Stefanik loses U.N. job for second time
Calculate what each congressional stands to lose if GOP budget is passed
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Rep. Elise Stefanik got more bad news on Thursday.
One day after the New York Times reported Stefanik was getting increasingly impatient over a promised role in the Trump administration, the U.N. gig she previously coveted was given to disgraced National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Because Trump and Johnson needed Stefanik's vote in the House of Representatives, Trump pulled her nomination for the U.N. job and returned her to the North Country after she had already conducted a farewell tour.
Speaker Johnson promised to restore her role on the House Armed Service Committee and in the Republican leadership, but has been slow to deliver.
When Johnson said he talked with Stefanik about a run for governor in New York this week, Stefanik fired back there was no conversation with the speaker.
New York Times reporter Annie Karni wrote "Ms. Stefanik is doing little to hide the fact that she finds Mr. Johnson to be dishonest. On Tuesday, she publicly called him a liar after he told reporters he was `having conversations' with her and Representative Mike Lawler, another New York Republican flirting with a run for governor, about that race."
It sounded like her days as a good team player were becoming strained.
Speaker Johnson scrambled to patch things up, meeting with Stefanik Wednesday, after Karni reported "the relationship has collapsed."
"It was great, really great meeting,” Johnson told The Hill. “She’s like a sister to me, and there was a lot of things being said that weren’t true about us and what was being said, and we worked that out and I thought it was great.”
Not only has Stefanik been denied a Cabinet post, Johnson has been slow to restore her to the Armed Services Committee while giving her a much smaller role in the Republican leadership.
It would be understandable if Stefanik was peeved Thursday, especially after the disgraced Waltz was given the plumb job at the U.N. that Stefanik believed was hers.
Karni reported three sources told her that when Johnson told Stefanik he was dealing with lots of angry Republican representatives, Stefanik replied “I’m the angriest one.”
She also said she had not made a decision about a run for governor.
North Country Public Radio reported earlier this week a new poll showed Rep. Stefanik the favorite to win a Republican primary to run for governor, and would be competitive against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul. That polled showed her trailing the governor by six points in the general election.
Considering the liberal leanings of New York City, that suggests Stefanik could pull an upset.
But it does appear that Stefanik's options may be dwindling and her patience fraying and that could make a run for governor more likely.
Losing insurance
Substack columnist Heather Cox Richardson reported Tuesday that the current Federal budget proposed by the Republicans will lead to a significant number of people losing their health insurance if passed.
Cox Richardson reports:
You can search for the impact on your congressional district here: Center for American Progress, The Republican House Budget Resolution's Potential $880 Billion in Medicaid Cuts by Congressional District.
When I searched the impact on the 21st Congressional District, it estimates the district will lose $2.4 billion in funding in Medicaid and 55,000 of the 192,000 on Medicaid or CHIP Health Plus will lose their health insurance if this budget stands.
Voters might consider her decision on that vote if she decides to run for governor.
Prison closures
In another important interview, North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell spoke with Jacob Harris, a PhD candidate at Cornell about prison closures in New York State with Gov. Hochul currently proposing as many as five prison closures and how the prison economy has not helped upstate New York the way it was expected to help.
Tim Reynolds speech
Tim Reynolds, who started as a part-time sportswriter at The Post-Star in the 1990s when I was sports editor, was recently inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.
Reynolds is now the national NBA writer for The Associated Press and covers the Miami Heat.
Reynolds speech is pretty darn good for a print guy. You might want to check it out.
PBS funding
On Monday, President Donald Trump illegally fired three Corporation for Public Broadcasting board members even though it is clear in a 1967 law that Trump does not have authority to fire them.
The three immediately filed a lawsuit seeking help from a federal judge.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting disperses federal funds to public TV and radio stations across the country.
In a related legal matter, the Trump administration was ordered to restore $12 million in funding that Congress appropriated to Radio Free Europe.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Stefanik always attended the Friday night Milking Contest at the WASH CO fair, especially during an election year. Not only did she bring her own security detail, deputies from the Sheriff's Dept were there as were State Police. If I remember correctly, one year an employee of Social Services, who also served in a prominent position of the Washington County Republicans, was there serving as a bodyguard. If she chooses to run for Governor, I have a hard time thinking she could carry downstate. Just to be safe, let's hope it doesn't come to that.
And so the assault on public broadcasting begins, with Trump’s lawless executive order:
"President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board of directors to "cease federal funding for NPR and PBS," the nation's primary public broadcasters. Trump contends that news coverage by NPR and PBS contains a left-wing bias. The federal funding for NPR and PBS is appropriated by Congress. The executive order, like many that have been signed by the president, could be challenged in court." (NPR)
This is analogous to what Viktor Orbán did in Hungary to help execute his authoritarian agenda and suppress its free press.