“The hope of the future lies not in curbing the influence of human occupancy – it is already too late for that – but in creating a better understanding of the extent of that influence and a new ethic for its governance.” ― Aldo Leopold
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| CLIMATE CHANGE |
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Congress actually passed HHS funding
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Congress
yesterday sent a funding bill for the Department of Health and Human Services
to President Trump's desk — the first time in years it hasn’t had to roll
that bill into a much larger package in order to get it across the finish
line.
Why
it matters: For all the chaos consuming Washington,
this is a notable achievement for leadership, especially Speaker Paul Ryan.
This bill has historically been bogged down by the politics surrounding
abortion and the Affordable Care Act.
How
it happened: Leadership in both chambers committed
early on to passing appropriations bills through regular order this year. My
colleague Caitlin Owens reports that a few strategic decisions helped clear a
path for the HHS bill — usually the most difficult one.
Democrats
also say Republicans wanted to avoid a
government shutdown right before the midterm elections. [Axios Vitals, September 27, 2018]
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THEY'LL BE BACK: When Congress returns in November, regardless of election results major committees with jurisdiction over transportation in both chambers will have different leadership. Due to a combination of retirements, promotions, higher office ambitions and primary losses, there's going to be plenty of movement in the transportation committees in the House and Senate. We'll be following closely and keeping you updated through the midterms and into next year, but here's a look at where things stand for now:
In the Senate: Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) is widely expected to become majority whip in the likely event that Republicans hold their majority. That would leave Sen. Roger Wicker(R-Miss.) as the presumptive successor to take the committee gavel. On the Democratic side, in the unlikely scenario that Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) loses but the party still takes back the chamber, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) would be next in line. It's worth noting she's also the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, so the gavel might jump to third-in-line Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
In the House: If the House flips, ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) is expected to take the Transportation Committee gavel. In that scenario, there would be at least one subcommittee up for grabs: Massachusetts Democrat Mike Capuano, ranking member of the Railroads and Pipelines Subcommittee, was dealt a stunning loss by primary challenger Ayanna Pressley earlier this year.
With a Republican majority, there would be a gavel battle between Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) to replace retiring Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). That would mean at least three subcommittees would be open: one vacated by whoever wins the full committee, another by retiring Aviation Subcommittee head Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), and a third by Economic Development and Emergency Management Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Lou Barletta(R-Pa.), who's running for a Senate seat. [POLITICO's Morning Transportation, October 15, 2018]
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| FROM THE PORCH |
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| MELANIA TRUMP |
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| MICHELLE OBAMA |
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FOOD
& DRUG ADMINISTRATION
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— Pro-dairy comments
roll into FDA docket: The agency just
wrapped up taking comment on its sweeping Nutrition Innovation Strategy, which
includes an update to dairy labeling policy. Dairy boosters are flooding the
zone, urging it to keep "milk" a term that's limited to products
derived from animals. [POLITICO's Morning
Agriculture, October 12, 2018]
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| READ |
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| GREAT BRITAIN |
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| RUSSIA |
✊ Davydov on the end of the Kremlin's
“safety cushion”
In an op-ed for Republic, columnist Ivan Davydov argues that
Russia’s regions outside Moscow have finally wrestled from the capital the
ability to influence the national political agenda. In the past, Davydov says,
relatively affluent problems have dominated the national discourse because
these “first-world” issues are what mobilize activists in Moscow, while
alienating the rest of the country. The Kremlin has exploited this divide (what
Davydov calls a “safety cushion”), for example when Uralvagonzavod foreman Igor Kholmanskikh
famously offered to bring his “boys” to Moscow to disperse the city’s
ungrateful democracy protesters in 2011.
Davydov credits the Bolotnaya protests in 2011 and 2012
with restoring direct gubernatorial elections, which paved the way to the
recent upsets in several runoff elections, where voters supported “technical
candidates” just to spit in the eye of the establishment, thereby “turning the
situation inside-out.” Davydov also says Russia’s regions owe their recent
political mobilization to Alexey Navalny’s nationwide “franchise” system, set up during his
doomed presidential campaign. Despite the failure to get on the ballot,
Navalny’s scheme helped break Moscow’s monopoly on national politics, tapping
into the energies of brave young people ready to risk their safety for
political mobilization.
With pension reform, Davydov says, the Putin regime announced an
end to state paternalism, only to discover that state paternalism — not the
Kremlin’s geopolitical feats — is what fuels the regime’s popularity. Raising
the retirement age has “torn down the wall” between Muscovites’ first-world
squabblingand the rest of the country’s real problems, he argues.
Davydov’s text has a provocative subtitle — “Does the
typical Russian citizen realize that pension reform is the direct product of
geopolitical success?” — but the question only appears at the end of his op-ed,
with no real explanation, though his earlier remarks about paternalism suggest
that he blames the Putin administration for abandoning state paternalism for
the sake of foreign adventurism. [The Real Russia. Today. September 27, 2018]
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| ROMANIA |
EXCLUSIVE — ROMANIA
SEEKING A NEW MOBILE COASTAL DEFENSE SYSTEM: Romania
plans to seek bids Monday for a new mobile coastal defense system, its defense
minister tells Morning D.
Romania aims "to have this new capability
on the Black Sea coast, just as another measure of creating ...
deterrence," said Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, following a meeting with
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Wednesday at the Pentagon.
The batteries could also be deployed on
corvettes that Romania also seeks to acquire, the ministry says.
Boeing is considered among the leading
companies vying for the contract, estimated at more than $150 million. [POLITICO's Morning Defense, September 28, 2018]
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| ARMENIA |
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| CHAD |
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| SYRIA |
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| YEMEN |
Yemen
The conflict in Yemen doesn't generate a ton of headlines, but it should. This
grinding battle between Arab allies led by Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels
backed by Iran has excaberated already dreadful conditions in the Middle East's
poorest country. Now comes word that almost 12 million people face starvation as fighting intensifies around the port city of Hodeidah,
which is an important aid delivery link, the World Food Programme said. And a
UN official said unless the fighting stops, Yemen might endure the
worst famine the world has seen in a century. [Good Morning from CNN, October 16, 2018]
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| WHIMSEY |
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