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“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade...” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged




 House Republicans stress trade priorities in meeting with Trump: House Ways and Means Republican leaders said that they would work with Trump to renegotiate NAFTA and get tough with China over its trade practices - as long as he stays within certain limits, [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, February 28, 2018]

REPUBLICANS WARN TRUMP ON TARIFFS: As President Donald Trump mulls whether to slap tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports and take other action aimed specifically at China, Republicans are stepping forward to warn those moves could backfire on the United States if the White House is not careful.
"As the administration considers remedies under Sections 232 and 301, we must keep in mind that tariffs aren't paid by foreigners," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Tariffs are taxes paid by American businesses and American families, and new tariffs would jeopardize some of the opportunities we successfully created through tax reform."
In a similar vein, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said after a White House meeting between Trump and more than two dozen House Republicans that he was "committed to working with the president on narrow and targeted remedies that address China's distortions without hurting other U.S. industries and workers."

A third Republican, Rep. Jackie Walorski, said she raised concerns in the meeting with Trump. "On the topic of potential aluminum and steel tariffs, I reiterated the importance of a careful and balanced solution that does not raise costs for American manufacturers or put jobs at risk," Walorski said. [POLITICO's Morning Trade, February 28, 2018]



U.S. AGRICULTURE



U.S. poultry sales to China still blocked after duties removed: While China has decided to remove anti-dumping and countervailing duties on U.S. broilers, the outlook for U.S. poultry and egg exports remains dim, the USA Poultry and Export Council said Tuesday. Beijing made the move to lift duties to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling - but the Chinese market remains closed to U.S. exporters because of a ban that was imposed in 2015 after an outbreak of avian influenza in the United States. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, February 28, 2018]




A majority of Americans are now concerned that the government won't do enough to regulate how U.S. technology companies operate, according to an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll:
  • Across the board, concern about government inaction is up significantly — 15 points — in the past three months, Axios' Kim Hart writes.
  • 45% of Republicans, who are usually skeptical about government regulation, share the concern that government won't do enough.
  • Independents showed the biggest shift, with an increase of 20 points.
  • More than eight in 10 — including big majorities across party lines — blame the technology companies for not doing more to safeguard their platforms against election interference.
  • Why it matters: That's a seismic shift in the public's perception of Silicon Valley over a short period of time.
  • It shows how worried Americans are about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and reflects a growing anxiety about fake news and the potentially addictive nature of some of the tech companies' products.

P.S. Former President Obama said last week at a sports analytics conference at MIT that companies like Google and Facebook need to have a conversation about their business model and "recognize that they are a public good as well as a commercial enterprise," Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
  • Obama: "[W]e have to have serious conversation about what are the business models, the algorithms, (and) the mechanics whereby we can create more of a common conversation and that cannot just be a commercially driven conversation."  [Axios AM, February 28, 2018]
PEAK DEFAZIO: A hearing on aviation safety ended on a tense note Tuesday when Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) took aim at Shuster's FAA bill. "The only problem with the current system is the idiots I work with," DeFazio said. "I don't like the way this place is working right now. And I think there's some groups supporting this privatization who really in their hearts don't support it."
Safety first: Earlier during the hearing, Ali Bahrami, FAA associate administrator for aviation safety, told members of the Aviation Subcommittee that he thinks Shuster's bill wouldn't create "any adverse impact to safety." "And I base that on the fact that there are 60 or so countries that have already done that," Bahrami said. "And the level of safety, based on various studies ... it stayed the same or has improved."
Regulatory or deregulatory? Lawmakers also asked the hearing's witnesses, which included officials from NTSB, the DOT inspector general's office and the Air Line Pilots Association, about drone safety and regulations. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) said she had sent a letter to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney about President Donald Trump's 2-for-1 executive order with concerns about its potential effects on the drone industry. Mulvaney replied earlier this month, saying OMB thinks that "a rulemaking expanding the uses of [drones] may qualify as deregulatory." To the administration, "deregulatory actions" are "rules that expand consumption and/or production options," which "generate cost savings."


Eagle-eyed Davis: The Eno Center for Transportation's Jeff Davis noted: "Per [Tuesday's] @DOTInspectorGen testimony before @Transport Committee, since Aug. 2016 the #FAA has received 15,000 requests for waivers of the drone/UAS rules. 10% approved, 40% denied, 43% still being processed." [POLITICO's Morning Transportation, February 28, 2018]

DEM AGs CONFIDENT ON COURT FIGHTS AGAINST TRUMP: Several Democrat attorneys general said on Tuesday they are optimistic that their early wins in court against many initial Trump administration efforts to roll back environmental regulations will translate to victories down the road as well. "I don't think they've demonstrated they have the desire or capacity to handle this situation," said Becerra at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. He acknowledged the administration could learn from losses in ultimately repealing rules, but said that "at the end of the day ... I still think we have the upper hand." Massachusetts AG Maura Healey said she wished the Trump administration had "more respect for the rule of law." She added: "It's still an administration whose playbook seems to be bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry and oil and gas. I don't think Administrator Pruitt has changed one bit from who he was as AG Pruitt." [POLITICO's Morning Energy, February 28, 2018]







NO FINAL DEFENSE ALLOCATION YET, House Defense Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger said [Tuesday] her panel does not yet have a final topline to craft full-year defense spending legislation. "In a brief interview with POLITICO, the Texas Republican said the defense subcommittee allocation - the funding to be parceled out to the Pentagon in a final omnibus spending bill - is 'not solid enough to say.'"

And the Pentagon requests $21.2 billion for its fiscal 2019 military intelligence budget. [POLITICO's Morning Defense, February 28, 2018]



FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA  






IMMIGRATION









ROYALTY BATTLE ROYALE: Energy producers should keep an eye on Interior's Royalty Policy Committee, which is meeting in Houston today to consider recommendations for lower royalties and streamlined regulations. The goal is to spur additional fossil fuel and renewable energy projects on federal lands and offshore in order to boost the amount of revenue the government collects from those activities. Today's meeting is the full committee's second since Secretary Ryan Zinke reinstated it last March. It will consider recommendations drawn up by several subcommittees over the last year.

Limiting deep-water offshore drilling royalties to 12.5 percent is one of several recommendations the committee will consider from the subcommittee for planning, analysis and competitiveness. The subcommittee also recommended a variety of steps to streamline permitting and environmental requirements and speed energy development. In Alaska, it recommended Interior schedule lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge "as soon as practicable and ahead of the statutorily required timeline." Kathleen Sgamma, president of the industry group Western Energy Alliance and a member of the subcommittee, told The Washington Post, "This is the time to get federal lands back competitive with nonfederal lands."

Democrats say Interior is being too friendly to industry. "This proposal would amount to a giveaway to some of the most profitable companies in the world and rob taxpayers of potentially billions of dollars of revenues over the life of the leases," Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Raúl Grijalva wrote of the proposal to reduce offshore drilling revenues from their current rate of 18.75 percent. Critics also said the committee had too many representatives of the fossil fuel industry and not enough from public interest groups. "Zinke has stacked the deck with energy companies and asked them if they should pay less to extract oil, gas, and coal from our public lands and waters," Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala said in a statement. "It's like asking kindergartners if they want birthday cake for dinner. You know the answer you'll get." [POLITICO's Morning Energy, February 28, 2018]





ED WATCHDOG DEMANDS NEARLY $100K FROM PUERTO RICO: A damning audit into Puerto Rico's adult education program during 2012 and 2013 found issues with the record-keeping of performance data and contract awards - and compels the island's education agency to return almost $100,000 in questionably allocated funds.
- The audit was conducted by the Education Department's Office of the Inspector General, which found that the island's education agency could not provide documentation proving that eight of the 29 contracts reviewed by in the audit were properly awarded. Those contracts amount to payments of nearly $76,000, which the department is asking Puerto Rico to return. The audit also found issues with payments made to contractors, and is asking the agency to return roughly $21,000 in payments that weren't properly documented.
- "Without sufficient supporting documentation, Puerto Rico cannot provide assurance that it used all Adult Education program funds in accordance with applicable laws and regulations," the audit reads. The watchdog also found that Puerto Rico's Education Department failed to report complete performance data from two of the island's seven educational regions, and did not properly audit organizations that received grants from the agency.

- Puerto Rican officials largely disagreed with the audit's findings before they were published, according to the audit report. Education Secretary Julia Keleher has until the end of March to formally respond to the report. Read it here. [POLITICO's Morning Education, February 28, 2018]



NIKKI HALEY
United States Ambassador to the United Nations




ROBERT MUELLER, SPECIAL COUNSEL







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NOTE: The news sources here vary.  Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here.  This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased.  Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value.  Thank you

NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as  a "community service" announcement.  These again are shared for their varying perspectives.

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