FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ********************
Food Stamp Benefits to Increase Significantly
Come October 2021, the food stamp benefits--formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits--will, on the average, increase 25% from the pre-pandemic weekly assistance of $121 per month to $157 per month for each beneficiary. The 25% increase will not only make up the 15% pandemic time boost that the nation's 42 million SNAP beneficiaries are now receiving and is slated to end on September 30, 2021, but will add some more. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on August 16, 2021 that the U.S. "will do a better job of providing healthy food for low-income families" with the increase that would cost an additional $20 billion per year. The increase in SNAP benefits does not require Congressional approval under a 2018 farm law passed by the GOP-led Congress and signed by the then-President Donald Trump. Under the 2018 farm law, a major revision has been made to USDA's Thrifty Food Plan, which calculates the cost to purchase groceries for a family of four. The 25% increase in SNAP benefit made public by the Biden administration on August 16, 2021 falls under the purview of Thrifty Food Plan, and thus, is exempt from Congressional approval.
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ********************
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ********************
******* CENSUS BUREAU NEWS AND CITIZENSHIP QUESTION IN CENSUS FORM *****
Dozens of States, Cities Sue Fed on Census Questionnaire
Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and six cities on April 3, 2018 filed a lawsuit against Trump administration after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced in March 2018 that Trump administration was planning to include a question that would ask resident's citizenship in the questionnaire for 2020 U.S. Census.
Federal Judge Scraps Government Drive to Include Citizenship Question
A federal judge in Maryland, U.S. District Judge George Hazel, on April 5 rejected the March 2018 decision of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to incorporate a question to know one's U.S. citizenship status, marking the third time that a federal judge had rejected Trump administration's effort that many decried as discriminatory and flawed that would yield faulty estimate, and thus, skewed apportionment. Although Secretary Ross justified the inclusion of the question on the ground of upholding the Voting Rights Act, the judge dismissed that rationale and ruled that the measure was at violation of Administrative Procedure Act.
Late GOP Strategist Favored the Citizenship Question to Preserve Party Domination
The New York Times reported on May 30, 2019 that a GOP poll expert Thomas Hofeller had originally floated the idea of including the citizenship question in the decennial census form as a means to preserve GOP and non-Hispanic White dominance. Hofeller passed away in August 2018, and his daughter found information on his computer that implicated the GOP poll expert's thought process to the citizenship question. Lawyers of the plaintiffs, including ACLU, filed a motion to U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman to seek "sanctions and any other relief the court deems appropriate, because of apparently untruth testimony" by Trump administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' expert adviser Mark Neumann and senior Justice official John Gore. It's not clear how the new information will influence the outcome of the case in the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Puts a Hold on Citizenship Question
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2019 blocked Trump administration from including the citizenship question in the decennial census forms to be started to be printed in few weeks. In 5-4 majority, with Chief Justice John Roberts taking side with the Liberal minority, the court asked Trump administration to come up with better rationale for including the question. Given the lack of time, it's all but impossible to proceed with the citizenship question included in the decennial form.
Trump Administration Begins Printing Decennial Census Form without Citizenship Question
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on July 2, 2019 that his department had dropped the citizenship question and begun to print the 2020 decennial census forms without that question.
Census Bureau Seeks Drivers License Records from Texas
In an unsettling action, U.S. Census Bureau earlier this month asked Texas to hand over Driver's License records as part of expansion of Trump administration's July 2019 Executive Order asking states for information such as "date of birth, address, race, Hispanic origin and citizenship status". The Dallas Morning News reported on October 28, 2019 that the Census Bureau's recent query of Texas Driver License information was in addition to what had been asked by Trump's July 2019 "Executive Order on increasing the use of administrative records for the 2020 Census". Many voting rights groups and Hispanic groups blasted both July 2019 EO, which they had dubbed a run-around of Supreme Court denial to Trump administration's quest to include a citizenship question for 2020 decennial census form, and recent effort to get access to Texas Driver License information. The U.S. Constitution calls for reapportion of House districts based on "their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state". Texas Constitution also says that the state House districts should be drawn on total population count, but doesn't say anything on redrawing state senate or congressional districts.
Trump Orders Exclusion of Undocumented from Census for "Reapportionment of Representatives"
President Donald Trump on July 21, 2020 signed an executive order to take off the counts of "aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status" from the "apportionment base" for crafting new Congressional boundaries as part of the "reapportionment of representatives after the 2020 Census". However, legal scholars are not sure how that can be done after the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Trump administration's effort to include a citizenship question in the 2020 Census Form.
Federal Judge Voids Trump Administration's Action to Wind up Census Early
In response to a suit filed by nation's cities and other jurisdictions against Trump administration's new strict timeline to end census-taking by the end of September instead of October, a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of San Jose, on late September 5, 2020 ordered the Census Bureau and Commerce Department to rescind its proposed plan to advance the timeline and stick to its original timeline of October 31, 2020. The injunction order by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh is temporary as she will hold hearings on the merit of shrunk timeline on September 17, 2020.
A Panel of Three Judges Overturns Trump's Order to Exclude Illegals when Drawing Districts
A panel of three judges in New York on September 10, 2020 called the president's July 21, 2020, order to exclude undocumented people residing in the U.S. when doing Congressional seat re-apportionment "unlawful". The judges found fault with Trump's order to violate laws both on how govern the counting process in Census as well as re-apportionment.
Appeals Court Gives a Mixed Verdict on Census
A three-judge federal appeals court based in San Francisco, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled on October 7, 2020 that upheld parts of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s September 5, 2020, ruling while overturning the other parts of the ruling. The appellate court upheld the Census’ October 31 timeline instead of Trump administration’s effort to cut it short to September 30. The component of Judge Koh’s ruling that got overturned included the timeline for turning over the Census data for “apportionment”, or the process for drawing the House seats, that had been extended to April 30, 2021, but later curtailed by Trump administration to December 31, 2020, the original timeline of the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has two major deadlines in every decennial census: (1) Counting deadline (originally set for Aug 31, 2020 for this year’s census), and (2) Apportionment Data Turnover deadline (originally set for December 31, 2020 for this year’s census). In April 2020, Census Bureau announced extending those two deadlines to October 31, 2020 and April 30, 2021, respectively in the light of a dangerous Coronavirus pandemic. Later Trump administration issued edict to change those deadlines and advanced both—first one by a month to September 30, 2020, and the second one, related to apportionment, to originally mandated timeline of December 31, 2020—leading to legal challenges.
Supreme Court Halts Census Counting
Dealing a setback to voting and minority rights groups, U.S. Supreme Court on October 13, 2020 sided with Trump administration by ordering an immediate stop to ongoing headcount that both a federal judge—U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh—and an appeals court had extended to October 31, 2020. Trump administration argued that the counting had covered so far as high as 99.9% of U.S. population, including 33.1% counted by Census-takers and 66.8% by individuals who had participated in 2020 Census by phone, by mail, or via online.
Trump’s Order to Drop Undocumented Immigrants from Apportionment Taken by Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Trump administration challenge to a federal appeals court’s order that has overturned a July 21, 2020, Trump administration memorandum aimed at excluding the undocumented immigrants from being counted in the apportionment process that allocates the House seats, thus tilting the balance of how federal money and House seats are distributed from large urban counties-dominated states to favor more rural, Whites-dominated states. The U.S. Supreme Court’s October 16, 2020, decision to accept the case on fast-track basis clears the way that, irrespective of the presidential election outcome in less than 20 days, the apportionment strategy will largely be formulated and put in place by Trump. The case will be heard on November 30, 2020 when Amy Coney Barrett will take the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Trump in his July 21, 2020, memo asked his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to provide with two sets of numbers: overall and another one without undocumented immigrants counted. Trump’s memo immediately drew fire from immigrants rights groups, voting rights groups and Democrats, with 22 states plus District of Columbia along with 15 cities and counties filing lawsuit to bar Trump’s July 21, 2020, memorandum from going into effect. A special three-judge panel at a federal appeals court in New York—two appointed by President George W. Bush and one appointed by President Barack Obama—sided with the plaintiffs and opined in an unsigned unanimous verdict, ordering the administration to use “tabulation of total population by states under the decennial census” and use those numbers to “determine apportionment using the method of equal proportions”. Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, who filed the appeal, argued that there was no evidence that any state would be harmed by president’s order.
Appellate Court Rejects Trump’s “Apportionment” Directive
For the second time in as many months, a three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on October 22, 2020 rejected President Donald Trump’s July 21, 2020, directive to exclude counting undocumented migrants from the apportionment process. On September 10, 2020, another appeals court panel in New York blocked Trump administration’s July 21, 2020, directive. However, the California-based appeals court went further than New York-based appeals court to reject Trump’s executive order by labeling it not only unlawful, but also unconstitutional. The New York-based appellate court called Trump’s directive unlawful, but reserved judgment on the constitutionality aspect of the directive. Trump administration filed an appeal against New York-based appeals court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Supreme Court has accepted the appeal and will hear it next month.
After Winning in Supreme Court, Trump May not Exclude Undocumented from Apportionment
After the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the Trump administration to use the Census numbers excluding the undocumented people from the process of apportionment, or divvying up the Congressional seats for the upcoming decade, Census Bureau itself will not be ready to deliver the population count that excludes the undocumented immigrants to President Donald Trump by December 31, 2020, according to a December 30, 2020, report by The Associated Press, undermining President Trump's effort to leave his imprint in the redistricting effort. U.S. Census Bureau may likely to deliver the population count data to President-elect Joe Biden after January 20, 2021. Biden is likely nullify Trump's July 2020 order to exclude illegal immigrants from the count that will be used for the purpose of "apportionment".
State Remap may be Delayed
The U.S. Census Bureau said on January 27, 2021 that it would be able to furnish the data needed for Congressional remap by April 30, 2021, but the state remap data might not be ready before end of summer, according to a top official of the agency, Kathleen Styles, who gave a presentation on data delivery schedule and other information to National Conference of State Legislatures. The pandemic had thrown uncertainty to the entire process of once in a decade undertaking used to divvy up Congressional seats, state legislative seats and allocating $1.5 trillion in annual federal funds.
Texas Gains Two Congressional Seats; Five Others Gain a Seat Each; Seven Cede One Seat
Sunbelt states gained Congressional seats, though less than expected, and northern and coastal states lost seats, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which announced the new alignment of Congressional seats and population numbers on April 26, 2021. Texas' official population now stands at 29,145,505, up 15.9% compared to the last Census, helping the state gain two more Congressional seats, instead of three to five expected earlier. Florida gained one seat, less than two expected. Suspicion immediately fell on Former President Donald Trump's misadventure with including only the citizens in the Census count. Although the U.S. Supreme Court later nixed that effort, die had already been cast and there might be, according to many population enumeration experts, significant undercount of population in the 2020 Census, especially because many Hispanics might have felt leery to answer the Census questionnaire. Five states gained a seat each: Florida, North Carolina, Montana, Oregon and Colorado. Seven states lost one seat each: California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For New York, one seat loss could have been prevented if 89 additional people would have been counted as the state's population, but that would have led one seat loss for Minnesota. According to Census 2020, U.S. population now stands 331,449,281, up 7.4% from the last census, second-slowest rate increase ever, attributable to, among others, an aging population, slowing immigration, fall in birthrate because of delayed start in families due to Great Recession. U.S. Census Bureau Acting Director Ron Jarmin shared the Census numbers virtually on April 26, 2021. The data released on April 26, 2021 along with more granular-level data to be released later in the year will form the basis of [Congressional] redistricting.
Census Bureau Wins Court’s Nod to Release Redistricting Data in Mid-August
A ruling by a panel of three federal judges in Alabama on June 30, 2021 paves the way for the U.S. Census Bureau to release the data needed for redrawing legislative boundaries on August 16, 2021. The state of Alabama and three Alabama politicians sued the U.S. Census Bureau in order to block the August 16, 2021, release of the legislative seats redrawing data, pointing out the fallacy of differential privacy being used by the U.S. Census Bureau to protect the privacy. The lawsuit alleges that the method, differential privacy, will lead to significant inaccuracies.
Census Bureau Releases Data Key to Re-districting
U.S. Census Bureau on August 12, 2021 released the re-districting census data, and for the state like Texas, it could not be any more consequential and stakes could not be any higher, with 70% of the population growth since the last Census (2010) happening because of burgeoning non-White population. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Texas has a population of 29,145,505, a growth of 15.9% compared to 2010 Census. For the first time in the Census history, number of people in the U.S. who have identified themselves as Whites has reduced compared to last Census, falling from 196 million in 2010 to 191 million in 2020. However, some demographers believe that it's not so much of reduction of White population, instead many identifying themselves as multiracial. 33.8 million people, almost 10% of the U.S. population, now consider themselves as multiracial compared to 9 million in 2010 Census.
According to Congressional Budget Office, 2020 Census has been an gargantuan task in the midst of an once-in-a-century pandemic, costing the U.S. taxpayers $15.6 billion, and the count of the U.S. population stood at 331,449,281. The first U.S. census in 1790 cost the U.S. taxpayers $44,377 and the population stood at 3,929,214.
Simulation Finds Potential Massive Undercount of Blacks
A simulation carried out by Connie Citro, a researcher and senior scholar at the Committee on National Statistics at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, found that Blacks might have been undercounted in 2020 Census thrice as high as the rate of 2010 Census, according to October 14, 2021, edition of The Dallas Morning News. The simulation provides three different scenario for the group that had checked Black and no other races based on Census Bureau's low, medium and high independent population estimates released in December 2020. Citro's simulation yielded to undercounts ranging from 3.24% to 7.25% compared to 2.3% official net undercount for that group in 2010.
The Census Bureau will release the so called modified race file next year (2022) after reallocating the people who have only checked "some other race" into Black and non-Black categories. The Bureau will also undertake the so called post-enumeration survey to assess the precision of under- and overcounts. Meanwhile, Citro used the same methodology that the Census Bureau had applied to 2010 data to reallocate "some other race" people to run a second simulation based on Bureau's race and ethnicity data published in August 2021. The second simulation yielded outcomes, spanning an overcount of 0.28% to an undercount of 4.36%, compared to net undercount of 1.1% for that group in the 2010 Census.
U.S. Birth Rate Falling
According to The Dallas Morning News' October 26, 2021, edition, the U.S. birth rate is falling precipitously after peaking in 2007. The national birth rate in 2007 was 69 babies per 1,000 women, and then declined to 58.3 in 2019. Texas has experienced a sharper decline in the birth rate in the comparable period: 79 babies per 1,000 women in 2007 to 62.5 in 2019.
Urban Institute's Simulation Estimates a Smaller Undercount
The Dallas Morning News on November 7, 2021 reported that the computer simulation model by think-tank Urban Institute had shown an undercount of 0.5% in 2020 Census compared to 0.01% undercount in 2010 Census, but more in line with 0.49% undercount in 2000 Census. 2020 Census took place under an unprecedented situation with major headwinds from once a generation pandemic, wildfire in the West, hurricanes in the Gulf Coast and naked intervention by President Donald Trump. Observers thought that the undercounts would be more severe. Black and Hispanic undercounts in the Census 2020 were estimated by the Urban Institute at 2,45% and 2.17%, respectively, compared with 2.07% and 1.54%, respectively, in the 2010 Census. White overcount in the 2020 Census is 0.39% compared to a 0.84% overcount in 2010. 2020 Census Undercounts for Asian, Native Americans and Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, according to the Urban Institute, are 0.6% (0.08% in 2010), 0.36% (4.88% in 2010), 1.5% (1.34% in 2010), respectively. Census Bureau will publish 2020 Census accuracy rate next year.
Slowest Growth Rate in U.S. Population in more than Eight Decades
U.S. Census Bureau on December 21, 2021 issued its latest population estimates that showed a nation with only 392,665 added to its population between July 2020 and July 2021 to a new total of 331.8 million. A mere 0.1% growth rate is the slowest since 1937, and mostly fueled by international migration (about 245,000). July 2020 through July 2021 marks the first time that international migration (about 245,000) has surpassed the number of births exceeding deaths (about 148,000). The key reasons for the dismal growth of U.S. population are hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19, decreased international migration and a falling U.S. birthrate.
African Americans, Hispanics Undercounted in 2020 Census
In 2020 Census, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Native Alaskan populations have been undercounted significantly more than in 2010 Census. In 2010 Census too, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Native Alaskan populations have been undercounted by 2.0%, 1.5%, and 4.9%, respectively. In 2020 Census, according to the Post-Enumeration Survey released on March 10, 2022. the margins of undercount jumped to 3.3%, 5.0%, and 5.6%, respectively, significantly larger than in 2010 Census. That the undercount of Black, Hispanic and American Indian and Native Alaskan populations has happened is not surprising as it has been happening in every decennial enumeration. It's the margin of undercount for each of these groups that has struck a raw nerve with the minority rights groups as the stakes can not be any higher, with $1.5 trillion in federal funds' fair allocation dependent on the precision of the population count.
Overall there was a net undercount (1.61%) in 1990 Census, followed by net overcounts in 2000 (0.49%) and 2010 (0.01%). After three decades, the net undercount of overall population returned in the 2020 Census, with a margin of 0.24%. The non-Hispanic White population has net overcounts in both 2010 Census (0.8%) and 2020 Census (1.6%), respectively. Asian population jumped from 0.08% net undercount in 2010 Census to 2.6% net overcount in 2020 Census. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos explained how pandemic and the related socio-economic crises had a chilling effect on the Hispanic and Black communities that was, in turn, reflected in these population groups' net undercount.
Census Bureau to Adjust Undercounts to Obtain Better Population Estimate in Future
Census Bureau's chief of the population division, Karen Battle, said on March 29, 2022 that the bureau would soon undertake endeavor to adjust the undercounts so that they didn't get baked into future estimate.
Texas Might Have Lost One Additional House Seat Because of Undercount
The U.S. Census Bureau's Post-Count Survey released on May 19, 2022 has some surprises for Texas. Texas, which has an official tally of 29,183,290 people, is likely to have been shorted of 1.92%, or 560,000, residents, leading to have missed out one additional House seat. Post-Count Survey shows:
* Arkansas and Tennessee have almost 5% undercount
* Texas, Florida, Illinois and Mississippi have varying degree of undercounts, with Texas and Florida missing out one Congressional seat each
* Eight states--Minnesota, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Delaware, New York, Utah, Massachusetts and Ohio--have varying degree of overcounts
* 36 states and District of Columbia have overcount or undercount which is not statistically significant
Global Population Crosses 8 billion Mark
The U.S. Census Bureau on November 9, 2023 reported that the global population growth had achieved a new milestone: 8 billion mark. This milestone was achieved on September 26, 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the U.N. reported that the "Day of 8 billion" had arrived almost a year earlier on November 22, 2022. Nonetheless, the growth rate is slowing down, and almost three-quarters of the population now live in nations where fertility rate is either the same or lower than the replacement rate of the population.
The median age of the world's population now is 32 and is projected to increase to 39 in 2060, confirming the long-term trend of an aging population. Fertility rate, or number of births for each woman of child bearing age, is trending downward in the last 50 years. Replacement rate, or the number of births to replace two-parent guardians, now stands 2.1, a threshold that's trending upward. Almost three-quarters of the population now live in the countries around or below the replacement threshold. India, Tunisia and Argentina have fertility rate around the same as replacement rate. U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Sweden have fertility rate lower than replacement rate, while China, South Korea and Spain remain the nations with the checkered designation of very low fertility rate.
Israel, Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia have fertility rate up to 5. Only 4% of the nations, almost all of them are in Africa, have fertility rate over 5.
U.S. Adds 1.6 million in 2023
An analysis carried out by a demographer of the Brookings Institution, William Frey, based on the Census Bureau data finds that there are some 1.6 million more people in the U.S. in 2023 compared to the preceding year. The findings made public on December 19, 2023 points to the primary cause for the growth: two-third of the growth has come from the international migration. The total population in the U.S. now stands at 334.9 million. The population growth has not happened uniformly, though. A whopping 87% of the population growth has happened in the Census Bureau's southern region that includes Maryland and Delaware. The largest percentage growth (1.7%) has happened in South Carolina, adding the state's population by an additional 90,000. In sheer numbers, Texas added 473,000 people, followed by Florida (365,000) which also ranked second in the population growth rate (1.6%) behind South Carolina.
On the flip side, New York lost about 102,000 people, ranking highest (0.5%) in terms of loss rate. California lost about 75,000 residents in 2023. California still remains the most populous state with 38.9 million people followed by Texas (30.5 million people).
DFW Metroplex Population Tops 8 million
Census Bureau reported on March 13, 2024 that DFW Metroplex had added the maximum people among all metropolitan areas in the U.S. between July 1, 20222 and July 1, 2023. DFW Metropolitan area added 152,598, followed by Houston Metropolitan area (+139,789) and Atlanta (+68,585). DFW Metropolitan area now has more than 8 million people. However, Harris County has seen the maximum uptick of population (+53,788), followed by Collin County (+36,364).
******* CENSUS BUREAU NEWS AND CITIZENSHIP QUESTION IN CENSUS FORM *****
House Committee Holds Trump Officials in Contempt of Congress
U.S. House Oversight Committee on June 12, 2019 voted to hold Attorney-General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress after they failed to furnish information and materials related to the Trump administration's effort to include a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. Three federal judges have ruled against Trump administration's action on the ground of gross violation of Administrative Procedure Act, and now the case is being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ********************
********************************* DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE *******************
Hagel Resigns Under Pressure
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on November 24, 2014 resigned after months of widening difference with the president's inner circle over the administration's Syria approach.
Obama Nominates An Insider to Replace Hagel
President Barack Obama on December 5, 2014 named Ashton Carter, a Physicist and a long-time Pentagon policy wonk, as his administration's fourth Defense Secretary and replace Chuck Hagel, who was pressured to resign. Under Obama administration, office of Defense Secretary became a round chair of sort as Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel all had served and clashed with White House inner circle.
Marine General Nominated as New Military Chief
President Barack Obama on May 5, 2015 nominated Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff to replace outgoing head Martin Dempsey, whose second two-year term is to expire on October 1, 2015.
Pentagon to Allow Open Transgender Personnel
The US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on July 13, 2015 that Pentagon would work toward revising the outdated rules and allow openly transgender personnel to serve in the armed services effective early next year.
Poignant Ceremony to Mark the Change of Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Under a cloudy sky, with hundreds of uniformed personnel at the audience and presence of President Barack Obama, the charge of leading the country's military changed hands on September 25, 2015 at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia from the outgoing Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey to Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford. In his farewell speech, Dempsey said that he would like to iterate what he had always believed in "make it matter".
U.S. Tops as world's Arms Supplier
Last year (2014) US ranked first in selling weapons to other nations, raking a total of $36.2 billion, or approximately 35 percent more than 2013 total of $26.7 billion. Among the top recipients of the American Arms largesse were Saudi Arabia, Qatar and South Korea. South Korea was the highest buyer of American Arms last year (2014) with aggregate receipts totaling $7.8 billion. Russia was the second-largest arms exporter, selling almost $10.2 billion worth of weaponry in the international market, followed by Sweden ($5.5 billion), France ($4.4 billion) and China ($2.2 billion), respectively. The New York Times reported the updated estimate on December 26, 2015.
Women a Step Closer to Draft
US women won a major milestone on June 14, 2016 as an outcome of the passage of $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act by 85-13 votes. Under the measure, women between 18 and 26 have to register in Selective Service come 2018. House has passed the defense bill last month, and now the competing bills will have to be reconciled as House's bill is $18 billion costlier.
Pentagon to Allow Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly
The U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on June 30, 2016 announced another significant shift in Pentagon policy in relations to LGBT rights, setting a course and an one-year timeline to lift the ban on transgender personnel. Under the announcement, come October 1, 2016, transgender personnel may begin to receive medical care and enter their new gender identification in the Pentagon's internal system.
******* Civilian Casualty Stats in Drone Strikes ******
Obama Administration Releases Civilian Casualty Figures in Drone War
On July 1, 2016, world got its first glimpse of how USA's increasing dependence on drone attacks against enemies affected civilians at large. According to the estimate released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence, 473 drone strikes were launched against enemy positions between January 20, 2009 and December 2015, and at least 64 and at most 116 civilians were killed in those strikes. Meanwhile, between 2,372 and 2,581 militants were killed in CIA- and special ops-operated drone strikes. However, there was no breakdown by countries where drone attacks were launched, neither any breakdown by year. So, it's not possible whether there was any impact of civilian death toll in drone attacks since the White House had issued new "presidential policy guidance" in May 2013 to minimize civilian death toll in drone strikes.
******* Civilian Casualty Stats in Drone Strikes ******
Trump Tweets Favoring Transgender Ban in Military
Out of blue and without any clue, President Donald Trump on July 26, 2017 tweeted to call for a ban on transgender personnel to serve in the U.S. military.
Transgender Troops let Get to Stay in Military
President Donald Trump on August 25, 2017 directed Pentagon to extend the ban on transgender people joining the country's military indefinitely, but gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the wide latitude on the already-serving transgender military personnel. The Obama administration in June 2016 lifted the ban on transgender people from openly serving the military, set a deadline for July 2017 to determine whether openly transgender individuals could be allowed to join the military. Mattis delayed that until January 1, 2018, and now President Trump extended that indefinitely.
Mattis Freezes Trump's Ban on Transgender in Military
Four days after President Donald Trump gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wide latitude on transgender ban in military, Mattis on August 29, 2017 issued a statement, saying that he was forming a panel to explore on how to carry out president's directive. Until then, status quo will continue, implying presidential directive will remain frozen and averting an explosive social issue.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Transgender Military Ban Edict
A federal judge, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelley, on October 30, 2017 put an injunction on President Donald Trump's August 2017 order to ban transgender personnel from serving in the military as the case proceeded through the federal court system. The Washington-based judge called Trump's order "probably unconstitutional" and definitely an example of "overstepping" his authority. The case was filed by GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD, and National Center for Lesbian Rights, or NCLR, on behalf of six transgender service personnel days after Trump's order in August 2017. The case is one of many that will be heard and observed nationwide to see the direction of judiciary's verdict on this topic.
Trump Signs Defense Bill
President Donald Trump on December 12, 2017 signed a $700 billion defense spending bill, but it would not be effective until Congress rolled back the cap it had placed in 2011. Under the cap, the defense spending tab should not exceed $549 billion in Fiscal 2018.
Pentagon Releases Policy on Nuclear Option
A newly drafted policy on U.S. using nuclear option makes it easier for applying the threshold for "nuclear first" approach by broadening the scope that will trigger such scenario. For years, the U.S. presidents of both political parties have pursued the "first strike" option under a "very narrow scope" of scenarios. However, the recent Nuclear Posture Review drafted under Trump administration, according to The New York Times' January 16, 2018, report, will give much broader leeway to launch nuclear strikes in response to some of the not totally crippling, but critical attacks, such as devastating cyberattacks on the country's infrastructure. The final version of the draft, first published by the HuffPost last week, will be published next week.
Muscular Nuclear Retaliation Policy Unveiled
Trump administration on February 2, 2018 formally made public its significantly aggressive nuclear strike policy that would lower the bar for a trigger to launch a strike on adversaries. The policy, dubbed as the Nuclear Posture Review, includes a plan to embed a large number of low-yield nuclear weapons as part of Washington's nuclear strategy. The policy did not show any enthusiasm for renewal of New START treaty that would go in full force on February 5, 2018 beyond its expiry date in 2021. The Review also categorically rejects Obama administration's direction in making nuclear weapons as a diminished part of USA's defense strategy.
Trump's New Ban on Trans Troops
After legal setback, President Donald Trump revised his earlier order and issued new order on March 23, 2018, banning transgender troops, for the most part, from serving in the country's military.
Seattle Judge Suspends Trump's Transgender Ban
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman of Seattle on April 16, 2018 put a hold on implementation of a revised March 23, 2018, Trump administration directive all but banning transgender troops from serving in the U.S. military as the trial moved through the legal system.
Space Force Outlined by Trump Administration
Vice President Mike Pence on August 9, 2018 unveiled the sixth branch of military in a speech at Pentagon. Pence said that proposed Space Force would take shape beginning 2020 as part of strategic goals of becoming predominant powers in space to counter the growing assertiveness from Russia and China. President Donald Trump followed up Pence's speech with a tweet: "Space Force all the way!" At present, USA's military focus on space is centralized and operated from Air Force Space Command headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Trump Names Dunford Replacement
President Donald Trump on December 8, 2018 named Army chief Gen. Mark Milley as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff to replace Gen. Joseph Dunford. Dunford's term expires October 1, 2019.
Defense Secretary Mattis Resigns in Protest to President's Syria Pullout Decision
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, often known as the cool head in the chaotic White House, on December 20, 2018 announced his resignation, imploring in his resignation letter that "you have a right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours". His resignation letter tells it all: Mattis has taken strong exception to Trump's decision--both in timing, substance and style--to pull nearly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria who have been a bulwark to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in their quest to defeat ISIL in Syria. Meanwhile, Mattis' resignation will bring alarm to world capitals spanning from Brussels to Beijing.
President Trump Declares Space New War-fighting Territory
President Donald Trump on January 17, 2019 outlined his vision on militarization of space as a new missile defense review had called for researching and developing new technology to intercept and destroy missiles with supersonic speed. In a speech at the Pentagon headquarters, President Donald Trump called for developing and stationing sensors and interceptors in space to destroy any possible incoming missiles. President Trump's call for space-based missile defense system came amid Russia's and China's recent advances in missile technology, especially their mastery in supersonic missile technology. Concurrently, U.S. Missile Defense Review, first issued since 2010, called for launching on a study next year on the feasibility and viability of space-based missile defense strategy.
Supreme Court Revives Transgender Ban in the U.S. Military
Handing out a win to Trump administration, U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 2019 by 5-4 votes upheld Trump administration's ban on transgender soldiers to the U.S. military. In July 2017, President Trump reversed the Obama-era transgender rules in a tweet message, and later then-defense minister, Jim Mattis, had drawn rules that all but banned transgender recruits and gender transition therapy. The exception that Mattis had made was related to about 900 personnel who had been already serving in military and those who had said to be serving in accordance with their birth gender.
Acting Defense Secretary Steps down
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan stepped down June 18, 2019 following reports of past domestic violence and "painful" family situation before his formal hearing at the Senate floor. President Donald Trump named Army Secretary Mark Esper as new Secretary of Defense.
Senate Confirms Esper
Mark Esper was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 23, 2019 by 90-8 vote, and hours later he was sworn by the Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at a function in the White House.
Amazon Sues Trump Administration over $10 billion Cloud Computing Bid
Online giant and technological behemoth Amazon filed a lawsuit against Trump administration, accusing President Trump's "improper pressure" and behind-scene attacks for losing out Pentagon's lucrative $10 billion cloud computing project. In October 2019, Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft. President Donald Trump often blasts The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for spreading the so called "fake news". Amazon's case filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Appeals was unsealed on December 9, 2019.
Defense Bill Passed; Includes 12-week Parental Leave for Fed Employees
In a remarkable victory for the federal workers, the $738 billion defense legislation passed December 11, 2019 by the House of Representatives by 377-48 votes includes the benefit of 12 weeks of parental leave for federal employees, a long-term Democratic demand. However, in exchange, Democrats dropped their objection to Trump's maneuver to move money from other agencies to build wall on the southern border, diluting of the transgender protections in the U.S. military and presence of toxic chemicals in the firefighting ingredients at the military base. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.
Senate Passes $738 billion Defense Spending Bill that Ratchets up Pressure on Assad
Senate on December 17, 2019 has passed the $738 billion defense spending bill that includes creation of Space Force, a legacy achievement for President Donald Trump, and paid parental leave of 12 weeks for federal workers. The $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act also includes a measure--formally called as the CAESAR Syria Civilian Protection Act--to punish anyone who will help "Assad regime's military efforts in Syrian civil war". The measure has been named after a former regime official who has been instrumental in transmitting hundreds of photos and other evidence of regime's torture to the international attention.
Trump Fires his Fourth Defense Chief
President Donald Trump on November 9, 2020 fired his defense secretary with a tweet message that Mark Esper was “terminated”, underscoring that the president was quickly becoming unhinged and vindictive intent on settling scores with his political unfavorite officials within the administration. Last summer, Defense Secretary Mark Esper strongly refuted President Trump’s stand to sending military to nation’s streets to curb violent protests organized against George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police. Later Mark Esper expressed his willingness to work with Congress to change the names of military bases who were bearing the names of confederate generals. Trump appointed Christopher Miller, until now heading the National Counterterrorism Center, as new defense secretary.
Congress Challenges Trump with Defense Spending Bill Passed with Overwhelming Support
Congress may end up defying Trump if he vetoes the $741 billion defense authorization bill as both the House and Senate have veto-proof support for the bill that supports from military pay to military readiness to healthcare for people with uniform. House has passed the National Defense Authorization Act on December 8, 2020 by 335-78 margin and Senate passed it on December 11, 2020 by 84-13 votes. The $741 billion-National Defense Authorization Act has arrived at president’s desk on the same day (December 11). President Trump has threatened to veto this bill if it includes a provision to rename the military bases with names of confederate generals and if it does not include an unrelated measure, repeal of Section 230 of Communication Decency Act of 1996. The bill contains base renaming measure, and it excludes Section 230 which shields technology platforms from libel for hosting third-party content.
Trump Vetoes the Defense Bill
As threatened, President Donald Trump on December 23, 2020 vetoed the $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act, setting up a fight with Congress and the first ever veto override vote by Congress in Trump's tenure in the White House.
House Votes to Override Trump Veto of Defense Bill
In the first ever override of Trump's veto, House of Representatives on December 28, 2020 voted 322-87 to override the presidential veto of $741 billion National Defense Authorization Act.
In a Rebuke to Trump, Senate Overrides Trump Veto
On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act became a law after U.S. Senate during the day voted overwhelmingly, 81-13, to override President Donald Trump's veto of $741 billion defense spending bill.
Biden Repeals Trump-era Transgender Ban in Military Ranks
As promised during the campaign, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on January 25, 2021 that would rescind Trump-era executive order that had imposed partial ban on transgender personnel from serving in the armed forces. Biden’s executive order emphasized on creating a more “inclusive force” that would be “more effective” force too.
Biden Visits Pentagon for the First Time, Announces a Task Force for China Policy Review
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on February 10, 2021 paid their first official visit after assuming office and met with the top brass of the military leadership. President Biden announced creating a task force that would review the entire gamut of China's relations with the U.S. vis-a-vis with other nations and come up with recommendation in four months. The task force's recommendation to be submitted to the U.S. Defense Minister Llyod Austin will include specific steps related to priorities and policies that would reset and redefine the Sino-U.S. relation. Last week, Defense Secretary Llyod Austin announced launching a "global posture review" to have a comprehensive look how U.S. could formulate a more robust military strategy across the globe, with the "right capabilities at the right places". Secretary Austin tapped a top Pentagon adviser, a former Biden adviser and a China specialist, Ely Ratner, to lead the review.
Biden Administration Expands Transgender Soldiers' Rights
After January 25, 2021, executive order reversing Trump administration's severe restrictions on transgender troops, Biden administration took about two months to review and study the issue. After the review is done, Pentagon chief Llyod Austin has given his nod to new Pentagon policies guiding the service and benefits rules of transgender troops. According to the new rules unveiled publicly on March 31, 2021, transgender troops can serve openly and receive the benefits related to gender-changing medical services and procedures.
Pentagon Cancels Cloud-based Services Contract with Microsoft
Pentagon on July 6, 2021 said that it would cancel the $10 billion-JEDI Cloud contract with Microsoft after Amazon sued the Pentagon, accusing Former President Donald Trump of interfering in the bidding process to deprive Amazon from getting the contract because of the former president’s distaste for Jeff Bezos, who resigned as the online behemoth’s CEO a day ago. Although the Defense Department didn’t point out the lawsuit, Pentagon CIO John Sherman was as much transparent as officially possible in conveying the message that the “landscape has evolved”, with new possibilities in cloud-based computing services. Pentagon will now distribute the contract, now known as Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability, among various cloud service providers, including Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Google and Oracle. Amazon’s case first came to light on December 9, 2019.
Navy Oiler Christened after First Openly Gay California Public Office Holder
A Navy vessel on November 6, 2021 slid down the shipyard at San Diego after a champagne bottle was smashed on its bow. The oiler was christened after Harvey Milk, first openly gay California public official who was with the U.S. Navy for four years before being ousted after he had been outed as a gay. To mark the importance of the LGBTQ community's sacrifice to bolster our defense establishment, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro attended the launch of the Navy oiler. Harvey Milk's nephew, Stuart Milk, was also present during the launch ceremony. Harvey Milk, most likely, was the first elected public official in the nation. He was serving in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when a former fellow council man, Dan White, had assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone at the City Hall in 1978. In 2016, then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced plans to build six Navy oilers named after six civil rights and gay rights leaders, including Milk, John Lewis, Sojourner Truth, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Robert F. Kennedy, and suffragist Lucy Stone.
Congress on the Cusp of Passing the Defense Funding Bill
Senate and House Armed Services Committees on December 7, 2021 finalized the $768 billion defense bill that had included several priorities such as an independent review of the Afghanistan War and the assessment of related errors, additional measures against sexual harassment and related crimes in the military ranks and other issues. However, some of the other provisions such as racial inequities have been left out, angering many Black and Hispanic Democratic lawmakers. One of them, Rep. Anthony G. Brown, who had served in Army for 30 years before joining the Congress, wrote a letter to his fellow Congressional Black Caucus members to vote against the bill as "it is an unconscionable failure to deliver a National Defense Authorization Act that does not meet the value of equity and justice".
Biden Signs the NDAA
President Joe Biden on December 26, 2021 signed the $768.2-billion National Defense Authorization Act.
America's New Air Prowess: B-21 Raider
U.S. Unveils New Generation of Bomber
On December 2, 2022, U.S. Air Force unveiled the partial showpiece of the nation's newest defense marvel: B-21 Raider, first new bomber in almost 30 years. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the partial public showing event at the Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale that the aircraft "is the embodiment of America's determination to defend the Republic that we all love". The new warplane, which can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons, will enter the operational fleet not before 2023. At present, U.S. does have an array of lethal aircraft in its arsenal: B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress. B-21 will have a very advanced detection evasion technology. Its official price tag is $550 million each in 2010 dollar values. Air Force is building about 100 B-21 Raiders as the U.S. is facing consequential geopolitical threat from China.
America's New Air Prowess: B-21 Raider
Defense Bill Passed by House; Instructs Defense Chief to Rescind Vaccination Mandate
House of Representatives on December 8, 2022 passed the $858 billion-National Defense Authorization Act by 350-80 votes. The bill allocates $45 billion more than what President Joe Biden had asked, marking the second year in a row that Congress allocated more than what the president had sought. The bill also asks Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind an August 2021 order for compulsory vaccination for all service members. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.
Senate Passes $858 billion Defense Spending Bill
U.S. Senate on December 15, 2022 passed the $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act by 83-11 votes. The 4,408-page bill requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his August 2021 memorandum for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for all service members. An amendment sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson and Sen. Ted Cruz that called for the dismissed service members for failure to take vaccine to be restored with full rank and backpay was defeated.
Air Force Chief to Become the Joint Chiefs Chairman
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr. on May 25, 2023 was named the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Joe Biden, with Gen. Brown standing alongside, called him "an enormous asset to me" at a Rose Garden event.
Biden Nominates First Woman to Head Navy
President Joe Biden made history on July 21, 2023 as he named Adm. Lisa Franchetti, a 38-year veteran in the service, to head the Navy. Admiral Franchetti led the U.S. 6th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Korea before.
National Defense Authorization Act Passed by Senate
U.S. Senate on July 27, 2023 passed the National Defense Authorization Act by 86-11 vote that would raise the pay for service members by 5.2%. The measure includes a provision that requires corporations to report if they are investing in "semiconductor or AI in countries like China and Russia" to increase the "visibility of their investments". The Outbound Investment Transparency Act has strong bipartisan support. The bill, approved on July 26, 2023, covers advanced technology domains such as semiconductors, AI, microelectronics, hypersonic technology and satellite technology.
Three High-ranking Military Officials Confirmed
After a months-long hold imposed by a single Senator that hindered U.S. military's operational excellence and functional efficiency, Senate was eventually successful to confirm three high-ranking military officials by bypassing Sen. Tommy Tuberville's obstruction. On September 20, 2023, Senate confirmed Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr. as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On September 21, 2023, Senate confirmed Gen. Randy George as the new Army Chief of Staff and Gen. Eric Smith as the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. Senator Tuberville's hold over Pentagon's abortion policy smacks of political opportunism.
$886 billion Defense Budget Passed by Congress
After approving strikingly different versions of the defense measures in July 2023, House and Senate negotiators engaged in intense discussions in the months that followed. At last, they achieved the sweet spot of a workable compromise. The agreed-upon final version of the defense bill has a price tag of $886 billion, a 3% increase. It raises the wages of the active duty members, freezes D&I-related hiring until full accounting of the program is done, and most importantly, grants a short-term extension of the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate passed the bill on December 13, 2023 and House passed it on December 14, 2023 by 310-118 votes.
Austin Draws New Scrutiny over Hospitalization
Defense Secretary Llyod Austin's recent hospitalization and related lack of transparency is drawing scrutiny and criticism from Congressional Republicans and few Democrats. On December 22, 2023, the defense chief went for a surgical procedure for prostate removal, according to a January 11, 2024, article published by The Washington Post. Because of post-surgery complications, the retired army general was taken in an ambulance to the Walter Reed National Medical Center on January 1, 2024. However, the lack of transparency over his medical procedure and subsequent hospitalization was stunning at best. His senior aides only came to know about it on January 2, 2024. The White House didn't know about it until January 4, 2024, implying a glaring breakdown of communication related to the basic functioning of an agency as vital as Defense Department. The public and Congress came to know about Secretary Llyod Austin's twin hospitalizations and surgical procedure only on January 5, 2024.
The U.S. House Armed Services Committee is likely to launch an investigation into the episode. Parallel reviews are being launched on the departmental accounting side by the Department of Defense and on the overall administrative procedure side by the White House.
On the top, Defense Department Inspector-General Robert Storch on January 11, 2024 said that his staff would launch investigation into whether appropriate procedures and protocols were followed in this case. Storch let his intention know via memo addressed to Secretary Austin, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and other senior defense officials.
House Armed Panel Chair Calls Austin for Testimony
U.S. House Armed Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, on January 17, 2024 sent a letter to Defense Secretary Llyod Austin to appear before the panel for a testimony on the glaring lack of communication and transparency over the secretary's medical procedure and hospitalization during "a time of immense global instability". The hearing is set for February 14, 2024.
Internal Department Investigation Clears Austin over Hospitalization
An internal Defense Department investigation released its findings on February 27, 2024 that reported no evidence of "obfuscation" of information related to Defense Secretary Llyod Austin's treatment.
********************************* DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE *******************
*********************** ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ****************
EPA Chief Out
After months-long allegation and congressional grilling over reckless spending, ethics violation and federal rules bending, the inevitable happened as the EPA chief Scott Pruitt on July 5, 2018 turned in his resignation. In his short tenure, Pruitt spearheaded and was largely successful in rolling back dozens of Obama-era environmental rules. The former coal industry executive, Andrew Wheeler, who is Pruitt's deputy will work as an interim administrator.
Former EPA Chiefs Call for a Reset in Environmental Policy
Six former heads of Environmental Protection Agency who had served both under Democratic and Republican administrations on August 12, 2020 issued poignant call for a radical reset of current Trump administration's wholesale regulatory elimination policy. In their call, they backed up hundreds of pages recommendations that Environmental Protection Network, a group of more than agency's 500 former senior managers and employees, had come out with in recent days. Most of the recommendations are critical of ongoing alleged assaults of Trump administration on the nation's water, air and environment. The former chiefs included William Reilly, Lee Thomas, Carol Browner, Christine Todd Whitman, Lisa Jackson and Gina McCarthy. The notable absentee is Scott Pruitt, Trump's first EPA chief and predecessor of incumbent Andrew Wheeler.
*********************** ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ****************
******************************* DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION *******************
Duncan to Leave Obama Cabinet
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who had followed Obama from Chicago to White House and stayed longer than other secretaries barring Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on October 2, 2015 announced that he would resign. Duncan will be remembered as one of the most assertive and passionate education secretary in the U.S. history. During his tenure, Duncan pushed for Common Core, increased funding for early childhood education and rankled the educator groups for emphasizing on teaching accountability.
House Votes to Replace NCLB
On December 2, 2015, House of Representatives voted 359-64 to replace one of the most contentious academic initiative that began on a bipartisan, high note to bring accountability to nation's classrooms and bridge the achievement gaps, but ended up with the perception of a high-handed legislative measure that had tried to push academic rigor and school accountability through a centralized, one-size-fits-all strategy. The 1,000-page new measure will retain the testing requirements of 2002 No Child Left Behind Act that was due for renewal in 2007. Some of the salient features of the NCLB were:
* Annual reading and math testing from class 3 to 8 and once in high school
* Making those test scores public
* Breaking down those test scores by races
* Requiring all students proficient in Math and reading by 2014
The new measure returns many of the powers enshrined under the 2002 NCLB Act to local and state authorities. The law expired in 2007, but for years Congress couldn't come to terms in proposing an alternative measure.
Senate Passes Measure to Replace NCLB; Sends it to Obama
A week after House of Representatives voted to approve a measure to replace No Child Left Behind Act, Senate on December 9, 2015 approved the measure in a lopsided vote (85-12). The measure now goes to President Barack Obama for his certain signature.
President Signs the Measure to Replace NCLB
President Barack Obama as expected signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). One of the fallacies of ESSA, according to William McKenzie, editorial director at the George W. Bush Institute, is the requirement of ESSA for states to intervene the lowest performing 5 percent of schools and schools with high dropouts. However, there are several schools which have students with poor performance, and ESSA is silent on the actions for those schools.
Acting Secretary Named as Permanent Choice
President Barack Obama on February 11, 2016 named John King Jr., who was filling the shoes of Arne Duncan after he had left the post, as the Education Secretary. Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-TN, assured on February 11, 2016 that King would receive a "prompt and fair hearing in our committee".
******* TRANSGENDER RIGHTS ********
Obama Administration Issues Rules on Transgender Rights
The Department of Education and the Department of Justice on May 13, 2016 issued a joint directive to the states asking them to accommodate transgender students with bathroom facilities as per the gender they had identified with. Although the edict by the DOE and DOJ is nonbinding, the non-compliance may lead to the loss of federal funds under Title IX.
Texas Rallies 10 Other States to Sue Fed
Texas A.G. Ken Paxton inserted his office into the transgender controversy, and filed a lawsuit on May 25, 2016 in favor of a tiny Texas school district, Harrold ISD, a 100-student school system near the Oklahoma borders, against the May 13, 2016, nonbinding order issued by Obama administration's Justice and Education departments asking nation's school districts to make accommodations for bathroom usage for transgender students. Ten other Republican states joined Texas against the Obama administration's administrative orders. The lawsuit highlighted Texas state officials' bellicose attitude on transgender issue and came after another state official, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, called for the ouster of Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner for issuing order to allow the school district's transgender students to access the bathrooms that conform to the gender with which they were identified, not to their gender at birth.
Judge Suspends Obama Administration Rules
Responding to a Texas-led lawsuit against Obama administration's non-binding directive on bathroom use policy for transgender students, U.S. District Judge Reed O' Connor on late August 21, 2016 put the new directive on temporary hold as this case went through the legal channel. The suspension of the directive is effective throughout the nation.
Transgender Case Lands on the Supreme Court
It was never a matter of "if", but "when" the country's top court would accept and address transgender rights. The day of reckoning came on October 28, 2016 as the U.S. Supreme Court accepted a transgender student's case for hearing. The case related to a Gloucester County, Virginia high school student, Gavin Grimm, 17, who wanted to use the boy's bathroom, but was denied by the county school board. In April 2016, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Grimm, ruling that his case could go forward. In August 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-3 to put a temporary stay on the use of a restroom corresponding to the gender Grimm had identified. Now, with the Supreme Court taking the Grimm VS. Gloucester County School Board case, the transgender rights have become a focal issue for the country's top court in the coming months.
Trump Administration Rescinds Obama-era Transgender Rules
Attorney-General Jeff Sessions on February 22, 2017 issued rules to rescind May 13, 2016, Obama administration's directive on bathroom issues. However, Sessions was emphatic that discriminating against transgender students remained illegal.
******* TRANSGENDER RIGHTS ********
DeVos Restitutes ACICS' Federal Recognition
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on November 21, 2018 restored the federal recognition of an agency that accredits for-profit colleges and universities, reversing an Obama-era action that was taken in December 2016 that the then-Education Secretary John King had pushed to strip Accreditation Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or ACICS, of the official status as a gatekeeper for billions of dollars in federal student loans and for-profit institutions. Emboldened by a March 2018 ruling by a federal judge that Obama administration had gone too far in its action, Trump administration's education department reviewed the actions surrounding the December 2016 sweeping Obama-era rules and came to the conclusion that the ACICS' recognition should be restored.
Biden Issues Executive Order to Move towards Reversing Trump era’s Title IX Rule Changes
President Joe Biden on March 8, 2021 signed an executive order, instructing the Department of Education to “consider suspending, revising, or rescinding” any policies deemed harmful that the previous Trump administration’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, had introduced as part of reversal of Obama-era Title IX rules. Betsy DeVos narrowed down the scope and scale of sexual harassment in college campuses and broadened the rights of accused with more leeway and leverage in the due process. Under Biden’s executive order, the ball is set to roll on reversing the Trump era rules and bringing the Title IX rules more in line with Obama-era framework that has empowered victims to seek redress.
Ed Department to Change Title IX Rules
Department of Education on April 6, 2021 wrote a letter to nation's colleges and universities that it would begin the process to change Trump-era rules around Title IX, a key provision to protect the rights and interests of sexual assault victims in schools. Under Former Ed Secretary Betsy de Vos, the rights of victims under the Title IX were diluted and accused were given more wherewithal to defend themselves.
Biden Extends Federal Student Loan Payment Moratorium
Biden administration on August 6, 2021 announced that it would extend the moratorium of payments on the federal student loans from the existing timeline of September 30, 2021 to January 31, 2022, implying prohibition of debt collection efforts and continuation of 0% interest rate on the federal student loans through the end of January 2022. Biden administration is categorical that it's the last such extension.
50th Anniversary of Title IX Boosts Activists, Critics to Ramp up Pressure
In 1972, Congress passed the landmark Title IX that had banned discrimination in education based on sex. Female students have increased enrollment in colleges and universities since then, and there is sharp focus on reporting of sexual harassment against female students. As the age of the Title IX is approaching half-a-century mark this year, there is a concerted effort by LGBTQ groups and women's rights group to strengthen Title IX and expand it to cover discrimination against LGBTQ students. Meanwhile, opposition to expanding Title IX to cover LGBTQ rights is also mounting and conservatives are taking the lead to scuttle any progress on that front.
Biden Administration to Expand Title IX
On the 50th anniversary of the Title IX, Biden administration took a giant step in not only reversing the Trump-era weakened rules that had been led by Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, but also expanding its scope to cover LGBTQ+ students. Proposing the new ruleset on June 23, 2022, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona emphasized that Title IX was "instrumental" in promoting the gender equity in schools and colleges and worked as a tool to fight against sexual discrimination. The proposal unveiled on June 23, 2022 expands the scope of Title IX to protect students irrespective of "where they live, who they are, or whom they love". One of the key provision in the proposal is to reverse Betsy DeVos-instituted change to Title IX that allowed a live hearing in sexual assault cases. Under the proposed rule, live hearings are possible, but a campus "decision-maker" first has to weigh in to assess the credibility and evidence related to the case.
Biden Admin's Final Rules on Title IX Revamp
Two years in the making, Biden administration's Education Department took a more holistic approach to formulate a major revamp to the Title IX and published the final rules on April 19, 2024. The revamped rules will:
* Expand the reach of the Title IX, the 1972 law that protects against gender discrimination, to cover LGBTQ students by removing the high bar of DeVos-era rule that centers around a stricter interpretation and language of what constitutes a misconduct--only when it amounts to "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive"
* Allow remote hearings for the aggrieved students, thus replacing the DeVos-era revamp that has limited the hearings only to in person
The revamped Title IX will go into effect on August 1, 2024 for schools if they receive federal funding. One of the provisions absent from the final rule is transgender athletes issue as it can be a political move to drop the issue in an election year. With several states having passed strict bathroom laws, schools may adhere with the state laws while violate the federal Title IX.
Paxton Files Lawsuit against Revamped Title IX Rule, Abbott Asks Schools not to Obey New Rule
Bringing their pugnacious style to the fore, Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton on April 29, 2024 filed a lawsuit at a single-judge Amarillo Court against Biden administration's new Title IX expansion unveiled 10 days ago. The single-judge Amarillo Court of U.S. District Judge Mathew Kacsmaryk is infamous for handing out victory to conservative groups and Republican attorney generals. By filing this lawsuit at the single-judge court, Paxton has done what's notoriously called the judge shopping.
Separately, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott on April 29, 2024 said in a letter to President Joe Biden that he had instructed the Texas Education Agency to "ignore your illegal" diktat on Title IX rewrite.
******************************* DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION *******************
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY *************************
DOE Announces $3.5 billion to Strengthen Grid System
Biden administration on October 18, 2023 announced $3.5 billion investment for 58 projects as part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during the day that the federal investment would bring additional private investment as high as an additional $4.5 billion to transform the grid system "bigger", "better" and "smarter".
****************************** DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY *************************
****************************** FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION ************
Lifetime Ban on Blood Donation by Gays Lifted
Ending one of the most unscientific and discriminatory practices singling out the gay people, the Food and Drug Administration on December 23, 2014 abolished the lifetime ban, enacted during the peak of AIDS epidemic in 1983, on blood donation by gay and bisexual men. However, there will be a one-year prohibition if the potential donor has sexual activities.
Lifetime Ban on Blood Donation by Gays Has to Go, FDA Says
Almost a year to the date, Food and Drug Administration on December 21, 2015 announced that it would abolish a lifetime ban, enacted during the peak of AIDS epidemic in 1983, on blood donation by gay and bisexual men. However, there will be a one-year prohibition if the potential donor has sexual activities.
Biden Names Former Leader as the FDA Commissioner
As the criticism has mounted over continuing to remain the top post of an agency responsible for shaping up the response to COVID-19 pandemic vacant 11 months in his administration, President Joe Biden on November 12, 2021 has named Dr. Robert Califf as the FDA Commissioner. Califf served in that role for the last 11 months of the Obama administration following a year-long stint as the number two official at the agency. Before joining Obama administration, Dr. Califf researched at Duke University for 35 years, designing several clinical trials. After leaving Obama administration, Dr. Califf resumed his research at Duke in addition to advising Google on policy issues.
Califf Confirmed with a Slender Margin
That the political atmosphere has so drastically become bitter in about six years has come as a no surprise, but a rude shock, as the same expert, confirmed then by 89-4 votes, has won the Senate confirmation on February 15, 2022 by 50-46 votes. Six Republican Senators joined 44 Democratic Senators to vote for Dr. Robert Califf as the Biden administration's new FDA commissioner. One Democratic Senator from New Mexico is convalescing from a cardiac arrest in Albuquerque.
****************************** FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION ************
********************* HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT ************
HHS Secretary Leaves the Administration
President Barack Obama accepted the resignation of Kathleen Sebelius as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and on April 11, 2014 appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget Sylvia Mathews Burwell to replace Sebelius. Since the botched rollout of Obamacare, Sebelius became the conservative target and was maligned by sharp criticism and pure vitriol.
Burwell Wins Senate Confirmation Vote
Sylvia Mathews Burwell won the confirmation vote from the U.S. Senate on June 5, 2014. In a bipartisan show of support, 78 Senators voted for her while 17 opposed her nomination.
HHS Bans Discrimination against Transgender People
On May 13, 2016, the day when the Obama administration cast the transgender issue as a civil rights issue with a joint directive from the departments of Justice and Education to protect the rights of transgender people, Health and Human Services department issued a separate directive banning all discrimination against the transgender people. The importance of the HHS directive lies in pushing the bar on equality further as it may not help transgender consumers to receive any gender-transitioning treatment from the insures participating in ACA exchanges, but it will bar the insurers from outright denying the consumers.
Nation's Top Doctor Calls for Wider Use of Naloxone
Trump administration's Surgeon-General Dr. Jerome Adams on April 5, 2018 issued a national advisory for wider adoption of opiate-reversal medication naloxone and learning how to use it to save precious lives from drug overdose. The April 5, 2018, advisory was issued in the wake of approximately 42,000 deaths in 2016 due to drug overdose and its catastrophic effect on communities across vast swath of America. It's the first national advisory since 2005. Dr. Adams speaking at a conference, National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, in Atlanta during the day further harped on the topic of wider naloxone use, underscoring the importance of mass learning of how to use this drug overdose reversal medication to revive people from the jaw of death due to overdose of painkillers and illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
************************* Abortion Rules
Trump Administration Issues Strong Anti-Abortion Rules
After a review process often called by critics as a "short-cut", Health and Human Services on February 22, 2019 published federal government's guidance on abortion on its own website. The rules call for banning any abortion referral by family services providers receiving federal taxpayer dollars. Also, there will be a clear financial separation between the family planning and other services, under the rules, from abortion providers if both are part of the same services provider. However, the new HHS rules will still allow providers to discuss abortion with their patients. At issue is $260 million a year grant for family-planning services, also known as Title X of the Public Health Services Act, that serve approximately 4 million women through independent clinics, many of them run by the Planned Parenthood. Although HHS has published the rules on its website, it has yet to publish it on the Federal Register without which the rules will not become official after a commentary period. Pre-issue review of the rules was anything but normal, and several Democratic lawmakers--including House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Kamala Harris of California and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire--wrote a letter on February 15, 2019, decrying the review process.
California Takes the First Parting Shot against Trump Administration's New Title X Rules
California's Attorney-General Xavier Becerra on March 4, 2019 filed a lawsuit in the Northern District Court in California against Trump administration's new rules--issued February 22, 2019--to restrict women's access to abortion. According to the filing, Trump administration's Health and Human Services Department has violated Administrative Procedures Act and the U.S. Constitution by issuing the rule that "undermines clinically established standards of care, interferes with the patient-provider relationship, and contradicts a core purpose of the Title X program".
Federal Judge Blocks "Abortion Gag" Order
A federal rule issued on the HHS website on February 22, 2019 and promulgated in March 2019 that bans any referral to abortion for recipients of Title X federal funds to the tune of $286 million per year has been blocked by a federal judge in Washington, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian of Yakima, Washington, on April 25, 2019 throughout the nation while the case proceeds through the court system.
Planned Parenthood Pulls out from Title X Program
After a federal appeals court based in San Francisco has decided to hear the appeals of a lower court ruling blocking the president's Title X directive beginning September 23, 2019, but let the directive go into effect in the interim, Planned Parenthood on August 19, 2019 has announced to abandon participation in Title X program altogether rather than, stated Acting President Alexis McGill Johnson, being "bullied into withholding abortion information from our patients". About 4 million people are served by the Title X program, and undermining this program will hamper the access of so many poor American women's access to quality healthcare. August 19, 2019 was the deadline set by the federal government for the providers to publicly affirm in complying the rule changes as condition of participating in the Title X program. Enforcement will begin on September 18, 2019. Texas will not have any effect due to the latest rule changes as in 2011, state legislature has passed measure to cut down the family planning budget by 66%, leading to the closure of 82 clinics. In 2013, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have been excluded from the state's low-income woman's health program. Texas has a state program now.
Appeals Court Upholds Trump Rules related to Title X
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on February 24, 2020 upheld Trump administration's rules to change various provisions of Title X. The 7-4 ruling paves the way for the new rules to go into effect on March 4, 2020, and will, for Title X recipients,
* Prohibit referring any patient to abortion services, leading to a "gag order"
* Preclude sharing facility space with any abortion provider
Title X, a 1970 law, already bans federal funding of abortion and its mission is to help women to have improved access to HIV testing, Cervical Cancer screening, family planning in areas other than "where abortion is a method of family planning".
************************* Abortion Rules
"Conscience Rule" Put on Hold
Days before a new Trump administration rule, formally known as Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care, goes into effect on July 22, 2019, a federal judge in San Francisco has blessed on June 29, 2019 the compromise by Trump administration's Health and Human Services department and California that will suspend the so called "conscience rule" that may be used by medical practitioners to refrain from tasks deemed against their religious belief such as abortions, treating LGBTQ-specific symptoms.
Biden Orders to Reopen Obamacare; Signs Directive on Rolling back Trump Actions
President Joe Biden on January 28, 2021 signed an executive order opening the HealthCare.gov marketplace to new consumers as 10 million jobs had been lost due to Coronavirus pandemic and millions of people remained without access to affordable insurance. The marketplace will open on February 15, 2021, and will continue enrolling consumers through May 15, 2021.
In another directive, President Biden instructed HHS to consider unrolling a Trump-era regulation that had restricted abortion referral. In a separate directive, President Biden ordered HHS to evaluate the effect of Trump's order that imposed work requirements on Medicaid recipients.
Biden Administration Restores Transgender Rights in Healthcare
Turning over a painful chapter of the last four years when Trump administration withdrew the protection for transgender patients against discrimination in healthcare, Biden administration on May 11, 2021 announced that it would restore all healthcare rights for transgender people. It will expand the reach of anti-discrimination measures that currently target gender discrimination to include sexual orientation too. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said during the day that "everyone--including LGBTQ people--should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period". Many LGBTQ people suffer from the so called "gender dysphoria" and depriving them from getting needed medical care will lead to "serious negative health consequences".
********************* HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT ************
********************* DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ******************
Secret Service Head Resigns Amid a Series of Scandals and Security Errors
After a streak of high-profile mishaps and scandals, Security Service head Julia Pierson on October 1, 2014 tendered her resignation, and that was promptly accepted by the White House. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson later announced that Joseph Clancy, retired head of Presidential Protection Division, would come out of retirement, and take over the top job of the Secret Service on interim basis.
Congressional Republicans' Action Threatens Homeland Security Funding Cuts
As the funding for the DHS is about to expire on February 28, 2015, there is concerted attempts among Republican leadership to rescue the party from the brink. Conservative lawmakers, especially Tea Party-backed lawmakers in the House of Representatives, want to shut down the DHS unless President Obama's November 2014 executive order giving temporary reprieve to about 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation is revoked. As their effort largely fell on deaf ear of the White House and Congressional Democrats have closed their ranks behind the President's executive order, it has become clear that Congressional Republicans need some sort of strategic retreat in the face of strong negative reaction not only from Democrats, but also from Independents and moderate Republicans. As part of that retreat strategy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed to introduce two separate bills at the Senate. One standalone bill would be a clean funding bill, while a second bill would overturn the president's executive order. The first, funding, bill has passed the Senate floor on February 25, 2015 on a 98-2 procedural vote. The mess the Republicans are in now is the outcome of their own political brinkmanship. When the Congress passed budget legislation late last year, Republicans were adamant on funding the DHS only through February 28, 2015. The rationale for doing that was to force the Obama administration to concede on presidential executive order giving temporary reprieve to about 5 million undocumented immigrants.
Funding for Homeland Security Extended for a Week
A near-total shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security was narrowly averted on February 27, 2015 as Congress extended the funding by a week. The House passed the measure by 357-60 measure, while the Senate took a shorter route of passing by a roll call.
Humbling Retreat for House Republicans
At the end of political grandstanding, House Republicans were forced to eat their own humble pie as they had to approve a Senate-passed clean DHS funding bill that would run the department, like other government agencies, through September 30, 2015. The House on March 3, 2015 voted the Senate-passed measure and approved by 257-167 vote. The measure now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.
President Signs the Homeland Security Funding Bill
President Barack Obama on March 4, 2015 signed the DHS measure approved a day earlier by the House of Representatives. The measure will fund the DHS through September 30, 2015.
DHS: Russia Can Attack Critical U.S. Infrastructure
It's not only meddling in the U.S. election. Russian hackers are in fact capable in penetrating the critical infrastructure including electric plants, water utilities, power grid and local projects of immense importance, according to a report released by the Department of Homeland Security on March 16, 2018.
DHS's "Public Charge" Rules a Hindrance to Kids' Health and Wellbeing
In a study released December 4, 2018, Urban Institute lamented Trump administration's recent policy initiatives to deny citizenship to immigrants who were dependent on U.S. social services had adverse effect on about 6.8 million children who had been born here with at least one immigrant parent. The rule changes, related to "public charge", was first published by the Department of Homeland Security in the Federal Register on October 10, 2018, and Children's Health Insurance Plan, or CHIP, was not part of the preliminary rules. However, CHIP may be added to the final rules after the second phase of the review begins after December 10, 2018. Final rules are weeks, if not months, away, but it has, according to the Urban Institute study, already a chilling effect on immigrant community as they have begun to yank away their citizen children at an astonishing pace from eligible Medicaid and CHIP coverages and foregoing required medical and dental checkups. Although pro-administration groups are saying that the rule changes are overdue since last such update has taken place in 1999, the revamp will impact 380,000 immigrants every year--more than double under the current rules--and will have a catastrophic outcome in health of citizen children of nation's immigrant families.
Nielson Resigns as DHS Secretary
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson was forced to resign on April 7, 2019 after President Donald Trump was frustrated by the wave of Central American migrants at the southern border. Nielson's position had been shaky for months, and speculation was rife over the past year that she would be forced out. However, her fortune improved earlier this year when she launched an experimental program--Migration Protection Protocol--and persuaded Mexico to shelter asylum seekers in Mexican soil as their cases went through the U.S. court system. Last week, Nielson in a memo announced to expand rapidly the controversial program. President Donald Trump thanked Nielson for her service and announced that CBP chief Kevin McAleenan would act as an interim secretary of DHS.
A Longtime Career Professional Names Acting Head of DHS
Chad Wolfe, who had been with the Department of Homeland Security since its founding, was named on November 1, 2019 by President Donald Trump as the acting head.
A Whistleblower Complaint Filed against Secretary
A senior Homeland Security official, Brian Murphy, who had been at the helms of intelligence and analysis of the department until July 2020 when had been transferred to a managerial role, on September 8, 2020 filed a whistleblower complaint to the Inspector-General's office of DHS over preventing the intelligence assessment report related to Russian interference in 2020 election campaign. Department Secretary Chad Wolf, Brian Murphy alleged, had told him on July 8, 2020 to "hold" the "intelligence notification" about Kremlin as that would be very unflattering to President Trump. Murphy objected to Chad Wolf, according to The Washington Post that had divulged the story on September 9, 2020. Two months earlier, Brian Murphy was told by Chad Wolf to shift focus to China and Iran from Russia as the instruction came straight from the White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien. Brian Murphy's lawyer said that all processes had been followed in filing the complaint to inspector general and Congress. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff sounded alarm on July 9, 2020 over the new information surfaced months after he had led the impeachment drive against Donald Trump.
Administrative Standoff Emerges at the DHS over CBP Chief
Administrative fissure emerged between DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas and Customs and Border Protection, CBP, Commissioner Chris Magnus on November 11, 2022 as Magnus made it public during the day that he would not quit after being asked to resign by his boss a day after the midterm election. President Joe Biden named Chris Magnus to CBP chief's role in April 2021, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate along the partisan line in December 2021, becoming the first confirmed CBP head since 2019. Both Magnus and Mayorkas faced blistering criticism from Republicans and mild rebuke from some Democrats as the migrant apprehensions this year were on their way to hit a record.
Magnus Resigns
On
November 12, 2022,
CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned after facing a situation of resigning or getting fired.
********************* DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY *********************************************** HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT *************Castro's Rising StarSan Antonio Mayor and Democratic Party's rising star
Julian Castro was on
May 23, 2014 named Housing and Urban Development Secretary by
President Barack Obama. The outgoing HUD Secretary
Shaun Donovan will assume the position of Director of OMB. Both
Castro and
Donovan need to be confirmed by Senate for their new jobs.
Biden Signs Four Executive Orders to Promote Racial Equity
President Joe Biden on January 26, 2021 signed four executive orders that would fight against the "systemic racism" as in his words, "we are in a battle for the soul of this nation".
The first executive order instructed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to look at and assess the Trump-era policies that had undermined the equitable and fair housing opportunities and reverse them. The memo also urged the HUD to promote equitable housing policy.
The second executive order instucted the Justice Department to end its reliance on private contractors to manage federal prisons. Many of the privately run prisons are blamed for disproprtionate number of inmates from the communities of color and alleged mistreatment against prisoners of color. Out of more than 150,000 federal inmates, approximately 14,000 are being held by privately run facilities.
The third executive order asked the Health and Human Services Department to formulate rules to provide guidance on advancing the cultural sensitivity and competency in order to fight the stereotype, discrimination and offensive languages against Asians and Pacific Islanders, especially in the light of Former President Donald Trump's labeling of Coronavirus as "Chinese Virus" and xenophobic attacks against Asians that followed.
The fourth executive order called for recognition and respect for tribal sovereignty and closer bond between the federal government and tribal administrations.
***************************** HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT *************
**************************** INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ***************************
Zinke to Step Down
President Donald Trump announced via twitter on December 15, 2018 that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke would leave the administration by the yearend.
Biden Signs Executive Order to Ban New Drilling on Federal Land
Carrying out the promise he had made on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden on January 27, 2021 signed an executive order to immediately stop leasing federal land to energy companies to drill fossil fuel.
Interim Report on Suspension Due in Summer
Biden administration on March 9, 2021 shed new light on its plan related to temporary suspension of leases of federal land to energy companies announced on January 27, 2021. Biden administration on March 9, 2021 announced that its interior department would issue an interim report by summer. Meanwhile, the moratorium on federal land lease to energy companies will continue.
Haaland Reverses Trump-era Pro-Fossil Fuel Orders
In a series of directives, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on April 16, 2021 revoked Trump-era orders to promote coal, gas and oil in federal land, calling them [Trump-era orders] "inconsistent with the department's commitment to protect public health". In a separate directive, Secretary Haaland also put a hold on leasing Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. In another directive, Secretary Halland prioritized development of renewable energy in the federal land. According to research, about 25% of greenhouse gas emmissions in the U.S. originate from activities in the public land.
Final Rules on Federal Land Use Published
The Interior Department under the aegis of Interior Secretary Debbie Haaland, the first indigenous leader to lead the agency that's the largest landlord of this nation, is shaking up the land use policy in a far different manner compared to any action taken in the past. The very department that was once responsible for giving the free rein to energy, mining and logging firms to extract natural resources indiscriminately transformed itself now into the most responsible steward of the nation's 245 million acre federal land. The final rule related to the federal land use was published on April 18, 2024 by the Bureau of Land Management, a division under the Interior Department. BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning identified two key factors contributing to degradation of land: (1) Climate Change and (2) Rampant Development responsible for destroying wildlife habitat and migratory havens.
Under the final rule published on April 18, 2024, a balanced approach to the land use will be the cornerstone of the new land policy with focus on restoration, mitigation and conservation. As a result, a lessee who is extracting natural resources from the federal land is likely to be required to have a "mitigation lease" that will allow them to work with local conservation groups to work toward betterment of land health. The BLM will grant "restoration lease" and "mitigation lease" in addition to baking in the local indigenous communities' feedback while formulating the future land policies.
**************************** INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ***************************
***************************** DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE************************
Holder Quitting as AG
Checking his emotion, country's first black Attorney General Eric Holder on September 25, 2014 announced that he was leaving his job. However, he will stay until a new pick is nominated and confirmed.
Obama Names New AG Pick
President Barack Obama on November 8, 2014 named Loretta Lynch, a New York City prosecutor, as country's new Attorney General. If confirmed by the Senate, Lynch will become the first African American female to head the Justice department.
Lynch Confirmed as Country's First Black Woman AG
The U.S. Senate on April 23, 2015 voted 56-43 to approve President Obama's choice of Loretta Lynch as replacement of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder. Prior to Lynch's confirmation vote, Senate voted 66-34 in the so-called "cloture vote" to end the debate. Texas' two Senators voted in opposite way in the cloture vote, with GOP Presidential candidate Ted Cruz against ending the debate and Senator John Cornyn in favor of ending the debate. However, when it came to confirmation vote, Ted Cruz was the lone Senator to miss the vote. Loretta Lynch, who was named as country's first Black female AG on November 8, 2014 by President Barack Obama, waited far longer for the Senate confirmation vote than most of the AG candidates in recent memory. Only two other former Attorney Generals had to wait longer than Lynch to get Senate confirmation: Edwin Meese in 1985, Ronald Reagan's nominee; and Woodrow Wilson pick A. Mitchell Palmer in 1919.
******* TRANSGENDER RIGHTS ********
Obama Administration Issues Rules on Transgender Rights
The Department of Education and the Department of Justice on May 13, 2016 issued a joint directive to the states asking them to accommodate transgender students with bathroom facilities as per the gender they had identified with. Although the edict by the DOE and DOJ is nonbinding, the non-compliance may lead to the loss of federal funds under Title IX.
Texas Rallies 10 Other States to Sue Fed
Texas A.G. Ken Paxton inserted his office into the transgender controversy, and filed a lawsuit on May 25, 2016 in favor of a tiny Texas school district, Harrold ISD, a 100-student school system near the Oklahoma borders, against the May 13, 2016, nonbinding order issued by Obama administration's Justice and Education departments asking nation's school districts to make accommodations for bathroom usage for transgender students. Ten other Republican states joined Texas against the Obama administration's administrative orders. The lawsuit highlighted Texas state officials' bellicose attitude on transgender issue and came after another state official, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, called for the ouster of Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner for issuing order to allow the school district's transgender students to access the bathrooms that conform to the gender with which they were identified, not to their gender at birth.
******* TRANSGENDER RIGHTS ********
FBI Director under the Cloud of Investigation
FBI Director James Comey, who made news in the waning days of the last year's presidential polls by re-opening an investigation into Hillary Clinton and closing it nine days later, is himself now under an inquiry by the Department of Justice's Inspector General. IG Michael Horowitz said on January 12, 2017 that he would focus on Comey's action surrounding holding news conference in July 2016 in which she had dubbed Clinton's handling of e-mails as "extremely careless" as well as sending letter to Congress in October 2016 disclosing re-opening of investigation.
**************************** SANCTUARY CITIES
Legal Setback for Session as the Judge Tosses out Sanctuary Cities-related Orders
A federal judge in Illinois, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, on September 15, 2017 rejected AG Jeff Sessions pair of decrees issued in April and July this year, threatening to cut off federal grants to cities that didn't cooperate with federal immigration officials on the ground that Sessions might have exceeded his authority. However, the injunction is temporary as the case goes through the court system.
**************************** SANCTUARY CITIES
Sessions Forced out
A day after Democrats swept House of Representatives in midterm polls, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions on November 7, 2018 involuntarily resigned as the country's top cop after months of tortuous relationship with President Donald Trump and subjecting to insulting presidential tweets. President Trump later in the day took to twitter to name former chief of staff of Sessions, Matthew Whitaker, as acting AG. Whitaker is an avowed critic of Mueller investigation into any possible Trump-Russia collusion. Whitaker is most likely to oversee the Special Prosecutor investigation that's now under the authority of Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein, and that specter has immediately raised significant concerns among Democrats and even few Republicans. A month before joining the DOJ in September 2017, Matthew Whitaker wrote an opinion piece for CNN, slamming Mueller for being "dangerously close to crossing" a "red line" by looking into Trump's personal finances. A little over a year ago from the CNN's opinion piece, Whitaker in July 2016 penned in the USA Today, calling for charges to be filed against Hillary Clinton for mishandling the classified information by having them on her personal e-mail server.
Trump Nominee Faces Scrutiny over Unsolicited Memo
The New York Times reported December 20, 2018 that Trump's choice for Attorney-General, William Barr, attorney-general during the George H.W. Bush administration, wrote an unsolicited memo to Justice Department officials on June 8, 2018, prodding not to press and pursue any "obstruction of justice" charges against President Donald Trump. The existence of the unsolicited memo raised immediate alarm among Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee as the panel's ranking Democrat, Sen. Diane Feinstein, called it "very troubling".
Disparate Impact Rules under Trump Administration's Chopping Block
A bedrock principle that was part of the Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act from the beginning to prevent widespread discrimination came under the Trump administration's radar as an item to dispense with, according to a January 3, 2019, report published by The Washington Post. According to The Washington Post report, an internal justice department memo has asked for opportunity to look for areas across government agencies to roll back the "disparate impact" rule that prohibits any discrimination on race, color or national origin although the intent may not be discriminatory. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the "disparate impact" rules by 5-4 votes, with Justice Anthony Kennedy siding with the Liberal justices.
Trump Nominee Backs Mueller Investigation to Complete
At a Senate hearing that lasted almost nine hours, Trump’s AG nominee, William Barr, on January 15, 2019 unequivocally vowed to remain fiercely independent and allow Special Counsel Robert Mueller to complete Russia collusion investigation. His appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee gave the nation a rare chance to sift through his thought process and judicial philosophy. Although Barr served in the first George H.W. Bush administration as the Attorney-General, the scale and domain of Justice Department’s legal application changed significantly. Barr called Robert Mueller a friend of 30 years. Senate Democrats were specially uncomfortable with William Barr’s unsolicited memo in which he had warned Justice officials to investigate Trump on obstruction of justice in the aftermath of Comey firing as “fatally misconceived”.
Barr Sworn in as AG for the Second Stint
41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush's Attorney-General William Barr (1991-93) on February 14, 2019 became the Justice Department head for the second time after winning Senate confirmation by 54-45 votes.
Drama over Resignation of a High-Profile U.S. Attorney
First it started with a benign announcement by U.S. Attorney-General William Barr on June 19, 2020 night: the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman had resigned. Next morning, the Saturday June 20, 2020, Berman showed up at his office. By evening, Geoffrey Berman has changed the course, saying now that he is stepping down, but all inquiries into President Donald Trump's aides, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, will go forward. Meanwhile, President Trump washed off his hands on this episode, saying that it's between the attorney general and the U.S. attorney in New York.
DOJ Inspector-General to Investigate Department Connection to Election Overturn Effort
Under pressure from Democrats and civil rights groups, the inspector general of the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz, issued a two-paragraph news release on January 25, 2021 that he would launch an investigation into whether any former or current Justice employee was involved in any effort to overturn the victory of Joe Biden days after media reports had emerged that President Donald Trump had toyed with the idea of replacing the short-tenured Attorney-General Jeffrey Rosen, who had stepped into the role for three weeks after the 2020 Christmas-eve resignation of his predecessor, William Barr, by a more amenable official Jeffrey Bossert Clark. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer called for DOJ inspector general's investigation into Clark. Democratic chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, said that his department would look into the link too. The New York Times first reported a few days ago that Jeffrey Bossert Clark had shared Trump's world view and was ready to push for efforts to keep Trump in presidency for a second term. Eventually Trump dropped the plan of replacing Jeffrey Rosen by Jeffrey Bossert Clark as that would lead mass resignations in the Justice Department.
Biden Signs Four Executive Orders to Promote Racial Equity
President Joe Biden on January 26, 2021 signed four executive orders that would fight against the "systemic racism" as in his words, "we are in a battle for the soul of this nation".
The first executive order instructed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to look at and assess the Trump-era policies that had undermined the equitable and fair housing opportunities and reverse them. The memo also urged the HUD to promote equitable housing policy.
The second executive order instucted the Justice Department to end its reliance on private contractors to manage federal prisons. Many of the privately run prisons are blamed for disproprtionate number of inmates from the communities of color and alleged mistreatment against prisoners of color. Out of more than 150,000 federal inmates, approximately 14,000 are being held by privately run facilities.
The third executive order asked the Health and Human Services Department to formulate rules to provide guidance on advancing the cultural sensitivity and competency in order to fight the stereotype, discrimination and offensive languages against Asians and Pacific Islanders, especially in the light of Former President Donald Trump's labeling of Coronavirus as "Chinese Virus" and xenophobic attacks against Asians that followed.
The fourth executive order called for recognition and respect for tribal sovereignty and closer bond between the federal government and tribal administrations.
***************************** DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE************************
***************************** DEPARRTMENT OF LABOR ***********************
President Obama Announces Major Reforms in Overtime Rules
President Barack Obama's Labor Department on June 30, 2015 announced rules that would impact overtime for so-called management employees who now make less than $50,400 per year and are currently exempt. At present, millions of Americans such as restaurant workers are exempt from federal wage laws because of their so-called management role. Obama administration raised the threshold that would trigger overtime pay from the current level of $23,660 per year to more than double to $50,400.
Final Rules on OT Unveiled
After receiving feedback from consumers, small businesses, industry groups and labor organizations since the preliminary rules were published in June 2015, the Obama administration on May 18, 2016 finalized the overtime rules that would go into effect on December 1, 2016. Under the final rule that updates the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the OT exemption starts at $913 per week, or $47,476 per year, almost double the current threshold of $455 per week, or $23,660 per year, thus extending the OT rules to an additional 4.2 employees, including 370,398 Texans, the second-largest number of employees after California's 392,084. Last time, the OT rules were overhauled in 2004, and the weekly salary threshold of $455 had covered an estimated 8.9 million salaried employees. Before that, the OT rules were changed in 1975, when the threshold was established $250 per week. If the 1975 OT threshold of $250 per week would have been adjusted for annual inflation, it would amount to an annual salary of about $52,000 by now. A day before the final rules were unveiled, Vice President Joe Biden held a conference call with industry leaders that included H-E-B Grocery's President and COO Craig Boyan touting the upside of the OT rules overhaul.
Paxton Files Suit against OT Rule
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton on September 20, 2016 led 21 states to file a lawsuit against Obama administration's Overtime rules issued in May 2016. The OT rules are to go into effect in December 2016. The suit was joined among others by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and filed in a district court in Texas.
Judge Blocks Obama OT Rule
In the waning days of Obama presidency, another legacy-setting precedent may be in serous jeopardy, if not at risk of being outright rejection. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas on November 22, 2016 put the rules in suspension days before they were scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016. Judge Mazzant's November 22, 2016, action in response to a suit filed by a coalition of 21 states and led by Texas A.G. Ken Paxton is not by itself a repudiation of the rules as the hearings will proceed on the merit of the rules, but the temporary injunction may not bode well in the view of incoming Trump administration's fierce opposition to pro-labor issues such as raising federal minimum wage and overhaul of the OT rules.
Labor Secretary Acosta Resigns
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta on July 12, 2019 resigned over a decade-old controversy related to his plea deal in 2008 that had allowed billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein to get a sweet-heart deal in an underage sex scandal case in Florida. The deal allowed Epstein to spend time in a state jail in an arrangement, letting the financier off the jail during day to attend his office and spending only night in the jail. The 2008 scandal and the then-U.S. attorney Alex Acosta's handling of the case emerged anew this week as New York prosecutors filed separate charges of underage sex trafficking against Jeffrey Epstein. President Donald Trump praised Acosta, and said that deputy secretary, Patrick Pizella, would become the new Labor Secretary on acting basis.
Trump Names Late Justice Scalia's Son as New Labor Secretary
President Donald Trump on July 18, 2019 tapped late-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's son, Eugene Scalia, to replace Alex Acosta as the country's new Secretary of Labor.
***************************** DEPARRTMENT OF LABOR ***********************
*************************** OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET **************
Biden Strengthens Rules against Federal Pay Discrimination
A decade after Former President Barack Obama had signed the historic Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as one of the first measures to sign on, President Joe Biden on January 29, 2024 strengthened the guardrails against gender discrimination in federal agencies and among federal contractors. Noting that a woman earns 84 cents to a dollar earned by man for a comparable job, President Joe Biden lauded the final rule issued by the Office of Personnel Management as a "common sense" approach to equalize the pay scale. The rule prohibits seeking a candidate's existing compensation information when they apply for a federal job. A similar rule issued bars federal contractors from seeking the existing compensation information of a candidate applying for a job on a federal government's project. OMB Director Shalanda Young highlighted the administration's effort to weed out the pay discrimination based on gender.
According to a research conducted by the National Partnership for Women and Families, the disparity of 84 cents-to-a dollar roughly translates to $9,900 a year in lost wage, equivalent to an average of 64 weeks of food costs, or seven months of mortgage and utility payments, or nearly seven months of rents, or more than a year's worth of child care.
*************************** OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET **************
********************************* STATE DEPARTMENT ************************
******** BENGHAZI ATTACK AND CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRIES *********
Benghazi Attack Inquiry: Another Twist and Turn
After a string of inquiries, House Republicans got hold of a hitherto unknown e-mail from Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor, sent days after September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed former US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others--State Department information management officer Sean Patrick Smith and two contract security officers, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, respectively. In that e-mail, Ben Rhodes aimed at prepping up Susan Rice for her upcoming Sunday talk shows in which Rice was encouraged on emphasizing on a YouTube anti-Muslim video as the primary factor of the outrage that was sweeping the region at that time instead of broader policy failure of the Obama administration. House of Representative Speaker John Boehner in May 2014 formed a Select Committee on Benghazi to re-launch another bout of inquiry that had all the likelihood of ensnaring the proceeding with theatrics and travesty. Rep. Trey Gowdy, a skilled 16-year prosecutor, has to lead the proceeding with non-partisan and neutral way to have credibility in the process.
Pelosi Appoints Five Democrats to the Committee
On May 21, 2014, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi appointed five Democrats to the select committee headed by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, a seasoned prosecutor, despite strong reservation and misgivings about the panel's work in an election year.
Benghazi Inquiry Finds No Wrongdoing
A two-year inquiry by the Republican-led House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence found no wrongdoing or culpability by the Obama administration in the September 11, 2012, death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others. The report ssued on November 21, 2014 culminated after two years of investigation and careful analysis of thousands of pages of intelligence assessment, cables. notes and e-mails. The 36-page report found that there was no
* Intelligence lapse on behalf of CIA
* Evidence that the White House had ordered U.S. military to stay put as attack occurred
* Proof that White House had lied about the attack, although it relied on faulty evidence
The inquiry by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is different from a separate inquiry now under way by the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
GOP Senator Calls the Benghazi Report Garbage
The U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., appearing on CNN's State of the Union, said on November 23, 2014 that the House Intelligence Committee report issued two days earlier was full of "crap" and "garbage".
Benghazi Panel Chief Writes Clinton to Turn over Her Private e-mail Server
Select Committee on Benghazi chief Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, on March 20, 2015 wrote a letter to former Secretary of State and potential 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to turn over her private e-mail server to the Inspector General of the State Department or any third party auditor. Gowdy set an April 3, 2015 deadline for Clinton or her lawyers to respond.
Inquiry Panel Chief Asks Clinton to Appear before the Committee
As the former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to announce her candidature for 2016 presidential elections, Select Committee on Benghazi chief Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, on March 20, 2015 shot a letter asking her to appear before his panel by May 1, 2015.
Benghazi Panel Under Attack by Clinton over McCarthy's Comments
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is running to become speaker of the House and poised to get majority of vote during an internal GOP election on October 8, 2015, has stirred the hornet's nest by relishing during a televised interview late last month (September 2015) that the Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton's recent drop in opinion poll was due to Benghazi panel's ongoing investigation. Ms. Clinton ripped the panel during an appearance at NBC's Today show on October 5, 2015, calling the House Benghazi panel's investigation as overtly partisan as McCarthy's televised interview had suggested.
Benghazi Panel Itself in Legal Limbo
The New York Times on October 10, 2015 reported that former panel staffer Air Force Reserve Bradley Podliska was mulling to sue the leaders of Select Committee on Benghazi over his termination because of his penchant to carry out a more comprehensive investigation. According to Podliska, a majority of the Republicans in the panel were interested in scoring political points as Hillary Clinton's use of private e-mail came into light. Their focus, according to Podliska, shifted from carrying out a comprehensive inquiry to questions surrounding Clinton's use of private e-mails.
Benghazi Panel Comes under Scrutiny
After House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy linked the Benghazi panel's work to the falling approval rating of former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential primary front-runner Hillary Clinton, another Republican's comment cast doubt on the credibility of the Benghazi panel. This time it was Rep. Richard Hanna, D-NY, who during an interview with a New York radio station said on October 14, 2015 that McCarthy had "screwed up" by making the Benghazi comments, and then added: "Sometimes the biggest sin you can commit in D.C. is to tell the truth." On October 15, 2015, the panel chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., defended his panel's work, and called Hanna's and McCarthy's comments "unfortunate" and based on "misinformed" input.
Clinton's Long, Grueling Testimony Yields Very Little New Information
A cacophonous 11-hour hearing on October 22, 2015 held by the Benghazi panel where former Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton had testified with resoluteness and defiance produced no new information or insight about September 11, 2012, arson of U.S. consulate at Benghazi that had killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Former Staffer of Benghazi Panel Sues the Chief
A former staffer of the Select Committee on Benghazi , Air Force Reserve Bradley Podliska, on November 23, 2015 filed a defamation suit against the panel chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, claiming that Gowdy made false statement last month when he had said that Podliska had been fired for mishandling classified information. At that time, Podliska said that he was mulling over suing Gowdy and panel leaders over unfounded allegation they had directed against him, hurting his career.
Benghazi Panel Lets Clinton off the Hook
An 800-page report was released on June 28, 2016 that rebuked the role of CIA, State Department and Defense Department in the death of four Americans, including the then-Ambassador Christopher Stevens in the arson attack of U.S. consulate office in Benghazi, Libya, but found no culpability and wrongdoing on behalf of the then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The release of the report was the culmination of one of the most partisan Congressional inquiries drawn out for months, used in campaign trails by Republican opponents in an election year that was filled with an air of hatred and personal attacks, and cost taxpayers more than $7 million. The report will be formally put to a vote on July 8, 2016 before the panel. A 48-page addendum was issued by two GOP representatives--Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mike Pompeo of Kansas--who were more critical of Hillary Clinton than the main report released by the panel head Trey Gowdy.
******** BENGHAZI ATTACK AND CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRIES *********
Trump Fires Tillerson
President Donald Trump on March 13, 2018 unceremoniously and unprofessionally removed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Tillerson will formally step down on March 31, 2018. Trump named CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new Secretary of State and Gina Haspel as the new CIA chief. State Department's undersecretary, Steve Goldstein, said that Tillerson had come to know about his firing from Trump's tweet, and hours later Goldstein was fired too. Gina Haspel's as potential head of CIA may not be a easy sail-through as Senators will definitely zero on her involvement in torture like water boarding at CIA "black site" in Thailand. Tillerson's relationship with Trump was never smooth to begin with as the former Exxon CEO was quoted by NBC News in October 2017 calling Trump a "moron", something Tillerson never denied.
Pompeo Sails through Key Panel
After vowing to block the nomination of Mike Pompeo, Senator Rand Paul flipped on April 23, 2018 joining other Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help the former CIA chief's nomination get through the key panel in a party-line vote, setting the stage for Pompeo's eventual approval on the Senate floor.
Pompeo Wins Senate Vote; Flies to Brussels within Hours
It was a day of rapid pace development for Mike Pompeo as he won the Senate confirmation vote on March 26, 2018 in almost party line vote of 57-42, followed by his swearing-in ceremony. No sooner was he sworn in as the nation's newest Secretary of State than he hit the road of hectic diplomacy by dashing to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and taking a flight to Brussels for a NATO foreign ministerial level meeting.
Haspel Wins Senate Confirmation, Set to be First Female to Lead CIA
After coming under withering criticism for leading harsh interrogation technique after 9/11 attack and destroying evidence, Gina Haspel on May 15, 2018 acquiesced to pressure from Senators, and acknowledged that waterboarding and other torture technique had damaged "our officers and our standing in the world", and vowed that she would never allow those techniques resumed in future. On May 17, 2018, Haspel was confirmed the first female CIA chief by 54-45 vote.
Pompeo Bete Noire, State Department IG Fired
As part of swift cleansing effort of federal agencies' oversight personnel ranks, President Donald Trump on May 15, 2020 fired State Department's inspector general, Steve Linick, an Obama-era holdout, who had been the department's oversight head since 2013 and often been critical of how Mike Pompeo had been running the department. Under Trump's order, Linick will leave in 30 days. According to The Associated Press, Steve Linick will be replaced by a former career foreign service officer close to Vice President Mike Pence, Stephen Akard.
Acting IG Resigns too
Two days after Democrats in Congress issued subpoena against several aides of State Secretary Mike Pompeo over the May 2020 firing of Steve Linick, Linick's successor and acting inspector general, Stephen Akard, on August 5, 2020 announced that he would leave the State department on August 7, 2020. Akard's deputy, Diana Shaw, will serve as the new acting inspector general.
President Biden Resets Foreign Policy in the First Speech at the State Department
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S. State department on February 4, 2021, and the president gave a major policy speech re-setting diplomatic priorities to align with more traditional framework of U.S. view of the world. Assuring the State Department employees, many of whom listened to Biden remotely because of the Coronavirus concern, president uttered that "I will have your back" after a four-year stint of tumult in which career State Department employees had been humiliated and sidelined by Trump's political appointees. Key foreign policy shifts included:
Yemen
In a significant shift in world view under a Biden administration, president on February 4, 2021 carried out the first major foreign reset in a speech at the State Department. President Joe Biden ended the U.S. participation in the Saudi-led fight against Houthis in Yemen. President Biden also announced a seasoned diplomat, Tim Lenderking, as his special envoy for Yemen and a halt to sales of precision-guided weapons to Saudi Arabia that his predecessor, Former President Donald Trump, initiated in defiance of Congress. In his speech at the State Department on February 4, 2021, President Joe Biden said: "we will repair our alliances and engage with the world again, not to meet the yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's". President Joe Biden stepped out of the White House for the first time in an official visit to another agency, accompanied by the Vice President Kamala Harris, on February 4, 2021 by giving an uplifting and more traditional foreign policy speech to align U.S. with a time-bound and alliance-honored diplomatic role on the world stage.
Refugee Program
President Biden has announced that the annual cap for taking in refugees will increase more than eight-fold from Trump-era quota of 15,000 to 125,000, even marking an increase of 15,000 from the Obama-era quota.
U.S. Troops Redeployment from Germany
Biden also announced a halt to U.S. military redeployment ordered by Former President Donald Trump on the ground that Germany was not allocating required 2% of the GDP in its defense budget. Despite Congressional opposition, Trump last year ordered 9,500 U.S. troops out of 34,500 to be withdrawn from Germany, host to Ramstein Air Base, U.S. Europian Command and U.S. Africa Command.
First Gender Neutral Passport Issued
For the first time in the U.S. history a gender neutral passport has been issued by the U.S. State Department, an October 28, 2021, The Dallas Morning News report states. Although the State Department didn't identify the recipient of the passport, a Fort Collins, Colorado-based activist, Dana Zzyynym, said that they had received a passport with a third option 'X'.
Special Envoy Appointment to Require Confirmation in the New Year
As the Senate confirmation process is increasingly taking longer and an arduous path, presidents of both parties have relied in recent years to appoint "special envoys" to evade the Congressional confirmation process. However, that practice will come to an end on January 3, 2023 as part of a State Department provision enacted as part of an authorization bill in 2021. In the run-up to the deadline, according to the December 29, 2022, edition of The Dallas Morning News, Biden administration is rushing to fill out some of the critical positions with "special envoy" appointees. According to the American Foreign Service Association, The Dallas Morning News states, there are now 53 special envoys at the State Department, including for Arctic, Yemen, Horn of Africa and other subjects of interests. President Joe Biden recently announced former Rep. Abby Finkenauer for global youth issues, former Rep. Joseph Kennedy III as a special economic envoy for North Ireland, and Johnnie Carson, a veteran diplomat, to carry out the goals and objectives of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. However, come January 3, 2023, appointment of special envoys without the oversight of the Senate will be prohibited as per the 2021 provision in the State Department authorization bill that states: "an individual may not be designated as Special Envoy, Special Representative, Special Coordinator, Special Negotiator, Envoy, Representative, Coordinator, Special Advisor, or other position performing a similar function, regardless of title, at the Department exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States without the advice and consent of the Senate".
********************************* STATE DEPARTMENT ************************
***************************** DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY **********************
Treasury Issues Rules over Corporate Inversion
Faced with public angst in the midst of an acrimonious presidential campaign where income inequality, corporate greed and excesses of Wall Street are the key issues, Obama administration's Treasury Department on April 4, 2016 issued rules regulating corporate inversions in which a U.S.-based company acquires a smaller company headquartered in a low-tax nation to change corporate address without shifting its operation and saving significant amount of tax due. On April 5, 2016, President Barack Obama called corporate inversion as "one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there". The first casualty of the April 4, 2016, treasury rules came fast and furious as a record $160 billion Pfizer-Allergan merger collapsed two days later on April 6, 2016.
Tubman to Find Place in $20 Bill, History
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced on April 20, 2016 that Civil Rights activist and abolitionist Harriet Tubman would knock out Andrew Jackson, a former president and slave owner, from the front of $20 bill. Now, Jackson's place will be on the back of $20 bill. In other changes, women and civil rights leaders will be added to $10 and $5 bills.
While the front of the $10 bill will continue to have nation's first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's face, the picture of the treasury building on the back will be replaced by an image of historic 1913 march for woman's suffrage that has ended at the building. The pictures of five leaders of that 1913 march will be adorned: Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony, respectively.
Similarly in the case of $5 bill, the front will continue to have Abraham Lincoln's portrait, but the rear side will have, in addition to existing image of Lincoln Memorial, the image of black classical singer Marian Anderson, who in 1939 has been barred from performing at the Constitutional Hall and has ended up performing at the nearby Lincoln Memorial. Beside Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, who has helped Marian Anderson's 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial, and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. will also be placed on the back of $5 bill.
********** TRUMP's TAX RETURNS
House Ways Panel Requests Trump's Tax Returns
The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee led by Richard Neal of Massachusetts on April 3, 2019 made a formal request to the Internal Revenue Services for six years of Donald Trump's business and personal tax returns.
Treasury's Mnuchin Asks more Time
In a letter to U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts, U.S. Treasury Secretary on April 10, 2019 implored that his department needed more time to consult with U.S. Justice Department before taking any steps to release President Donald Trump's tax returns. This sets Mnuchin in a collision course with Rep. Neal a week after the House panel chair formally asked IRS to turn over Trump's six years of personal and business tax returns.
Mnuchin Needs More Time to Consult Justice Department
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on April 23, 2019 wrote a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal that he needed to consult with the Justice Department before he handed over President Donald Trump's tax returns to Congress. A 1924 law explicitly gives authority to Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee to obtain any American's tax returns.
Mnuchin Will not Hand over Trump Tax Returns
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a May 6, 2019, letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, told that "in reliance on the advice of the Department of Justice, I have determined that the Committee's request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose" and he would not hand over the Trump tax returns, paving the way for a sure conflict between the executive branch and legislative branch.
Committee Now Goes to Court to Seek Trump's Tax Returns
After weeks of futile effort to get hold of Trump's six years of tax returns, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on July 2, 2019 filed a case in federal court to force Trump to hand over his tax returns.
Trump Sues to Block Handing over His Tax Returns
President Donald Trump on July 23, 2019 filed a lawsuit against the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and New York State officials to block state's move to hand over state tax returns to the house panel.
Trump Setback in Two Appellate Rulings
First a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in October 2019 to reject Trump administration appeal against handing over president's tax document to Congress. And, now the D.C.-based full court on November 13, 2019 upheld the earlier rulings to require Trump to hand over his income tax documents to Congress.
Trump lawyers are planning to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court both this case and a separate case involving Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who had been pursuing Trump's tax document from the president's tax firm, Mazars USA, to uncover any hush payment.
Chief Justice Puts an Indefinite Hold on House's Bid to Get Trump's Tax Returns
Without hinting what way the apex court is thinking, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on November 18, 2019 has put an indefinite pause on the ask of House of Representatives for President Donald Trump's tax return document.
Supreme Court Accepts Trump's Tax Return Case
Days after 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld lower court verdict favoring House Democrats to receive Trump's tax returns, U.S. Supreme Court on December 13, 2019 agreed to take up the case, setting the stage for a probable March 2020 hearing and keeping Trump's record on spotlight even after Senate would acquit him in the impeachment passed by the House. All lower courts, including the D.C-based Court of Appeals and 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had ruled against Trump. Three House committees--Oversight, Financial Services, and Intelligence--had sought trove of information related to Donald Trump's tax filings, stretching as far back last eight years before becoming the president. House committees issued subpoenas to Mazars USA, Trump's accounting firm, and Capital One and Deutsche Bank, Trump's financiers, to seek tax filing information.
Trump's lawyers filed suit against the House Oversight Committee in Washington, and against the House Financial Services and House Intelligence Committees in New York for seeking tax filing information from Capital One and Deutsche Bank. Democrats consider the subpoenas as having the power of enforcement, and are counting on a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has ordered the then-President Nixon to release his Oval Office tapes to a grand jury investigating the Watergate Scandal. However, Trump backers and Republicans are calling the Democrats' subpoenas as stretched and the famous 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to have been taken out of context as that ruling has pertained to a criminal indictment under a grand jury.
Supreme Court's Split Verdict on Trump Tax Returns
On July 9, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to affirm New York State authorities' right to seek Trump's tax returns document, thus paving the way for a grand jury investigating into Trump's hush money payment to two women before the 2016 election to obtain Trump's tax returns. In a searing opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts has said that even president is not above the law. However, there is a silver-lining in this case: it's not clear when Trump will share his tax returns with the grand jury in New York, and since the grand jury works in a secret, public may not be able to see Trump's tax returns at all.
In a separate, but related, 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court has denied three U.S. House Committees from getting to look at Trump's tax returns, stressing that president's tax returns are not key to Congress' legislative process.
Trump Loses in Federal Court on New York's Quest to Get His Tax Returns
A federal judge on August 20, 2020 rejected Trump legal team's appeal to deny Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who had gone after Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, the access to Trump's tax returns. The case was returned to the lower court by a July 9, 2020, U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Trump's legal team immediately appealed against U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero's ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Donald Trump in his usual combative manner slammed the judge's decision by tweeting: "This is a fishing expedition".
Trump Loses the Final Supreme Court Battle on Tax Returns
The U.S. Supreme Court on February 22, 2021 refused to take up the appeal from Trump's legal team against the lower courts' rulings ordering the former President Donald Trump's tax returns for eight years prior to his presidency to be handed over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. This was the last stop in the long-drawn battle for Trump to put resistance in any effort to share his income tax returns with the prosecutors. The U.S. Supreme Court in a July 9, 2020, 7-2 verdict has ruled that even a sitting president is not above the law, but he, like any other citizen, can file suit against subpoenas which are overbroad and issued in bad faith. During the latest hearing of this case at the U.S. Supreme Court, Vance wrote that Trump's "request for extraordinary relief should be denied". Cyrus Vance is investigating into hush money paid to two women to buy their silence and other tax fraud related cases involving the 45th president.
Trump Organization, Its CFO Charged
Trump Organization and its longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were on July 1, 2021 charged on what prosecutors called a "sweeping and audacious" tax fraud scheme that allowed executives and others to collect off-the-book perks and other benefits valued an estimated $1.7 million, covering parking, rent, school tuition and other items. The grand jury indictment was unsealed after two years of investigation into business practices and hush money paid to two women and led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York State Attorney-General Letitia James.
DOJ Reverses Its Own Ruling to Allow Handover of Trump’s Tax Returns to House Panel
Two years after the Trump administration’s Department of Justice determined that handing over the Trump’s tax returns to the House ways and Means Committee would not serve any legitimate purpose, Biden administration’s DOJ Office of Legal Counsel issued a 39-page legal opinion on July 30, 2021, reversing the earlier stand. Under the revised stand, U.S. Treasury Department will hand over former president’s tax returns to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee led by Rep. Richard Neal.
Federal Judge Rejects Effort to Block Handover of Trump's Tax Returns
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden on December 14, 2021 dismissed a Trump lawsuit that had purported to block handover of the former president's tax returns between 2013 and 2018 to the House Ways and Means Committee despite the "special solicitude accorded the presidents". Judge McFadden said that "even if" President Trump "is right on the facts, he is wrong on the law". U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, put his ruling on hold for two weeks for Trump team to explore follow-up steps. The judge went as far as saying that it's the prerogative of the committee chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, to publish the tax returns publicly even though that's not advisable. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has already received Trump's tax returns as part of a separate criminal investigation.
Appeals Court Panel Upholds House Committee's Subpoena for Trump's Tax Returns
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled on July 8, 2022 that upheld the House Oversight Committee's 2019 subpoena for Trump's tax filings from 2011 to 2018, but narrowed down the range of documents that the former president had to furnish. In July 2020, U.S. Supreme Court returned the case to lower courts.
Trump Goes to Supreme Court to Block Trump's Tax Files to be Handed to House Panel
Former President Donald Trump filed an emergency certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on October 31, 2022 to block the IRS handover of his tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee headed by Rep. Richard Neal.
Justice Roberts Gives Trump a Temporary Relief
Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency requests from the District of Columbia, on November 1, 2022 has given a temporary relief to Trump by putting a hold on Treasury's handing over of the Trump tax files to the House Ways and Means Committee. Justice Roberts gave the Ways and Means Committee until November 10, 2022 to respond.
Supreme Court Clears Trump's Tax Records to be Handed to Congress
U.S. Supreme Court on November 22, 2022 cleared for the Department of Treasury to hand over Former President Donald Trump's six years of tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The emergency request that was handled by Chief Justice John Roberts, who had issued a temporary hold on the transfer three weeks ago, was rejected without any comment. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., chair of the oversight subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee said after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump's tax returns to be handed to the House Ways and Means Committee that "it has been 1,329 days since our committee sought Donald Trump's tax returns--as long as the American Civil War" the final hurdle had been removed after series of obfuscations put up by "Trump and his adjutants in the government and the courts".
Treasury Makes Trump's Tax Returns Files Available to House Panel
U.S. Treasury on November 30, 2022 said that it had made the former president's six years of tax returns available to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.
House Panel Releases Trump's 2015-2020 Tax Returns
Days before Republicans take over the House of Representatives, House Ways and Means Committee on December 30, 2022 released Former President Donald Trump's six-year tax returns. Although a more detailed perusal and analysis will happen, a quick go-through has so far yielded a labyrinth of tax deductions and leverage of many tax maneuvers to reduce his tax burdens by showing that many of his entities have incurred losses while simultaneously making healthy revenues. There is an appearance of number manipulation. Case in hand: DT Endeavor I LLC, an aviation firm that has managed to have $160,144 in revenue as well as expenses in 2020.
********** TRUMP's TAX RETURNS
************** IRS Whistleblower
Senators Probing Whistleblower's Complaints
The Washington Post reported on November 18, 2019 that a bipartisan group of staff members for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat, Ron Wyden, had met earlier this month with a IRS whistleblower, a career employee, who had initially filed a complaint in July 2019 that he had been told that at least one political appointee had applied pressure to compromise audit of President's or Vice President's tax returns. In recent weeks, the IRS whistleblower submitted additional supporting documentation.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal filed a suit in August 2019 to seek Trump's tax document, and as part of the filing, submitted the whistleblower complaint.
Meanwhile, Treasury Department's Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar is investigating into Democratic complaint of stonewalling Trump's tax returns, including a possible look at the IRS whistleblower complaint.
************** IRS Whistleblower
***************************** DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY **********************
*********************** DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ******************
Congress Acts Amid Worries of Running out of Highway Trust Fund
Taking a $10.8 billion transportation bill passed by the House of Representatives last week, Senate on July 29, 2014 stripped of $2.7 billion to ensure the funding of the Highway Trust Fund, country's primary source to repair highways, improve infrastructure and sustain hundreds of thousands of construction jobs, beyond July 31, 2014. The Senate passed the $8.1 billion bill--sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA; Sen. Tom Carper, D-DEL; and Sen. Bob Corker, R-TENN--by 79-18 votes. The Senate-approved bill will fund the Highway Trust Fund through December 19, 2014 while the House measure would fund through May 2015. The department is going through crunch time with lawmakers loath to increasing the gasoline taxes, which were last increased more than two decades ago, currently at 18.4 cents-a-gallon for gas and 24.4 cents-a-gallon for diesel, respectively, in the run-up to November mid-term polls.
House Approves Temporary Transportation Bill
After temporarily extending the funding of nation's critical highways and road infrastructures for 33 times since 2009, Congress is set to repeat its short-term funding one more time as a critical deadline looms large with the Highway Trust Fund scheduled to expire on July 31, 2015. House of Representatives on July 29, 2015 approved a transportation bill by 385-34 vote that included an $8 billion replenishment of the trust fund. The measure will expire on October 29, 2015. Now it's Senate's turn to act before the Congress goes for August recess.
DOT Rules on Flight Delays
In 2010, listening to a chorus of complaints from passenger rights groups as well as millions of frustrated passengers, Department of Transportation issued some strict rules to address chronic flight delays and lack of options for passengers. As part of the rules,
* Any flight that's waiting for more than three hours on the tarmac has to give passengers options to board off the plane as long as there's no security intervention
* Carriers have to provide food and medical services after a two-hour delay
* DOT may fine a carrier up to $27,500 per passenger after three hours of delay
Spurred by Brussels Attacks, Lawmakers Seek More Money
A day after the Brussels attacks, 66 House Democratic lawmakers on March 23, 2016 urged the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to set aside $105 million for transit security, $10 million more than Obama administration's request, for the fiscal 2017. Security at nation's train and bus stops, barring few big cities, receive scant attention and, even scarcer, money, a fraction of $7.6 billion proposed by the Obama administration for Transportation Security Administration in fiscal 2017.
*********************** DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ******************
**************************** VETERAN AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT ****************
Shinseki Resigns as VA Secretary
After an internal audit that was submitted to President Barack Obama on May 30, 2014 called attention to breakdown of discipline in VA Hospital System with specific reference to the Phoenix facility where officials had maintained a fake waiting list to hide long delays in getting access, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on May 30, 2014 resigned from his post. Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson, a life-long banker who joined the department in February 2014 as deputy of Shinseki, will work as Acting Secretary of VA.
VA Acting Secretary Ups the Estimate of Veterans Death while on Waiting List
Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said on June 5, 2014 that there might be 18 more veterans who had died while waiting to get an appointment with a VA doctor in Phoenix area. Gibson didn't say whether those deaths occurred because of treatment delay. They were in addition to another 17 Phoenix area veterans who had died while on the waiting list and reported three weeks ago by VA Inspector Richard Griffin during a senate testimony three weeks ago. The evolving scandal is likely to influence the political narrative in an election year. The scandal came to light in April 2014 when a retired clinic director in Phoenix VA revealed that Phoenix VA management had kept a secret waiting list of patients while publicly falsifying the wait time in a separate list. Griffin's preliminary find pointed to a wait time of 115 days for appointment in the Phoenix VA system, almost five times the officially disclosed wait time. Richard Griffin's office is currently investigating more than 40 out of VA's 1700 facilities, including 150 hospitals and 820 clinics.
A Bipartisan Senate Reform Bill Unveiled
After two days of closed door negotiation to reconcile the difference between competing bills, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Sen. John McCain, R-ARIZ, on June 5, 2014 unveiled a bipartisan bill that would allow veterans to see a private doctor enrolled in Medicare, military Tricare or other government health programs after a wait time of 30 days. The same provision will apply for the veterans who live more than 40 miles off the nearest VA hospital or facility.
Audit Finds Delays, Fraud in Veterans Care
An audit report by VA's Inspector General's Office issued on June 9, 2014 showed more than 57,000 veterans waiting for more than 90 days to get their first medical appointment, while an additional 64,000 veterans falling through the cracks, never getting an appointment after enrollment. Also, 13 percent of the schedulers based on surveys in 731 hospitals and outpatient clinics reported being told by supervisors to falsify appointment schedules.
A Bipartisan Senate-House Bill Unveiled
After days of intense negotiation, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and his House counterpart, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-FL, unveiled on July 28, 2014 a veterans medical care reform bill that would authorize $17 billion in spending to improve health care of the country's veterans. The measure calls for $15 billion in emergency spending to ease the process of veterans with difficulty in getting appointment to get care outside, $5 billion to hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff, and $1.5 billion to lease 27 new clinics. The bill will also make it easier to fire agency's senior executives. The bill will allow patients to get care outside if they have not received prompt care or live beyond a 40-mile distance from the nearest VA facility. However, the measure will limit the number of veterans who may get the outside care to the ones enrolled prior to August 1, 2014 in order to contain the ballooning cost. The measure is expected to contribute $10 billion over a decade to federal deficit after cost savings such as changes in a veterans' retirement program and reimbursements from insurance companies are accounted for.
Former Proctor and Gamble CEO Sworn In as New VA Secretary
A day after getting an overwhelming support from the US Senate, former Proctor and Gamble CEO Robert McDonald took oath of the office on July 30, 2014. The acting secretary Sloan Gibson will return to his job as Deputy Secretary.
House Approves $16.3 Billion VA Bill
The House of Representative on July 30, 2014 approved a bill, also dubbed as Sander-Miller bill that was unveiled on July 28, 2014, by 420-5 vote.
Obama Signs the Landmark VA Health Care Bill
President Barack Obama on August 7, 2014 signed the $16.3 billion veterans healthcare bill, formally known as the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, at Fort Belvoir, VA.
VA Report Absolves Culpability in Veteran Deaths
A report issued by the VA Inspector General Richard Griffin on August 26, 2014 severely criticized the scheduling practices of VA medical facilities, but didn't directly tie any of the veteran deaths to the scheduling scandal that had erupted early in the summer and cost the job of the then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.
**************************** VETERAN AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT ****************
On March 15, 2011, Trio of Texas politics--Comptroller Susan Combs, Gov. Rick Perry and Speaker Joe Strauss--reached an agreement to cut spending for the current bienneal fiscal (2011-12) by $4.3billion by tapping the state's rainy-day fund that has about $9.4 billion. The break-up of the figures agreed by the trio includes:
* $3.2 billion: one-time withdrawal from the rainy-day fund
* $800 million: codify net spending cuts. Originally thought to be $1.5 billion, but lawmakers had to restitute $600 million for the plunging property values.
* $300 million: to be obtained from increased sales tax receipts over the past few months
