Just a day after President Trump visited Langley, 53-year-old Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo has been confirmed by the Senate as CIA Director amidst its most contentious relationship with the White House in decades. As voting continued, there were 67 "yes" votes, more than enough to confirm Pompeo, and 30 voted against. Almost all the opposition was from Democrats, but perhaps most notably Rand Paul voted against him.
As Democrats have struggled to rebuild in the "Post-Trump" era, one coping mechanism employed has been to focus on their potential contenders for the White House in 2020. In fact, about a month ago we published a list, crafted by The Hill, of the top names being tossed around that were expected to make a bid for the Democratic nomination in four years (see "Here's Who Democrats Say Are The Top 15 Presidential Candidates For 2020").
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Rex Tillerson’s nomination as secretary of state by a vote of 11-10 - falling along party lines (with Democrats dissenting). As Bloomberg notes, this vote clears the way for the full Senate to confirm one of President Donald Trump’s most critical cabinet choices.
Submitted by Lance Schuttler via The Mind Unleashed blog,
A new bill has been introduced which would allow the United States to withdraw from the United Nations, and is now beginning to turns heads.
Representative Mike Rogers from Alabama introduced H.R. 193 American Sovereignty Act of 2017 in early January but is just now getting media exposure. The full bill can be seen here on congress.gov.
The bill repeals the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 and other specified related laws.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order formally withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Following through on a promise from his presidential campaign, Trump’s withdrawal from the 12-nation Pacific trade agreement was announced on Monday. The president vowed during the campaign to withdraw the US from the TPP, which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing.