Congress may not be eager to review many important things (cough, Russia, cough), but they have eagerly taken advantage of the 1996 Congressional Review Act to dismantle several Obama Administration rules. Generally, even with the one party controlling both Congress and the White House, repealing existing regulations is a long and tricky process. Cue the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to repeal regulations with a simple majority vote in each chamber and support from the president. The CRA process only applies to “recently finalized” rules, but that list is a lot longer than you might think.
In the three weeks since Trump took office, Congressional Republicans have been using this process to launch a systematic attack on Obama-era regulations. Here are a few of the rules they’ve already repealed:
- Oil bribery. The Cardin-Luger rule prevented oil companies like Exxon Mobil from engaging in bribery when operating abroad.
- Gun violence. Yesterday, the Senate used the process to repeal a rule preventing certain mentally disabled people from buying guns.
- Title X. Today, the House is expected to vote to make it easier for states to strip funding from health care providers like Planned Parenthood that receive funding under the Title X Family Planning Program.
While we’ve been distracted with Trump’s latest cabinet drama, Congress is repealing critical health, safety, and environmental protections that impact the lives of millions of Americans. See the other rules at risk, including offshore oil drilling safety, disabled worker protections, and energy efficiency standards, here.
ACTION OF THE DAY
#PollutingPruitt. Trump’s nominee for EPA Administrator will be voted on tomorrow. He’s the one who denies climate change, has sued the EPA 14 times, and can’t name one time he fought for children’s health instead of polluters’ interests. Yesterday, Sen. Collins (R-ME) announced she will not support Pruitt’s nomination. This is the final chance to urge her Senate colleagues to join her. Call 1-866-347-8815 to tell you Senator to vote NO on Pruitt for EPA Administrator.
WHAT’S TRENDING
No Lingering Doubts. During the campaign, Trump promised a mass deportation force that would round up all 11 million unauthorized immigrants. Now it’s coming true. In El Paso, Texas, ICE agents detained a domestic violence victim after she obtained a protective order from the courts to keep her safe. In Seattle, Washington, ICE agents detained a 23-year-old DACA recipient and father of two US citizen children. Immigrant communities, businesses, and average Americans are not standing down to this threat. Today, immigrants everywhere are walking out for A Day Without Immigrants to show the collective force and contributions of immigrants all across America.
Breaking with the past. It’s the new normal. Yesterday, while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, President Trump ditched two decades of bipartisan U.S. commitment for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine and indicated he’d be willing to look at a “one-state” alternative instead. Trump’s rhetoric is unlikely to sit well with the Palestinians– and Trump very well may have just made his pipe-dream of becoming the peace broker of the Middle East a whole lot harder.
Distrust. American spies and intelligence officials have withheld certain intelligence from the President for fear that it’ll be leaked or worse, fed to the Russians. U.S. European allies are similarly weary of Trump’s relationship with Russia: at least one European ally has been conducting an ongoing intelligence operation against Trump’s staff and associates since the campaign.
TRANSITION TRACKER
Another one bites the dust. A day after Flynn’s resignation, it appears there’s another one gone as President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his nomination yesterday after allegations of domestic violence, sexual harassment, and mistreatment of workers. Today, Trump announced Alexander Acosta as his new nominee for Labor Secretary.
Mick Mulvaney. Is our new Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Thanks to all the Senate Republicans (except Sen. McCain (R-AZ)), a man who’s referred to Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” and wants Trump to renege on his campaign promises to not cut Social Security and Medicare will be in charge of Trump’s budget.
GOOD NEWS
See hate, give love. Trump’s dizzying Twitter rants are encouraging to people to give back. As a show of solidarity, HeTweetsWeGive.com allows you to choose specific causes to support sends you a donation reminder whenever Trump tweets about those causes. Donations can be made to organizations like the National Immigration Law Center, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Black Lives Matter, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, BYP100, and the Council of American-Islamic Relations.