Cabbage News Network Week #18

Friday 5/19

• Dept. of Education to offer some private company a monopoly on student loans (source).
  
• Pence starts his own Political Action Committee (PAC) (source)

Saturday 5/20

• Justice Dept. sending out cease and desist letters aimed at lawyers volunteering legal aid for immigrants (source).
  
• DJT on trip to the Middle East and Europe (source).
  
• U.S.-Saudi arms deal is signed (source).
  
• Mueller's investigation is underway (source).
  
• Energy companies now have license to pollute - an in depth look at how the regulatory rollback is playing out in the real world.
  
• HSA to decide whether or not 58,000 Haitians can stay in the U.S. (source).

Sunday 5/21

• Tillerson holds a press conference without any U.S. press (source).
  
• TPP trade deal looking to move forward without the U.S. (source).

Monday 5/22

• DJT asked NSA and DNI to deny Russia connections. (source).
  
• White House refuses ethics inquiry about lobbyists working at the White House (source).
  
• White House delaying decision on health care subsidies - maximizing uncertainty for the health care markets (source).
  
• Sessions narrows action against "sanctuary cities" - reminder original EO was blocked by courts, so this is an attempt to see if a narrower version will pass muster (source).
  
• Safety regulations for truckers and mining put on hold (source).
  
• GOP senators say DJT budget has no chance (source).
  
• Caltrain gets go ahead (source).
  
• Haitian refugees get reprieve (source).

Tuesday 5/23

DJT budget proposal details released - this is the same proposal that was released in March, just now with numbers added - still unlikely to pass Congress (source).

• DJT lawyers up (source).
  
• Refugee swap with Australia to proceed, U.S. starts "extreme vetting" (source).
  
• Transcript leaked of last month's DJT phone call with Philippine president Duterte in which DJT praises Duterte's campaign of extrajudicial killings (source).

Wednesday 5/24

• DJT budget proposal contains a 2 trillion dollar math error (source).
  
• CBO report on GOP health care bill says 23 million would lose coverage, premiums for seniors to go up 800% (source 1, source 2, full report).
  
• Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russians on his security clearance forms (source).
  
• The U.S. is running out of cash (source).
  
• Carrier plant in Indiana is outsourcing its jobs to Mexico after all. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. (source).
  
• DeVos is ok with Federal funding for private schools that discriminate (source).

Thursday 5/25

• Appeals court strikes down travel ban, it'll go on to the supreme court (source).
  
• U.K. stops sharing information with the U.S. (source).
  
• FBI investigation looking at Jared Kushner (source).
  
• Trump Organization reneges on promise to track foreign profits (source).
  
• Senate is supposedly working on an infrastructure bill (source).
  
• Political appointments still moving at snails pace, causing government inaction (source).
  
• DJT accuses NATO of not meeting its commitments (source) while he waffles on U.S. commitments to NATO (source).
  
• Senate committee approves sanctions against Iran - will go to full senate vote next month (source).

In other news

• Not a current events piece, more of an FYI, Jared Kushner is also scum.

Legislative action this week

• Legislation signed into law
  
• Legislation awaiting DJT's signature
  
• Legislation passed in the House, awaiting Senate - just listing the recently passed and possibly controversial bills likely to see action, there are now 171 bills waiting on the Senate.
  
  • American Health Care Act ( the "Obamacare repeal") https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1628
    
  • Law requiring more rigorous screening of TSA employees https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr876
    
  • Law making the head of the U.S. Copyright office a political appointee (currently they are named by the Librarian of Congress) https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1695
    
  • Law making Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac subject to the Freedom of Information Act https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1694
    
  • Law changing what investment/securities reports are considered offerings of sales and thus subject to SEC filings https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr910
    
  • Law allowing overtime to paid in paid-time off rather than cash https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1180
    
  • Law expanding whistleblower protections https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr657
    
  • Law establishing a statute of limitations on FEMA grants https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1678
    
  • Authorization for the president to impose boycott of North Korea https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1644
    
  • Law imposing sanctions on Syria https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1677
    
  • Law establishing a National Computer Forensics Institute to educate and train local law enforcement in fighting cyber crimes https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1616
    
  • Law punishing members of the military for taking or distributing "intimate images" without consent https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr2052
    
  • Law requiring OPM to report on the amount of time Federal employees spend working on behalf of a union (the "official time" bill) https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1293
    
  • A bunch of laws improving benefits for veterans which I'm not going to list individually, nothing that looked controversial.
    
  • A bunch of laws involving child safety - mostly making penalties for crimes harsher if the victim is a child, again nothing that looked controversial.
    
  • Law allowing probation officers to arrest people for obstructing the work of the probation officer https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1039
    
  • Law increasing penalties for attacking law enforcement officers https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr115
    
  • Law extending Federal recognition to Virginia Indian tribes https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr984
  
  
• Legislation passed in the Senate, awaiting House
  
  
  
• Legislation advancing in the House
  
  • Repeal of Dodd-Frank Act https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr10
  
  Maps of the week
  
  • Mapping glacier retreat in Glacier National Park