Can you find anything good in these things?
For everyone who wants to understand what's happening with the "transition of power" in Washington, DC to the new adminstration, here are the facts on this past week's events. Each of these has links to the news sources, in case you have any doubts. It's difficut to see how any of these things are in the public good.
The federal week in review: Week of January 2, 2017.
1. Trump fires all Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day. Normally, they have always been given a grace period.
2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing
them to reduce an individual civil service, SES positions, or political
appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing Federal employees by amendment to any
piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of
people in Energy and State.
3. Ethics office accuses GOP of rushing Trump Cabinet confirmations - Senate schedules 6 simultaneous
hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with
Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote,
effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest.
4.
House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA. So the costs cannot be tracked.
5.
Trump continued to cast doubt on the intelligence community under the bus to
protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the
Russians deliberately interfered in our election.
6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking
Congress (in other words, the U.S. taxpayers) to pay for it.
7. -Donald Trump just threatened Toyota — but it looks like he got the facts wrong
Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US.
8. Suspending the Rules: How Congress Plans to Undermine Public Safety - The House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules
enacted by any federal agency or department--for example, FDA or EPA
bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists not
science. Don't like that endangered species designation, Congress kills
it.
