And a good Sunday morning to you from inside the beltway of Washington, DC!  

After having several pre-planned activities yesterday including a White House tour bright and early in the morning….

… followed by the Cherry Blossom parade and the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival, today is far less planned. Unless I can find another Irish Pub with a good reputation for Fish & Chips:

I’m up to three so far this trip: The Dubliner, just off of Union Square; Eammon’s A Dublin Chipper in Alexandria; and Rí Rá Irish Pub in Georgetown.  All of which are well worth your time stopping. 

Arlington National Cemetery is on my schedule either today or tomorrow, and this morning, I’m on my way to the Newseum, which is having a display on Rock, Power & Politics, and we’ll just have to see where it goes from there. 

Still lots to come!

Thune Statement on Confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch

“Judge Gorsuch is the kind of judge all of us should want on the nation’s highest court, and I wish him the best as he begins this next chapter in his judicial career.”

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) released the following statement after the Republican-led Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to serve as associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court:

“Today the Senate voted to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch, preserving the nearly 230-year tradition of approving Supreme Court nominees by a simple majority vote. While Democrats tried – on a purely partisan basis – to block this nomination, Republicans ensured Judge Gorsuch received an up-or-down vote, and he was ultimately confirmed with the support of a bipartisan majority in the Senate.

“Judge Gorsuch is known for his impartiality and commitment to the rule of law. He is a jurist with a distinguished career who understands that the job of a judge is to apply the law as it is written, even when he disagrees with it. Judge Gorsuch is the kind of judge all of us should want on the nation’s highest court, and I wish him the best as he begins this next chapter in his judicial career.”

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In keeping with true South Dakota hospitality, US Senator John Thune invited me into his office this AM, where we chatted about a myriad of topics; about politics, familiy, and most importantly for this article, what’s coming up in the Senate.

Two items that Senator Thune sees coming up for the Senate are major agenda items for President Trump; Repeal of the ACA and Tax Reform, and the two are inexorably entangled with one another.

Senator Thune noted “You need to deal with the ACA (affordable care act) before we do tax reform, because there’s a trillion dollars (I believe I heard that correctly) of spending that ACA has attached to it that you need to resolve first, so the following tax reform is revenue neutral.”

Coming up in Commerce Committee will be the FAA reauthorization, and within that measure will be talk about a familiar topic in recent years; drone technology.

We didn’t have too long to talk, as the Senator had to get to the Chamber for a very important vote this morning, the confirmation of Associate Justice Neal Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court.

I hadn’t asked, but Senator Thune’s staff asked if I wanted to watch from the Gallery, and while I wasn’t allowed to take my phone inside, I can tell you it was exciting just to be there for the historic occasion.

There was a bit of a line, but I had the pleasure of witnessing Senators Thune and Rounds cast their ballots in favor of our new Supreme Court Justice. (As well as a number of Democrats who walked in, voted NO and walked out.)

What a great opportunity to witness our system of government in action! Thank you very much Senator Thune for the time and the opportunity!

Senator Rounds’ staff was kind enough this past week to help me get a tour of the White House for this weekend, so bright and early this morning, I popped in to pick up my pass.. And taking a chance, I asked if the Senator was in.

It’s not that there is anything going on in Washington today, such as a supreme court confirmation vote, or the first military action of our new administration… OK, maybe I was a little embarrassed that it might be an imposition, but the staff was gracious and I made a point not to overstay my welcome.

We had a great discussion on what was happening in his office, and in his committees, especially in light of the strike on Syria. One of the most important things that the Senator noted was the poor state the prior administration left us in, in terms of military readiness.

Mike noted that we were left in situations such as having 3 nuclear submarines inoperable & waiting for repairs, and how 63% of our F-18’s are in a state of disrepair after the Obama administration. And thats just thr tip of the iceberg.

We also spoke about his efforts to clean up the morass that is the VA, as well as his work on the Banking committee.

I knew Mike had to get to a committee meeting, so we got out of his hair, but it was good to get an update on the work he’s doing for South Dakota and the American people in Washington.

Thank you again to Senator Rounds and staff for the impromptu visit, as well as for the White House tour.

After boarding and de-planing, my flight has officially been pushed back by 2 hours.

Somehow, I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the Hill this afternoon, as I’d planned.

Although, as I haunt the waiting area of gate E8 in Chicago, waiting for my plane and the Eastern seaboard weather to clear, I’m not sure anyone in DC will be allowed to escape via air service, either.

Attorney General Jackley Joins Challenge of Affordable Care Act’s Tax on South Dakota’s Insurance Health Plan

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined a challenge filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by 16 Attorneys General. The brief supports the petition for rehearing en banc from a panel decision that allows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to extend the transitional reinsurance tax in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the States that operate self-insured group health insurance plans for government employees. The ACA requires “group health plans” to pay the transactional reinsurance tax. The Attorneys General argue this tax does not apply to the States.

“The federal government has no existing authority to impose this tax on our self- insured state health care plans. Imposing this tax forces the States to foot the bill for the federal government’s inaction and poor policy choices on healthcare. We will continue this fight to protect our citizens and our State budget from this unauthorized tax,” said Jackley.

The brief argues that in order to impose such a tax, Congress must make its intent to do so unmistakably clear. The States have a substantial interest in contesting federal taxes imposed directly on States where it is not clear Congress intended for States to pay the taxes. A strong clear statement rule in the taxation context provides States much-needed protection from federal regulation that upsets the traditional federal- state balance. “There is no clear statement in the ACA that Congress intended to impose this transitional tax on the States,” said Jackley.

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I’ve been looking forward to my D.C. trip this week for quite a while. So when things started going sideways this AM, it had me wishing I had a St. Christopher’s medal handy for the rest of the trip.

The AM started out great. I actually think I remembered everything intended to take with me for once. But hey! Someone took my Diet Coke from the fridge. Grumble. Rotten kids. Not a big deal, The quick shop is open.

So we started heading down the  interstate… but dammit. The finicky cruise control in the truck finally decided to cease working. Yeah, I knew that one was coming. Not a tragedy. I’ll fix it when I’m back.

As I kept checking to make sure I wasn’t as lead-footed as I thought, as that Madison exit came up awfully fast, my wife grumbled in anguish, as my usual role in forgetting things was assumed by her. Apparently, she change for the big purse to a small purse, and forgot her credit card. Meh. I’ve got cards. No biggie.

By this time, we are pulling into the Sioux Falls Airport for parking, and here’s where things really start to go awry.

Long-term parking in the airport is down to one operable ticket machine. So we pull in line, and wait. And wait. And… what’s going on?

Apparently, despite the LCD screen that says press button for ticket, some idiot jammed a credit card into the lone working ticket dispenser at the long term parking ticket machine at the Sioux Falls airport.

So, on the fly, someone in charge sent us affected persons to short term parking.  For some reason, I’m  a little nervous about these instructions costing an arm & a leg, or worse being towed. 

 I could not raise anyone on the phone, so I sent a note to a friendly City Councilperson wondering if they could possibly help me obtain some peace of mind for following the sketchy “on the fly” instructions as related by the person who couldn’t read instructions, and help me find a live person.

After that, we arrived at the Airport terminal… only to find that our flight was delayed 45 minutes. Hm. That means a sprint when we land, but there’s a possibility we can still make our connecting flight. OK. Time to kill. We’ll go get breakfast. 

And breakfast was good. Thumbs up for biscuits and gravy. But thumbs down for the notice that came at the end of the meal that we were delayed an additional 45 minutes, which effectively meant we would be missing the next flight. Dammit.

As we trudged to gate 7, defeated, with our arrival resembling anything akin to what was planned shattered, and we waited for a gate agent to figure out how to get two hapless travelers to Washington DC before Friday….. all of a sudden, the flight was updated again.

Instead of an hour-and-a-half delay, we were now leaving in 5 minutes, literally 5 minutes behind our original schedule. Pre-boarding instructions were read at record pace. YOU! GET ON THE PLANE NOW! Amazingly, I had no problem with the rush.

We’re in the plane now, waiting to taxi, only 5 minutes behind. It’s all good. I just hope my car is there when I get back.

Read it here: Former Bosworth aide to work for Russians.