President Trump’s March 28 Executive Order, entitled “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” takes extensive action to eliminate federal climate policies and regulations, explicitly targeting at least 23 executive actions, federal rules, memoranda, and reports. Most notably, the directive moves to rescind…
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Alexander Acosta OSHA Cuts
Alexander Acosta, the replacement of Andrew Puzder for the labor secretary nominee, told senators during his confirmation hearings that there is an expectation for further cuts to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This coupled with the Trump budget ensures that cuts will be made to OSHA. This administration…
Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline; Issuance of Presidential Permit
Two months after President Trump released a presidential memoranda directing the Secretaries of State, the Army, and the Interior to expedite approval for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline the Department of State has issued a Presidential permit to TransCanada authorizing the company to “construct, connect…
Human Rights Conditions Dropped on Arms Sale to Bahrain
State Department Policy Issued on March 29th, 2017 Policy Summary On March 29th, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to proceed with a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain without human rights stipulations. The deal, which was proctored by President Obama and...
Trumpcare’s Voting Fiasco
Despite the GOP’s efforts to lobby enough votes for the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to pass the House, they were not able to secure the necessary votes before the scheduled vote on Thursday, March 23. The Trump administration opted to postpone the vote until the follow day hoping they could gain some…
State Department Issues Keystone XL Pipeline Permit
A press release issued on March 24th by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs stated that a permit was issued to TransCanada for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The statement detailed that this pipeline “would serve the national interest”, and follows President Trump’s call for the development of the…
Schools Must Do More for Disabled Students
The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that schools must raise the bar on educational standards for disabled students. They rejected past rulings stating that the Individuals with Disabilities Act entitling disabled students to a free appropriate public education that is tailored to their needs, which simply meant that schools…
Effects of the Budget on Education
Donald Trump’s new budget plan proposes cutting 13.5 percent or $9.2 billion from education, removing $2.4 billion in grants going towards teacher training and $1.2 billion earmarked for summer and afterschool programs. The budget blueprint reduces or eliminates funding for need-based aid for college students, federal work…
Effects of the Budget on Immigration
House Speaker Paul Ryan proposed a budget estimate for 2017 that cuts funding to a wide variety of domestic priorities in order increase funding for the Department of Defense by $30 billion dollars and the Department of Homeland Security by $3 billion dollars. The projected results of this move are discussed across…
Effects of the Budget on Entitlement Programs
President Donald Trump released an outline of his budget proposal, America First, on Thursday, March 16 that substantially boosts spending on homeland security and defense while slashing spending in almost every other area. An important exception to this harsh slashing is entitlement programs such as Medicare…