Feb. 15, 2017
Good morning from Washington, where President Trump is about to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders anticipate warmer U.S.-Israel relations, reports Fred Lucas, who also has a scorecard on Trump's progress on campaign promises. Conservative lawmakers speak out on repealing Obamacare, legalizing assisted suicide in the nation's capital, and the origins of the left's "resist" movement. We've got stories from Melissa Quinn, Rachel del Guidice, and Josh Siegel, respectively. Plus: Anthony Kim on the historic decline of economic freedom in America.
"Something that Republicans need to be concerned about is if we're just going to repeal Obamacare with 'Obamacare lite,' then it begs the question: Were we just against Obamacare because it was proposed by Democrats?" says Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. "And if that's our position, then we're very hypocritical."
Trump hasn't yet repealed Obamacare, or achieved 4 percent economic growth just shy of one month in office. But the new president has begun to deliver on several other campaign promises.
According to the new Index of Economic Freedom, the U.S. ranks 17th out of 180 economies, lagging behind Switzerland (4th), Australia (5th), Canada (7th), and the United Kingdom (12th).
"It probably won't take long to return to the warm relationship that has characterized the U.S.-Israeli relationship before," says Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
"We disagree with the premise of what D.C. did," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, says of conservatives, "and we have the constitutional authority to disapprove it."
Academic liberals and civil rights spokespeople make the claim that the disproportionate number of blacks in prison is a result of racism. They ignore the fact that black criminal activity is many multiples of that of other racial groups.
"This is a very different operation than one that came out of somebody's living room by people who found somebody with a like cause and said, 'Government is headed in the wrong direction,'" says Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.
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