By Tamara Keith
Oct. 16 2017
Trump’s agenda is composed of issues that all pertain to similar goals: to reverse Obama-era policies. He is pushing away the Iran nuclear deal that evaporated the nuclear-related economic sanctions, with intention to completely lock down any possibility of nuclear development. He is attempting to curb the subsidies given to insurance companies, and, finally, he wants to expire DACA. These issues connect to greater movements in Congress that would never reach bipartisan agreement, thus putting greater strain on the Republican-dominated House.
Trump is optimistic that his goals will implement and force change through the House, slowly but surely. He said that stopping the payments to insurance companies would contribute to the effort of eliminating Obamacare, and that his DACA expiration would later force unanimous agreement in Congress regarding the movement of money to build a wall. By continually using the term “we will”, Trump appears to be contributing to the policies, however, all the responsibility that comes attached to his plans are burdened onto the shoulders of Congress. The GOP is already struggling to achieve their own goals on the agenda, including passing a tax system overhaul; however, these partisan issues Trump is raising are taking priority.
Despite taking away time and money from national issues, Schumer (NY Senator) and Charlie Dent (US rep. of Penn) agree that the must-pass government funding legislation will create opportunity for an omnibus or other sort of negotiation where bipartisan agreement can be reached in relation to the health care subsidies. This offers a promising future for agreement in the House on issues that involve channeling the tax revenue, especially for health care.
Questions:
- Is it enough for Trump’s policies, to force a bipartisan agreement on health care subsidies, to justify his control over the Republican agenda?
- Considering Trump is simply following his outline for his term of presidency, would it make sense for his approval rating to go down?
- Do you think Democrats will agree to get rid of Obamacare if it came to the point of reducing subsidies to the insurance companies?
I don't think it really forces a bipartisan agreement, because of the fact that the majority in the Senate and House are Republicans. Therefore, Trump has the majority party backing him. Theoretically, this should make it easier for him to pass his agenda. As president he has control and power over the political agenda, and because of the nature of the government today it is likely that most of the pressing matters each party will address is quite partisan, so it is not really a surprise that these are the issues he is addressing.
ReplyDelete