING MESSAGE
Recess Actions Spur Health Care Accountability
Citizens
have refused to take no – or no-shows – as answers when elected officials
sidestep questions at town hall meetings about Republican plans to cut health
care and repeal the Affordable Care Act ... New York, Nevada, Wisconsin and
Maine are among the states where People’s Action affiliates organized over
eighty events to publicly challenge officials during the Congressional recess in
February. They will do so again when representatives return to their home
districts April 10th through 23rd.
Trump Tries Again To Restrict Refugees, Muslim Immigration
New
travel ban expected today. ABC: “The new order has been crafted to withstand
legal challenges, exempting permanent legal residents and applying only to
future visa applicants, not those who already hold valid visas. The new order
also narrows the list of counties targeted … Iraq has been removed from the
original list … The new order puts a temporary halt on all refugees entering the
United States. The first order included a 120-day stoppage on all refugees
except Syrians, who would have been banned indefinitely.”
“White
House wants it both ways on revised travel ban” reports Politico: “The White
House has [promised] the public that the revised version would be substantially
the same as the original—while telling courts just the opposite … Attorneys
representing several states, the American Civil Liberties Union and other
immigrants’ rights groups are poised to return to court as soon as Monday to
challenge whatever new order Trump issues … It’s unclear whether courts will be
more inclined to give the Trump team credit for taking a more deliberate
approach … or whether judges’ skepticism will be fueled even further by
indications that public relations concerns played a key role in the timing of an
order the administration insists was prompted by urgent national security
concerns.”
House ACA Repeal To Be Revealed
House
bill to repeal ACA expected to be unveiled this week. Reuters: “…a senior
Republican congressional aide … cited progress in meetings and phone calls
starting on Friday and lasting through the weekend involving House of
Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom
Price, White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, Trump domestic policy adviser
Andrew Bremberg and others … The aide called the expected bill a ‘consensus
Republican plan,’ but offered no details.”
Constituents
terrified of ACA repeal pressure Republicans. NYT: “‘I met a woman the other
day with a terrible illness,’ [Sen. Shelley Moore Capito] said. ‘She is really
sick and really scared.’ … Even senators in states with no Medicaid expansion
concede that the law is baked into the culture, sometimes in ways their
constituents are not fully aware of, and in ways they themselves have fought for
… Many states that overwhelmingly supported Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign
are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the health care law. … As residents
become aware that benefits they have received were part of the health law and
may go away, so do their elected representatives.”
Quiet Assault On Dodd-Frank
Republicans
hope to prevent filibuster of Dodd-Frank repeal. The Hill: “Sen. Richard
Shelby (R-Ala.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, says the
budgetary process known as reconciliation, which can be used to circumvent the
filibuster, should be considered as a tool to roll back burdensome Obama-era
regulations on the financial sector … The effort has been kept largely quiet …
It was not one of the items highlighted on the 200-day agenda that Republicans
discussed at their annual retreat in Philadelphia, and President Trump did not
mention Wall Street during his address to a joint session of Congress on
Tuesday.”
Progressive
push against SEC nominee. W. Post: “A coalition of progressive groups plans
to announce Monday a campaign to derail President Trump’s nomination of Jay
Clayton to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, targeting Clayton’s
close connections to Wall Street. The campaign … will include a six-figure
digital advertising buy … Clayton would help police many of the same large banks
he has spent decades representing as a lawyer, including Goldman Sachs and
Barclays…”
Quiet Retreat On Paris Climate Agreement
Executive
order on climate may be issued this week. The Hill: “…President Trump is set
to sign an order calling for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to repeal
the Clean Power Plan … The order could also lift an Interior Department
moratorium on federal coal lease sales … The order itself won’t nix the [CPP],
but it will instruct regulators to reconsider it, and, thus, effectively kill it
later … One climate issue Trump might not touch next week: the Paris deal. Axios
reported Friday that the White House doesn’t expect a decision on the
matter…”
Auto
emission regs to be junked. NYT: “… the Trump administration is expected to
announce its agreement with the major auto companies that future mileage and
emissions standards should be overhauled to reflect the growing consumer demand
for larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles such as pickup trucks … auto companies
will be given an opportunity to argue for less stringent standards during a
government review period that could stretch into 2018. Environmental groups are
already crying foul that car companies are now opposing the standards many of
them agreed to during negotiations with the Obama administration in 2012…”
European
auto emission rules remain strong. AFP: “Global carmakers, stung by
emissions scandals, are racing to hunt down every gram of harmful CO2 spewed out
on the roads as tougher pollution rules kick in … Automakers failing to meet the
CO2 targets — capping petrol consumption to 4.1 litres per 100 kilometres and
diesel to 3.6 litres — will have to pay 95 euros ($100) for every extra CO2 gram
emitted by each car — potentially adding up to tens of millions of euros of
fines.”
Progressives Demand Gorsuch Fight
Left
presses Senate Dems to fight Gorsuch nomination. Politico: “In a letter to
be delivered Monday … 11 progressive groups warn that the 48-member minority
‘must get out in front of this nomination process and refuse to be bullied by
President Trump as he stampedes on the rights of Americans … ‘We need you to do
better.’ … Senate Republican leaders hope to hold a final confirmation vote soon
after Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings conclude, before the chamber recesses for
two weeks in early April.”
Independent
Sen. Angus King appears to lean in favor of Gorsuch. Politico: “‘Whatever
else you can say about him, my sense from his record is, he’s exceedingly
independent,’ King … said near the end of his marathon ‘listening session’ on
the Supreme Court [at University of Southern Maine.] … ‘He’s a real stickler for
limits on executive power.’ … Still, the mustachioed Maine senator left himself
plenty of wiggle room. After the town hall, he told reporters he ‘very
definitely’ had concerns about the judge’s decision to side with Hobby
Lobby…”
Budget Bungles
Silicon
Valley CEOs unhappy with Trump’s denial of California rail funds. NYT: “For
more than a decade, the managers of the Silicon Valley railway, known as
Caltrain, have been planning to upgrade to faster and less polluting electric
trains. But those plans are now imperiled by the Trump administration’s decision
in February to withhold a $647 million federal grant … Carl Guardino, the
president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group … called the Republican
campaign to block funding ‘a misinformed effort.’ ‘The most important asset of
the innovation economy are our employees,’ he said. ‘When they are stuck and
stalled in traffic they are not productively creating the future.'”
Trump
military budget “could make the world more dangerous” says Prof. Caitlin
Talmadge in NYT oped: “President Trump’s call for an increase in military
spending doesn’t have even the veneer of [strategic] guidance. Instead, the
administration has delivered a bundle of simplistic national security slogans
rife with contradictions and gaps … Most troubling is the fact that the Trump
administration apparently intends to fund increases in the defense budget by
slashing components of the federal budget that contribute significantly to
national security, including the State Department.”
Progressive
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