First Draft on Politics: Conservatives' Dismay

The G.O.P. turns to cutting, not ending, popular benefits. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, May 8, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Members of Congress left for recess after passing the health care bill at the Capitol in Washington last week.]( Members of Congress left for recess after passing the health care bill at the Capitol in Washington last week. Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times Good Monday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - To the dismay of many conservatives, [Republicans have had to shift their focus to cutting back]( not ending, popular benefits of the Affordable Care Act. - President Trump is expected to announce 10 judicial nominations on Monday in what could be the first of many waves over the coming months. [Here are the first names on his list](. - A spokesman for the adminstrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said that he [would consider replacing academic scientists]( with representatives from industries that the agency is supposed to regulate. - In [remarks at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]( former President Barack Obama made only a glancing reference to the recent vote to dismantle his signature legislation. - In Texas, a state where land ownership has an almost mythic resonance, opposition to a wall bordering Mexico could [delay construction for years](. — 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 [The Interpreter. In Your Inbox.]( Understand the world with sharp insight and commentary on the major news stories of the week. [• Sign up »]( [Trump Looms as Kushner Companies Courts Investors in China]( By KEITH BRADSHER, AILIN TANG AND JESSE DRUCKER [A reception desk at a Shanghai event on Sunday promoting investment with Kushner Companies.]( A reception desk at a Shanghai event on Sunday promoting investment with Kushner Companies. Associated Press Like many American firms that come to China looking for money, Kushner Companies tried to woo a Shanghai audience with promises of big returns and a path toward living in the United States. But for Bi Ting, who attended the Kushner event on Sunday, part of the appeal was political: Jared Kushner is the son-in-law of — and a powerful adviser to — President Trump. Virtually unknown in China just months ago, he is now recognized here as a deeply influential figure in American politics. “The Trump relationship is an extra point for me,” Ms. Bi said, adding that she and her husband had not decided whether to invest. Kushner Companies’ China roadshow, promoting $500,000 investments in New Jersey real estate as the path to a residency card in the United States, moved to Shanghai on Sunday after a similar pitch on Saturday in Beijing. Security was tighter in Shanghai than it had been in Beijing, where reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post [briefly attended the event]( before being kicked out. [Read more »](  [Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, leaving the Capitol last month. She said on Sunday that her colleagues were “starting from scratch” with their own health care bill.]( [House Health Care Bill Is ‘Us Keeping Our Promises,’ Paul Ryan Says]( By NOAH WEILAND The House speaker defended the legislation, but top Republican senators said it would be rewritten and more carefully considered, a process that could take months. [Naweed Tahmas, an officer in the Berkeley College Republicans, with a binder he sometimes takes to class.]( [Life and Combat for Republicans at Berkeley]( By THOMAS FULLER Five Berkeley Republicans describe what it’s like to be conservative in a bastion of American liberalism. [Anti- and pro-Trump demonstrators gathered at the corner of Route 206 and Lamington Road, less than three miles from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.]( [Trump Visit Barely Rustles the Hedgerows of Bedminster]( By RICK ROJAS Eateries saw an uptick in activity and pro- and anti-Trump protesters turned out in modest numbers as the president stopped by his “Camp David North.” [Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, during a tour last month of publicly subsidized housing in Columbus, Ohio. “We are talking about incentivizing those who help themselves,” he said.]( News Analysis [On Health and Welfare, Moral Arguments Can Outweigh Economics]( By PATRICIA COHEN Policy debates on benefits and taxes are turning, as they have in the past, on the question of who is deserving, not what can best address needs. [Becca Heller, 35, a founder of the International Refugee Assistance Project, attending a fund-raiser at the Seagram heir Charles Bronfman’s home in New York last month.]( [A Travel Ban’s Foe: A Young Firebrand and Her Pro Bono Brigade]( By MIRIAM JORDAN Becca Heller and the group she began in law school have thwarted President Trump before, and will challenge him again in an appeals court on Monday. [Workers at the Río Piedras terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico, face waning business. Transportation businesses have been hurt by the economic crisis as drivers have to wait hours to fill a trip for their routes.]( [Puerto Ricans Face ‘Sacrifice Everywhere’ on an Insolvent Island]( By FRANCES ROBLES The territory, which filed for a kind of bankruptcy protection in the face of $123 billion in debt, has been gripped by a sense of gloom and anxiety. [Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat on “Saturday Night Live” as the “Morning Joe” co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who confirmed last week that they are engaged.]( [‘Saturday Night Live’ Mocks ‘Morning Joe’ and Kellyanne Conway]( By DAVE ITZKOFF The Trump “publicist” John Miller called into “Morning Joe” to brag about the president on “S.N.L.,” but Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were mostly focused on each other. [New Orleans police officers guarding a statue of Jefferson Davis, which the city plans to remove soon.]( [Tempers Flare Over Removal of Confederate Statues in New Orleans]( By RICHARD FAUSSET The city has already taken down one monument, but crane companies in the region are receiving threats over the removal of three others. 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  • [Matthew Walt]( in [The Week]( “Conservatives in this country should get used to the idea of being prudent stewards of the welfare state, not its would-be destroyers.” You won’t often hear a conservative case for a single-payer health care system, which is why this article by Matthew Walther is so valuable to read. “Conservatism,” Mr. Walther writes, “is about stability and solidarity across class boundaries, not a fideistic attachment to classical liberal dogma.” [Read more »]( _____  From the Left • [Jamelle Bouie]( in [Slate]( “Trump isn’t wrong to think there was a deal that could have prevented the Civil War. There was. But the price of that deal was the maintenance of slavery.” President Trump’s comments about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War are more than just the latest in a series of misstatements. For Jamelle Bouie, they speak to a mind-set that privileges the success of a deal above its moral outcome. Moreover, they remind Mr. Bouie that the president’s “ignorance isn’t an act or a performance.” A president who knows nothing of history is doomed to repeat its mistakes. [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). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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