News and updates

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

Yeah, What He Said – Thus far in the Trump Transition, Trump has walked back the wall as well as a total repudiation of Obamacare, now for replacing it. Why the dialing back? Apparently Trump tends to agree with the last person he just talked to…which was sorta awkward for Republicans after his meeting with President Obama. Read more in Vox and in The Washington Post.

First 100 Days – NPR walks through Trump’s pledges and some of the challenges (and facts) behind making these a reality. Read about it at NPR. 

Organized Chaos? – The recent turn over in the Trump Transition team has left a lot to be desired by foreign nations as well as some big liaising yet to happen. Some things the Donald Trump administration-in-waiting has not done yet: reached out to its Obama administration counterparts at the Department of Defense and Department of State (that might happen Friday?) — or the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Treasury…  Read more in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

Skeletons in Closets – While no one has been officially named to a cabinet position, many of those names being floated around will likely have some significant challenges to winning the confirmation votes. Read more in The Hill. 

All Sorts of Hurt – Democrats got walloped at the very top of the ticket, but what’s happening at the very bottom of the ballot could hurt them for years to come. Read more at The Atlantic. 

Rough Road –  The blow-up that caused the postponement of House Democratic leadership elections from this Thursday to Nov. 30 – a decision made at the end of a tumultuous, two-hour meeting – is really about young lawmakers who are frustrated by a seniority system that limits their influence, African Americans who don’t feel like they have enough sway over Pelosi’s strategy and members from the heartland who feel that the dominance of coastal elites in the caucus has made it harder for them to connect with their constituents. The top three Democrats in House Leadership are 76 (Pelosi), 77 (Steny Hoyer) and 76 (Jim Clyburn). The top three Republican leaders, in contrast, are 46 (Paul Ryan), 51 (Kevin McCarthy) and 51 (Steve Scalise). Pelosi and Hoyer have together led the House Democrats for 14 years now…And not many of them were the Dems in control of the House. While Pelosi is still heavily favored, a small group of frustrated House Democrats are trying to draft Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) to challenge Pelosi. Read more in The Washington Post and The Hill. 

Presser – While we know who the senior White House leadership will be, we are still waiting to learn who the Press Secretary, and the official mouthpiece of the Trump Administration, will be. The choices are very interesting. Read more in The Washington Post. 

Burning Repeal – Congressional Republicans face internal divisions over how far to go in repealing and replacing ObamaCare, one of their top political priorities of the past six years, without disrupting the lives of millions of Americans. Read more in The Hill. 

Trump & Science – What will the Trump relationship with the scientific community be? It’s unknown but there’s some speculation. Read more at Vox. 

Women Vote – Women generally trend Democratic, but white women—and there are still a lot of them in the U.S.—do not. They vote Republican, and did for Trump. Why?  Well, it’s complicated. Read more in The Atlantic. 

Watch the live CSPAN feed of the Trump Tower lobby (and it’s visitors).