Postcards from the edge
Today we got a postcard from President Trump. I guess the best way to get a message out as quickly as possible during a pandemic is snail mail. I shouldn't scoff - I know there are still people out there who don't have access to TV, radio, newspapers, the Internet, text. Is there a possibility that the use of federal funds by this particular administration to send 130 million postcards with this particular wording during an election year could be seen as political? As usual the country will be split - 50% will think it was an effective use of taxpayers money, and 50% will think it was federally-funded campaigning for re-election.
I was trying to picture the former president making such an inelegant move, and wondered if in fact there could be a legal or procedural challenge to the sending of such mailers. Turns out there is recent precedent, though in an upside-down sort of way.
Dating back England in 1660, franking privileges enable certain government officials to mail signed correspondence to their constituents without postage. In the US, the first Congress enacted a franking law in its first session in 1789 and some form of the law has existed ever since, with a bipartisan 'franking committee' ensuring oversight and regulation. The law applies to Members of Congress, Members-elect, former presidents and their spouses or widows. It does not apply to sitting presidents, but does apply to the Vice President. Funds are appropriated to pay for Congressional franked mail - it amounted to over $16 million last year - and these funds are used to reimburse the US Postal Service. Controversy around franking privileges arises when politicians misuse the federal franking funds to send campaign mailers camouflaged as official correspondence.
In thinking about previous examples where a president's name is associated with a political act, I thought of the term 'Obamacare'. This term was first coined by Republicans (Mitt Romney may have been the first to use it in 2007) and initially came to be a derogatory way to describe the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which, against great opposition from the Republicans, expanded health insurance coverage in the US. In 2011 House Democrats on the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards (the 'franking commission') tried to have the term banned from use in franked mailers sent out by Members of Congress, making the argument that the term was being used for 'personal, partisan, or political' reasons and that this violated the franking rules. They were successful and consequently mailers could only use the term if it also specifically referred to the name of the Act. Incidentally, franked Congressional mail cannot use the term 'Merry Christmas'.
This recent mailing with 'President Trump's Coronavirus Guidelines' was sent as franked mail and reimbursement is being negotiated between the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Postal Service.
Given the mixed messaging about COVID-19 coming from the White House, it was a little surprising to see President Trump so firmly attach himself, in writing, to social-distancing or even to acknowledge that the virus exists! It is a somewhat risky political move at a time of great uncertainty. But it would indicate that, at least for today, President Trump is hoping to align himself personally with successfully containing the virus, despite being slow to authorize many of the actions at a federal level that likely would contain the virus.
Looking back at the term Obamacare, in some ways the term came back to bite the Republicans. Initially the terms was used by Republicans in a derogatory way, thinking that associating Obama's name with what they hoped would be an unpopular bill would help bring about the demise of both the President and the Act. However, so far the Republicans have been unable to repeal the Act and I would imagine the current situation will make it more popular than ever. Obama himself did not want the Act to be known by his name. As one would expect, he had some choice words on the subject. In August 2011 he said, “I have no problem with folks saying, ‘Obama cares, I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don’t care? That’s fine with me." And in 2014 he said, "First of all, in five years it will no longer be called Obamacare, because when something is working, they’re definitely not going to — there will be a whole renaming process." Well, it is still called Obamacare and has become one of Obama's leading legacies.
Today was a strangely quiet and normal day where one could almost forget the turmoil going on in the world. It was raining lightly, the kind of day where Californians self-isolate anyway. Apart from my usual package paranoia and my obsession with the kids learning 'life skills' we spent the day as we would any rainy Saturday.
-----
COVID-19 update for Santa Clara County (Population 1.9 Million)
Experts say it is still too early to tell if the shelter-in-place measures are 'flattening the curve' - should know in a couple more weeks.
I was trying to picture the former president making such an inelegant move, and wondered if in fact there could be a legal or procedural challenge to the sending of such mailers. Turns out there is recent precedent, though in an upside-down sort of way.
Dating back England in 1660, franking privileges enable certain government officials to mail signed correspondence to their constituents without postage. In the US, the first Congress enacted a franking law in its first session in 1789 and some form of the law has existed ever since, with a bipartisan 'franking committee' ensuring oversight and regulation. The law applies to Members of Congress, Members-elect, former presidents and their spouses or widows. It does not apply to sitting presidents, but does apply to the Vice President. Funds are appropriated to pay for Congressional franked mail - it amounted to over $16 million last year - and these funds are used to reimburse the US Postal Service. Controversy around franking privileges arises when politicians misuse the federal franking funds to send campaign mailers camouflaged as official correspondence.
In thinking about previous examples where a president's name is associated with a political act, I thought of the term 'Obamacare'. This term was first coined by Republicans (Mitt Romney may have been the first to use it in 2007) and initially came to be a derogatory way to describe the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which, against great opposition from the Republicans, expanded health insurance coverage in the US. In 2011 House Democrats on the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards (the 'franking commission') tried to have the term banned from use in franked mailers sent out by Members of Congress, making the argument that the term was being used for 'personal, partisan, or political' reasons and that this violated the franking rules. They were successful and consequently mailers could only use the term if it also specifically referred to the name of the Act. Incidentally, franked Congressional mail cannot use the term 'Merry Christmas'.
This recent mailing with 'President Trump's Coronavirus Guidelines' was sent as franked mail and reimbursement is being negotiated between the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Postal Service.
Given the mixed messaging about COVID-19 coming from the White House, it was a little surprising to see President Trump so firmly attach himself, in writing, to social-distancing or even to acknowledge that the virus exists! It is a somewhat risky political move at a time of great uncertainty. But it would indicate that, at least for today, President Trump is hoping to align himself personally with successfully containing the virus, despite being slow to authorize many of the actions at a federal level that likely would contain the virus.
Looking back at the term Obamacare, in some ways the term came back to bite the Republicans. Initially the terms was used by Republicans in a derogatory way, thinking that associating Obama's name with what they hoped would be an unpopular bill would help bring about the demise of both the President and the Act. However, so far the Republicans have been unable to repeal the Act and I would imagine the current situation will make it more popular than ever. Obama himself did not want the Act to be known by his name. As one would expect, he had some choice words on the subject. In August 2011 he said, “I have no problem with folks saying, ‘Obama cares, I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don’t care? That’s fine with me." And in 2014 he said, "First of all, in five years it will no longer be called Obamacare, because when something is working, they’re definitely not going to — there will be a whole renaming process." Well, it is still called Obamacare and has become one of Obama's leading legacies.
Today was a strangely quiet and normal day where one could almost forget the turmoil going on in the world. It was raining lightly, the kind of day where Californians self-isolate anyway. Apart from my usual package paranoia and my obsession with the kids learning 'life skills' we spent the day as we would any rainy Saturday.
 |
| The Quarantine Box still exists but the system has broken down somewhat! |
 |
| Today's life skill: Barista training - figuring out how to make a Green Tea Matcha latte. |
COVID-19 update for Santa Clara County (Population 1.9 Million)
Experts say it is still too early to tell if the shelter-in-place measures are 'flattening the curve' - should know in a couple more weeks.
 |
| https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/DiseaseInformation/novel-coronavirus/Pages/dashboard.aspx |
Comments
Post a Comment