23 Apr
2018
Pheasant Under Glass? President Trump’s First Dîner d’Etat, As the Cabinet Empties Onto The Hill
- Bon Appetit! President Trump will host his first state dinner on Tuesday honoring French President Emmanuel Macron. On Monday, the president and First Lady will host Macron and his wife, Brigitte, at a private dinner at Mount Vernon, in recognition of France’s role as America’s first ally, and on Wednesday he will address a joint session of Congress. The multiday soiree kicks off Monday afternoon at the Wilson Center with “France’s Long Reconstruction: In Search of the Modern Republic.”
- Members of the president’s Cabinet will crowd Capitol Hill this week for budget hearings and other fun. On Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the nomination of Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State; it looks likely to vote against the nomination – which would make Pompeo the first Secretary of State in modern history to be confirmed without endorsement of the committee. On Tuesday Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will speak to the Senate Ag Committee about “The State of Rural America.” On Wednesday, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hears testimony from the nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Ronny Jackson.
- Thursday brings another host of cabinet secretaries and other agency heads to the Hill for budget hearings, with Defense Secretary James Mattis before Senate Armed Services; Homeland Security’s Kirstjen Nielsen in front of House Homeland Security; and various House Appropriations subcommittees entertaining Attorney General Jeff Sessions, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.
- Saving the best for last? The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in Trump v. Hawaii, the case challenging the president’s travel ban on people from a group of mostly Muslim nations. In its final argument of the term, the court will consider whether a president who campaigned on a promise to ban Muslim immigrants maintains the prerogative to institute such a restriction to protect national security or whether a sweeping ban violates the Constitution.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went on “Face the Nation” on Sunday to warn the United States of “unpleasant” consequences if it pulls out of the nuclear agreement with Iran. The remarks are certain to be discussed on Tuesday when Brookings hosts “The Future of Political Islam,” and GW’s Elliott School mulls “Iran in Transition? The Anatomy of Change,” as well as on Thursday when the Hudson Institute asks “Iran: As Anti-Government Protests Continue, Can the US Help Maintain Momentum?”
- Cybersecurity has been on the minds of many, at least since Facebook’s CEO testified in front of Congress, if not since Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. On Tuesday the Senate Homeland Security committee looks at “Mitigating America’s Cybersecurity Risk,” while the Hudson Institute examines “NATO’s Cyber-Defense Strategy Ahead of the 2018 Brussels Summit.” On Wednesday it’s the Center for Strategic and International Studies looking at “Global Fragmentation in Cyber Policy” as the Senate Small Business Committee takes up “Preparing Small Businesses for Cybersecurity Success.”
- Of course, Facebook itself has also been on many people’s minds since Mark Zuckerberg was on the Hill, and the conversation continues this week. On Tuesday the Heritage Foundation hosts “A Conversation with Facebook About Privacy, Responsibility and the Future,” featuring Monika Bickert, Facebook’s Head of Global Policy Management, while on Thursday the House Judiciary Committee looks at the “Social Media Filtering Practices and their Effect on Free Speech.”
- Now that the 2017 Tax Season is behind us, it’s time to start looking at what the effects will be of the sweeping but still opaque tax overhaul signed into law by President Trump last year. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will hear from small businessmen, free market economists and law professors on their “Early Impressions of the New Tax Law.”
- Russia, Russia, Russia. Not the center of attention this week, but always there lurking in the shadows, like an assassin. This week, we take a look at Russian weapons, including the big, scary ones. On Tuesday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts “Putin’s New Strategic Systems: Plans, Realities and Prospects,” while the Atlantic Council mulls “Developing a Strategy to Deter Russian Nuclear De-Escalation Strikes.”
- The Ripon Society takes its name from the Wisconsin town that is considered to be the birthplace, in 1854, of the Republican Party. The Capitol Hill Club is the place where modern-day Republicans gather to gnaw on shrimp and keep tabs on the doings of the G.O.P. Both come into play on Thursday when the Ripon Society uses the venue to host the man vying to be the next Speaker of the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.