Tag: Pat Toomey

Image WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would provide up to $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers hurt by the president’s trade war, moving to blunt the financial damage to American agriculture and the political fallout for Republicans as the consequences of President Trump’s protectionist policies roll through the economy. But the relief money, announced by the Department of Agriculture, was also an indication that Mr. Trump — ignoring the concerns of farmers, their representatives in Congress and even some of his own aides — plans to extend his tit-for-tat tariff wars. “It’s hard to believe there isn’t an outright revolt right now in Congress.” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, asked how the president could single out farmers for help when the manufacturing and energy industries also stand to lose in the trade war. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to put a band-aid on a self-inflicted wound,” Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, wrote on Twitter. “This bailout compounds bad policy with more bad policy.” Farmers have borne the brunt of Mr. Trump’s decision to impose tariffs, which is already costing American producers billions of dollars and threatens to inflict political pain on Republicans in farm states in the midterm elections in November. July 11, 2018 But lawmakers in both parties and many agricultural trade groups criticized the assistance program as a taxpayer-funded bailout for farmers imperiled by the president’s own policies, and even Mr. Trump’s Republican allies made clear that they did not regard it as a genuine solution to the problems his tariffs had created. It will also include government purchases of surplus products — including fruit, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and dairy — that would be sent to food banks or other nutrition programs. Some of the funding would go to a program in which the Agriculture Department works with private companies to develop new export markets for American farm products. “The best relief for the president’s trade war would be ending the trade war,” said Brian Kuehl, the executive director of the trade group Farmers for Free Trade, adding, “This proposed action would only be a short-term attempt at masking the long-term damage caused by tariffs.” Administration officials argued on Tuesday that the assistance for farmers would help them absorb the pain while persuading other countries that they must offer concessions to forge trade agreements with the United States. “Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers,” Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said on Twitter.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he believes President Donald Trump would support a bill from him and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to establish universal background checks.

Donald Trump’s embrace of gun control measures long opposed by the National Rifle Association and at odds with party orthodoxy, has at least one Republican senator hopeful that Congress can break decades of gridlock on the issue and pass consequential reform. Break the Cycle: Gun Violence in America $15976 raised so far $0 $100K goal It’s time to end America’s gun violence epidemic. The Guardian is seeking contributions to fund Break the Cycle, our in-depth series to challenge the orthodoxy that gun control is simply too difficult. Make a contribution Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican of Pennsylvania and the author of a bill to expand background checks, said the president’s support of a stronger background check measure could help convert Republicans who helped to twice block its passage. During a televised meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday, Trump repeatedly endorsed legislation first introduced by Toomey and Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012, that would expand background checks to weapons purchased at gun shows and online. Toomey admitted the bill still did not have enough support to pass the Senate, but said that could change with a serious lobbying effort by the president, who maintains strong support from the conservative voters most likely to oppose such legislation. Also on Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to ban bump stocks, an attachment that allows a semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rapid-fire speed of an automatic gun. Trump called for a “terrific” bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases while also endorsing measures that would bolster security on school campuses, restrict young people from purchasing certain weapons, and remove guns from the hands of the mentally ill without a court order. During one exchange, he singled out Toomey, saying he was afraid of the NRA because the background bill does not include legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. Toomey told Fox and Friends that he had demonstrated his willingness to buck the NRA in 2012, when he introduced the Manchin-Toomey bill, which the gun lobby strongly opposed.