Tag: Trump White House

White House seeks list of programs that would be hurt if shutdown lasts into March

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 14. Credit: Joshua Roberts, Reuters

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has pressed agency leaders to provide him with a list of the highest-impact programs that will be jeopardized if the shutdown continues into March and April, people familiar with the directive said.

Mulvaney wants the list no later than Friday, these people said, and it’s the firmest evidence to date that the White House is preparing for a lengthy funding lapse that could have snowballing consequences for the economy and government services.

The request is the first known request from a top White House official for a broad accounting of the spreading impact of the shutdown, which has entered its fifth week and is the longest in U.S. history. So far, top White House officials have been particularly focused on lengthening wait times at airport security, but not the sprawling interruption of programs elsewhere in the government.

View the complete January 23 article by Damian Paletta and Juliet Eilperin on The Washington Post website here.

President Trump Told Sarah Huckabee Sanders ‘Not to Bother’ Briefing Reporters

Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump says he directed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders not to bother with the traditional daily briefing of reporters.

The last briefing took place on Dec. 18.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the president said the press covers Sanders “so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press.

View the complete January 23 article by David Bauder with the Associated Press on the Time website here.

In a West Wing in Transition, Trump Tries to Stand Firm on the Shutdown

WASHINGTON — President Trump has insisted that he is not going to compromise with Democrats to end the government shutdown, and that he is comfortable in his unbendable position. But privately, it’s sometimes a different story.

“We are getting crushed!” Mr. Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, after watching some recent coverage of the shutdown, according to one person familiar with the conversation. “Why can’t we get a deal?”

The president is confronted by a divided and partially shuttered government with an untested staff that has undergone yet another shake-up. Polls show that most Americans blame him for the government shutdown, and his advisers are warning him of its negative effects on the economy. And as the shutdown enters its 27th day on Thursday with no end in sight, most of his top aides would like him to find a way out.

View the complete January 16 article by Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni on The New York Times website here.

The shutdown will harm the health and safety of Americans, even after it’s long over

With the U.S. federal government shutdown now the longest in history, it’s important to understand what a shutdown means for the health and safety of Americans.

The good news is that in the short run, the consequences are relatively few. But, as a researcher who studies natural disaster planning, I believe that Americans should be worried about the federal government’s long-term ability to ensure good public health and protect the public from disasters.

As the shutdown draws on, it increasingly weakens the government’s ability to protect Americans down the road, long after federal workers are allowed to go back to work. Many of these effects are largely invisible and may feel intangible because they don’t currently affect specific individuals.

View the complete January 15 article by Morten Wendelbo on The Conversation website here.

‘I’ve Been Here All Weekend’: A Shut-in President Weathers the Shutdown

President Trump left the White House for a few hours on Monday to speak at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Louisiana.Credit: Sarah Silbiger, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — As he prepared to finally emerge from the White House on Monday morning, after days of complaining that he had been cooped up there waiting for Democrats to negotiate with him to end a 24-day government shutdown, President Trump momentarily seemed to forget where he was headed.

“Getting ready to address the Farm Convention today in Nashville, Tennessee,” the president said in a Twitter message. “See you in a little while.”

Farmers in Tennessee would have to wait: Mr. Trump was actually scheduled to visit an agricultural conference in Louisiana on Monday. And when he did, he was on the ground for little more than two hours before flying back to the White House.

View the complete January 14 article by Katie Rogers on The Washington Post website here.

Why Trump’s Unusual Leadership Style Isn’t Working in the White House

President Trump’s administration has had more staff turnover than any other modern president. Credit: Doug Mills, The New York Times

Donald J. Trump’s highly personal management style as a businessman — impetuous, impolitic, sometimes immature — worked. At the very least, it wasn’t publicly discredited very often.

Mr. Trump ran his own private company. It was small and largely hidden from the prying eyes of shareholders and government regulators. He was surrounded by longtime loyalists and family members. His main public exposure unfolded in staged settings, on softball talk shows or his own reality-TV show.

Now President Trump is running a much larger enterprise. Two years into the Trump administration, it’s increasingly apparent that while the management traits he developed in the private sector may have propelled him into the White House, they’re not serving him well now that he’s there.

View the complete January 10 article by James B. Stewart on The New York Times website here.

Trump administration flocks to Fox to recycle discredited statistic about terrorists crossing the southern border

The Trump administration drew media criticism in February for a misleading claim that 10 terrorists were intercepted crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each day in 2017. The claim has now resurfaced as “almost 4,000 terrorists” throughout 2018. It is still misleading.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on the January 4 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends to defend President Donald Trump’s stance on the ongoing government shutdown. She told the hosts that a border wall is needed because “last year alone, there were nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists” arrested along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Continue reading “Trump administration flocks to Fox to recycle discredited statistic about terrorists crossing the southern border”

The Memo: Trump sows fresh confusion on shutdown

President Trump declared the partial government shutdown could last for more than a year during a White House news conference on Friday. On the other hand, he said, it could end early next week.

His remarks sowed confusion rather than clarity about a possible way out of the impasse, which on Saturday enters its 15th day.

The contours of the dispute remain unaltered: Trump is insisting on money for a border wall and Democrats are adamant they won’t give it to him.

View the complete January 5 article by Niall Stanage on The Hill website here.

Millions face delayed tax refunds, cuts to food stamps as White House scrambles to deal with shutdown’s consequences

Food stamps for 38 million low-income Americans would face severe reductions and more than $140 billion in tax refunds are at risk of being frozen or delayed if the government shutdown stretches into February, widespread disruptions that threaten to hurt the economy.

The Trump administration, which had not anticipated a long-term shutdown, recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact, several senior administration officials said. The officials said they were focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene.

Thousands of federal programs are affected by the shutdown, but few intersect with the public as much as the tax system and the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the current version of food stamps.

View the complete January 4 article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner on The Washington Post website here.

Want to Know More About: The Trump-Pence Misstatements on the Fake Border Crisis

Hallie Jackson: “In That Interview, The Vice President Repeated That Claim That Has Been Debunked As Misleading About The Number Of Suspected Terrorists Or Immigrants Coming Across The Southern Border.” [Today, NBC, 1/8/19; VIDEO]

Joe Scarborough: “Willie, From Six To Thousands. Mike Pence, The Vice President, Lying To The Government Again. You Have The Head Of The Department Of The Homeland Security Lying About Thousands, The President Of The United States Lying About Thousands.” JOE SCARBOROUGH: “Willie, from six to thousands. Mike pence, the vice president, lying to the government again. You have the head of the department of the homeland security lying about thousands, the president of the united States lying about thousands, you have Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the president’s spokesperson, lying about it. And they’re all doing this, just like that they lied about the caravan and the gang members flooding across the southern border, all to justify this government shutdown and to justify the president going on tonight, making up an emergency so he can build his wall along the southern border? It’s outrageous.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 1/8/19; VIDEO]

Willie Geist: “We’ve Heard From The President, Vice President, Homeland Security, Sarah Sanders All On TV As Terrorists Are Streaming Across The Southern Border And If We Don’t Build A Wall, That Are Going To Come To America And Kill Us. That Is Not Happening.” WILLIE GEIST: “It is, Joe. And the quote yesterday, there’s a humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border. Let’s be as clear as we possibly can be. There is no national security crisis at the border. Richard Haas, what you have here, the argument distilled down, we’ve heard from the president, vice president, homeland security, Sarah Sanders all on TV as terrorists are streaming across the southern border and if we don’t build a wall, that are going to come to America and kill us. That is not happening. The numbers bear it out, the evidence bears it out and this is all so president trump can deliver on chants he initiate during his rallies ‘build that wall’ during his presidential campaign. It’s theater and a show tonight.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 1/8/19; VIDEO]