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The Tap: Monday, May 23, 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 #18 of The Tap, which was published on May 28, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • During a press conference in Hanoi, President Barack Obama announced that the United States is lifting its arms embargo on Vietnam. Obama said, “This change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself and removes a lingering vestige of the Cold War.” When asked if the decision to lift the arms embargo had anything to do with China’s “aggressive military posture in the South China Sea,” Obama replied, “The decision to lift the ban was not based on China or any other considerations. It was based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalization with Vietnam. I want to emphasize that my decision to lift the ban really was more reflective of the changing nature of the relationship.”
  • President Barack Obama confirmed the death of Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansur, who was killed in an airstrike on Saturday in Pakistan. Obama said the leader’s death marked an "important milestone in our longstanding effort to bring peace and prosperity to Afghanistan." In a statement, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) praised those involved in the operation and said, "This strike is a reminder that we remain a nation at war."
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald compared the wait times for veterans at health clinics to lines at Disneyland, prompting some members of Congress to call for his resignation. McDonald said, "We should be measuring the veterans' satisfaction. I mean, what really counts is how does the veteran feel about their encounter with the VA. When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what's important? What's important is what's your satisfaction with the experience.”
    • Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a tweet, “This is not make-believe, Mr. Secretary. Veterans have died waiting in those lines.”
    • Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), “the first female combat veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate,” called for McDonald’s resignation in the following statement: “Secretary McDonald’s dishonorable remarks yesterday make clear that he fails to take seriously the need for timely and quality care for our veterans. He blatantly dismissed the heart ache and pain that our veterans face while awaiting basic care, and illustrated his compete [sic] disregard for the incredibly serious issues facing the VA.”
    • Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said, “Secretary McDonald’s preposterous statement is right out of Never Never Land. I call on him to resign because it’s clear he cannot prioritize getting our veterans the health care they deserve and have earned in a timely manner. Dismissing wait times when veterans can often wait months for an appointment is negligent and a clear sign that new leadership is needed at the VA.”
    • On Tuesday, McDonald apologized for his comments. He said in a statement, “At VA we take our mission of caring for those who ‘shall have borne the battle’ very seriously; we have the best and most noble mission in government. If my comments Monday led any Veterans to believe that I, or the dedicated workforce I am privileged to lead, don't take that noble mission seriously, I deeply regret that. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
  • Michelle Fields, a former reporter for Breitbart News, signed on to cover Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for the Huffington Post. Fields resigned from Breitbart in March after she was involved in an altercation with Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and felt the news organization had not “adequately stood by her.” Upon starting her new job, Fields said, “After the tumultuous events of the last few months, I am ready to get back to writing and reporting on what is without question the most bizarrely fascinating presidential race of my lifetime (and, perhaps, any lifetime).”
  • The Democratic National Committee announced that Bernie Sanders will be permitted to name five members to the Platform Drafting Committee at the Democratic National Convention; Hillary Clinton will choose six. The chair of the DNC, who typically selects all 15 members, will only name four members. “This year, in an effort to make this the most representative and inclusive process in history, the DNC Chair elected to allocate 75% of the committee’s seats to the presidential campaigns, awarding the slots proportionally according to the current vote tally,” the DNC said in a statement.
    • U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a Clinton supporter, will chair the committee.
    • Sanders said in a statement, “We believe that we will have the representation on the platform drafting committee to create a Democratic platform that reflects the views of millions of our supporters who want the party to address the needs of working families in this country and not just Wall Street, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry and other powerful special interests.” He named James Zogby, a Palestinian rights activist, to the committee.
    • See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016

Bills & Amendments

  • The Senate unanimously passed S 2613 - the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016. The legislation proposes allowing victims of sexual assault to obtain rape kits and toxicology tests and reports free of charge. Victims would also be able to access the results of the tests, and rape kits would be “preserved, without charge, for the duration of the maximum applicable statute of limitations or 20 years, whichever is shorter.”
  • The House rejected HR 4889 - the Kelsey Smith Act by a vote of 229-158. The legislation required a two-thirds vote to pass. The Kelsey Smith Act proposed requiring telecommunication providers to provide call location information to law enforcement “in an emergency situation involving risk of death or serious physical injury or in order to respond to the user’s call for emergency services.”

State

  • The Oklahoma Legislature approved the Oklahoma Wine and Beer Amendment for the November 8, 2016, ballot. Upon voter approval, the measure would allow grocery stores and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer and wine seven days a week.
    • Oklahomans for Consumer Freedom, a group sponsoring a similar measure with the same name, was collecting signatures to put its proposal on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment. Upon the approval of Senate Joint Resolution 68, the resolution putting the Oklahoma Wine and Beer Amendment on the ballot, a representative of the coalition stated, “We applaud the state legislature for heading consumers’ call for increased choice and convenience when it comes to beer and wine. A legislative solution was always our top priority and now we can shift our focus to getting out the vote in November. We’ll be regrouping with our coalition partners in the coming days to formulate a formal campaign rollout.”
  • Virginia Governor and longtime Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe (D) is under investigation by the FBI and by prosecutors from the Department of Justice. The investigation, which has been underway for at least a year, centers on contributions to his 2013 gubernatorial campaign as well as his tenure on the board of the Clinton Global Initiative. A lawyer for McAuliffe's campaign denied that the governor had any knowledge of the investigation; McAuliffe later criticized the FBI and the Department of Justice for the leak. The governor told reporters at a press conference that he was "100 percent" sure his campaign did not accept any illegal contributions. "I don't think it will affect Hillary at all," he said when asked about Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
  • A group of parents in Texas filed a lawsuit against the state, challenging schools’ use of this year’s scores on the statewide assessment to rate the academic progress of students. The lawsuit asserts that the tests were not administered according to the requirements of a law enacted in 2015, which directs the state to develop assessments that can be completed within two or three hours, depending on grade level. The requirement was supposed to apply to all tests given in the spring of 2016, but the Texas Education Agency decided to phase in the law so that only two grade levels took the redesigned tests this year. The suit argues that because of this delay, the tests administered to all other grade levels should be invalidated and their use by public schools for student and teacher evaluation prohibited. According to the Texas Education Agency, the current tests have a four to five hour time limit, depending on the test, but the agency states that “most students should be able to complete the assessment in less time.”
  • New Mexico became the first state to sue the federal government and two mine owners over the release of more than 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater at the closed Colorado Gold King Mine in 2015. The spill was triggered by a contractor for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The state’s lawsuit claimed that the pollution caused by the spill was worse than what the federal government previously claimed. The lawsuit also demanded payment for the costs of New Mexico’s immediate response to the spill as well as funding to make up for long-term cleanup costs and lost revenue to the state. New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said that the EPA’s liability for the spill is “crystal clear.” The EPA said that the agency takes responsibility for the cleanup and is working on a plan to reimburse states affected by the spill.

Local

  • In Maryland, Baltimore police officer Edward Nero was acquitted of all charges in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries received while in police custody. Circuit Court Associate Judge Barry G. Williams’ ruling stated, “Based on the evidence presented, this court finds that the state has not met its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all required elements of the crimes charged. Therefore, the verdict for each count is not guilty.” The Gray family’s attorney did not criticize Judge Williams for the ruling and acknowledged that the prosecutors in the case faced an “enormous standard of proof” against Nero. He also argued that the ruling was limited to Nero’s specific case and would not influence the remaining trials against police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s arrest. Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and the 26th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Click here for Ballotpedia’s special coverage of how issues in race and law enforcement are impacting local elections this year, including in Baltimore.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for 91 school board seats across Florida’s 38 largest school districts. The general election for these districts will be on August 30, 2016. The state’s largest school district—Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which served 365,233 students during the 2013-2014 school year—has five of its nine seats up for election.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #17 of The Tap, which was published on May 21, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will hold a non-argument session on Monday. The court is expected to issue orders in advance of the session and to announce opinions in decided cases during the session.

State

Local

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for 91 school board seats across Florida’s 38 largest school districts. The general election for these districts will be on August 30, 2016. The state’s largest school district, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, has five of its nine seats up for election this year and served 356,233 students during the 2013-2014 school year.



The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
March: 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
April: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
May: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
June: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
July: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
August: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
September: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
October: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7• 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
November: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
December: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 31
January: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
February: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17
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