Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud President Trump for what appears to be a very solid slate of nominees to fill federal appeals and district court judicial vacancies. Their jaws hit the floor as Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber blames Trump for skyrocketing health care premiums and for insurers getting out of the individual marketplace. And they scratch their heads as gun control advocates claim a fatal stabbing at the University of Texas is a strong argument against allowing students to carry guns on campus.
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AHCA Approved in House, Senate Hurdles Remain, Premature Celebration?
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America devote their martinis to House passage of the updated American Health Care Act. They explain how the bill is not as good as it could be but is far better than the original version for conservatives. They also discuss the uncertain future the legislation faces in the U.S. Senate and the GOP’s narrow margin for error. And they scratch their heads as Republicans hold a victory rally for a bill that is not yet law.
Hillary’s Blame Game, Filibuster Frustration, Montana Moonbat
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy watching Hillary Clinton remain immersed in her state of denial, as Hillary takes responsibility for losing to Donald Trump but seems to blame everyone else. They also react to Pres. Trump tweeting about nuking the legislative filibuster and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying it’s not going to happen. And they ‘re almost speechless as the Democrat running for Congress in Montana invites skeptics of the liberal line on climate change to go into their garages and start their cars.
‘This Is Very Exciting’
The chairman of the House of Representatives’ powerful tax writing committee says the tax reform blueprint laid out by President Trump last week is “exciting” and predicts enactment will lead to stronger businesses and more financially secure families.
Trump’s economic team laid out the administration’s principles on Wednesday, including a call for the corporate tax rate to drop from almost 40 percent down to 15 percent, a doubling of the standard individual deduction, and creating just three tax brackets instead of seven.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, loves that Trump is going bold on tax reform.
“This is very exciting,” said Brady. “Americans saw something they haven’t seen in 30 years, which is a president willing to lead on tax reform and committed to working with the House and Senate. We want to get this done this year.”
“We only get one chance in a generation to do this, and like Reagan, we have to go bold to do it,” said Brady.
But Brady is not in a tremendous rush. He says the process needs to play out in the weeks ahead.
“Beginning [this] week, we’re going to roll up our sleeves, sitting down with President Trump’s team and the Senate as well to put together a single tax reform plan that’s going to take place over the coming weeks,” said Brady.
While partisans and the media are focused heavily on the pace of legislative action in the early stages of the Trump administration, Brady says getting it right in a timely fashion is most important.
“I think a lot of press in Washington are focused on which month this happens. My focus is on the year and that means this year, 2017. After 30 years of this broken, complicated tax code, it seems like exactly the right time to deliver,” said Brady.
Brady says the Trump blueprint would be a boon for businesses and families. He says dropping the corporate tax rate to 15 percent would make a monumental difference in America’s business climate. He says the small business owners will be smiling too.
“For small business owners, we propose to cut your taxes by more than 40 percent. That’s so you can send less to Washington. you can invest more in your business, your workers, your success. We provide full, unlimited write-offs of all your investment and building’s equipment, software and technology,” said Brady.
He says other provisions should ease the burdens of small business owners as well.
“We eliminate the death tax, so family-owned businesses no longer have to worry about Uncle Sam swooping in and taking nearly half of what you’ve earned over a lifetime. Then we eliminate some of the double taxation. For small businesses, this is game-changing, since this will grow the economy by more than nine percent” said Brady.
Where the tax bill could run into friction is over a proposed border adjustability tax, which would add a tax on imported goods. While critics say American consumers would end up paying for it in higher prices, Brady says it needs to happen, in part because everyone else except North Korea and Cuba does it.
“They take a major tax off their products heading into America. They slap a tax on their made in America products when it goes in their country,” said Brady.
“A foreign product has a major tax advantage over a made in America product, both here and abroad. So we’re saying for the first time that every product pays an equal tax. So no longer is Chinese steel getting a break over American steel, Mexican beef over American beef, Canadian autos over American autos,” said Brady.
He also says the more level playing field will likely entice many companies that left the U.S. and others that never were here to set up shop in America, adding to even more job creation.
As for families, Brady says the typical family of four will like the bigger paychecks coming home.
“You’re going to keep more of the money that you earn. The tax code is going to be dramatically simpler. If you save for retirement, education or health care, we cut your taxes in half again because we want to reward those types of savings,” said Brady.
“The bottom line is the House Republican blueprint, the idea we’re bringing to the president, is a code so fair and simple, nine out of ten Americans will be able to file using a simple postcard system,” said Brady.
DNC Admits Rigging Primary, GOP Flops on Spending, Trump’s Maybes
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America get a kick out of the Democratic National Committee arguing in court that it can’t be sued for fraud because everyone knew the 2016 nomination process was rigged. They also grumble at Republicans for giving the Democrats virtually everything they wanted on the latest spending bill. And they express frustration with the media for running breathless headlines every time Pres. Trump says he’s considering something, but they also wonder what other things they could get Trump to publicly mull over.
Trumping the Green Agenda, More Health Reform Hiccups, ACLU Strikes Again
David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss President Trump’s executive orders that scrutinize the amount of land designated as national monuments and Obama-era restrictions on offshore drilling. They also groan as it looks like the update health care bill is also struggling to find the votes to pass. And they take aim at the ACLU for suing a Catholic hospital for refusing surgery for a transgender patient.
Hope for the Health Bill, Nervous Over NAFTA, California Borders on Insanity
Ian Tuttle of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are cautiously optimistic as an amendment to the GOP health care bill gives more power to the states and brings more conservatives on board. They also discuss President Trump’s willingness to renegotiate NAFTA, and Ian explains why he’s concerned about Trump’s approach. And they dive into the effort by Democrats in California to bar businesses from future state contracts if they help to build a border wall.
Lower Courts Await Trump Nominations
President Trump received wide acclaim from his supporters for the selection and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, but legal experts are urging Trump to make good selections soon for scores of vacancies on lower federal courts.
More than three months into his administration, Trump has sent just one nominee for a federal appeals court opening. There are 18 others to fill. He also has the opportunity to nominate more than 100 federal district court judges, but has yet to act.
Judicial Crisis Network Chief Counsel and Policy Director Carrie Severino says it is vital to get strong defenders of the Constitution on these courts as soon as possible.
“They’re incredibly important,” she said. “All of these are lifetime seats on the federal courts. Remember, the Supreme Court takes less than one percent of the cases appealed to it every year. That means well upward of 99 percent of cases are decided at the lower courts.”
“Many of those district court cases don’t even get up to the appellate level. They might end there. So it’s a huge, huge impact on American law,” said Severino.
Severino says we can just look to the Obama years to see how much impact a president can have on the judiciary.
“Normally, a two-term president can turn over two-thirds of the judiciary. Barack Obama certainly did that. When he came into office, one out of the thirteen courts of appeal had a Democratically nominated majority of judges. When he left, nine of thirteen did,” said Severino.
During the campaign, Trump rolled out a list of 21 possible choices for the Supreme Court vacancy. The list included Gorsuch. While Trump may not have a formal list for all these other vacancies, Severino fully expects the same careful vetting to pick quality judges.
“[Gorsuch] has been one of the signature accomplishments of his first hundred days in office. I can’t imagine why the president would want to diverge from an incredibly successful strategy so far and frankly, some of the people on that list could be candidates,” said Severino, noting that District Judge Amul R. Thapar, who was on Trump’s list, is now nominated to serve on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A big reason for Severino’s confidence in the Trump administration to get these picks right stems from what she observed in the Gorsuch process.
“Candidate Trump always said, ‘I’m going to ask the smartest people and get all the experts.’ When it came to judges, boy, he really did. He didn’t come up with a list for the Supreme Court by himself. He knew the right people to ask and I think they know the right people to ask for these spots as well,” said Severino.
She says what they should be looking for is simple and should be familiar to Trump by now.
“You want someone who is going to be faithful to the text of the law, faithful to the original understanding of the Constitution, putting the law before one’s political instinct on where they want the case to come out. We want people who are going to be judges first. I think that’s what we got with Gorsuch. I think it’s going to be the same type of vetting process,” said Severino.
With so many politically charged cases now coming before courts, Severino says it is vital to get judges whose character can withstand the firestorm.
“You don’t know what the next issue is going to be. We couldn’t have seen all these issues coming when the people currently on the bench were nominated. That’s why it’s so important to have a vetting process that doesn’t just say, ‘Here’s some topics. How do you feel about free speech? How do you feel about immigration or this and that?'” said Severino.
“We don’t need to know what their politics or policy preferences are in these things. You need someone who actually understands the judicial philosophy here, because that’s what’s going to help them get the next question down the road – that we haven’t even seen yet – correct,” said Severino.
But while Obama, succeeded in steering the federal judiciary to the left, Severino says Trump can have a huge impact in the opposite direction.
“A two-term president gets to replace two-thirds of the judges. Currently, our president is Donald Trump and it looks like he’s going to make some great picks for those slots,” she said.
Severino says Trump’s influence on the bench may actually be bigger.
“He may have more front-loaded opportunities than most presidents do, because this does seem like a very large number of vacancies. There are a lot more, I think upwards of half the federal appellate judges who are either retired or eligible to take senior status. So there could be many more coming,” said Severino.
Free Speech Loses, Rule of Law Loses, Nukes or Nonsense?
Ian Tuttle of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America shake their heads as Ann Coulter cancels her Berkeley speech after officials there make it clear they will not maintain order. They also vent after a liberal judge rules that the federal government cannot withhold funds from localities that flagrantly refuse to obey federal immigration law. And they throw up their hands as CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin is more worried about why senators have to go to the White House to discuss North Korea – than she is about the North Korea threat itself.
Trump & the VA, Obama’s Iran Lie, Latest Flynn Fallout
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are encouraged to see President Trump taking steps to make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire bad employees. They’re also furious, but not surprised, to learn that President Obama actually did release prisoners connected to terrorism against U.S. forces despite insisting he hadn’t done so. And they react to the breaking news that former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn accepted money from Russia in 2015 but allegedly failed to report it.