I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
-Thomas Jefferson
BRIEFLY BACK TO DOMESTIC AFFAIRS: President Trump hosted his second ‘Strategic and Policy Forum’ this time hosted by Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman. This meeting brought together CEOs ranging from Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX to Doug McMillon of Walmart. They were led in working groups by Commerce Secretary WIlbur Ross, Education Secretary Betsy Devos, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. One major outcome of the power breakouts was an agreement that infrastructure should be a major focus of the Administration. The CEOs and Cabinet Secretaries came to a resolution that red tape for improving airports, roads and other projects needs to be cut and improved - with the belief that it has to be more than just investing money in the projects, but also getting bureaucracy out of the way.
SIDESTEPPING THE SIDESHOW: In the game of musical chairs within the White House, Freedom Caucus founder and now OMB Director Mick Mulvaney is beginning to get closer to the top seat. Mulvaney has managed to sidestep the tension that surrounds senior advisors Jared Kushner and Stephen Bannon necessitating interventions by both Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and President Trump. Mulvaney has continued to focus on pushing health care, cutting the budget and significantly streamlining the Executive Branch agencies (with a new deadline for the agencies to submit their plans by June 30) - and by rising above the infighting, his voice has become an important one in the Trump administration.
ISN’T THIS THE WAY IT SHOULD WORK?: While we are still a little more than two weeks away from the government shutting down, there is a bipartisan group in Congress that has quietly been negotiating an omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. While the results of these discussions have not yet been revealed, some on the right are, of course, skeptical of what will turn up. Fiscal conservatives generally vote against any omnibus spending bill and Republicans have regularly relied on Democrats to help the exercise of funding the government since taking over in 2011. This will make it difficult for the president to get funding for some of his pet projects like the border wall and better enforcement of sanctuary cities.
KEEPING KANSAS: Republicans were able to hold CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s seat in the fourth district of Kansas in a race that was much closer than anticipated. Viewed as the first referendum of the Trump Administration, Ron Estes won the seat by seven points last night. While Republicans can be happy they dodged a bullet, there should be worry that the margin was so thin in a district Trump carried by 26 points. Now all eyes turn to Georgia’s sixth next Tuesday where an even closer race heats up in the seat to succeed HHS Secretary Tom Price.
A MESSY SPLIT: White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn has expressed support for a policy that separates their consumer-lending businesses from their investment banks. This view is surprising coming out of the White House as this policy is generally viewed as a very progressive stance. President Trump has expressed some desire to bring back some version of the Glass-Steagall Act. Even if Trump supports Cohn in this effort, getting Congress to back any sort of Wall Street legislation similar would be difficult.
Programming note: We’re off for the long holiday weekend and will return next week.
