WEST WING MHI Daily

“Trump’s Bipartisan Politics Only Surprising Because of Obama”

– Michael Goodwin, New York Post

Michael Goodwin of the New York Post writes that President Trump’s recent decision to reach a bipartisan deal with Democratic leaders “is good for the nation,” saying it marks a welcome departure from the last eight years of partisan posturing in the executive branch. Much like President Ronald Reagan, Trump’s bipartisan efforts have the potential to make him a part of history’s “most successful presidents achieving big legislative victories with votes from both parties.” Goodwin concludes by saying while there is no guarantee for success, “history consistently rewards those presidents whose leadership produces results that reflect a broad consent of the governed.”

On tax reform, the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio reports GOP lawmakers should expect to see a tax reform plan sometime during the week of September 25th. According to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), “there is going to be an outline that is released that reflects the consensus of the tax writing committees and the administration.”

On the issue of narcotics, in The Baltimore Sun, former Governor of Maryland Bob Ehrlich and policy consultant Jim Pettit write that “President Donald Trump has correctly identified the opioid crisis as a national emergency,” also mentioning the work of HHS Secretary Price and the White House Opioid Commission.

In economic news, Washington Times columnist Jennifer Harper reports on recent Gallup polling which shows that “two-thirds of the public now says their living circumstances are getting better, 80 percent of the nation say they are ‘satisfied’ with their current standard of living, and the…’well-being index’ now stands at 54, a record high.”

Regarding Obamacare, the Investor’s Business Daily editorial board writes that newly released census data shows that “ObamaCare is driving middle-class families — who face the full brunt of ObamaCare’s annual double-digit premium hikes — out of the insurance market,” with the data indicating “that the number of people buying insurance on their own fell slightly.”

WEST WING MHI 

WHITE HOUSE REPORT

To : <redaksi@mediahukumindonesia.com>Date : Wed, 13 Sep 2017 22:40:26 +0700   Subject : Building Unity

President Donald J. Trump wants to continue building unity by working on more issues supported by both parties, especially restoring fairness to our broken tax code and cutting taxes for hardworking Americans. Last night, the President hosted a bipartisan dinner with Senators from both sides of the aisle at the White House. Today, he will host another bipartisan meeting at the White House.

Bipartisan Dinner with Senators
Last night, President Trump hosted Senators for a bipartisan dinner at the White House. Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Thune (R-SD), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) came together to discuss advancing the Administration’s legislative priorities, in particular tax cuts for the middle class. The President asked the bipartisan group of Senators to help deliver tax cuts for American families, which is essential to economic growth and prosperity.

Bipartisan Dinner with Senators
Last night, President Trump hosted Senators for a bipartisan dinner at the White House. Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Thune (R-SD), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) came together to discuss advancing the Administration’s legislative priorities, in particular tax cuts for the middle class. The President asked the bipartisan group of Senators to help deliver tax cuts for American families, which is essential to economic growth and prosperity.

Hurricane Irma Relief Update 
Yesterday, President Trump signed H.R. 3732, the “Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Hurricanes Irma and Jose Overseas Act, “a bill raising the cap for Fiscal Years (FY) 2017 and 2018 on the amount that HHS may spend for the provision of assistance to repatriated U.S. citizens from $1 million to $25 million.
Read more

FEMA Briefing and Resources 
Alex Amparo, Assistant Administrator for Recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) appeared in a live Facebook broadcast explaining actions that storm victims can take to receive assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. He urged citizens who have been displaced or sustained damages to their permanent residence to fill out their insurance claim, then register for assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov.
Watch the video

Photo of the Day

President Trump welcomes Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia to the White House | September 12, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Stephanie K. Chasez)

POTUS and VP TODAY

In the morning, President Trump will receive his daily intelligence briefing. The President and Vice President will then meet with the Domestic Policy Council. This afternoon, President Trump will be meeting with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott to discuss racial reconciliation. The President will continue meeting today with legislators from both sides of the aisle.

Later in the day, Vice President Pence will join Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and

Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Robert Cardillo to tour the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and participate in a series of briefings.

COMING UP

Tomorrow, President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice Presdient Pence, and Mrs. Karen Pence will travel to Florida as part of Hurricane Irma’s recovery and relief efforts. On Friday, the President and First Lady will give remarks to members of the military at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Next week, President Trump and Vice President Pence will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

THE WHITE HOUSE  MHI 

The Week MHI dailybriefing ;

1. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigns JUST IN: WH says Price offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted.   The White House on Friday announced the resignation of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, who has been caught in controversy since Politico reported extensively on his use of private planes while in office, costing taxpayers more than $1 million. President Trump said this week he was “not happy” with Price and vowed earlier Friday to make a decision on his future “sometime tonight.” Price’s resignation letter said he regretted that “recent events have created a distraction” from Trump’s health-care agenda. Don Wright, formerly acting assistant secretary for health at HHS, is nowacting secretary. Most private flights by administration officials must now be approved by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Source: NBC News, Politico

2. Trump’s Hurricane Maria response under fire The Trump administration is under fire for its response to Hurricane Maria, which decimated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on its destructive tear through the Caribbean earlier this month. The Washington Post published a report Friday evening on the impact of President Trump’s golfing excursion last weekend, shortly after Maria made landfall, noting that the administration went nearly silent on the subject of the hurricane for four days while the president golfed at his club in New Jersey and tweeted about the NFL. While unnamed administration and Puerto Rican officials told the Post the “communications and collaboration” between federal and local officials “has been unprecedented,” they said that has not necessarily “translated into effectiveness on the ground.” Source: The Washington Post, NBC News

3. Trump attacks mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico President Trump responded to comments from the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, about the federal response to Hurricane Maria with a series of disparaging tweets Saturday morning. “The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” he wrote, charging Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz with “poor leadership ability” and adding that Puerto Rican officials “want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.” Trump also alleged the media is intentionally undercutting the resolve of relief workers and announcedhe will visit Puerto Rico Tuesday. Source: The Hill, The Week

4. Tillerson in China ahead of Trump visit Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Beijing Saturday to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a five-nation tour of Asia President Trump has scheduled for early November. Tillerson said Trump and Xi have built a “very regular and close working relationship.” His visit will focus on Chinese adoption of sanctions against North Korea to squash the isolated nation’s nuclear ambitions. Trump’s November trip to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines will likewise concern the “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” as well as trade. Source: NBC News, The Associated Press

5. Trump to decide on Fed chair within weeks President Trump indicated Friday he is close to deciding whether to retain or replace Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in her position and will announce his choice in the near future. “I’ve had four meetings for Fed chairman, and I’ll be making a decision over the next two or three weeks,” he said on the White House lawn. Yellen, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, and current Governor Jerome Powell are reportedly among the candidates. Yellen’s term expires in February. Source: CNBC, Reuters

6. U.S. pulls majority of embassy staff from Cuba in response to sonic attacks The United States is pulling approximately 60 percent of its diplomatic staff from Cuba and ceasing visa processing indefinitely in response to ongoing sonic attacks on American diplomats. U.S. citizens have also been urged against visiting the nation, and the U.S. will stop sending delegations to Havana, though diplomatic meetings will continue in Washington. This decision avoids a full embassy shutdown, an option reportedly considered by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump. The attacks began last fall when U.S. diplomats mysteriously started to lose their hearing; at least 21 people have been injured. Source: The Associated Press, The New York Times

7. Treasury Department removes key tax report The Treasury Department has removed from its website a 2012 economic analysis that found the burden of corporate taxes primarily falls on business owners and shareholders, not workers, undermining a key argument by Republicans that their plan to cut taxes on corporate income would primarily help workers. Most mainstream economists broadly agree with the findings of the removed paper. A Treasury representative called the analysis “dated” and not representative of “our current thinking and analysis.” The GOP plan would cut the corporate rate to 20 percent and the top personal rate to 35 percent. President Trump would reportedly save more than $1 billion, but one in four households would see their tax burden increase. Source: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times

8. False alarm over active shooter at Air Force Academy The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, went on lockdown Friday night and early Saturday morning while local law enforcement swept the campus in search of a reported active shooter situation which turned out to be a false alarm. “All clear: The incident has concluded,” the school administration tweeted several hours later. “There are no confirmed shots fired & no injuries. Everyone is safe.” This comes just a few days after racial slurs were found on five black cadets’ doors at the Academy’s Preparatory School. Source: USA Today, People

9. Elon Musk unveils plans to rocket anywhere on Earth in an hour At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, Thursday night, SpaceX chief Elon Musk discussed his plans to land a rocket on Mars as soon as 2022. The date is “aspirational,” he acknowledged, but “I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and be ready for launch in about five years.” He said two crewed flights could launch in 2024, building the beginning of a human colony. “If you build a ship that’s capable of going to Mars,” Musk added, playing a concept video, you could “go from one place to another on Earth” in less than an hour, usually within half an hour. Source: Axios, SpaceX

10. Russell Westbrook signs monster extension with Oklahoma City Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook signed a five-year extension with his team Friday, months after the Thunder initially made the monster offer. The final deal is a $205 million extension beginning in the 2018-2019 season. With the renegotiation deal Westbrook signed last summer, it amounts to $233 million over six years — the largest total guaranteed contract in NBA history. Since the Thunder first dangled the deal in July, Oklahoma City has added All-Stars Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to its roster. Alongside reigning league MVP Westbrook, they are expected to form a formidable trio this coming season. Source: ESPN, Sports Illustrated The Week MHI

WEST WING MHI Daily

“Trump Plans Aggressive Road Show to Sell Tax Overhaul”

– Jennifer Jacobs & Justin Sink, Bloomberg

Bloomberg News reports the White House is rearranging its communication shop to do battle on the tax reform front. The President is planning to visit as many as 13 states in the next seven weeks, selling the need of tax reform to the American public. The strategy is for the President to visit states he won where a Democratic senator is up for re-election next year, including Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Bloomberg reported. “In some instances, cabinet members will be deployed behind Trump in a ‘second wave’ after the president’s speeches and town hall meetings to amplify his message,” Bloomberg wrote.

In The Washington Times former SBA Administrator Hector Barreto highlights the importance of tax reform to small business owners and Latino business owners, saying that given his private sector experience they “believe that Mr. Trump understands them and speaks their language.”

In The Hill, the Independent Women’s Forum’s Carrie Lukas and the Job Creators Network Foundation’s Elaine Parker write that tax reform would greatly benefit women small business owners, saying lowering the rate on small businesses will “provide female entrepreneurs with the opportunity to grow their businesses and expand their economic footprint — which will lead to greater economic prosperity for all Americans.”

In Obamacare news, The Washington Free Beacon reports that “out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs under the Affordable Care Act increased 16 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to a report from HealthPocket.”

And regarding the education department’s action on Title IX, the New Hampshire Union Leader editorial board endorses Secretary DeVos’ action to restore due process in college sexual assault cases by reversing Obama-era Title IX guidelines.

WEST WING MHI