Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 9-22-17

White House and Political News
Trump And Majority Of HBCU Presidents Were Absent From Summit
Members of the audience attending the Summit listened to Dept. of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Named Exec. Dir. Of White House Initiative Of HBCUs
According to HBCU Di- gest, the White House named entrepreneur and consultant Jonathan Holifield, execu- tive director of the White House Initiative of HBCUs, a long-awaited appointment which is a signature feature of its revamped convening for Black college presidents and advocates.
Holifield has not held any executive positions within the HBCU sector, but sources say he has served as a consult- ant to organizations like the
Jonathan Holifield is a for- mer pro athlete and business- man.
Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).
Speaking on the condi- tion of anonymity, one HBCU executive called the hire a sig- nal of “tone deaf” engagement between the White House and the HBCU community.
Omarosa Manigault- Newman, the communica- tions director for the office and chief HBCU White House surrogate, has been reported as a possible casualty in the potential leadership change over.
National Association
for
New Health Care Bill Will Eliminate Medicaid Entirely As Race To Eliminate Obamacare Continues
Senate Republicans are rac- ing against the September 30th deadline to pass a new health care bill that, among other things, would phase out Medi- caid entirely.
The “Graham-Cassidy” leg- islation, named for Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidey (R-LA), it s leading proponents, includes several cutbacks to health care spend- ing by the government, most notably cuts to Medicaid, which covers nearly 75 million Americans.
By 2027, all of the money that went into the program as part of the Affordable Care Act will be gone, though the cut- backs will occur over time, with caps to Medicaid rising over time.
The phase-out will not happen as quickly for the eld- erly and disabled, but they will still be affected by the cuts to Medicaid as it is dramatically
Senators Ron Johnson, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller, and Bill Cassidy roll out the quietly radical bill last week. Photo: An- drew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty .
rolled back.
What’s more, the new health
care bill eliminates subsidies that help people to buy insur- ance on the marketplace. The subsidies will be replaced by smaller block grants to the states, though even that will be gone by 2027.
According to CNN, Presi- dent Trump would sign the Graham-Cassidy bill if the leg- islation to repeal Obamacare
makes it to his desk, an admin- istration official said Tuesday. The White House has been
working with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cas- sidy of Louisiana for weeks on the new effort.
A second source added that Trump himself had quietly encouraged the two senators to take another shot at health care.
Every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter has pledged commitment to historically black colleges, or HBCUs.
And just about every year, HBCU leaders gather in Washington D.C., to lobby Congress and the White House.
This year President Trump was not there to greet them, which was just as well because the meeting took place amid simmering frus- tration with the Trump ad- ministration.
Much of that frustration is due to what HBCUs consider little or no support from the administration, and what they call a lack of under- standing of the financial straits some schools are fac- ing.
But there are other rea- sons some leaders didn't show up.
Among them, President Trump's response to the vi- olence in Charlottesville, Va. Also, Trump's questioning of the constitutionality of fed- eral funding that HBCUs re-
ceive for construction proj- ects. "It benefits schools on the basis of race," the presi- dent said back in May.
At the time, the Chair of the Congressional Black Cau- cus, Cedric Richmond, a De- mocrat from Louisiana, called that statement, "stun- ningly careless and divisive."
Still, some HBCU presi- dents and their supporters thought it was important to attend this week's meeting at the White House. Among them, Michael Lomax, the CEO of the United Negro Col- lege Fund, a key supporter of historically black institutions.
Of the 107 HBCUs across the country, Lomax says only 29 showed up.
According to the United Negro College Fund, HBCUs enroll about 300,000 stu- dents nationwide. They grad- uate 20 percent of all African-Americans who at- tend college, they produce 70 percent of all black doctors and dentists, and 50 percent of black engineers and public school teachers.
Pres. Trump’s First Speech To U.N. Filled With Threats
Leaders from around the globe listened as President Trump address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
President Emmanuel Macron of France criticized Mr. Trump’s failure to dis- cuss climate change in his speech. Mr. Macron also de- fended the Paris climate ac- cord and called the Iran nuclear deal “essential for peace.”
Pres. Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea and called Iran a “rogue nation.” He also said the United States was “prepared to take further action” on Venezuela.
Pres. Trump delivered a
Pres. Trump addresses the U.N. for the first time.
doomsday warning to North Korea and mocked its young leader, calling him ‘Rocket Man’, on a suicide mission. Trump warned the U.S . would "totally destroy North Korea" if forced to defend itself or its allies. He said while the
U.S. has "great strength and patience," its options could soon run out.
Directly putting the coun- try's leader on notice, Trump suggested Kim Jong Un could not survive an American attack.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017