President-elect Donald Trump is nominating Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary. A billionaire GOP donor, she also once served as head of the Michigan Republican Party.
DeVos is a vocal advocate of allowing parents to use school vouchers to seek alternative schools and other policies strongly opposed by teachers unions. She is the current chairwoman of the American Federation for Children, an education advocacy group pushing school-choice-friendly policies.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has accepted Donald Trump’s offer to be his ambassador to the United Nations. She is the first woman Trump has tapped to his cabinet, and would add diversity as a woman and the daughter of immigrants from India. A rising star in the GOP, she is the first woman to hold the Governor’s office in South Carolina. Haley served three terms in South Carolina’s State House before winning the governorship in 2010 and again in 2014. Haley’s limited foreign policy experience is likely to draw scrutiny during Senate confirmation hearings for the Cabinet-level position.
Today on the MSNBC program, Morning Joe, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that President-elect Trump will not pursue prosecution of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when Trump is President. While on the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue the investigations, arguing that President Obama and the Clintons had used their influence to shape the Justice Department’s investigation. Additionally, during Trump rallies, it was common to hear the chant “Lock her up.”
During a 60 Minutes interview earlier this month, President-elect Trump said that prosecuting Clinton would not be a priority for his administration.
President-elect Trump posted a 2 minute 37 second video on You Tube, which is the first time he’s addressed the American people directly since the election.
Mr. Trump’s video included six calls for action on trade, immigration, energy, regulatory curbs, national security (specifically cyber infrastructure), and lobbying ethics changes, most of which have already been announced either during the campaign or the transition period.
Of note, Trump did not mention action on the Affordable Care Act, his proposed wall along the southern border, the tax code, or the Iran nuclear deal, all of which were central arguments for his election.
See the video here or below.
Congress is out for the Thanksgiving Recess. They return next week to address the CR, and what that should entail as well as the NDAA, 21st Century Cures, the Water Resources Development bill, and any other legislation they can possibly get passed.
Thanksgiving is a federal holiday observed on the fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving began in 1621 as a harvest celebration between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians, and has become a time for families and friends to gather to reflect, to express gratitude, to eat lots, and to watch college football rivalries. Presidents pardon turkeys.
In 1789, President George Washington declared November 26 a national day of Thanksgiving. Subsequent Presidents issued Thanksgiving proclamations, but the dates of the commemoration changed. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving In October 1941, Congress formally recognized the last Thursday or November as the legally observed holiday by passing H.J. Res. 41.
Happy Thanksgiving from Federal Relations!