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As Congress mulls a divisive yet practical plan to stitch the Harvey relief bill to a debt-limit increase that would last through at least the end of next year (possibly even a continuing resolution that would keep the government open through December), President Trump has announced, via Twitter, that he "will be going to North Dakota today to discuss tax reform and tax cuts."
Meanwhile, in other news...
The DREAMERs Deferred:
In a Justice Department briefing yesterday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump Administration's plan to rescind the Deferred Against for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, the program that has granted two-year work permits to nearly 800,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. before they were 18-years-old (aka "DREAMers"). Calling it "an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws" that "contributed to a surge of minors at the southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences," Sessions declared that "the compassionate thing is to is end the lawlessness."
However, shortly after Sessions' announcement, the president issued a written statement (and a series of tweets) in which he professed "a love for these people" and called on Congress to "legalize DACA" sometime in the next six months; adding that "if they can’t, I will revisit the issue!" That may be more easily said than done, though, as Sen. Marco Rubio explained in a statement released later that day: "It is important that the White House clearly outline what kind of legislation the president is willing to sign. We have no time to waste on ideas that do not have the votes to pass or that the president won't sign."
* Watch this space: "New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman will announce a multistate lawsuit to protect beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at a news conference on Wednesday, his office said in a statement."
The Hurricane Named Irma:
With Congress set to vote on a $7.9 billion, first-installment Harvey relief package (and Beyonce and George Clooney set to headline a telethon to raise funds for the victims in Houston), emergency management officials across South Florida are hastening their disaster preparations in anticipation of Hurricane Irma — a Category 5 storm that the NHC says is "the strongest Atlantic storm ever recorded outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico" — which is expected to hit the U.S. mainland sometime this weekend.
* Watch this space, too: "Separate from Harvey assistance is the National Flood Insurance Program, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which expires on Sept. 30. The program provides insurance policies for homeowners that cover up to $350,000 in damages. Congressional disagreements over changes to the program, which operates in debt to the Treasury, have complicated plans to restructure the program in the past."
The Russia Investigation:
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Deven Nunes, has issued controversial subpoenas to the Justice Department and FBI for documents related to the infamous dossier that alleges Russia collected compromising material on Donald Trump. Republicans on the committee claim its important to understand all they can about the origin of the dossier (and whether the FBI and/or Justice Department used material from it as part of the federal investigation into possible collusion), while Democrats, including ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff, believe this to be an attempt to discredit its author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
* Watch this space, as well: "The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet with Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday to discuss the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, according to three Democratic members of the committee. The meeting, which is expected to be comprehensive, is the first opportunity that members of the committee will have to grill someone from President Trump’s inner circle about the campaign’s alleged attempts to engage with Kremlin surrogates, during a period when the intelligence community believes Russia was taking steps to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump’s candidacy."
The North Korea Quandary:
Just hours after President Trump announced (via Twitter) that he is "allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States," Han Tae Song, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, told the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament that "the recent self-defense measures by my country, DPRK, are a 'gift package' addressed to none other than the U.S.," and that "the U.S. will receive more 'gift packages' from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK."
Oh, and:
- "Advanced hackers have targeted United States and European energy companies in a cyber espionage campaign that has in some cases successfully broken into the core systems that control the companies’ operations, according to researchers at the security firm Symantec. Malicious email campaigns have been used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries well, Symantec said in a report published on Wednesday."
- "The European Union’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that EU states must take in a share of refugees who reach Europe, dismissing complaints by Slovakia and Hungary and reigniting an angry row between east and west. The government of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Victor Orban was characteristically blunt about the European Court of Justice, calling its decision to uphold an EU policy drafted in the heat of the 2015 migrant crisis as 'appalling' and denouncing a political 'rape of European law and values.'"
- "Kentucky’s 'unapologetically pro-life' governor and the state’s last abortion clinic will square off on Wednesday in a federal courtroom in a case that could make it the first U.S. state without an abortion provider. In a three-day trial, the state will argue before a U.S. District judge in Louisville that EMW Women’s Surgical Center does not have proper state-required agreements with a hospital and an ambulance service in case of medical emergencies. The clinic, which earlier this year filed suit to stop the state from revoking its license, wants to overturn the regulations it says are unnecessary and create an unconstitutional barrier to abortion."
- "The state of Texas won at least a temporary victory on Tuesday in its bid to implement a controversial voter identification law when a federal appeals court stayed a ruling by a U.S. district court judge that barred its enforcement. A three-member panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans voted 2-1 to put the lower court judge’s ruling on hold while it considers the constitutionality of the law, which was passed this year by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature."
- "The workforce at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on course to fall to its lowest level since Ronald Reagan was president, an agency official said on Tuesday. In June, the EPA unveiled a buyout program that would contribute to the biggest cuts of any federal agency in President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposal. The EPA employs about 15,000 people. After buyouts and retirements, that number could drop to 14,428 by October, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in an email."
- "Former Wisconsin sheriff David Clarke, an African-American who criticized the Black Lives Mater movement and was previously under consideration for a position with the Trump administration, has joined a super political action committee that backs the president, officials said on Tuesday. Clarke, 61, will serve as spokesman and senior advisor for America First Action, his office and the political action committee said in two separate statements."
- "Dozens of lobbyists, contractors and others who make their living influencing the government pay President Trump’s companies for membership in his private golf clubs, a status that can put them in close contact with the president, a USA TODAY investigation found. Members of the clubs Trump has visited most often as president — in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia — include at least 50 executives whose companies hold federal contracts and 21 lobbyists and trade group officials. Two-thirds played on one of the 58 days the president was there, according to scores they posted online."
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