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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - January 4, 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 January 4, 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.
Schumer responds
Yesterday, as Congress began its session, the new Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke about Democratic plans to contest the Trump’s administration agenda on two key issues: GOP plans to repeal and replace Obamacare and Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Below, we take a look at what the incoming administration has planned for these items and what Schumer has said about how Senate Democrats intend to respond.
See also: Alternative proposals to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
Supreme Court justice nomination
In the December 23, 2016, edition of “You’re Hired,” we covered the potential nominees that Trump has floated for the Supreme Court vacancy. In that edition, we noted that Trump floated two lists, 21 names total, during his presidential campaign and that his staff indicated Trump’s choice would come from one of those two lists. You can see the whole list of nominees here.
Of his potential nominees, Trump said in the third presidential debate, “The justices that I am going to appoint will be pro-life. They will have a conservative bent. They will be protecting the second amendment. They are great scholars in all cases and they're people of tremendous respect. They will interpret the constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted and I believe that’s very important.”
For a Supreme Court nominee to be approved by the U.S. Senate, he or she would need 60 votes. Republicans currently hold 52 seats.
On Tuesday, in an interview with MSNBC, Schumer indicated that Senate Democrats would uniformly vote against any Trump nominee who was not what Schumer called mainstream. Schumer said, “We are not going to settle on a Supreme Court nominee. If they don’t appoint someone who’s really good, we’re gonna oppose him tooth and nail. … It’s hard for me to imagine a nominee that Donald Trump would choose that would get Republican support that we could support.” When asked if he would work to “hold the seat open,” Schumer replied, “Absolutely.”
Obamacare
During his presidential campaign, Trump made repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act one of his top policy priorities. In his initial policy proposal as president-elect, Trump’s statement said, in part, “A Trump Administration will work with Congress to repeal the ACA and replace it with a solution that includes Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and returns the historic role in regulating health insurance to the States. The Administration’s goal will be to create a patient-centered healthcare system that promotes choice, quality and affordability with health insurance and healthcare, and take any needed action to alleviate the burdens imposed on American families and businesses by the law.”
Republican Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.) began the process of repealing the law yesterday by introducing a budget resolution that would repeal parts of the law that deal with the budget or taxes. Republicans cannot simply repeal the law because they need 60 votes in the Senate to do so; they would need eight other members to vote with them for a full repeal of the law. The budget resolution would phase out the Affordable Care Act while giving Republican lawmakers time to find what they consider a suitable replacement. You can see a list of proposed alternatives to Obamacare here.
In an interview this morning, Schumer indicated that attempts to repeal and replace the law would be met with Democratic opposition. He told Politico that Democrats would not work to make minor changes to a Republican replacement for the ACA, saying, “Obviously they’re not going to say we won’t look at anything. But the idea of just tweaking a Republican plan that takes away these benefits, the bottom line is there is virtual unanimity in our caucus that we’re all from Missouri: Show me. If they show us a plan, and it’s a plan that we can live with, of course. But we’re not going to sit down in a room with them once they repeal and say let’s figure out a joint plan.” Schumer also indicated that Democrats would stage public rallies around the theme that Republican healthcare policy would “Make America Sick Again.”
For his part, Trump criticized Democrats and Schumer for passing what he considers to be a poor law in the first place. In a series of tweets this morning, Trump said, “Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases … like the 116% hike in Arizona. Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless. Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web … massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess. It will fall of its own weight - be careful!”
Nominations
Jay Clayton
Trump announced that he would nominate lawyer Jay Clayton to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC’s primary duty is to protect investors in securities—intangible assets like stocks or bonds—by requiring public companies to disclose financial information to the public and enforcing these requirements through actions against those who violate them. The commission consists of five presidentially appointed commissioners, including one chair. In his statement announcing the nomination, Trump said, “Jay Clayton is a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law, and he will ensure our financial institutions can thrive and create jobs while playing by the rules at the same time. … We need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm American workers.” While Clayton’s stances on regulatory issues are unclear, he has worked on the initial public offerings of a number of large companies, including Alibaba, Moelis & Company, and Ally Financial. He was also the representative for Italian oil company Eni in their bribery settlement with the FEC in 2010.
Much of the SEC's work centers on implementing and enforcing securities-related provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act, a major financial regulatory law passed into law in 2010. As a candidate, Trump criticized the act, saying, “Under Dodd-Frank, the regulators are running the banks.” After winning the presidential election, he promised to repeal the act.
Title IX of the act revised the powers of the SEC and credit rating organizations. Revisions include the expansion of the SEC's whistleblower bounty program, which rewards individuals who provide information to the SEC that leads to an enforcement action against a financial institution of over $1 million in sanctions. The expansion includes job protection and confidentiality promises for the whistleblower. Additionally, the title initially restricted the availability of FOIA requests to the SEC, but these restrictions were repealed following passage of the act.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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