Economic Scene: In Health Reform, A Cancer Offers An Acid Test

“The incoming Trump administration is planning a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago next week, the first move in President-Elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The raid is expected to begin on Tuesday morning, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and will last all week, the people said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday the nation will hit its debt ceiling the day after President Trump is inaugurated and that the agency will begin “extraordinary measures” to stave off the threat of a national default, The Hill reports. New York Times: U. S. to deploy ‘extraordinary measures’ to avoid default on January 21.

Wall Street Journal Poll: “Some 53% want Trump to make significant changes in how government is run once he is inaugurated Monday. But more than 60% oppose one of his central ideas for doing so—replacing thousands of career civil-service workers with people chosen by the president.” “More than 60% also oppose eliminating the Education Department, a marquee Trump proposal for paring the federal government.

“President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to shift his inauguration from the West Front of the Capitol to the Rotunda — and much of the event to Capital One Arena downtown — has set off a chaotic scramble as congressional officials, lawmakers, Trump’s transition team and Trump’s donors and supporters jockey to figure out who can attend,” Punchbowl News reports. “It’s virtually guaranteed that many lawmakers who want to attend will be unable to do so… We’d also guess that Democrats who were on the fence about going will just skip the event entirely.”

New York Times: “The dozens of major donors who are coming to Washington for inauguration weekend include some who paid big money to get seats for the swearing-in on Monday. The Rotunda at the Capitol is much smaller than the National Mall, of course, and so some of them tell me they’re expecting to be shuffled instead over to a watch party at Capital One Arena.” “A select group of the very biggest donors most likely will make it into the Capitol; others may end up in the arena’s suites.

Gallup: “Joe Biden averaged 42.2% job approval during his four years as president, the second lowest in Gallup polling history.” “Biden’s average job approval rating for his term is just one percentage point higher than that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who holds the record low.” “Before the past two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman had the lowest averages for their presidencies.”