House Republican cuts to Medicaid in the American Health Care Act would hit New Jersey harder than any other state, thanks to a compromise brokered by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) that led to the approval the bill, the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“The bill would leave 500,000 more Garden State residents without health insurance than under current law, and New Jersey no longer would get extra federal funding for expanding Medicaid.”
“Jakarta’s Christian governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling that critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation,” Reuters reports.
“Tuesday’s guilty verdict comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.”
“Republican anxiety is mounting about a runoff election in a typically red Georgia House district—a race that will offer an early test of Democratic motivation just weeks after Donald Trump’s health care repeal bill passed the House,” McClatchy reports.
“Republicans in Washington and Georgia acknowledge that a GOP loss in the special election runoff between Karen Handel (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) is a distinct possibility, a development that would harden the narrative that Republicans face a daunting task in maintaining control of Congress in 2018… Interviews with a half-dozen Republican operatives and strategists familiar with the race reveal a recognition that Democrats have enthusiasm on their side.”
Federal investigators are looking into allegations that Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) wife, Jane Sanders, falsified loan documents while she served as the president of Burlington College, The Hill reports.
“The small Vermont liberal arts school closed down in May 2016, after going bankrupt and failing to meet accreditation standards. Sanders has been accused of falsifying the information on the loan documents in order to expand the college grounds.”
“This is corruption, pure and simple.”
— Former Bush White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, quoted by NBC News, on Jared Kushner’s sister promising visas to Chinese investors.
“Moon Jae-in was poised to be elected as South Korea’s next leader, ending nine years of conservative rule and bringing to power a forceful advocate for closer ties with North Korea,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Joint exit-poll results released by the country’s three major television stations suggested a sweeping victory for Mr. Moon, who has said that South Korea needs to learn to say ‘no’ to the U.S.”
Republicans “disputed forecasts that they would lose seats in 2018 because of their vote to partially repeal Obamacare,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“Pointing to previously undisclosed voter data, Republican strategists and congressional aides said the American Health Care Act could be more popular in GOP House districts than assumed by previous polling.”
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg “is on a nationwide tour that has people thinking about his political ambitions. But events on the trip are mostly private, which Facebook says encourages the people Zuckerberg is meeting with to be candid without the press watching,” Axios reports.
“The presidential election showed Zuckerberg that he doesn’t understand a lot of Facebook’s users, and this trip is a way to learn about a part of the world he’s been isolated from since at least his Harvard days. He’s already met with Facebook users who helped elect a president he’s at odds with. And while the Zuckerberg-for-president story has been overhyped, his friends think he may run for something one day, so these appearances help him connect to all types of potential voters and give him chance to get better at these sorts of appearances without the blinding glare of constant press attention.”
McClatchy: “Now’s the time prospective presidential candidates start taking the subtle but crucial behind-the-scenes steps that get them noticed by the political intelligentsia, and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is quietly following the script.”
“She’s making speeches to key national constituencies. She’s due for an appearance at a Washington think-tank panel full of chattering-class presidential favorites that the national media will be reporting and analyzing, probably for days. She’s been fundraising for colleagues and making sure that she is forming relationships with key national reporters.”
“They’re all boxes that prospective presidential candidates routinely check. It’s a chance to ultimately convince insiders they’ve got the gravitas and the fundraising chops to be taken seriously.”
ProPublica: “Perhaps Comey’s most surprising revelation was that Huma Abedin — Weiner’s wife and a top Clinton deputy — had made ‘a regular practice’ of forwarding ‘hundreds and thousands’ of Clinton messages to her husband, ‘some of which contain classified information.’ Comey testified that Abedin had done this so that the disgraced former congressman could print them out for her boss.”
“The problem: Much of what Comey said about this was inaccurate. Now the FBI is trying to figure out what to do about it.”
“FBI officials have privately acknowledged that Comey misstated what Abedin did and what the FBI investigators found. On Monday, the FBI was said to be preparing to correct the record by sending a letter to Congress later this week. But that plan now appears on hold, with the bureau undecided about what to do.”
A week after Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned words about his newborn son’s health crisis and the country’s health care system, the late night host had more to say.
“One week ago tonight, I made an emotional speech that was seen by millions, and as a result of my powerful words on that night, Republicans in Congress had second thoughts about repeal and replace, they realized that what is right is right, and I saved health insurance in the United States of America! Oh, I didn’t? I didn’t save it? They voted against it anyway? I really need to pay more attention to the news.”
“House Republican leaders are battling the Trump administration as well as many of their own colleagues in Congress — including the Freedom Caucus — over one of the most basic questions surrounding their tax plans this year: Should they go for a once-in-a-generation overhaul of the code or settle for an old-fashioned tax cut?,” Politico reports.
“With Republicans in complete control of the government, Speaker Paul Ryan and his chamber’s tax writers see a rare opportunity for a sweeping makeover, something lawmakers have long promised but haven’t done since the Reagan administration.”
“The other side wants to focus on cutting taxes. That would not only be a much easier lift but, with all the uncertainty over Republicans’ Obamacare replacement plans, would also help ensure they go into next year’s midterm elections with a major legislative accomplishment.”
Jimmy Carter said that he had voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary over Hillary Clinton, the Daily Beast reports.
At an event with Sanders where the Vermont senator discussed the high voter participation rates in this weekend’s French presidential election — and how that level of participation is essential for the U.S. — Carter quipped “Can y’all see why I voted for him?”
“President Trump’s most senior military and foreign policy advisers have proposed a major shift in strategy in Afghanistan that would effectively put the United States back on a war footing with the Taliban,” the Washington Post reports.
“The new plan, which still needs the approval of the president, calls for expanding the U.S. military role as part of a broader effort to push an increasingly confident and resurgent Taliban back to the negotiating table, U.S. officials said.”
“The Trump administration is so far ignoring pleas from both on and off Capitol Hill to denounce the suspected Russian-backed digital assault that appeared aimed to tilt Sunday’s French presidential election toward nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen,” Politico reports.
“The White House’s failure to mention the attack on one of America’s oldest allies has worried Democrats, cyber policy specialists and former White House officials, who say the omission reveals a troubling inability to call out Russia over its digital aggression.”
Rep. Rob Blum (R-IA) abruptly ended an interview with KCRG-TV when the interviewer began asking about donations he received from people outside of his district.
Charlie Cook: “Since Inauguration Day, President Trump has had the lowest job-approval ratings of any newly elected president since the first ‘scientifically based’ poll by George Gallup in 1936. More than anything else, midterm elections are referenda on the incumbent president. Obviously no one knows what is going to happen in next year’s midterm elections, but analysts who have watched congressional elections for a long time are seeing signs that 2018 could be a wave election that flips control of the House to Democrats.”
“The late Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill was famous for having said, ‘all politics is local.’ I would add an important caveat: ‘All politics is local, except when it’s not.’ Roughly once a decade we see a tidal wave election, almost always at midterm, in which an invisible hand seems to boost candidates of one party and drag down candidates of the other. Candidates who normally win big end up winning by smaller margins. Lawmakers who usually have competitive races often get sucked away by the undertow. Districts that should be safe are no longer safe. Strong campaigns lose to weak campaigns, underfunded campaigns topple well-funded campaigns.”
“White House staff called the Prime Minister’s Office last month to urge Justin Trudeau to persuade President Trump not to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement,” the National Post reports.
“The unconventional diplomatic maneuver — approaching the head of a foreign government to influence your own boss — proved decisive, as Trump thereafter abandoned his threat to pull out of NAFTA unilaterally, citing the arguments made by Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto as pivotal.”
“But the incident highlights the difficulties faced by governments all over the world when it comes to dealing with a president as volatile as Trump.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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