Publication, 2019-07

EFTA00047232¶

Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost’s morning briefing for decision-makers.¶

Sign up to receive the newsletter.¶

WHILE YOU WERE IN YOUR MORNING MEETINGS:¶

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is trying to kick millions off food stamps, arrives at the White House in May to watch Trump announce billions in bailouts for farmers in red states who are suffering because of the president’s trade wars. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)¶

— The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new rules this morning to limit access to food stamps for households with savings and other assets, a measure that officials said would cut benefits to about 3 million people. Reiley reports: “In a telephone call with reporters, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Acting Deputy Under Secretary Brandon Lipps said the proposed new rules for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) were aimed at ending automatic eligibility for those who were already receiving federal and state assistance. Forty-three states now grant automatic eligibility to low-income people already receiving other government benefits, without undergoing income or asset tests. Lipps said the proposal would result in an annual budgetary savings of $2.5 billion.”¶

Putting the numbers in perspective: “Current rules give states latitude to raise SNAP income eligibility limits so that low-income families with housing and child care costs that consume a sizable share of their income can continue to receive help affording adequate food. This option also allows states to adopt less restrictive asset tests so that families, seniors and people with a disability can have modest savings or own their own home without losing SNAP benefits. … To be eligible for SNAP, a household’s gross income must be below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. In 2019, that works out to $32,640 a year for a¶

EFTA00047233¶

family of four. Democrats pointed out that the benefit amounts to $1.40 per person per meal.Ӧ

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, says Trump is making an end run around Congress, which blocked his earlier proposals to slash food stamps in the farm bill. “This rule would take food away from families, prevent children from getting school meals, and make it harder for states to administer food assistance,” she said.¶

Former vice president Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in an electrical workers union hall in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)¶

— Another huge flip-flop: After spending half a century advocating for capital punishment, former vice president Joe Biden this morning proposed abolishing the death penalty at the federal level and offering incentives for states to follow suit. It’s one of several ideas in a new criminal justice plan that are at odds with the 1994 crime bill he quarterbacked. “Convicted criminals who would face execution under current law would instead be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Sean Sullivan reports. “Biden’s plan also would decriminalize marijuana and expunge past cannabis-related convictions; end the disparity between sentences for powder and crack cocaine; and do away with all incarceration for drug use alone. … Biden’s proposal also calls for ending cash bail and terminating the federal government’s use of private prisons. … The plan would invest $1 billion annually in juvenile justice reform. It also would seek to give states incentives to stop incarcerating minors.”¶

In a profile for the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Biden says that the general election will be a “referendum” on Trump and his fitness for office. Steinberger reports: “I asked if he thought he would have beaten Trump in 2016. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Everybody¶

EFTA00047234¶

says that. But look, I don’t know. You’ve got to be in the game. I thought Hillary would have made a good president.’ … Biden prefers to talk about next year’s face-off with Trump — ‘a battle for the soul of America’ — in place of the ongoing fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. … When I caught up with him in New Hampshire this month, he dismissed claims of a rift between hard-line progressives and less strident ones as an ‘artificial division.’ He also spoke admiringly of [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, describing her as ‘smart as the devil.’”¶

Boris speaks in London. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg News)¶

— Boris is the next British prime minister. William Booth and Karla report from London: “The bombastic, Latin-quoting, Oxford classicist with the mop of intentionally mussed yellow hair, who made his name as an over-the-top journalist in Brussels and then as London mayor and galvanized the successful Brexit campaign in 2016, will likely walk through the black enameled door of 10 Downing Street on Wednesday — fulfilling what his biographers describe as his relentless ‘blond ambition’ to follow his hero, Winston Churchill, into the top spot. … On Wednesday, Theresa May will deliver her last remarks at a question-and-answer session in the House of Commons and then she will travel to Buckingham Palace to resign. ■ will follow her to the palace, where Queen Elizabeth II will name him prime minister and ask him to form a new government. ■ will be 14th prime minister during the queen’s long reign. …¶

“Writing in Monday’s Telegraph, said, ‘it is time this country recovered some its can-do spirit.’ He said that if the Americans could land men on the moon 50 years ago using hand-sewn bits of computer code, then 21st century Britain could imagine a way to provide for frictionless trade across the Northern Irish border, which has been one of the stumbling blocks of the Brexit deal. ‘Things are really about to kick off again in a massive way because the irresistible force of¶

EFTA00047235¶

Boris ego is about to meet the immovable force of the House of Commons,’ said Rob Ford, a politics professor at the University of Manchester.”¶

Black Hawk helicopters carry U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul/AP)¶

GET SMART FAST:¶

1. The Army revealed that it is conducting a secret mission that requires Black Hawk helicopters to fly around the D.C. area. The classified operation was disclosed when the Pentagon asked Congress for approval to shift funds to provide more aircraft maintenance. (Bloomberg News)

2. As homophobic and transphobic sentiments proliferate under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, LGBT people are taking personal defense into their own hands. Many members of the LGBT community are joining self-defense courses because they don’t feel as safe as they did in the past. (Terrence McCoy)

3. Thousands of California women and teenagers seeking free or discounted reproductive health services through a federal program could find themselves in clinics that focus on abstinence and natural family planning as methods of birth control. Operated by the California-based Obria Group, the centers encourage young clients to use online apps developed with funding from religious conservatives. Some of these centers participating in the federal family planning program, known as Title X, also offer “abortion pill reversal,” which experts say is not supported by scientific research. (Ariana Eunjung Cha)

4. Centrist Democrats are worried that Medicare-for-all will imperil their chance to keep control of the House. The current debate over the health-care proposal that’s playing out in the 2020 field shows how tricky it is to find a balance between exciting voters

EFTA00047236¶

and reassuring them. (Sean Sullivan and Emily Davies)¶

5. Swimmer Katie Ledecky withdrew from two races at the FINA world championship, citing unspecified medical issues. The announcement that the Olympic gold medalist, who is now studying at Stanford, was pulling out of the race came 90 minutes before she was scheduled to hit the pool. (Rick Maese)

6. Hong Kong police have faced protester anger for weeks. But some officers would rather be on the other side of the picket fence. Once respected as “Asia’s Finest,” members of the Hong Kong Police Force are thinking of quitting after being caught between the government’s pro-Beijing stance and the fury of the people they swore to protect. （Shibani Mahtani and Tiffany Liang）

7. The Vatican appointed a new bishop to lead a West Virginia diocese rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and financial abuse under its previous bishop. Bishop Mark Brennan will take over the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston 10 months after Bishop Bransfield retired in the face of serious allegations of wrongdoing. (Chico Harlan)

8. A woman bled to death in Utah after her family was told that her open-heart surgery was a success. The 62-year-old patient, who was getting a metal heart device removed, was in “severe distress” after the surgery because surgeons failed to notice that the blood that was being pumped into her body was flowing directly into the operating table’s trash, according to a new lawsuit brought against St. Mark’s Hospital. (Bella)

9. Peak fire season in California is near, and the Department of the Interior is short hundreds of firefighters. The agency has about 500 fewer firefighters available than expected. （LA Times）

10. Chris Kraft, the aeronautical engineer widely considered the godfather of NASA’s Mission Control, died at 95. His death came just two days after the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. （Eryn Brown）

EFTA00047237¶

Vice President Pence speaks before the unveiling of Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. (Andrew Harnik/AP)¶

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN AND WOMEN:¶

1. Remember when Vice President Pence abruptly canceled a trip to New Hampshire earlier this month? He reportedly did so to avoid shaking hands with an alleged interstate drug dealer.

Pence was set to visit an opioid addiction treatment center in New Hampshire, where Jeff Hatch — a man under investigation for moving more than $100,000 of fentanyl — worked. Hatch, a former player for the New York Giants, agreed last week to a plea deal that could put him behind bars for up to four years. （Politico）¶

2. Judy Shelton, whom Trump intends to nominate for the Federal Reserve Board, is calling for a massive interest-rate cut at the Fed’s July meeting. While Wall Street traders are anticipating a 25-basis-point cut, Shelton is publicly pushing for a 50-basis-point cut. (Heather Long)

3. Kelly Craft, Trump’s nominee to be U.N. ambassador and the wife of a billionaire coal magnate, spent more than half of her days as ambassador to Canada outside of Canada. During her confirmation hearing, she attributed much of her absence to the demands of negotiating the new North American free-trade pact. But Senate investigators discovered Craft spent a significant amount of time in places around the United States where she has homes. (Politico)

4. Education Secreta

This document was truncated for web display. See the linked source PDF for the complete record.

¶