The bud of victory is always in the truth.
-Benjamin Harrison
BUDGET BIND: President Trump sent his preliminary funding targets for 2018 to the his agencies yesterday. This outlines his budget which calls for an increase in military spending by $54 billion and cutbacks in domestic programs while keeping his promise to leave entitlements untouched. The $54 billion is somewhat misleading as it is an increase in the Budget Control Act cap and not an increase to Obama’s proposed FY 2018 budget as explained by our colleague General Emo Gardner here. The actual increase for defense funding is only $18.5 billion. Some of the domestic cuts could come from his plans to gut the EPA or eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities. The defense hawks did not rejoice with the increase in military spending saying it’s not enough for the current state of the world while the budget hawks will be skeptical about the lack of cuts in Social Security or Medicare.
WALKING DOWN THE AISLE: Trump will address a Joint Session of Congress for the first time as president tonight - in what is going to be viewed as a pseudo State of the Union. We expect him to trumpet the successes of his first month in office and then focus squarely on his agenda on Capitol Hill. Trump is expected to take a more optimistic tone with the audience in front of him as he looks to build support with his national audience for tax reform, ACA replacement and an infrastructure bill - all requiring congressional action and in keeping with his campaign promises.
POUNDING THE PAVEMENT: Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao addressed the elephant in the room when it comes to infrastructure and that is who will pay for the $1 trillion promised by the Trump Administration. Chao told the National Governors Association that public-private partnership will be one way - but those partnerships are not the cure all. The Transportation Secretary also met with CEOs where they discussed raising the federal gas tax or indexing it to inflation - the former being anathema to many Republicans in Congress - making the road ahead for infrastructure a bumpy one.
FACE OFF: ACA reform is about to get very interesting. President Trump made it very clear when meeting with the National Governors Association that his Administration- led by HHS Secretary Tom Price - would be revealing its replacement plan in the next two weeks. This will coincide with legislation Congressional Republicans are crafting in committee making a very challenging effort, well, even more challenging. Let’s just say Price will be spending more time with his former allies on Capitol Hill than in the bowels of the HHS building on Independence Avenue.
MANSION MAYHEM: Most of the talk about future elections centers around Republicans trying to add to the Senate in 2018 with Democrats defending 25 of 33 seats up for reelection.The next two years, though, show some positives for the Democrats in their quest to take back Governor’s mansions. Republican’s currently hold 27 of the 38 governorships up for election in 2017 and 2018. Hillary Clinton won nine of the 27 states and in five more Clinton lost, but Obama carried twice. On the other side PA is the only state that Democrats are defending that Trump won.
#HIMSS17: DON'T LOOK TO FEDERAL POLICY TO DRIVE HCIT DEMAND: Our Senior Health Policy Analyst Emily Evans writes emphasis was on implementation of recent legislation with a more relaxed view of HCIT compliance and adoption all overshadowed by ACA repeal. You can read the full piece here.
CALL INVITE: WILL CONGRESS PASS TRUMP'S AGENDA: AN ASSESSMENT FROM SPEAKER RYAN'S FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: Join us for a call on March 1 with David Hoppe, Speaker Ryan's former CoS, the morning after President Trump's Address to a Joint Session of Congress. You can find the dial in details here.
FUZZY MATH! TRUMP'S $54B PENTAGON BUDGET INCREASE IS ONLY $18.5B: Our Senior Defense and Aerospace Analyst LtGen Emo Gardner writes that OMB disappoints defense and fiscal hawks alike by only adding $18.5B (3%) to Obama plan for Pentagon in FY18. You can find the full analysis here.
