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The Tap: Wednesday, December 14, 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 #46 of The Tap, which was published on December 17, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

You’re Hired

  • Donald Trump nominated former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) for secretary of energy. Perry has a long history in Texas politics, and energy issues have been an important part of his political identity. He served as governor from 2000 to 2015—the longest tenure in state history. Before that, he was the lieutenant governor from 1998 to 2000 under then-Gov. George W. Bush (R). From 1990 to 1998, he was the Texas agriculture commissioner, and from 1984 to 1990, he held a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. Perry sought the Republican nomination for president in 2012 and 2016. Throughout much of the 2016 Republican primary, he was critical of Trump, once calling his candidacy “a cancer on conservatism.” But in May 2016, Perry endorsed him. As the governor of Texas, Perry was in charge of the top energy-producing state in the country, and during his tenure, oil and gas production in Texas increased 260 percent and 50 percent, respectively. He has been a vocal critic of energy policy under the Obama administration and said he would eliminate the Energy Department in a 2012 Republican debate.
    • If confirmed by the Senate, Perry will oversee a roughly $30 billion budget and help shape policy related to the production, consumption, research, and security of U.S. energy resources. This includes the country’s nuclear energy resources and weapons arsenal, which consumes more than half of the department’s budget. In our daily newsletter on the Trump administration transition—which you should sign up for—we highlighted where Perry stands on several key energy issues, including nuclear waste disposal, clean energy, and coal, just to name a few. Read more here.
  • Trump added three new names to his Strategic and Policy Forum, an advisory board he announced earlier in the month that will be focused on economic growth and job creation. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi will be joining the board when it is scheduled to meet for the first time at the White House in early February 2017. We wrote more about Trump’s selection of Musk in our daily newsletter on the Trump White House transition. Read it here.
    • The forum, according to a press release, is “designed to provide direct input to the President from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic, and non-partisan manner.” Leading the forum is Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of the private-equity firm Blackstone. Other members include JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon, and former GE chairman Jack Welch. See a full membership list here.
    • Forming advisory boards like Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum is typical of presidents early in their tenures (or, in this case, a little bit before), and it’s normal for the members of these boards to be from outside the Beltway. President Obama, for example, formed the Economic Recovery Advisory Board just a couple of weeks after taking office. Obama established that board, he said, to “enlist voices from beyond the echo chamber” of D.C. It included individuals such as General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt, Charles Phillips from Oracle Corp., Jim Owens from Caterpillar Inc., and TIAA-CREF’s Roger Ferguson.
  • With Reince Priebus headed to the West Wing as Trump’s chief of staff, his position as chair of the Republican National Committee will be up for grabs. This is a big job, and the individual who ends up getting it will be responsible for shaping the GOP’s official messaging and strategy at least through the 2018 midterm elections. (RNC chairs are re-elected every two years.) Ordinarily, the election of a chair is strictly an internal process, decided upon by the 168 members of the RNC. But, when the party is in control of the White House, the president’s preference often carries the vote.
    • So who is Trump backing to succeed Priebus? Ronna Romney McDaniel. She’s the chair of the Michigan Republican Party—a state that was crucial to Trump’s victory last month—and is the niece of the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney. Unlike her uncle, McDaniel was a staunch supporter of Trump throughout the 2016 campaign and cultivated a close relationship with the president-elect. In an official statement, Trump said of McDaniel, “Ronna has been extremely loyal to our movement and her efforts were critical to our tremendous victory in Michigan, and I know she will bring the same passion to the Republican National Committee.”
    • Priebus is said to have lobbied on McDaniel’s behalf. Several other potential successors were reportedly in the mix, including Georgia GOP operative Nick Ayers and Trump’s deputy campaign manager, David Bossie. Politico reports that Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, lobbied for Ayers. He made a statement on Wednesday in support of Trump’s selection of McDaniel. The official election of the new RNC chair will take place in January.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule prohibiting states from withholding Title X federal family planning funds from organizations that provide family planning and related preventive services, even if that organization performs abortions. According to NPR, the rule says that “states that award federally funded grants for women's health programs can't discriminate against Planned Parenthood. The regulation doesn't name Planned Parenthood, but it was clear the rule was written with the organization in mind. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly threatened to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood because the family planning group performs abortions at some clinics.” The rule takes effect on January 18, 2017. It is likely that Republicans will try to reverse the rule once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Local

New York City Resignation

  • Gladys Carrión resigned from her position as commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. Carrión was appointed as child welfare commissioner by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) in 2014, and she is the third member of the mayor’s health and social services team to step down since August 2015. Three children in the city’s care died between September and December. The agency was also recently blamed for its failure to communicate with a nonprofit provider contracted to monitor the home of a long-time foster care parent charged with sexually abusing children over two decades. The city’s public advocate, Letitia James, filed a class-action lawsuit against the welfare agency in 2015, accusing the city and state of allowing children to remain stuck in foster care, according to The New York Times. In response to Carrión’s notice, James said she had hoped for reform instead of a resignation. Carrion did not respond to a request for comment. New York is the largest city in the U.S. by population.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #45 of The Tap, which was published on December 10, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.





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
v • e
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