Back to the political appointee drawing board

WASHINGTON—A new year often brings new beginnings, but for many of President Donald Trump’s political appointees, 2018 amounts to going back to square one.

Per Senate Rule 31, about 200 of Trump’s nominations for positions throughout the government were returned to the White House after failing to receive a confirmation vote in 2017. These nominees must be re-nominated and sent back to the Senate for consideration—delaying the already stagnant process of filling key roles in the Trump administration.

Trump closed 2017 with 300 appointees confirmed. At the end of their first years in office, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush had 418 and 493 confirmed, respectively.

Staffing the government involves more than filling the Cabinet. It includes many deputy secretaries and second- and third-tier appointees who lead divisions within government agencies. Deputies often run day-to-day operations while Cabinet-level appointees serve as the face of an agency.

All government agencies have career staff that stay in place across multiple administrations, but they are there to maintain the status quo and keep operations running until new leaders clear confirmation. Installing political appointees begins the real work of carrying out a president’s agenda.

The nominations sent back to the White House include the selection of Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for the position of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Trump nominated Brownback in July and has been courting him for the position since May. The ambassador post has been vacant since January 2017.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held Brownback’s confirmation hearing in October and voted to advance him to the full Senate, but GOP leaders never scheduled a full vote. Nominees only need 51 votes for confirmation, meaning Republicans don’t need to woo Democrats.

Stalled nominations remain unconfirmed for myriad reasons. Democrats have worked hard to block some of the president’s more controversial picks, such as Kathleen Hartnett-White, nominated to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Environmentalist groups ran ads and scientists banded together to pressure senators to vote against Hartnett-White because she said carbon dioxide—often cited as a chief cause for man-made global warming—is not a harmful pollutant. Democrats also accused Hartnett-White of plagiarizing her written responses ahead of her confirmation hearing and want to stall her nomination as long as possible to force Trump to pick someone else.

“Unqualified or controversial nominees will not simply be rubber-stamped by the Senate,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said in a statement. “Let’s start the new year off with a clean slate and allow President Trump the opportunity to nominate a leader for the Council on Environmental Quality who takes environmental laws and public health protections seriously.”

FEMA’s change of heart

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reversed course Tuesday, announcing it would allow houses of worship to apply for federal aid dollars to repair hurricane damage.

The policy change comes after three Texas churches sued the agency for discrimination. Becket, a law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, filed the suit on behalf of the churches, arguing that secular nonprofit organizations could apply for federal aid but churches could not. The suit claimed that policy violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The policy change applies to disasters declared on or after Aug. 23, 2017, according to FEMA.

Religious liberty advocates praised the news.

“Help from both the government and the nonprofit sector in the restoring of churches and other spaces dedicated to religious activities will send an important signal that these communities are coming back, that the spirit of the people is alive and well,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. “That spirit is also nourished by the many charitable and social services that these houses of worship provide.”

Hurricane Harvey ravished Texas in August, causing billions of dollars in damage. Many churches, as well as other nonprofit organizations, stepped in to provide shelter and help communities rebuild. In a September tweet, President Donald Trump pressured FEMA to change its policy, saying Texas churches should be able to seek reimbursement like secular entities.

Shortly after that, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Roy Blunt of Missouri introduced legislation to make houses of worship eligible for FEMA funds.

“Just like charities, houses of worship that serve our communities and are impacted by natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, should not be disqualified from disaster assistance simply because they are religious in nature,” Lankford said in a statement. “I’m pleased that FEMA is taking this important step to include houses of worship into its list of eligible entities for aid.”

Cruz said he would continue to work with lawmakers to codify the new FEMA policy into law. —E.W.

The Bannon effect

President Donald Trump said Wednesday his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, had “lost his mind.” The broken relationship muddles Trump’s core base, of which large parts still support Bannon, and has thrown a wrench into elections across the country.

After Bannon departed from the White House in August, he rejoined Breitbart News and launched an effort to oust anti-Trump Republicans from office. But Bannon also wants to overthrow the entire GOP establishment because, he claims, it impedes the president’s agenda.

In response, Trump said there are many great Republican lawmakers and candidates for Congress and “seeking to burn it all down” will not “make America great again.”

Bannon has already endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidates in Nevada, Missouri, West Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee, Montana, and Wisconsin. In the past, a Bannon endorsement likely meant a Trump endorsement, but now candidates may have to cut ties with the Breitbart News chairman to stay in the president’s good graces.

Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., who’s running for the U.S. Senate this year, issued a campaign statement Wednesday calling on his Republican primary opponent, Patrick Morrisey, to disavow Bannon’s endorsement. “If he refuses, West Virginians will know that what President Trump said of Bannon today is also true of Morrisey: ‘He is only in it for himself.’”

Bannon-backed candidates in Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona are facing similar pressure to disavow his endorsement. The tension between GOP factions likely will grow as 2018 primary elections loom. —E.W.

Closing in on DACA

Congressional leaders jumped back into negotiating a plan for the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program this week and appear optimistic about a forthcoming deal. President Donald Trump announced in September that DACA would end in March without congressional action. Nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants signed up for DACA and risk deportation without it. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., held a meeting Wednesday on immigration reform. Graham told reporters afterward a DACA deal is imminent. “The deal is there. We just need to go write it down and do it and get people to sign off on it,” he said. The White House continues to maintain a solution to DACA must include increased border security measures. Most Republicans in Congress agree with that assessment. Democrats claim they will not support an immigration package that includes funding for a wall along the U.S. southern border. Many Republicans remain skeptical of codifying DACA or passing a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for its recipients. —E.W.