Jose Garcia
Jose Garcia's JournalGovernor says Dakota Access pipeline will likely be built under Trump
Source: The Hill
The Dakota Access Pipeline will likely be built without a hitch once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, North Dakota’s new governor says.
"I expect the world's going to change dramatically on that day relative to finding resolution on this issue," Doug Burgum told Reuters in an interview published Friday. "I would expect that [Energy Transfer Partners] will get its easement and it will go through."
Outgoing President Barack Obama denied ETP a permit needed to complete construction on the pipeline last month. Trump, however, has said that he would review that decision.
The controversial pipeline, which is intended to transfer oil from North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois, has been the subject of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and activist groups, who argue that it threatens a local water supply and Native American cultural sites.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/314141-nd-governor-says-dakota-access-pipeline-will-likely-be-built
US launches trade case against China over aluminum subsidies
Source: The Hill
The Obama administration on Thursday launched a complaint against China over subsidies provided to aluminum producers it says has created excess supply and hurt U.S. workers.
The United States filed the case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) arguing that artificially cheap bank loans and low-priced inputs for Chinese aluminum contribute to excess capacity that undercuts American workers and businesses.
“Today’s action follows significant engagement by this administration on excess capacity and demonstrates our commitment to hold China to its trade obligations,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
"Our record of tough enforcement with China speaks for itself: When China cheats, we’ve been right there, securing recourse for our workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses,” Froman said.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/313989-us-launches-trade-case-agains-china-over-aluminum-subsidies
Cruz, Graham offer bill to cut off funding to UN over Israel vote
Source: The Hill
GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation on Thursday that would cut off funding to the United Nations over a vote targeting Israel settlements.
The GOP legislation would cut off funding until the president certified to Congress that a U.N. security resolution condemning Israel's expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law has been repealed.
Cruz said President Obama "betrayed decades of robust bipartisan American support for Israel" by having his administration abstain from voting on the resolution, rather than vetoing it.
"Congress must hold the UN accountable and use our leverage as its largest contributor to push for the repeal of this resolution, making it clear to the world that Congress stands unequivocally against efforts to undermine Israel," he added.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/313994-cruz-graham-offer-bill-to-cut-off-funding-to-un-over-israel-vote
Armed Services Committee easily passes Mattis waiver
Source: The Hill
he Senate Armed Services Committee easily passed Thursday the waiver that would allow retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as Defense secretary despite only retiring from military services in 2013.
Just three committee members -- Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) -- voted against the waiver.
Current law says Pentagon chiefs must be out of uniform for at least seven years. The law has been waived just once, for George Marshall in 1950.
The committee voted immediately after Mattis' confirmation hearing, in which he sought to make clear he understands the difference between civilian leadership and military service.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/313996-armed-services-committee-easily-passes-mattis-waiver
Carson likely to roll back housing equality rule
Source: The Hill
Ben Carson, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), signaled Thursday that he might roll back an Obama administration regulation aimed at reducing housing discrimination in cities.
In an exchange with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the ranking member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Carson said he agrees with the spirit of a regulation that puts teeth in the Fair Housing Act -- but not the rule in practice.
"As you probably know, that act says that we want people who are receiving HUD grants to look around and see if they find anything that looks like discrimination, and then we want them to come up with a solution on how to find the problem," Carson, 65, told the panel.
"They’re not responding to people saying there’s a problem, they’re saying go and look for a problem and give us a solution."
Brown was asking about the Obama administration's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, released in 2015, that has drawn ire from many conservatives and is sure to be a focus of Thursday’s confirmation hearing.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/313970-carson-likely-to-roll-back-housing-equality-rule
Le Pen Spotted at Trump Tower During Unannounced New York Visit
Source: Bloomberg
French National Front leader Marine Le Pen was spotted at Trump Tower during an unannounced visit to New York less than four months before France’s presidential election.
An aide to Le Pen, who leads in the latest opinion poll for the presidency, declined to comment on her reason for being in the lobby of the building on Thursday. Le Pen waved off reporters when approached.
Donald Trump had no plans to meet with Le Pen, according to an aide to the president-elect, who asked not to be identified without authorization to speak publicly. Neither is she on Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon’s schedule, a person familiar said. Le Pen’s campaign chief of staff, David Rachline, said earlier that she was making a private visit to New York.
“It’s not on her public agenda,” Rachline said in a text message exchange, when asked if she planned a meeting with Trump or officials close to him. “We don’t communicate about private visits.”
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-12/le-pen-in-new-york-for-unannounced-visit-during-french-race
S.D. legislators vote down ban on sexual contact with interns
Source: The Hill
South Dakota lawmakers have blocked a proposed rule that would have banned sexual contact between legislators and their young interns and pages.
State Sen. Stace Nelson (R), who sponsored the proposed ban, told fellow legislators the rule is necessary to prevent a repeat of an ugly incident from 2007, when a member of the state Senate was censured after being accused of fondling an intern.
“There’s been events in history that indicate these rules should have been put in stone and they haven’t,” Nelson told the Joint Committee on Legislative Procedure, according to the Argus Leader. “This is a rule we brought forth to address this so that there is no gray area.”
Those who voted against the proposal said inappropriate sexual advances are already banned under state rules. The committee voted to defer the proposal for more than a month, a step that effectively kills the idea.
Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/313956-sd-legislators-vote-down-ban-on-sexual-contact-with-interns
Trump team takes credit for Amazon hiring spree
Source: The Hill
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team hailed Amazon's plans to hire 100,000 new workers in the U.S. on Thursday and claimed Trump played a part in the tech giant's move.
"The president-elect was pleased to play role in that decision," incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during a transition call.
Spicer cited Trump's December meeting with tech leaders, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Amazon was not immediately available for comment.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/313953-trump-team-takes-credit-for-amazon-hiring-spree
Bernie Sanders: I see areas where I can work with Trump
Source: Politico
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders extended an olive branch Thursday to President-elect Donald Trump, offering to work with the incoming Republican administration on infrastructure and trade policy.
“I don’t think it makes sense to say, ‘No, we’re not gonna work in any way in any form with the Trump administration,’” Sanders told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Trump has talked appropriately about a collapsing infrastructure: our roads, bridges and water systems. If he is prepared to work with us on rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure and creating millions of jobs and doing it in a way that doesn’t privatize our infrastructure or give tax breaks to billionaires, yes, let’s work together.”
In a break with his party, Trump has proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan, a proposal Democrats have expressed a willingness to work with him on. And, despite Sanders' progressive positions on the left and Trump's hard-line views on the right, both espoused similar views on trade.
Sanders credited the president-elect for talking about what he referred to as America’s “failed trade policy” on the campaign trail, particularly NAFTA and trade relations with China.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/bernie-sanders-can-work-with-trump-233532
Anti-Defamation League blasts Trump for invoking 'Nazi Germany'
Source: The Hill
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Wednesday condemned President-elect Donald Trump for invoking Nazi Germany in his criticism of the U.S. intelligence community, arguing his comments trivialize the Holocaust.
"The President-elect’s use of Nazi Germany to make a political analogy is not only an inappropriate comparison on the merits, but it also coarsens our discourse and diminishes the horror of the Holocaust,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement Wednesday.
“ADL always has maintained that glib comparisons to Nazi Germany are offensive and a trivialization of the Holocaust,” he said. “It would be helpful for the president-elect to explain his intentions or apologize for the remark.”
Trump initially made the comparison Wednesday morning on Twitter, apparently enraged by news reports that intelligence officials briefed him on an unverified dossier claiming the Russians had collected salacious information on him.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/313821-anti-defamation-league-blasts-trumps-comparison-of-us-to-nazi
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