The Tap: Friday, December 9, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #45 of The Tap, which was published on December 10, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

You’re Hired

• On Friday afternoon, it was reported that Donald Trump plans to nominate Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) as secretary of the Interior Department. First elected in 2004, McMorris Rodgers became the chair of the House Republican Conference in 2013, the fourth-highest ranking post in House GOP leadership. News of her potential nomination has already led some Republicans to begin vying for the conference chair position, which is responsible for presiding over all official meetings of House Republicans. Republicans have controlled McMorris’ seat in Washington’s 5th Congressional District since 1995, and its largest county, Spokane—where roughly two-thirds of the district’s population lives—hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since Bill Clinton in 1996. McMorris Rodgers sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee and gave the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech in 2014. She endorsed Trump in May 2016.
  • McMorris Rodgers has advocated for increased U.S. energy production, including fossil fuels, and has criticized the federal government’s ability to manage public lands. Trump, too, has called for increased energy production in the U.S., but he has voiced support for the federal management of public lands. In an interview with Field & Stream in January 2016, he was asked if he would support the transfer of public lands from the federal government to the states. Trump said, “I don’t like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do. We have to be great stewards of this land. This is magnificent land.” In contrast, the [ 2016 GOP Platform] calls for the federal government “to convey certain federally controlled public lands to states.” Ballotpedia took a look at where McMorris Rodgers has stood on a variety of issues and legislation related to the Interior Department’s jurisdiction. Read more here.
  • See also: The Trump administration on energy and the environment

• It was also reported on Friday afternoon that Trump had offered Gary Cohn the position of director of the National Economic Council. Cohn is the president and COO of Goldman Sachs. Trump’s nominee to head the Treasury Department, Steven Mnuchin, also worked at Goldman Sachs, as did his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The National Economic Council has been around since 1993 and was established by President Bill Clinton to advise the president on domestic and international economic policy and to help implement the president’s economic agenda. Senate confirmation is not required for the appointment. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cohn is a registered Democrat who “isn’t politically vocal.” He has donated to political candidates on both sides of the aisle.
  • Cohn’s views on several issues on which he would likely advise Trump—such as international trade, financial regulations, and corporate taxes—are not entirely known, though some of his views may be at odds with Trump’s. Cohn’s stance on federal financial regulations, for example, appears to be mixed. Last month, in an interview with CNBC, he said, “As central banks start to flood the market with liquidity, we need to be able to transmit that into main street — to entrepreneurs... to small and medium-sized companies. I do think that part of the regulation we've gone through has inhibited our ability to transmit that capital....On the other hand, remember U.S. banks today are the strongest banks in the world.... that's a huge competitive advantage for U.S. banks and I don't want to lose that.” Trump has been more critical of regulations on the financial sector, saying in October 2015, “[T]he regulators are running the banks. The bankers are petrified of the regulators. And the problem is that the banks aren’t loaning money to people who will create jobs.”
  • See also: Trump administration officials on financial policy and Financial policy under the Trump administration

• President Barack Obama “has ordered a full review into hacking by the Russians aimed at influencing US elections going back to 2008,” according to CNN. White House homeland security and counterterrorism advisor Lisa Monaco said, "The President has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process. It is to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders. This is consistent with the work that we did over the summer to engage Congress on the threats that we were seeing."

Congressional Legislation

• The Senate passed HR 2028—the legislative vehicle for the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017—by a vote of 63-36. The legislation funds the government through April 28. Funding was set to expire at midnight on December 9.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #44 of The Tap, which was published on December 3, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.