Daily Archives: August 13, 2017

It was the third freedom of navigation operation conducted during the presidency of Donald Trump.

A U.S. Navy warship, theArleigh Burke-class destroyer USSJohn S. McCain, reportedly sailed within 12 miles of Mischief Reef, host to one of seven artificial islands built by China in the Spratly Islands Group in August, U.S. officials told Reuters.

The U.S. Navy conducts so-called freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), a principal of customary international law, to challenge Chinas excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea. As my colleague Ankit Panda points out, it is a measure of legal signaling and not used a deterrence tool.

The U.S. Navy has not publicly confirmed Reuters report, and no additional details about the FONOP have emerged as the U.S. Department of Defense is no longer publicizing details of such operations.

The Pentagon releases an annual FONOP report describing specific operations. However, the Fiscal Year 2017 report will not be released until 2018.

The U.S. Navys modern FONOP program begun in 1983. U.S. Navy FONOPs were not publicized and the service was careful not to specify the specific locations of operations until 2015 when U.S. Senator John McCain revealed that the U.S. Navy had not conducted FONOPs against Chinese-held islands in the South China for over three years.

The August 10 FONOP constitutes the third such operation conducted under the presidency of Donald Trump. The other two FONOPs occurred on in July and May respectively. Interestingly, the U.S. Navys May FONOP also took place within 12 miles of Mischief Reef. There is almost certainly careful legal reasoning behind this.

As The Diplomat has pointed out, Mischief Reef presents an opportunity to conduct a high-seas assertion FONOP, as under international law it is a low-tide elevation not entitled to any exclusive maritime zone, and it also not within a 12-nautical mile radius of another feature. As The Diplomat reportedin May:

The difference between a high seas FONOP and an innocent passage FONOP is not an academic distinction. In the former case, a military vessel would have to specifically operate in a manner not consistent with Article 19 of UNCLOS, which delineates a range of activities that are lawfully permitted for foreign vessels exercising innocent passage within the rightful territorial sea of a coastal state.

An explicit high seas assertion could include the vessel undertaking a range of activities, ranging from overt military actions like a live-fire exercise to the activation of fire control radars or even the launching of ship-based aircraft, helicopters, or drones.

Should it turn out that the USSJohn S. McCain conducted an innocent passage FONOP, it would likely reinforce Chinas legal position. The Chinese government has so far not publicly commented on the purported thisFONOP of the Trump presidency.

Continued here:

South China Sea: US Navy Conducts Freedom of Navigation ... - The Diplomat

Another debt ceiling fight is just around the corner. The governments borrowing limit will need to be raised yet again by the end of September to avoid default. Indications suggest that there will be enough support between Democrats and moderate Republicans to pass a clean increase, meaning no spending limits or cuts will be attached. However, this fiscal status quo is absolutely unacceptable, especially because it would be easy to take a small step toward much-needed fiscal discipline.

Debt is piling up, and it is doing so at a faster pace than the economy is growing.

The gross national debt is already well past 100 percent of gross domestic product. Under very optimistic assumptions, the Congressional Budget Office projects that under current law, the debt will reach 150 percent of GDP in 2047 thanks primarily to an aging population and poorly structured entitlement programs. Significant change is clearly needed if were to avoid fiscal catastrophe.

The first step of addressing ones issues is to admit that you actually have problems. Say it along with me: We have a debt problem. The next step is to adopt small solutions as opposed to unrealistic goals that would be abandoned within days. Such a big goal would be to implement fundamental reforms to the programs that are the drivers of our future debt. There is no debate that this is what needs to be done and what should be done, and I will never stop advocating that goal. But it is also painfully obvious to me that in the current political environment, where neither party is willing to be the adult in the room, such a noble goal is out of reach.

What isnt out of reach, however, is the smaller and more realistic short-term goal of implementing spending caps. The logic is simple. Debt is just a symptom of Washingtons excessive spending problem, so we must address the latter to solve the former.

To get the nations finances on the right track, we simply need to ensure that government is growing more slowly than the economy.

A spending cap would do this by limiting the growth of government to a set percentage of GDP, perhaps 2 percent. As a recent video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity shows, maintaining such limits would bring the budget into balance in less than 10 years.

Of course, there would have to be trade-offs. Washington cannot live within these limits without making some small changes to Medicare, Social Security and other programs. But the advantage is that the spending caps would finally force lawmakers to think about these trade-offs. Also, seeing as the caps would explicitly continue to grow by some percentage each year, they would make it harder for proponents of big government to moan about savage budget cuts. They would allow lawmakers to focus on reforms, as opposed to cuts.

The case for spending caps isnt just based on theory. The evidence shows that a focus on reducing spending works better than rules aimed solely at reducing deficits and debt. Both Switzerland and Hong Kong have seen positive results from their spending caps. Hong Kong is one of the richest countries in the world, and Switzerland is rare among European nations in its fiscal strength.

On the other hand, balanced budget amendments havent saved states such as California, New York and Illinois from bloated governments and debt accumulation. The uncertain nature of economic performance and tax collection makes yearly balanced budgets much harder to achieve than long-run spending limits. Perhaps more importantly, the seductive call for a tax hike tends to sap the political will for spending reform. Its easy to lock in repetitive cycles of new spending programs followed by tax increases to fund them.

Debt and deficits are bad, but they are symptoms of an underlying spending problem. Focusing narrowly on reducing debt can lead to counterproductive policy choices, whereas spending caps would most likely achieve the desirable goals of reducing excessive government and finally getting the nations debt under control.

Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She writes a column for Creators Syndicate.

See the article here:

De Rugy: In the fight against debt, spending caps are low-hanging fruit - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

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Freedom Caucus tries to bring Obamacare clean repeal back to life. The group, which helped more conservative members agree to a deal on the Houses healthcare bill, filed a discharge petition today that would repeal Obamacare and then delay its implementation for two years. The bill is the same one that Congress passed and that was vetoed in 2015, under former President Barack Obama. It failed to pass the Senate as an amendment last month, with seven GOP senators voting against it. The petition was filed during todays pro-forma session. If it receives 218 signatures, it would force a floor vote, which would be held the second or fourth Monday in September.

The measure isnt expected to advance, but it is drawing support. "Republicans already sent this bill to the president in 2016, and should do it again," said Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee. "The only thing that changed since then is that with Donald Trump as president, this bill would actually be signed into law. This repeal should be the bare minimum Republicans pass on Obamacare as it fulfills the promise we all made to repeal Obamacare. I look forward to signing this petition on the House floor when we return from recess."

Before the filing, Freedom Caucus spokeswoman Alyssa Farah tweeted Thursday: guys, it's safe to say Obamacare repeal & replace is not dead. the idea that it ever was was mistaken. R's can't walk away from a 7 year promise.

Welcome to Philip Kleins Daily on Healthcare, compiled by Washington Examiner Managing Editor Philip Klein (@philipaklein), Senior Healthcare Writer Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and Healthcare Reporter Robert King (@rking_19). Email dailyonhealthcare@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and youd like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesnt work, shoot us an email and well add you to our list.

President Trump gives insurers more time. The administration on Thursday gave insurers three more weeks to submit requests for their premium rates for coverage sold under Obamacare, according to a memo from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The original deadline of Aug. 16 was pushed back to Sept. 5 for plans sold on healthcare.gov, the site that 39 states and the District of Columbia use. It comes as insurers are waiting to find out what will happen to cost-sharing reduction subsidies. Based on requests from state departments of insurance and issuers, CMS is providing issuers and states with clarity and additional time to account for recent rating practices, a representative said in an email.

The Congressional Budget Office will release an estimate next week of the effect that cutting off the payments could have, the agency announced Friday. The payments reimburse insurers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers.

Trump irritated with Republicans for their failure to pass healthcare. On Friday morning, Trump retweeted stories from Fox News describing the back and forth between him and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and another article that looked at the backlash that ensued after some Republicans turned on him. Tensions have been simmering between Trump and McConnell because of differing opinions on the next congressional legislative agenda item. McConnell would prefer to leave healthcare, while the president wants Republicans "to get back to work" to formulate comprehensive reform. On Thursday, Trump continued his Twitter tirade against McConnell: "Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!"

What does Trump really think about McConnells leadership? Trump on Thursday cast doubt on McConnell's viability as the GOP's leader in the upper chamber should he not deliver on the presidents priorities such as tax reform and infrastructure. "Well, I'll tell you what. If he doesn't get repeal and replace done, if he doesn't get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn't get a very easy one to get done infrastructure if he doesn't get that done, then you should ask me that question," Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., when asked if McConnell should step down, according to a pool report.

Trumps problem: No loyalty from Republicans. "The problem for Trump is that there is nobody that is going to challenge Mitch McConnell in the conference," said a Republican operative and Capitol Hill veteran. "Trump has an R' next to his name, but he's not a Republican; there's no loyalty." Trump's style has been to criticize congressional Republicans as though he were separate from them, rather than to embrace his role as the leader of the party and discuss their legislative goals, successes and failures, as shared. That has rankled Republicans already unhappy with what in their view is a president who has squandered the bully pulpit over an obsession with a Russia investigation he claims is fake and protecting his personal brand and declined to invest his political capital in replacing Obamacare. McConnell is being backed by his caucus, including Sen. Jeff Flake, who has been engaged in a long-running feud with Trump. @SenateMajLdr does a tough job well. He has my support, the Arizona Republican wrote on Twitter.

Newt Gingrich: Trump 'can't disassociate himself' from healthcare failure. The former House speaker said Thursday that Trump could not put all of the blame on McConnell for the Senate Republicans' failure to repeal Obamacare. "The fact is, with very narrow margin 52 people Mitch McConnell got 49 out of 52. And I think the president can't disassociate himself from this," Gingrich told Fox News. "He's part of the leadership team, he's not an observer sitting up in the stands. He's on the field. It was a collective failure." Gingrich added that it was "goofy" for Trump and McConnell to be "shooting at each other" when the healthcare bills did not attract any Democratic support.

GOP lawmaker calls Senate's fight to repeal Obamacare Miracle at Dunkirk. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told a group of constituents the Senate had a setback when it came up one vote short of continuing efforts to repeal Obamacare. He then compared the Republican effort to the event at Dunkirk during World War II, in which a fleet of civilian ships helped to rescue British soldiers stuck on the shores of France soon after the country fell to Nazi invaders in 1940. "The French and British faced a 'setback' in fighting the Germans," Wicker said, according to a report in the Dispatch, a local Mississippi paper. "And that is what the Senate has faced with healthcare." The dubbed "Miracle at Dunkirk" is the subject of a recent film, simply named "Dunkirk." Wicker kept up with the World War II references by saying the GOP will return to the fight against Obamacare, much like Gen. Douglas MacArthur went ashore to reclaim the Philippines, the Dispatch said.

Healthcare groups recommend fixes to Obamacare. In a letter sent to McConnell, groups including the American Heart Association made several recommendations, including making payments for cost-sharing reduction subsidies, implementing a reinsurance program and a guarantee that the open enrollment period will be promoted by the administration so people know when they are supposed to sign up for coverage and can receive help to do so.

Trump declares the opioid epidemic a national crisis. "President Donald J. Trump has instructed his administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic," Trump said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., that his administration was drawing up the paperwork to make the national emergency declaration. "The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I'm saying officially right now it is an emergency," he said. "It's a national emergency. We're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis We're going to draw it up and we're going to make it a national emergency. It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had."

Heres what an emergency declaration could do. "I don't think it is just symbolic," said Tom Coderre, a former official with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Coderre said the declaration would open a series of measures that the Department of Health and Human Services could take to combat the opioid epidemic. Chief among them is waiving certain rules that would let more treatment centers get reimbursed by Medicaid. Certain exclusions in the Medicaid program essentially block providers from being reimbursed for addiction services in a facility with more than 16 beds. "It would enable these treatment centers that have 30-50, 100 beds to get reimbursed and accept Medicaid patients," said Coderre, now a senior adviser to the Altarum Institute. "That would be a game changer." The declaration also means the federal government can access "no-year" funds appropriated to the Public Health Emergency Fund. The funds are available for an indefinite period of time and don't disappear at the end of the fiscal year. The federal government also can negotiate prices for the overdose antidote naloxone to ensure the medication is affordable and it could hand out grants for new ways to fight the opioid crisis.

Tom Price praises Trump for the decision. The Department of Health and Human Services secretary, who indicated earlier that the administration wouldnt be making the declaration, said Thursday: "President Trump is taking strong, decisive action in directing the administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic. Todays announcement demonstrates our sense of urgency to fight the scourge of addiction that is affecting all corners of this country. Traveling the country, we have seen firsthand the devastation this crisis is inflicting on individuals, families, and communities. President Trumps announcement further punctuates his clear commitment to combating this epidemic and I thank him for his leadership."

Chris Christie says Trump 'deserves credit' for declaring opioid epidemic national emergency. The outgoing New Jersey governor leads the opioid commission that Trump created and that made the recommendation for a federal state of emergency. "It is a national emergency and the president has confirmed that through his words and actions today, and he deserves great credit for doing so," Christie said in a statement released by his spokesman. "As I have said before, I am completely confident that the president will address this problem aggressively and do all he can to alleviate the suffering and loss of scores of families in every corner of our country. We look forward to continuing the commission's efforts and to working with this president to address the approximately 142 deaths a day from drug overdoses in the United States."

RUNDOWN

Kaiser Health News Americans eager for leaders to cooperate to make health law work

Modern Healthcare For some consumers, loyalty outweighs price

NBC News Five die while using obesity devices, FDA says

NPR People back editing genes to treat disease, but are wary of inheritable changes

Press Herald Federal audit finds Maine failed to investigate deaths of developmentally disabled patients

New York Times Gene editing spurs hope for transplanting pig organs into humans

Axios Dean Hellers newest healthcare dilemma

Vox Study: Diet soda can really mess with your metabolism

CALENDAR

MONDAY | Aug. 14

Congressional Budget Office expected to release an estimate of the effect of ending cost-sharing reduction subsidies.

Original post:

Freedom Caucus tries to resurrect Obamacare repeal - Washington Examiner