(cache) Trump claims credit for 2016 Charter jobs pledge - Axios
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Trump claims credit for 2016 Charter jobs pledge

Charter Communications CEO Thomas Rutledge and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and leave the White House. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Trump hosted Charter Communications CEO Thomas Rutledge at the White House Friday to tout the company's plan to invest $25 billion in the United States and hire 20,000 call workers over four years. The only hitch: Charter announced its intention to insource those workers back in October.

Why it matters: This isn't the first time the president has taken credit for jobs pledges that had already been announced, and there's no reason to believe that the strategy won't continue to pay off. Corporate America has been happy to engage in PR for a president as committed to reducing regulations and taxes as he.

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White House: Trump "drew a line" on health care

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Spicer said the AHCA vote is scheduled for 3:30p.m. He repeatedly stated that he believes the White House has done everything it can, and that the fate of the bill is now up to members of the House: "They'll be the ones who have to go back and explain to their constituents" why they didn't follow through on their pledge, said Spicer.

Highlights ... words
  • AHCA vote: "The president understands this is it... we have an opportunity to make sure that [yesterday's Obamacare anniversary] was the last one," said Spicer.
  • If the bill fails? "You guys are so negative! ... I'm still optimistic."
  • How has Paul Ryan done? "I think the Speaker has done everything he can. He's worked closely with the president... I said this yesterday, but we can't force people to vote."
  • Why did you postpone the vote? The administration wants the process to be very public, and they recognized if they didn't postpone it, voting would have gone "into the wee hours of the night," said Spicer.
  • Does the president regret tackling healthcare first? "No," said Spicer. Doing this first maximizes the tax reform agenda.
  • Trump's take-it-or-leave-it approach: "At some point, we either have a deal or we don't... the president drew a line... we've gotten to a decision where we think it's gone as far as it's going to go."
  • If you don't get the votes, will Trump ever try again? "I can't say that he never will... but there are so many other things he wants to get done... we're not going to sit around on this."
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Health care bill might get yanked from House floor

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

The prospect of pulling the Obamacare replacement bill is now a matter of discussion among House leaders, according to sources familiar with the conversations. As House Speaker Paul Ryan heads to the White House to brief the president, multiple sources close to leadership say the whip team is still short on votes and is pessimistic about bringing this home today. Some usually chatty aides in the White House and leadership didn't respond to questions about whether they were discussing pulling the bill.

Our thought bubble: What leadership keenly understands is that the bottom falls out on a vote like this. It's not like Trump will get a clear read on who is with him and who's against. Members that are currently in the "yes" column will not vote for a bill that is going down and will have the negative implications hung around their neck in the fall of 2018. If GOP leaders put the bill on the floor without the votes to win, it won't lose by a handful, it will lose badly.

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The state of Trumpcare: Failure is an option

Greg Ruben / Axios

Here's the reality that President Trump and Republican leaders are facing: They want to repeal Obamacare, but not the popular parts of Obamacare. But to the most conservative Republicans, and their supporters, repeal means repeal — which includes everything, whether it's popular or not.

That's why Trump and GOP leaders haven't been able to close the deal with the Freedom Caucus, and will have to try to steamroller them with today's vote. It's why they have the Koch brothers after them. And it's why, barring a miraculous turnaround, they're not getting any closer to a deal that can survive the Senate as well as the House.

Keep reading ... words

Here's where things stand as of this morning:

  • The House is voting on Trumpcare today, whether they have the votes or not. Why? Because Trump told them to.
  • Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney "made it clear that they were done negotiating, and this is a conservative package that lowers costs," House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady told reporters last night. Jonathan Swan has great details of how Trump's ultimatum went down.
  • The big concession White House and GOP leaders are making to conservatives: They're going to get rid of Obamacare's "essential health benefit" requirements, which were untouched in the original bill. Under the new language, states would define them.
  • But the Freedom Caucus wanted to go beyond that, into the rest of Obamacare's insurance regulations — which include popular things like covering anyone with pre-existing conditions, making sure sick people can't be charged more, coverage of young adults, coverage of preventive care, and standards for how much of a person's medical expenses are covered.
  • If Trump and GOP leaders had agreed to wipe out the pre-existing condition coverage, they would have lost one of their main pitches for the Republican plan: Don't worry, sick people will still be covered. "I think that's been something that he's been very clear needs to stay in there," White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.
  • But Freedom Caucus members and other conservatives say all of the insurance regulations make insurance more expensive — so to be consistent, they should all go. (Freedom Caucus member Mark Sanford's Obamacare replacement bill would deal with pre-existing conditions by giving sick people two years to enroll in coverage.)
  • The Washington Post reports that Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows wanted to get rid of not just the rules against charging more for sick people, but also provisions that most Republicans have sworn they would never touch, like the ban on annual and lifetime limits on health benefits.
  • Meadows was still a "no" as of last night.
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Ex-military leaders launch venture capital firm

Plowshares Ventures has launched as an Israel-based, but globally-focused, VC firm focused on the "intersection of the defense and commercial sectors," according to confidential documents obtained by Axios. The firm's three managing partners are:

  1. Benny Gantz, former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces
  2. Moshe Mor, formerly with Greylock Partners
  3. Moti Shniberg, founder of Face.com (acquired by Facebook)

The group also has several senior advisors, including former U.S. Marine Corps General John Allen and Lord David Richards (former chief of staff of British Armed Forces).

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Salesforce CEO: Societal shift needed to address AI, climate, other changes

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Friday highlighted all the key societal changes that the Trump Administration either denies are taking place or says are still years off.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum event in San Francisco, Benioff said that artificial intelligence, climate change and advancements in biotechnology and transportation necessitate prompt changes to education and job training.

"While we are in this incredible shift, this fourth industrial revolution," Benioff said. "It will also come back to be a challenge for equality."

Benioff's comments come after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said AI isn't really on the Trump Administration's radar because it is 50-100 years off.

Mnuchin's comments were quickly panned by many in the technology world as it flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that automation and artificial intelligence could eliminate a significant number of jobs in the not-so-distrant future.

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Paul Ryan is going to the White House

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

House Speaker Paul Ryan is headed to the White House to brief President Trump on the health care bill, Bloomberg reports. This comes amidst reports that, despite Trump's now-or-never vote ultimatum, the bill still doesn't have the votes to pass the House.

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How health care stocks could change with the Trumpcare vote

Richard Drew / AP

Wall Street is closely following the House vote on the American Health Care Act. Health care stocks are almost guaranteed to move in one way or the other next week, depending what happens this afternoon.

But the House vote is just the beginning. "Wall Street seems to understand that the House bill is not the final product, and some of the draconian measures that are most negative to the group almost certainly will be removed to get the bill through the Senate," Spencer Perlman and Sumesh Sood of investment research firm Veda Partners said in a research note Friday.

Here's what could happen to health care stocks in the short term.

Keep reading ... words

If the bill passes the House:

  • Hospital companies (HCA, Tenet Healthcare, LifePoint Health, Community Health Systems, Universal Health Services) could suffer since Trumpcare would increase uncompensated care.
  • Health insurers that focus on Medicaid (Centene, Molina Healthcare, WellCare Health Plans) could trade down since the bill would phase out Medicaid expansion.
  • Medical device companies (Stryker, C.R. Bard, Zimmer Biomet, Boston Scientific) could trade higher since Trumpcare permanently repeals the device tax.
  • Drug companies may not move much, since the bill doesn't tinker with pricing.

If the bill fails:

  • Hospital stocks would "experience a significant relief rally," Mizuho Securities analyst Sheryl Skolnick said in a note Friday. Medicaid companies would, too. But hospitals would still struggle with high labor costs and declining admissions.
  • The failed vote could threaten tax reform and could drive down many other health care stocks that would benefit from that, Perlman and Sood said. Pharmaceutical companies clearly want tax reform. The large health insurance companies (Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group) — which derive all their earnings in the United States and usually have a tax rate around 40% — also badly want the corporate tax rate lowered to at least half that.
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Tech community "dumbfounded" by Mnuchin's dismissal of AI impact on jobs

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin riled the tech community this morning when he told Axios' Mike Allen that displacement of jobs by artificial intelligence and automation is "not even on my radar screen" because the technology is "50-100 more years" away. Mnuchin also said he is "not worried at all" about robots displacing humans in the near future. "In fact, I'm optimistic."

Keep reading ... words

The reaction from the tech community was harsh and swift.

  • "Personally I'm dumbfounded," said Amy Webb, futurist and author who runs the Future Today Institute. "If Mnuchin had done any previous reading or learning about #AI, he couldn't have uttered those ridiculous words this morning."
  • DJ Patil, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist, pointed out the Obama Administration's report on artificial intelligence and said "Read to see why we need to get ready now."
  • "This is actually kind of frightening, particularly the dismissal of the impact of AI and machine learning on jobs," tweeted Larry Irving, a former Clinton Administration official who works with tech companies. "Has he talked to anyone in the tech (or any) industry recently?"
  • Writer Scott Sentens tweeted, "That's like dismissing a boy as crying wolf when half your village is being eaten by a pack behind you."
  • Mark Cuban simply tweeted, "Wow."
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House Democrat: Nunes claims 'wholly inappropriate'

Cliff Owen / AP

House intelligence member Rep. Adam Schiff slammed Chairman Devin Nunes for going to the White House with intelligence reports alleging Trump was inappropriately surveilled before sharing the information with the committee.

All of us are essentially in the dark... to take evidence that may or may not be related to the investigation to the White House is wholly inappropriate... and cast grave doubts about the intelligence community's ability to run a credible investigation.

As for whether he believes Nunes should be removed as committee chair? "That's a decision that the Speaker needs to make," said Schiff.

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House Intel Chair: Manafort to testify on Russia connections

President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has volunteered to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on his connections to Russia, said Chairman Devin Nunes.

The news comes after reports of his prior work with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska to benefit Vladimir Putin's agenda.

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Steve Mnuchin: Debt ceiling is a "ridiculous concept"

Uwe Anspach/DPA

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin argued that the debt ceiling is a "somewhat ridiculous concept" during a discussion with Mike Allen at the debut of Axios' News Shapers event series Friday morning. "This isn't limit of what we can spend," he said, '"it's a payment limitation." He again called on Congress to raise the debt limit before summer recess.

Technically, he's right: The debt limit was invented nearly 100 years ago to free Congress from having to approve each new debt issuance. Instead, it gives Treasury the freedom to issue debt up to a certain level to make the financing of already approved spending more efficient.

But out of step with Republicans: Budget hawks see the debt ceiling as the only tool left in their belt for fighting the automatic growth of entitlement spending approved by previous Congresses. If the debate over healthcare is any indication, far right members of Congress will demand significant budgetary sacrifices to vote to allow the issuance of more debt.

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Takeaways from Steve Mnuchin's Axios interview

Greetings from Washington, D.C., where my Axios colleague Mike Allen just finished up an on-stage interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Takeaways:

Keep reading ... words
  • Carry: Carried interest tax treatment will be changed in the White House tax plan, at least for "hedge funds" When it comes to other asset classes, including real estate, no promises were made.
  • Mnuchin vs. Trump rhetoric: The Treasury Sec declined to commit to the 15% corporate tax rate that Trump preached on the campaign trail. He also talked about 3%-3.5% GDP growth, versus Trump's talk of 4%.
  • Techmeme weeps: Mnuchin breezily dismissed the notion that AI and machine learning will soon replace wide swaths of workers, saying that "it's not even on our radar screen" because it's an issue that is "50 or 100 years" away.
  • Trade: "So long as we can renegotiate deals that are good for us, we won't be protectionist. Otherwise we will."
  • Taxes: Tax reform is "a lot simpler" than healthcare reform. He still plans to get it done by the August recess, and it will be comprehensive (i.e., not breaking it up into more passable pieces). As for going after healthcare, Mnuchin says the past two months of planning were necessary. "We would not have been ready to go a month ago on tax reform and now we are."
  • BAT: Mnuchin punted when asked to make the pro-BAT argument to a Wal-Mart shopper, but did say that he doesn't expect to introduce it "as is."
  • Silicon Valley: "I don't understand these valuations."
  • Movie producer hat: "Hollywood could learn a lot more from D.C. than D.C. could learn from Hollywood."
  • Worries: Mnuchin says that cybersecurity is his biggest in-house focus, and that his meetings with foreign leaders have dealt heavily with issues like money laundering and other illicit activities.
  • Debt limit: "We need to raise the debt limit and that's something we're going to do."
  • Bottom line: "I am a bull. Buy American."
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GOP leaders: It's going to pass — stop asking

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Republican leaders are trying to sound as confident as they can that the Obamacare replacement bill will pass the House today. But there's an air of nervousness in their voices, and they're not even willing to entertain questions about what happens if it fails. Here's House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Greg Walden a few minutes ago, just after the Rules Committee approved the rule for the floor debate:

  • Me: The White House says there's no Plan B, but what if —
  • Walden: "We're going to win on the floor today."
  • To another reporter who tried the same question: "We're going to pass the bill. I'm not going down that path."

Why do they think the votes will come together? "The president recognizes that the success of this will have a lot to do with the future of his presidency, and I think the members recognize that too," House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions told me.

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