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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - February 27, 2017
Trump Administration (first term)  Vice President Mike Pence Cabinet • White House staff • Transition team • Trump's second term |
Domestic affairs: Abortion • Crime and justice • Education • Energy and the environment • Federal courts • Firearms policy • First Amendment • Healthcare • Immigration • Infrastructure • LGBTQ issues • Marijuana • Puerto Rico • Social welfare programs • Veterans • Voting issues Economic affairs and regulations: Agriculture and food policy • Budget • Financial regulation • Jobs • Social Security • Taxes • Trade Foreign affairs and national security: Afghanistan • Arab states of the Persian Gulf • China • Cuba • Iran • Iran nuclear deal • Islamic State and terrorism • Israel and Palestine • Latin America • Military • NATO • North Korea • Puerto Rico • Russia • Syria • Syrian refugees • Technology, privacy, and cybersecurity |
| Polling indexes: Opinion polling during the Trump administration |
This is the February 27, 2017, edition of an email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition, cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
Today, President Trump addressed the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C. During his speech, Trump discussed his administration’s policy plans and how they could potentially affect states. He told the group, “We have to let the states compete and to see who has the best solutions. They know the best how to spend their dollars, and how to take care of the people within each state. And states are different. And people are different. So the governors are going to have a lot more decision-making ability than they have right now.”
In today’s briefing, we look at how Trump plans to use federal or state political power to achieve his policy agenda.
Issues Trump believes states should have some influence over
Healthcare
Trump has said that his healthcare priority is to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with an alternative law that allows states to regulate health insurance. He has indicated that his plan is to reduce barriers to the interstate sale of health insurance, institute a full tax deduction for insurance premium payments for individuals, make Health Saving Accounts inheritable, require price transparency, block-grant Medicaid to the states, and allow for more overseas drug providers through lowered regulatory barriers.
Read more about federal healthcare policy here.
Medical marijuana policies
On the campaign trail, Trump expressed support for medical marijuana but said he did not agree with legalizing the drug for recreational use. In October 2015 at a rally in Nevada, he said, “Marijuana is such a big thing. I think medical should happen -- right? Don't we agree? I think so. And then I really believe we should leave it up to the states.”
Abortion
Trump has indicated his desire to appoint anti-abortion judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a November 2016 interview with 60 Minutes, Trump explained his position concerning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case finding that the constitutional right to privacy applied to a woman’s decision to end a pregnancy. He said, “But having to do with abortion if it [Roe v. Wade] ever were overturned, it would go back to the states.”
LGBTQ protections in schools
Last week, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama administration’s guidance for interpreting Title IX as protecting a transgender student’s right to use the bathroom that aligns with his or her gender identity. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, “The president has maintained for a long time that this is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government.”
Issues Trump has proposed to address at the federal level
Recreational marijuana policies
Last week, press secretary Sean Spicer indicated that the Justice Department was likely to increase federal enforcement of drug laws, even in states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. Spicer said, “When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people. There is still a federal law that we need to abide by when it comes to recreational marijuana and drugs of that nature.” He continued, “So I think there’s a big difference between medical marijuana, which states have a—the states where it’s allowed, in accordance with the appropriations rider, have set forth a process to administer and regulate that usage, versus recreational marijuana. That’s a very, very different subject.”
Immigration and border security
Trump has aimed to address immigration issues at the federal level almost exclusively. The Department of Homeland Security’s February 20 guidance memo called for the federal government to hire 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents, provide an analysis of aid to Mexico, allocate available funding to the construction of a border wall, and prioritize the criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses committed at the border.
Read on: Federal policy on immigration
State responses to Trump’s policies
Support
Notable support for Trump’s policy proposals includes:
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed an amicus brief supporting Trump’s executive order on immigration that was put on hold earlier this month. The brief read, in part, “The law makes it very clear that the president has discretion to protect the safety of the American people and our nation’s institutions with respect to who can come into this country. The safety of the American people and the security of our country are President Trump’s major responsibilities under the law.”
- Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) indicated his support for Trump, specifically commenting on what he considered Trump’s commitment to state-level oversight of certain issues. In November 2016, Bevin said, “I think you are going to realize this is a man [Trump] who is going to get things done. He is a man who has a tremendous love of country. He truly is committed to transforming this nation for the better. And he affirmed many of those things, including delegating additional responsibilities and control over budgets as it relates to any number of areas down to the state level. And I think you are going to see more of that in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Opposition
Notable opposition to Trump’s policy proposals includes:
- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said California would use state and federal environmental protection laws to prevent Trump from building a border wall with Mexico in California. On January 9, 2017, Newsom told San Francisco Magazine, "There’s something called CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act] in California—NEPA at the federal level [the National Environmental Policy Act]. ... There’s indigenous lands and autonomies relating to governance on those lands. There are all kinds of obstructions as it relates to just getting zoning approval and getting building permits. All those things could be made very, very challenging for the administration."
- The attorneys general of both Washington and Minnesota filed a legal challenge to Trump’s executive order on immigration. They were joined by the Democratic attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. The lawsuit led to a temporary restraining order being placed on the travel ban.
- In response to Trump’s election, the Maryland State Legislature passed a law that gave expanded authority to the state's attorney general to sue the federal government without the approval of the governor. According to The Baltimore Sun, the legislature granted the attorney general the authority to sue based on federal government "action or inaction that the attorney general deems an infringement of Marylanders' rights to health care, civil liberties, economic security, environment, immigration or international travel."
A few odds and ends
Philip Bilden, Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of the Navy, withdrew his nomination on Sunday. According to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Bilden’s decision was “driven by privacy concerns and significant challenges he faced in separating himself from his business interests.” Bilden recently retired from HarbourVest Partners, a global private equity management firm.
Wilbur Ross confirmation expected
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of commerce, is expected to be confirmed today at around 7 p.m. Eastern time. Ross has indicated that the administration’s first trade priority will be a proposed renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Zinke confirmation vote also expected
Tonight, the Senate is also expected to vote to end debate on the nomination of Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont) to lead the Department of the Interior. If debate is ended tonight, Zinke’s confirmation vote is expected to take place on Wednesday.
Budget proposals for 2018
Today, The New York Times reports that Trump’s administration will begin to put together a budget proposal for 2018 that reduces spending by tens of billions of dollars for the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. The paper reported that such cuts were intended to offset major increases in defense spending and to keep from altering Social Security and Medicare entitlements.
First address to Congress
Trump is scheduled to give his first address to a joint session of Congress tomorrow; he’s expected to detail his agenda and policy priorities. We’ll cover the details in Wednesday’s edition of You’re Hired. In the meantime, you can relive past editions by checking out the archives here.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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