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“…America’s national parks should be owned by and managed for the benefit of all Americans. However, corporate interests have been steadily attacking and whittling away at that idea. Hotels, food service providers, gift shops, and other concessionaires, such as Delaware North, are profitable businesses in the national parks. The top-four concession holders in national parks—Aramark …
“Washington state Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell today called on new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to provide an immediate and detailed explanation for why the resource website for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has disappeared. “The Department’s failure to keep this critical resource operational makes it harder for parents, educators, and …
“U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) [February 13, 2017] joined a group of 18 Democratic Senators in calling on the Trump Administration to immediately restore animal cruelty information recently purged from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website. APHIS makes inspection reports for all regulated entities and annual …
“Committee on House Administration Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) issued the following statement upon the Committee approval of H.R. 634 – Eliminating the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and H.R. 133 – Eliminating the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Chairman Harper said: “The existence of the EAC is not necessary to conduct federal elections and is a waste …
Via FAS – CRS report – Social Security: The Lump-Sum Death Benefit, Wayne Liou Analyst in Social Policy. February 2, 2017. “When a worker who is insured by Social Security and living with a spouse dies, the spouse is entitled to a lump-sum death benefit of $255. If there is no such spouse, the payment …
CRS report via FAS – What Is Manufacturing? Why Does the Definition Matter? Marc Levinson, Section Research Manager, February 6, 2017. “Numerous provisions in federal law are intended to support manufacturing in the United States. Almost without exception, these provisions define manufacturing as the process of physically transforming goods. Physical transformation involves what might be …
News release, February 2, 2017 – “A Northwest Florida lawmaker wants to do away with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 2018. Congressman Matt Gaetz has his eyes set on abolishing the federal program as his first order of business in his new role…” Text of the bill is not yet available – the link is …
Washington Post, February 3, 2017: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday abruptly removed inspection reports and other information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities. In a statement, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which …
News release, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) reintroducing the Establishing Digital Interactive Transparency (EDIT) Act. “The EDIT Act will instruct the Library of Congress to open up the legislative process by implementing a track changes style system for Congress.gov. “Americans want accountability and transparency out of their lawmakers in Washington, and as lawmakers, we must work …
Via FAS – CRS Reports & Analysis Legal Sidebar Affordable Care Act Executive Order: Legal Considerations, January 24, 2016. “On January 20, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order (EO) declaring his intention to “seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [ACA]” while minimizing “economic and regulatory burdens …
Via FAS – President Trump Freezes Federal Civil Service Hiring, CRS Legal Sidebar, January 26, 2017 “While the President possesses a certain amount of control over the executive branch, various statutory and constitutional provisions impose important limits on the President’s authority over the civil service. These statutory and constitutional parameters can set the boundary for …
Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs, January 30, 2017: “…For fiscal year 2017, which is in progress, the heads of all agencies are directed that the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, to be finalized this year shall be no greater than zero, unless otherwise required by law or …
