Did taxpayer money pay for that peanut butter milkshake?
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| “Peanut butter milkshakes have been my favorite since I was a kid. The Soda Shop in Hooker, OK is worth a trip!” - Scott Pruitt |
Immersed in an astounding number of ethical scandals, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is pursuing policies that make him a clear and present danger to public health and planetary well-being.
He must go, immediately.
Scott Pruitt never should have been confirmed as
EPA administrator. And it’s possible
that due to the ever-growing tsunami of scandals engulfing Pruitt, President
Donald Trump will fire him.
But we can’t cross our fingers and hope.
Scott Pruitt must be impeached. Now.
Legal scholars agree that impeachment is
warranted for officials who abuse their power, abuse the public trust or engage
in conduct that warrants dismissal from an office of public trust. Alexander Hamilton wrote in “The Federalist”
that impeachable offenses involve “abuse or violation of some public trust” and
are “political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the
society.”
Pruitt has misused his office for improper
purpose and for personal gain.
Pruitt has habitually traveled first-class for
ordinary trips, running up massive bills for taxpayers, based on fabricated
“security” claims. He has wasted public
money on preposterous items such as a soundproof booth so that his own staff
cannot hear his conversations. Most
egregiously, he has entered into a below-market rental arrangement for housing
with the wife of an energy lobbyist whose clients have major interests at the
EPA — including Exxon Mobil. This alone should force him from office.
Pruitt has abused the powers of his office.
Pruitt has aggressively and repeatedly flouted
ordinary EPA procedures to reach predetermined outcomes for big polluters. He used an obscure law to circumvent ethics
rules and place a former chemical industry group executive in charge of the
agency’s toxic chemical rulemaking. She proceeded to substitute chemical
industry language for already drafted proposed rules.
Over the objection of EPA scientists, Pruitt’s
political staff overturned a proposal to ban a pesticide that causes learning
disabilities in children. He suspended a
major clean water drinking rule to appease corporate agribusiness interests. He
orally directed his aides to make the changes, deliberately avoiding a paper
trail to make it harder to hold him accountable. They justified the move in
part by simply tossing out scientific studies that show why the rule is
beneficial.
The list goes on and on.
It’s fair to say that Pruitt’s EPA works for the
polluters, not the public.
Pruitt’s behavior and actions are
incompatible with the purpose and function of his office.
Science and technical expertise are the
foundations of the EPA’s decision-making.
They are the very reason Congress delegates important public health and
environmental protection decisions to the agency. Pruitt has regularly ignored and
misrepresented science.
Most consequentially, Pruitt has denied the
science on climate change, the most significant environmental problem of this
era and one that the EPA is legally obligated to mitigate.
He has rolled back the federal government’s two
most important climate change initiatives: The Clean Power Plan, designed to
reduce carbon emissions from coal and electricity generating plants; and clean
car rules that force automakers to sell more energy-efficient vehicles. These actions literally endanger the United
States — and the planet.
Impeachment shouldn’t be used recklessly or to
advance narrow and partisan objectives. But we also should not shy away from
using it appropriately to address extraordinary abuses of power. We should be more ready to call for
impeachment for an out-of-control appointee who lacks the political legitimacy
of an elected official. We don’t have to
sit back and watch Scott Pruitt loot the public till for his own personal
comfort.
And we certainly don’t have to — and must not —
watch helplessly as he systematically pursues illegal policies that threaten
our well-being and line the pockets his Dirty Energy cronies.
Scott Pruitt must be impeached. Tell Congress to
act now.
Thanks for all you do to defend our democracy
and our planet,
Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen [April 6, 2018]
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| FROM THE PORCH |
The Crime, Contamination, and Immorality Being Funded by Your Tax Dollars
Need new jeans? Here are the best places to buy them for less than $50
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| HEALTHCARE |
Patient, disease groups ask Azar to keep protected drug classes. The Partnership for Part D Access, a coalition of drug industry, disease and patient groups, sent a letterto HHS Secretary Alex Azar, asking him not to touch the Medicare Part D protected classes, POLITICO's Sarah Karlin-Smith reports.
Part D
insurance plans currently must cover all medication options in six categories.
But the White House's fiscal 2019 budget plan proposed letting Medicare Part D plans use additional
tools to manage costs for classes of protected drugs. And a February report by the president's Council of Economic Advisors
argued government health insurance requirements, including the requirement that
Part D plans cover a certain number of drugs per class, were dampening drug price
competition, leading to artificially inflated medication costs.
The
letter pushes back on the argument that removing certain drugs from protected
class status could save money, saying that studies have shown the changes might
lead to lower drug savings but these savings will likely be offset by increases
in spending in other parts of the health system, like hospitalizations.
[Politico Pulse, April 11, 2018]
Investcorp has invested in ICR, a strategic communications and advisory firm with offices in the U.S. and China.
Karamba Security, an Israel and Michigan-based provider
of automotive cybersecurity prevention solutions, raised $10 million in venture
debt funding from Western
Technology Investment. www.karambasecurity.com [Axios Pro Rata: Tuesday, April 10, 2018]
Going
public: Waltham-based cybersecurity
firm Carbon Black, formerly known as Bit9, is officialy lining up for an IPO. (Marketwatch) [Globe Business, April 9, 2018]
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MIKE
POMPEO
|
Pompeo asks Clinton for advice as he preps for confirmation battle
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| EDUCATION |
OKLAHOMA TEACHER STRIKE ROLLING TO AN END: The Oklahoma Education Association announced Thursday that its members will be returning to the classroom, bringing a nine-day teacher walkout in the state to its end.
- Not all teachers
support the union's decision, and it remains unclear how
many will break with union leaders. The Oklahoma City American Federation of
Teachers, which operates independently from OEA, said it will poll its members
Friday on whether to continue the walkout. But in a statement late Thursday,
union President Ed Allen said, "Truthfully, there's no one left to
negotiate with in the statehouse."
- "We need to
face reality," OEA President Alicia Priest said. "Despite tens of
thousands of people filing into the Capitol and spilling out onto the grounds
of this Capitol for nine days, we have seen no significant legislative movement
since last Friday." Priest said that meetings with leaders of the Oklahoma
Senate on Thursday yielded no signs that lawmakers would seek more revenue to
boost funding for public education.
- "Our members
are saying they are ready to go back to their classrooms," Priest
said, citing a union poll that found 70 percent of members were unsure that
continuing the walkout would lead to more concessions from lawmakers. "Now
it's time to shift our focus," Priest added.
- Teachers in Oklahoma
sought a three-year school funding plan that
would boost spending for public education by $200 million,
and secure raises for teachers and staff to the tune of $740 million. In the
end, lawmakers boosted education funding by roughly $400 million through a deal
reached shortly before the walkout began. The legislation will give teachers a
pay hike of about $6,000 per year.
- Gov. Mary Fallin
said in a statement that through the spending increases, "elected
officials have proven they are committed to school children, teachers and
educators." Fallin said she is "glad teachers
who participated in the union strike will return to teaching their students.
They've been out for two weeks, and it's time for them to get back to
school." [POLITICO's Morning Education,
April 13, 2018]
FORMER ED SECRETARIES SOUND ALARM ON STATE OF EDUCATION: A
bipartisan group of former U.S. education secretaries spoke jointly Thursday
evening about what they perceive as a troubling lack of urgency to improve the
U.S. education system.
- "We need to elevate the national concern about our
educational failures," said former Education
Secretary Rod Paige, speaking at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education.
Paige, who served under former President George W. Bush, said that decades
after the landmark "A Nation at Risk" report was released in 1983,
"we're still at risk - maybe even at greater risk." He added that
Trump should call a governors' convening to tackle education, similar to what
former President George H.W. Bush did in 1989 in Charlottesville, Va., helping
shape school accountability changes in states in the years that followed.
- Margaret Spellings, who also served in
the George W. Bush administration, said each of the secretaries on the stage
served under presidents who used the bully pulpit to drive changes in
education. One challenge today is that "people are exhausted with
education reform or feel like it's not possible to close the achievement
gap," Spellings said. "So I think the boulder is drifting back down
the hill because of a lack of urgency around the imperative of closing the
achievement gap."
- Former Obama administration Education secretaries Arne Duncan
and John King Jr. echoed the lack of urgency around improving education. [POLITICO's Morning Education, April 13, 2018]
ON SCHOOL CHOICE AND 529s: The expansion of
benefits for 529 college savings accounts into private K-12 education will
"primarily benefit affluent families, produce limited incentives for
promoting private school choice, and come at a nontrivial cost to states,"
according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.
- The authors of the
report argue that the change to 529s ushered in by the GOP tax overhaul won't
encourage significantly more families to seek out private schools because
year-to-year spending through 529s won't produce large tax benefits for most
families. Sizeable benefits, the authors argue, are reserved for wealthy
families in states that offer tax incentives for 529 contributions.
- But it's those same
states that would foot the largest bills for the incentive. State
income tax liability could be more than $900 million per year, with states like
New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois seeing the largest bills. That
spending, the authors argue, will do little to encourage new families to seek
out private schools. Read the report here. [POLITICO's Morning Education, April 13, 2018]
DR. REBECCA BROWN MASTERS THE POLITICS OF POVERTY
U.N. Investigator On Extreme Poverty Issues A Grim Report — On The U.S.
Putin Just Gave Trump the Arms Race He Sought
THE DAY IN MULVANEY V. MNUCHIN: If you've followed the tug-of-war between the Treasury Department and the White House budget office over the tax law rules, you've likely heard the concern from lawyers, lobbyists and businesses closely watching that getting the Office of Management and Budget involved will slow down the regulatory process. (Still others think that having OMB in the mix will lead to more favorable rules.)
But The New York Times notes a potential upside for the D.C. tax
and influence community - more layers of rulemaking means more ways to manipulate the process. "The swamp is going
to be enriched by this one," said Adam Looney of the Brookings
Institution, who worked at Treasury under former President Barack Obama. [POLITICO's Morning Tax, April 4, 2018]
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OUTLINE NAFTA HOPES: Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has more than 75 members, are calling for a revised NAFTA agreement that "puts workers first" with robust labor provisions and strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. The group, which is holding a press call this afternoon, also is pressing the three governments to publicly release negotiating texts after each round to give Congress and the public an opportunity to weigh in with concerns. They also want the final deal to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico, to eliminate the investor-state dispute settlement provision and to strengthen "Buy American" protections, among other concerns. [POLITICO's Morning Trade, April 5, 2018]
TEXAS GOVERNOR WANTS TO KEEP NAFTA ISDS, ROO AS IS: Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott pressed Lighthizer on Wednesday to maintain ISDS and the
current rules of origin provisions in any renegotiated NAFTA. In a letter to Lighthizer, Abbott said that any changes to
raise the regional content requirements or add a U.S. domestic content
provision would only increase production costs and cause job losses. ISDS
provisions are particularly important for U.S. investors, as many have made
significant investments in Mexico's energy infrastructure in recent years, he
said.
"The enforceability of those protections is one of the
driving forces for Texas businesses and businesses across the country to invest
in Mexican and Canadian infrastructure and natural resource development,"
Abbott said, adding that those investments are particularly important for the
U.S. crude oil, natural gas and petroleum industries.
A five-year sunset clause, Abbott added, is "unnecessary
and will only interject uncertainty into the thriving trade relationship
between us and our neighbors to the north and south." [POLITICO's Morning Trade, April 5, 2018]
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| U.S. MILITARY |
Q&A: Air Force Gen. John Hyten says U.S. space strategy, budget moving ‘down the right path’
‘Eyes and ears’: Past Guard border deployments offer clues
THE TERRORIST THREAT TO YOUR DAILY COFFEE — AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
In Tampa, a Wonderful World of Junk
Team USA Lands in First Place in Bocuse d’Or Americas Selection
 |
| TRUMP |
Trump orders top-to-bottom review of welfare programs
Trump Called Cohen as Their Lawyers Went to Court Over FBI Raid
Trump Pardons Former Cheney Aide Scooter Libby for Perjury in CIA Case
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| PETER NAVARRO |
MEET THE MAN BEHIND TRUMP'S TRADE WAR
THE RFS MEETING THAT DIDN'T ROAR: The participants at a White House meeting Monday on the Renewable Fuel Standard know what happened, but hardly anyone else does. One ethanol source told ME that Trump had punted the issue to Congress, but a Growth Energy spokeswoman said, "Our understanding is that they will continue to explore options." Reuters Jarrett Renshaw tweeted that Trump had decided to allow another three months for discussions. Growth, an ethanol trade association, put out a statement saying, "We are encouraged that the White House continues to rebuff Senator [ Ted] Cruz's efforts to place a cap on RINs, which would destabilize the RFS and devastate struggling farm communities."
So what now? If Trump has indeed decided
not to decide - at least for a while - then all eyes turn to Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. John Shimkus who have been working on a draft legislation that
would overhaul the RFS. The Senate has a world of work to do, from approving
nominees to run the State Department and the CIA to funding the government in
September, so it's not clear how anything could get to the floor before - at
the earliest - a lame-duck session after the November election. [POLITICO's Morning Energy, April 10, 2018]
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
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