MORNING MESSAGE
Will Betsy DeVos Restart The ‘Education Wars’?
[Betsy
Devos'] nomination risks “reigniting the education wars,” according to Randi
Weingarten, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s
second largest teachers union ... Weingarten referrs to the passage of new
federal education legislation in 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act, that
resolved many of the disputes over testing, teacher evaluation, and test-based
“accountability” provisions that had been instigated by the previous federal
law, No Child Left Behind ... in Trump’s selection of DeVos, Weingarten sees
“the antithesis of public education, ESSA bipartisanship, and what kids
need.”
Resistance
Assemblies Sunday
President-elect
Donald Trump, his agenda, and his toxic cabinet nominees have galvanized
unprecedented energy for activism around the country and people are looking for
ways to get involved. People’s Action, MoveOn and the Working Families Party,
are coordinating resistance assemblies on Sunday. More than 500 gatherings are
registered.Sign
up to attend a resistance assembly in your community at MoveOn.org and learn
how to join the fight to resist Trump.
RYAN PUSHES QUICK OBAMACARE REPEAL
Speaker
Paul Ryan insists Obamacare replacement can happen quickly during CNN town
hall: “‘We want to do this at the same time, and in some cases in the same
bill,’ Ryan said … adding that the GOP will act ‘definitely within these first
100 days’ of Trump’s presidency … He added that he supports elements of the
health care law — including that ‘people with pre-existing conditions, no matter
how much money they make,’ should have access to insurance …”
House
votes today to advance Obamacare repeal. The Hill: “The Senate approved the
legislation early Thursday morning, and the House is expected to follow suit
before adjourning until the inauguration … It’s likely a handful of House
Republicans will … oppose the measure, but not enough to tank it … A handful of
conservative lawmakers are already on record saying they will vote no on the GOP
budget, griping that it doesn’t do enough to tackle federal spending and debt or
that leadership has not laid out enough details of how it will go about
replacing ObamaCare.”
“Our
First Stand” rallies, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders scheduled for Sunday to
defend Obamacare.
CONFIRMATION TROUBLE?
Tillerson
confirmation up in the air. The Hill: “No Democrats have come out to
publicly support Tillerson, and key Republicans aren’t saying how they’ll vote …
Rubio’s vote is key. Republicans have only a one-seat majority on the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, so if he opposed the nomination, the committee
might not give Tillerson a favorable recommendation.”
Fight
to defeat Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder heats up. NYT: “On Thursday,
fast-food workers and a variety of others protested Mr. Puzder’s nomination in
more than a dozen cities across the country, in some cases at Hardee’s or Carl’s
Jr. locations and in front of Department of Labor offices in others … Democrats
and labor groups were heartened this week that the Senate panel overseeing his
confirmation process … delayed the hearing for the second time, to an
indeterminate date.”
Financial
dealings of Betsy DeVos could trip up her nomination for Education Secretary.
NYT: “She is a billionaire with a complex web of financial investments,
including in companies that stand to win or lose from the department she would
oversee … The hearing, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday of this
week, was postponed until Tuesday after Democrats complained she had not
completed an agreement with the independent Office of Government Ethics … The
ethics office has said it has not completed its review of Ms. DeVos … Senator
Patty Murray of Washington … said she and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee,
the panel’s Republican chairman, ‘have some concerns about missing information’
on the financial disclosure forms that Ms. DeVos has filed…”
Cabinet
nominees often disagreeing with Trump. NYT: “America should not torture.
Russia is a menace. A wall at the Mexican border would not be effective. A
blanket ban against Muslims is wrong. Climate change is a threat. Those
statements are in direct opposition to some of the most significant declarations
that President-elect Donald J. Trump made before his improbable ascension to the
White House. They are also the words of his own nominees to lead the nation’s
most important government agencies.”
BERNIE V. BOOKER OVER BIG PHARMA
“Bernie
Sanders slams Democrats for lacking ‘guts’ to fight Big Pharma” reports USA
Today: “Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday blasted 13 Senate Democrats for
lacking the ‘guts’ to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry after they voted
against a measure he pushed to help drive down drug costs by importing them from
Canada … he plans to personally speak with the senators who opposed the measure
— which failed 52-46 on Wednesday — and try to turn them around. A dozen
Republicans voted in favor … Several senators said they voted for other measures
to drive down drug costs and they cited safety concerns as the reason for their
opposition to the Klobuchar-Sanders measure.”
“Cory
Booker’s explanation for voting against cheap prescription drugs doesn’t track”
says TNR’s Alex Shephard: “… Booker may not have anticipated the backlash
he’s received. On Thursday, he sent a defensive statement to Jezebel justifying
his decision … the idea that imported drugs don’t meet American safety standard
… is silly, given that Americans already import drugs from Canada illegally and
it hasn’t resulted in a public health emergency.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Republicans
turn fire on Office of Government Ethics chief. NYT: “The Republican
chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Thursday issued a stern letter,
including a veiled threat of an investigation, to the federal government’s top
ethics monitor, who this week had questioned President-elect Donald J. Trump’s
commitment to confront his potential conflicts of interest … Mr. Chaffetz, in
his letter, noted his committee’s authority to reauthorize the office, a hint
that it could perhaps be shut down.”
Robots
not taking all the jobs … yet. NYT: “A measured pace [of job displacement]
is likely because what is technically possible is only one factor in determining
how quickly new technology is adopted, according to a new study by the McKinsey
Global Institute. Other crucial ingredients include economics, labor markets,
regulations and social attitudes.”
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