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Trump claims that ISIS retreated from fights because he was president. Basically, he was saying that that never happened before "because we didn't have Trump for our president."

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trump takes credit for isis 'giving up' - cnnpolitics

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President Donald Trump took credit for the fact that ISIS is in retreat during an interview Tuesday, claiming that ISIS wasn't on the run before because "you didn't have Trump as your president."

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Trump gives $25,000 to dead soldier's family.

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Trump gives $25,000 to dead soldier's family.

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After the Washington Post, Trump gives a grieving family $25,000 out of his own personal money.

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A White House official confirms to CNN that the President sent a personal check to the family of Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge Wednesday. Baldridge, 22, was killed in June by an Afghan police officer.

According to the Post, Trump called Chris Baldridge in June, weeks after his son was killed. During the call, the Post reported, Trump offered him $25,000 and said he would instruct his staff to establish an online fundraising page for the family.

"The check has been sent," Lindsay Walters, White House spokeswoman, told CNN on Wednesday. "It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN that it was a personal check from Trump.

The timing of Trump's donation raised questions because the Post reported Wednesday that White House official initially declined to discuss the events in detail but later told them the check had been sent.

"'I'm going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,' and I was just floored," Baldridge told the Post of his conversation with Trump. "I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, 'No other president has ever done something like this,' but he said, 'I'm going to do it. "

A White House spokesperson, speaking on background, said the check has been "in the pipeline" since the President's conversation with the father.

"The President has personally followed up several times to ensure that the check was being sent. As stated earlier the check has been sent," the spokesperson said.

When asked why it took so long for the funds to be sent, the spokesperson added: "There is a substantial process that can involve multiple agencies anytime the President interacts with the public, especially when transmitting personal funds. In this situation there were other agencies involved."

The spokesperson did not say which agencies were involved or elaborate on the process.

Knowledge of Trump's pledge to Baldridge comes amid the ongoing flap about how presidents handle condolence calls to families of those killed in action and Trump's feud with a Democratic congresswoman over his call with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed earlier this month in Niger.

Trump called Myeshia Johnson on Tuesday and, according to Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, the President said that the serviceman killed "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt."

Trump denied that he ever said that.

"I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't say it at all," Trump told reporters during a Wednesday meeting on tax reform in the Cabinet Room. "She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said."

At the same time, the White House is dealing with Trump stating that President Barack Obama didn't call all the families those killed during his presidency and suggesting that reporters ask his chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, whether Obama called him after his son died in Afghanistan.

Kelly's son Robert died when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2010. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, was a lieutenant general at the time.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.

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000 check to fallen soldier's family on same day as washington post report - cnnpolitics

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Trump cuts check amid report he didn't follow up

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A White House official confirms to CNN that the President sent a personal check to the family of Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge Wednesday. Baldridge, 22, was killed in June by an Afghan police officer. According to the Post, Trump called Chris Baldridge in June, weeks after his son was killed.

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An ISIS group ambushes a small American troop group, resulting in 4 killed in Niger. It is said that Trump responds to a grieving wife's call with "the soldier knew what he signed up for, but I guess it stills hurt."

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donald trump reacts and a crisis is born - cnnpolitics

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Donald Trump reacts and a crisis is born

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President Donald Trump's chronic inability to turn the other cheek to a perceived slight has landed the White House with a crisis on multiple fronts over his handling of the ISIS ambush in Niger that killed four US troops.

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Trump is determined to end DACA, an act which gives illegal immigrants, who immigrated to the US as children, the protection of deportation and work permits.

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President Trump suggested Tuesday morning that he intends to end the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program - also called DACA - putting an expiration date on the legal protections granted to roughly 800,000 people known as "DREAMers," who entered the country illegally as children.

Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017

Trump's tweet "Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA," signaled that he will, as has been widely reported, let the program expire in six months, and place the onus on a sharply divided Congress to enact former President Obama's executive action into law. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to make a formal announcement at 11 a.m. ET.

DACA allowed individuals who were brought to the U.S. as children or teens before mid-2007 to apply for protection from deportation and work permits if they met certain requirements. Beneficiaries had to be under the age of 16 upon entering the country; no older than 31 as of June 15, 2012; lived continuously in the U.S. since mid-2007; be enrolled in high school or college, already have a diploma or degree, have a GED certificate or be an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. military; and have no felony criminal convictions, significant misdemeanor convictions, no more than three other misdemeanor convictions or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.

The program did not provide lawful immigration status. Instead, through what the Obama administration characterized as the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, it granted a deferral from possibly being removed from the U.S. to those who qualified; it also granted work permits. The deferrals and permits were granted for two-year periods and could be renewed for additional two-year periods.

It is unclear what, if any, actions the administration will instruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take once an individual's deferred status under DACA expires.

The USCIS generally has not referred cases in which a person's DACA application is denied to immigration enforcement authorities unless the case involves a criminal offense, fraud or a threat to national security or public safety.

The "DREAMers" had been in legal limbo since the start of the current administration. Throughout his campaign, Trump railed against the 2012 executive order signed by President Obama - and pledged to "immediately terminate the policy" once he took office.

But after being sworn in, he expressed some compassion toward DACA recipients. In an interview with ABC News on Jan. 25, Trump said, "They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart. We're going to take care of everybody."

The Obama program was thrown into the center of a looming court battle in late June when a coalition of 10 state attorneys general, led by Texas' Ken Paxton, threatened to sue the Trump administration as early as September 5 if it refused to phase out DACA. They argued that Obama had overstepped his authority in creating and implementing the program. Only Congress has the authority to legislate such a change in U.S. immigration law, they contended.

"[T]he program represents an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power by the Executive Branch," Paxton wrote in an op-ed for USA Today in late July. "Phasing out DACA is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy," Paxton also wrote at the time before emphasizing the principle of separation of powers at the heart of the structure of the federal government.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions had advocated for the termination of DACA but, as BuzzFeed reported in March, he was often out-argued by former chief of staff Reince Priebus and former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who like Trump, wanted to see it preserved.

Bannon, who held hardline views on immigration that aligned more closely with Sessions on other policy issues, reportedly had convinced the president to spare DREAMers and use them "as a strategic asset in the coming immigration policy battles."

But with Bannon and Priebus now gone from the West Wing, it appears the position held by Sessions and Stephen Miller, another Trump White House aide with ties to Sessions, has won out - under the pressure exerted by Paxton and some of his fellow state attorneys general.

Trump's decision leaves Congress facing increasing pressure to find a solution for a population that was estimated in 2012 to include as many as 1.8 million immigrants - of which about 800,000 have been granted deferred status under DACA.

At the moment there are at least two bipartisan bills that could grant legal status or create a pathway to citizenship for those who were eligible for DACA. In July, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a new version of the DREAM Act, after which the DREAMers are named. And a companion bill was filed in the House by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif.

Additionally, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., introduced the American Hope Act. While Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., introduced the Recognizing America's Children Act, a plan that has some support in his party.

Durbin introduced an earlier version of the DREAM Act - the "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act" - in late 2010; that bill failed to get enough votes to allow a floor vote. But the legislative project goes back much longer than the middle of Obama's first term as president. Durbin first filed legislation about the DREAMers in 2001. "Other versions passed the House in 2010 and in the Senate, as part of a larger immigration bill, in 2013. But no bill has ever been passed by both chambers," according to the Washington Post.

In 2012, Obama stepped in with the DACA program when Congress failed to pass a version of the DREAM Act then. At the time, Obama justified his action saying, "These are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they're friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper."

In an interview with Wisconsin talk radio WCLO on Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that he opposes the Trump administration ending DACA and that it is up to Congress to find a legislative fix to the question of what to do with the DREAMers. The speaker said that Obama was wrong to act without Congress and that Trump should defer to Congress to fix the issue.

"Having said all of that there are people who are in limbo. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home," Ryan said. "And so I really do believe there needs to be a legislative solution, that's one that we're working on, and I think we want to give people peace of mind."

Responding to Ryan's comments, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote Ryan, according to Politico, asking that he meet with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other House Democratic leaders "to discuss a comprehensive legislative solution for our country's DREAMers." In her letter, the top Democrat in the House also said legislative action was necessary "to shield ... [the] DREAMers from the arbitrary cruelty of deportation."

Whatever Congress may do, another potential consequence of Trump's action is that it is likely to bring his predecessor, who is arguably the country's most high-profile Democrat, back into the political debate over the fate of the DREAMers.

In his final news conference as president and just days before Trump was inaugurated, Obama said he would remain largely silent for the next year on most political issues - with a few exceptions where the nation's "core values" might be at stake, in his view. Among those, was taking action against the DREAMers, including deportation.

"The notion that we would just arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids, when they didn't do something themselves ... would merit my speaking out," he said.

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Trump Signals End To DACA, Calls On Congress To Act

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President Trump suggested Tuesday morning that he intends to end the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program - also called DACA - putting an expiration date on the legal protections granted to roughly 800,000 people known as "DREAMers," who entered the country illegally as children.

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Trump and McConnell aspire to make conservatives happy

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Trump and McConnell aspire to make conservatives happy

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Trump and McConnell try to find ways to appoint conservatives that will follow Trump.

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Giving lifetime appointments to dozens of judges favored by conservative judicial activists would also be an important legacy for Mr. Trump since his choices would be handing down opinions for decades no matter who follows him in the White House.

"The judge story is an untold story; nobody wants to talk about it," an enthusiastic Mr. Trump said during his impromptu appearance with Mr. McConnell. "But when you think about it, Mitch and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge - but 40 years out."

With some conservatives - notably Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's former chief strategist - calling for his head, Mr. McConnell has put new emphasis on his role in winning Senate approval of Trump administration officials and judicial nominees. It is one way to try to mollify some conservatives angered by the inability of the Republican-controlled Congress to deliver.

Mr. McConnell renewed that pitch Monday, reminding Americans that one of the Senate's major responsibilities is what he called "the personnel business" - handling up to 1,200 executive branch nominations.

Standing alongside the president, he also took the opportunity to remind Mr. Trump that "the single most significant thing this president has done to change America is the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court." Mr. McConnell didn't need to say that it was his own decision in 2016 to refuse to consider President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick B. Garland for the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia that held the seat open for Mr. Trump to fill.

"But it's not just the Supreme Court," Mr. McConnell said. "There are a lot of vacancies at both the circuit court and district court level."

At the moment, there about 150 openings on the federal bench - 21 at the influential appeals court level - with 50 nominations pending. Some of those vacancies are because of the refusal by Republicans to act on Obama nominations in the last two years of his administration or their failure to return blue slips when Democrats still held the Senate.

"Many, many are in the pipeline," Mr. Trump said of his nominees, promising that "we will set records in terms of the number of judges."

Given the abundance of opportunities, Mr. McConnell reiterated his view that a refusal by Democrats to sign off on home-state nominees should not be allowed to blackball appeals court nominees. He said if that was the case, individual Democrats would have say-so over more than 60 percent of the appeals court candidates.

"That's simply not a tenable place to land in a Senate that now deals with judges with a simple majority," Mr. McConnell said.

Mr. Trump was not inclined to get into the arcana of the blue slip process. "My attitude is I just want really capable people going to the courts," the president said.

Besides blue slips, the other remaining impediment to a flurry of judicial confirmations is time - Senate floor time that is. Though Democrats can no longer block nominees by requiring Republicans to assemble a supermajority of 60 votes, they can require Republicans to follow a procedure that can take more than three days for each individual nominee. And if Democrats conclude Republicans are jamming through judicial nominees, they will no doubt drag their feet as they did earlier this year on executive branch candidates.

To step up the pace of confirmations, Mr. McConnell would probably need to keep the Senate in session for longer durations than the current Monday evening through Thursday afternoon schedule. That change could irritate some lawmakers but conservatives have been pressuring Mr. McConnell to extend the Senate workweek.

Some hard-line conservatives taking aim at Mr. McConnell were not won over by his Rose Garden bonding moment with Mr. Trump.

"Mitch McConnell's bellyaching about all the time it takes to approve presidential personnel doesn't hold any water when 1) every other Senate before his has managed to do this in a timely manner, and 2) his Senate works an average of 2.5 days per week," David Bozell, president of ForAmerica, said in a statement calling for Mr. McConnell to step aside.

Still, Mr. McConnell and the president are both hoping that a parade of conservatives taking up lifetime appointments on the federal bench will make restless Republicans forget - at least for a while - their disappointment in both the Trump administration and their congressional leadership.

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Trump and McConnell See a Way to Make Conservatives Happy

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Giving lifetime appointments to dozens of judges favored by conservative judicial activists would also be an important legacy for Mr. Trump since his choices would be handing down opinions for decades no matter who follows him in the White House.

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CNN Donald Trump Explains Tax Reform Plans

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CNN Donald Trump Explains Tax Reform Plans

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Donald Trump states that 'less tax' will improve wages and increase job openings.

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"Freedom is not a gift from government. Freedom is a gift from God," Trump said. "That is why we're here tonight, to rededicate ourselves to the defense of our God-given rights."

The main thrust of Trump's speech was tax reform, a key pillar of the Republican agenda the administration says it hopes to accomplish by December.

The President talked up the effort before the conservative audience, saying, "at the heart of our plan is a tax cut for everyday, working Americans."

"We are going to bring back trillions of dollars currently parked overseas," Trump promised, while outlining plans for ending the estate tax and overall simplifying the tax code.

He also plugged a child tax credit for working families being championed by his daughter and top adviser, Ivanka Trump.

He repeatedly praised the organization -- a key mover for Republicans in Washington -- as vital to the tax effort.

"You understand that lower taxes mean bigger paychecks, more jobs and stronger growth," he said.

He called on the audience to help push the plan, which is still in the works, through Congress.

"We need the help of The Heritage Foundation and everyone here tonight to get our tax cuts through the House, through the Senate and to my desk for signature," Trump said.

Trump anticipated he would need the full support of Republicans in Congress to pass the bill and blasted Democrats as "obstructionists." But he said that, if successful, they would have "the largest tax cut in the history of our country."

Earlier in his remarks, Trump touched on a few cultural issues, including "respect" for the US flag.

"We believe that our great American flag should be treated with reverence and respect," he said, adding that young Americans should be taught to respect it.

And he began his remarks lamenting people calling for the removal of Christopher Columbus statues.

"We believe we should preserve our history, not tear it down. Now they're even trying to destroy statues of Christopher Columbus, what's next? It has to be stopped. It's heritage," he said.

He closed his speech with an oft-repeated pledge to bring back "Merry Christmas," tying the holiday to the stated desire for movement on the tax plan in December.

"Let's give our country the best Christmas of all: massive tax relief," Trump said.

CNN's Allie Malloy contributed to this report.

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trump focuses on taxes in red meat speech - cnnpolitics

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Trump focuses on taxes in red meat speech

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"Freedom is not a gift from government. Freedom is a gift from God," Trump said. "That is why we're here tonight, to rededicate ourselves to the defense of our God-given rights." The main thrust of Trump's speech was tax reform, a key pillar of the Republican agenda the administration says it hopes to accomplish by December.

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Trumps takes credit for the state of the economy

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Trumps takes credit for the state of the economy

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Trump is taking credit for the economy's successes, but maybe that's because Republicans are now supporting him.

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A broad 63% of Americans say the economy is in "very good" or "somewhat good" condition in a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, matching the best number on this question stretching all the way back April 2001.

Perhaps just as importantly, the number has climbed 15 percentage points since November, powered by increases among every demographic group available but Democrats.

One major reason for the increase is because Republicans have completely flipped their views of the economy now that Trump is in office. (This kind of super-partisan flip isn't uncommon. The number of Democrats who think the economy is doing well has dropped 20 points since former President Barack Obama left office.)

But here's the key question: Who gets the credit? There's little doubt that Trump inherited a robust economy from the Obama years, but what's less clear is what Trump's effect on the economy has been a full eight months into his presidency.

Trump has repeatedly touted stock markets, which have continued hitting record highs into his presidency, and bragged about low unemployment rates and some businesses moving to the United States.

But that's a debate for another article. What's important for now -- and definitely for the 2018 midterm elections -- is that people are beginning to attribute the strength of the economy more and more to Donald Trump.

To be clear, half of Americans still attribute the state of the current economy to Obama vs. only 38% of Americans who give the credit to Trump, according to numbers from Quinnipiac University last month.

But the number giving Trump credit has doubled since just 18% gave him credit back in April -- when two in three Americans said they believed Obama had more responsibility. A majority of Republicans now give Trump more responsibility -- up from just a quarter in April.

But perhaps more concerning for Democrats -- and encouraging for Republicans who are trying to avoid midterm losses in 2018 -- is the movement among independents. A broad 72% of them said Obama was responsible for the economy's state in April, but that's fallen to just 50% of independents now. (It's also worth noting that two in three independents in our CNN poll said the economy was in good shape, up 20 points since Election Day.)

In terms of re-election, it's still way to early to draw conclusions. A lot can change in the next year. The strength of the economy definitely plays a role in re-election rates -- the party in power tends to perform better when the economy is good, and vice versa. And even though the economy tends to matter more for presidential years than midterms, which are largely tied to presidential approval, it still plays a role.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from September 17 to 20 among 1,053 adults. Polls from Quinnipiac University in this piece were conducted from August 9 to 15 among 1,361 voters and March 30 to April 3 among 1,171 voters. The margin of sampling error for results among the full sample is plus or minus 3.7, 3.4 and 2.9 percentage points, respectively; it is larger for subgroups.

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the economy just hit its best mark in 16 years. and trump is getting more and more credit. - cnnpolitics

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Views of the economy just matched their best mark in 16 years. And Trump is getting more and more credit.

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A broad 63% of Americans say the economy is in "very good" or "somewhat good" condition in a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, matching the best number on this question stretching all the way back April 2001. Perhaps just as importantly, the number has climbed 15 percentage points since November, powered by increases among every demographic group available but Democrats.

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Trump Policies Could Jeopardize the US Rust Belt 

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Trump Policies Could Jeopardize the US Rust Belt 

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Trump's tax policies and travel ban is affecting the US Rust Belt... for the worse. Foreign doctors are denied work due to not being born in the US and taxpayers say that only high income Americans will be okay after tax reforms. Rust Belt life expectancy is low.

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The region has been credited by Trump himself for his victory. Speaking of Hillary Clinton's loss, Trump has said, "It was a bad candidate who didn't go to Wisconsin or Michigan like they should have."

He tailored his economic message to winning voters there, promising to renegotiate trade deals like NAFTA and promising new manufacturing jobs. Those efforts are still underway.

Trump came into office promising to shrink government. And his proposals would do that.

But more often than not, the consequences of specific language he has endorsed would be felt disproportionately in the Rust Belt. This is not a phenomenon isolated to one bill or a partisan twisting of the facts, but rather something that repeats in data and projections for a number of proposals he supports. Here are a few:

Trump has supported health care bills hard on the Rust Belt

It's in the details of many of the health care plans proposed thus far where the Rust Belt sees the most hurt.

A lot of people in the Rust Belt have pre-existing conditions. But ensuring that people with pre-existing conditions can get health care, or care at the same cost as other people, has not been a requirement of most of all of the health care legislation Trump has pushed. This has caused such an uproar that the "Jimmy Kimmel test" turned into one of the biggest points of debate over proposals in the Senate.

The Republican bills could also be hard on Medicaid enrollees in the Rust Belt. With the exception of Wisconsin, which did not expand Medicaid, the Rust Belt has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan are ranked numbers third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the US in how many people they have added to their Medicaid rolls due to the Obamacare expansion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But most of the bills proposed this year would have undone the expansion or set funding limits with caps or block grants on traditional Medicaid. (Note: supporters say the block grants would enable state governments to better serve their populations, but it is beyond dispute that block grants would curb the amount of money in Medicaid programs.)

Treatment for opioid addiction, which has high mortality rates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, could also be jeopardized by bills Trump backed. The bills lacked requirements or allowed states to get waivers for essential health benefit guarantees, which cover substance abuse. Medicaid expansion rollbacks, which reduce access to care for lower-income individuals, could also negatively impact drug addiction recovery. Ohio has the third highest opioid death rate in the nation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

One area where Trump's policies may not impact the Rust Belt as much is his stopping payments for cost-sharing reductions (CSR) to insurance companies. Rust Belt states have a lower number of enrollees benefiting from CSR payments.

The tax reform framework mostly benefits high earners, who tend to live on the coasts

As the Trump administration doubles down on tax reform this week, analysts have pointed out that those at the very top of the income spectrum will fare the best in the proposed framework, with the top 0.1% of earners seeing after-tax income jump more than 10%. The plan's mixture of estate, individual and corporate tax rate changes are projected to be most generous to high earners.

Rust Belt states Ohio, Michigan and Indiana are not home to large populations of $1 million household income earners. Rather, they're in the middle or bottom of the pack, according a summary from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. States with a higher percentage of millionaire earners voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and are near Washington, DC. Only 0.2% of Michigan's households are expected to earn more than $1 million in 2018, putting it next to last behind West Virginia. In Ohio, the number is 0.5%. In Indiana, it's 0.4%. Compare that with New Jersey, at 1.2%, the District of Columbia at 0.9% or Maryland at 0.8%.

The removal of the state and local tax deduction (SALT) will also adversely affect parts of Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to The Heritage Foundation. The SALT deduction allows federal filers to deduct state and local taxes. They are highest in Northeast states -- Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey -- but some areas of the Rust Belt, like Ohio's 12th District or most of Wisconsin, have a high SALT tax rate.

In Wisconsin, the average SALT deduction in 2015 was $11,653, according to 2015 IRS data. In Pennsylvania, the number was $11,248 and in Ohio it was $10,444. Compare this with some blue states: In Washington, the average was $7,402. In Hawaii, it was $9,905. In Nevada, it was $5,989.

Trump's first "travel ban" could have jeopardized medical care

After Trump signed a ban on travel targeting people from seven Muslim-majority countries, there was great concern in the medical profession whether it would cause doctor shortages in the Rust Belt.

Initially, the ban created alarm when it seemed like many doctors beginning medical residencies in the US would be denied entry. A visa program that places foreign-born doctors in underserved areas was also impacted. Research by Raj Chetty and The Economist has found lower health quality and life expectancy in the Rust Belt and surrounding areas.

As the travel ban went through multiple versions, some restrictions were eased. An exception was added to allow student doctors entry, and some doctors who had their visas jeopardized are practicing in the country.

But the travel ban proposals have "caused chaos" for immigrant doctors, according to Mitra Akhtari, an economist at Airbnb, who analyzed the effects of the ban on doctors for the Immigrant Doctors Project while pursing a PhD in economics at Harvard. The Association of American Medical Colleges has continued to argue the Administration's travel bans are contributing to doctor shortage problems in underserved areas.

Approximately 7,000 doctors are working in the US from one of the banned countries in the updated travel ban, Akhtari says. According to data from the Migration Policy Institute, more than 25% of doctors and surgeons were foreign-born as of 2010.

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how trump's policies could hurt the rust belt  - cnnpolitics

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How Trump's policies could hurt the Rust Belt

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The region has been credited by Trump himself for his victory. Speaking of Hillary Clinton's loss, Trump has said, "It was a bad candidate who didn't go to Wisconsin or Michigan like they should have." He tailored his economic message to winning voters there, promising to renegotiate trade deals like NAFTA and promising new manufacturing jobs.

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Trump uses the Public Health Services Act to declare a nationwide health emergency for opioid addicts.

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Both are forms of national emergency declarations, but the primary difference is the scope and funding for each order.

"This epidemic is a national health emergency," he said. "Nobody has seen anything like what is going on now."

He added: "As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction. Never been this way. We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic. We can do it."

Trump, through the Public Health Services Act, directed his acting secretary of health and human services to declare a nationwide health emergency, a designation that will not automatically be followed by additional federal funding for the crisis, according to a senior White House official.

Instead, the order will expand access to telemedicine in rural areas, instruct agencies to curb bureaucratic delays for dispensing grant money and shift some federal grants towards combating the crisis.

If Trump had used the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the federal government would have been able to immediately tap into funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund to combat opioids. The Stafford Act, though, has traditionally been used to provide recovery money to natural disasters, most recently from Hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey.

Both designations come with pluses and minuses, experts and senior administration officials told CNN.

The nationwide health emergency that Trump ordered is more tailored and directed, but comes with less immediate action.

Senior White House officials told CNN that they will follow up this order by working with Congress to fund the Public Health Emergency Fund and to increase federal funding in year-end budget deals currently being negotiated in Congress. But both of those avenues are far from guaranteed, especially given all the other issues on Congress' plate.

By using the Stafford Act, Trump would have taken a dramatic step and immediately provided the federal government with money earmarked for natural disasters to combat the issue.

But both Trump and Obama administration officials say that designation would have been too broad and put an undue burden on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund, a fund already cash strapped by recovery efforts from the three major hurricanes that hit the United States this year.

Using FEMA funds to combat the opioid crisis would be "a little bit like asking an engineer to bake a cake," said Rafael Lemaitre, the former communications director for the White House Drug Policy Office under President Barack Obama.

"I do think the Public Health Service Act is more appropriate route to take than the Stafford Act designation," he said. "I worked at FEMA for two years and dealt with multiple disasters. The Stafford Act is not structured to deal with a long term, complicated public health crisis like the opioid crisis."

Tom Coderre, a former senior official in Obama's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration office at HHS, echoed that sentiment.

"One of the things that I think is the most beneficial part of having a public health emergency is you really can marshal public support and then you can bring all the resources of the federal government to bear on it, bringing people from all of the agencies to combat the issue," he said.

Though both Lemaitre and Coderre said this step was important, both agreed that it was not, in Lemaitre's words, a "silver bullet solution to the opioid crisis." That, they said, would be additional funding from Congress.

"A smarter play here would be for the administration to move beyond this declaration and pass the billions in funding needed to address this crisis. That is how you move the needle on this," Lemaitre said.

Fight against opioids

There are also concerns in the treatment community about how other actions by the Trump administration -- namely efforts to repeal Obamacare and strip funding from Medicaid -- would adversely impact the fight against opioids.

Coderre called efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, the sweeping Obama-era health care law that mandates drug treatment services, the "elephant in the middle of the East Room today."

Trump's order on Thursday will rely heavily on the presidential commission he convened earlier this year, which in their interim report urge the President to use either the Public Health Services Act or the Stafford Act to declare a state of emergency.

"The first and most urgent recommendation of this commission is direct and completely within your control. Declare a national emergency under either the Public Health Service Act or the Stafford Act," wrote the commission led by New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie. "With approximately 142 Americans dying every day, America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks."

Christie heralded Trump's announcement by noting that the step was recommended by his commission.

But concerns remain about how Trump will follow through on the nationwide health emergency declaration.

"I hope the Trump administration follows through without delay to use this order to provide relief to the millions of families suffering from this crisis," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat. "We cannot afford to wait months between an announcement and action."

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what trump's opioid announcement means - cnnpolitics

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Both are forms of national emergency declarations, but the primary difference is the scope and funding for each order. "This epidemic is a national health emergency," he said. "Nobody has seen anything like what is going on now." He added: "As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue.

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The Trump Administration and Republican conservatives release their ideas for tax reforms. Republicans believe it will be good for everyone; the middle class so far... does not agree, instead saying that "nullifying the tax incentives for homeownership puts home values and middle-class homeowners at risk".

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WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers are unveiling the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades, outlining a plan to cut taxes for corporations, reduce them for middle-class families and tilt the United States closer, but not entirely, toward the kind of tax system long championed by businesses, according to talking points circulated on Thursday.

The House plan, released after weeks of internal debate, conflict and delay, is far from final and will ignite a legislative and lobbying fight as Democrats, business groups and other special interests tear into the text ahead of a Republican sprint to get the legislation passed and to President Trump's desk by Christmas.

The bill keeps a top rate of 39.6 percent for the highest-earners and roughly doubles the standard deduction for middle class families. It expands the child tax credit to $1,600 from $1,000 and will not make any changes to the 401(k) plans. It does propose changes to the popular mortgage interest deduction. Under the Republican plan, existing homeowners can keep their mortgage interest deduction but future purchases will be capped at $500,000. The bill cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from 35 percent.

According to the talking points, the bill "makes no changes to the popular retirement savings options that Americans have today - including 401(k)'s and Individual Retirement Accounts, or I.R.A.s. Americans will be able to continuing making both traditional, pretax contributions and 'Roth' contributions in the way that works best for them."

One of the biggest flash points will be how the bill treats the state and local tax deduction, which lawmakers are proposing to cap at $10,000. That will not be enough for Republicans in some high-tax states, where middle-class families make heavy use of the deduction.

The compromise, as it had been sketched out this week, would preserve the deduction for property taxes, but not for state and local income taxes, and it appeared as if there would be a cap on the deduction. But at first glance, it did not appear as if that was enough to win over all of the New York and New Jersey members.

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Republicans Release Tax Plan, Cutting Corporate and Middle-Class Taxes

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WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers are unveiling the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades, outlining a plan to cut taxes for corporations, reduce them for middle-class families and tilt the United States closer, but not entirely, toward the kind of tax system long championed by businesses, according to talking points circulated on Thursday.

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US Funds $36.5 billion to Puerto Rico after hurricane

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US Funds $36.5 billion to Puerto Rico after hurricane

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The United States are sending money after Hurricane Maria. They insist on providing hurricane and wildfire funding and help Puerto Rico’s government avoid running out of cash.

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Final passage of the measure comes on top of a $15.3 billion disaster measure that passed in September, bringing the total tab to more than $50 billion as deficits rise and Republicans push a $1.5 trillion tax cut. The Treasury Department said on Friday that the budget deficit for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 grew by $80 billion, to $666 billion. The deficit also edged higher as a share of the economy, rising to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product from 3.2 percent the year before.

Lawmakers from Texas and Florida have already submitted requests for additional aid to help the recovery efforts in those states, adding up to tens of billions of dollars.

And politicians from states hit hard by the storms are signaling impatience. Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, tried unsuccessfully to add $3 billion to the latest aid package to help farmers who lost crops in the hurricanes, especially citrus growers.

"They need our help, and they need it now," Mr. Nelson said.

The measure approved on Tuesday is intended in part to prop up the National Flood Insurance Program, which is facing an influx of claims from this year's hurricanes. The program was already deep in debt to the Treasury, and it has now reached its $30.4 billion borrowing limit, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The bill approved by the Senate erases $16 billion owed by the flood insurance program, but it does not include broader changes to the program that could make it more sustainable.

Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, had warned against what it called a "taxpayer bailout of a failed, big-government program," and it urged senators to vote against the bill.

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said the flood insurance program was "the triumph of good intentions over sound public policy," and he lamented that the bill would wipe away debt owed by the program, "no questions asked."

"Instead of helping the victims of these disasters through responsible aid paired with lasting reform," Mr. Lee said, "Congress has rushed to its favorite so-called solution: billions of dollars in new spending with little accountability or meaningful oversight."

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Senate Approves $36.5 Billion Aid Package as Hurricane Costs Mount

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Final passage of the measure comes on top of a $15.3 billion disaster measure that passed in September, bringing the total tab to more than $50 billion as deficits rise and Republicans push a $1.5 trillion tax cut. The Treasury Department said on Friday that the budget deficit for the fiscal year that ended Sept.

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Tax Reform policies remain as a controversial topic

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Tax Reform policies remain as a controversial topic

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Americans aren't quite sure on what to think about for the upcoming tax reform policy that Republicans are adamant on enforcing.

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As Republicans scramble to assemble a tax overhaul bill, Americans aren't even sure that Congress should be focusing on reshaping the tax system.

Only about one-quarter of Americans believe that passing a tax overhaul should be "the top priority for the president and Congress," according to a CBS News poll released Wednesday; 70 percent said other things should be "addressed first." And even Republicans aren't particularly enthused: Only about half (51 percent) said an overhaul should be the top issue.

That's just one finding of a string of recent polls from NBC News/Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and Morning Consult. The new information comes as Republicans push to release a tax bill that was originally expected Wednesday morning. Here's what we know right now about how Americans feel about the GOP tax overhaul, according to the latest polls:

Some GOP selling points aren't sinking in. One of Republicans' biggest tax talking points is that a corporate tax cut will benefit workers (though even right-wing economists have cast doubt on White House estimates on this point).

But nearly 60 percent of people believe corporations won't "use that money to create jobs," according to the CBS poll. Likewise, approximately half of people in both the CBS and NBC/WSJ polls said they think the bill would grow the economy - a plurality but not a clear majority.

Do Americans like the GOP's tax proposals? It's complicated. The plurality of respondents - 39 percent - say they don't have an opinion about whether the tax plan is good or bad, according to NBC/WSJ. Just over one-third said it's a bad idea, and 25 percent said it's a good idea.

But nearly half in Morning Consult's poll said they "support" Republicans' proposal, compared to 37 percent who do not support it.

But once again, the bill hasn't even been released yet. Once the theoretical tax plan is a real, publicly available package of ideas, any of these results could easily change.

Some proposals get solid support. Americans can get behind at least a few potential parts of the tax plan: around two-thirds of Americans like the idea of increasing the child tax credit, reducing the tax rate for small businesses, and doubling the standard deduction (a proposal that could, however, be offset by eliminating personal exemptions), according to Morning Consult's poll.

Americans are skeptical of corporations. Just over half of Americans believe taxes should be increased on large corporations, and only one-quarter believe that tax cuts for corporations would indirectly benefit them, according to the CBS poll.

And Americans are divided on specific corporate-tax proposals: According to the Morning Consult poll, 37 percent approve of cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent - and 41 percent are opposed. Likewise, Americans were roughly equally divided on allowing businesses to "immediately write off the cost of new investments," a proposal known as "full expensing."

They want higher taxes for the rich - maybe. CBS found that 58 percent of Americans believe taxes on the wealthy should be higher. But in a different question, 60 percent agreed that a tax cut on the wealthy would be fine, "as long as everyone else gets the same cut"; only 27 percent were against this idea.

Potential 401(k) changes are unpopular. Given all the tax cuts they've floated, Republicans will need to find some way to pay for their bill. One such idea that Republicans have floated the idea of reducing 401k tax-free contributions from $18,000 to $2,400 per year. 51 percent of Morning Consult respondents opposed that, compared to just 25 who supported it.

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Polls: Americans Aren't Buying Key White House Arguments For Tax Overhaul

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As Republicans scramble to assemble a tax overhaul bill, Americans aren't even sure that Congress should be focusing on reshaping the tax system. Only about one-quarter of Americans believe that passing a tax overhaul should be "the top priority for the president and Congress," according to a CBS News poll released Wednesday; 70 percent said other things should be "addressed first."

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Governor candidates speak their opinions on illegal immigration.

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In the two states electing new governors this year - New Jersey and Virginia - once-moderate Republicans are running attack ads painting their Democratic opponents as weak on illegal immigration.

The ads are a move out of the political playbook of President Trump, who began his bid for the White House by attacking Mexican immigrants. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," Trump said, at his 2015 campaign announcement. "Some, I assume, are good people."

Trump's stance on illegal immigration worked in last year's election, and state and local politicians facing tough races this cycle have taken notice.

"His philosophy is the one that's being implemented," said Stella Rouse, director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland.

But she cautions that using that strategy on a state level may be "risky." The ads could alienate moderate Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia who have not fully bought into Trump's sales pitch.

Nevertheless, GOP candidates are chasing his voters.

"[Trump] obviously won," Rouse said, "so there is some sentiment or feeling that that is a winning strategy."
The ads
For a vast majority of her campaign, Republican candidate Kim Guadagno focused on her plan to lower New Jersey's notoriously high property taxes. She rarely spoke publicly without pitching her "circuit breaker" plan to streamline state government.

Guadagno also reached out to the state's sizable Latino population, kicking off her campaign at a Mexican restaurant and choosing a Cuban running mate.

But this month, still down by double digits in the polls to her Democratic opponent Phil Murphy, Guadagno released a TV ad entitled, "Sanctuary."

It opens with archive video of a shackled man in an orange prison jumpsuit. A gravelly-voiced narrator says: "Illegal alien and child rapist Jose Carranza shot four New Jersey students in the head. Three died, shattering their families."

The murders on a Newark schoolyard in 2007 became one of the grisliest crimes in recent memory in New Jersey. (A fourth victim was raped, stabbed, and shot but survived.)

Carranza, one of six perpetrators, was in the country illegally.

The ad plays on a comment Murphy made at a press event when asked whether he would protect immigrants who are in the country illegally, even if some of them may have criminal backgrounds. "My bias is gonna be having their backs," Murphy replied.

The narrator draws the connection: "Murphy doesn't have our backs. He has theirs."

Murphy has said he would make New Jersey a "sanctuary state" if threats against immigrants in the country illegally from the Trump administration escalated, but he has provided few details.

Similar attack ads are airing in Virginia.

Republican Ed Gillespie has been slamming Democrat Ralph Northam for voting against a bill that would have banned sanctuary cities in Virginia, even though none exist in that state.

A former Republican National Committee chair who once spoke of diversifying the GOP, Gillespie shifted to the right after a bruising primary in the spring.

In one ad, the Gillespie campaign implies that Northam's vote against the sanctuary city bill was a boon to the violent street gang MS-13, which was started by immigrants from El Salvador and has a presence in Virginia.

"Northam cast the deciding vote in favor of sanctuary cities that let illegal immigrants who commit crimes back on the street," a narrator says, "increasing the threat of MS-13."

Both Phil Murphy in New Jersey and Ralph Northam in Virginia say violent criminals should be prosecuted, regardless of their immigration status.

But that response has not stopped their Republican opponents from going all in on the illegal immigration message, even as studies that show immigrants in the country illegally commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born U.S. citizens.

"Using fear tactics to sort of divide groups is something that has been around for awhile," said Rouse. "I think it's been applied to higher levels certainly since Trump came on the scene."

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Races For Governor Put Trump's Immigration Message On The Ballot

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In the two states electing new governors this year - New Jersey and Virginia - once-moderate Republicans are running attack ads painting their Democratic opponents as weak on illegal immigration. The ads are a move out of the political playbook of President Trump, who began his bid for the White House by attacking Mexican immigrants.

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After NY terrorist attack, Trump blames Chuck Schumer

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After NY terrorist attack, Trump blames Chuck Schumer

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A terrorist attack in New York has President Trump pointing fingers at a program Senator Chuck Schumer created: a VISA lottery system that lets illegal immigrants get into America and a green card.

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It took less than 24 hours after Tuesday's terrorist attack in New York for the finger-pointing to begin.

And the first fingers are being aimed at what had been an obscure State Department immigration program called diversity visas.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the accused terrorist, Sayfullo Saipov, entered the U.S. with such a visa, after winning a yearly lottery in which up to 50,000 foreigners are awarded green cards.

A DHS statement issued on Wednesday said, "The individual identified in the New York City terror attack was admitted to the U.S. upon presentation of a passport with a valid diversity immigrant visa to U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2010."

Wednesday morning President Trump singled out the program and one of its congressional sponsors, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness! @foxandfriends
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, however, that Trump was not blaming New York's senior senator for the attack.

Trump and conservatives want to eliminate the diversity visa lottery program as part of a larger effort to slash legal immigration levels and change the immigration system to a merit-based one. (Trump has also endorsed a plan to decrease the number of people immigrating to the U.S. legally.)

In a photo op before meeting with his Cabinet, Trump said he wants Congress to eliminate the program "as soon as possible," calling it "not good."

The facts

Schumer, then a member of the House, was a sponsor of the original program, part of an immigration bill that was approved on a bipartisan basis in 1990.

It was signed into law by Republican President George H.W. Bush.

In 2013, as a U.S. senator, Schumer actually proposed ending diversity visas as part of efforts by the so-called Gang of 8, aimed at a broader immigration overhaul.

Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., another member of the gang, recalled that and jumped to Schumer's defense on Twitter:

In fact, had the Senate Gang of 8 bill passed the House, it would have ended the Visa Lottery Program AND increased merit based visas. https://t.co/o3qJHHAv1C
- Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 1, 2017

The Gang of 8 measure died in the House because of GOP-led opposition.

Trump's anti-terrorism-funding cut?

Schumer responded to Trump's criticism with a pointed statement of his own, accusing the president of dividing the country and wanting to cut anti-terrorism funding:

"I have always believed and continue to believe that immigration is good for America. President Trump, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution - anti-terrorism funding - which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget.

"I'm calling on the President to immediately rescind his proposed cuts to this vital anti-terrorism funding."

Overall, the president's budget called for an increase in Department of Homeland Security funding.

But Trump's budget proposed chopping $600 million from some homeland security grants to state and local law enforcement agencies, according to Senate Democrats.

New York City law enforcement officials blasted the cuts back in March.

Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill called the money "absolutely critical. It is the backbone of our entire counterterrorism apparatus."

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FACT CHECK: Trump Singles Out Chuck Schumer After N.Y. Terrorist Attack

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It took less than 24 hours after Tuesday's terrorist attack in New York for the finger-pointing to begin. And the first fingers are being aimed at what had been an obscure State Department immigration program called diversity visas. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the accused terrorist, Sayfullo Saipov, entered the U.S.

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Trump promotes fossil fuels and nuclear energy as a way to solve climate change

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Trump promotes fossil fuels and nuclear energy as a way to solve climate change

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Trump talks about using fossil fuels and nuclear energy to combat climate change. Skeptics are less likely to agree with his statements, as well as people who believe fossil fuels and nuclear energy will do more harm than good.

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According to new figures put out by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal production has risen since President Trump took office - a fact Mr. Trump highlighted late Tuesday in a tweet.

It is finally happening for our great clean coal miners! https://t.co/suAnjs6Ccz
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Nov. 2, 2017

President Trump has vowed to withdraw from the Paris agreement, calling it "a deal that punishes the United States." But under the rules of the deal, the United States cannot actually withdraw until 2020. Until then, the administration has said, it will continue to work toward bringing the Paris agreement into force.

Barry K. Worthington, executive director of the United States Energy Association, who will speak on the panel, said he hoped to deliver a dose of reality about the future of fossil fuels at a forum dominated by activists demanding the end of coal, oil and gas. He argued "no credible projection" shows fossil fuels meeting less than 40 percent of global energy demand by midcentury.

Mr. Worthington said he expected that delivering that message before climate change activists would be a "horrible experience" but it is important for many to hear.

"The reality of it is the world is going to continue to use fossil fuels,'' he said, "and if I can throw myself on the hand grenade to help people realize that, I'm willing to do it."

George David Banks, special assistant to President Trump for international energy and environment, will give introductory remarks and Francis Brooke, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, will moderate the discussion among industry executives.

"This discussion is a follow-up to the Administration's success at the G20, where the United States expressed its support for helping countries meet their climate objectives through the use of cleaner and more efficient fossil fuels and other clean energy sources and technologies," a White House spokesman, Raj Shah, said in a statement. "It is undeniable that fossil fuels will be used for the foreseeable future, and it is in everyone's interest that they be efficient and clean. Through innovation, the United States continues to be a global leader in cutting carbon emissions."

The administration's emphasis on fossil fuels represents a sharp break from the Obama administration, which focused almost exclusively on ways America can promote renewable energy abroad. Critics called it a poke in the eye of the international community.

"It's embarrassing," said Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a Democrat. "After forfeiting international leadership on climate, the Trump White House is compounding their error with a silly stunt. Fossil fuel companies are not clean energy companies, and no amount of spin will change that."

Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, who helps advise the least developed countries in the United Nations climate talks, said fossil fuels were hurting, not helping, the world's poorest nations.

"Any country or company continuing to champion further exploration for and mining of coal and even other fossil fuels from now on would be willfully carrying out a crime against humanity, and they would be held accountable," he said.

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united nations framework convention on climate change

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Trump Team to Promote Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power at Bonn Climate Talks

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According to new figures put out by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal production has risen since President Trump took office - a fact Mr. Trump highlighted late Tuesday in a tweet. President Trump has vowed to withdraw from the Paris agreement, calling it "a deal that punishes the United States."