News and analysis right to your inbox. Click to get Ballotpedia’s newsletters!

The Tap: The Iran nuclear deal under the Trump Administration

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search


December 3, 2016Issue No. 44

The Tap Graphic-750x191px.png

The week in review: November 26 - December 2
What's on Tap next week: December 3 - December 9

Navigate The Tap by clicking the tabs below:

Federal

What's on tap?

President-elect Donald Trump said dismantling the “disastrous” Iran nuclear deal was his “number one priority.” But Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that because it is a multinational deal, “there is no possibility that it can be changed by a single government.” Is Rouhani correct? We fact-checked. U.S. withdrawal would materially change the terms and conditions of the deal, and the U.S. State Department has noted that an American withdrawal “would have profound consequences on the integrity of the agreement.” Learn more: The Iran nuclear deal under the Trump administration

 

Federal

The Week in Review

Saturday, November 26

  • Marc Elias, general counsel for the Clinton campaign, announced that the campaign had been reviewing election results for evidence of tampering. "While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported," he wrote. The Clinton campaign would participate in the recount efforts initiated by Green presidential nominee Jill Stein in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Elias added.
    • Trump called Stein's recount efforts "ridiculous" and "a scam." He said in a statement, "This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount."
    • Stein began raising money for a recount effort last week. By November 28, she had raised $6.3 million, more than double the $3.5 million she raised throughout her 2016 presidential campaign. Stein told CNN that "this was a hacked election," adding in a statement, "These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified."

Monday, November 28

  • The U.S. Supreme Court reconvened for its December sitting, hearing argument in Beckles v. United States. In 2015, the court held in Johnson v. United States that the language of the Armed Career Criminal Act's (ACCA) residual clause defining "violent felony" was unconstitutionally vague. That clause defined "violent felony," in part, as a crime where "conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another" was present. Travis Beckles was convicted of a crime constituting a "crime of violence" under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. The guidelines define "crime of violence," in part, as a crime that "otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another." Beckles argued that this language was substantively similar to, and as unconstitutionally vague as, the language in the ACCA that was struck down in Johnson.
  • President-elect Trump met with retired General David Petraeus. Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, is considered a top candidate for the position of secretary of state. Petraeus, who oversaw military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, is on probation until April 2017 for sharing classified information with Paula Broadwell. In January 2016, Trump expressed support for Petraeus. Columnist and political commentator Charles Krauthammer called Petraeus “a spectacular choice,” saying the former general “to the world represents America at its strongest and most decisive.” Petraeus would be the second retired general appointed to a high-level position in Trump’s administration.

Tuesday, November 29

  • Following reports that a flag had been burned at Hampshire College in Massachusetts in protest of Donald Trump's electoral victory, Trump tweeted that flag burning should be prohibited. He wrote, "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag—if they do, there must be consequences—perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!" Trump spokesman Jason Miller elaborated, "Flag burning should be illegal. The President-elect is a very strong supporter of the First Amendment, but there's a big difference between that and burning the American flag."
  • Rep. Tom Price of Georgia is Trump’s pick to head Health and Human Services. Price, an orthopedic surgeon and six-term member of Congress, has been an outspoken critic of Obamacare and began offering alternatives to the law as early as 2009, when Obamacare was first being debated in Congress. Last June, Price said, “They believe the government ought to be in control of health care. We believe that patients and doctors should be in control of health care.”
    • Price’s appointment underscores the likelihood of the full repeal and replacement of President Obama’s signature healthcare law. Trump made the repeal and replacement of Obamacare a key part of his campaign platform. After the election, however, he suggested that he may propose keeping some aspects of the law, such as the provision that requires insurers to sell coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and another provision that lets younger people remain under their parents’ insurance plans through their mid-20s.
    • Price is close with Mike Pence and is an ally of House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom he replaced as chairman of the House Budget Committee. Price endorsed Trump for president in May 2016.
  • Where Price stands on healthcare policy:
    • Full repeal of Obamacare. Price told Philip Klein of The Washington Examiner in 2015, “It needs to be fully repealed, because the first step out of the gate for Obamacare is a step in the wrong direction and that is for government control over every aspect of health care, so it's hard to fix the system that they have put in place without ending that premise that government ought to be running and controlling health care.”
    • Price’s proposal for an Obamacare replacement. The legislative replacement for Obamacare that Price has been advocating since 2009 is the “Empowering Patients First Act.” It offers a potential blueprint for the type of healthcare policy that the Trump administration might pursue with Price at the helm of HHS. Much of the bill was featured in Paul Ryan’s “Better Way” agenda, and Trump echoed many of Price’s ideas on the campaign trail. The bill includes tax credits based on age, which individuals and families could use to purchase insurance policies, as well as a one-time tax credit for health savings accounts. The issue of tax credits has been a point of contention among conservatives in debates over healthcare, with some favoring tax deductions over credits. Price has said that he supports the idea of tax credits “because we felt it was cleaner.” Other features of Price’s bill include allowing insurers to sell policies across state lines and groups of businesses to purchase “association health plans.” Grants would be provided to states to help cover healthcare costs for individuals with pre-existing conditions.
    • Medicare and Medicaid. Under the “Empowering Patients First Act,” individuals on government programs like Medicare and Medicaid would be able to opt out and use their tax credit to purchase private coverage. Trump previously voiced some resistance to making significant changes to Medicare, saying in April 2015, “Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security, they want to do it on Medicare, they want to do it on Medicaid. And we can’t do that. And it’s not fair to the people that have been paying in for years.”
    • See also: Trump administration on healthcare and Healthcare policy in the United States
  • Elaine Chao is set be to Trump’s nominee for the Department of Transportation. Chao, the spouse of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, served as the secretary of the Labor Department under George W. Bush and as deputy secretary of transportation under George H. W. Bush. Since 2009, Chao has sat on the boards of several nonprofit and corporate companies and has been a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where she authored papers on labor, employment, and the economy.
    • Ordinarily, the secretary of the Department of Transportation is viewed as less influential than the secretaries of other departments such as Health and Human Services or the State Department. However, as the next transportation secretary, Chao could be responsible for overseeing a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that Trump has stated he plans to make a priority of his administration; she could also play a key role in the task of navigating the plan through Congress. Lawmakers and outside groups have voiced mixed reactions to Trump’s infrastructure proposals. Some conservatives have expressed concerns over the plan’s price tag and skepticism of its projected economic benefits. Some liberals have called it corporate welfare. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, however, have indicated a willingness to work with Trump on the issue. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) said, “I think this is critical, something that could draw us together.” New York Democratic Rep. José Serrano, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, added, “The country needs it.”
    • Chao and McConnell are not the first transportation secretary/Senate majority leader couple in U.S. history. Elizabeth Dole headed the department while her husband, Sen. Bob Dole, was Senate majority leader from 1985 to 1987.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Moore v. Texas, a case on appeal from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Convicted of robbery and capital murder in 1980, Bobby James Moore appealed his death sentence on the grounds that he cannot be executed pursuant to the Supreme Court's ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, a 2001 decision in which the court held that the execution of certain intellectually disabled inmates violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that Moore's mental faculties brought him within the statutory requirement for execution under Texas law.
  • The Supreme Court issued its first opinion in an argued case this term, unanimously affirming the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Bravo-Fernandez v. United States. Juan Bravo-Fernandez and Hector Martinez-Maldonado argued that they could not be retried for bribery, both because their bribery convictions were vacated on appeal and because they were acquitted on other related charges in the same trial, with factual evidence from those charges informing the bribery conviction. In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Ashe v. Swenson that the Fifth Amendment “bars a prosecution that depends on a fact necessarily decided in the defendant's favor by an earlier acquittal.” In writing for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg held that the Fifth Amendment did not preclude a retrial on the bribery charges here, however, as “the guilty verdicts were vacated on appeal because of error in the judge’s instructions unrelated to the verdicts’ inconsistency. … [B]ecause we do not know what the jury would have concluded had there been no instructional error ... a new trial on the counts of conviction is in order.”

Wednesday, November 30

  • Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won re-election as House minority leader by defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) 134-63 in a secret ballot vote. Pelosi has led her party in the House since 2003. As members of the Democratic Party questioned why Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D) lost to President-elect Donald Trump (R), Ryan argued that Democrats needed new leadership. According to NPR, “Ryan argued that the party needed someone who understands blue collar voters as well as new, younger blood in leadership.”
  • Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro announced that “public housing developments in the U.S. will now be required to provide a smoke-free environment for their residents,” according to a press release. Castro said, "Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, healthy home free from harmful second-hand cigarette smoke. HUD's smoke-free rule is a reflection of our commitment to using housing as a platform to create healthy communities. By working collaboratively with public housing agencies, HUD's rule will create healthier homes for all of our families and prevent devastating and costly smoking-related fires." Smoke-free policies will be implemented over the next 18 months. The full rule can be viewed here.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Jennings v. Rodriguez. Under various provisions of Chapter 8 of the U.S. Code, the U.S. government detains inadmissible non-citizen aliens without bond pending proceedings to remove the aliens from the United States. The government challenged a judgment from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals requiring bond hearings every six months for all detained aliens, even if the detainee did not request such a hearing.
  • The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard arguments in a case brought by a homosexual employee claiming workplace discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The en banc rehearing stems from an appeal of a July 2016 ruling of the Seventh Circuit, Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, in which a three-judge panel of the court held that the Civil Rights Act does not protect against discrimination of homosexuals in the workplace. Writing for the panel in July, Judge Ilana Rovner stated, “It seems unlikely that our society can continue to condone a legal structure in which employees can be fired, harassed, demeaned, singled out for undesirable tasks, paid lower wages, demoted, passed over for promotions, and otherwise discriminated against solely based on who they date, love, or marry. The agency tasked with enforcing Title VII does not condone it … many of the federal courts to consider the matter have stated that they do not condone it … and this court undoubtedly does not condone it … But writing on the wall is not enough. Until the writing comes in the form of a Supreme Court opinion or new legislation, we must adhere to the writing of our prior precedent.” If the full Seventh Circuit reverses the panel opinion, it will be the first federal appeals court to hold that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects homosexuals from workplace discrimination. A decision is expected in 2017.
  • President-elect Trump confirmed that he had chosen to nominate financier Steven Mnuchin to fill the role of secretary of the treasury in the next administration. Mnuchin manages his own capital investment firm, Dune Capital Partners, which he started after spending 17 years with Goldman Sachs. He has typically invested in real estate and in Hollywood film production. Jack Lew is the current secretary of the treasury. As the finance chairman for Trump’s campaign, Mnuchin was instrumental in developing Trump’s tax policy proposals. In September 2016, he explained Trump’s proposal to cut all corporate taxes to 15 percent, saying, “The intent of the plan is that big and small businesses have tax relief.”

Highlights from Trump’s tax plan, which Mnuchin helped to craft during the campaign, include:

  • A reduction in the number of income tax brackets from seven to three: 12 percent, 25 percent, and 33 percent.
  • A proposed deduction of the average cost of childcare expenses for parents.
  • A maximum corporate tax of 15 percent.

Click here to see more on Trump’s tax proposals during the election.

  • Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor and chairman of the private investment firm WL Ross & Co, was chosen to become the next secretary of commerce, a position that is intended to promote trade and economic stability. Ross has consistently supported Trump’s candidacy and his economic priorities.
  • In June 2016, Ross praised what he saw as Trump’s “more radical, new approach to government.”
  • In September 2016, Ross co-authored an opinion piece outlining what he saw as the benefits of Trump’s economic plans: “It would cut taxes, reduce regulations, remove restrictions on energy development and eliminate our debilitating trade deficit. As growth rapidly accelerated, Trumpnomics would generate millions of additional jobs and trillions of dollars in additional income and tax revenue.”
  • In August 2016, Ross criticized current U.S. trade policies, a cornerstone of Trump’s candidacy: “Free trade is like free lunch, there is no free lunch. Somebody wins and somebody loses and unfortunately we’ve been losing with these stupid agreements that we’ve made.”

Thursday, December 1

  • Donald Trump and Mike Pence were in Indianapolis Thursday to announce a deal with Carrier Corp. that will keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana. Last February, the heating and cooling equipment company announced its intentions to close manufacturing plants in Indianapolis and Huntington, Ind., and to move operations to Monterrey, Mexico. More than 2,000 jobs were set to leave the state.
    • Carrier said in a statement on November 30, 2016, that it had reached an agreement with Trump and Pence to keep more than 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis. More than 600 jobs from Indianapolis and all 700 from the Huntington plant are reportedly still slated to head to Mexico.
    • Many of the details of how Trump and Pence convinced Carrier to keep the 1,000-plus jobs in Indiana remain largely unknown, but some information has started to trickle in. Tax incentives played a key role. In its statement from November 30, Carrier said, “The incentives offered by the state were an important consideration,” and United Technologies Corp., Carrier’s parent company, will reportedly receive $7 million in tax breaks over the next decade as part of the deal. Also part of the deal, United will invest $16 million in its Indiana operations. Some economists and observers in the media have said that United’s larger business interests could have formed an important part of the negotiations. Approximately 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue comes from federal contracts, mostly from the Pentagon. When asked by reporters if federal contracts played a role in the negotiations, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said, “This is about the president-elect and vice-president elect making good on their promise to go to bat for American workers, which they’re doing so, even before they’re actually sworn in.”
    • Keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S. was a key component of Trump’s campaign platform, and he often spoke critically of Carrier’s decision to relocate to Mexico. He has proposed imposing a 35 percent tariff on goods from companies like Carrier that move jobs out of the U.S. Trump’s negotiations with Carrier mark one of his first major actions as president-elect and could foreshadow how he will approach the larger issue of U.S. companies shipping manufacturing jobs overseas. Since 2000, the U.S. has lost approximately 5 million manufacturing jobs, though economists have debated the cause of these losses, with culprits ranging from relocation to trade to technological innovation.
    • See also: The Trump administration on trade
  • “We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters at his first major post-election rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday evening. News began circulating Thursday afternoon that retired Marine Corps General James Mattis was Trump’s pick for the DOD, but it remained unconfirmed until Trump’s announcement.
    • Mattis’ military career spans more than four decades. He retired in 2013 and is currently a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank in California. He most recently served as the commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2010 to 2013 and has served in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His nomination conflicts with federal law, which requires secretaries of defense to have been out of uniform for seven years before holding the office. Congress will likely have to grant Mattis a waiver in order for him to be confirmed. Something along these lines has happened before. General George Marshall, in 1950, was allowed to serve as the defense secretary. Mattis, if granted a waiver and confirmed, would be the first former ranking general to head the Pentagon since Marshall.
    • There is a mystique around Mattis in military and political circles as well as in the media, which has taken to describing him through some of his more colorful quotes and personal habits. Mattis, for example, is reported to have once told a group of soldiers, “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet,” and he is rumored to keep with him a copy of the Meditations of the Roman emperor/philosopher Marcus Aurelius. But what are Mattis’ actual views on the world and how do they differ from Trump’s and current defense policy? Ballotpedia broke down some of Mattis’ views on the military, defense policy, foreign relations, and America’s role in the world. Read our analysis here.
  • Campaign staff and political advisors for many of the presidential campaigns from the 2016 cycle were present at the Campaign Managers Conference at the Harvard Institute of Politics, an event that takes place every four years as a way of capturing the campaigns for future generations. In the final panel of the event, a number of advisors from the Clinton and Trump campaigns discussed the issues in a conversation that frequently turned to bitter comments from both sides.
    • In one notable exchange, Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie praised Trump strategist and Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon. Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri responded, saying, “If providing a platform for white supremacists makes me a brilliant tactician I am glad to have lost. I would rather lose than win the way you guys you did.” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway replied, “I can tell you are angry, but wow. … Hashtag he's your president.”

Friday, December 2

  • Trump returned to transition work on Friday. He met with the following individuals at Trump Tower in New York:
    • Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) - Perdue was first elected in 2014 and sits on the agriculture, budget, foreign relations, and judiciary committees. Prior to Trump’s selection of Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary, Perdue was rumoured to be in the running for that position.
    • Retired Admiral Jay Cohen - Cohen was chief of naval research for the Navy from 2000 to 2006 and worked for the Department of Homeland Security from 2006 to 2009. He is now a principal at the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm founded by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff (2005 to 2009). Nothing is known about what, if any, position Cohen might be under consideration for.
    • Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi - Bondi has been Florida’s attorney general since 2011 and is a member of Trump’s transition team. She’s close with Trump, and their relationship attracted criticism during the 2016 campaign after some in the media alleged that a donation from Trump’s foundation to her 2014 re-election effort influenced her decision not to pursue an investigation into accusations of fraud against Trump University. Rumours about a possible position for her in Trump’s administration have included a potential appointment to head the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
    • Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton - Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 and is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he has written articles criticizing American foreign policy under the Obama administration. Bolton’s name has been floated as a potential nominee for secretary of state—as have Mitt Romney’s and Rudy Giuliani’s—but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has voiced opposition to a Bolton nomination. Last month, Paul said, “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop someone like John Bolton being secretary of state.”
    • Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) - First elected in 2012, Heitkamp, a Democrat in a very red state, is up for re-election in 2018. It’s not known why Heitkamp visited Trump Tower, but she’s not the first Democrat to do so. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have both made visits as well. In a statement, Heitkamp said, “Every single day, my work is motivated first and foremost by how I can be most helpful to the people of North Dakota. They are my driving force and have been throughout my career in public service. Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.”
    • Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates - Gates was at the Pentagon from 2006 to 2011. Gates told reporters that he will not be taking a position in Trump’s administration, adding, “We had a very wide ranging conversation. I told him I thought his selection of General Mattis to be secretary of defense was terrific, very supportive.”

Congressional Legislation

This week on Capitol Hill, the Senate passed a bill to renew sanctions against Iran and a bill that would prohibit companies from taking legal action against consumers who post negative reviews of them online. The House passed legislation authorizing intelligence appropriations for fiscal year 2017 and legislation aimed at providing funding for medical research. A full recap of this week's legislation can be viewed here.

Tuesday, November 29

  • The Senate passed S 2873—the ECHO Act—by a vote of 97-0. The legislation would expand the University of New Mexico's Project ECHO, which links medical specialists with rural doctors in order to teach them how to treat more complex diseases.
    • Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a co-sponsor of the bill, said, "This leverages technology so that eventually the quality of care will not depend how close you are to an urban center or to a highly subsidized research institution."
  • The Senate passed HR 5111—the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016—by unanimous consent. The legislation would prohibit companies from taking legal action against consumers who post negative reviews of them online on websites such as Yelp.
    • Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a co-sponsor of the bill, said, "By ending gag clauses, this legislation supports consumer rights and the integrity of critical feedback about products and services sold online."

Wednesday, November 30

  • Key vote: The House passed HR 34—the 21st Century Cures Act—by a vote of 392-26. The legislation is aimed at speeding the research and cure of diseases and contains a number of other healthcare priorities.
    • Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the main sponsor of the bill, said, "This bill, which expedites the approval of drugs and devices, includes literally billions of dollars in additional spending for health research so that we can find the cures and the answers to what patients are demanding today."
  • The House passed HR 6302—the Overtime Pay for Secret Service Agents Act of 2016—by a voice vote. The legislation addressed the issue of secret service agents who protected presidential candidates this year hitting their pay cap and essentially working additional overtime hours for free.
    • Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the author of the bill, said, "This is not a bonus. This is not extra pay. This is simply trying to compensate them for hours that they worked."

Thursday, December 1

  • Key vote: The Senate passed HR 6297—the Iran Sanctions Extension Act—by a vote of 99-0. The legislation proposed continuing to impose defense, banking, and energy sanctions on Iran for a 10-year period. The existing sanctions were set to expire at the end of the year.
    • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a supporter of the bill, said, "The practical effect is the Iran nuclear agreement depends on our resolve, on our commitment to ... stop a nuclear-armed Iran by using sanctions and other means if necessary."

 

Congress is IN session SCOTUS is IN session
The Senate and House will be in session next week. The Senate will be in session Monday-Friday. The House will be in session Monday-Thursday. The U.S. Supreme Court is in session and will hear arguments in four cases next week.

What’s On Tap Next Week

Monday, December 5

Tuesday, December 6

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Life Technologies Corporation v. Promega Corporation. The case comes on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 35 U.S.C. §271(f)(1), states, “Whoever without authority supplies or causes to be supplied in or from the United States all or a substantial portion of the components of a patented invention, where such components are uncombined in whole or in part, in such manner as to actively induce the combination of such components outside of the United States in a manner that would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States, shall be liable as an infringer.” Life Technologies is challenging the holding of the Federal Circuit that a single component shipped from the United States to its overseas manufacturing facility constituted a “substantial portion of the components of a patented invention” and, subsequently, a patent infringement in violation of federal law.

Wednesday, December 7

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. After Jevic Holding Corporation entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a settlement was reached between Jevic's first-priority secured creditors and a committee assigned to represent Jevic's unsecured creditors. One other group of potential claimants however, Jevic's drivers, was omitted from the settlement despite the fact that the drivers had higher-priority claims under §507 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The bankruptcy court, citing the "dire circumstances" in the bankruptcy, approved the settlement, which was affirmed by a federal district court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, though the circuit panel did File:Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Group Third circuit opinion.pdf, “It is a close call.” The drivers are challenging the holding that the Bankruptcy Code permits a bankruptcy court to authorize distribution of settlement proceeds in a manner that violates the code's priority scheme.

 

Where was the president last week? Federal judiciary
President Barack Obama visited the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, earlier in the week, and hosted Nobel Prize winners on Wednesday.  
  • 111 total federal judicial vacancies
  • 66 pending nominations
  • 19 future vacancies

Back to top for State, Local, and fact checks updates

State and Local

Highlights

State

  • A federal court ordered North Carolina lawmakers to redraw 28 state legislative district maps by March 15, 2017. The court found in August 2016 that 28 district maps—nine in the state Senate and 19 in the state House—are unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering, finding that the state legislature, when redrawing the district map, had placed too many minority voters into a small number of districts, thereby diluting the impact of their votes. Special elections will be held in November 2017 in the 28 districts with the new maps. All 28 districts are currently represented by Democratic incumbents. The new maps will invariably change the boundaries of other, surrounding districts as well. Depending on how many additional districts are re-drawn will impact how many incumbents ultimately need to face a special election, and whether the Republican majority will be at risk. Earlier this year, the same federal court ruled that two of the state's 13 congressional districts had been subject to similar racial gerrymandering. As a result of that ruling, the congressional primary was postponed from March 15 to June 7. Although the gubernatorial election was close enough to lead to a recount, Republicans maintained a supermajority in the state legislature. Donald Trump won the state’s presidential election with 50.6 percent of the vote.

Local

  • On Tuesday, November 29, the city of El Paso, Texas, announced that about $3.2 million were stolen as the result of an email phishing scheme. City officials said that the money went missing between two misdirected payments in September and October of this year. These involved state funds earmarked for city projects by the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority. So far, $1.9 million of the money has been recovered by authorities, leaving $1.3 million still unaccounted for. El Paso is the 19th-largest city in the United States by population and the sixth-largest in Texas.
 

State

The Week in Review

Ballot measures update

2017:

2018:

Monday, November 28

  • South Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman (R) announced that he would seek re-election to his current leadership position and released a separate statement several hours later stating, "I will not leave my Senate seat to serve as Lieutenant Governor." Current Lt. Governor Henry McMaster (R) is first in line to succeed Gov. Nikki Haley (R) if she is confirmed as United Nations ambassador, a post to which she was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump (R). According to South Carolina state law, the Senate president pro tempore succeeds the lieutenant governor in the event of a vacancy. Leatherman is not required by state law to assume the lieutenant governorship; if he refuses and is re-elected, the office may remain vacant until the next election in 2018. The lieutenant governorship is not considered a powerful position in the South Carolina state government, especially compared to the state senate president pro tempore.
    • A proposed alternative to this line of succession is found in a 2012 constitutional amendment that was designed to give the governor the power to appoint the lieutenant governor in the event of a vacancy and make other election-related changes. The text of the legislation stated the amendment would first apply to the 2018 general election. State Rep. Jim Merrill (R) has claimed that the provision allowing the governor to appoint a replacement lieutenant governor would apply in the current situation. Others have stated that the entire amendment does not take effect until after 2018. Sen. Tom Davis (R) requested a motion to change the language of the 2012 amendment to clarify that it was meant to go into effect after 2018. If the motion fails and the amendment is invoked to allow McMaster to appoint his own successor, Davis said he would file a lawsuit with the South Carolina Supreme Court. South Carolina is one of 23 Republican trifectas.
  • Governor-elect Doug Burgum (R) selected Michelle Kommer to serve as North Dakota commissioner of labor. Kommer will be taking over for former commissioner Troy Seibel, who resigned and will begin serving as the chief deputy attorney general of North Dakota on December 1, 2016.
  • Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) appointed two new justices to the Arizona Supreme Court. These appointments will increase the number of justices from five to seven, in accordance with a law passed in May 2016. The governor selected Arizona Solicitor General John Lopez and Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Andrew Gould. These are Ducey’s second and third appointments to the state’s high court. Lopez and Gould will join the court within the next two months and must stand for retention by voters in 2018 to win full six-year terms on the state supreme court bench.

Tuesday, November 29

  • Missouri Supreme Court Justice Richard Teitelman died at the age of 69. Justice Teitelman was retained by voters to another term on the court on November 8, 2016. His successor will be appointed by the governor from a pool of three candidates chosen by the Missouri Appellate Judicial Commission. The appointee must stand for retention in the next general election at least one year following appointment.
  • Opponents to Maine’s Question 2, a tax on income above $200,000 in order to fund education, withdrew their request for a recount of election results following the November election. The recount would have begun on December 1, 2016, and been conducted in tandem with the recount for Maine Question 1 regarding the legalization of marijuana. Question 2 was approved by a less than 1 percent margin, and will enact a 3 percent tax on a household’s income that exceeds $200,000. Revenue from the surtax will be used to fund public education.
  • Mississippi held a runoff election for one seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court. Judge Robert Chamberlin defeated attorney John Brady for the seat being vacated by Justice Ann Lamar. Chamberlin and Brady were the top two finishers in the general election on November 8, but neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, which triggered the runoff election.
  • Officials certified 2016 general election results in Alaska, Minnesota, and New Mexico.
    • Alaskan voters decided two ballot measures. Measure 1 was a citizen initiative and called for automatically registering Permanent Fund Dividend applicants to vote. The measure was approved, and will take effect on February 6, 2018. Measure 2 was legislatively referred and would have allowed state debt to be contracted for postsecondary loans. That measure was defeated.
    • Minnesota voters decided one legislatively referred ballot measure: Amendment 1. The amendment was approved, creating a bipartisan and independent board for setting state legislators’ salaries. The amendment took effect when it was approved by voters.
    • New Mexico voters decided five ballot measures. One of the measures, Amendment 1, was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment and will allow courts to deny bail to defendants if there is evidence that they are a public threat while also stipulating that a defendant cannot be denied bail because of financial inability to post a bond. Amendment 1 was approved. The other four measures were all bond issues and were also approved. New Mexico was the only state other than Rhode Island to present multiple bond issues to voters in 2016.
      • In New Mexico, signature requirements for veto referendums are calculated based on the total number of votes cast the most recent general election. Thus, voter turnout at the 2016 election determined the signature requirements for veto referendums in 2018. Veto referendums suspending the targeted law will require 80,404 signatures in 2018, increased from 51,944 in 2016. Veto referendums that are not suspending the targeted law will require 201,011 signatures, increased from 129,859 in 2016.
  • Arkansas state Representative David Hillman switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Hillman won election to Arkansas House District 13 in 2012, receiving 51 percent of the vote. He ran for re-election without opposition in 2014 and 2016. The change gives Republicans the 75 seats needed to pass appropriation bills without any votes from Democrats.

Wednesday, November 30

  • Officials certified 2016 general election results in Alabama and Massachusetts.
    • Alabama voters were presented with 14 legislatively referred constitutional amendments. All but two of the measures were approved. One of the defeated measures, Amendment 9, would have increased the maximum qualifying age for judges in Pickens County to 75 years of age. The other defeated measure, Amendment 12, would have established a governing body to oversee toll roads and bridges and to issue revenue bonds for projects in Baldwin County. Both measures were approved by a majority of voters statewide but were not approved by a majority of voters in the counties that they would have affected, thereby resulting in their being defeated.
    • Massachusetts voters were presented with four indirect initiated state statutes. Two of the measures, Question 1 and Question 2, were defeated. Question 1 would have added another slots parlor in the state, and Question 2 would have lifted the state’s cap on charter schools to allow for up to 12 new charters each year. The other two measures, Question 3 and Question 4, were approved. Question 3 will prohibit the sale of eggs, veal, or pork obtained from a farm animal that was confined in spaces that prevented certain movements, and it will take effect on January 1, 2022. Question 4 will legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts and will take effect on December 15, 2016. The state had some of the most expensive 2016 ballot measure campaigns—particularly Question 2, which had a support campaign total of more than $27,000,000 and an opposition campaign total of more than $17,000,000.
      • The signature requirements for 2018 ballot initiatives in Massachusetts will remain the same as the 2016 numbers: 64,750 for amendments or statutes, 10,792 for statute add-ons, 32,375 for veto referendums, and 43,167 for veto referendums. This is because requirements are calculated based on turnout at gubernatorial elections and the last gubernatorial election was in 2014.
  • Alabama state Representative Oliver Robinson (D) announced his immediate retirement. Robinson explained that his retirement was to avoid any potential conflicts of interest as a result of his daughter’s recent appointment as the governor’s liaison to the House of Representatives. In a press release announcing his plans to retire, Robinson explained that this retirement was permanent. He would be focusing on supporting programs for children in Gate City and Harris Homes in his retirement. Robinson served as a state representative for 18 years.
  • Maryland state Senator Ulysses Currie (D) rescinded his decision to resign. His original announcement, made on November 4, had signaled an end to Currie’s political career of almost 30 years. Currie stated that he changed his mind and decided to remain in office after witnessing what he called a “total loss of civility” among his potential successors. Currie accused these potential successors of only coming forward with the intent to gain an advantage in the 2018 election rather than to provide honest public service. Currie’s original plans to resign cited a declining ability to serve constituents due to a lack of “strength and energy.”

Thursday, December 1

Friday, December 2

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Monday, December 5

  • The recount for the Maine Marijuana Legalization ballot measure, Question 1, will begin. Counting teams of volunteers from both sides of the campaign and one secretary of state staff member will review bundles of 50 ballots at a time from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day until all ballots are counted or until the requesting group drops the recount after a partial review. The recount will be conducted in phases and is likely to begin with the larger cities of Bangor, Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, and Scarborough. Initial election results show the measure passing by less than half of a percent of the vote. If the election results are not reversed, recreational marijuana will become legal 30 days following the proclamation of the official results by the governor.
    • Voters in eight other states also saw marijuana-related measures on the ballot. Recreational marijuana was approved in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, while medical marijuana was approved in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota. Arizona was the only state where a marijuana measure did not pass; voters there narrowly defeated a measure to legalize recreational marijuana.
  • The newly elected members of the California State Legislature will be sworn into office on the first day of the new legislative session. Only 100 of the legislature’s 120 seats were up for election in 2016. California is a Democratic trifecta. Prior to the November 2016 election, there were seven Democratic trifectas. Following the election, there are six Democratic trifectas.

Wednesday, December 7

Thursday, December 8

  • State Circuit Court Judge Mark Barnett will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of South Dakota Initiated Measure 22. The measure revised state campaign finance and lobbying laws and created a publicly funded campaign finance program as well as an ethics commission. Most of the provisions enacted took effect on November 16. The lawsuit—which was launched by 24 Republican members of the state legislature, a number of their family members, and the South Dakota Family Heritage Alliance Action, Inc.—argued that the many of the initiative’s provisions, including the $100 limit on gifts to legislators, were unconstitutional and that the measure violated the state’s single-subject rule. South Dakotans for Integrity, the group that backed the initiative, filed a request to intervene in the defense of Measure 22. South Dakota is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta—in which the state legislature and governor’s chair is controlled by Republicans.
    • The measure was one of five 2016 ballot measures that addressed campaign finance issues. One of these, Washington Initiative 1464, would have also created a publicly funded campaign finance program by allowing each citizen to allocate state funds called “democracy credits” to qualified candidates. Initiative 1464, which was also designed to repeal the state’s non-resident sales tax exemption to pay for “democracy credits,” was defeated by voters.

 

State government in session

All states whose initials appear in red or blue in the list below have unified Republican or Democratic Party control across the state house, the state senate, and the office of the governor. Ballotpedia identifies these as “trifectas.”

  • Prior to the 2016 election: Seven Democratic and 23 Republican trifectas
  • Post-election: Six Democratic and 25 Republican trifectas
    • The pre-election figures are the current number of trifectas in the 50 states. As new members are sworn in for the 2017 legislative sessions, the number of trifectas will be updated to reflect the post-election totals.

Two states—Michigan and Ohio—are in regular session; Massachusetts is in an informal session.

  • Informal session: In an informal session, no attendance is taken and only a few members attend the session. These sessions address day-to-day business and non-controversial bills. The bills do not require debate or a roll-call vote, and they must be passed unanimously. If one member objects, the measure is blocked.

Convening 2017 legislative sessions:

  • CA convenes on 12/5
  • ME convenes on 12/7

One state is in recess:

  • NJ until 12/5

The following states have adjourned their 2016 regular sessions:

  • AK, AL, AR, AZ, CO, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MO, MN, MS, NC, NE, NM, NH, NY, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY

Four states have no regular sessions in 2016:

  • MT, ND, NV, TX

State government special elections

As of this week, 64 seats have been filled through state legislative special elections in 2016. Another two (not including runoff elections) have been scheduled in two states. As of this week, one state legislative special election has been scheduled for 2017 to fill a vacancy. Due to redistricting, another 28 state legislative special elections will be held in North Carolina in 2017. A federal court ruled 28 district maps unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering. North Carolina lawmakers have until March 15 to redraw the maps. Ten involved party changes: four from Republican to Democratic (Oklahoma, SD 34; Massachusetts, HD Twelfth Essex; Kentucky, HD 62; and New Hampshire, HD Rockingham 21), four from Democratic to Republican (Connecticut, HD 90; Texas, HD 118; Minnesota, HD 50B; and New York, SD 9), one from Democratic to independent (Texas, HD 120), and one from Republican to independent (Louisiana, HD 85).

  • An average of 37 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past three even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, and 2014: 40).

Local

The Week in Review

Monday, November 28

  • In North Carolina, the Charlotte City Council voted 8-2 to approve a $94 million contract for streetcar construction. The work is set to begin in 2017 and is slated to end by the summer of 2020. The new construction will more than double the existing 1.5-mile streetcar route known as the Gold Line. The Gold Line project first began in 2009, and votes on the matter have largely followed partisan lines. The two dissenting votes on this next phase were by the two Republican members of the council, Kenny Smith and Ed Driggs. Both council members are up for election in November 2017. Charlotte is the 16th-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in North Carolina.

Tuesday, November 29

  • Proponents of raising Baltimore’s minimum wage to $15 held a rally to relaunch their campaign. Although a proposal in the city council failed by one vote in August, elections this year replaced three of the city council members who voted in opposition. Mary Pat Clarke (D), the bill’s main sponsor, said that she wouldn’t need to persuade the new council members to vote for the minimum wage since they had campaigned on increasing it. Advocates say that 100,000 workers (about 27 percent of the city’s workforce) would benefit from the increased minimum wage. Opponents of the minimum wage say it could negatively impact the city’s workforce in a few ways: employers could decide to cut jobs and benefits to save costs, they might automate jobs to replace workers, or the wage could attract more applicants from outside the city, displacing residents. Baltimore is the 26th-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Maryland.
  • New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D) called on the federal government to reimburse the city for money spent to provide security at Trump Tower. “Here is a candidate who has been threatening to defund the city of New York — and yet we continue to be picking up the tab,” said Mark-Viverito. Protection for the president-elect’s family and their building in the city is costing the city an estimated $1 million per day. Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) had already announced his intentions to ask the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to either reimburse or offset the costs. With a population of more than 8.4 million citizens, New York City is the largest city in the United States by population.
  • Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) announced that the California city would offer a new proposal to keep the city’s National Football League franchise in town. Earlier this year, Nevada lawmakers approved a $1.9 billion stadium plan that included $750 million in public funding to bring the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas. The Raiders have not been cleared by NFL owners to move to Las Vegas, and a vote on the matter is not expected until next spring. The new domed stadium would provide 10,000 additional seats over the Oakland Coliseum, which began hosting the Raiders in 1966. Analyst reports claim a franchise in Las Vegas would bring 800,000 additional guests to the area and generate $620 million annually. Oakland is the 45th-largest city in the United States by population and the eighth-largest in California.
  • In Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Council members Bruce Kraus and Dan Gilman introduced a bill that would ban the use of conversion therapy on minors within city limits. Conversion therapy is the practice of using therapy or spiritual counseling to attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation. Kraus, who is the city’s first openly gay politician, said that he introduced this bill in part because some of president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet members have previously supported conversion therapy. He stated that this position “absolutely terrifie[s]” him. To date, six states and a number of municipalities have banned the use of conversion therapy. Pittsburgh is the 62nd-largest city in the United States by population and the second-largest in Pennsylvania.

Wednesday, November 30

  • The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance to “ban the box” on job applications asking about an applicant’s criminal history. The law applies to any businesses in the city with more than 10 employees, and Councilman Curren De Mille Price said it could impact hundreds of thousands of people. Price, the main proponent of the ordinance, said that studies showed job applicants revealing their criminal history on applications significantly decreased their ability to find work. "We think it's important because it would help expand the potential workforce, give a second chance for those that have served their time. It's unfair that they've served their time, and then they continue to be punished by not being able to find employment," he said. The National Retail Federation has previously criticized such initiatives, saying that they expose retailers, their customers, and their employees to potential crime. Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in California.
  • Fresno Mayor-elect Lee Brand (R) announced an 18-member transition team to help him develop public policies for his administration. Brand, who will replace the outgoing Ashley Swearengin (R), said he wanted his team to reflect the diversity of the city. His first priority, Brand said, was “rolling out community policing on a citywide basis.” Brand spent much of his mayoral campaign talking about public safety, improving police morale, and improving public-police relations. Fresno is the 34th-largest city in the United States by population and the fifth-largest in California.

Thursday, December 1

  • Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) vetoed a bill that would have paid $215 million into the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teacher pension fund. The bill, passed by the Illinois General Assembly in June 2016, was contingent on state Democrats enacting key pension fund reforms by the end of the 2016 legislative session. With the session 15 days from closing, Rauner vetoed the bill, saying that Democrats failed to uphold their end of the bargain. The $5.5 billion CPS budget for the 2017 fiscal year relies heavily on this state contribution and contains no contingency plan to cover its loss. The money would have made a large payment on the district’s $780 million debt to the CPS teacher pension fund, as required by a state-mandated plan to have the district fund teacher pensions at 90 percent by 2059. Complicating matters further, a contract agreement between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) was reached in November after years of failed negotiations. The pact added tens of millions of dollars in additional costs to the 2017 budget. The district has exhausted its reserves and its credit rating is in junk bond status, making borrowing money more expensive. The Democratic-controlled Senate quickly voted to overturn Rauner’s veto, but the House has adjourned for the holidays and is not expected to return to session until January 9, 2017—two days before newly elected lawmakers are sworn into office. If the House convenes early to address the issue, all 71 of the House Democrats will have to vote in favor of an override for it to pass. District and CTU leaders expressed frustration and disappointment, and Senate President John Cullerton (D) denied that assurances of pension reform were ever part of the deal. Gov. Rauner countered saying, “President Cullerton suddenly denied that the leaders would depend upon first enacting comprehensive pension reform. Breaking our agreement undermines our effort to end the budget impasse and enact reforms with bipartisan support.” Chicago Public Schools is the largest school district in Illinois and the third-largest school district in the United States. It served 396,641 students during the 2013-2014 school year—19.2 percent of all Illinois public school students.
    • CPS has struggled with its budget obligations throughout 2016:
      • September 26: Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the bond status of Chicago Public Schools, pushing its rating into a lower level of junk bond status. The firm decided on the downgrade due to the following three factors: a reliance on short-term borrowing, the district’s budget being "built on unrealistic expectations" of aid from the state government, and a “deepening structural deficit.” Additionally, the school district announced a loss of $45 million in funding after enrollment fell below projected levels for the current school year.
      • August: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) announced a plan to raise the city’s utility tax in order to provide funding to the city’s largest public pension fund. Emanuel had raised property taxes twice in the last year in order to fund pensions for police, firefighters, and teachers.
      • June 30: Gov. Rauner signed a budget package that would fund state services for the next six months and fund public schools for a full year. The temporary budget required the state to contribute $215 million per year to the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund starting in June 2017.
  • The New Orleans City Council passed a package of ordinances detail rules on short-term rental companies such as Airbnb. The new regulations allow for the rental of entire homes not occupied by the owner for up to 90 days per year and ban all short-term rentals from the city’s French Quarter. The laws passed by a 5-2 vote, with dissenting voices saying that it was the city’s responsibility to keep residential neighborhoods as residential rather than commercial properties. Others who voted in favor of the rules admitted that they weren’t ideal, but said that they were better than having no regulation on the growth of short-term rentals. A number of council members have spoken about the possibility of revisiting and strengthening the regulations prior to implementation. New Orleans is the 51st-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Louisiana.

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Tuesday, December 6

  • Mayor Gary Norton and Councilman Thomas Wheeler of East Cleveland, Ohio, face recall elections. Both officials are targeted for recall due to concerns about the city's finances and a potential annexation by Cleveland. Wheeler has survived recall votes in December 2015 and June 2016, while Norton was targeted in 2015 but did not face a vote. Norton criticized the recall campaign, calling it “a horrible expenditure of funds given the city's current financial provision.”

Wednesday, December 7

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline for candidates in Los Angeles, California, to file to run for the mayor’s seat, eight positions on the city council, city controller, and city attorney. A primary election will take place on March 3, 2017, and any candidate can win outright by winning a majority of votes. In races where someone does not win a majority, a general election will take place on May 16, 2017. Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in California.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline for candidates to file to run for three seats on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. A primary election will be held on March 3, 2017, with a general election scheduled for May 16, 2017. Similar to the city elections held at the same time, a candidate can win the primary election outright by getting a majority of votes. The school district served 653,826 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which made it the second-largest school district in the United States.

 

Back to top for Federal and fact checks updates

Fact Check

Fact Check by Ballotpedia

State and local fact checks

  • Fact check: Is staffing at Stateville Correctional Center at an all-time low? Employees at the Illinois correctional facility held an informational picket to protest declines in staffing, among other issues. Corrections officer Stephen Williams, a 21-year veteran, was quoted by the Herald-News as saying, “Basically, it’s just getting worse. We’re at an all-time low in staff. We don’t have enough officers to run this place.” Is Williams correct? Is staffing at Stateville Correctional Center “at an all time low”? No. The governor’s most recent budget estimated Stateville’s 2016 staff headcount at 1,156, up from 1,127 last year. The facility's most recent reported inmate population was 3,496, compared to 1,156 staff members.

 

Read the latest fact checks.


Back to top for Federal, State and Local updates

About

Ballotpedia wants to keep you in the know. In this weekly newsletter, we let you know the important things that happened last week in the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as what you should look for this week. The Tap covers election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events—everything you need to stay up-to-date on American politics. A summary of the in-depth, nonpartisan content that is added to Ballotpedia every week is now available in this digestible format for free to anyone who wants to be informed.

There are two ways to read The Tap. One is here on the website. Click the tabs for information at each level of government. For previous issues, see Ballotpedia:The Tap. You can also subscribe to have The Tap delivered to your email inbox every Saturday.



Back to top

Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Tap:_The_Iran_nuclear_deal_under_the_Trump_Administration&oldid=8441475"