How
Trump Is Like Reagan … And How He Is Not
Both
had a nontraditional celebrity background that caused Democrats to underestimate
him but help forged a bond with voters. Both recoiled at policy details and
in-depth briefings. Both said things on the campaign trail that many wrongly
assumed would be politically damaging. Both employed right-wing populism to make
liberals pay for challenging their intellectual capacities ... [But] they
diverge in one significant respect...
URGENT:
Sessions Attorney General confirmation can still be stopped
Senate
Republicans are trying to rush through one of the most dangerous Presidential
appointments of all time. Sen. Jeff Sessions has a history of attacking civil
rights organizations, undermining women’s rights and is out of step with our
country’s core values. Call
your Senator today and tell them to vote “no” to confirming Jeff
Sessions.
CONTROVERSIAL CABINET CONFIRMATION PROCESS BEGINS
Senate
Majority Leader sticks with plan to fast-track Trump cabinet noms. Politico:
“…there are nine Cabinet confirmation hearings scheduled in the Senate this
week, with as many as five on Wednesday — the same day the president-elect will
hold his first news conference in months, and senators will participate in a
budget ‘vote-a-rama’ expected to go late into the night … [Some,] including
Betsy DeVos for education and John Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland
Security, have yet to finish their ethics reviews…”
Dems
still plan “extreme vetting.” Bloomberg: “…Chuck Schumer is in talks with
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the full scope of the hearings — demanding,
among other things, full paperwork in advance and at least two days of hearings
on eight of the most troublesome nominees … One of Democrats’ top goals is to
highlight splits between the nominees and Trump’s populist message and campaign
rhetoric …”
“Day
of Denial” protests today. The Nation: ” To show that we won’t stand for a
climate-denying cabinet, people across the country will gather at their
senators’ offices to demand that they reject Trump’s reckless picks.”
OBAMACARE DETAILS MAKE GOP SWEAT
Partisanship
may turn Obamacare into a GOP liability. CNN: “Making the difficult task of
enacting healthcare reform a millstone for Republicans could end up helping
Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections … ‘We’ve had six years of opportunities
to work together on a bipartisan basis to improve or change the Affordable Care
Act. They have never, ever, accepted an invitation for that,’ [Sen. Minority
Whip Dick] Durbin said.”
Health
industry leaders panic over repeal & delay strategy. Politico: “Their
doomsday scenario: Millions of people could lose their health care coverage,
hospitals could hemorrhage cash and shocks to the $3 trillion-a-year health
system could send ripples through the entire economy … Hospitals estimate that
repealing Obamacare could cost them $165 billion by the middle of the next
decade and trigger ‘an unprecedented public health crisis’ if sick people are
unable to get care … The Advisory Board Company, which provides services to
health care firms, announced last week that it is laying off 220 people because
hospitals hit the brakes on spending following the GOP sweep.”
McConnell
to move full steam ahead. Reuters: “Speaking on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’
McConnell said: ‘There ought not to be a great gap” between repealing the act
and replacing it and that Republicans would be “replacing it rapidly after
repealing it.’ McConnell did not define what he meant by ‘rapidly.’ Another top
Republican, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, told Fox News that it could take
two years to fully replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as
Obamacare.”
Some
GOP governors aim to protect Medicaid expansions. The Atlantic: “…GOP
Governors John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan have raised concerns
about the impact a full repeal of the health law would have on their states,
which rely on billions of dollars in additional federal funding to cover an
expansion of Medicaid they carried out …”
The
American Prospect’s Paul Waldman counsel Dems to confront GOP at grassroots
level: “Every time a member of Congress does a town meeting, he should be
asked questions like: Why do you want to re-open the Medicare prescription drug
‘donut hole’? … Why do you want to take away the subsidies that make insurance
affordable for so many people? Why do you want to bring back lifetime limits on
coverage? … I’m not happy about my out-of-pocket costs, but all the Republican
plans look like they’ll increase my out of pocket costs—that’s what you and your
buddies call ‘skin in the game.’ Can you promise me that won’t happen?”
INFLATION MAY DO IN TRUMP
Simon
Johnson calls Trump’s economic plans “folly” in the American Prospect: “It
has been a long time since we had significant inflation in the United States,
and many people seem to have forgotten how unpopular it is. Ronald Reagan told
Americans they should care about the ‘misery index’—the sum of inflation and
unemployment. And inflation is almost always bad for people on lower incomes,
including pensions (which will not be fully indexed to rising costs). Trump’s
supporters will not be so delighted once the full implications of his tax cuts
and other macroeconomic policies begin to sink in.”
Dems
introduce bill to apply conflict of interest law to the presidency.
Politico: “The bill has slim if any chance of advancing while Republicans
control the House and Senate. But it gives Democrats a substantive counterattack
for Trump’s planned Wednesday press conference…”
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