First Draft on Politics: Health Effort Collapses

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, July 18, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Two Republican senators, Jerry Moran of Kansas, left, and Mike Lee of Utah, said they would not support the new health bill.]( Two Republican senators, Jerry Moran of Kansas, left, and Mike Lee of Utah, said they would not support the new health bill. Zach Gibson/Getty Images; Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency Good Tuesday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Senators Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah said [they would oppose the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act](. The announcement leaves Senate Republican leaders short of the necessary votes to begin debate. - The president has boasted of the bills he has signed, numbering 42 as of this week. But as he approaches six months in office, [President Trump is slightly behind the pace]( of the past six presidents. - Mr. Trump again called his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer routine, but interviews with politicians [have turned up few who would say they would participate]( in a meeting like the one described. - After hours of debate, the president [agreed to continue]( with an international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program that he had pledged to overhaul. - The Department of Homeland Security announced that [it would release up to 15,000 additional seasonal visas]( known as H-2B visas, to businesses that prove they will be severely hampered without foreign workers. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [Trump’s Agenda]( We’ll keep you updated on the recent legislative action by the Trump White House. [• Sign up »]( [Departing Ethics Chief: U.S. Is ‘Close to a Laughingstock’]( By ERIC LIPTON AND NICHOLAS FANDOS [As director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter M. Shaub Jr. has often gone head-to-head with the Trump administration over conflicts of interest.]( As director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter M. Shaub Jr. has often gone head-to-head with the Trump administration over conflicts of interest. Vanessa Vick for The New York Times Actions by President Trump and his administration have created a historic ethics crisis, the departing head of the Office of Government Ethics said. He called for major changes in federal law to expand the power and reach of the oversight office and combat the threat. Walter M. Shaub Jr., [who is resigning]( as the federal government’s top ethics watchdog on Tuesday, said the Trump administration had flouted or directly challenged long-accepted norms in a way that threatened to undermine the United States’ ethical standards, which have been admired around the world. “It’s hard for the United States to pursue international anticorruption and ethics initiatives when we’re not even keeping our own side of the street clean. It affects our credibility,” Mr. Shaub said in a two-hour interview this past weekend — a weekend Mr. Trump let the world know he was spending at a family-owned golf club that was being paid to host the U.S. Women’s Open tournament. “I think we are pretty close to a laughingstock at this point.” Mr. Shaub called for nearly a dozen legal changes to strengthen the federal ethics system: changes that, in many cases, he had not considered necessary before Mr. Trump’s election. Every other president since the 1970s, Republican or Democrat, worked closely with the ethics office, he said. [Read more »](  [Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana at the National Governors Association meeting in Providence, R.I., on Friday. “Some of the things that I’ve been able to do in Montana can also translate beyond just the state’s border,” he said.]( Political Memo [As Party Drifts Left, Pragmatic Democratic Governors Have Eye on White House]( By JONATHAN MARTIN The election of 2016 may have empowered the party’s left, but a cluster of Democratic governors is emerging as a pragmatic voice. [Employees at a wire harness and cable assembly plant in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, that exports to the United States.]( [U.S. Calls for ‘Much Better Deal’ in Nafta Overhaul Plan]( By ALAN RAPPEPORT The Trump administration sent a list of objectives to Congress that emphasizes the reduction of the United States’ trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. [Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, center, suggests the delays are in protest of Republicans’ actions on the health bill.]( On Washington [Democrats Perfect Art of Delay While Republicans Fume Over Trump Nominees]( By CARL HULSE Some Republicans say stonewalling could be counterproductive if the White House leaves “acting” officials in administration posts without Senate review. [Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, center, wrote the majority opinions in all four of the court’s landmark gay-rights rulings.]( Sidebar [Gay Rights Groups Seek One More Win From Justice Kennedy]( By ADAM LIPTAK With Justice Anthony M. Kennedy rumored to be considering retirement, groups want the Supreme Court to take up an employment discrimination challenge before he leaves. [The conservative commentator Ann Coulter excoriated Delta Air Lines after she was removed from a seat that she said she had specifically booked.]( [Delta Air Lines Fires Back at Ann Coulter on Twitter, but Refunds Her $30]( By CHRISTOPHER MELE After a seat mix-up, the conservative commentator posted a barrage of criticism about Delta on Twitter. Delta responded that her actions were “unnecessary and unacceptable.” [Danielle Kang tees off on the 18th hole at the Women’s P.G.A. Championship golf tournament in July.]( On the Runway [From the L.P.G.A. to Congress, Dress Code as a Cause Célèbre]( By VANESSA FRIEDMAN Paul D. Ryan has promised less restrictive guidelines for the speaker’s lobby, the golf association is adding restrictions, and social media is up in arms over “appropriate dress.” [McMurdo Station, an American research center in Antarctica.]( [Where Else Does the U.S. Have an Infrastructure Problem? Antarctica]( By JUSTIN GILLIS AND JONATHAN CORUM The United States has had the most ambitious research program in Antarctica for 50 years. But our reporters journeyed there and found the infrastructure is aging and deteriorating, and the new prices are high. [The Top Jobs in Trump’s Administration Are Mostly Vacant: Who’s to Blame?]( By KAREN YOURISH AND GREGOR AISCH President Trump has filled far fewer top jobs in cabinet or cabinet-level agencies than President Barack Obama had at this point in his presidency, according to a New York Times analysis. [Vice President Joseph R. Biden September 28, 2015.]( [Joe Biden’s New Book to Be Released in November]( By CONCEPCIÓN DE LEÓN “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose” will reflect on the challenges of governing while mourning. [Workers making swimwear at a factory in Jinjiang, China, this month.]( [U.S. and Chinese Executives to Meet on Nations’ Economic Relations]( By KATE KELLY A meeting of more than 20 business leaders from the United States and China will focus on issues that trouble economic relations between the countries. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies.  From the Right • [John Fund]( in [National Review]( “I’m glad the news media is pursuing the Trump-Russia scandal, but let’s not forget the differences between how they are covering Russia compared with how they reported a similar story — this one involving Communist China — that developed during Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign.” Mr. Fund doesn’t let us forget. He concisely and authoritatively summarizes the specifics of the Clinton-China episode as he makes the case for perspective. The Trump campaign is not the first to have questions raised about its relationships with a foreign state. [Read more »]( _____ From the Left • [Eliza Newlin Carney]( in [The American Prospect]( “Wherever federal and congressional investigations lead, the danger posed by foreign interference in U.S. elections goes beyond the Trump campaign.” Ms. Carney wants to draw more attention to the regulatory proccess at the Federal Election Commmission. The F.E.C. is grappling with questions about what Russia’s reported interests in American elections could mean — independent of any discoveries made during the current investigations — in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010 that lifted the limits on political contributions from corporations, some see a potential loophole for foreign citizens to exploit. When Ms. Carney looks to how the F.E.C. is handling these questions, she finds a partisan divide. [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018