Terms-even-more-limited

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Until 2014, Arkansas had one of the strictest legislative term limits laws in the country. After November, it could be even stricter, and the result would be a new state Legislature four-and-a-half years from now.

Those things would happen if voters approve a ballot proposal that would restore limits to levels passed in 1992 – along with a major new one.

That year, voters enacted limits of three two-year terms in the Arkansas House and two four-year terms in the Senate. They also capped the state’s constitutional officers (governor, lieutenant governor, etc.) to two four-year terms and also limited congressional terms, but those were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading →

Today’s trade wars and future taxpayers

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

What will be the results of President Trump’s so-called “trade wars”? Maybe they will lead to better deals for Americans, or maybe they will slow the economy, and definitely they will cost future taxpayers $12 billion.

On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture announced it would borrow that amount from the U.S. Treasury to subsidize producers of various agricultural products, including soybeans. It also will purchase surpluses of other products and distribute them to food banks and other programs.

The move is necessary because tariffs instituted by the Trump administration have been met by tariffs from other countries. The most important was China, which retaliated against Trump’s tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports with tariffs on $34 billion on American goods.

Continue reading →

My first experience with fake news

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

In about 1998, I had my first experience with “fake news.” In fact, I unwittingly helped create it.

At the time, I was a less-than-30-something communications aide for then-Gov. Mike Huckabee. Most of my duties involved writing, and there was a little press work.

One day, a couple of nice guys with a television camera stopped by the office and said they were Canadians, that there was some igloo in their country, and it was a big deal there. They were vague, but I remember taking it to be some kind of archaeological discovery. They asked if the governor could congratulate Canada on preserving its national igloo. Huckabee helpfully made a quick statement coming out of his office, and that was that. Or so I thought. Continue reading →

Has Obamacare already been repealed?

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Remember last year when congressional Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare after talking about doing so for years? It turns out they may have succeeded, fully or partly, by acting indirectly.

In December, Congress passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which all six members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation supported. The legislation ended Obamacare’s penalty for failing to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance. The penalty goes away at the end of this year.

To understand why that’s important, you have to look back to 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – was constitutional in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. The court ruled that Congress could not compel individuals to purchase insurance. However, it said the mandate’s penalty was a “tax,” which Congress can enact. Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote that opinion. That’s how the individual mandate survived.

Now that there’s no tax, a Texas-led coalition of 20 states, including Arkansas under Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, is suing the federal government in hopes of having the entire law declared unconstitutional. The lawsuit says that without the individual mandate, the law is now “an irrational regulatory regime governing an essential market.”  Continue reading →

For GOP reps, Trump’s comments complicate things

Donald TrumpBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

For Arkansas’ congressional delegation, life was simpler when President Obama was in office. Not better, but simpler. This week was complicated.

As we all know by now, at a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump declined to take sides between his own intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in U.S. elections, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial of that interference. In response to press questions, Trump defaulted to his usual defenses: There was no collusion; the election was a great victory; Hillary’s emails. Both leaders said they had discussed the election issue privately with each other that day. Trump said U.S.-Russia relations were at their lowest point ever, and said both countries were at fault. Earlier in the day, he tweeted that the poor relationship was “thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” – referring to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The reaction was intense across the political spectrum. Democrats, of course, pounced, but even many Republicans were critical. Newt Gingrich, usually a Trump ally, called it “the most serious mistake of his presidency.” Ailing Sen. John McCain said, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”

The next day, Trump tried to walk back his statements, asserting that he trusted his own intelligence community and claiming that he had misspoken. His explanation: He meant to say, “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.” Not “would.” Continue reading →