Mediaboss Marketing

Conservatives signature Washington gathering moved into full swing Thursday with calls from an influential GOP governor for the party to go big, go bold, now that Republicans have control of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

With that control comes pressure to deliver on long-sought policy priorities, and the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference marks one of activists first big post-election brainstorming sessions on how to achieve those goals.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a conservative icon dating back to his high-profile fights with labor unions, rallied the crowd at the convention center just outside D.C. Thursday as he urged attendees not to get caught up in Washington.

As for the agenda ahead, he urged President Trump and conservatives to go bold.

"Do what you said you were going to do, said Walker, a former presidential candidate.

The conference at National Harbor in Maryland features a host of lawmakers and officials -- including top White House advisers and Vice President Pence on Thursday, and President Trump on Friday morning.

White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway predicted Thursday morning that the energy surrounding the new president is so intense, tomorrow it will be TPAC when hes here.

During her remarks on the CPAC stage, Conway lauded her bosss ability to make supporters feel like theyre part of a movement.

He went right to the grassroots and brought you along, she said.

The conference was from the outset a departure from recent CPAC gatherings, which for the last eight years were used to bash the Obama administration. Now, Republicans are in control and working on their own agenda.

The conservative movement has elected a Republican president, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp said Wednesday, at the start of the annual conference, which his group sponsors. Its not so much now about complaining about President Obamas agenda as it is about what well do with political power and the responsibility to get the economy moving.

Leaders are hoping to use the conference to strategize about what they can accomplish and to better articulate their values at a time when the very definition of conservatism has seemed to waver.

But much of the buzz around the four-day event has centered on CPAC organizers pulling the speaking slot of alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, after the release of an audio tape in which he made what Schlapp called disgusting comments.

Yiannopoulos seems on the year-old tape to defend adults having sex with minors. Yiannopoulos apologized this week for the comments and said he had been sexually abused as a teen.

Schlapp said Wednesday that CPAC invited Yiannopoulos because the backlash he faced for his college talks were part of a large, chilling effect regarding free speech on campus.

We understand the alt-right, but it has no voice in conservativism, Schlapp said. Bigotry has no voice in conservativism.

The attendance of Trump, the first president since Ronald Reagan to visit CPAC in a first term, has indeed brought some energy to the 44-year-old event.

But other scheduled speakers and events -- including the speech by Pence and a one-on-one Thursday between White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Trump strategist Steve Bannon -- are also attracting a lot of interest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

See more here:
At CPAC, Walker urges Republican leaders to 'go big, go bold' - Fox News

In their districts this week, Republican members of Congress are facing pushback from angry town-hall crowds over the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Some lawmakers are offering up a degree of sympathy in response, whether by defending the right to protest or attempting to convince voters they understand their concerns.

Can Mexico Block Trumps New Deportation Rules?

Republican Senator Tom Cotton told an agitated town hall audience in Arkansas on Wednesday that he wouldnt deny that Obamacare has helped many Arkansans, after a woman said the law saved her life. When another woman insisted she wasnt a paid protester, the senator tried to reassure the crowd that wasnt a charge he planned to make: Youre all Arkansans and Im glad to hear from you, he said. Thank you to everyone for coming out tonight, whether you agree with me or disagree with me. This is part of what our country is all about.

Other Republican lawmakers have gone even further in making clear over the past week that they believe the people showing up at town halls and expressing alarm over the possibility of Obamacare repeal are genuine and should be listened to.

This wasnt an artificial crowd. It wasnt manufactured. It was real people with real concerns in terms of what came next on healthcare, GOP Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina told CNN after holding a town hall of his own lasting almost four hours over the weekend.

In Iowa, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley told reporters on Tuesday that its all legitimate, as he too faced questioning at town halls over the fate of the healthcare law. If Hillary Clinton had been elected president, thered be people from the conservative end of the spectrum [who would] probably be doing the same thing.

Those acknowledgements might not be enough to allay the fears of people worried that they might lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. But they mark a contrast with the way the White House has characterized the protest and agitation taking place, and also appear to be a departure from how some Republican lawmakers talked about the activism at town halls when they first started generating national headlines earlier this month.

After video footage of an agitated crowd in Utah chanting Do your job! at House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz went viral, the GOP congressman went on the defensive. Suggesting that people at his town hall were not acting in good faith, Chaffetz said that what happened was bullying and an attempt at intimidation. The Deseret News reported that Chaffetz claimed that the protestors included people brought in from other states to disrupt the meeting.

The White House has also attempted to downplay the crowds. During a press conference last week, President Trump seemed to dismiss protesters by arguing that they arent residents of the lawmakers districts. They fill up our rallies with people that you wonder how they get there, but theyre not the Republican people that our representatives are representing, he said. On Tuesday, he tweeted: The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numbers cases, planned out by liberal activists.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged during a press briefing earlier this week that some people are clearly upset, but similarly suggested the activism may not accurately reflect the sentiment of the lawmakers constituents. There is a bit of professional protestor, manufactured base in there, he said. It is a loud, small group of people, disrupting something in many cases for media attention.

In states across the country, liberal activists are taking a page out of the Tea Party playbook to help organize turnout at town hall events. Some of those activists are following guidelines that draw inspiration from Tea Party tactics as a way to put pressure on members of Congress and generate headlines, explicitly recommending that activists reach out to media, during and after the town hall. Still, that doesnt necessarily mean the people voicing concern at town halls are exclusively liberal activists. CNNs Eric Bradner and MJ Lee, meanwhile, have reported that theres no evidence of paid protesters.

Its too early to say what kind of impact the town hall protests might have, if much at all, beyond energizing liberal activists. The extent to which voter dissatisfaction is or isnt widespread is also difficult to gauge from protest alone. This week, a Pew Research Center survey found that most Republican voters have a favorable view of Trump and trust the president more than GOP leaders in Congress.

Even if some GOP lawmakers adopt a sympathetic tone toward angry town hall crowds, that isnt necessarily an indication that theyre changing course. When Cotton told the crowd on Wednesday that he wouldnt deny Obamacare has helped people in the state of Arkansas, he quickly added it has also hurt many Arkansans.

And some Republican lawmakers have voiced frustration at events. If all you want to do is vent, this will not be profitable, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said during a Louisiana town hall on Wednesday amid shouts and yelling. Later, the senator lamented to reporters: The unfortunate thing is there was so much common ground that they would not listen to, adding unfortunately, people came in with their prejudices, and with their prejudice, they would not listen.

But Cassidy defended the right to protest. I assume theyre Americans who care about our country, he told Gambit, a Louisiana newspaper, after the event, dismissing the possibility that people in the room were paid protestors. He added: Theyre coming out with their Constitutionally protected right to assemble and speak. And isnt that a good thing!

Go here to see the original:
Republican Lawmakers Face Hostile Town-Hall Crowds - The Atlantic

Herb Jackson, USA TODAY Network Published 12:22 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2017 | Updated 1:28 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2017

In this Jan. 22, 2014, file photo, Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., speaks in Pierre to the South Dakota Senate.(Photo: Chet Brokaw, AP)

A free-market advocacy group in Washington launched television ads in South Dakota on Wednesday to pressure Rep. KristiNoemto oppose a cornerstone of the House GOPs tax reform plan.

The ads aired by the Club for Growth say that costs to consumers would go up by $1,700 a year on the average family if Congress enacts "border adjustment," a proposalto tax imported products while lettingdomestic producers export tax-free. House Republican leaders, including Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, see the idea as a way to encourage more domestic manufacturing.

"Washington special interests are fighting desperately to protect a huge tax break that hurts American workers and farmers by favoring foreign products over American-made products," Brady said. "It's a big reason our U.S. jobs are going overseas. House Republicans are closing these loopholes and insisting on fair tax laws so jobs will come back to America."

But the National Retail Federation, which is battling the proposal,developed the study that said prices for consumers would go up $1,700. Some farm groups have also voiced worries aboutretaliation by countries that import their crops.

Noem is a four-term Republican who serves on theWays and Means Committee, which is working to craft an overhaul to the corporate and individual tax code. The ad says she has not taken a position on border adjustment planand encourages viewers to call a number to tell her to oppose it.

Club for Growth President David McIntosh praised aspects of the House GOP tax plan, including lower rates andelimination of estate taxes, but he said border adjustment taxes "will hurt American families." The South Dakota ad buy will costmore than $150,000, and spokesman Doug Sachtlaben said other members of the Ways and Means Committee may also be targeted.

Brady has said he hopes to get tax reform through the House this year. But the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has said his panel would go its own route.

Whether the two chambers can unite with President Trump on a tax plan remains to be seen.

On CBS'Face the Nation on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,said Congress was "stumbling"in key areas.

"The House is talking about a tax plan that won't get 10 votes in the Senate," Graham said.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2lvGnjI

Read the original:
Border tax spurs Republican-on-Republican attacks - USA TODAY

MSNBC

Ads tout Republican health care plan that doesn't exist MSNBC Congressional Republicans are feeling quite antsy following the recent wave of progressive activism, including some fierce audiences at town-hall events, and GOP leaders are eager to ease their burden. The Washington Post noted yesterday that 22 House ... Most Republicans trust President Trump over Paul Ryan as they have since MayWashington Post all 79 news articles »

Go here to read the rest:
Ads tout Republican health care plan that doesn't exist - MSNBC

Since the election, the threat of Obamacare repeal has never appeared more distant. But even if the entire effort falls apart, the dysfunction Republicans have invited into the legislative process leaves the country vulnerable to other calamities. Through sheer incompetence and avarice, Republicans could both squander their chance to eliminate the ACA and plunge the economy into chaos. This outcome isnt inevitable, but unless Republicans recalibrate their agenda to match the reality of their political weaknesses, the chain reaction could easily end explosively.

Federal budget expert Stan Collender noticed the structural infirmity of the GOPs legislative strategy almost two weeks ago. He offers a detailed technical explanation here, but for laymen, it makes more sense to look back to 2001, when Republicans last took power after losing the popular vote, and set about passing large, permanent tax cuts.

The arcane rules of the Senate gave them two ways to do this: Either with enough bipartisan support to overcome a filibuster, or through a complex budget process that would allow them to circumvent the filibuster. This second option, though, was only available if the tax plan didnt create structural deficits in the long term. If they use the process to pass a straight-up deficit-financed tax cut it would automatically sunset after 10 years. Not permanent at all.

Figuring a trillion-or-so dollars of upward redistribution was better than none, Republicans picked option two, and 10 years later, President Barack Obama allowed the most regressive of those tax cuts to expire.

In 2017, Republicans want to avoid the trap of reducing tax rates only to see them spring back up in a decade. That means their tax bill will have to be revenue neutral, and thats why they settled on repeal-and-delay without thinking through future complications. By ending the ACAs benefits three years in the future, but zeroing out its taxes immediately, Republicans would lower the revenue baseline enough to make a separate, revenue-neutral tax bill feasible. The combination of the two would amount to a revenue-neutral tax bill, plus a massive, regressive tax cut financed by eliminating insurance subsidies for millions of poor and working class people. The reckoning (what to do when their insurance subsidies expired) wouldnt come until after midterm elections.

When political support for this plan failed to materializewhen insurers threatened to leave the market, and beneficiaries became outragedRepublicans agreed to repeal the law and replace it in tandem. But that reordering of objectives knocked the foundation out from under the larger plan. They wont have the votes they need to replace Obamacare unless they finance an alternative with similar benefits, which means they cant eliminate the ACAs tax increases by fiat, which means the revenue baseline will remain in place, which means any future tax reform package cant be a boon to millionaires unless it expires in 10 years.

It is possible, as Brookings Institution congressional expert Sarah Binder told reporters Wednesday, to imagine Republicans abandoning ACA repeal in favor of a large, temporary tax cut, just like they did in 2001. That would come as a huge relief to the people turning congressional town halls into standing-room only affairs. But it would come with a huge risk: That Republicans, at the height of dysfunction, will find themselves unable to increase the debt limit.

Had the original plan worked perfectly, Republicans would most likely have increased the debt limit as a rider to their tax bill or their repeal of the ACA, circumventing the filibuster altogether. The collapse of that agenda would leave them with two terrible choices: They could increase the debt limit on their own, in conjunction with a tax cut bill that increases the debt itself by trillions. Or they could turn to Democrats, at least eight of whom would have to help them increase the debt limit as a standalone measure through the regular, filibustery order.

Either option entails a huge risk of failure. With a two-vote margin of error, Republicans going at it on their own could find themselves up against the summer deadline to increase the debt limit, but without enough votes to executeparticularly if the debt limit hike is part of a regressive tax cut bill that increases deficits dramatically.

Option two creates the potential for another debt-limit standoff. The difference is that in 2011 and 2013, Republicans had a majority in one house of Congress. Their obligation to help increase the debt limit stemmed from their partial control of government. Democrats have no such obvious buy in. If Republicans turn to them for help, Democrats will at least demand that the debt limit increase be large, and free of partisan policy riders. That might well send conservative Republicans scurrying to the exits, requiring more Democratic participation and increasing Democratic leverage.

But what if Democrats wont help unless Republicans concede something? What if Democrats demand that the legislation eliminate the debt limit for all time? Or that Republicans create a bipartisan commission to investigate Trumps ties to Russia and other conflicts of interest? Or an end to ICE raids and the defunding of the border wall? Or simply that Trumps Department of Health and Human Services take steps to re-stabilize the ACA insurance markets?

In the political climate Democrats currently inhabitin a climate of outrage over Trumps racism, corruption, and viciousnessits very hard to imagine them saying let bygones be bygones and bailing out the GOP with an unreciprocated debt limit increase. Theyre likelier to say, Right yourselves, govern in the center, or raise the debt limit on your own.

Neither of these scenarios guarantees a breach, and a default on the debt. But it increases the already-uncomfortable risk of both to a higher level than ever before, at a time when the onus to govern has passed from Barack Obama to Donald Trump, leaving basic competence at a historical nadir.

If Obamacare survives the next few months, liberals will have cause to celebrate. Then, just as quickly, theyll have an even larger crisis to confront.

See the original post here:
The Republican Congress Is Courting a Major Crisis - New Republic