January 8, 2019

Kamala Harris says she was raised to fix problems, and Washington is a 'hot mess'

By John Wagner January 8 at 9:24 AM
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), who is eyeing a 2020 White House bid, said Tuesday that she was raised to fix problems and that her late mother would consider Washington to be a “hot mess.”

Harris appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to promote her new book, “The Truths We Hold.” Her book tour is widely viewed as a soft launch of a presidential campaign.

During the interview, Harris relayed that she was “raised by a very strong mother,” whom she called “mommy.” In her book, Harris wrote that when faced with hard decisions, she has always asked herself, “What would mommy think?”

That prompted host George Stephanopoulos to ask what Harris’s mother would think of what’s happening.

“I think she would say, ‘What is going on down there? It is a hot mess,’?” Harris said, laughing.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kamala-harris-says-she-was-raised-to-fix-problems-and-washington-is-a-hot-mess/2019/01/08/1ceb84b6-134b-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html

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Harris plays coy on 2020 bid: 'I'm not going to decide right now'

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 01/08/2019 09:26 AM EST

Sen. Kamala Harris said Tuesday that she has nothing to announce about a potential run for president — for now, at least.

The California Democrat said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday morning that “I’m not going to decide right now” whether to launch a White House bid. But asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos what would set her candidacy apart in a crowded 2020 field, she had an answer at the ready.

“I think we’re at an inflection moment,” Harris said, pointing to the rise of automation, changing global dynamics and climate change while acknowledging that a large part of the country feels neglected or “rightly” displaced.

“I think it is clear to me that what we need in this country is leadership that has a vision of the future in which everyone can see themselves,” she said.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/08/harris-plays-coy-2020-bid-1086129

January 8, 2019

Pence dodges credibility questions on border 'crisis' in morning show barrage

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 01/08/2019 09:07 AM EST

Vice President Mike Pence claimed Tuesday that Americans are not “as concerned about the political debate” surrounding President Donald Trump’s demands for a border wall, dodging multiple questions about Trump’s credibility as the president prepares to address the nation Tuesday night.

Pence appeared on all three major broadcast morning news shows on Tuesday to bolster Trump’s demands for funding to build his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Those demands, and Democrats’ unwillingness to accede to them, have led to a government shutdown, now in its 18th day.

In its efforts to find traction on the issue, the White House has most recently begun to characterize the flow of migrants into the U.S. as a humanitarian and national security crisis. Previewing Trump’s televised address to the nation scheduled for Tuesday night, Pence told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the president will make the case for Democrats to provide $5.7 billion to build a steel barrier to alleviate what he called “an undeniable crisis at our southern border.”

The vice president avoided direct answers to questions from ABC and others about repeated misstatements from Trump and others that overstate the national security threat at the border.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/08/pence-government-shutdown-border-wall-1086128

January 8, 2019

Ahead of primetime address, Trump hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt on immigration

First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.

Jan. 8, 2019 / 8:58 AM EST
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

WASHINGTON — Tonight, on Day 18 of the government shutdown, President Trump is set to deliver a prime-time address to “address the nation on the humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border.”

Being president may give you the right to ask networks for time for an Oval Office address. But on immigration — perhaps more than on any other issue — Trump is far from having earned the benefit of the doubt from the American people.

Since the beginning of his campaign, the framework of Trump’s immigration rhetoric has been full of easily fact-checked exaggerations (“It could be 30 million” undocumented immigrants in the United States), plain demagoguery (“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists”), conspiracy theories (“Democrats want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal aliens into our country”), unrealistic promises (“Mexico will pay for the wall”), and attention-grabbing ploys (floating an executive order end to birthright citizenship a week before the midterms.)

And most recently, NBC News reports that, during the first half of 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped just six immigrants at the southern border whose names were on a terror watch list, contradicting a 4,000 figure that’s been used by the White House as recently as Friday to justify the need for a border wall.

On the one hand, a president who has consistently characterized mainstream media as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people” is now demanding the bully pulpit to push an immigration agenda about which he’s commonly spread misinformation. That’s led critics to slam media outlets for giving him high-profile airtime.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/ahead-primetime-address-trump-hasn-t-earned-benefit-doubt-immigration-n956076?cid=public-rss_20190108

January 8, 2019

Trump argues economy has been stifled by rising interest rates

Source: The Hill



BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01/08/19 08:28 AM EST

President Trump early Tuesday took a swipe at the Federal Reserve, arguing the economy's performance has been held back by the central bank's decision to raise interest rates.

The president touted the economy's "REALLY good" numbers in a tweet, adding, "Can you imagine if I had long term ZERO interest rates to play with like the past administration, rather than the rapidly raised normalized rates we have today.

"That would have been SO EASY!" Trump tweeted. "Still, markets up BIG since 2016 Election!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1082623264877432837

Trump has repeatedly targeted the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, for criticism over gradually increasing interest rates. The Fed issued four rate hikes this year, prompting outcry from a president who has tied the economy's performance to his administration's. Trump often touts low unemployment numbers and the stock market performance, though the market suffered overall losses in 2018.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/424276-trump-argues-economy-has-been-capped-by-raising-interest-rates

January 8, 2019

Trump supporter complains shutdown is 'not hurting the people he needs to be hurting'

BY JUSTIN WISE - 01/07/19 10:18 PM EST

A prison employee in Florida who voted for President Trump argued that Trump is to blame for the current government shutdown.

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” Crystal Minton told The New York Times in an article published Monday. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

Minton's comments came as part of an expansive report from the newspaper on how the government shutdown, as well as a hurricane, have impacted a Florida town.

The Times notes that a federal prison in Marianna, Fla., lost much of its roof as a result of Hurricane Michael, which hit parts of the state last October. The damage caused hundreds of inmates to be relocated to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss.

Corrections officers from Florida have had to commute 400 miles to the site of the prison since then for two-week stints in their jobs. As of this week, the corrections officers are now doing so without being paid.

more
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/424263-trump-supporter-complains-shutdown-is-not-hurting-the-people-he

January 8, 2019

Major networks will carry Democratic response to Trump immigration speech

Source: NBC News



Democratic leaders demanded equal time after the networks agreed to carry Trump's speech. So far, NBC, CNN and CBS agreed.

Jan. 8, 2019 / 8:54 AM EST
By Allan Smith

Several major networks announced on Tuesday morning that they will air the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's prime-time Oval Office address on immigration.

So far, CBS, NBC, and CNN have said they will carry the response. On Monday, all of of the major networks said they would air the president's speech, prompting Democratic leaders to call for space to rebut him.

"Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement on Monday.

Democrats have yet to say who will deliver the rebuttal.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/major-networks-will-carry-democratic-response-trump-immigration-speech-n956051?cid=public-rss_20190108

January 8, 2019

Most Democrats identify as liberals for first time in Gallup poll

Source: The Hill



BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01/08/19 08:57 AM EST

Most Democrats now identify as liberal rather than moderate or conservative, a Gallup poll released Tuesday found, marking the first time since the polling giant began asking the question in the 1990s.

Monday's poll found that 51 percent of Democrats self-identified as liberal in 2018, up slightly from 50 percent in 2017. The percentage of liberals has sharply climbed in recent years, Gallup noted, with 38 percent identifying as liberal in 2008.

Roughly a third of Democrats -- 34 percent -- identified as moderates in 2018, according to the new poll.

Members of the Republican Party have remained more staunchly conservative, pollsters found, with 73 percent identifying as conservative in 2018 and just 22 percent calling themselves moderate.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/424280-most-democrats-identify-as-liberals-for-first-time-gallup

January 8, 2019

Top Dem: 'I expect the president to lie to the American people' in primetime address

Source: The Hill



BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01/08/19 08:38 AM EST

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) says he expects President Trump "to lie to the American people" during a primetime address on Tuesday about the partial government shutdown and situation at the southern border.

“I expect the president to lie to the American people. Why do I expect this? Because he has been lying to the American people," Nadler said at a press conference near the border on Monday.

Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was joined by other congressional Democrats, including Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), whose twin brother, Julián, is mulling a presidential bid.

Nadler argued the White House has consistently used inaccurate statistics to bolster its claims about the existence of a crisis at the border.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424277-top-dem-lawmaker-i-expect-the-president-to-lie-to-the-american-people-in

January 8, 2019

Latino voters will have more say in 2020 with new primary schedule

In 2020, candidates who don't connect effectively with Latino voters ahead of the California and Texas primaries "do so at their peril," says a consultant.

Jan. 8, 2019 / 8:49 AM EST
By Suzanne Gamboa

AUSTIN, Texas — Because of a slight calendar adjustment, Latinos will have a larger say in who Democrats elect to run for president in 2020.

California moved up its presidential primary — held in 2016 on June 7 — to March 3 for next year's election.

That means California, the state with the largest number of eligible Latino voters, estimated by Pew Research Center at about 7.7 million in 2018, will join Texas, the state with the second largest number of eligible Latino voters at about 5.5 million, in holding their primaries on Super Tuesday.

“One in five American Latinos live in Texas and if you add California, you get substantial power of the Latino vote to really influence the Democratic Party and reshape especially the Democratic Party on key issues, especially health care and immigration,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramírez, executive director of Jolt, a Texas-based group which organizes Latinos on voting, turnout and on issues affecting the community.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-voters-will-have-more-say-2020-new-primary-schedule-n955791?cid=public-rss_20190108

January 8, 2019

Air travelers start to feel effects of government shutdown

By DAVID KOENIG
2 hours ago

DALLAS (AP) — The partial government shutdown is starting to affect air travel.

Over the weekend, some airports had long lines at checkpoints, apparently caused by a rising number of security officers calling in sick while they are not getting paid.

Safety inspectors aren’t even on the job. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Monday that inspectors are being called back to work on a case-by-case basis, with a priority put on inspecting airline fleets.

So far, the impact of the shutdown — entering its 18th day on Tuesday — has been most visible for some government buildings and national parks being closed, and trash piling up on the National Mall in front of the Capitol. If the shutdown continues, food stamp recipients will go without aid.

more
https://apnews.com/b0034bf33e214cd6b6a85ae1c23bdcaf