The Tap: Tuesday, November 15, 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 #43 of The Tap, which was published on November 19, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Former 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson turned down an offer from Donald Trump to serve as secretary of health and human services. An adviser to Carson told The Hill, “Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.” Carson later posted on Facebook, “I believe it is vitally important for the Trump administration to have many outspoken friends and advisers who are outside of the Washington bubble. It is vital to have independent voices of reason and reconciliation if our nation is to heal and regain its greatness. I will continue to work with the transition team and beyond as we build a dynamite executive branch of government.”
• Kentucky Senator and former 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul (R) said that he was opposed to two of Donald Trump’s potential secretary of state nominees: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.N Ambassador John Bolton. Paul told Politico, “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop someone like John Bolton being secretary of state. He’s opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on: that the Iraq war was a mistake, regime change made us less safe in the Middle East, including in Iraq…I don’t know how a President Trump could appoint someone who’s diametrically opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on. Some of that goes for Giuliani as well.” Paul added that he was more open to a third name that has been mentioned to lead the State Department: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). “Given the three names—Bolton, Giuliani and Corker—Corker would be much more reasonable, much more realist as far as foreign policy goes,” said Paul.
• Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) filed legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College. Her motivation to file the bill, she said, was the fact that Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election but is on track to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. “In my lifetime, I have seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote. The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts,” said Boxer in a statement. As of Tuesday, Trump led Clinton in the Electoral College vote, 290 to 232, while Clinton led Trump in the popular vote by almost 800,000 votes (47.9 to 47.2 percent). Her lead is projected to increase as more votes come in from the West Coast. Trump is the fifth president in U.S. history to become president without winning the popular vote. According to the Los Angeles Times, Boxer had previously co-sponsored legislation to abolish the Electoral College, but none of her bills have been considered.
  • See also: Splits between the Electoral College and popular vote
• House Speaker Paul Ryan was unanimously renominated as the top Republican in the lower chamber. The House will hold a final vote in January with the full chamber, and he is expected to win easily. It will be his first full term as speaker.
• House Democrats announced their decision to postpone leadership elections until Wednesday, November 30. They were supposed to vote on Thursday. According to Politico, “The delay is designed to give Democrats time to figure out why they failed to make bigger gains against a Republican ticket led by Donald Trump. Instead of picking up the 10 to 20 seats they had once hoped — or even the majority they secretly dreamed about — Democrats have netted only a half-dozen seats so far, with some races still to be called.” Some Democrats have suggested that Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should no longer be House minority leader. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) said that the decision to delay the vote was a “big deal because I think our leadership started out today thinking it was business as usual. And I think that probably not just our leadership but many people in our caucus were surprised at the level of discontent in our caucus.”
• Rainey Ransom Brandt, a magistrate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, was nominated by President Obama to an associate judge position on that court. If confirmed, Brandt would succeed Judge Lee Satterfield, who will retire from active judicial service on February 1, 2017. Nominees to the superior court are considered by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which provides federal oversight on municipal matters in the District of Columbia. Associate judges serve fifteen-year terms on the court. The court has 62 active judicial positions.
• Key vote: The House passed HR 6297—the Iran Sanctions Extension Act—by a vote of 355-38. The legislation proposes continuing to impose defense, banking, and energy sanctions on Iran for a 10-year period. The current sanctions are set to expire at the end of the year.
  • Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said, “Here’s the bottom line: if we let the clock run out on the Iran Sanctions Act, Congress will take away an important tool to keep Tehran in check. And that, in turn, will only further jeopardize America’s national security.”
• The House passed HR 5732—Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016—by voice vote. The legislation proposes allowing the president to impose sanctions on any person or entity doing business with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government.
  • Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said, "Something needs to jolt this crisis out of its bloody status quo. This bill would give the Administration more tools to do so. It would impose new sanctions on any parties that continue to do business with the Assad regime. We want to go after the things driving the war machine: money, airplanes, spare parts, oil, the military supply chain. And yes, we want to go after Assad’s partners in violence. Under this legislation, if you’re acting as a lifeline to the Assad regime, you risk getting caught up in the net of our sanctions."

Local

• Two New York City labor unions endorsed Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) in his re-election bid for November 2017. The endorsements made by the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union are the first from major labor groups in the next election year. Leaders of both organizations expressed hope that the early endorsements will help keep New York City’s administration Democratic. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the retail union, told The New York Times that de Blasio had fulfilled campaign promises made on a range of issues such as rent freezing, supporting a living wage, and providing universal prekindergarten. When asked about ongoing state and federal investigations into the mayor’s fundraising activities, Appelbaum responded, “No matter what, we are saying we applaud the way he has governed the city and what he has chosen to make the priorities of his administration.” While Democrats in New York City have traditionally sought the support of labor unions, political analysts say that their impact on elections is debateable. Neither union initially supported de Blasio in the 2013 election, instead endorsing Democratic candidate Christine C. Quinn. After Quinn was defeated in the Democratic primary, both groups backed de Blasio in the general election. New York City is the largest city in the U.S. by population.
• In California, the San Jose City Council voted to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2019. San Jose is the sixth city in Santa Clara County to increase its minimum wage. The raise will be phased in gradually and will be $12 per hour in 2017, $13.50 per hour in 2018, and $15 per hour in 2019. Every year thereafter the wage will rise with an automatic annual cost of living increase of up to 5 percent. Mayor Sam Liccardo (D) spearheaded the effort saying, ”By moving forward together with many of our neighboring cities, even more residents will benefit from a higher wage and we will create a more level playing field for businesses throughout the region." However, small business owners and nonprofit organizations in Silicon Valley expressed concern over the wage increase, arguing that it could lead to service reduction or an increase in the price of goods. San Jose is the third-largest city in California and the 10th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., have all begun the implementation of a $15 minimum wage.
    • Two more cities—Miami Beach and San Diego—approved smaller minimum wage hikes in June 2016. The Miami Beach City Commission voted in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $10.31 in 2018 with additional increases over time until it reaches $13.31 in 2021. San Diego voters approved Proposition I by more than 63 percent of the vote, which will increase the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 in January 2017. San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• In North Carolina, the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved a review of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s (CMPD) response to protests in September 2016. The city will pay the Washington D.C.-based Police Foundation—a nonprofit organization—$379,504 to determine whether the CMPD responded appropriately or too slowly when violent protests began following the fatal CMPD shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. According to city officials, the foundation will take steps to rebuild the relationship between the police department and the community. An advisory board comprised of government, business, and community leaders will be created, and town-hall meetings will be held regularly. Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina and the 16th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #42 of The Tap, which was published on November 12, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• President-elect Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York. Abe called Trump on Wednesday, reportedly saying that “a strong Japan-U.S. alliance is an indispensable presence that supports peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to a Japanese cabinet secretary. In the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump indicated that he may withdraw U.S. troops from Japan unless the country agrees to offer more financial support for American military bases in the country.