23 Jan
2017
Executive Orders, Cabinet Confirmations and a Foreign Visitor
- President Trump’s first full week in office will feature a stream of executive orders from the Oval Office and a raft of confirmation votes and hearings by the Senate. Expect an announcement of an executive branch hiring freeze, a five-year ban on lobbying by transition and executive officials, and a reinstatement of the “Mexico City policy,” which bans foreign aid from going to nongovernmental organizations, like International Planned Parenthood, that offer abortions.
- Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson is likely to be confirmed this week after Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Sunday that they will vote yes on Tillerson’s nomination. Congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas is also expected to be confirmed on Monday as CIA director. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Sunday that all of Trump’s nominees would be approved.
- House and Senate Republicans will retreat to Philadelphia on Thursday for a two-day conclave to plot strategy for the rest of the year. Much of the focus is expected to be on how to go about repealing and (possibly) replacing Obamacare. President Trump will attend, his chief of staff revealed Sunday.
- British Prime Minister Theresa May also is scheduled to attend the retreat and speak to Republican legislators about international issues. Then both May and President Trump will head to Washington for a U.S.-U.K. summit meeting Friday, with probable focus on trade, the “special relationship” between the two countries and the implications of Brexit. Don’t expect a state dinner, however; Trump vowed during the campaign not to host one as long as the U.S. is running a trade deficit, which it has with the U.K. 16 of the last 18 years.
- Five of Trump’s cabinet nominees are expected to get a thumbs-up from the respective committees on Tuesday when the Judiciary Committee meets to consider the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General; the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee considers Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary; the Commerce Committee mulls Elaine Chao for Transportation and Wilbur Ross for Commerce; and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee votes on Ben Carson’s nomination to head Housing and Urban Development.
- More cabinet nominees will head to Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings on Tuesday as the Budget Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee each examine Mick Mulvaney to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Also, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship committee mulls the nomination of Linda McMahon to head the Small Business Administration, and the Finance Committee hears from Tom Price, nominated to lead Health and Human Services.
- How will President Trump react to international norms, treaties and relations with foreign countries? He gave a preview in his inaugural address when he said the United States had spent too much money defending foreign countries that should be able to defend themselves. On Monday the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy conducts a conference on “International Law in the Trump Era: Expectations, Hopes and Fears.”
- On the campaign trail President Trump talked of increasing military spending to bolster what he said was a depleted armed forces. Two events take that scenario into consideration: On Monday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies discusses “Prospects for the Defense Budget in the New Administration,” while on Tuesday the Senate Armed Services Committee conducts a hearing on the Defense budget “for FY2018 and onwards.”
- How many conservative think tank seminars does it take to understand Donald Trump? Those trying this week include the Heritage Foundation’s “Understanding Trump and Trumpism” on Monday and Wednesday, the Cato Institute’s “Populism and Nationalism in the Trump Era” on Wednesday and, on Friday, the American Enterprise Institute’s “The Imperial Presidency in the Age of Trump.”
- One of the final major economic indicators from the Obama Administration will be released on Friday, when the Commerce Department announces Gross Domestic Product figures for the fourth quarter and full year. Analysts are expecting that the economy grew 2.2% in the fourth quarter, down from 3.5% in the third. Full-year growth should be about 2%. Candidate Trump vowed that he could boost that to at least 3.5%, maybe 4%.