The Presidency of America's Maverick

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Highlights of  McCain's First Budget: More Money for Defense and Education, cuts in corporate subsidies and all pork barrel and earmark spending



https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/07/14/president.2000/kasich/

Shaw: OMB Director John Kasich today released the first McCain budget and some of the highlights there include a 75 billion dollar increase in military spending, 20 billion in education which will mostly go to block grants and some of the things that will be cut is 30 billion in what the administration calls corporate subsides , and an end to all pork barrel and earmark spending. So Bill what are the chances this proposal could pass through congress

Schnider: Well its always easy in campaign commercials to claim you will cut corporate subsides and for national leaders to claim they will do so to but much harder to do so in practice as many of these subsidies benefit particular regions or districts in the country meaning that cutting such subsidies would be difficult for the house to pass since of course members are elected by district. Take one example of the Appalachian Regional Commission Road Program which they claim would save over 500 million dollars and while that is true , Represenatives of the Appalachian region cant vote for it or they would lose their seats and this is just one program, so imagine if you applied it to the more than 30 programs.

So Could it pass but I realistically dont see more than a 5th of these proposed subsidies being cut

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McCain signs an executive order which will pull the US out of the Kyoto Treaty but also signs executive order creating commission to research potential global warming solutions.

Shaw: President McCain today signed multiple executive orders today that are both supported and opposed by environmentalists. Lets get to the one that is opposed by environmentalists first

Executive Order 13203: Pulls US out of the Kyoto Treaty within a year

Shaw: The President's justification was that the Senate a few years rejected the Kyoto treaty by a 95-0 vote and the President claimed that while the US is interested in signing a treaty that will deal with global warming, he made it clear that any treaty must be ratified by the Senate to go into affect and not only did Kyoto fail to reach the threshold needed to ratidy a treaty it did not even receive a single vote to do so and for that reason , the US has no choice but to withdraw from the treaty.


Now lets look at some of the executive orders environmentalists will have a positive view of

Executive Order 13204: Creates a Commission which will be under the EPA which will be tasked to research global warming solutions and the economic impacts of each solution as well

Executive 13205: Asks Commission to research the climate and economic impacts of a cap and trade system

Executive 13206: Asks Commission to research the effectiveness of green infrastructure plans and other ways how the US can best invest in renewables

Executive Order 13207: Reject any permits that would authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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President McCain visits Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in first international visit of his Presidency  


Source: https://www.biography.com/video/john-mccain-full-biography-2071928650

McCain: I want to thank Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien for hosting me here to discuss issues relating both our nations as keeping a good relationship between our nation is critically important to both our nation's future. Both our nations have many similar cultural values and interests and I can tell you that despite me being an American I am a hockey fan(laughing) though that is one area where both the Prime Minister and I wont come to an agreement because we both want different hockey teams to win both in the NHL and in the Olympics(laughing).

Chretin: We certainly will not come to an agreement on that but like President McCain said both he and I have discussed various ways where we can work together to improve trade, cultural and political relations between our nations and I am confident that we will be able to . We also discussed issues such as the environment and energy and how both our nations can best balance those interests and I can tell you dealing with those issues will be much easier if both our nations work together on it then work separately. So I am glad President McCain and I are on the same page here and hope to continue to be as well.

[Pericles]

I just read this TL, it is a very interesting topic and the TL is well done so far. I look forward to seeing where you go with this!

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President McCain gives first address in front of Join Session of Congress:

McCain: Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished guests, fellow citizens, it is my high honor to speak to you in this chamber as your President(Applause) and I look forward to working with you over the next 4 years to making our nation a better place. Over the past decade voter turnout in elections across the board dipped as our people became more and more cynical of how our politics had become due to the fact that it seemed like Washington was representing special interests and lobbyists instead of the people and I am proud that in the last month we have taken the first major steps in returning our government to the people(Applause). We did so by passing campaign finance reform that reduces the power of these special interest groups but while that is a major achievement we still have much to do , and that is why I ask this body to outlaw pork barrel and earmark spending as well(Applause). Thanks to Pork Barrell and Earmark spending we have seen instead of politicians voting on whats write they vote on what gets them the most pork barrell spending and that is time we end that practice for good.

Our next steps is also creating a new budget policy that shows our goals for this new century. Over the past 10 years we have become complacent and reduced our military budget thinking that the cold war is over we can stand by and relax and while yes there may be no existential threats to our nation like the Soviets were, we must remember we also fought the cold war to expand freedom and democracy to the world and that mission sadly has a lot of work to do(Applause). As we saw in Rwanda, inaction to stop some of the worst atrocities we have seen led to a genocide being perpetrated and we saw in Kosovo that taking action stopped a similar type of genocide from happening again. That is why I have asked this body to increase our military budget so 1 we can restore the morale of our military but two so we can remain a strident defender of human rights all around the world(Applause).

We also must invest here at home which is why I believe that we should give Americans tax relief
to help them share in our prosperity(Applause) and helping small businesses stay on their feet(Applause). Second we must reform our education system which is why I am asking you to increase money in the amount of education block grants we give to the states in this budget and give states the freedom to use the education block grants the way they like(Applause). The reason is solutions that work in one state may not work in another so we must give states the ability to implement unique reforms that best help their states and we will work with the states to implement these reforms as well(Applause). The only requirement is that we will require that states test kids from 3rd to 8th grade in Reading, Math every year, Writing in 4th and 7th grade, and Civics in 5th and 8th grade(Applause) so parents know how their kids are progressing in school.

Thank You, May God bless you and May God Bless America

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Treasury Secretary Robert Lucas Releases Tax Plan:




Woodruff: Treasury Secretary Lucas released the administration's tax plan and here are some key components, many which wont surprise viewers as its taken straight from his platform

Tax Rates:

- Tax Rate Cuts: Lowest Bracket will be brought down to 10% with the threshold being brought up to $70,000 for couples, rates being cut by 5% for couples making between $70,000 and $400,000 and 2.5% for couples making more than $400,000

- Standard Deduction: Raised to $5000/$10,000

- A permanent ban on Internet sales taxes

- Members of the armed forces deployed overseas would pay no income taxes

- Allow Taxpayers to invest up to 20 percent of their Social Security payroll taxes into private accounts

- Creates a tax free Family Security Account

- Removes Offshore Tax Deferral

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House Passes Modified Line Item Veto Bill

Shaw: While the President wanted a bill that would outlaw Pork-Barrell Spending and Earmarks , the House decided instead to do something else called a modified line item veto. The key components of the bill are the same as the original line item veto bill except this time if the president decides to line item veto any part of the bill, the modified bill goes to both houses of congress for a up and down vote and only if both houses of congress approve of the modified bill would it become law. If either house rejects the changes, then the original bill goes back to the President which the President must either sign or fully veto .

Attorney General Lindsey Graham Believes that such a bill would not violate seperation of powers but our legal expert at CNN said that the constitution of such a bill will likely be decided at the supreme court a year or two from now.


Senate passes modified line-item veto bill into law and President McCain signs it


Shaw: Only a week after the house passed the modified line item veto bill , the senate has passed it as well quickly getting approved by committee and then being quickly approved on by the full senate. Bill why did it pass so quickly in the senate

Schinder: Well the reason is pretty simple, remember a budget battle is going on right now and while cutting pork , earmarks, corporate subsidies is something they may wanna do in theory , in reality that would be impossible so doing this allows them to cut those things without taking a political hit for it or as much. As for whether it will stand we will see because as soon as the President uses it like we expect him to for the budget , one of the groups affected will sue and it likely will go up to the Supreme Court where nobody knows how they will rule.

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John McCain signs budget but uses new modified line-item veto powers to cut corporate welfare and other or barrel spending



Woodruff: The President today signed his first budget into law wich like he wanted increases spending for military and education including giving the department of education setting the terms and conditions of those block grants which he likely will use to facilitate education reform. He also though used his new modified line item-veto power to remove pork barrell from the bill and also cut billions in what he calls corporate subsides as well.

Like in requirement for the law , Congress voted and approved the new modified bill and it became law. Special Interest groups that have been negatively affected by this modified line item veto have already announced their attention to sue on conditional grounds like we expected. Bill so what will happen to the budget in the meanwhile

Schnider: Well we do expect that some district court will rule the modified line iterm unconstitutional , inside sourced do tell us that the adminstration's legal team has already begun to  prepare the appellate brief so the decision will be ready to be heard by an appeal court within a few months which means if the supreme court takes up this case like we expect it too , it will likely do so by early next year before the next budget .

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Congresswomen Nancy Johnson introduces a prescription drug bill in the Subcommittee on Health



Shaw: The chair of the subcommittee on health , Congresswomen Nancy Johnson introduced a prescription drug bill today in the subcommittee. Here are some of the details in the bills

- Covers the cost of all prescription drugs above 15 dollars under medicare

-  Provides a subsidy for large employers to discourage them from eliminating private prescription coverage to retired workers

- Allows medicare advantage to offer part D plans

- it requires higher copays from wealthier seniors


Shaw: Secretary Thompson called the proposal a great starting point and will try to do all he can to make sure these main provisions remain through the committee processes.

[Left Wing]

What month in 2001 is it at this point in the tl?

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What month in 2001 is it at this point in the tl?

Late April just before the first 100 days are complete

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Summary of President McCain's First 100 Days:



Greenfield: President McCain in his first 100 days so far has ben very successful in getting his reform agenda passed from campaign fiance reform, to the modified line item veto and getting a budget which has very little pork barrel spending and less corporate subsidies in there. Now the question is whether President McCain is able to push on the more concrete policy agenda such as taxes, education, healthcare and currently two of them are still in committee and education reform is done through the department of education.

Schnider: Usually you see a President push through one major issue at a time as they beleive usually that that helps you direct your focus and energy more into passing that major bill . President McCain has a different approach which is you push at multiple fronts at the same time , through the various committees the issue would be debated as he beleives this would allow Congress to have more time to pass various pieces of legislation . We will see how this works but it is very unorthodox.

Woodruff: The President though remains very popular as CNN took a poll today and heres what we got

Approve: 67%
Dissaporve: 21%

 
So it seems like his honeymoon period is still ongoing

[Chips]

Interesting read so far.

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President McCain gives speech on improving civic education :



McCain: Thank You all for coming here , today I want to talk about an important issue and that is civic engagement. My belief is it starts in our schools and I believe that we should test civic knowledge for kids once in elementary school, middle school, and high school so we can make sure our kids have the proper civic knowledge they need to make our nation a better place as adults. This means not only teaching them our history, our constitution which are very important but on ways citiznes can get involved because our nation only works when people get involved. Again that means yes we need to teach them how our government works nationally but how it works on a state and local level too and how they can get involved at that level because many of the things that directly impact people have nothing to do with whats going on here in Washington but in their state capitols , local councils, school board and local ballot measures. This is why I am proposing congress pass a bill that provides extra funding to states and local municipalities which will do these things and I hope all of you write to both your representatives in congress and in the state legislature to make this happen as well. Thank You and May God Bless you

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Interesting read so far.

Thanks

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Results of May 1st Special Elections :


Woodruff: Last night there were special elections in 4 different races so now lets so over them and the results first in the Alaska Senate Race where the daughter of former Senator Frank Murkoski was elected.

Alaska Senate Race:

Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski(R) 52.4%
Interim Senator Dennis Egan(D) 47.3%

Result: Republican Gain

President McCain had come to Alaska in the final days to hold a rally in Alaska and it seemed like it did work and now the Republican Senate Majoirty will be 52-48. Now lets look at the 3 congressional races

In the races for the House republicans will hold SC-3 and FL-4 by comfortable margins like expected but in New York 30th Democrats have gained that seat so the republicans house majority now will be 226 seats to 209 for the Democrats

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House Ways and Means Committee Passes Tax Reform Bill:

- Tax Rate Cuts: Lowest Bracket will be brought down to 10% with the threshold being brought up to $70,000 for couples, rates being cut by 7% for couples making between $70,000 and $400,000 and 3.5% for couples making more than $400,000

- Standard Deduction: Raised to $5000/$10,000

- A permanent ban on Internet sales taxes

- Members of the armed forces deployed overseas would pay no income taxes

- Increases Child Tax Credit to $1000

- Creates a tax free Family Security Account

- Removes Offshore Tax Deferral


Woodruff: So the only major difference from the President's proposal and this is the tax cuts are larger and also congressional republicans want to separate out entitlement reform from taxes so instead the McCain administration asked to increase the child tax credit instead which is exactly what happened

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Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan announces he will retire and shortlist for potential replacements released



Woodruff: Longtime Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan announced he will retire , although he will stay on the position until a replacement can be confirmed by the senate. He called the job the honor of his lifetime , and said working with the people he did is something he will never forget and when asked what he felt the federal reserves greatest accomplishment in his tenure was , he said it was stopping the 1987 wall street crash from turning into a severe recession . Asked about a potential replacement he said would not want to speculate but if asked by the President about particular names he would be willing to help give the President more information about that person.


Ok here's the Shortlist:

Former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Lawrence Lindsey
 


Economist James M Buchanan



Economist Greg Mankiw

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House of Representatives Passes Committee bill with minor changes from committee version:

Shaw: The House of Representatives today was able to pass the tax bill with around 246 votes with 20 moderate Democrats joining every Republican in voting for this bill and now it will go to the senate where if they cant get 60 senators to vote for this they will have to use the reconciliation process which then means major portions of the bill would expire within 10 years.

Senator Phill Gramm confident that Senate can pass Tax Reform Bill without major changes to legislation



King: So Senator Gramm what is your opinion on the bill the House of Representatives just passed

Gramm: Its a fantastic bill with it reducing rates across the board , a boon to families with the standard deduction being raised along with the child tax credit increasing too and the family security account and lastly it helps the men and women in our military as well

King: Do you have confidence the bill could pass the senate as it is without any major changes made to it

Gramm: I definitely think we can, and while yes I believe some minor details will have to be made to get to 60 votes, I think we definitely can reach 60 votes and pass this bill without making any major changes. Some changes that we will make is we will get rid of more deductions and I believe that doing that will get enough Democrats on board to pass this bill.

King: Last question, whats your opinion on the vacancy in the Federal Reserve Chair

Gramm: Well first I want to thank Mr.Greenspan for the wonderful job he did , and as you know I have called him the greatest central banker in the world but Id like to go further and call him the greatest chair the federal reserve has ever seen. As for who should replace him, well that is up to the President and I look forward to the senate hearings of anyone the President nominates in July because that person will have giant shoes to fill, and frankly it will be very difficult to measure up to the greatness of Mr.Greenspan.

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President McCain appoints Economist Greg Mankiw to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve:



McCain: Thank You, everyone, as you know long time federal reserve chair Alan Greenspan has decided to step down this August after serving honorably for the last 14 years and I want to thank him for the wonderful job he did as chair of the reserve. While it will be difficult for someone to do as good of a job in that role , I believe that Gregory Mankiw an economist who currently is a distinguished professor at Harvard University which is why I have decided to nominate him to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.

Mankiw: I want to thank President McCain for this honor and I also want to thank outgoing chair Alan Greenspan for the great job he did during these past 14 years and let him know that if I am confirmed by the United States Senate I will work hard every day to do as good of a job in that position as you have done. The Chair of the Federal Reserve has the responsibility of carrying out the main purpose of the Federal reserve which is to promote the goal of maximum employment, and controlling inflation and keeping the Federal Reserve independent from the political battles of the day. In this new century, issues facing us have become more complex then before which is why we need to develop complex solutions in solving them and I look forward with working with the members of the federal reserve in doing so. Thank You

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I hope this timeline goes far enough in the future to be able to compare Mankiw's response to the subprime mortgage crisis to Greenspan's one in real life.

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I hope this timeline goes far enough in the future to be able to compare Mankiw's response to the subprime mortgage crisis to Greenspan's one in real life.

That is the plan although it will take some time before we get to that point

[Tron1993]

Your last timeline was 12 years.  I hope this one goes for 16

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Senate Passes their own version of the Tax Reform Bill

Woodruff: The Senate in a 63-37 vote today votes to pass a tax reform bill which while has made some changes kept most of the remain parts of the house bill in tact with the exception of the elimination of the internet sales tax which this bill preserves. President McCain said he believes the house should pass this bill soon and he will sign it into law , so lets look at the key provisions of this bill which we beleive the house will pass as well

Details:

- Tax Rate Cuts: Lowest Bracket will be brought down to 10% with the threshold being brought up to $70,000 for couples, rates being cut by 6% for couples making between $70,000 and $400,000 and 2.5% for couples making more than $400,000

- Standard Deduction: Raised to $5000/$10,000

- Members of the armed forces deployed overseas would pay no income taxes

- Increases Child Tax Credit to $1000

- Creates a tax free Family Security Account

- Removes Offshore Tax Deferral

- Eliminates ability to claim Yachts and Boats for the mortgage deduction



House passes Senate Version of Tax Bill and President McCain signs it into law:



McCain: Thank You, Thank You. Today is a great day for the citizens of our great nation, where we give them back some of the surplus back to the American people so they have the ability to spend more money the ways they want which will further stimulate the economy(Applause). This bill also helps families out with it increasing the child tax credit, the stand deduction and creating a family security account which allows married couples to contribute up to $6000 in tax deferred accounts which can be used by them for one year without any penalty what so ever(Applause). We also will provide relief to the men and women in our military as this bill will ensure that if they are deployed overseas that they would not have to pay income tax for that year(Applause). I want to thank members of both parties for working together to pass this bill and now there is one thing left and that is for me to sign it

President McCain Signs Bill:

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Greg Mankiw sworn in as new Federal Reserve Chair after being confirmed by voice vote:



Shaw: Economist Greg Mankiw was sworn in as the new Federal Reserve chair after he was confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate yesterday. He will succeed Alan Greenspan who served as the chair for 14 years and who many consider to be the greatest chair of the federal reserve in history due to many of the successes in this past era. Chairman Mankiw in his speech after taking the oath talked about many of the challenged facing this new century and about the current recession as well and his hopes we can recover from it as quickly as possible.


President McCain's approval ratings

Woodruff: With congress out on recess until September and the President now heading for his first major vacation of his presidency lets take a look at the President's approval and the House Generic Ballot Numbers


President McCain's Approvals:

Approve: 61%
Disapprove: 31%


House Generic Ballot:

Republicans: 45%
Democrats: 45%


Schinder: With Democrats needed less than 10 seats in the midterms it very much looks like the House battle will be very close once again in 2002 with it being possible neither party hits 220 seats coming Janaury 2003.

As for the President he is planning a tour of the nation about healthcare reform beginning in the second week of September as congress will be taking on the issue of healthcare reform come September .