Trump: Working Day 1 Explained

[anatess2]

His Day 1 was technically last Friday but it was all spent on ceremonial stuff and all the transition work of moving everybody into place.  He did sign item 1 here last Friday.

1.) Issued  memo to instruct the executive branch to ease the economic burden of Obamacare (e.g. penalties to businesses and individuals) to the maximum extent permitted by law.  This is the only thing the President has the power to do towards the repeal of Obamcare.  What this does, though, is send a signal to Congress that the White House is now open for the repeal bill to be signed - if they can get their act together.  So yeah, first signature.  Indicator of its highest priority.

2.) Issued executive action to withdraw out of TPP negotiations.  Free traders take note.  This is gonna be something you'll need to watch carefully as Trump starts to demonstrate what he means by being "pro-Free Trade" yet extricates himself out of these multi-national trade partnerships.

3.) Issued memo for a Federal Agencies Hiring Freeze except for National Security and Military personnel.  This is step 1 of what he promised.  He also promised to make the agencies leaner.  Interestingly, a CNN report says 20% of federal employees said they are going to quit in response to the hiring freeze.  So, I guess the hiring freeze can also potentially accomplish step 2 of the process.

4.) Issued executive order to scrap Obama's order made in Jan 9 (that would have gone into effect on Jan 27) to reduce the mortgage insurance premium rate for FHA loans.  Schumer immediately responded that this is not in-line with Trump's Inaugural Address stating " President Trump, with the flick of a pen, ended that new policy, making it harder for Americans of modest means to obtain their piece of the rock, the American dream -- home ownership."  So, what's going on here?  First, FHA runs under the regulation that mortgage loan applicants does not have to come up with the customary 20% downpayment.  As you probably remember, this is the main reason the housing bubble was created because banks are required to issue un-secured loans to a whole lot of people who can't, otherwise, afford to buy a house.  The mortgage securities then became a game of hot-potato - sell the mortgage to the next sucker, fast as you can making mortgage-backed securities not much different than Day Traders.  So, the mortgage insurance is the bank's way of covering their butts while still complying with regulations.  So, the FHA regs never got adjusted after the housing bust - rather, the Feds just bought off people's mortgages.  But, the insurance premiums was raised so the FHA will not go bankrupt.  Obama decided he's gonna please his voters by reducing insurance premiums (there's no other explanation of why he would do this when nothing else has changed as far as FHA regs go).  Trump said, nope.  We're going to stop that before it starts and then we're going to unravel all these regulations after Ben Carson passes through the Congressional red tape and takes office.

5.)  Issued a new regulation freeze on all Fed Agencies.  This is done so that a review of all regulations in all Fed Agencies that he planned can commence on solid ground instead of shifting sand once the cabinet appointees pass through Congress.

6.) Reinstate the Mexico City policy on abortion - that is, barring all Fed Funds from going to foreign organizations that promote or perform abortion.  Reagan started this policy and ever since then, every Democrat President has rescinded the policy and every Republican President including Trump has reinstated the policy.  Yep, the Women's Marchers are fit to be tied on that one.  Just as a side note:  Obama's rescinding of this policy in 2009 was not popular among both Dems and Repubs.

7.) Issued memo to bar lobbyists from getting White House positions.  I can't find much detail on this one.  So, I'm not really sure what this exactly means yet.

This all happened amid several short meetings with heads of states and representatives of the manufacturing industry.  Also interesting thing to note - The DOJ cleared Kushner to hold an advisory position to Trump.  Trump is leaning on him to start the effort to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Popcorn-worthy, this.

 

 

[NeuroTypical]

What's your source for this?  Is there like a "what did Trump do today" app or something?

[yjacket]

45 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

What's your source for this?  Is there like a "what did Trump do today" app or something?

I would love that!

[yjacket]

1 hour ago, anatess2 said:

His Day 1 was technically last Friday but it was all spent on ceremonial stuff and all the transition work of moving everybody into place.  He did sign item 1 here last Friday.

1.) Issued  memo to instruct the executive branch to ease the economic burden of Obamacare (e.g. penalties to businesses and individuals) to the maximum extent permitted by law.  This is the only thing the President has the power to do towards the repeal of Obamcare.  What this does, though, is send a signal to Congress that the White House is now open for the repeal bill to be signed - if they can get their act together.  So yeah, first signature.  Indicator of its highest priority.

Love this one.  Basically with the swipe of a pen he killed Obamacare; as the main portion of Obamacare was/is the taxes/mandates.  And before people complain, I believe the executive branch has the ability to tell it's agencies not to enforce a law, but doesn't have the ability to enforce a law not created by Congress.  Executive local/state agencies do it all the time-just b/c you were speeding doesn't mean the officer has to give you a ticket.

[NeuroTypical]

I don't think we're quite to the "yay he killed obamacare" part yet.

"ease the economic burden of Obamacare (e.g. penalties to businesses and individuals) to the maximum extent permitted by law."

There will still be penalties for noncompliance, just maybe growing at a slower rate, or some won't be as high as previously planned, or some such thing.  

Need link...

[NightSG]

2 hours ago, anatess2 said:

Trump is leaning on him to start the effort to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Popcorn-worthy, this.

Nah...now if he starts hauling construction equipment up the Temple Mount...

[yjacket]

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

I don't think we're quite to the "yay he killed obamacare" part yet.

"ease the economic burden of Obamacare (e.g. penalties to businesses and individuals) to the maximum extent permitted by law."

There will still be penalties for noncompliance, just maybe growing at a slower rate, or some won't be as high as previously planned, or some such thing.  

Need link...

Maybe, maybe not . . .all I know is that if I was faced with the Obamacare individual tax for not getting healthcare, I'd refuse to pay it and see what happens.  If I were a business hit with an Obamacare fee, I'd refuse to pay it and see what happens.

I would definitely push the issue if I were in a position to do so. Trump has in effect messaged to the populace, the mandate, fees, penalties, etc. are dead.  It will become a dead letter.  Just because something is law doesn't mean it has to be enforced- there are tons upon tons of laws in this country-local,state,federal-that are on the books but never enforced.  That is part of the trick-figuring out which laws are enforced and which are not (b/c the vast majority of them have nothing to do with morality).

[Sunday21]

If obamacare is dead, how do us citizens pay medical bills?

[anatess2]

2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

What's your source for this?  Is there like a "what did Trump do today" app or something?

See, this is another testament to the Trump demand for efficiency.  The whitehouse.gov website completely changed Friday afternoon to match the new agenda.  Everything is in there.  Mostly in the Presidential actions link.  My commentary comes from my personal thoughts on the matter.

[anatess2]

2 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

If obamacare is dead, how do us citizens pay medical bills?

The same way we do everything else.  

[Sunday21]

5 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

The same way we do everything else.  

I assume that there are people formerly covered by obamacare who now need to make other arrangements?

[NeuroTypical]

57 minutes ago, yjacket said:

all I know is that if I was faced with the Obamacare individual tax for not getting healthcare, I'd refuse to pay it and see what happens.  

I've picked up seasonal tax work this year, and can speak to this.

Basically, you prove compliance with the Affordable Care Act on your yearly taxes.  There are tax forms which must be added to your return.  If you were found noncompliant, a penalty would be assessed as part of doing your taxes.  "Not paying it", would basically mean choosing to lie and file a fraudulent tax return, and then see if the IRS catches you or not.  They sure might, because they'd get the same 1095 forms you did.  Or maybe you'd calculate everything correctly, but if you owed taxes, you'd remove the penalty from what you paid.  Which would mean you've underpaid your return, which would start the 'interest and penalties' thing until you got caught up.

I think that's what happens - you run afoul of the IRS and they hound you 'til your dying day.  

[Just_A_Guy]

2 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

I've picked up seasonal tax work this year, and can speak to this.

Basically, you prove compliance with the Affordable Care Act on your yearly taxes.  There are tax forms which must be added to your return.  If you were found noncompliant, a penalty would be assessed as part of doing your taxes.  "Not paying it", would basically mean choosing to lie and file a fraudulent tax return, and then see if the IRS catches you or not.  They sure might, because they'd get the same 1095 forms you did.  Or maybe you'd calculate everything correctly, but if you owed taxes, you'd remove the penalty from what you paid.  Which would mean you've underpaid your return, which would start the 'interest and penalties' thing until you got caught up.

I think that's what happens - you run afoul of the IRS and they hound you 'til your dying day.  

I thought the "fine" was set up in such a way that if you were getting a refund they would pull it out of your check--but that if you owed, they wouldn't add the fine to your liability.  Am I wrong?

 

It will be interesting to see how the PPACA memo is applied.  I abhor the mandate, but the revenue received through it is what keeps the HMOs' heads above water now that they can't refuse to cover people or raise the rates of those whose health care actually costs more.  The "replace" will have to come awfully quickly or we will see more rate increases and more insurers abandoning certain markets.

One interesting thing that Trump statutorily *could have* done, but didn't:  Stop admitting immigrants from problematic locations/demographics.

[NeuroTypical]

57 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I thought the "fine" was set up in such a way that if you were getting a refund they would pull it out of your check--but that if you owed, they wouldn't add the fine to your liability.  Am I wrong?

As I look further into it, I think you're right.

1- Something like 80% of US workers get refunds at tax time, so most people have no choice.

2- For the 20% who do have this option, we're told there are no liens, levies, or criminal penalties if you refuse to pay your penalty.  But you will still owe the IRS, and they will grab what you owe from any future tax refunds.   This is assuming the IRS recognizes the amount you underpay equals the amount of your unpaid ACA penalty - no guarantee of that happening.

[yjacket]

12 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

 

I think that's what happens - you run afoul of the IRS and they hound you 'til your dying day.  

But I think this is what the memo means.  The IRS doesn't have to go after people who don't pay-it has limited resources and budgets-it can go after others rather than those who don't pay the tax.

[anatess2]

17 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

I assume that there are people formerly covered by obamacare who now need to make other arrangements?

Not yet.  It's not repealed yet.  The Trump requirement is that a replacement needs to be put up the minute it is repealed exactly for the purpose of avoiding lapse in coverages for those who are currently in the exchange.

The thing is, private insurers are providing the insurance coverages under the exchange.  Right now - even with Obamacare still fully operational - people in the exchanges are already losing insurance coverage because several major insurers pulled out of the exchange (they underwent heavy financial losses causing them to drop the Obamacare product) - so these people are already having to find other insurance that are still in the exchange.  In the meantime, the insurers that are still in the exchange are having to raise premiums to keep their shirts.  So, for those people who do not qualify for the government subsidies, they have to pay exhorbitant amounts out of pocket for deductibles in addition to a raised premium just to keep their insurance.  Those who qualified for government subsidies don't have to worry about the rate hikes because the money just gets added to the National Debt (that is currently blasting through $20Trillion).

So, in my honest opinion, you could repeal Obamacare without a replacement and the negative impact to the populace will be limited to a few.  But, Trump promised that nobody will lose their insurance so... has to be replaced.

In the meantime, people are still sick.  Because, health insurance does not equal healthcare and the past government seems to keep forgetting that.

Edited January 24, 2017 by anatess2

[anatess2]

So, somebody said on TV that Trump signed executive orders regarding a renegotiation of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines.  It hasn't hit the White House webpage yet.

 

 

[Sunday21]

@anatess2 Thank you! I hope everything is sorted soon. Best Wishes.

[Blueskye2]

On 1/23/2017 at 2:21 PM, NeuroTypical said:

What's your source for this?  Is there like a "what did Trump do today" app or something?

@POTUS has been taken over by Trump. Play by play available there. 

[Mike]

23 hours ago, anatess2 said:

In the meantime, people are still sick.  Because, health insurance does not equal healthcare and the past government seems to keep forgetting that.

Does the current government care enough to have devised a replacement solution, I wonder.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Mike

[anatess2]

7 minutes ago, Mike said:

And the current government apparently doesn't really care enough to have a solution beyond criticizing the past government.

Uhm... that is not correct.  They have lots of solutions.  All spoken about in the past year and beginning to be implemented 5 days ago.

Note, the current government is only 3 weeks into the session and the current executive branch is only 5 days into it.  And on top of that, the HHS secretary is still stuck in the senate.

[anatess2]

Okay, this President is faster than a speeding bullet!  I've never seen anything like this!  Well, ok, President Duterte did this exact same thing last June and he's still not letting up - but, I didn't have to do much research on Duterte because I have family that work in the Malacanang so I don't have to read the signed documents to know what's in it.

I couldn't keep up with everything that's happening, so, I haven't been able to do much research on what's coming out of the White House.  So, I'm getting this info from news sources instead of actually reading the text of the signed document.

1. Anyway, yesterday, he signed the re-opening of the process of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.  He asked TransCanada to resubmit the application for the permit and he instructed the State Department to give a final decision within 60 days.
2. Another document signed requiring all pipeline projects approved for construction to use American-made steel to the maximum extent possible.
3. He signed another order to require all high priority infrastructure projects to have expedited environmental review.  CEQ is tasked with identifying an infrastructure project as high priority within 30 days of submission.
4. Signed another order for the Secretary of Commerce to review regulations for the American Manufacturing Industry and come up with proposals to streamline the federal review and permitting process within 60 days.

There's more coming out today regarding Immigration and the Wall.  Orders on today's agenda include action to suspend American aid to countries who refuse to repatriate their citizens who come to the US illegally and commit crimes.  Some order to start the Wall project.  Something about suspending federal funding to sanctuary cities.

And then he issued a statement that the SCOTUS nominee will be submitted to Congress on Thursday next week.  Picks whittled down to 3 - William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman.  All appellate court judges so they've been confirmed by Congress before.  So, it will be interesting to find out what issues are brought into the hearings that are different from the issues brought in their previous hearings.

 

 

[mordorbund]

47 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Okay, this President is faster than a speeding bullet!  I've never seen anything like this! 

It reminds me of Gingrich's 100 days agenda.

[Guest Godless]

According to his personal Twitter feed, he's planning to order an investigation into voter fraud. Interesting move from someone who just won an election. 

[Guest MormonGator]

22 minutes ago, Godless said:

According to his personal Twitter feed, he's planning to order an investigation into voter fraud. Interesting move from someone who just won an election. 

 It's also odd to me that republicans who complained about Obama using the executive order suddenly have no problem with it. We also knew that we would pay for his border wall and surprise (!) we are. Oh wait-Mexico will "reimburse" us. Okay. 

Edited January 25, 2017 by MormonGator