Congress

Tuesday December 4, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 4, 2018

Donald Trump threatens to kill NAFTA in push for Congress to approve new trade deal

U.S. President Donald Trump says he will withdraw the United States from NAFTA “in the not-too-distant future” in a hardball attempt to pressure Congress into voting to approve his new agreement with Canada and Mexico. 

November 30, 2018

The original North American Free Trade Agreement would otherwise remain in place if Congress rejected or delayed the new agreement, which Trump calls the USMCA and Canada calls CUSMA or “the new NAFTA.” A Trump withdrawal would give Congress a take-it-or-leave-it choice between the new agreement — which is highly similar to the original — and no agreement at all.

The new agreement has been criticized on various grounds by both Democrats and Republicans, leaving its prospects for passage uncertain. The Democrats, who will take control of the House of Representatives in January, have made clear that they do not plan to approve the deal any time soon.

Trump’s announcement late Saturday introduced new uncertainty into the continental trading relationship just a day after the leaders of the three countries held a signing ceremony for the new agreement, at which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the agreement “lifts the risks of serious economic uncertainty” that hovered over the negotiations themselves. Trump’s words suggested the state of bilateral trade will remain uncertain as long as the president is in office.

November 12, 2018

Advocates of free trade say a withdrawal would be a foolish gamble with the American economy. Trump has said he doesn’t see it that way, since he believes the economy was stronger without NAFTA than it is with it.

“Congress will have a choice of the USMCA or pre-NAFTA, which worked very well,”  Trump told reporters on the flight back from the G20 summit in Argentina.

“Congress will have a choice of approving the USMCA, which is a phenomenal deal. Much, much better than NAFTA. A great deal, ” he said. He again described NAFTA as a “disaster,” although the new deal he calls “incredible” retains almost all of NAFTA’ s central features while making a smattering of substantial changes.

The Canadian government declined to comment on the record. An official said on condition of anonymity, “ We are focused on our domestic ratification process and not a process that is internal to the U.S.” 

September 6, 2018

Trump’s announcement is likely to displease businesses across the continent, which have hailed the new agreement for preserving tariff-free North American trade and for allowing them to make investment plans with some degree of confidence that the rules will not soon change.

It is unclear whether Trump has the power to actually withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA. Some experts say he does, some say he doesn’t. The move would undoubtedly be challenged in U.S. courts, which have not yet weighed in on the question.

A Canadian government official told the Star last year that they have concluded “there’s a pretty good chance that he could just do this.” The official said the government also believed the old Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which preceded NAFTA, would snap back into force if he did.

June 6, 2018

Others say it would not be so simple.

It is also unclear whether Trump will indeed proceed. Trump has repeatedly delivered trade threats he has not carried out, and his aides — joined by Trudeau — have talked him out of withdrawing from NAFTA before. He has sometimes appeared to use harsh trade rhetoric primarily to appeal to parts of his political base, and his tough talk on Saturday came immediately after he announced that he had taken a conciliatory stance in a trade meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, postponing a plan to increase tariffs on Chinese products. (Source: Toronto Star) 

Thursday April 12, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 12, 2018

Zuckerberg: regulation of social media firms is ‘inevitable’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a House oversight panel Wednesday that he believes it is “inevitable” there will be regulation of the social media industry and also disclosed to lawmakers that his own data was included in the personal information sold to malicious third parties.

March 27, 2018

“The internet is growing in importance around the world in people’s lives and I think that it is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation,” Zuckerberg said during testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “So my position is not that there should be no regulation but I also think that you have to be careful about regulation you put in place.”

Larger, more dominant companies like Facebook have the resources to comply with government regulation, he said, but “that might be more difficult for a smaller startup to comply with.”

Lawmakers in both parties have floated possible regulation of Facebook and other tech companies amid privacy scandals and Russian intervention on the platform. It’s not clear what that regulation would look like and Zuckerberg didn’t offer any specifics.

March 21, 2018

Zuckerberg was answering a question from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., when he informed lawmakers about his personal data, a reference to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that has rocked his company over the past several weeks.

His remarks came as he opened the second day of a congressional inquisition in the wake of the worst privacy debacle in his company’s history. A day earlier Zuckerberg batted away often-aggressive questioning from senators who accused him of failing to protect the personal information of millions of Americans from Russians intent on upsetting the U.S. Election.

The stakes are high for both Zuckerberg and his company. Facebook has been reeling from its worst-ever privacy failure following revelations last month that the political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which was affiliated with Trump’s 2016 campaign, improperly scooped up data on about 87 million users. Zuckerberg has been on an apology tour for most of the past two weeks, culminating in his congressional appearances this week.

But what comes next is unclear. (Source: Chicago Tribune) 

Published in the Hamilton Spectator

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Friday March 31, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 31, 2017

US President Donald Trump keeps getting tripped by checks & balances

Will Donald Trump transform the US in his first 100 days through executive orders and new laws? Will he wreak protectionist, anti-immigrant and anti-minority havoc? Relax. The US Constitution is designed to hobble presidents. It divides power between the president, US Congress and the judiciary, giving no branch an overriding authority. Each is subject to checks and balances.

Neither legislators not judges feel inferior to or obliged to kowtow to the president. He has to negotiate with even minor Congressmen for legislative support. If instead he tries to bludgeon his way forward, he suffers humiliating setbacks. Trump has proved that repeatedly. Again and again he has charged forward with high-volume rhetoric and been tripped up. With every trip, he looks less fearsome, and sometimes comical.

His latest humiliation has been the forced postponement of his Bill repealing Obama’s healthcare scheme, something central to his platform. His own Republican Party’s right wing refused to go along, saying Trump’s changes were not radical enough. Trump says Obamacare will implode anyway. But the world now knows that the Republican majority in Congress has a mind of its own — as was true of Democratic majorities when Democratic presidents were in power. Trump will have to wheedle and cajole, not bludgeon. He may have to dilute or abandon many proposals. (Source: Times of India) 

 

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Thursday, October 3, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, October 3, 2013

U.S. shutdown: Republicans reject call for vote on reopening gov’t

U.S. President Barack Obama brought top lawmakers to the White House on Wednesday as Republicans rejected Democratic demands to vote on legislation ending a two-day partial government shutdown without changes to the nation’s three-year-old health care law.

Despite the meeting, White House press secretary Jay Carney said sharply that Obama “will not offer concessions to Republicans in exchange for not tanking the economy.”

With the nation’s ability to borrow money soon to lapse, Republicans and Democrats alike said the shutdown that has idled some 800,000 federal workers could last for two weeks or more, obliging a divided government to grapple with both issues at the same time.

From the MacKayCartoons BoutiqueHouse Republicans brought a handful of bills to the floor to reopen portions of the government, including veterans’ programs, parks and the National Institutes of Health. Democrats labeled that a piecemeal approach and rejected it, and the White House threatened to veto the measures in the unlikely event they made it to Obama’s desk.

“What we’re trying to do is to get the government open as quickly as possible,” said the House majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. “And all that it would take is us realizing we have a lot in agreement.”

Democrats were scathing.

An attempt by Democrats to force shutdown-ending legislation to the House floor failed on a 227-197 vote, with all Republicans in opposition. That left intact the tea party-driven strategy of demanding changes to the nation’s health care overhaul as the price for essential federal financing. Late in the afternoon, leading lawmakers filed into the meeting with Obama. (Source: CTV News)

FEEDBACK

The Hamilton Spectator reprinted a thoughtfully educational email sent by Ron Vince, of Flamborough regarding this cartoon, “Graeme MacKay’s cartoon featuring “Cro-Magnons” and “Modern Man’ — purporting to be a commentary on the current American political impasse — seems to err in contrasting the two groups. Cro-Magnons were, in fact, “modern men.” “Neanderthal” would have been a better, although still unfair (to the Neanderthals), choice to represent the Tea Party. Or is the cartoon in fact a particularly brilliant and subtle condemnation of both sides in the standoff?”

On social media this cartoon garnered less attention than expected, although it did raise the backs up of some conservative message makers at Yahoo News Canada who were quick to make use of their FOX news issued bullet points. More are found on Yahoo Canada’s Facebook Page. It’s also posted to the huge worldwide aggregator of editorial cartoons everywhere at www.cagle.com, joining hundreds of other cartoons with similar sentiment critical of the Tea Party movement. Check in to this link to monitor the right wingers to catch up with their bullet points.

Friday May 25, 2001

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 25, 2001

Jim Jeffords hands Senate power to Democrats

President George W. Bush went on the defensive yesterday after a senator bolted Republican ranks, tipping the balance of power in Washington.

In Cleveland, a sombre Bush was swift to defend his policies and his view of himself as a conciliator. He said he respected Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords, whom he called a “distinguished United States senator.”

“But respectfully,” he added, “I couldn’t disagree more (with his views). Our agenda for reforming America’s public schools and providing tax relief for every taxpayer represents the hopes and dreams of main-street America. Our agenda for reforming our military . . . represents the best hope for peace.”

“I was elected to get things done on behalf of the American people and to work with both Republicans and Democrats,” Bush said, “and we’re doing just that.”

It was Bush’s right-wing agenda that Jeffords could not stomach and which triggered his actions. In rebelling against his party, Jeffords ensured himself a place in the political history books.

His move to become an Independent marks the first time in U.S. history that the defection of one congressman switched the balance of power on Capitol Hill.

No later than June 5, Democrats will assume control of the Senate and the political agenda in this country in what amounts to a colossal blow to Bush’s plans.

What had been a 50-50 Senate controlled by Republicans with Vice-President Dick Cheney’s tie-breaking vote now becomes a 51-49 Democratic majority with Jeffords’ support. (Hamilton Spectator)