After a 3 week trip to the US including some time in DC, I thought I would share some observations about what’s happening in DC. These observations are based on discussions with a range of people in the know.
As you would have most probably determined the Congress has never been more divided along party lines and this is best seen by watching Fox, CNN, etc. The discourse is aggressive and uncompromising – attack dog!
There is still approximately 3,500 Government positions to be filled and many are being blocked in the Committee stages. I know one outstanding candidate who on a second round of Committee votes received 22 for and 3 against, but still cannot be confirmed. The 13 months it took to fill the US ambassador to Australia is a good example.
What is not readily apparent is that the machinery of Government is not working. The Trump administration either as part of ‘draining the swamp’ policy or due to lack of Government experience in key positions are not using the machinery of government to execute their policies. In the business world we often hear of disintermediation, well it's happening with the US Government. Lots of announcements with the implementations still to come, if ever as Congressional leaders have now turned their minds to the mid-term elections.
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