Dear Commons Community,
Yesterday was one of those days when the news just kept coming and coming out of Washington, D.C. Here are brief recaps of four major stories.
First, the U.S. Senate rejected the so-called “Skinny” Obamacare repeal by a vote of 51 to 48 with Republicans Collins, Murkowski and McCain voting with Democrats. This puts the entire Obamacare repeal in disarray.
Second, Senator Lindsay Graham declared war on President Trump by stating that ““The idea that the president would fire [Special Prosecutor] Robert Mueller ― or have somebody fire Mueller ― because he doesn’t like Mueller or Mueller is doing something he doesn’t like… then we become Russia,” Graham said in an interview on Capitol Hill. “Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency unless Mueller did something wrong.”
Third, transgender people can continue to serve in the military for now, Pentagon leaders said yesterday, scrambling to clarify the confusion surrounding President Trump’s abrupt announcement a day earlier that transgender people would no longer be accepted or allowed in uniform.
In a letter to the military service chiefs, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the policy on who is allowed to serve would not change until the White House sends the Defense Department new rules and the secretary of defense issues new guidelines.
“In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect,” General Dunford said in the letter.
And last but not least, Anthony Scaramucci, went on a rant against his White House colleagues, Reince Priebus and Stephen Bannon. In a telephone call with a New Yorker writer reported on the magazine’s website last night, Mr. Scaramucci railed against Priebus and Bannon both of whom opposed his hiring last week. He even vowed to get the chief of staff fired. “Reince Priebus — if you want to leak something — he’ll be asked to resign very shortly,” Mr. Scaramucci said.
Ringling Brothers anyone!
Tony
