Tag: transparency

Minnesota House Approves New Transportation Measures to Help Minnesotans Through and Beyond COVID-19

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA— Yesterday, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved a new bill to help Minnesotans further adapt to the challenges of COVID-19. These measures provide additional safety to students, an expansion of driver’s license expiration, and new reporting requirements to account for the state’s share of federal CARES Act allocation.

“The bipartisan House and Senate transportation bill contains important new school bus safety provisions and will make it easier for Minnesotans to extend expired driver’s licenses during this public health crisis,” said House Transportation Finance and Policy Chair Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis).

Previous COVID-19 response legislation included the extension of any non-commercial driver’s licenses set to expire either during the peacetime emergency or the month in which it ends. A new provision in the bill expands the driver’s license expiration extension to also include licenses that expire in the month immediately following the end of the peacetime emergency. Like previous extensions, individuals would have until the end of the second month after the month in which the emergency ends to renew their license. A key provision the bill would waive the requirement to take a new photograph and complete a vision test if an applicant’s name, address, signature, or driver’s license number hasn’t changed, and they aren’t seeking a REAL ID or enhanced driver’s license. Continue reading “Minnesota House Approves New Transportation Measures to Help Minnesotans Through and Beyond COVID-19”

Pentagon juggles transparency, obfuscation in COVID-19 age

The Pentagon maintains it is being as transparent as possible about the outbreak

As the coronavirus spreads through the ranks of the Defense Department, one major challenge that has emerged for the Pentagon is how much information to divulge about the health of the troops.

The Pentagon maintains it is being as transparent as possible about the outbreak, and provides daily updates on total cases across the department. It draws the line, however, at providing specific figures at the unit, installation or even the large combatant command level, citing the need for “operational security” — Pentagon speak for not letting the enemy know your plans or weak points.

But operational security is invoked so often by defense officials that it has become nearly impossible for the public to judge its validity. Continue reading.

Using Transparency to Deter Russia’s Asymmetric Attacks on the West

Russia is a relatively weak state on the international stage. A former great power, today it has a gross domestic product roughly equal to that of New York state; this feeds into the country’s insecurity about its role in the world and its economic and military strength compared with those of its chief competitors. Russia knows it cannot compete with the West on an even playing field. Thus, it has developed a shadowy, asymmetric strategy to subvert opponents and alter the global status quo. A key part of this approach is the country’s strategic use of ambiguity. As the United States responds to these attacks, and seeks to prevent future ones, it must take into account that public transparency, as well as its relationships with allies, are integral to any effective response.

It is with this in mind that policymakers should view the ongoing dispute between Congress and the U.S. attorney general regarding the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted this past Wednesday to subpoena the full, unredacted Mueller report and its underlying evidence. The vote comes after U.S. Attorney General William Barr failed to meet the April 2 deadline that the committee’s chairman, Jerry Nadler (D-NY), gave him to provide the documents.

Congress needs to see the full report and underlying evidence for many reasons—not least of which are the scores of unanswered questions about the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia. Included on this list are the details of the more than 100 contacts between Kremlin-linked operatives and the Trump campaign, all of which the involved parties denied. The American people deserve to know the truth and to have confidence in the systems that form the pillars of U.S. democracy.

View the complete April 10 article by James Lamond on the Center for American Progress website here.

The Trump White House’s laughable spin that releasing the Nunes memo is all about ‘transparency’

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website February 2, 2018:

After releasing the Nunes memo on Feb. 2, President Trump said that “A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that.” (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The Trump White House and GOP leaders have zeroed in on one main justification for releasing the controversial Devin Nunes memo: It’s all about transparency. “I’ve always believed in the public’s right to know,” Vice President Pence saidThursday. “We have said all along, from day one, that we want full transparency in this process,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN Wednesday.

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly leaned into it even harder Wednesday on Fox News Radio: “Frankly, in every other case that I can remember in my lifetime where a president was in some kind of trouble, the president, the White House attempted to not release things. This president has said from the beginning . . . ‘I want everything out. I want this thing, I want the American people to know the truth.’” Continue reading “The Trump White House’s laughable spin that releasing the Nunes memo is all about ‘transparency’”

Transparency and Honesty?

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website May 22, 2017:

Swamp

In January, President Trump issued an executive order to prevent lobbyists from holding positions in agencies where they have actively lobbied for the interests of an industry. The executive order mirrored the Obama White House policy intent on keeping advocates for a particular industry out of the agencies responsible for enforcing budgets and writing policies. Both the Obama and Trump policies, however, allow the president to grant waivers to hire staff for positions that are particularly difficult to fill.

President Obama immediately publicized the few waivers he granted in the interest of transparency. Continue reading “Transparency and Honesty?”

Pence fought against releasing records as Indiana governor

The following article by Brian Slodysko was posted on the Associated Press website March 3, 2017:

Vice President Mike Pence pauses while speaking before administering the oath of office to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, Thursday, March 2, 2017, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly stonewalled media requests to view public records when he was Indiana’s governor, including emails about state business distributed from a private AOL account that was hacked last year.

Revelations Pence used the account to discuss homeland security and other official matters, first reported Thursday by the Indianapolis Star, are just the latest in a series of transparency battles involving the Republican’s tenure as governor.

The Star obtained the AOL emails through an open records request after new Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb agreed to release 29 pages from his predecessor’s AOL account. The Associated Press filed a similar records request last July seeking the emails and followed up with a complaint against the governor’s office in January when there was no response. Continue reading “Pence fought against releasing records as Indiana governor”

Trump signs repeal of transparency rule for oil companies

The following article by Timothy Cama was posted on The Hill’s website February 14, 2017:

President Trump signed legislation Tuesday to repeal a controversial regulation that would have required energy companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments.

The legislation is the first time in 16 years that the Congressional Review Act (CRA) has been used to repeal a regulation, and only the second time in the two decades that act has been law. It is the third piece of legislationTrump has signed since taking office three weeks ago. Continue reading “Trump signs repeal of transparency rule for oil companies”