Donald Trump Hails 'New National Pride', Lays Out Agenda For America

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Heralding a "new chapter of American greatness," President Donald Trump stood before Congress for the first time Tuesday night and issued a broad call for overhauling the nation's health care system, significantly boosting military spending and plunging $1 trillion into upgrading crumbling infrastructure.

Striking an optimistic tone, Trump declared: "The time for small thinking is over."

Trump's address came at a pivotal moment for a new president elected on pledges to swiftly shake up Washington and follow through on the failed promises of career politicians. His opening weeks in office have been consumed by distractions and self-inflicted wounds, including the bungled rollout of a sweeping immigration and refugee executive order that was blocked by the courts.

Trump, who typically relishes flouting political convention, embraced the pomp and tradition of a presidential address to Congress. He stuck largely to his script, made occasional overtures to Democrats and skipped the personal insults he so often hurls at his opponents.

The president was greeted by enthusiastic applause as he entered the House chamber, though it was filled with Democrats who vigorously oppose his policies and many Republicans who never expected him to be elected. Most Republican lawmakers have rallied around him since the election, hopeful that he will act on the domestic priorities they saw blocked during President Barack Obama's eight years in office.

Topping that list is undoing Obama's signature health care law and replacing the sweeping measure. Trump offered a basic blueprint of his priorities, including ensuring that those with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, allowing people to buy insurance across state lines and offering tax credits and expanded health savings accounts to help Americans purchase coverage. He suggested he would get rid of the current law's requirement that all Americans carry insurance coverage, saying that "mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America."

Making a direct appeal for bipartisanship, Trump turned to Democrats and said, "Why not join forces to finally get the job done and get it done right?"

Democrats, now firmly ensconced in the minority, sat silently while Republicans stood and cheered. Some wore blue, pro-health care buttons that read "Protect our care," and dozens of Democratic women wore white in honor of the suffrage movement.

Trump was vague in his call for tax reform, another Republican priority. He promised "massive tax relief for the middle class" and a reduction in corporate tax rates, but glossed over how he would offset the cuts.

The president also urged Congress to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure package financed through both public and private capital.

"The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding," he said.

Trump sent unexpectedly mixed messages on immigration, one of his signature campaign issues. He pledged to vigorously target people living in the U.S. illegally who "threaten our communities and prey on our citizens." But he told news anchors before his speech that he was open to legislation that could provide a pathway to legal status, and he told Congress he believed "real and positive immigration reform is possible."

First lady Melania Trump sat with special guests who were on hand to amplify the president's agenda, including the family members of people killed by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The widow of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia also sat alongside Mrs. Trump, a reminder of the president's well-received nomination of federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill Scalia's seat.

The majority of Trump's address centered on the domestic, economic-focused issues that were at the center of his presidential campaign. His national security message centered largely on a call for significantly boosting military spending and taking strong but unspecified measures to protect the nation from "radical Islamic terrorism."

Underscoring the human cost of those efforts, Trump honored Chief Special Warrant Officer William "Ryan" Owens, who was killed in a raid in Yemen during his first days in office. Owens' widow sat in the guest box with tears streaming down her face as the crowd stood and applauded at length.

Owens' death, as well as the killing of several civilians, have raised questions about the effectiveness of the raid. Pushing back, the president said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had assured him that the operation generated "large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemies."

Trump also voiced support for NATO but reiterated his call for partner countries to meet their financial obligations to the military alliance. Trump has previously called NATO "obsolete," setting some allies on edge about his commitment to the partnership.

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First Black Crew Member to Join International Space Station

Source: http://pasadenajournal.com/

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected astronaut Jeanette Epps to join the crew of the International Space Station in 2018. Epps will become the first Black crew member to represent the U.S. on the station.

The journey will mark the first time Epps has traveled to orbit, allowing her to follow in the footsteps of the women who, she said, inspired her to become an astronaut.

While other Black astronauts have flown to the Space Station for brief stays during the outpost’s construction, Epps will be the first Black crew member to live and work on the station for an extended period of time. Her journey aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and stay at the station places her as the only American and female among a crew made up of mostly Russians and men.

“I’m a person just like they are. I do the same work as they do,” Epps told a group of STEM students at her Syracuse alma mater, Danforth Middle School. “If something breaks, anyone of us will have to be able to go out the door. We have to be jacks of all trades. It’s not a job that’s like any other.”

While working on her doctorate, Epps was a NASA graduate student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles about her research. After completing her graduate studies, Epps worked in a research lab for more than two years, co-authoring multiple patents, before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She was a CIA technical intelligence officer for about seven years before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.

“Anything you don’t know is going to be hard at fi rst,” Epps said in a video statement about the launch. “But if you stay the course, put the time and effort in, it will become seamless eventually.”

Epps, in the NASA video interview, shared when she was first introduced to the idea that she could be an astronaut. “It was about 1980, I was nine years old. My brother came home and he looked at my grades and my twin sisters’ grades and he said, ‘You know, you guys can probably become aerospace engineers or even astronauts,’” Epps said. “And this was at the time that Sally Ride [the first American woman to fl y in space] and a group of women were selected to become astronauts  the first time in history. So, he made that comment and I said, ‘Wow, that would be so cool.’”

Epps will join veteran NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel at the Space Station. On Feustel’s first long-duration mission, he served as a flight engineer on Expedition 55, and later as commander of Expedition 56.

“Each space station crew brings something different to the table, and Drew and Jeanette both have a lot to offer,” said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Offi ce at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a statement. “The space station will benefi t from having them on board.”

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