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Brutes have risen to power



Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! 

Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator









MARIJUANA





















WHAT TO EXPECT AS NEW HIGHER ED RULEMAKING BEGINS: The Trump administration this morning is kicking off the long, painstaking process of coming up with new rules governing federal loan forgiveness for defrauded students, mandatory arbitration agreements, and the financial standards colleges must meet to receive federal student aid. An Education Department rulemaking committee will convene for the first time this morning at a hotel across from the agency's D.C. headquarters to negotiate the Trump administration's replacement for a package of Obama-era regulations known as "borrower defense to repayment." Here's what to expect:
- New standards for 'borrower defense' claims: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been clear that she thinks the Obama-era standard for when defrauded students are eligible to have their loans canceled was too lax. (She said those rules allowed students to merely raise their hand to obtain "free money"). The department wants negotiators to reconsider whether to have a nationwide standard for discharging the loans rather than the current, state-based standard that was set in the 1990s. Also up for discussion will be the burden of proof that defrauded borrowers must meet - and whether the borrower's own actions should be scrutinized before the department approves a fraud claim.
- How will colleges be held responsible? The Obama-era rule put colleges squarely on the hook for the cost of forgiving the loans when the department determines they defrauded students - a cost that otherwise falls to taxpayers. The Trump administration wants the rulemaking panel to discuss the extent to which colleges must reimburse the costs associated with successful fraud claims against them.
- Complete ban on mandatory arbitration off the table: One of the clearest signals that the Trump administration has telegraphed to the rulemaking panel is that it wants to nix the Obama-era ban on colleges' use of mandatory arbitration agreements. Department officials last week told members of the committee that they should consider potential regulatory changes "[a]part from an outright prohibition on the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers." Department officials argued that such a rule would violate federal law and also pointed to a resolution Trump recently signed overturning a separate Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule on mandatory arbitration.
- Under-the-radar issue: The Trump administration is planning, as part of this process, to reconsider the formula and standards the Education Department uses to calculate the financial health of colleges and universities receiving federal student aid. Private non-profit colleges have long complained that the department's standards are out of whack. A separate subcommittee will meet behind closed doors later this week to discuss that issue.
- Reality check: It's unlikely that the panel will reach the unanimous consensus needed to bind the Education Department to any proposal that the committee hammers out in the coming months. That means that after the committee's last scheduled negotiating session in February, the Trump administration will likely be free to move ahead with its own proposed regulations.
- In the meantime, many of the real fights over "borrower defense" will be happening outside the negotiating process:DeVos is fending off lawsuits by Democratic attorneys general and consumer groups that accuse her of illegally delaying the rules finalized by the Obama administration that she's now seeking to rewrite. And the Education Department is also facing several lawsuits by for-profit college students whose "borrower defense" claims have been pending without action from the department for years.

- The latest lawsuit on that front was filed Sunday. Two for-profit college students who say they were defrauded by Career Education Corporation-owned campuses filed suit against the Education Department and Navient (which holds some of their federally-backed loans) over their "borrower defense" claims that have been pending since March 2015. Tina Carr and Yvette Colon, who attended the Sanford-Brown Institute in New York, are asking a federal judge to force the Education Department to make a decision on their more than 100-page applications for loan forgiveness, which cite evidence gathered by the New York attorney general that they say shows the school defrauded them. [POLITICO's Morning Education, November 13, 2017]








All across the Western United States, wolves, mule deer, elk herds, grizzlies, and more follow incredible migrations across hundreds of fences, mines, and highways in the Western plains and mountains—all to reach the critical feeding and breeding grounds that they call home.  The animals teach their behaviors to successive generations—and have followed migratory pathways for decades, no matter what humans did or built around them. Their journeys, often hundreds of miles, are critical to their survival.  But now these animals are in grave danger, as their migratory routes are threatened by habitat loss and climate change. In Colorado alone, mining and deforestation destroy a football-field-sized piece of pristine wilderness every two-and-a-half minutes.  If we don't act now, we could be the last generation to witness an elk herd migration in North America!  Protecting wildlife habitat is one of the most important tasks in conservation today. That's why The Nature Conservancy's scientists and researchers are hard at work in the American West, identifying and protecting vital migratory routes to help save the animals that depend on them.  We've developed forest restoration solutions for more than 100,000 acres of Montana forests, preserving prime habitat for wide-ranging carnivores like grizzly bears and Canada lynx. And consider the success we're having in Wyoming, protecting 3,802 new acres of vital migration corridors in the Little Snake River Conservation Priority Area.  Our scientists know how to achieve success, but there are still more migration routes to discover and protect, more wildlife to save, and more work for them to do. In Idaho, development is threatening key habitat and migration corridors for iconic animals like grizzly bears in the Selkirk, Purcell and Cabinet mountains. And in Colorado, if you walked in a straight line through the woods, you would reach a road roughly every 20 minutes!  -- Dave Strauss, Director of Membership The Nature Conservancy











House unanimously passes FDA fix to Defense bill. The measure, HR. 4374, was a compromise to preserve the FDA's authority after the current language in the defense policy bill - which also passed the House earlier this week - would let the Defense Department approve drugs and medical products for military personnel on its own. Under the compromise, FDA will expedite some treatments for DoD needs, but the agency will retain review power. The sidecar bill now goes to the Senate.[ POLITICO Pulse, November 16, 2017]




UNIONS






Farmers join new reg-reform group: Farm groups have partnered with the National Association of Manufacturers and North America's Building Trades Unions to form a new group called the Coalition for Regulatory Innovation, which will push for reforms to straighten out the regulatory delays and turf battles that hold up infrastructure projects. The farm groups that have signed on include the Colorado Farm Bureau and the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 3, 2017]




U.S. AGRICULTURE







FLORIDA AG LOOKS TO CONGRESS FOR DISASTER RELIEF: Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam will be on Capitol Hill today to meet with members of the state's congressional delegation, to bolster a push for appropriators to include in any disaster relief package more resources and authorities for USDA to help Sunshine State farmers recover from Hurricane Irma. Getting funding now is crucial, officials say, in order to help farmers rebuild quickly.  Feeling the squeeze: Of particular concern is Florida citrus, which suffered $760 million out of $2.5 billion in total damages to agriculture in the state. Many groves were ready to be harvested when the storm came through, knocking fruit off trees, and, in many cases, inundating groves in floodwater. The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association predicts that between 30 and 70 percent of the harvest was lost due to Irma - which could be a crippling hit when considered in tandem with the decade of damage from citrus greening disease. A group of Florida's congressmen made that point in a letter to USDA late last week, urging Secretary Sonny Perdue to make the case to appropriators for more funding.  "As we work together to adequately respond to this disaster, please know that if the federal government doesn't do something immediately - Florida orange juice as we know it could cease to exist," wrote the lawmakers, led by GOP Rep. Tom Rooney.  [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 11, 2017]










DEMOCRATIC PARTY














CAMPAIGN FOR 702 BILL UNDERWAY - The House Judiciary Committee late last week formally introduced its long-awaited bill to extend and overhaul warrantless surveillance tools. Now the rubber meets the road, with the panel's senior leaders looking to get their colleagues, particularly members of the House Intelligence Committee, onboard with the Uniting and Strengthening American, or USA, Liberty Act (H.R. 3989). Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and others have stumped hard for their measure and are keen to avoid a split that would lead Intelligence to draft a second bill to renew the spying programs - which are slated to expire at the end of year - and potentially muddy the waters.

And there is work to do on potential reauthorization of so-called Section 702 authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "The difference between Judiciary and Intelligence committee needs to be rectified because I think it's too far apart," Rep. Tom Rooney, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee's NSA and Cybersecurity subpanel, told Martin late last week. The Florida Republican said he planned to consult with his committee's staff about the Judiciary bill. "We can't have two bills," according to Rooney, who added that he wants the leader of both panels to spearhead an eventual bill but isn't sure that will happen. "If not, 702's in deep trouble," he said.



CYBERSECURITY







U.S. MILITARY












KANSAS COMMUNITIES EXPAND PUSHBACK AGAINST TYSON: It used to be big agriculture companies promising new plants and jobs were welcomed with open arms wherever they went. But a well-organized community opposition movement in Kansas shows that Tyson's efforts to build a new processing plant may be tougher than thought.  After Tyson canceled plans to build its first new protein facility in the U.S. in 20 years in Tonganoxie, Kan., 16 other communities across the state bid for the chance to welcome Tyson and its jobs. According to the Kansas State Department of Agriculture, Tyson has narrowed its choices to three finalists. Those communities have identified themselves as Cloud and Montgomery counties as well as the Greater Wichita region.
But local groups are actively pushing back. Don Stull, a retired anthropology professor from the University of Kansas who has been studying the impact of packing houses on communities since 1986, is speaking this coming Saturday in Wichita on this topic. Stull added that representatives from Cloud County have contacted him, but he has not heard of any organized plans in Montgomery County.
Rationale behind the opposition: Stull - who owns a farm in Kentucky with his brother and cousin near a Tyson processing plant -- has warned Kansas residents about the perils of poultry farming. He notes that farmers often take on significant debt to get into the business and often live near the poverty line once they are in it.
"Tyson is moving into new territory. These people don't really know the issues surrounding commercial poultry production," Stull told Morning Ag. "This is the fourth year in a row where commodity prices are down. Grain farmers are hurting. So some of them will be attracted by promises of a guaranteed income."
The immigrant labor issue: In the communities Tyson has been scouting, Stull noted that unemployment was fairly low, which means that people may be coming from other places to accept low-wage jobs. Stull added that there were a variety of issues community members have raised -- from Tyson's environmental record to the harsh working conditions that come with these jobs. "The issue is about the history of Tyson as a corporation," said Stull. "That puts strains on services that the local community provides. I think there are some of those concerns. But I would not characterize them as racist."

What Tyson says: Tyson remains guarded about what its next steps may be. "The proposed poultry complex in Kansas is on hold while we evaluate our options and that state and other states," said Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman. "We're glad to see that several communities have reached out to Kansas Department of Ag with interest in our investment."  (POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 27, 2017)




WHITE HOUSE















TRUMP







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