Good Friday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 323rd day of the year. There are 43 days left in 2016.
Mitt Romney under consideration to be Donald Trump’s Secretary of State. Trump picks his National Security Advisor and Attorney General. Congress is eyeing a major overhaul of Medicare.
The clock:
- 31 days until the Electoral College meets to cast their votes for president and vice president (12/19/2016)
- 63 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President (1/20/2017)
- 66 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (1/23/2017)
- 111 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (3/9/2017)
- 354 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 718 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
Ten talking points for Friday:
- What happened this week in Utah politics and why? Watch our weekly video rundown. You won’t be sorry, probably [Utah Policy].
- Some Republicans in the Utah Legislature are upset by some of the tactics employed by Democrats during this year’s elections and may retaliate during the 2017 session [Utah Policy].
- Mitt Romney will meet with Donald Trump this weekend amid speculation the president-elect will offer him the Secretary of State job [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
- Donald Trump has reportedly offered the Attorney General post to Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions [CBS News]. Before becoming a senator, Sessions was rejected in 1986 for a federal judgeship because he has a troubling history of making racist remarks [Huffington Post].
- Retired General Michael T. Flynn is Donald Trump‘s pick for National Security Advisor [Washington Post].
- Trump is considering Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. Mnuchin has some possible conflicts of interest in his background that could make his confirmation a thorny prospect [Washington Post].
- Donald Trump is planning a “victory tour” of the 30 states he carried during the 2016 election. Aides to Trump say the president-elect will hit the road sometime in the next couple of weeks [Politico].
- Anti-Trump protestors have posted online the personal information of dozens of electoral college voters. The information includes phone numbers and home addresses [BuzzFeed]. The Office of the Federal Register, which administers the Electoral College, has been inundated with angry phone calls and emails since Donald Trump won the presidency [Washington Post].
- Congressional Republicans say they are considering a major overhaul of Medicare during 2017 [The Hill]. Sen. Orrin Hatch says entitlement reform, including Medicare, will be a must to make sure Donald Trump’s administration is fiscally responsible [Talking Points Memo].
- What climate change? The North Pole is 36 degrees warmer than normal right now, while sea ice covering the polar region is at a record low [Washington Post].
On this day in history:
- 1883 – The United States adopted Standard Time and set up four time zones.
- 1928 – Mickey Mouse appeared for the first time in “Steamboat Willie,” the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.
- 1963 – Push-button telephones made their debut.
- 1978 – More than 900 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People’s Temple commune in Guyana.
- 1987 – The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides.
- 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, declares the state’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional.
