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Category: Administration

White House Backs Down on Shutdown Threat

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It appears that the White House is backing away from President’s Trump threat to shut down parts of the government over funding for a Southern border wall.  Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier today that there are other ways to get $5 billion for the wall.

Although the White House has pulled back from shutdown threat, it remains to be seen how the Friday shutdown deadline will be dealt with, as Congressional Republicans, Democrats, and the Administration must all agree on a plan before then.

Read more here and here.

 

Results…and Still Counting

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There are still many races that are still too close to call this morning, which was expected. It happened in 2012, 2014 and 2016. It’s happened twice already this year.

That said, many races have been called. The Democrats have 220 seats, exactly two more seats than needed for a majority and a gain of 27 seats, while Republicans have 193. There are currently just over 30 House seats yet to be called; if the current leader in all of them ends up winning, the House will be 227 Democrats, 208 Republicans. House Democrats gained in states like New York, California, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The Republican majority in the Senate got stronger with wins in Indiana, Florida, and Missouri. In the Senate there are still two races outstanding in Montana and Arizona, while Mississippi is going to have a runoff. Republicans lead in both those races; if the current leader ends up winning, the Senate will have 46 Democrats, 54 Republicans. Democrats were always looking at a challenging year as they were defending more seats and many in conservative states.

Democrats made significant pickups across the nation at the Governor’s office gaining seats in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, and Maine. If they current leader ends up winning, there will be 23 Democratic and 27 Republican governors.

In some contentious races, like in Georgia and Mississippi, there is a possibility that no candidate will receive a majority of votes, kicking in special rules to decide the election at a later date. Although currently Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp is running just barely above the total needed for a recount. Mississippi looks likely to head to a runoff.  Florida has also triggered an automatic recount between Senate candidates Sen. Ben Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R).

In Washington state, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA-05) defeated challenger Lisa Brown in a hotly contested race. Technically, two races are still outstanding this morning, but Rep. Jaime Herrera Beulter (R-WA-03) is expected to be re-elected and Dr. Kim Schier (D) is expected to be declared the winner over Dino Rossi to represent WA-08 in an open contest. Otherwise, the current Washington delegation was handily elected.

It’s Election Day!

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Happy Election Day!

In a much hyped and talked about mid-term election, Americans are going to the polls for some exciting local and national races. Will the Democrats win the House? How many new Members of Congress will Washington state have? Will the Republicans gain seats in the Senate? Will most of our nation’s governors be in the Democratic party? We will start to find out tonight. However, given the peculiarities and peccadilloes of each state’s elections laws, we might not know who has won many elections for weeks.

Washington state has some very interesting races being watched on the national stage, and with Congressman Reichert’s retirement, we will have at least one new Member of Congress representing WA-08. Track the results for all Washington races here.

For national races, the New York Times will has it’s very popular Needle on their home page tracking election results again this year.  CNN will also have live updates. The Washington Post also has a fun tracker. Do not expect poll returns until later in the day. The Times has a story on when polls close.

For those of you that have been intensely interested in this election (Beto! Stacey Abrams! Dino Rossi!)  just keep in mind, the forecasts and models were very wrong last year.  It’s raining in every state east of the Mississippi River, and that’s sure to impact turnout.

For those intensely interested in what’s happening across the country at every level, here’s a handy-dandy election tracker that has all high-target political races this election.

 

Federal Relations will update this post as necessary throughout the day and have an election recap tomorrow.

 

 

 

OSTP Nominee Confirmed by Senate Committee

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The scientist nominated by President Trump to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kelvin Droegemeier, was approved yesterday by the Senate Commerce Committee.  Droegemeier, currently Vice President for Research at the University of Oklahoma, was tapped to head the office in August.  A severe weather scientist, he was a member of the National Science Board under both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Read more about him and the nomination here and here.

 

SCOTUS Nomination Expected, Congress Returns

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In a televised address this evening, President Trump is expected to announce his nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is retiring from the bench at the end of July.  The upcoming nomination fight could overshadow almost everything in Congress this summer.

Congress returns this week after its July Fourth recess last week.