Daily Archives
35 posts · Monday
Mitt Romney made a plea to lawmakers to “put aside controversies” and “prioritize rescue” efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria tore through the Caribbean last week, The Hill reports.
He said the American territory is on the “brink of a humanitarian disaster.”
“Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined his team’s players in kneeling before the national anthem prior to their game Monday night at Arizona,” the Washington Post reports.
“They stood, with arms still interlocked, for the anthem.”
Politico: “The supposedly hard deadline at the end of the month to repeal Obamacare might not be so hard after all.”
“Here’s how it could be done: While the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the repeal push under fiscal 2017 must die after Sept. 30, Republicans could provide reconciliation instructions for both health care and tax reform in the fiscal 2018 budget resolution that Congress must pass to again unlock the fast-track procedural powers. That might entail some procedural hurdles, but one GOP aide said Monday that because the Finance Committee has jurisdiction over about 95 percent of health care policy, ‘it’s not like we couldn’t slip it in anyway.'”
Said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): “We’ve got to do both. They’re complicated by necessity. So I don’t think that takes away the complications. But I think we’re supposed to be able to handle complications.”
“At least six of President Trump’s closest advisers occasionally used private email addresses to discuss White House matters,” the New York Times reports.
“The disclosures came a day after news surfaced that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, used a private email account to send or receive about 100 work-related emails during the administration’s first seven months. But Mr. Kushner was not alone. Stephen Bannon, the former chief White House strategist, and Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, also occasionally used private email addresses. Other advisers, including Gary Cohn and Stephen Miller, sent or received at least a few emails on personal accounts.”
“Officials are supposed to use government emails for their official duties so their conversations are available to the public and those conducting oversight.”
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke “that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly,” the AP reports.
Said Zinke: “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said that she would oppose the latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders clearly short of the votes they need for passage, the New York Times reports.
Said Collins: “Health care is a deeply personal, complex issue that affects every single one of us and one-sixth of the American economy. Sweeping reforms to our health care system and to Medicaid can’t be done well in a compressed time frame, especially when the actual bill is a moving target.”
She added: “Today, we find out that there is now a fourth version of the Graham-Cassidy proposal, which is as deeply flawed as the previous iterations. The fact that a new version of this bill was released the very week we are supposed to vote compounds the problem.”
“The batch of more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads that Facebook is preparing to turn over to Congress shows a deep understanding of social divides in American society, with some ads promoting African-American rights groups including Black Lives Matter and others suggesting that these same groups pose a rising political threat, say people familiar with the covert influence campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Russian campaign — taking advantage of Facebook’s ability to simultaneously send contrary messages to different groups of users based on their political and demographic characteristics — also sought to sow discord among religious groups.”
Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee “is still mulling whether to challenge his successor Gina Raimondo in the 2018 election, but he has made one decision – there would be a ‘D’ next to his name if he jumps into the race,” WPRI reports.
Said Chafee: “I’m a Democrat.”
“Chafee won election to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2000, then won the governor’s office as an independent in 2010, only to join the Democratic Party in 2013. He declined to seek re-election as governor in 2014, but surprised many the following year when he decided to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.”
“Republicans in the Senate and White House are increasingly resigned to defeat in their final bid to repeal Obamacare this week, despite a flurry of last-second revisions meant to win over skeptical senators,” Politico reports.
“GOP leaders have yet to pull the plug on the effort, but a massive change in dynamics must occur in the sharply divided Senate for the Graham-Cassidy measure to pass.”
“House Democratic investigators are launching a congressional probe of Jared Kushner’s use of a private email for work purposes, a development that threatens to escalate the Russia-related controversies already surrounding President Trump’s son in-law,” Politico reports.
“Ivanka Trump, the first daughter and adviser to the president, used a personal email address to communicate with a government official after her father took office,” Newsweek reports.
“The documents show that on February 28, Trump—identifying herself as Ivanka Kushner—emailed Linda McMahon, the administrator of the United States Small Business Administration, from a personal domain.”
“Trump became an unpaid federal employee in March. But multiple government ethics experts say she likely could have had access to a White House email account in February, given that she is first daughter. Radford, her chief of staff, had a White House email address at the time.”
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) “picked an unusual fight Monday: he wants another Republican to challenge him in next year’s primary election,” 9News reports.
“Not just any Republican. Coffman wants to do battle with Tom Tancredo (R) — the firebrand conservative former congressman who used to occupy Coffman’s seat in the House of Representatives.”
Said Coffman: “Come after me. We could define what the Republican party is for a generation to come.”
The Washington Post reviews Megyn Kelly’s new show on NBC that aired this morning:
The hour crawled by. A middle segment featured the “Today” regulars welcoming Kelly to 30 Rockefeller Center, a predawn festivity of studied smarm, with the added delight of seeing Kathie Lee Gifford sit in her makeup chair and play nice-nice with Kelly the way an old house cat would welcome a naive and extra-squeaky mouse to the kitchen.
John Oliver had a preview of her show last night:
A new MRG poll in Michigan finds musician Kid Rock trails Sen. Debbie Stabenow in a possible U.S. Senate race by 18 points, 52% to 34%.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “still is not a ‘yes’ vote on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, according to a Cruz aide, despite changes made in a new version of the legislation released publicly Monday morning,” Axios reports.
“Cruz is the third Republican senator to say he opposes the bill. It only takes three to kill it.”
“Some of her friends have decided, ‘We don’t want to be your friend because your mom supports President Trump.’”
— RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, quoted by the Detroit News, on her daughter having a hard time at school.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) believes Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “should be recalled while he battles brain cancer and so that the GOP can replace him with someone who will support the party’s latest effort to repeal the 2010 health care law,” Roll Call reports.
Said Gohmert: “Nothing inhibits recovery from cancer like stress. I think Arizona could help him, and us. Recall him, let him fight successfully this terrible cancer, and let’s get someone in here who will keep the word he gave last year.”
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.