Positive Week for President Trump

Reconciliation of House and Senate Tax Bills

Congressional Republicans began taking steps on Monday to reconcile differences between separate tax bills that passed the House and the Senate, hoping to complete negotiations and send legislation to the White House within weeks. 

The House of Representatives formally voted 222-192 Monday night to go to conference committee on the tax bill, where it will work to iron out key differences between its bill and the Senate's. 

The conference committee will be led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who is expected to play a senior role. 

Democrats will also serve on the conference committee, but they will be outnumbered by Republicans and are not expected to significantly influence the process.

Supreme Court Lets Trump Fully Impose Latest Travel Ban

President Trump’s travel ban policy chalked up a significant victory at the Supreme Court on Monday as the justices allowed full implementation of the latest version of the restrictions. 

Lower-court rulings had exempted from the travel ban foreigners with “bona fide” family, business or educational ties to the United States, but the justices issued an unsigned stay order on Monday that allows Trump to carry out the new policy even on those with U.S. connections, at least for now. 

The latest travel ban policy placed a range of restrictions on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries, Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as North Korea and Venezuela. 

While the travel limits in the new policy are indefinite, they are narrower and more tailored than in earlier versions of the ban. 

Only two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, indicated that they would have denied the Trump administration’s request to fully implement the policy.

WSJ Calls for Mueller to Step Aside

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal excoriated Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI for withholding information from Congress about the firing of a top agent who reportedly sent anti-Trump messages. 

Mueller reassigned a top FBI agent, Peter Strzok, over the summer after it was discovered that Strzok had sent anti-Trump text messages, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Strzok led the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and held a top role in the Russia probe, which Mueller has been leading since Trump fired former FBI director James Comey.  

“Mr. Mueller and the Justice Department kept this information from House investigators, despite Intelligence Committee subpoenas that would have exposed those texts,” the Journal wrote in an editorial published Monday. “They also refused to answer questions about Mr. Strzok’s dismissal and refused to make him available for an interview.” 

The Journal also takes issue with the fact that the woman who Strzok reportedly exchanged the text messages with, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, worked for Mueller and deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe. 

The editorial called upon Mueller to step down “in favor of someone more credible.” 

RNC Restores Its Support for Moore in Alabama Senate Race

Three weeks after the Republican National Committee cut ties with Roy Moore, because multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, the group is reinstating its financial support for him. 

The reversal came on Monday, just hours after Donald Trump announced his endorsement of the Alabama Republican, who is running for the Senate seat vacated by the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, urging Moore in a phone call: “Go get ’em, Roy.”

The election for the Alabama Senate seat will be held on December 12.  

The America First Action super PAC also said it would spend $1.1 million to help elect Moore ahead of the Dec. 12 special election, according to The Washington Post.

However, not all Republicans have decided to change their tune and back Roy Moore. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential nominee, Richard Shelby, Alabama’s incumbent Republican senator, told reporters last week that he had written in an alternative candidate instead of voting for Moore. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is not changing its stance. An NRSC source says it is staying out of the race and that Chairman Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado remains committed to this position. 

The White House released a statement confirming Trump’s endorsement of the former judge. In a statement on Monday, Moore said, "I am honored to receive the support and endorsement of President Donald Trump.

Rep. Rokita Unveils Bill to Imprison Officials Who Shelter Illegal Immigrants

Congressman Todd Rokita (R-IN) introduced the “SLAP Act” on Friday, the Stopping Lawless Actions of Politicians Act. The bill states that those who refuse to enforce immigration laws, such as those in sanctuary cities, could face up to five years in prison and a $1 million fine. 

Rep. Rokita said Tuesday that his bill could put elected officials in prison for failing to enforce federal immigration law. “If they’re going to act like criminals themselves, if they’re going to put the interests of these illegal immigrant criminals above the safety of their own citizens, then we ought to lock them up,” Mr. Rokita, Indiana Republican, said on Fox News. 

The bill is one of the most aggressive pieces of legislation to date aimed at sanctuary city policies, going beyond the Justice Department’s threat to cut off grants to those jurisdictions.  

The bill comes after the murder trial of Kate Steinle, who was fatally shot by an illegal immigrant with a criminal history, ended in a not-guilty verdict. Steinle was walking in San Francisco, a sanctuary city, when she was shot in 2015.

Guest Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) joins the No Spin News to talk about the steps to get his bill, the SLAP Act, passed.

As Predicted Rep. John Conyers Announces Retirement

Representative John Conyers Jr., who faces allegations that he sexually harassed former employees, announced Tuesday that he will leave Congress immediately, and he endorsed his son, John Conyers III, to replace him. 

From the hospital, Rep. Conyers called into “The Mildred Gaddis Show,” a local radio program to break the news. “I am retiring today,” Mr. Conyers said from a hospital in Michigan. “I am in the process of putting together my retirement plans. I will have more about that very soon.” 

Following news of the allegations, Conyers was hospitalized in Detroit for a stress-related illness, according to his lawyer, Arnold Reed. 

After the radio interview, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, announced Conyers’s retirement on the House floor saying he had informed Speaker Paul Ryan, Representative Nancy Pelosi, and Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan of his decision. 

"Given the totality of the circumstance of not being afforded the right of due process in conjunction with current health conditions, and to preserve my legacy and good name, I am retiring.”

In the past, Speaker Ryan and House Minority Leader Pelosi had each said Mr. Conyers should resign after a woman who settled a sexual harassment claim against him said on television that the congressman had “violated” her body.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal is a Hypocrite

On November 30, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, “My Republican colleagues are scrambling for a solution to an overwhelming, oppressive debt that they would force on the American people. Not on ourselves but on our children and our grandchildren for generations to come.” 

In October 2015, Blumenthal voted FOR the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.The budget deal suspended the nation’s debt limit and allowed the Treasury to borrow another $1.5 trillion by the end of Obama’s presidency in 2017. 

It added to the national debt that already stood at more than $18.15 trillion, bringing it to the $20 Trillion-mark right around the time Mr. Obama left the White House.

Study Finds the More Time Teens Spend on Phone, More Likely They’ll Attempt Suicide

The more time teens spend glued to their smartphones or other digital devices, the more likely they are to have attempted or contemplated suicide, a new study finds. 

Researchers from Florida State University and San Diego State University examined results from more than 500,000 teens across three generations. Participants in the surveys ranged from eighth graders to twelfth graders, ages 13 to 18. 

The new study finds that nearly half of teens who log at least five hours of screen time a day have thought about or attempted suicide. The teens were asked in the surveys specific questions about their mental health, such as how frequently over the previous 12 months they’d considered suicide, or how often in that time period they’d felt sad or hopeless. 

The researchers found a rise in depression and related mental health issues among teens since 2010 was directly linked to simply owning a mobile phone or device. Nearly half (48 percent) of teens who spent at least five hours a day on an electronic device had either thought about or attempted suicide. No more than two hours of screen time would be considered a “safe zone.”

Mail Time!

• “Having opposing views such as you had tonight with Dr. Goolsbee, which leads to spirited debate is why I've been watching you for more than 20 years. Glad you have the No Spin News and hope for more opposing views and debates. Those who only want to hear one side are not good.:
• All right. You know, I'm noting all of that. I think that what people get tired of is irrational debate. You know, people that aren't good natured and are not sincere. I don't think they want that. We're not going to do that. But good people like Goolsbee, I think you're right, it adds to the program.
• “Hi Bill, I was just wondering what happened to the Facebook live event? I thought it was changed to today.”
• We're going to do it next Monday (12/11). The reason being, the Facebook Live event is going to be an evaluation of the Trump administration. No spin. Honest. Strengths and weaknesses. But I wanted to get the tax reform thing at least better defined. All right. And I think by Monday we'll have more of a definition on how that thing is going to go down. It's going to pass but the House and the Senate are now negotiating the final language. So, I postponed it so we would have that. So, the Facebook Live event will be Monday around 2:00 Eastern Time in the afternoon. And if you can't catch it live, obviously you'll be able to see it on BillOReilly.com because we'll have taped it and you'll be able to see it. But that's how we're going to handle it. I think that's the best way.
• “Tonight, was the first time I got to watch you since you left Fox. I was having withdrawal and decided it was time to become a BillOReilly.com Premium Member. At my age, there aren't many people on TV that I can really enjoy and still believe they're telling the truth.”
• Well, I appreciate that. Welcome in. Spread the word. All our Premium Members have got to spread the word.

Word of the Day: Jackanapes