TRUMP AGENDA: “Prepare for departure”
The latest on the DACA decision, from Kristen Welker and Daniel Arkin: “Trump administration talking points distributed on Tuesday had a blunt message for DACA recipients: "Prepare for departure." That guidance appeared in a memo (.pdf) that was sent to stakeholders in the immigration debate by the Department of Homeland Security, just hours after the Trump administration announced it would end DACA, the Obama-era program that has shielded hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from deportation. President Trump is giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before the federal government drops the program.”
And/but: The president tweeted last night that he could “revisit this issue” if Congress doesn’t act in six months.
From the New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s aides were negotiating late into Monday evening with one another about precisely how the plan to wind down the program would be executed. Until Tuesday morning, some aides believed the president had settled on a plan that would be more generous, giving more of the program’s recipients the option to renew their protections.”
And from the Washington Post: “The president’s punt created chaos at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where it now falls to congressional Republicans to navigate a thicket of political interests and charged emotions amid a busy September as they try to keep the party’s base from revolting and still appeal to Hispanic voters. Because of Trump’s lack of clarity, leaders of each wing of the GOP and Democrats are jockeying to shape the way DACA is addressed in the coming weeks. Deals are already being floated by figures who see the current vacuum as a useful opening to attach DACA to other priorities that have been lingering on Capitol Hill, such as extending the federal borrowing limit.”
“President Donald Trump just lobbed a ticking immigration time bomb at Capitol Hill with his decision to leave the fate of 800,000 so-called Dreamers in limbo — and lawmakers have no idea how they’ll defuse it,” writes POLITICO. “House Republican leaders, already scrambling to avoid a government shutdown and a default on the nation’s debt, are privately hoping to push the immigration battle until at least this winter.”
Democratic attorneys general are threatening to sue Trump over DACA.
Conservatives are not thrilled about a plan to tie a debt limit increase to an aid package for Hurricane Harvey, POLITICO writes.
More, from the Washington Post: “The decision to combine the two unrelated measures is a potentially risky strategy that could further alienate conservatives who have insisted that any debt-limit increase be paired with corresponding spending cuts. Leaders hope that those on the far right will abandon their demands to immediately replenish rapidly diminishing funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
From NBC’s Benjy Sarlin: “As President Donald Trump visits North Dakota on Wednesday to pitch lower tax rates, progressive activists are gearing up for war. "Not One Penny," a coalition of left-leaning advocacy groups and labor unions, is running a TV spot in the area pushing Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., to oppose a "Republican tax bill that gives billions to the richest."
Trump is still pushing for a 15 percent corporate tax rate despite advice from experts who say it can’t work.
On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Russia investigation.
One of us(!) on the NBC News/WSJ social trends poll: “Americans who voted for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are divided over the country’s increasing diversity and different lifestyles, with over 80 percent of Clinton voters saying they’re comfortable with the changes, but nearly half of Trump voters saying they’re uneasy. These are the results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on recent social trends, which additionally show a greater acceptance for immigration, globalization and gay marriage. But the social-trends poll also finds that half of Americans are concerned the government will go too far in restricting gun rights.”
And another one of us(!) looks at what the poll tells us about pessimism in America: “The NBC/WSJ poll of social trends, which was conducted last month, found that less than a third of American adults — 28 percent — called America the “single best place to live in the world,” with another 17 percent calling it “among the very few best places.” More respondents put United States closer to the middle of the pack, with 37 percent calling America merely “above average” and 14 percent rating the country as “average.” An additional four percent called the U.S. “below average” on the global scale.”
Also in the poll: Americans are warming to ride-sharing, but online shopping is more of a mixed bag.
OFF TO THE RACES: Heitkamp to ride on Air Force One with Trump
AL-SEN: Mike Huckabee has endorsed Roy Moore.
AZ-SEN: RealClearPolitics does a deep dive into Jeff Flake’s reelection chances.
ME-GOV: Maine state House minority leader and Paul LePage ally Ken Fredette will run for governor.
NJ-SEN: NJ.com offers a briefer on the Menendez trial, which starts today.
NV-GOV: Nevada’s state treasurer announced his bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
ND-SEN: Ali Vitali and Frank Thorp note that vulnerable Democrat Heidi Heitkamp will ride on Air Force One with Donald Trump today.
VA-GOV: Americans for Prosperity is up with a new ad criticizing Ralph Northam for missing board meetings of an economic development partnership group.