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Daily Briefing

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 331st day of the year. There are 34 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

• 36 days until candidates can declare their intent to gather signatures for the 2018 election (1/2/2018)
• 56 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 101 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 102 days until the filing period for candidates in the 2018 election opens (3/9/2018)
• 108 days until the filing deadline for the 2018 elections (3/15/2018)
• 113 days until the statewide GOP caucus meetings (3/20/2018)
• 145 days until the GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)
• 211 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
• 344 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,072 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• NEW POLL: As Utah prepares for President Donald Trump's visit to Utah next month to announce how much he plans to downsize the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, a slim majority of Utahns say they support reducing the monuments [Utah Policy].
  
  
• Real Salt Lake quietly cut the tax bill on Rio Tinto Stadium in half because the club claims it is losing money. Those taxes help pay for the bonds that financed the construction of the stadium [Tribune].
  
  
• The Utah Attorney General's office has appealed the order to release the opinion prepared for legislative leaders on this year's 3rd Congressional District special election. Gov. Gary Herbert's office initially blocked the release of the opinion [Deseret News, Tribune].
  
  
• One Utah mayoral race ended up in a tie, so the winner had to be decided by a coin toss [Deseret News].
  
  
• West Jordan voters decided to switch that city's form of government by just 63 votes [Tribune].
  
  
• Former UTA board member Terry Diehl wants the government to pay his attorneys fees for the criminal case brought against him but was dropped before the trial began [Deseret News].
  
  
• The Salt Lake City Council is exploring "creative" ways to bring back the canceled Twilight Concert Series next year, but the effort is likely a long shot [Deseret News]. 

National headlines:

• If the Senate GOP can pass their tax reform package by the end of this week, then they may be able to get a tax bill to President Donald Trump's desk by the end of 2017. If not, then the bill could slip into next year [Politico].
  
  
• The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the Senate GOP tax plan would give big tax breaks to Americans making more than $100,000 a year and add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Those earning less than $100,000 per year would be worse off [Washington Post].
  
  
• The government will run out of money on December 8 unless Congress can pass a new spending measure. Congressional leaders are exploring the idea of adopting a short-term funding package to push the deadline back until late December [Washington Post].
  
  
• What's next for President Trump if Congress can pass tax reform? Nobody seems to know [Politico].
  
  
• Nearly a dozen states, including Utah, are bracing for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to run out of money. Five states will run out of funding by the end of the year. Congress seems to be in no hurry to reauthorize the popular program [The Hill].
  
  
• Congress is bracing for more sexual harassment allegations to come to light [New York Times].
  
  
• Congressional Democrats are in a tough spot with the revelations about the claims of sexual harassment against Michigan Rep. John Conyers. Conyers has stepped down as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee [Politico].
  
  
• Now four women have said they were groped or sexually harassed by Democratic Sen. Al Franken. Franken says he is ashamed but has no plans to step down from office [Minneapolis Star-Tribune].
  
  
• It sure as heck looks like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is readying to run for president in 2020 [Politico].
  
  
• Time is running out for Congress to take steps to secure the nation's voting systems from hackers ahead of the 2018 midterm elections [Politico].
  
  
• The current acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed suit to prevent President Donald Trump from appointing current White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to temporarily head the agency [Washington Post].
  
  
• Melania Trump really, really, really did not want to become First Lady [Vanity Fair].
  
  
• George H.W. Bush is now the longest-living U.S. President in history [Time].
  
  
• It's Cyber Monday. Here are some of this year's best deals for online shoppers [CNN].

On this day in history:

• 1973 - The U.S. Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President.
  
  
• 1978 - In San Francisco Mayor Geoge Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.

Today At Utah Policy

52% of Utahns say they support downsizing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor On the eve of GOP President Donald Trump coming to Utah to announce he is downsizing the new Bears Ears National Monument and cutting in half the 20-year-old Grand Staircase/Escalante monument, a new UtahPolicy.com poll finds a bare majority of Utahns support that ...

Policy News

Wise Words

Education

"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Abraham Lincoln

Lighter Side

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