Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 87th day of the year. There are 278 days remaining in 2017.
Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton underperformed in Utah during the 2016 election. Will Utah revisit Healthy Utah following the implosion of the Obamacare repeal effort? Trump’s approval ratings hit a new low.
The clock:
- Tomorrow is the last day Governor Gary Herbert can sign or veto bills (3/29/2017)
- 53 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)
- 81 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)
- 224 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 300 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 345 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 588 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,316 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- We all know that Donald Trump did not do very well in Utah during the 2016 election. However, he also failed to win a majority in all four of Utah’s Congressional districts last year, while Hillary Clinton got fewer votes than all of the Democratic Congressional candidates. Additionally, Evan McMullin beat Clinton in one district and barely lost to her in another [Utah Policy].
- Now that the Obamacare repeal is dead, will Utah lawmakers revisit Gov. Gary Herbert‘s Healthy Utah plan to expand health care coverage? [Utah Policy]
- Sen. Orrin Hatch says he will support invoking the “nuclear option” to overcome a Democratic filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch [Utah Policy].
- Gov. Gary Herbert says he’s pushing for both Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and President Donald Trump to visit Utah to visit Bears Ears and discuss public lands issues [Utah Policy].
- Salt Lake County officials are feeling the pressure from the looming deadline to choose a site for a new homeless resource center. Residents in South Salt Lake and West Valley City are pushing back hard against the proposed sites [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Ann Romney says it is entirely possible that her son, Josh, will run for Utah governor in 2020 [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Following the Obamacare repeal disaster, President Donald Trump‘s approval rating has fallen to a new low at just 36%, down from 41% [Politico].
- President Donald Trump is set to take sweeping executive actions to wipe out Obama-era environmental protections [Washington Post].
- President Trump wants Congress to tackle both tax reform and his massive infrastructure spending proposal at the same time [Axios].
- So much Russia news coming out of Washington:
- The House Intelligence Committee has scrapped all meetings this week after partisan infighting is threatening to derail the investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign [CNN].
- Democrats are calling for House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes to step aside from the investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign following his bizarre behavior that led him to disclose information about U.S. intelligence gathering to the Trump administration [Wall Street Journal].
- Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner had a previously undisclosed meeting with a Russian bank during the presidential transition. That bank is on a U.S. sanctions list [Wall Street Journal].
- Former Vice President Dick Cheney says Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election could be considered “an act of war” [Politico].
- Donald Trump went on Twitter Monday night to complain that the House should investigate the Clinton’s for their ties to Russia instead of him [CNN].
- The next Congressional battle over spending could lead to another government shutdown [Bloomberg].
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Trump administration will withhold federal funds from so-called “sanctuary cities” that don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities [Wall Street Journal].
- You can now call your congressman using Facebook instead of your phone [Washington Post].
- South Salt Lake officials hope a new downtown development will revitalize the city [Deseret News].
On this day in history:
- 1834 – The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
- 1930 – The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.
- 1979 – A nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa., released a small amount of radiation, but caused no serious injuries. It was America’s worst commercial nuclear accident.
