Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey

You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - January 13, 2017

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration TransitionYou're Hired-Trump Transition-Banner-300 res-03.png

Trump Administration (first term)

US-WhiteHouse-Logo.svg

President Donald Trump
Vice President Mike Pence
Cabinet • White House staff • Transition team • Trump's second term
Policy positions
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 January 13, 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.

Carson, Mattis, and Pompeo

Three more Senate confirmation hearings took place yesterday for Trump cabinet nominees. Just as we did in the last briefing with secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson and transportation secretary nominee Elaine Chao, below we get into the details of the hearings with a focus on what we learned about the nominees’ policy stances and priorities.

Ben Carson, nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and former 2016 Republican presidential candidate, appeared before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Prior to the hearing, what we knew about Carson’s stances came primarily from a July 2015 op-ed that he wrote in which he criticized a HUD rule that laid out guidelines for communities to use to ensure their compliance with the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In that piece, he said, “These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse.” At his confirmation hearing on Thursday, Carson discussed a range of topics, including housing regulations, public assistance programs, fair housing, and connections between housing and health.

  • On deregulation. Trump made deregulation a key part of his 2016 campaign platform, and Carson noted that deregulation includes federal regulations related to housing policy. In his opening statement, he said, “President-Elect Trump has talked about the importance of deregulation. That applies to housing as well. Overly burdensome housing regulations are bad for everyone and are increasing income inequality. But when land use for local housing supply is less regulated, workers of all skill types will choose to move to the productive locations. Many forms of land use regulation have perpetuated segregation. Complex webs of covenants and zoning ordinances across U.S. cities—in particular for low-density development—superimposed on already highly-segregated neighborhoods, have slowed integration.”
  • On public assistance programs. Asked by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) about limits to public assistance programs for low-income Americans, Carson responded, “We have to be cognizant of our fiscal responsibilities as well as our social responsibilities. Would we love to put every single person in a beautiful unit forever? Absolutely, that would be ideal. But don’t have the necessary funding. But the other thing that I emphasize is that safety net programs are important, and I would never advocate abolishing them without an alternative.”
  • On the Fair Housing Act. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) asked Carson to elaborate on his views on HUD’s role in implementing the Fair Housing Act. Carson responded, “As you probably know, that act says that we want people who are receiving HUD grants to look around and see if they find anything that looks like discrimination, and then we want them to come up with a solution on how to find the problem. They’re not responding to people saying there’s a problem, they’re saying go and look for a problem and give us a solution. … We have people sitting around a desk in Washington, D.C., and deciding how things should be done. … I don't have any kind of problem with affirmative action or at least integration, but I do have a problem with people on high dictating it when they don’t know anything about what’s going on in the area.”
  • On the connection between health and housing. Carson noted that a connection between health and housing would be a key focal point of HUD under his leadership. In his opening statement, he said, “There is a strong connection between housing and health, which is of course my background. … Substandard housing conditions such as pest infestation, the presence of lead paint, faulty plumbing, and overcrowding, which disproportionately affect low-income and minority families, lead to health problems such as asthma, lead poisoning, heart disease, and neurological disorders. … I can tell you that lead poisoning irreversibly affects brain and nervous system development, resulting in lower intelligence and reading disabilities. … I am passionate about health as you may have guessed, and where one lives should not cause health problems. So I look forward to working with HUD’s Safe and Healthy Homes program and others on these issues. We cannot have social mobility without a strong healthy foundation in the home.”

James Mattis, nominee for Secretary of Defense

Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, retired Gen. James Mattis appeared before the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Mattis’ military career spans more than four decades. He retired in 2013 and is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank in California. 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 have to grant Mattis a waiver in order for him to be confirmed. The Armed Services Committee approved the waiver in a 24-3 vote after the hearing—the three no votes were from Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The Senate later approved the waiver, 81 to 17, and the House Armed Services Committee passed it, 34-28, largely along party lines. It heads to the House as a whole next.

In December, we wrote in detail about Mattis’ policy views, which appear to conflict with Trump’s stances on issues such as U.S.-Russian relations, the Iran nuclear deal, and enhanced interrogation techniques. Here’s some of what we learned from his confirmation hearing.

  • On military spending. Mattis commented on military spending in his opening remarks, saying that one of his top priorities as secretary of defense will be “to bring business reforms to the Department of Defense by instilling budget discipline and holding our leaders accountable.” He added, “ I will be committed to earning the trust and confidence of the Congress – and the American people – that the Department is the best possible steward of taxpayer money.”
  • On Russia. Asked by committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on how he thinks the U.S. should respond to Russian military activity and foreign policy, Mattis said, “Since Yalta, we have a long list of times that we've tried to engage positively with Russia. We have a relatively short list of successes in that regard. And right now, I think the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we are dealing with Mr. Putin and that we recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance, and we take the steps, the integrated steps, the diplomatic, economic, military and the Alliance steps in working with our allies to defend ourselves where we must.”
  • On women in the military. Asked by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) if he intends to roll back the opening of infantry positions to women in the military. Mattis responded, “I've never come into any job with an agenda, a preformed agenda of changing anything. I come in assuming the people before me deserve respect for the job they did and the decisions they've made.” Pressed further on the issue and asked about past statements he has made in opposition to women serving in infantry positions, Mattis said, “I have no plan to oppose women in any aspect of our military. In 2003, I had hundreds of Marines who happened to be women serving in my 23,000-person Marine division. ... I put them right on the front lines alongside everyone else.”
  • On the Iran nuclear deal. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) asked Mattis about his views on the Iran nuclear deal. Mattis, in April 2016, called Iran “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.” In response to Reed’s question, he said, “I think it is an imperfect arms control agreement — it’s not a friendship treaty. But when America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies.” In March 2016, Trump said he intended to dismantle the deal. Trump stated, “My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
  • On LGBTQ service members. Asked by Sen. Gillibrand if allowing LGBTQ individuals to serve in the military undermines U.S. military performance, Mattis responded, “Frankly, senator, I've never cared much about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with. … My concern is on the readiness of the force to fight and to make certain that it is at the top of its game.”
  • Civilian control of the military. In his opening statement, Mattis stressed what he sees as the importance of civilian control over the military. He said, “Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of the American military tradition. From day one service members swear an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution; they see photos of the nation’s civilian leaders prominently displayed above their uniformed leadership; and they are imbued with the principle that our nation’s elected and appointed leaders control the use of our military. It is a hallmark of America’s military that service members take pride in our country’s adherence to that principle, and it is a hallmark espoused by every U.S. military leader I have observed. … Civilian leaders bear these responsibilities because the esprit-de-corps of our military, its can-do spirit, and its obedience to civilian leadership reduces the inclination and power of the military to criticize or oppose the policy it is ultimately ordered to implement.”

Mike Pompeo, nominee for CIA Director

The Senate Committee on Intelligence held a hearing for Kansas Republican Mike Pompeo, Trump’s nominee for CIA director. Pompeo, who entered Congress in the Republican wave of 2010, has spoken out critically against the Iran Nuclear Deal and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Pompeo has also voiced support for NSA data collection programs. The Senate Intelligence Committee pressed Pompeo on issues such as recent reports of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election, government surveillance, and the use of torture and enhanced interrogation techniques. Pompeo also spoke, in his opening statements, about how he views his role as the next CIA director in light of his career in Congress.

  • On enhanced interrogation techniques. Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) if he would comply with orders from the president to restart the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside the Army Field Manual, he responded, “absolutely not. Moreover, I can’t imagine that I would be asked that by the president-elect.”
  • On government surveillance programs. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) asked Pompeo to elaborate on a recent op-ed that he wrote in The Wall Street Journal, in which he argued, “Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed.” Pompeo, in response to Wyden, said, “I still continue to stand behind the commitment to keep Americans safe, and by conducting lawful intelligence collection.” He added, “as the director of CIA, you have my assurance that we will not engage in unlawful activity. I think this committee and the American people demand that if i there is public information someone has out there on a publicly available site, I think we have that obligation to keep Americans safe, if someone’s out there on their Facebook page talking about or plotting an attack on America. … I think you would the director of the CIA and the intelligence community grossly negligent if they didn’t pursue that information.”
  • On transitioning from a policymaker to CIA director. In his opening statement, Pompeo commented on how he views his transition from a member of Congress to CIA director. He said, “having been a Member of the House Intelligence Committee and an overseer of our nation’s intelligence enterprise, I understand full well that my job, if confirmed, will be to change roles from policymaker to information provider. My job will be to stay clearly on the side of intelligence collection and objective analysis of our national security challenges— presenting factual intelligence and sound judgments to policymakers, including this Committee. I have spent the majority of my life outside the realm of politics – as a cavalry officer in the United States Army, then as a litigator, and then running two manufacturing businesses. Returning to duty requiring hard work and unerring candor is something that is in my bones.”
  • Pompeo also discussed how his transition would relate to specific policies areas such as the Iran nuclear deal and Russia. He said, “While as a Member of Congress I opposed the Iran deal, if confirmed, my role will change. It will be to drive the Agency to aggressively pursue collection operations and ensure analysts have the time, political space, and resources to make objective and methodologically sound judgments. If confirmed, I will present their judgments to policymakers. The same goes for Russia. It is a policy decision as to what to do with Russia, but I understand it will be essential that the Agency provide policymakers with accurate intelligence and clear-eyed analysis of Russian activities.”
  • On intelligence reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Asked by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) if he accepts the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community on Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, Pompeo said, “Everything I’ve seen suggests to me that the report has an analytical product that is sound.” Sen. Feinstein also asked Pompeo for his views on the report, to which he responded, “It’s pretty clear what took place here, with Russian involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on American democracy. I’m very clear-eyed about what that intelligence report says. …. This is very real. It is growing. It is not new, in that sense. This was an aggressive action taken by the senior leadership inside of Russia and America has an obligation, and the CIA is part of that obligation, to protect that information.”

Next week’s confirmation hearings at a glance

Tuesday, January 17

Wednesday, January 18

Thursday, January 19

See also

v • e
President Donald Trump's policies (first term)
OverviewsUS-WhiteHouse-Logo.svg
Domestic policy
Economic affairs and regulations
Foreign affairs and national security
Trump's second term overviews


Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=You%27re_Hired:_Tracking_the_Trump_Administration_Transition_-_January_13,_2017&oldid=8950936"