former Director of Finance, State of California
Former director of the California Finance Department; head of Genest Consulting, which analyzed the insurance exchange bills for the California Chamber of Commerce
PROFILE
Mike Genest
Guest
FROM Mike Genest
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How Trump's budget affects housing and the environment in California President Donald Trump released his budget blueprint today. Proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, Housing and Urban Development, and public education could deal a painful blow to California. Trump’s blueprint is so extreme that some top Republicans are pushing back against parts of it.
Which Way, L.A.?
Health Insurance Exchange in California Two bills on Governor Schwarzenegger's desk would make California the first state to establish an insurance exchange under President Obama's healthcare reform. Consumers who don't have health insurance through their employers, Medicare or Medical would be able to comparison shop among plans approved by a five-member board.
Which Way, L.A.?
Schwarzenegger Threatens Minimum Wage for State Workers It's more than three weeks into the new fiscal year, but the state legislature with Democrats in the majority has not passed a budget . Failure to meet the constitutional deadline is nothing new, but this year there's a revenue shortfall of $15 billion. Governor Schwarzenegger says it's too expensive to borrow the money to keep going, so he has a proposal to defer a billion dollars in spending a month: cut the pay of some 200,000 state workers down to the federal minimum wage. They'd have to get by on $6.55 an hour until the budget was passed.
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.