[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #491The Tragedy of Paul Ryan

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Former coal lobbyist confirmed as No. 2 official at EPA (AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed a former coal industry lobbyist as the second-highest official at the Environmental Protection Agency, putting him next in line to run the agency if embattled administrator Scott Pruitt is forced out or resigns.

Senators approved Andrew Wheeler as the agency’s deputy administrator despite complaints from Democrats that Wheeler helped lead a fight by the coal industry to block regulations that protect Americans’ health and begin to address climate change.

The Senate confirmed Wheeler Thursday 53-45. Three Democrats — Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — joined with Republicans to support Wheeler.

Until his nomination by President Donald Trump last fall, Wheeler worked as a lobbyist with a client list that included Murray Energy, one of the nation’s largest coal mining companies. He accompanied Murray CEO Robert “Bob” Murray during a series of closed-door meetings to lobby the Trump administration to kill environmental regulations affecting coal mines.

“Andrew Wheeler’s coal credentials are without equal. He is, without question, a member of the coal industry’s Hall of Fame,” said Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

“Sadly, I am concerned that Andrew Wheeler’s background means that he will never understand that saving coal is not the job of the EPA,” Markey added. “It is the EPA’s job to regulate coal to protect public health and the environment.”

Republicans countered that Wheeler, 53, is well-qualified to lead the agency, having worked at the EPA early in his career and serving as Republican staff chief of the Senate Environment Committee before becoming a lobbyist nine years ago.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate environment panel, said Wheeler has demonstrated his commitment to sound environmental policies and has “exemplified excellence in his professional endeavors,” both in government and in the private sector.

In the style of his boss, Trump, Pruitt tweeted his approval soon after the Senate vote.

“Let me be the first to congratulate Andrew Wheeler as @EPA’s new deputy administrator. Andrew has spent his entire career advancing sound environmental policies & I look forward to working with him to implement President Trump’s environmental agenda,” Pruitt wrote.

Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico had called for the vote to be delayed while lawmakers review Wheeler’s credentials, citing Pruitt’s uncertain status amid damaging ethics disclosures. His request was denied.

“The problem with the Wheeler nomination is if (Pruitt) goes tomorrow, Wheeler is in fact the administrator. And that’s a very, very serious problem,” Udall said Wednesday.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said circumstances surrounding Wheeler have changed since the environment panel voted along party lines in February to advance Wheeler’s nomination. “With the cloud over Administrator Pruitt,” lawmakers are uncertain if they are voting on Wheeler to lead EPA or “be the deputy administrator,” Cardin said

Heitkamp, who faces a tough re-election in a state won easily by President Donald Trump, said she is confident Wheeler will “be open to working on issues important to North Dakota in a pragmatic and fair way. And I’ll hold him accountable to make sure he implements the mission of the EPA in a way that works for my state.”

Heitkamp and Manchin, who also faces a tough race in state Trump won easily, broke last year with their party’s leaders to vote in favor of confirming Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general aligned with the oil and gas industry. Since arriving at EPA in February 2017, Pruitt has worked relentlessly to scrap, roll back and rewrite pollution regulations opposed by the fossil-fuel industry.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the sole Republican to oppose Pruitt, supported Wheeler’s nomination. “Mr. Wheeler has demonstrated that he understands the mission of the EPA and the role of Congress when it comes to oversight and accountability,” she said.

Senators asked Wheeler about the meeting with the Trump administration on behalf of Murray Energy during a November hearing. Wheeler acknowledged he attended but said he couldn’t remember any details.

Photos later emerged that showed Wheeler sitting at the table during an undisclosed meeting where Murray handed Energy Secretary Rick Perry a four-page “action plan” to revive the nation’s struggling coal industry. The Trump administration later carried out several of the recommended actions.

Like Pruitt, Wheeler has expressed public skepticism about the consensus of climate scientists that the continued burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming.

Environmental groups said the combination of Pruitt and Wheeler could prove devastating to the environment.

“Before the Trump administration, it would have been inconceivable that a coal and chemical industry lobbyist with a long history of hostility toward environmental policy would be the No. 2 at EPA,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:41 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Je zei dat de koning 0 politieke macht had. Ik zei dat dat in de realiteit wel redelijk klopt (ofschoon ook hier wel wat op af te dingen is), maar niet met wat geschreven is ... vervolgens geef ik redenen waarom ik dat denk ... ik zie niet hoe jouw reactie daarop inhaakt...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:47 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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En vervolgens kom je met de geschreven Grondwet aanzetten..

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:49 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:
Ok, tipje vd sluier "macht heeft de koning niet":
https://www.parlement.com/id/vh8lnhronvvr/de_koning

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:52 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Supertof stukje. Ik vind de tekst die je aanhaalt om je punt te ondersteunen wel raar ... " Macht heeft de Koning niet. Voor het uitvaardigen van wetten en besluiten zijn de handtekening nodig van zowel de Koning als een minister"

Ik haal hieruit dat de koning wel degelijk macht heeft.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:54 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Nee, hij tekent sowieso...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:54 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Ja, dat is de praktijk.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:56 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Gast, verdiep je eens in het Staatsrecht ofzo..

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 00:58 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Verdiep je zelf hier eens goed in. De koning tekent wetten ceremonieel. We verschillen echt niet van mening hierover hoor. Je argumenteert alleen niet tegen het argument, maar tegen wat jij denkt dat het argument is.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:02 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Ik zie je geen redelijk argument geven tegen wat ik zei anders dan roepen dat het niet klopt en nu dat je jurist bent...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:01 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:
Jullie hebben allebei gelijk volgens mij. De koning heeft inderdaad formeel een politieke rol maar omdat de uitoefening van die rol geheel een formaliteit is, en er een constitutionele crisis ontstaat als hij die formele handelingen weigert te doen, heeft hij feitelijk 0 politieke macht. In dit verband is het verhaal van Koning Boudewijn en de abortuswet wel een interessante: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-koningskwestie.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:08 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Het wordt lastig om de koning uit te schakelen .. die wet zou hijzelf moeten ondertekenen... uiteindelijk vermoed ik wel dat zoals de vlag nu hangt dat regering en leger gelijkgestemd zijn en hij dan uit zijn ambt gezet wordt, maar de claim dat hij echt 0 politieke macht heeft is denk ik niet terecht.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:09 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:10 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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[Blijft argument-arm protesteren]

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:13 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Informeer jezelf gewoon eens ipv factfree te blaten...

Man, wat ben je irritant nu..

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:18 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:
Westwood en ik zeggen hetzelfde. 0 politieke macht voor de koning...

En ik geef en argumenten en links en hints.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:23 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Je geeft je eigen en mijn standpunten niet eerlijk weer. We zijn beiden eens dat de koning in de praktijk geen politieke macht zou hebben. Je bent dus niet eerlijk aan het discussiëren. Succes er verder mee, ik ga slapen.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:22 schreef Nibb-it het volgende:
Gaap.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:28 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Best irritant dat er over dit soort elementaire staatsrechtelijke dingen een ellenlange discussie moet zijn idd...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:25 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Hm ja, AMV idd.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:30 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Zegt degene die de discussie aanzwengelde en in stand hield...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:34 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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We zijn voor het in stand houden beiden verantwoordelijk denk ik. Laten we er een punt achter zetten?

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:37 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:

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Nee. Jij bleef eigenwijs beweren dat de koning wel politieke macht heeft.

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President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.

Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?”

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:39 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Weer geef je hier mee mijn en jouw standpunt niet eerlijk weer. Ik hou er nu echt over op. Schrijf verder wat je wil hierover.

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Op donderdag 12 april 2018 18:20 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Je ziet het in je portemonnee.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:18 schreef Whiskers2009 het volgende:
Westwood en ik zeggen hetzelfde. 0 politieke macht voor de koning...

En ik geef en argumenten en links en hints.

Dus hou op met je geblaat dat hij wel politieke macht heeft en je gejammer over mij. Jezus...

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 01:39 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Weer geef je hier mee mijn en jouw standpunt niet eerlijk weer. Ik hou er nu echt over op. Schrijf verder wat je wil hierover.

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President Trump, in a sharp reversal, told a gathering of farm state lawmakers and governors on Thursday morning that the United States was looking into rejoining a multicountry trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal he pulled out of days after assuming the presidency.

Mr. Trump’s reconsideration of an agreement he once denounced as a “rape of our country” caught even his closest advisers by surprise and came as his administration faces stiff pushback from Republican lawmakers, farmers and other businesses concerned that the president’s threat of tariffs and other trade barriers will hurt them economically.

Larry Kudlow, Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser, said in an interview on Thursday with The New York Times that the request to revisit the deal was somewhat spontaneous. “This whole trade thing has exploded,” Mr. Kudlow said. “There’s no deadline. We’ll pull a team together, but we haven’t even done — I mean, it just happened a couple hours ago.”

Mr. Trump’s decision to throw out the Trans-Pacific Partnership and his pledge to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement were bedrock promises of his populist campaign, which centered heavily on unfair trade practices that he said had robbed American manufacturers and workers.

But, as he often does, the president started to change gears after hearing complaints from important constituents — in this case, Republican lawmakers who said farmers and other businesses in their states would suffer from his trade approach since they send many of their products abroad.

At the White House meeting on Thursday, Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, questioned Mr. Trump about returning to the pact, arguing that the Trans-Pacific Partnership was the best way to put pressure on China.

Mr. Trump, who has put China’s “unfair” trade practices in his cross hairs, turned to Mr. Kudlow and Robert Lighthizer, his trade negotiator, and asked them to look into re-entering the agreement.

Rejoining the pact could be a significant change in fortune for many American industries that stood to benefit from the trade accord and for Republican lawmakers who supported it. The deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, was largely intended as a tool to prod China into making the type of economic changes that the United States and others have long wanted. Many economists say the best way to combat a rising China and pressure it to open its market is through multilateral trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which create favorable trading terms for participants.

“The idea was to set a framework that eventually China would have to accommodate,” said David Autor, an economist at M.I.T.

Farmers would stand to benefit from new access to markets, especially Japan, if Mr. Trump rejoins the pact. For instance, ranchers in Australia can send beef to Japan under more favorable trade terms than those in the United States under the terms of the TPP.

Michael Miller, the chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates and a farmer in Washington, said rejoining the deal would allow his industry to compete on a level playing field with competitors in Australia and Canada, which both remained in the accord.

But rejoining it could be a complex task. The remaining countries, like Japan, moved ahead without the United States, and spent months renegotiating a pact before finally agreeing to a sweeping multinational deal this year. Mr. Trump, who has demanded that any such deal benefit the United States, is unlikely to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership without further concessions for what he has criticized as a terrible agreement. That could complicate talks, since Japan maintains that it has already given all the concessions it could, said William A. Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It is also unclear how serious Mr. Trump is about rejoining. In the past, the president has floated policies that appeared to run counter to his earlier positions, like cooperating with Democrats on legislation governing immigration and gun rights, then quickly abandoned them.

“What he tells people in a room to make them happy does not always translate into administration policy,” said Phil Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

In a statement, a deputy White House press secretary, Lindsay Walters, pushed back on the notion that Mr. Trump was reversing his promises.

The president had “kept his promise to end the TPP deal negotiated by the Obama administration because it was unfair to American workers and farmers,” she said. “The president has consistently said he would be open to a substantially better deal.”

But the White House is in somewhat of a box when it comes to prodding China to fall in line with global trade rules. The administration is trying to use tariffs to force Beijing to open its markets, but many of his supporters, including business groups and farmers, fear the fallout from an escalating trade war will be even more damaging. China has responded to Mr. Trump’s threat of tariffs on as much as $150 billion worth of its goods by placing its own tariffs on American pork, and threatening taxes on soybeans, sorghum, corn and beef.

Some advisers, including Mr. Kudlow, have indicated that those tariffs may never go into effect, and that they are mainly a prelude to negotiations with the Chinese, statements that have helped calm volatile stock markets. In a recent note to clients, the ratings agency Fitch said that the most likely outcome to the conflict remained a “negotiated solution” and that it was therefore not changing its primary economic forecast.

Mr. Kudlow, in the interview, said that farmers had “a legitimate concern” but added that it would be “at least two months before final decisions will be made.”

“I’m not here to say we won’t use tariffs — everything’s on the table in these negotiations — but I am here to say we don’t know yet,” he said.

Still, White House officials suggest that little to no progress has yet been made in bridging contentious gaps with the Chinese. Administration officials say that back-channel talks have occurred, but they would not characterize them as official negotiations. The Chinese appear impassable on some of the issues that the White House is most concerned about, including their subsidies to cutting-edge industries like robotics, aerospace and artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration says it has ordered the Agriculture Department to create a program to help farmers should the two nations find themselves in a trade war. Trade advisers say the department could draw on the financial resources of a program known as the Commodity Credit Corporation, which provides up to $30 billion to help shore up American farmers by buying their crops.

“Stay with us while we go through this difficult process,” Mr. Kudlow told farm state representatives during the meeting, according to a White House transcript. He added, “And at the end, if the worst case has come out as the president said, you will be helped. That’s a promise.”

But such a program would be time-consuming and costly and would come as the budget deficit continues to increase. Farmers say that Mr. Trump’s threats have already hurt them by causing the price of futures contracts to fall. They maintain that the easiest way to help them is to avoid a trade war with China in the first place.

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Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, described the meeting with the president as “productive” and said that she had urged him to re-engage in discussions with countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Iowa farmers aren’t looking for another subsidy program; rather they want new and improved market access,” she said.

“The best thing the United States can do to push back against Chinese cheating now is to lead the other 11 Pacific nations that believe in free trade and the rule of law,” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, who attended the meeting, said in a statement. “It is good news that today the president directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer to negotiate U.S. entry into TPP.”

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President Donald Trump is poised to pardon Scooter J. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, according to sources familiar with the president’s thinking.

The president has already signed off on the pardon, which is something he has been considering for several months, sources told ABC News.

The move would mark another controversial pardon for Trump and could raise questions as an increasing number of the president’s political allies have landed themselves in legal jeopardy. The White House has repeatedly said that no pardons are currently on the table for people caught up in the Russia investigation.

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 03:39 schreef skysherrif het volgende:
Lol Trump gaat full Neocon.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 03:15 schreef DeParo het volgende:
Trump Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership
https://www.nytimes.com/2(...)news&WT.nav=top-news

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Past in de gecoordineerde aanval op China. Kudlow en Lighthizer lijken een positieve invloed op hem te hebben op het gebied van internationale handel. Maakt het makkelijker voor Amerika Chinese sancties te omzeilen.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 03:15 schreef DeParo het volgende:
Trump Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership
https://www.nytimes.com/2(...)=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

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Past in de gecoordineerde aanval op China. Kudlow en Lighthizer lijken een positieve invloed op hem te hebben op het gebied van internationale handel. Maakt het makkelijker voor Amerika Chinese sancties te omzeilen.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 07:42 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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En over een jaartje wordt Trump weer omringd door adviseurs met een andere visie op TPP. Stapt hij er dan weer uit?

Je moet er maar vrolijk van worden, een president die zich laat leiden door de mening van de laatste persoon die hij spreekt.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 07:52 schreef DeParo het volgende:

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De handelsoorlog met China heeft de verhoudingen natuurlijk wel.iets verandert.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 07:52 schreef DeParo het volgende:

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De handelsoorlog met China heeft de verhoudingen natuurlijk wel.iets verandert.

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 07:54 schreef DustPuppy het volgende:

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Een handelsoorlog die Amerika nota bene zelf begonnen is.

Vooruitziende blik is niet echt iets wat de Trump regering machtig is, of wel?

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 08:11 schreef Szura het volgende:
Haha toch nog mensen die het positief uit proberen te leggen dat hij eerst uit TPP ging want ‘slechte Obama-deal!1!1!1’ en nu terug wil omdat het toch wel handig was wat die Obama met dat verdrag beoogde, al zal ie dat nooit zo toegeven. Jammer Donald, te laat, verdragje is al rond. Kan ie daarna weer schreeuwen dat die oneerlijke landen uit het verdrag Amerika tegenwerken!!!

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Op vrijdag 13 april 2018 07:56 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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Hoezo? Op het moment dat hij besloot om uit TPP te stappen liep hij aan de lopende band te foeteren tegen China. Dat veranderde na zijn ontmoeting met Xi en die volgde pas later.