The Tap: Thursday, May 26, 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

  • United Automobile Workers (UAW), which has more than one million active and retired members, endorsed Hillary Clinton. Dennis Williams, the president of the UAW, said, “It's about time for unity. We're endorsing Hillary Clinton. She's gotten 3 million more votes than Bernie, a million more votes than Donald Trump. She's our nominee.” Although he acknowledged that Donald Trump received 28 percent support in an internal survey of UAW members, Williams said that Trump “does not support the economic security of UAW families.”
  • Bloomberg News reported that Donald Trump has been meeting with Arthur Laffer, Larry Kudlow, and Stephen Moore—economic advisors to the administration of Ronald Reagan. Moore told Bloomberg, “This is really for the economy and the future of our country, and the most important election since Reagan’s election in 1980. Every conversation that we have with either Mr. Trump or the Trump campaign staff, we say, ‘This is the JFK-Reagan, supply-side, tax-cutting agenda that worked to cause a big economic boom in the ’60s and ’80s, and we can do it again.’”
  • A federal jury found that Google’s use of some basic elements of Oracle’s Java programming language constituted a fair use under federal copyright law. Accordingly, Google will not have to pay any of the $9 billion that Oracle sought in damages. Google used portions of Java to construct its Android operating system.
  • An appropriations bill failed to pass the House after Democrats added language barring federal contractors from discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The funding measure would have allocated $34.7 billion to fund the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers, among other federal agencies. Until the LGBT language was added, the bill had been relatively uncontroversial. The fight over the LGBT addition highlighted a split in the Republican Party. At a GOP conference before the vote, Rick Allen (R- Ga.) read a passage from the Bible and stated that support for the bill "violated their religious principles." At that point, several moderate Republicans protested by walking out of the meeting. The author of the original bill, Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), hopes Democrats can revive and help eventually pass the bill.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Vermont congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Patrick Leahy (D) is up for re-election in 2016. Leahy will face challenger Cris Ericson in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Scott Milne, the only Republican to file in the race, in the general election. The seat is rated safely Democratic in the general election.
    • There is a single At-Large Congressional District in Vermont. The seat is currently held by Peter Welch (D). Welch was the only candidate to file in 2016. He will face no opposition in either the primary or general election.
  • U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. announced proposed regulations to replace the No Child Left Behind Act and implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. The new regulations focus on four areas: creating “A more Comprehensive Picture of School Success,” tailoring “Support for Struggling Schools,” providing “Better Data for Parents and Communities,” and consolidating “State Plans to Eliminate Duplication.” A full explanation of the new regulations can be viewed here.
    • House Education Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) oppose the proposed regulations because they are concerned that the department is trying to take control of education policy away from the states. Alexander said, "I am disappointed that the draft regulation seems to include provisions that the Congress considered — and expressly rejected. If the final regulation does not implement the law the way Congress wrote it, I will introduce a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn it.”

Bills & Amendments

  • Key vote: HR 5055 - the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 failed to pass the House by a vote of 112-305 after Democrats added language barring federal contractors from discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The funding measure would have allocated $34.7 billion to fund the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers, among other federal agencies. Until the LGBT language was added, the bill had been relatively uncontroversial. The fight over the LGBT addition highlighted a split in the Republican Party. At a GOP conference before the vote, Rick Allen (R-Ga.) read a passage from the Bible and stated that support for the bill "violated their religious principles." At that point, several moderate Republicans protested by walking out of the meeting. The author of the original bill, Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), hopes Democrats can revive and help eventually pass the bill.

State

  • The Washington Supreme Court unanimously upheld a ruling by a lower court that struck down a Washington initiative approved by voters in 2015. Initiative 1366, sponsored by prominent activist Tim Eyman, required lawmakers to place a constitutional amendment on the November 2016 ballot that, if passed, would have required a two-thirds legislative majority to raise taxes. The initiative would have given the legislature two options: place the constitutional amendment on the ballot or reduce the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax by 1 percent on April 15, 2016 (Income Tax Day). Opponents argued that I-1366 ran afoul of the state's "single subject rule" for initiatives by proposing both a tax cut and a constitutional amendment; the high court agreed. Though the initiative was declared unconstitutional by a judge last summer, it was still allowed on the ballot and approved by voters in November 2015.
    • Washington law does not allow constitutional amendments to be proposed via citizen initiative; the state only allows initiated state statutes. Initiative 1366 was an attempt to urge legislators to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot by making them choose between an election on the proposed amendment and a decrease of the state’s sales tax.
    • Three supreme court justices wrote in a separate opinion that Initiative 1366 was likely unconstitutional for a second reason: it tried to propose a constitutional amendment in a roundabout way through the citizen initiative power. Supreme Court justices left this argument out of the official court decision, however, saying, “Because it is unnecessary to reach opponents’ additional arguments, we decline to do so.”


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

  • FILING DEADLINE: Vermont congressional filing deadline

State




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
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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
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February: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17
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