Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
-John F. Kennedy
MISSING PIECES: As the White House moves towards renegotiating NAFTA, a proposal circulating at USTR has reveals that some of NAFTA’s most controversial provisions will not be part of the process. The disputed arbitration panel that allows investors to circumvent local courts, disputes of foreign currency policies, and the ability for a NAFTA country to reinstate tariffs in the case an influx of imports that cause serious harm to domestic industries will not be part of the renegotiation process. Can’t imagine that stalwart Rust Belt Trump voters will be overjoyed with these decisions given that not a day went by without candidate Trump calling NAFTA a disaster on the campaign trail.
SOWING SEEDS IN THE SENATE: After the House failed to pass the AHCA, Transportation leaders are hoping President Trump’s infrastructure package will take hold in the Senate. With 60 votes needed to pass most legislation in the Senate, the president and Minority Leader Schumer will need to quickly patch up their differences. Both Democrats and Republicans want to begin to the process of repairing the nation’s infrastructure, yet have differences on the approach - nonetheless, we agree that there would be more bipartisan support for a Senate bill than one that passed the House.
CLOSER THAN YOU THINK: Despite all of the talk about a divide within the Republican party, Republican Senators are sticking together and backing the president's agenda - it's still early days - but a slight contrast compared to the last few presidencies:
FIGHTING AGAINST FREEDOM: After Republicans won control of Washington, we expected the infighting within the party to reach a nadir for the sake of governing. We were wrong. After attacking the Freedom Caucus last week over their healthcare negotiation strategy, President Trump is now setting the stage for 2018 election battle. Given the popularity of this bloc in some of the safest Congressional districts in the country, coupled with Trump’s popularity with his base, this is going to get very interesting if Trump follows through with his threats to go after them.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM REDUX: Senior adviser Jared Kushner is using his new office to get a start on criminal justice reform. Kushner met with Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Minority Whip Dick Durbin co-authors of a criminal justice reform bill that stalled last year. President Trump promised to crack down on crime and his appointment of tough-on-crime top cop Jeff Sessions (who opposed the aforementioned bill while he was in the Senate) tell us that Kushner may be driving this on his own - but likely not without his father-in-law’s blessing.
TELECOM-MEDIA POLICY HIGHLIGHTS: Our Senior Telecom & Media Policy writes FCC tees up BDS deregulation; T poised for FirstNet Win; Upcoming boost for broadcast deals. You can find the full analysis here.
DEFENSE BUDGET WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTAL LIKELY TO PASS BY APRIL 28: Our Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst LtGen Emo Gardner writes by April 28, the Pentagon should end up with a slightly modified version of the budget for FY17 that was proposed in February 2016. You can read the full piece here.
