West Wing Reads

"White House Highlights 'Made In America' Products From Each State" - Merrit Kennedy, NPR The Made in America showcase yesterday was a success. The event came as the White House seeks to renegotiate NAFTA and embark on tax reform, which will embolden American manufacturing. NPR describes the event and participants, detailing how the President "climbed into a fire truck and tried on a Stetson cowboy hat as he promised to protect American workers." Click here to read more. ------------ In regards to the economy, Breitbart reports on recent polling showing that the American people are giving the President "high ratings on the economy." ------------ Columnist Gerald Seib in The Wall Street Journal writes that where healthcare pulled the Republican coalition apart, tax cuts could unite them. Seib highlights that unlike healthcare, all fragments of the GOP – from the populist/nationalist wing to the Wall Street/establishment – agree that lower corporate rates married to a broad based tax cut that helps the middle class is a winner. According to Seib, "the idea of lowering rates and simplifying the tax code is one Republicans are almost desperate to rally around." And if "that holds true, we'll be left to ponder how different the story of Mr. Trump's first year might have been if Republicans had been able to start with an idea that united them rather than one that divided them." ------------ The President has vowed to fix the VA. The New Hampshire Union Leader editorial board praises VA Secretary Shulkin for "moving quickly" on recent allegations that the Manchester VA has provided substandard care, while also mentioning legislation signed by the President that will protect whistleblowers and give the Secretary "greater flexibility to hold bureaucrats accountable." ------------ In securing the southern border, The Washington Times reports that the head of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, said on Monday that Border Patrol agents' morale is up under President Trump, saying "in the 20 years I've been on patrol, we haven't' seen this type of energy." The Hill reports on a separate interview given by Judd where he says that the decline in the number of illegal crossings at the southern border has been "nothing short of miraculous."