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March 21, 2017 11:15 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (March 21)

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Colorado State University lost its game Monday, so you can stop pretending to care about the NIT. Please settle in as we Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► House Republicans are still working toward a Thursday vote on Trumpcare, and the President himself is on Capitol Hill making threats and demands. As the Washington Post reports, President Trump’s tough talk may not be enough to sway skeptical Republicans:

President Trump went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to sell the House GOP leadership’s plan to overhaul the health-care system as the legislation races toward an expected vote on the House floor by the end of the week. Assuring Republicans that they would gain seats if they passed the bill, the president told Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, to stand up and take some advice.

“I’m gonna come after you, but I know I won’t have to, because I know you’ll vote ‘yes,’ ” Trump said, according to several Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting. “Honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.”

But after the meeting, Meadows told reporters that the president had not made the sale, that the call-out was good-natured and that conservative holdouts would continue to press for a tougher bill.

“I’m still a ‘no,’ ” he said. “I’ve had no indication that any of my Freedom Caucus colleagues have switched their votes.”

After meeting with Republicans, Trump predicted “a real winner” following Thursday’s planned vote, though Politico also reports that members of the Freedom Caucus were not swayed by Trump’s appearance. Colorado Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) also says that he has not yet decided whether to support Trumpcare.

 

► Denver Judge Neil Gorsuch continues to take tough questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the first part of his confirmation hearing to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Gorsuch was asked repeatedly this morning about how he might rule on cases relating to abortion, as Politico explains:

Gorsuch declined to say whether Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, was correctly decided more than four decades ago.

The comments came in an exchange about legal precedent with Grassley, who appeared eager to stave off Democratic attempts to pin Gorsuch down on controversial issues.

Roe “is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” Gorsuch testified.

“I’m not in a position to tell you whether I’d personally like or dislike any precedent. That’s not relevant to my job,” Gorsuch in the discussion with Grassley. “Precedent … deserves our respect. And to come in and think that just because I’m new or the latest thing I’d know better than everybody who comes before me would be an act of hubris.”

When asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) whether he viewed Roe as a “super precedent,” Gorsuch responded: “It has been reaffirmed many times, I can say that.”

Last weekend, the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University confidently proclaimed that Gorsuch would help to overturn Roe v. Wade. These are the same geniuses that think you should boycott the new Beauty and the Beast movie.

 

► Senate Republican leaders in the Colorado legislature killed a bipartisan measure intended to make adjustments to TABOR in order to free more money for education and infrastructure needs. Republican leadership instead offered up its own solution for dealing with Colorado’s budget woes…nah, just kidding.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

A compromise bill dealing with construction defects reform could be in the works in the state legislature.

 

According to poll results from C-SPAN, most Americans can’t name any current member of the Supreme Court. The C-SPAN poll couldn’t find a single person who knew the name Stephen Breyer.

 

► FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on Monday that there is “no evidence” to support President Trump’s nonsense claims that his Presidential campaign was “wiretapped” by former President Obama. Comey also confirmed that the FBI is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

 

► Just hours after Comey’s Capitol Hill appearance, documents emerged indicating that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort laundered money for the former President of Ukraine.

 

► The United States is banning certain electronic items from the carry-on luggage of travelers coming from eight Muslim-majority countries.

 

► 9News takes a look at reports that President Trump’s new federal budget could be the death knell for the popular “Meals on Wheels” program.

 

► Senate Republicans in the state legislature are apparently growing nervous about being accused of shepherding big cuts in the Colorado budget. As Peter Marcus writes for the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Majority Republicans in the Colorado Senate say it is unfair to frame upcoming budget talks as being about “cuts,” pointing out that spending continues to grow.

A quarterly revenue forecast presented by Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office on Friday indicated that lawmakers must trim about $700 million in order to pass a balanced budget based on the governor’s November request.

Hickenlooper’s $28.5 billion budget request for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in July would represent an increase of 3.3 percent over last year, with a 3.7 percent rise in discretionary spending, bringing the General Fund to $10.9 billion. On Friday, Hickenlooper’s budget director, Henry Sobanet, said lawmakers would have to close a nearly $700 million hole to bring the budget request into balance. The gap comes because new financial demands facing the state outpace anticipated revenue…

…Democrats expressed frustration, stating that the state should not be discussing shifting money in order to balance spending for critical areas such as schools, health care and roads, especially at a time when Colorado’s economy is booming. Many observers view those shifts in funding as “cuts” to specific services and programs.

Try using that logic on your own kids sometime. We’re not cutting your allowance, Billy, we’re just giving you less money!

 

► Republican Rep. Jim Wilson abandoned legislation that would have allowed rural school districts to hire unlicensed teachers when he wasn’t able to find enough support among fellow lawmakers.

 

The first rule about Pot Clubs is to spend a lot of time talking about Pot Clubs.

 

► President Trump’s approval ratings continue to drop. Gallup’s tracking poll shows that only 37% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as President, while 58% give Trump a big thumbs-down.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway continues to drag his own name through the muck. As the Greeley Tribune reports:

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, in a possible “self-serving” effort to discredit his fellow commissioners, leaked a complaint against himself to two media outlets, according to a Mountain States Employers Council investigation.

The investigative report, posted as part of the Board of Weld County Commissioners’ Monday agenda packet, centers on whether Conway released a complaint filed by an employee after a Nov. 23, 2016, incident and whether Conway did it as an act of retaliation against the employee who filed the complaint…

When asked what the odds are everybody is lying except him, Conway was adamant. [Pols emphasis]

“One-hundred percent,” Conway said. “Because I have no reason to lie to you.”

On Monday, Weld County Commissioners agreed to retain a private attorney for an “audit” of the Commissioners and the County Clerk.

► Ivanka Trump still doesn’t have an official title, but President Trump’s daughter is getting an office in the West Wing.

ICYMI

► Is Impeachara right for you?

Don’t forget to check out The Get More Smarter Show. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!

Comments

8 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Tuesday (March 21)

  1. With abortion and Roe being a key Republican issue ( check out Graham's weird line of questions), and these social issues as the lure that hooks voters to cast their ballots for the Billionaire Agenda, this would be a good time for Democrats, especially those in the senate, to explain this all to voters and reiterate that we know how to reduce abortion. 

    And it's not with tax cuts. 

    1. Roe is not the final target for the far righties. That target is Griswold v. Connecticut, because "we all know that promiscuous single people will be less likely to live in sin if there is no access to contraception." And the only valid form of birth control anyway is the rhythm method, as designated by the patriarchal old bishops of the Catholic church. (funny how they never say anything about condom machines in truck stop mens' rooms). 

      Visit thepillkills dot org. Or American Life League, Americans United for Life, and so on.

  2. Looks like it is time for "President Ivanka".

    I'm guessing she is the only person that can even hope to control the madman in the White House. They are moving her in to help stabilize an out of control executive branch that has no effective leader. She may be the only one to whom he will listen.

     

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