Wake Up To Politics - May 8, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
550 Days Until Election Day 2016It's Friday, May 8, 2015, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
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White House Watch
- The President’s Schedule President Obama will be talking trade at Nike headquarters in Oregon today, calling on Congress to pass legislation granting him Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would fast-track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade deal supported by Obama and most Republicans, but opposed by most Democrats.
- Also today, Obama will deliver the commencement address at Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, South Dakota. When the President touches down on South Dakota, it will be not only symbolic for the graduating students of Lake Area, but also for Obama: this visit marks the 50th state he has visited as president. With South Dakota today, President Barack Obama will have visited all 50 states in the U.S. during his presidency.
- The White House is pushing this hard, compiling a list of photos Obama’s chief photographer Pete Souza has taken in each state, and releasing a letter sent by a girl heartbroken that Obama has not visited South Dakota.
Capitol Hill News
- Senate Passes Iran Bill The Senate passed a bill Thursday giving Congress authority to review and possibly reject a nuclear deal with Iran. The bill passed 98-1, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) as the only “no” vote.
- The House is expected to pass the bipartisan measure next week, although it will face opposition from conservatives in the lower chamber.
Today On Tap
- Jobs Report April jobs/unemployment report will come out at 8:30 AM tay, with analysts expecting the unemployment rate dropping to 5.4%, from 5.3% in March, and 220,000 jobs being added, up from 126,000 jobs added in March.
- DoJ Baltimore Investigation Attorney General Loretta Lynch is expected to announce today the Justice Department’s launching an investigation of the Baltimore police.
Court Report
- NSA Ruling An appeals court ruled Thursday that the NSA program collecting telephone calls made by Americans is illegal. More on the ruling, from Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/nsa-phone-data-collection-illegal-court-ruling-117725.html?ml=tl_29), and the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/07/us/what-the-latest-nsa-phone-ruling-means.html?smid=nytpolitics&_r=0).
Question of the Day
- Today’s Question Today, Obama becomes the fourth U.S. President to visit all 50 states while in office. The others are Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Of the past four presidents, just George W. Bush failed to visit all 50, although he did visit 49 states as president. What was the only state Bush did not visit during his presidency?
