Cabbage News Network Week #10

Monday 3/27

• Sessions threatens to withhold funding from states and local law enforcement that don't cooperate with immigration crackdown (source).

Tuesday 3/28

• White House seeks to block Yates testimony on DJT-Russia connections (source).
  
• More states now considering Medicaid expansion (source).
• Executive Order overturning climate change policies, particularly Obama's Clean Power Plan, and indicating U.S. has no intention of abiding by the 2015 Paris Accord (source).

Let me talk about climate change for a moment. The Paris Accord isn't just a nice to have - it's more of a last ditch effort to avoid the worst of the global warming scenarios. And while most countries are still supporting the agreement, none are really taking it seriously. Here's a road map of what it would actually take to reach the Paris goal and some more background on how that goal was reached, why we need it, and what'll mean when we miss it. Just in case I have any climate change denialists reading - to put it simply, you're wrong, and what's more the climate really isn't going to give a fuck whether you belief in it or not. Personally I think it's already too late to stop significant warming, most of the scientific community shifted from debating whether it's happening to attempting to model the expected impacts some 20 years ago. Not preparing for it may be fatally short sighted.

Wednesday 3/29

• EPA rejects pesticide ban (source).
  
• Senate pushes ahead with its own Russia investigation, separate from House (source).

Thursday 3/30

• DJT relaxes combat rules for U.S. forces in Somalia that protect against civilian casualties (source).
  
• Flynn offering to testify in return for immunity (source) - so far no takers.

Legislative action this week

• Legislation signed into law
  
  • Repeal rule favoring Federal contractors that comply with labor laws https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres37
    
  • Repeal BLM rule on expanding public input on natural resource management planning https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres44 - BLM summary of this rule (note doing nice summaries like this will probably become illegal if the Regulatory Integrity Act passes) - News about the change.
    
  • Repeal of two rules regarding school accountability and reporting requirements https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres57 and https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres58 - News about these.
  
  
• Legislation awaiting DJT's signature
  
  • Repeal of rule limiting what occupations can require regular drug testing https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres42
    
  • Repeal of rule requiring employers to keep records of workplace injuries https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres83
    
  • Repeal of rule limiting the hunting of wolves in Alaska https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres69
    
  • Repeal of Internet privacy protections https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/sjres34
    
  • New this week - repeal of rule exempting state and local governments from ERISA protections for their retirement funds https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres67
    
  • New this week - repeal of rule preventing states from restricting where Title X family planning funds go - this rule is preventing states from defunding Planned Parenthood at the state level, if signed they will be free to do so https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hjres43
    
  • New this week - permission for Montenegro to join NATO http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nato-montenegro-idUSKBN16Y2QF
  
  
• Legislation passed in the House, awaiting Senate
  
  • Scrub Act - creates a commission whose job it is to look for regulations to repeal https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr998
    
  • Regulatory Integrity Act - prohibits agencies from advocating for new rules https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1004
    
  • OIRA Act - expands regulatory review process https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1009
    
  • Law requiring a lactation room in public buildings https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1174
    
  • DOD Appropriations - keeps DOD running https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1301
    
  • Several laws changing litigation rules, of most interest is probably https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr985 making class action lawsuits more difficult - more about this and some of the other proposed laws about litigation - of that list, 985, 720, and 725 have passed the House
    
  • MLK, Jr. NHP Act - upgrades and expands the MLK Jr. National Historic Site to a National Historic Park https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr267
    
  • approval to increase the capacity of the Fontenelle Reservoir https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr648 - this would pull more water from the Colorado River for irrigation in Wyoming
    
  • Law removing anti-trust protections from the health insurance industry https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr372
    
  • Law establishing an earthquake warning system for the Pacific Northwest https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr654
    
  • Law raising the price cap on FEMA disaster recovery projects from $130k to $500k https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1214
    
  • New this week - HONEST Act - restricts what science EPA can use in formulating regulations https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1430 - admittedly not a neutral source, but some further explanation.
  
  
• Legislation passed in the Senate, awaiting House
  
  • Repeal of a rule requiring transit authorities to consolidate planning organizations in the same metro area https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s496
    
  • law to award employers that employ veterans https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr244
    
  • law expanding NOAA weather forecasting programs https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr353
  
  
• Legislation advancing in the House
  
  • Protecting Access to Care Act - limits litigation against health care providers https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1215
    
  • New this week - EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act - disallows scientists who have received Federal funding from serving on board, allows corporate-funded scientists with conflicts of interests as long as those conflicts are disclosed https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1431
    
  • New this week - law increasing the number of investors a venture capital fund can have https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1219
    
  • New this week - law raising threshold of securities that companies can give/sell their own employees without triggering SEC disclosures and peg that threshold to inflation for the future https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1343

Map of the week:

• Interactive noise map of the U.S. - perhaps a little misleading as it looks like the road noise modelling is based on the size of the road rather than the amount of traffic it actually receives, but still a cool looking map.