http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... ent-report
Quote: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn will invoke his Fifth Amendment protection and not comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Flynn was subpoenaed in the committee’s investigation into Russian meddling and potential ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.
Surprise, surprise. Trump doesn't believe in ethics oversight.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ts-working
More attempts to weaken environmental regulations, by the House GOP and Trump.
Quote: President Trump’s White House is looking to block an effort from the government’s top ethics office to disclose the names of former lobbyists who have been granted waivers to work in the federal government, according to a new report.
The New York Times reports that the White House sent a letter to the head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) challenging its legal authority to request that information.
“It is an extraordinary thing,” Walter Shaub Jr., the director of the ethics office, told the Times. “I have never seen anything like it.”
Interestingly, the first results from a court judgement:
http://thehill.com/regulation/334237-week-ahead
Quote: The House Rules Committee is scheduled to take up the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, reintroduced by Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), on Monday, with a floor vote likely later in the week.
The legislation would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). It would eliminate the need for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for using pesticides already approved for use under FIFRA.
The requirement is the result of a 2009 decision in National Cotton Council v. EPA in which the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with the EPA's conclusion that pesticides applied in accordance with FIFRA are exempt from the Clean Water Act's permitting requirements.
Once again, Trump wants to slash the EPA budget. Congress may or may not go along with it.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... ump-budget
Quote: Under the March proposal, the EPA was due to absorb a 31 percent funding cut. If enacted, that plan would discontinue funding for programming, research and diplomatic efforts related to climate change, end more than 50 EPA programs and cut 3,200 of the agency's 15,000 jobs.
Trump also wants to cut Medicaid and Food Stamps (and build his wall, of course):
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... s-programs
Quote: President Trump’s first major budget proposal will include sweeping cuts to Medicaid, federal pensions and food stamps, according to new reports.
The Washington Post reports that Trump’s budget will include $800 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years, which would cause 10 million low-income people to lose health benefits.
...Trump’s budget reportedly includes a massive $193 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the modern version of food stamps, over the next 10 years, slashing its budget by more than 25 percent. The food stamp cuts are part of a broader $274 billion cut that’s labeled welfare reform, according to the Associated Press.
The budget also contains $1.6 billion in funding for Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a larger $2.6 billion spending hike for border security programs.
More threats to stop funding healthcare payments and destabilize Obamacare.
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/33 ... es-reports
Quote: President Trump is considering pulling the plug on key ObamaCare subsidies, Politico reported Friday, citing remarks the president has made to advisers.
Commerce Secretary praises the lack of protesters in Saudi Arabia. (seriously, do the people in Trump's administration know anything about the countries they deal with?)
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... umps-saudi
Quote: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday praised the lack of protests during President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
“There was not a single hint of a protestor anywhere there during the whole time we were there,” Ross said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Not one guy with a bad placard.”
Host Rebcca Quick noted that the Saudi Arabian government did not allow political protests.
The transcript of Trump's Saudi Arabia speech is here, for anyone interested:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/t ... s-in-saudi
One thing I noticed is that it includes a few lines that essentially say: thanks to the countries that have taken Middle Eastern refugees, and refugees, please stay in the Middle East. It did make me roll my eyes when he tries to make it a supposed benefit to the Middle East that they house/keep these refugees.
A view about the speech and what it indicates about this administration's Saudi policies, from the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wor ... ddle-east/
Trump's buddies thinking about attacking the Obama administration, as a way to take the focus off Trump's mistakes?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/18/tr ... legations/
Quote: President Donald Trump’s inner circle is war-gaming how best to respond to the Washington Post’s bombshell report that he shared classified intelligence with the Russians about an Islamic State plot, sensitive information reportedly passed to the United States by Israel.
One option under consideration? Attack former President Barack Obama and his administration over their handling of sensitive data, in particular through one information-sharing program regarding cybersecurity threats.
According to a source with knowledge of a White House meeting that took place Wednesday morning, Trump’s team is considering launching an investigation into a Department of Homeland Security program that shares information on cyberattacks in an effort to coordinate globally on countering digital threats, insinuating that it inappropriately opened up streams of sensitive data to Russia and other nonallies. Another option under consideration is placing a story in the media about the program, similarly accusing it of sharing sensitive information.