Daily Update | October 15, 2018
The Trump Administration is considering instituting a new family separation policy at the border. West Virginia plans to allow overseas and military voters to cast ballots remotely using a smartphone app, stoking concerns among cybersecurity and election integrity advocates. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s family has received millions of dollars in no-bid and other federal contracts “based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthy’s brother-in-law.” Jared Kushner appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes over the past decade, taking advantage of preferential provisions in the tax code that advantage real-estate developers. The Senate confirmed fifteen federal judicial nominees as part of a deal to allow senators to spend the remainder of the midterm election season campaigning. The EPA disbanded two outside expert panels tasked with advising the agency on limiting harmful emissions of soot and smog-forming pollutants.
IMMIGRATION
The Trump Administration is considering instituting a new family separation policy at the border, Nick Miroff, Josh Dawsey, and Maria Sacchetti report in the Washington Post.
DEMOCRACY
In updated court filings, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has changed his explanation for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, “saying he now recalls discussing it with Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist,” write Glenn Thrush and Adam Liptak in the New York Times.
- Philip Bump writes about the significance of this admission in the Washington Post.
A lawsuit in Georgia recognized that unsecure voting machines that are vulnerable to hacking can violate voters’ constitutional rights, highlighting the role courts can play in ensuring election security, argues Jessica Marsden in Lawfare.
West Virginia plans to allow overseas and military voters to cast ballots remotely using a smartphone app, stoking concerns among cybersecurity and election integrity advocates, Christian Vasquez writes in Politico.
In the wake of a Supreme Court decision that left in place a North Dakota state law that required voters to present identification listing a residential address, Native American voting rights advocates plan to stand outside polling locations on Election Day with software to create addresses on the spot for the thousands of Native Americans that live on reservations without traditional street names, Gabriel Pogrund and Felicia Sonmez write in the Washington Post.
JUSTICE & SAFETY
Progressives should embrace the need for a “civil Gideon”—a right to legal counsel in civil cases, Douglas Grant argues in Slate.
The Trump Administration, in a course reversal on foreign aid, is embracing the establishment of a new foreign aid agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, writes Glenn Thrush in the New York Times.
The United States should resist Saudi Arabia’s admission to the Financial Action Task Force, a multilateral body charged with stopping terrorism financing, until it demonstrates an authentic commitment to stopping the flow of money to international terrorists, argue Bob Graham and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin in Just Security.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s family has received millions of dollars in no-bid and other federal contracts “based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthy’s brother-in-law,” Paul Pringle and Adam Elmahrek report in the Los Angeles Times.
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes over the past decade, taking advantage of preferential provisions in the tax code that advantage real-estate developers which were expanded in last year’s tax reform legislation, Jesse Drucker and Emily Flitter report in the New York Times.
REGULATION
The EPA disbanded two outside expert panels tasked with advising the agency on limiting harmful emissions of soot and smog-forming pollutants, Dino Grandoni and Juliet Eilperin report in the Washington Post.
The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general revealed that Medicare Advantage plans have been improperly denying many medical claims to both patients and physicians, Robert Pear writes in the New York Times.
The FDA sent warning letters to several e-cigarette manufacturers and importers, asking the companies to show they have not violated an exemption that allows vaping products to continue being sold while the agency figures out how best to regulate them, writes Nathaniel Weixel in The Hill.
CHECKS & BALANCES
Republicans in Congress have abandoned their constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the executive branch, argues Adam Schiff in the Washington Post.
The Senate confirmed fifteen federal judicial nominees as part of a deal to allow senators to spend the remainder of the midterm election season campaigning (NYT).
FEDERALISM
New Jersey is suing the U.S. Interior Department under FOIA for more information about why Florida was exempted from offshore oil drilling lease auctions but not any other state, Megan Geuss writes in Ars Technica.
REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
With the possibility of the Democrats taking over the House following the midterm elections, President Trump may be on a collision course with impeachment, writes Peter Baker in the New York Times.
Tags:
Immigration Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Justice & Safety Removal from Office