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DC Circuit Reverses Decision Stripping CFPB of Autonomy

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The second highest court in the country overturned a ruling that would have deprived the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of independence. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed a decision stating that the CFPB Director could be fired at-will by the President. “Congress validly decided that the CFPB needed a measure of independence and chose a constitutionally acceptable means to protect it,” Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for a 6-3 majority. One Republican appointee joined all five Democrats presiding over the case to uphold the agency…

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Pruitt Ignoring Congressional Concerns About Politicization at EPA

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The Environmental Protection Agency’s Administrator has been shirking congressional inquiries about politicization within his agency, it was revealed during a hearing Tuesday. Scott Pruitt faced a grilling from Democratic Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He was peppered with questions about his environmental record, his responsiveness to Congress, and prior comments about the President. Pruitt claimed ignorance when asked about a New York Times report last month revealing a no-bid contract awarded to a Republican-supporting firm to monitor EPA employees and their attitudes…

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Pentagon: Public Can No Longer Know Who Actually Controls Afghanistan

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Note: The Pentagon said Tuesday afternoon that the data was classified in error. The story has been updated below. The Trump administration is keeping secret basic information about who actually controls Afghanistan, despite significantly ratcheting up airstrikes in the country. An independent watchdog overseeing the War in Afghanistan said Tuesday that it is now being asked by US military officials to refrain from publishing data about contested territory. “For the first time, this quarter [Operation Resolute Support] restricted the public release of district, population, and land-area…

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Sessions Vows to Issue Subpoenas in Immigrant-Demonizing Inquest Against “Sanctuary Cities”

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The Justice Department is threatening to force three states and twenty cities to turn over records related to compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent letters on Wednesday to officials from California, Oregon, Illinois, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, among others. Sessions claimed he was seeking the information in the interest of “public safety.” “If these jurisdictions fail to respond to our request, fail to respond completely or fail to respond in a timely manner, we will exercise our…

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Pentagon Allowed to Keep Congress in the Dark over Afghan Human Rights Abuses

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Military officials are legally sidestepping rules that would otherwise force them to disclose human rights abuses by US allies in Afghanistan to Congress. The so-called Leahy Law prohibits foreign assistance to known abusers of human rights, with numerous exemptions. According to a watchdog report released on Tuesday, top brass overseeing the War in Afghanistan have been repeatedly citing one of those exemptions “that does not require formal Congressional notification.” The Department of Defense “has interpreted this clause to allow the Secretary to ‘forgo implementation of…

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DHS Chief Implements Environmental Lawlessness at Border Wall Site

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The Department of Homeland Security will ignore dozens of environmental regulations as it adds to existing walls on the US-Mexico border. According to a decree published in the Federal Register on Monday, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said wall upgrades in DHS’s El Paso sector wouldn’t have to comply with construction rules under the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Nation Environmental Policy Act, and roughly two dozen other environmental laws. Nielsen cited an Executive Order signed by President Trump last January, which directed her…

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Supreme Court Could Kill Gopher Frog

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The highest court in the US on Monday announced it would take up a case that pits the well-being of an endangered amphibian against the interests of private developers. Louisiana landowners are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service that classified 1,500 acres of land as a critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The designated tract cuts right through property owned by timber company Weyerhaeuser, which had intended to use the land for residential and commercial development projects.…

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Government Set to Reopen for Two Weeks, Schumer Accepts McConnell Promise of Dreamer Bill By Feb. 8

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The Senate moved overwhelmingly on early Monday afternoon toward ending a brief government shutdown. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he supported reopening the government, citing a promise by Republican leaders to bring up proposals on granting status to Dreamers. Senators voted 81-18 to limit debate on a continuing resolution that would fund federal agencies for two weeks. The supermajority approval means that the proposal can’t be filibustered. Late Friday, a similar vote failed to advance right before parts of the government ran out of…

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Don’t Give the CFPB a Single Dime, Mulvaney Asks Fed, Amid Trojan Horse Assault on Agency

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Watchdogs’ worst fears about Mick Mulvaney undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are proving well-founded. The interim CFPB director and top White House aide has asked for no additional money from the Federal Reserve for the next fiscal quarter, according to a Tuesday letter obtained by the conservative Washington Examiner. Since the CFPB opened its doors earlier this decade, it has received on average roughly $500 million per year from the Fed, which oversees agency finances. The funds have been used to win about $2…

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Banking Committee Discusses Money Laundering 101 (No Bitcoin Necessary)

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The recent wild fluctuations in the value of cryptocurrencies has the Senate Banking Committee probing potential consequences. The panel is scheduled to hold a hearing on virtual currencies early next month, committee leaders announced last week. And at a Wednesday hearing on the Bank Secrecy Act, some members voiced concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering. Bitcoin, the most prominent of virtual currencies, saw its value explode 800 percent in the second half of last year. Roughly half of the spike occurred in…

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Private Market Fail–US Indefinitely Reliant on Russian Government for Space Travel

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America’s future in space is largely in the hands of private companies whose work continues to be delayed and filled with uncertainty, a government watchdog testified on Wednesday. NASA contractors Boeing and SpaceX were supposed to have commercial crew transport systems ready to be certified for launch by 2017, providing the US with its own manned space flight system for this first time since the Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011. But those time schedules have since shifted. The certification date is now 2019.…

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