Author: Sarah Castro

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

We’ll Need to Change the Law – The Trump Administration has started the FY2018 budget passback process, where it was clear that the Administration intends to ask for a significant increase to defense funding at the expense of non defense discretionary funding (or everything that isn’t defense). Such a proposal would be a tough lift for Congress, and it becomes more of a challenge when you realize that Congress would have to pass legislation repealing the BCA to do so. Read more in Roll Call. 

Unified Against – Late last week, a House Republican discussion draft for ACA reform was leaked…and now most in Congress are against it.  House Leadership have come out this week and have said the draft is a total nonstarter now. Read more in The Hill. 

Safe Harbor – President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time this week, and the speech was notably more tempered in delivery while still hitting all the Trump policy points. The Washington Post has the speech annotated.

Trump’s Soft Spot – President Trump’s sympathetic remarks about the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers — “these incredible kids,” he has called them — were a surprising turn for a man who had vowed during the campaign to “immediately terminate” their protections from deportation. But they are unlikely to be the last word. Read more from the New York Times.

Skills Gap – President Donald Trump brought two dozen manufacturing CEOs to the White House on Thursday and declared their collective commitment to restoring factory jobs lost to foreign competition. Yet some of the CEOs suggested that there were still plenty of openings for U.S. factory jobs but too few qualified people to fill them. Read more from the Associated Press.

Travel Ban Update: Delayed Again – President Donald Trump will soon sign a revised executive order banning certain travelers from entering the U.S., but unlike the original version, it is likely to apply only to future visa applicants from targeted countries, according to people familiar with the planning. Read more from the Wall Street Journal.

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.

Roll It Back – President Trump has embarked on the most aggressive campaign against government regulation since President Reagan. Use of the Congressional Review Act is the first means the Administration is using to remove existing regulations. Read more in The Washington Post. 

Background Power – Vice President Mike Pence has not been reported as a power player in the Trump Administration, but with the resignation of General Flynn this week (ostensibly for lying to the VP), Pence has emerged as more of a force in the Administation. Read more in The Hill. 

Taxable Concerns – President Trump has been very vocal on changing the border tax, but not all retailers (Trump, Best Buy, Gap) are on board. Read more in The Wall Street Journal. 

Private Market Student Loans – The Education Department is now the sole originator of the federal loans. Bringing private lenders back into the federal student loan program has been a staple of the Republican platform since the Obama administration kicked banks, credit unions, and other financial firms out. Talks about private lenders reentering the markets has emerged, but is this something feasible? Read more in The Washington Post. 

Taxable Concerns – President Trump has been very vocal on changing the border tax, but not all retailers (Trump, Best Buy, Gap) are on board. Read more in The Wall Street Journal. 

DACA Blowback – Trump’s inner circle is apparently torn on how to address DACA and if to include the popular program in any plan to strengthen immigration oversight. Read more in the LA Times. 

Not as Easy as It Sounds? – For most of the Obama’s tenure, Congressional Republicans and other conservatives sought to repeal ObamaCare.  With Republicans now controlling both the White House and Congress, many believed that concerns about the ACA would be tackled immediately at the start of 2017.  However, serious disagreements about how and when to repeal the program and concerns about potential implications of such actions are now emerging.  Read more in Politico (and here) and in The Hill.

The Independent Judiciary – Is an independent judiciary good for the long-term health of the republic? This article reviews the evidence, and investigates whether the judiciary can remain independent despite the highly polarized political environment in the United States. Read more in The Washington Post.

ACA Repeal Players – Republicans are wrestling with the difficult task of how to repeal and replace ­ObamaCare. Here are ten individuals who are likely to play key roles in shaping that process. Read more in The Hill.

Bankruptcy & Student Loans – Student loans are often dubbed the worst kind of debt because they’re notoriously difficult to get rid of — even in bankruptcy. But attorneys across the country are now challenging that conventional wisdom with some success, creating hope for millions of struggling borrowers. Read more in MarketWatch. 

Top 20 – Internships are a critical part of getting a job after college, but what areas are looking for interns and what skills do you need to show to get that internship? Read more in The New York Times. 

Appeal to Selfishness – It will make you more likely to act in an environmentally responsibly way. Read more in The Science of Us.