13 Mar
2017
Turmoil at Justice, Merkel in the Oval and the Fight to End – or Save – Obamacare – TenCount
- As if the Justice Department didn’t already have enough worries, President Trump sparked another conflict on Friday when he ordered the remaining 46 United States Attorneys held over from the Obama Administration to resign. Preet Bharara, the outspoken and aggressive U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, refused to do so and was fired, he says – which probably lessens the chance that there will be a real investigation anytime soon into allegations that Trump Tower was bugged.
- Tic Tac alert! German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the Oval Office on Tuesday, the first meeting between two of the most powerful leaders in the West. One subject likely to come up is how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Merkel has had 11 meetings, making her by far the Western leader most familiar with the enigmatic Russian. Other likely topics are NATO – President Trump has been urging other NATO countries to increase their military budgets – and trade, with Merkel bringing several corporate chiefs with her.
- You might no longer qualify for a health insurance subsidy, but at least you won’t have to pay a tanning tax. Those are two of the scores of assertions, positive and negative, made by advocates and critics of the House plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Look this week for the release of the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the plan and for President Trump to devote ever more time to corralling reluctant Senators and Representatives, many of them in his own party, who have expressed misgivings about the bill.
- Seniors are one big group that is questioning whether the health care bill will be beneficial or not. AARP came out against the bill on Friday, saying it would greatly increase the cost of health insurance for people between the ages of 50 and 64, before they qualify for Medicare. The Republican bill would permit insurers to charge seniors up to five times as much as younger customers, versus three times under Obamacare. On Friday, the RAND Corporation will discuss “The Future of the Affordable Care Act.”
- A strong jobs report on Friday – the first such economic report since President Trump took office – sets the stage for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at its meeting this week. The Fed meets Tuesday and Wednesday, with a rate announcement at 2 p.m. Wednesday followed by a press conference with Janet Yellen, Fed president, who two weeks ago signaled a rate hike as likely.
- The White House is also working toward a Friday deadline to finalize decisions about the nation’s budget for fiscal year 2018, which will be sent to Congress this spring. Big cuts are on the way for domestic spending programs and the size of the federal workforce. Before it enacts the 2018 budget, however, it must finish funding fiscal 2017 past April 28, when the current stopgap spending measure expires.
- Congress also will need to approve a new debt limit later this year in order for the Treasury to continue to be able to pay the country’s bills. The suspension of the federal debt limit expires on Thursday, meaning that that unless a new, higher limit is approved, Treasury is likely to have only a few months of wiggle room, until sometime in the fall, before having to take “extraordinary measures” to avoid missing debt payments.
- The wheels of the Cabinet nomination machine are still in motion, though moving slowly. Two hearings highlight this week: On Tuesday, Senate Finance hears from Robert Lighthizer, nominee to be U.S. Trade Representative, and on Wednesday the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee considers the nomination of Alexander Acosta to be Labor Secretary.
- Russia takes more bandwidth of the political discussion in Washington every week. Congress is set to investigate alleged Russian interference in last fall’s election; the Justice Department may be looking into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. A panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee conducts a hearing on Wednesday on “The Modus Operandi and Toolbox of Russia and Other Autocracies for Undermining Democracies Throughout the World.” And the think tanks are also in full Russia mode. On Tuesday the Atlantic Council discusses “A New Western Strategy to Counter Putin’s Russia,” while the Institute of World Politics holds a lecture on “The Challenge of Russian Active Measures.”
- The Coast Guard is not usually a subject that gets the blood pumping, but this week might be different. News outlets reported last week that President Trump was considering a 13 percent cut to the Coast Guard’s $9 billion budget to help pay for a border wall. The Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Paul Zukunft, gets two chances to sound off this week: On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee conducts a re-authorization hearing and on Thursday the Commandant delivers his annual State of the Coast Guard Address.