Is the administration preparing for something with North Korea? That was the impression of many in Washington ahead of a Wednesday afternoon White House briefing of nearly all 100 U.S. senators by military and national security officials. Those briefing the senators included Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, General Joseph Dunford of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The White House national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, also attended, while President Trump made a short appearance.
The purpose of the hearing, said a senior administration official, was to “communicate the seriousness of the threat from North Korea and to allow the senators to ask questions of the national security team and to understand better the nature of the threat but also what our response to that threat has been.”
Speaking with reporters next to the White House’s North Lawn following the briefing, Delaware Democrat Chris Coons called the briefing “sobering” and said he learned more about the threat of North Korea’s nuclear program. But for the most part, senators said the briefing gave them little new information about the Trump administration’s policy toward North Korea, nor any signs of an imminent military action.
Exploring a “Broad Range of Options” on North Korea
A senior administration official who spoke to reporters at the White House Wednesdaytried to explain more of the Trump national security team’s thinking on North Korea. The official said placing Kim Jong-un’s regime back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism is one option the administration is considering.
“We’re looking at a broad range of options across all elements of national power and multinational power in connection with North Korea,” the official said. “So what the president’s done is he’s made a decision for us to pursue a certain course, and that course obviously has a number of options associated with it, depending on how the situation develops in the future.”
Those options, the official added, include both military and economic components. On the economic front, the strategy involves putting pressure on those who trade with North Korea—which, for all intents and purposes, means China. “If you just look at the images, right, of the big parade there [in Pyongyang] recently, and look at the complexity of that equipment, look at the components. Even the tires there are not made in North Korea,” the official said.
The administration is less forthcoming about what possible military options could be used to deter North Korea from continuing to develop its nuclear and ballistic-missile programs, although the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier currently deployed in the Western Pacific, has already stationed itself near the Korean Peninsula. “I don’t think we’re going to describe those in any detail,” the official said of further military options.
Holding Out for a Vote on Health Care This Week
Over at Axios, Caitlin Owens and Jonathan Swan report that Republican House leadership and the White House are discussing holding a vote on a modified version of the American Health Care Act as early as Friday. The bill, which purports to be a repeal of Obamacare, failed to garner enough support among both very conservative and moderate Republicans in the House, prompting House speaker Paul Ryan to cancel a planned vote last month.
While there had been talk for a couple weeks, starting before Congress’s April recess, that the AHCA might be revived, one administration official had told me earlier this week that a vote on the bill was not likely before the end of President Trump’s first 100 days in office this Saturday. But that was before a number of the hardline conservative members publicly stated their support for a new amendment to the AHCA. The provision maintains certain insurance rules put in place by Obamacare, like community rating and essential health benefits, but allows states to opt out of them.
The change has earned the support from outside conservative groups like the Club for Growth and Heritage Action. And the House Freedom Caucus, the group of very conservative Republicans that opposed the AHCA, has officially come out in support of the bill if the new amendment is attached.
It’s well known inside the West Wing that some, including chief of staff Reince Priebus, have been pushing for more legislative wins ahead of the 100-day marker. Passing the AHCA by the end of the week remains a long shot—despite the new support from conservatives, moderate Republicans have been less enthusiastic—but there appears to be more momentum even as a spending deadline looms over Congress.
Does NAFTA Hafta Go?
President Trump may be preparing to sign an executive order to begin withdrawing the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement. The New York Times reports:
Congressional Republicans, particularly in the Senate, are “moving slowly” because they’re likely at odds with the president on the issue of NAFTA. Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, one of the Trump’s frequent Republican critics, issued a response to the news on Wednesday in a statement.
“Scrapping NAFTA would be a disastrously bad idea,” said Sasse. “It would hurt American families at the checkout, and it would cripple American producers in the field and the office. Yes, there are places where our agreements could be modernized but here’s the bottom line: trade lowers prices for American consumers and it expands markets for American goods. Risking trade wars is reckless, not wise.”
It may be hard for free-trade Republicans to budge Trump from his view on this agreement. His opposition to it is one of his most consistently held positions—he’s been vocally anti-NAFTA for nearly 25 years.
So given Trump’s reliable views on NAFTA and the latest Times report, it was notable when the White House on Wednesday night issued a readout of the president’s phone call with Enrique Peña Nieto, the prime minister of Mexico, and Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada (both countries are NAFTA signatories). “President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries,” read the statement.
If the float of a NAFTA executive order was a feint designed to get Mexico and Canada to the negotiating table, it seems to have worked.
Song of the Day
“You May Be Right,” Billy Joel.
