Trump, GOP plot ambitious agenda

[Geee]

The Hill:

Congressional Republicans, who were bracing for major losses on Election Day, are now drafting an ambitious agenda that will seek to torpedo President Obama’s major accomplishments over the last eight years.

 

With Donald Trump’s shocking presidential victory and the GOP keeping control of the Senate and a comfortable majority in the House, the party is well-positioned to play offense in 2017.

 

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday were already talking about reaching out to Democrats to put together a package to repeal key parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare, and replace it with other reforms, such as letting insurance companies sell across state lines.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Wednesday that repealing ObamaCare will be one of the top priorities of the new Congress.

 

“It’s a pretty high item on our agenda as you know,” McConnell said. “I would be shocked if we didn’t move forward to keep our commitment to the American people.”

 

McConnell called it “the single worst piece of legislation among many pieces of legislation passed in the first two years of the Obama presidency. The sooner we can go in a different direction, the better.”

 

The GOP leader made his comments after speaki

[Geee]

Will Trump Break With Predecessors And Move US Embassy to Jerusalem?

 

(CNSNews.com) – It’s not an issue that came up much during the election campaign, but President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem could have significant consequences – if he honors it.

 

News of his stunning election victory raised hopes among conservative politicians in Israel that Trump will do what his three predecessors refused to do, despite their earlier promises: relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s declared capital, in line with U.S. law passed 21 years ago.

 

Congratulating Trump, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said moving the embassy would “symbolize the tight connection and deep friendship between our two countries,” while Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said she looked forward to Trump fulfilling his embassy promise, “an important historic move.”

 

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/will-trump-break-predecessors-and-move-us-embassy-jerusalem

[Geee]

PRESIDENT TRUMP: NOW WHAT?

 

A key element of Donald Trump’s popularity as a presidential candidate was his willingness to stake out policy positions that made establishment politicians cower in fear. His success as President will depend upon his willingness to do the same thing. Among his most important tasks will be to take the hard steps necessary to establish a sane and realistic stance for the United States toward the global jihad threat. To do that, he should implement measures such as these:

 

[1] Suspend (as promised) immigration from nations that are hotbeds of jihad terror activity.

 

While excoriated as “racist,” this proposal is a simple matter of national security. No one who opposed Trump’s proposal ever offered an alternative way to keep jihadis out of the country. (Of course, the problem of those who learn jihad inside the U.S. is also acute, and must be addressed). Some glibly opined that Trump should ban “Islamists,” not Muslims as a whole, yet never suggested a reliable way to distinguish “Islamists” from ordinary Muslims. Indeed, the Islamic State has instructed its operatives to appear secular -- to avoid ostentatious displays of Islamic piety that might arouse suspicions of “radicalization.” Can America really afford the national security risk of importing whole Muslim communities from Iraq and Somalia, as is happening now, without even making any serious attempt to screen out potential jihadists?

 

[2] Tell the truth about Islamic jihad and supremacism.

 

Ever since 2011, it has been official Obama administration policy to deny any connection between Islam and terrorism. This came as a result of an October 19, 2011 letter from Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates to John Brennan, who was then the Assistant to the President on National Security for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism, and is now head of the CIA. The letter was signed not just by Khera, but by the leaders of virtually all the significant Islamic groups in the United States: 57 Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations, many with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Relief USA; and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264783/president-trump-now-what-robert-spencer

[Geee]

Abortion foes dream big with Trump victory

 

Abortion foes had hoped merely to hold their ground over the next two years, but now some of their wildest dreams might come true with Tuesday's big Republican victories.

 

Topping their to-do list: defunding Planned Parenthood, the women's health and abortion provider that receives more than $500 million in federal funds annually. Until now, Democrats have blocked defunding efforts, but Republicans have a pathway as part of a bill repealing Obamacare, which would require just a simple Senate majority to pass.

 

"We are teed up to defund Planned Parenthood," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told reporters Wednesday. "We have all that we need now, because we have the perfect lineup."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/abortion-foes-dream-big-with-trump-white-house-victory/article/2607056

[Geee]

How Republicans might repeal and replace Obamacare

 

Republicans have already rehearsed how they'd repeal Obamacare, and they have a script for replacing it.

 

Now with President-elect Donald Trump as their ally in the White House, the question is whether they'll get stage fright.

 

There's broad consensus that simply ditching the Affordable Care Act and stripping up to 20 million Americans of their insurance would be a political disaster for Republicans, opening them up to damaging attacks from Democrats in 2018. So if GOP members of Congress follow through next year on their longstanding promises to repeal the healthcare law, they'll face two basic options.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-republicans-might-repeal-and-replace-obamacare/article/2607066

[Geee]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/pence-biden-ryan-vp-231162Trump and Pence will meet Ryan on Thursday

 

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday, the latest sign of a rapprochement between Trump and Ryan, according to Republican insiders.

 

The Trump-Pence-Ryan session is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, following Trump's visit to the White House to discuss the transition in power with President Barack Obama, GOP sources said.

 

Pence is also expected to meet with Vice President Joe Biden, a senior Pence aide confirmed to POLITICO.

[Draggingtree]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/pence-biden-ryan-vp-231162Trump and Pence will meet Ryan on Thursday

 

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday, the latest sign of a rapprochement between Trump and Ryan, according to Republican insiders.

 

The Trump-Pence-Ryan session is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, following Trump's visit to the White House to discuss the transition in power with President Barack Obama, GOP sources said.

 

Pence is also expected to meet with Vice President Joe Biden, a senior Pence aide confirmed to POLITICO.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Just got a call to #makeamericagreatagain Saddle up & ride, bro!!”

[Draggingtree]

11/9/2016

Spending a Trillion Dollars for “Infrastructure”: A Top Trump Priority

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:37 pm

 

The new President comes into office after having been voted in by an enthusiastic group of supporters that critics call a “cult of personality.” His empty and vague promises of hope and change seem vapid to many, but his voters swoon over them. The previous president from the opposing party spent like a drunken sailor over the course of eight years, and doubled the national debt to a figure so staggering, encompassing so many trillion dollars, that fiscally responsible people cannot imagine running any more deficits.

 

And yet, the new president says, we must spend a trillion dollars on a stimulus program that will give money for shovel-ready infrastructure projects. Democrats in Congress say the new president is really on to something.

 

Barack Obama? Or Donald Trump?

 

Can anyone here tell me the difference?

http://patterico.com/2016/11/09/spending-a-trillion-dollars-for-infrastructure-a-top-trump-priority/

[Draggingtree]

7 Things Trump Must Do

Money and BanksTaxes and SpendingPolitical Theory

 

1 hour agoMises WireMises Institute

In this open letter to Donald Trump, free-market economists outline steps Trump should take to free the economy.

Read more