First Draft on Politics: A Deal to Restore Health Subsidies

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, October 18, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Senators Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in Washington last month.]( Senators Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in Washington last month. Pete Marovich for The New York Times Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - A [bipartisan plan struck]( by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Senator Patty Murray of Washington is intended to stabilize health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act. President Trump described the effort as a “short-term solution.” It remains to be seen whether conservative-leaning Republicans will embrace the agreement. - Hours before Mr. Trump’s third attempt at a travel ban was to take effect, a judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order [halting its enforcement for now](. The same judge had blocked earlier versions. - When a C.I.A. drone located a Canadian-American family held by militants, officials had limited time to act. The United States told Pakistan: [Help free them, or we will.]( - [Representative Tom Marino withdrew]( as the president’s choice for drug czar after reports that he did the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry in Congress. - Mr. Trump is testing the reluctance of his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, [to discuss the death of his son]( Second Lt. Robert Kelly, who died in combat in 2010. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT From the Magazine [Rex Tillerson and the Unraveling of the State Department]( By JASON ZENGERLE With an isolated leader, a demoralized diplomatic corps and a president dismantling international relations one tweet at a time, American foreign policy is adrift in the world. THE UPSHOT [For the Non-Rich, the Child Tax Credit Is the Key to Tax Reform]( By ERNIE TEDESCHI The [framework for a tax overhaul]( released three weeks ago by the White House and Republican congressional leadership has lofty goals: Simplify the tax code; provide relief for middle-class families; cut taxes for businesses; end many narrowly focused special tax benefits; and keep the revised tax code [“at least as progressive”]( as the existing one. Many of the policies proposed in the framework remain ambiguous. Yet it is those policies, in particular the details of the child tax credit expansion, that will determine whether most American families win or lose. [Read more »](  [Ami Neiberger-Miller at home. Her brother, Chris Neiberger, was killed in Iraq in 2007.]( [Lawsuit Asserts That Three U.S. Companies Funded Terrorism in Iraq]( By GARDINER HARRIS The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, cited as evidence contracts between the companies and the Iraqi government, leaked diplomatic cables and the testimony of informants. [Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, on Tuesday in Washington. He is expected to attend the National Law Enforcement Summit on Wednesday.]( [Bipartisan Group Plans to Urge Trump to Adjust Policing Policies]( By MAGGIE HABERMAN Some of the nation’s most prominent prosecutors, police chiefs and advocates of a criminal justice overhaul are expected to urge President Trump to change his policies on policing and criminality. [A Tecma Group factory in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The United States, Canada and Mexico agreed to extend Nafta talks into 2018.]( [Nafta Negotiators Extend Talks, Delaying Its Potential Demise]( By ANA SWANSON The extension of the trade talks leaves a narrow and challenging path to rewriting the pact. [Steel coils at the ThyssenKrupp Steel factory in Calvert, Ala.]( [White House Push to Help Workers via Corporate Tax Cut Draws Skepticism]( By JIM TANKERSLEY The administration is pushing a version of “trickle-down economics,” where corporate tax cuts deliver big pay raises for workers. [President Trump meeting with senior military leaders at the White House this month.]( Fact Check [Can Trump Claim Credit for a Waning Islamic State?]( By LINDA QIU President Trump says he has “done more against ISIS” than President Barack Obama. But he hasn’t ventured far from the path his predecessor set. [At the top of PolitiFact’s front page last week, a display ad served by Google promoted a fake news story that said Melania Trump was leaving the White House. It linked to a faked version of Vogue’s site.]( [Google Serves Fake News Ads in an Unlikely Place: Fact-Checking Sites]( By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI AND LINDA QIU Google placed ads on Snopes and PolitiFact that linked to blatantly bogus stories. The sites were created precisely to dispel such falsehoods. [Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., left, showing his support for Philip D. Murphy, the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, in May.]( [Obama’s Visit to New Jersey Caps Tour of Democrats Supporting Murphy]( By NICK CORASANITI AND ALEXANDER BURNS The former president will campaign for Philip D. Murphy, the Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor, as the party looks to statehouses to protect policies. [President Trump held a news conference with Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, on Monday at the White House.]( On Washington [Trump and McConnell See a Way to Make Conservatives Happy]( By CARL HULSE Under pressure to deliver legislatively, the president and the Senate majority leader are seeking to aggressively install conservative jurists at the appeals and district court level. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies. From the Right [James Wallner]( in [The Washington Examiner]( “McConnell can help unstick the G.O.P.’s agenda if he changes how he does his job.” Mr. Wallner writes that the majority leader must accept responsibility for legislative failures and acknowledge that his leadership style must change. Second, he must ensure that all Republicans see him as an “impartial arbiter” between warring factions of his party. Third, he urges Mr. McConnell to empower other Republican senators with leadership responsibilities. [Read more »]( _____ From the Left [Kerry Eleveld]( in [Daily Kos]( “Both Trump and McConnell made sure to play down expectations, reminding reporters that it took Ronald Reagan ‘years’ to get tax reform done in 1986.” The main point of Monday’s news conference, Ms. Eleveld argues, is to reassure people that reports of Mr. McConnell’s rocky relationship with the president were false. However, she writes, the alliance may be short-lived. Particularly if “the G.O.P. fails to deliver on taxes,” then “all bets are off” and the president will have no hesitation to “tear congressional Republicans limb from limb.” [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). 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