memeorandum: Congressional Recess, Full Plate Keep the Heat on GOP Lawmakers (Wall Street Journal)

7:40 AM ET, August 7, 2017

Top Items:

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Fight over Trump wall could lead to shutdown — Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, says the Trump administration has clear expectations for the fall: “We get tax reform and we also complete funding of the government which includes rebuilding of the military and securing our border.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Axios Sneak Peek — An extra quick Sneak Peek today, with Congress on recess and the President on a working vacation for two weeks at his New Jersey golf club. As always, I'd love your tips and feedback: jonathan@axios.com. And please urge your friends and colleagues to join the conversation by signing up for Sneak Peek.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Gardiner Harris / New York Times:

Diplomats Question Tactics of Tillerson, the Executive Turned Secretary of State — WASHINGTON — Several times a week the State Department sends a greeting to a foreign country on the occasion of its national day. By tradition, the salutations have been written by low-level diplomats and routinely approved by their superiors.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Chance to be governor lures members from House — Fully half of the 18 members leaving the House next year jumped in order to run for governor in their states, looking to trade in legislative gridlock for executive orders — and the chance to play a dominating role in redrawing their colleagues' districts in four years.

Aaron Lorenzo / Politico:

Tax writers see peril in Trump's Obamacare persistence — With calendar time short and other big items on the agenda, tax reform could get squeezed out. — Republicans acknowledge that the aggressive timeline they have set up for overhauling the tax code this fall leaves them little room for error.

Wall Street Journal:

Congressional Recess, Full Plate Keep the Heat on GOP Lawmakers — Pressure from constituents over health care could make it hard to focus on a tax overhaul — Congressional Republicans plan to use the next four weeks away from Washington making a public case for a sweeping rewrite of the tax code …

Alison R. Parker / Shareblue:

“Why on Earth??” GOP senator ripped apart for health care vote at first town hall in a year — Sen. Cory Gardner recently held a public town hall for the first time in over a year. And the angry response from his constituents over his vote to repeal Obamacare makes it clear why he avoided them for so long.

Discussion: The Washington Journal

James S. Robbins / USA Today:

We need answers in Democrats' congressional IT drama — Something shady is going on and former Democratic National Committee chief Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz doesn't want to talk about it. — If a Russian-born IT specialist with longstanding ties to former Republican National Committee …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Fight over right to sue nursing homes heats up — Consumer groups are making a last ditch effort to stop the Trump administration from stripping nursing home residents and their families of the right to take facilities to court over alleged abuse, neglect or sexual assault.

Discussion: Raw Story, twitchy.com and The Washington Journal

Tim Craig / Washington Post:

With rising homicides in big cities, Republican governors intensify police patrols — Sgt. Brad Sevier conducts a traffic stop along Interstate 70 in St. Louis. “I don't see how it can be detrimental having more law enforcement in an area that really needs more policing,” he said.

Discussion: Power Line

Paul Rosenberg / Salon:

Trump's malignant pattern: He woos people, rips them off and then abandons them — and he won't stop — Trump has followed the same manipulative script over and over again, in politics as in business. We're the marks — Donald Trump's astonishing New York Times interview from July 19 …

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Trump's unprecedented hands-on messaging carries risks — https://apnews.com/231fdb0c5ebc438785c1 b30f8bfef034 — Link copied! — NEW YORK (AP) — For the third time in six months, President Donald Trump is on the hunt for a new communications director. But in practice, the job is filled.

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Nikki Haley: 'We're not playing anymore' with North Korea … United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Sunday said new sanctions against North Korea are a sign that the international community is seriously addressing the threat of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico, RedState and The Week