{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://jasonsmith.house.gov/media-center/weekly-capitol-report/not-just-business-as-usual", "Not Just Business As Usual", "2016-11-27", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Jason Smith", "S001195", "jasonsmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Unity. That is what I reflected on this Thanksgiving. It is a true testament to the remarkable character of Americans that after a divisive Presidential campaign season, we can all respect our differences and come together for the good of our country and for our future generations.\nSince his electoral victory to become our next President, Donald J Trump, true to his word, has focused on unifying Americans. Whether it\u2019s sitting down and meeting with leaders of the Democrat Party, establishment Republicans or taking the time to hear from those most critical of him over the past 18 months \u2013 our next President has focused on the exact things our current President has failed over 8 years to ever do \u2013 developing relationships and building consensus to put America, not a political party first.\nUnfortunately, the national liberal media, who we discovered colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign, remains obsessed with the fact that they haven\u2019t been catered to every minute by our next President. They remain dedicated to their biased double standard and would have you believe the Trump transition is in a \u2018chaotic state\u2019 of sort.\u00a0 Unfortunately to their chagrin, our next President has spent more time charting a path for the future of our country, than doing the evening talk show circuit like our current Commander in Chief.\u00a0\nTruth be told, Donald Trump is ahead of where Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were at this point in their transitions into the White House. Even the former head of the liberal Obama campaign, David Axelrod has publicly condemned criticism of the Trump transition stating, \u201cWe hadn\u2019t made any major announcements at this point in 2008, I don\u2019t remember being criticized about it.\u201d\nIn 2008, then President-Elect Obama had only named one Cabinet position by December 1st and still had multiple vacancies in his Cabinet at the start of January. President-Elect Bill Clinton didn\u2019t even make his first Cabinet pick until December 10th! Since 1968, George H.W. Bush has been the only newly elected President to name any Cabinet level positions within the first 2 weeks of winning the Presidency and he had the ability to witness a Presidential administration as Vice-President for 8 years.\nAs our next President has had time to sit down and consult potential Cabinet Secretaries, what has emerged in his selections are some of the most qualified and skilled individuals to lead our country. The type of leaders who will reassert America\u2019s rightful place in the world, who will stand with our allies, deter our enemies, and Make America Great Again here at home.\nOne of President-Elect Trump\u2019s most recent selections of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education highlights our next President\u2019s priority to move power out of Washington, away from bureaucrats, and back to the states and small town communities upon which this nation\u2019s freedoms were founded. When I opposed the misleading Every Student Succeeds Act, I went against the Republican Party and our leaders, but I did so because I believed that it didn\u2019t give enough control over our children\u2019s education to the small towns and localities which know their children best. Education Secretary Nominee DeVos has stated that we should not have common core national standards and a one size fits all approach, she\u2019s a reformer from outside Washington who supports local control. She is exactly the type of Education Secretary who will get Washington out of the lives and out of the classroom of every teacher and student across our nation and understands the purpose and potential of an education. Like Ben Carson said when he visited Sikeston, \u201cwhat you do in the first 25 years of your life will lay the foundation for how hard or easy the next 50 years of your life will be.\u201d\nDonald Trump doesn\u2019t owe anything to Washington insiders or party elite. He is accountable to the American people, that\u2019s it, and that\u2019s the way it should be. Donald Trump is a successful business leader who has spent his career surrounding himself with the best and brightest minds. He will continue to meet with Republicans, Democrats, economists, security experts, business leaders, military generals, farmers and hard working families to understand the right policies needed on day one to get our country moving forward again. I continue to be impressed and appreciative of the outreach and hard work of our next President \u2013 it\u2019s a refreshing change from the government knows best approach of the last 8 years and a change overwhelmingly called for by the American people.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://jasonsmith.house.gov/media-center/weekly-capitol-report/not-just-business-as-usual"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5010549686849117, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}