Good Tuesday morning and Happy Tax Day from Salt Lake City. Today is the 108th day of the year. There are 257 days remaining in 2017.
A poll shows Rep. Chris Stewart is having difficulty connecting with constituents. Trump set to make good on a campaign promise to put “America first.” Democrats hope to win a special election for a Republican seat in Georgia.
The clock:
- 32 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)
- 60 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)
- 203 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 279 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 324 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 567 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,295 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- A little more than 1/4 of voters in Rep. Chris Stewart‘s district say they have no opinion of him or don’t know who he is. That’s not good [Utah Policy].
- Rep. Mia Love‘s favorability ratings are barely in positive territory according to a new poll [Utah Policy].
- Rep. Rob Bishop is viewed favorably by a majority of voters in the 1st Congressional District [Utah Policy].
- Gov. Gary Herbert will join Utah lawmakers on their field trip to southern Utah this week. It will be the first time a governor has joined the tour in a quarter-century [Utah Policy].
- LaVarr Webb says it’s a good reason that Utah lawmakers are tackling tax reform this year because the state will need to get used to a lot less money from the federal government [Utah Policy].
- Salt Lake Mayor Jackie Biskupski nominated Marc Woolley to head the city’s Redevelopment Agency, then turned around and yanked his appointment after some troubling incidents from his past came to light [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Rep. Chris Stewart says the U.S. cannot take military action against North Korea off the table to stop that country from advancing their nuclear weapons program [Deseret News].
- Vice President Mike Pence tells Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that America stands behind Japan in the face of North Korean aggression [Associated Press].
- Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he agrees with Vice President Mike Pence who said the “era of strategic patience is over” when it comes to North Korea [KUTV].
- British Prime Minister Theresa May shocks everybody by calling for a snap election on June 8, less than halfway through her term [CNN].
- A new book takes an in-depth dive into Hillary Clinton‘s failed campaign for president. Clinton reportedly apologized to Barack Obama after she lost to Donald Trump in November [The Hill].
- A special congressional election in Georgia on Tuesday has everyone’s attention as Democrats are trying to snatch away a longtime GOP seat. There are 11 Republicans and one Democrat in the race. If no candidate gets more than 50%, the top two will advance to a runoff [The Hill]. Both parties are spending massive sums of money in the race [Center for Public Integrity].
- Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin acknowledged that it’s unlikely that Republicans in Congress will be able to get tax reform finished by August [Politico]. Another hurdle to tax reform? Donald Trump‘s refusal to release his tax returns [New York Times].
- House Republicans are hoping to eliminate a tax break that mostly benefits wealthy Americans who live in Democratic states. Taxpayers have been able to deduct state and local income taxes from their taxable income. Democrats want to keep the measure in place [Bloomberg].
- President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order directing technology companies to hire American workers over low-wage laborers from foreign countries [Wall Street Journal].
On this day in history:
- 1775 – Paul Revere began his ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.
- 1906 – A major earthquake struck San Francisco and set off raging fires. More than 3,000 people died.
- 1978 – The U.S. Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
- 1983 – The U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was severely damaged by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.