Month: February 2017

Capitol Hill Buzz: Democratic women wearing white for Trump

Democratic women in the House are planning to wear white in honor of women’s suffrage when they attend President Donald Trump ‘s first address to a joint session of Congress. The heads of the Democratic Women’s Working Group wrote a letter to their colleagues Monday reminding them to wear white to honor the suffrage movement and also to “stand in solidarity with the women of our nation.”

Multiple executions rare in US, Arkansas just scheduled 4

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday scheduled four double-executions in April. If carried out, the executions would mark the first time in nearly two decades that a state executed more than one inmate in a day, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center , a nonprofit research group that opposes executions.

Ways & Means chairman insists Obamacare repeal is on track

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said House Republicans are fully engrossed in overhauling how Americans get health insurance, and are on track to have a bill ready by March. “We’re in substantive discussions with our members,” Brady said Monday, dismissing rumors that Republicans are stalled in their quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

HBCUs, advocates looking for help from Trump on funding

President Donald Trump shakes hands as he meets with leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017. President Donald Trump shakes hands as he meets with leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017.

APNewsBreak: Arizona House speaker won’t hear rioting bill

The speaker of the Arizona House said Monday he won’t hear a bill that makes participating in or helping organize a protest that turns into a riot an offense that could lead to criminal racketeering charges. The measure passed last week by the Senate drew nationwide attention because it added rioting to the organized crime statutes and said an overt act isn’t needed to prove conspiracy to riot.

Trump credits himself for the party’s growing popularity

President Trump shared an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on his Twitter account on Monday, touting the survey’s findings that more U.S. adults approve of Republicans in Congress than Democrats for the first time in more than five years. “GOP now viewed more favorably than Dems, in Trump era via @HotlineJosh,” Trump tweeted Monday evening.

Lawmakers: Tax exemptions to be examined in upcoming session

Lawmakers who closed a $304 million mid-year budget deficit are already looking ahead to April, when the Legislature will look for revenue sources to help remedy the state’s consistently dire financial picture. After pulling $99 million from the state’s rainy day fund and filling the remaining gap with cuts, including $40 million cut primarily from healthcare administration, the looming task is now to prevent these budget deficits from reoccurring.

Jon Huntsman top candidate for deputy secretary of state

Former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, is at the top of the list for deputy secretary of the State Department, according to a report published Monday evening. Huntsman criticized Trump during the campaign season, but has the favor of both Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, according to the Wall Street Journal’s report .

Sessions Says He’ll Recuse Himself on Russia Probe If Needed

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said for the first time that he’ll recuse himself if necessary from investigations into contacts that associates of President Donald Trump may have had with Russian government officials. “I would recuse myself on anything that I should recuse myself on,” Sessions told reporters Monday at the Justice Department in Washington.

Nursing rooms first among Nevada bills to enshrine Obamacare

Nevada lawmakers are taking up the first of a series of Democratic proposals aimed at copying Affordable Care Act policies into state law. Under former President Barack Obama ‘s signature health care law, all employers with a staff of 50 or more already must provide a private place and “reasonable break time” for workers to extract breast milk.

Buffett’s Berkshire more than doubled its stake in Apple

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had more than doubled its stake in Apple Inc. since the end of 2016, making it one of Berkshire’s biggest equity holdings, and that U.S. stocks overall were not in “bubble territory.” “Apple strikes me as having quite a sticky product and an enormously useful product to people that use it, not that I do,” said Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

Maryland’s Cardin Hits Trump On Russia Policy, Immigration

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The a Father of the Border Taxa Explains Why it Will Work

On Monday, during a speech at the White House to the National Governors Association, President Trump renewed his commitment to simplifying the tax code, adding As Republicans in Congress work with the President on making these goals a reality, the highly contentious border-adjustment tax has quickly become a hot button issue both inside the party, and among the opposition. The tax, which is an income tax levied on imported goods sold domestically, is championed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris and the President himself.

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Donald Trump has won the presidency after narrowly carrying a few states to put him above 270 electoral votes. But… Despite promising to release his tax returns in a televised debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump continues to show that… **NOTE: THE FORM LETTER IS BLANK.

Continue reading Under Trump, government takes new position in Texas voter ID lawsuit

The Department of Justice under President Donald Trump will support Texas officials’ claim that the state’s voter identification law did not specifically target minority voters, retreating from the federal government’s previous stance that state lawmakers intentionally discriminated when crafting the law. The law’s opponents were notified of the switch one day before the question of discriminatory intent is set to be argued in federal court, according to officials at the Campaign Legal Center.

Trump urges insurers to work together to “save Americans from Obamacare”

President Donald Trump met with major health insurers Monday morning, in the midst of intensifying public pressure to preserve the law and political divisions over how to best dismantle and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act. The meeting included leaders from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, Anthem, Kaiser Permanente and the industry lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Trump seeks ‘historic’ defence build-up, IS offensive

President Donald Trump is seeking what he called a “historic” increase in military spending of more than 9%, a huge rise even as the United States has wound down major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and remains the world’s strongest military power. Also Monday, a Pentagon-led preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State was delivered to the White House and US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis briefed senior administration officials.

BREAKING. Department Of Justice To Drop Opposition To Texas Voter ID Law

BREAKING NEWS! Sessions’ DOJ is abandoning its 6-year old claims that TX Photo ID law was enacted w/discriminatory intent. We will fight on! The whole idea behind the lawsuit is ridiculous and is based on the unsupported and unsupportable notion that requiring proof of identity to vote is racially discriminatory because, presumably, select minority populations are just too dumb to figure out how to comply with the law.

George W. Bush on press and presidency: a Power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosivea

Former President George W. Bush said Monday “we all need answers” on the extent of contact between President Donald Trump’s team and the Russian government, and didn’t rule out the idea that a special prosecutor could be necessary to lead an investigation. The Republican also defended the media’s role in keeping world leaders in check, noting that “power can be addictive,” and warned against immigration policies that could alienate Muslims.

Court may strike law barring sex offenders from social media

The Supreme Court appeared likely Monday to strike down a North Carolina law that prohibits sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networking sites. At least five justices suggested during argument that they would rule for North Carolina resident Lester Packingham Jr. He was convicted of violating a 2008 law aimed at keeping sex offenders off internet sites children might use.

Devin Nunes: ‘No Evidence’ So Far Trump Campaign Spoke With Russians

The House Intelligence Committee has “not seen any evidence of anyone from President Donald Trump’s campaign, or any other one, communicating with the Russian government, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes insisted in a press conference Monday morning, but he is concerned about “major leaks” that have come from the White House. “Right after the leak of the transcript that President Trump had with the Australian ambassador, I mean, with the Australian prime minister, I was in contact with the Australian ambassador,” the California Republican told reporters.

Cost of the Cadillac: The Obamacare story reporters are missing

In the deluge of recent media stories about who will lose if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act , one crucial provision has received short shrift from journalists: the so-called Cadillac tax, written into the law as a way to raise money for government subsidies for the uninsured. The Cadillac tax, which will affect nearly everyone with employer-sponsored coverage when it takes effect in 2020, is currently the target of bipartisan repeal efforts.

U.S. justices weigh immigrant’s bid to avoid deportation over sex conviction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday considered a Mexican immigrant’s claim that he should not be deported for having consensual sex with his under-age girlfriend, with several justices indicating sympathy for his plight. The case involving Juan Esquivel-Quintana, a lawful permanent U.S. resident who came to the country at age 12, was argued before the eight justices as President Donald Trump’s administration plans to ramp up deportations and broaden the categories of immigrants targeted.

Wasserman Schultz condemns wave of anti-Semitism and bomb threats,…

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rabbi Jonathan Berkun of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Beth Jacob appear at a news conference condemning anti-Semitic actions on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Sunrise. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rabbi Jonathan Berkun of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Beth Jacob appear at a news conference condemning anti-Semitic actions on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Sunrise.

House urges EPA to rescind veto on Alaskan mine, despite local opposition

Workers with the Pebble Mine project test drill in the Bristol Bay region near the village of Iliamma. Some Republican lawmakers and mining executives are hoping that the appointment of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency will reverse the agency’s veto of a controversial mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, despite widespread local opposition to the project and a dearth of investors.

Detained Philippine senator asks court to nullify arrest

A Philippine senator and leading critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly crackdown on illegal drugs petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to nullify an arrest warrant for her on drug charges and release her from jail. Sen. Leila de Lima’s petition said the court had no jurisdiction over the case.

Newly renovated Aldi set to reopen on March 1

Aldi supermarket on North Olden Avenue, which has been closed for several months for renovations, has announced that it will reopen its doors on March 1. “We are pleased to showcase the new look of Aldi with this updated store and continue to help customers stretch their dollars,” said Bob Grammer, Center Valley division vice president for Aldi.