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November 2017 - page 2

Inspectors General Face Fewer Roadblocks Under Trump, Actually

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Government watchdogs testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday and reported something unexpected: their jobs have gotten easier during the Trump era. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz told lawmakers on Wednesday that a years-long standoff over access to records has thawed thanks to legislation signed into law in the waning days of the Obama administration. “The IG community’s ability to continue its important work was greatly enhanced by the passage of the IG Empowerment Act,” Horowitz testified. The legislation upended a DOJ Office…

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Congress Publicly Examines Launch Authorities For First Time Since 1976, After Wasted Nixon Started Nuclear Panic

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The feud between President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has the potential to fuel a Constitutional power struggle. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair presided over a hearing on Tuesday to explore the President’s legal authority to launch nuclear weapons. Corker said he wanted to explore “the realities of our system.” Democrats thanked Corker for holding the hearing. A number of them noted concerns about President Trump’s tempestuous behavior. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) invoked worries about Trump’s mental stability, for example. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)…

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Bipartisan Momentum Gathering Behind Dodd-Frank Rollback

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Senate Democrats are on the verge of helping Congressional Republicans scale back key banking regulations signed into law after last decade’s massive financial crisis Moderate liberals on the Senate Banking Committee are working with Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to hash out a proposal that would relax rules on speculation and oversight of some of the country’s largest banks. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) are at the heart of efforts to revise the framework established…

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DHS Nominee Puts Daylight Between Herself and Trump on Charlottesville Nazi Sympathizing

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President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security distanced herself from comments made by Trump–in the aftermath of far-right militant violence last summer. Kirstjen Nielsen said that she “disavows any form of violence, whether that be antisemitic, white supremist [sic], any kind of radicalization,” when asked on Wednesday at her confirmation hearing. Nielsen had been asked by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) if she condemned white nationalism, white supremacy, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. Each time, the nominee responded “yes,” without missing a beat. In August,…

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Leahy Accuses White House of Acting like a “Paranoid Totalitarian Government” on Cuba

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Under new restrictions announced by the Trump administration, US travelers to Cuba will now have to be escorted by a certified tour guide who will prevent them from patronizing scores of restaurants and hotels on the island. The regulations unveiled on Wednesday, further chip away at diplomatic ties to Havana forged by President Obama. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member of the State Department Appropriations subcommittee, described the move as “reminiscent of the Cold War and what one would expect of a paranoid totalitarian government.” The…

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NLRB Member Thumbing Nose at “Drain the Swamp” Agenda

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A top labor regulator could be poised to quietly rule on matters involving past clients. Senate Democrats this week hit out at National Labor Relations Board Member William Emanuel for only disclosing the names of those who recently paid at least $5,000 for his legal expertise. The legislators noted that while these disclosures may satisfy Congressional requirements, President Trump initially made rigorous ethics demands on his nominees. In a January executive order, days after his inauguration, Trump asked appointees to abstain from taking part “in any particular matter…directly…

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Trump’s Medicaid Chief Endorses Work Requirement Schemes

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States that want to force Medicaid recipients to get a job before qualifying for healthcare have an ally in the Trump administration, according to remarks made on Tuesday by the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Speaking to the National Association of Medicaid Directors, Seema Verma gave a nod to the several states across the country that had hoped to enact Medicaid work requirements only to be shot down by the Obama administration. “Those days are over,” Verma said in prepared…

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Watchdog: Medicare Services Drastically Underestimating Opioid Risks Among Seniors

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) called out the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) for not properly gauging the threat of opioid abuse by the elderly. More than 727,000 individuals in the Medicare Prescription Drug program are at risk of opioid addiction, according to some government measures, yet CMS estimated that the at-risk population was only a sliver of that, according to a GAO report released Monday, GAO blamed insufficient data collection at CMS for that massive gap in oversight. “Without expanding and enhancing its data collection…

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After “Paradise Papers,” Without any Public Hearings, Ways and Means Committee takes up Tax Reform Bill

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Republicans are attempting to hurriedly ram major tax reform through Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee started mark-up hearings on Monday, to advance a bill that would re-write the tax code. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) complained at the start of the process about the dearth of any public examination of the proposal in hearings before the influential Ways and Means Committee. Doggett also decried Trump’s refusal to disclose his own financial holdings–a move that would reveal how he personally stands to be impacted by…

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GOP Tax Plan Drops, Revealing Big League Breaks for Multinational Corporations, Millionaires, and Billionaires

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House Republicans introduced a $1.5 trillion tax cut proposal on Thursday that would drastically reduce current obligations for some of the wealthiest individuals and firms in the country. The so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has received an endorsement from President Trump, includes tax reductions for most Americans. But benefits fall heaviest on entities at the higher end of the wealth spectrum. Pre-deduction corporate tax rates would be permanently slashed from 35 percent to 20 percent. Other types of businesses, like partnerships and S-corps,…

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Justice Department Could Launch Challenge of AT&T-Time Warner Merger Amid Renewed Interest in Trust Busting

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Federal regulators are considering taking action to stop the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T. The Justice Department and AT&T aren’t close to an agreement on conditions for the merger, according to a report Thursday morning in The Wall Street Journal. Antitrust Division lawyers are subsequently weighing a lawsuit to block the deal. The telecoms giant wants to purchase Time Warner as a content source for its mobile phone customers. Time Warner–owner of CNN, HBO, and TBS–wants to maximize viewership, as Bloomberg noted. Announced in…

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