Tag: Trump Administration

FAA keeping Senate panel ‘in the dark’ about 737 Max approval, chairman says

Wicker said his committee requested information on allegations of whistleblower retaliation

The Federal Aviation Administration has consistently failed to fully respond to requests for information about training and certification of its inspectors since April 2019, according to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Roger Wicker.

At a committee hearing Wednesday on the FAA’s aircraft certification process, which failed to spot fatal flaws in Boeing’s 737 Max airliner, the Mississippi Republican said his committee requested information related to 65 specific items, including allegations of whistleblower retaliation by senior agency managers and a dozen specifically related to the 737 Max.

“This record of delay and non-responsiveness clearly shows at best an unwillingness to cooperate in congressional oversight,” he said. “It is hard not to conclude your team at FAA has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark. It is hard not to characterize our relationship during this entire process as being adversarial on the part of the FAA.” Continue reading.

Inspectors general ask Congress for help in monitoring coronavirus relief payments

The federal watchdogs complained in a letter that the Trump administration was limiting their oversight ability.

In a two-page letter to several House and Senate committees last week, but disclosed for the first time on Monday, the inspectors general responsible for coronavirus relief oversight said an “ambiguity” in the main coronavirus response law — the CARES Act — allowed administration officials to sharply limit how much of the law’s spending requirements they must collect and report. This narrow interpretation of the law, the inspectors general warn, would dramatically impede their ability to gather information about some of the most expansive programs in the law, from the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program to the $454 billion Treasury fund to protect businesses and industries damaged by the outbreak.

The legal opinions are the latest squeeze put on inspectors general by the Trump administration, which has gradually chipped away at the ability of internal watchdogs to monitor aspects of the administration’s conduct independently. The letter from the inspectors general, first revealed by The Washington Post, was signed by the Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who leads a panel of inspectors general charged with coronavirus-related oversight known as the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and its executive director, Robert Westbrooks. Continue reading.

White House Adviser: No ‘Transparency’ Promise Ever Made Over Billions In Loans

Larry Kudlow contradicted a promise made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to disclose the companies that received billions in coronavirus relief loans.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday claimed that the administration never promised to disclose which businesses received more than $500 billion in coronavirus relief loans, contradicting an earlier statement by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, made his statement to Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” about the Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress authorized in March to bail out companies harmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked whether Americans deserve to know which wealthy companies have received taxpayer-funded bailouts, Kudlow said, “As far as naming each and every company, I don’t think that promise was ever made, and I don’t think it’s necessary.” Continue reading.

Only one in six say their financial situation improved after three years of Trump: report

According to a report at Bloomberg, few Americans believe their financial situation improved after over three years under the administration of Donald Trump.

The report notes that a survey commissioned by Bankrate.com revealed that, “The ‘Trump Bump’ hasn’t benefited most Americans, with fewer than one in six saying their personal finances have improved since Donald Trump became president.”

According to the survey, despite claims from the president that he has led America to its best economy ever, few are reaping the rewards if there are any. Continue reading.

Health Care Advocates Push Back Against Trump’s Erasure of Transgender Rights

New York Times logoA new rule narrows the legal definition of sex discrimination in the Affordable Care Act. Major health care providers actively oppose it.

Health advocates representing American hospitals, medical groups, insurers and civil rights associations condemned the Trump administration on Saturday for rolling back protections for transgender patients, and for doing so amid a global pandemic.

The new rule, long sought by conservatives and the religious right, narrows the legal definition of sex discrimination in the Affordable Care Act so that it omits protection for transgender people. It also opens the door for health care providers to refuse to treat patients who have had abortions.

The move is part of a broad set of policy changes that weaken safeguards for transgender people across multiple sectors, including education, employment and housing. The changes to the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, were proposed last year. Continue reading.

Trump Administration Says It’s Not Forcing People Back To Work. Workers Disagree

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is letting states deny unemployment benefits even to people at risk of severe COVID-19 illness.

President Donald Trump’s labor secretary didn’t like it this week when Democrats accused him of forcing workers off unemployment insurance even if their jobs presented a risk of severe illness from the coronavirus.

“Just to be clear, we have never suggested that workers should sacrifice health for returning to work,” said Eugene Scalia, leader of the U.S. Department of Labor, at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. “We oppose them being put to that choice as well.”

But the Trump administration, in coordination with state workforce agencies, has been forcing workers to make that choice for weeks. The president has called for workers to be “warriors” for the economy, and the Labor Department is prodding them into battle as the virus continues to spread. Continue reading.

‘Spinning his wheels’ and ‘bewildered’: New report exposes Trump’s complete lack of leadership ability

AlterNet logoA new report from NBC News on Friday night about internal White House debates shone a revealing light on the abject leadership failures of President Donald Trump.

The piece documents his dueling camps of advisers, both in the campaign and the administration, who are split over how Trump should react to the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd, police abuses, and racism more broadly.

Trump, the report found, is largely dismissive of the protesters themselves, saying: “These aren’t my voters.” This reflects a trait of the president’s that has repeatedly shown its ugly head throughout his term in office: dismissiveness toward constituents who didn’t vote for him. He clearly thinks he owes more to Trump voters than he does to the American people more generally. Continue reading.

Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care

New York Times logoA rule finalized on Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services means that the federal government no longer recognizes gender identity as an avenue for sex discrimination in health care.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday finalized a regulation that will erase protections for transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies, a move announced on the four-year anniversary of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando and in the middle of Pride Month.

The rule, which does not differ much from a proposed version released last year, is part of a broad Trump administration effort across multiple areas of policy — including education, housing, and employment, as well as health care — to narrow the legal definition of sex discrimination so that it does not include protections for transgender people.

The Affordable Care Act, the 2010 law often known as Obamacare, established broad civil rights protections in health care, barring discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in “any health program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance. Continue reading.

Internal document reveals federal plan to ask nurses to reuse masks

Protective supplies still limited, months into the pandemic

Internal Federal Emergency Management Agency data show that the government’s supply of surgical gowns has not meaningfully increased since photos first emerged in March of nurses wearing trash bags for protection.

“The demand for gowns outpaces current U.S. manufacturing capabilities,” a document released Tuesday says.

The document confirms the fears of nurses and other health care providers. After months of pressure on federal officials to use wartime powers to mobilize U.S. plants, the document’s slides show that domestic manufacturing of gowns and surgical masks has ticked up by a few thousand per month since the pandemic hit, falling far short of need. The United States still does not manufacture any nitrile rubber gloves. Continue reading.

A ‘misclassification error’ made the May unemployment rate look better than it is. Here’s what happened.

Washington Post logoWhen the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major “error” indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate.

The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May. But that would still be an improvement from an unemployment rate of about 19.7 percent for April, applying the same standards.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that puts out the monthly jobs reports, said it was working to fix the problem. Continue reading.