Russia's interference in the election was not an attack on one party, but on our very democracy. We need an independent, bipartisan commission to get to the bottom of this situation and find out how to defend our nation from this kind of meddling. http://bit.ly/2ih78oI
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Two constituents asked me to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and I was happy to comply today! We've all lost too many family and friends to this terrible disease. This is for them and everyone who continues to fight it every day. (My grandson Smith slipped out at the last second--can you really blame him?--but doused himself a little later on)
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Thank you, President Obama
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The White House was live.
"My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you." —President Obama: wh.gov/Farewell #ObamaFarewell
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
While the Senate holds confirmation hearings this week, the House continues unrolling protections for the American people. On the docket are de-regulatory bills HR 5, 238, and 78. Respectively, these bills open the federal rule making process to more Congressional partisanship, hamstring oversight of commodities trading, and roll back Wall Street financial reforms.
At the end of the week, we'll be debating the FY17 budget resolution, which is the Republicans' vehicle for repealing the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood.
Over the next few days, the Senate will hold confirmation hearings on eight of President-elect Trump nominees. A couple of things about this process are especially concerning: the sheer amount of nominees to review in such a short amount of time, and a lack of proper financial disclosures from some nominees to review their possible conflicts of interest.
The hearing schedule is below. First up is Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, who was denied a federal judgeship... 30 years ago for racial remarks he had made. He has also been a strong opponent of LGBT rights.
Attorney General: Jeff Sessions - Jan. 10-11, 9:30 a.m.
Homeland Security: John Kelly - Jan. 10, 3:30 p.m.
Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson – Jan. 11-12, 9 a.m., 10 a.m.
CIA Director: Mike Pompeo – Jan. 11, 10 a.m.
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao - Jan. 11, 10:15 a.m.
Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross - Jan. 12, 10 a.m.
Secretary of Housing: Ben Carson, Jan. 12, 10 a.m.
Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos – Jan. 17, 5 p.m.
Secretary of Labor: Andy Puzder – Jan. 17 (tentative)
U.N. Ambassador: Nikki Haley – Jan. 18 (tentative)
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602,098 Views
Washington Post was live — at United States Senate. See More
Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), will appear before his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation ...hearing at 9:30 a.m.
The same committee rejected Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986 amid allegations of racially insensitive remarks. Sessions has taken controversial positions on #immigration and the rights of #LGBT people. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is expected to testify as a witness against Sessions. http://wpo.st/aqgQ2
Small businesses don't get enough credit for being the backbone of our economy, but here's your chance to change that. Nominate stellar small businesses you know (or even yourself) for a U.S. Small Business Administration award--deadline is 3 p.m. tomorrow! http://bit.ly/2jl0xKV
Today Congress is meeting in a joint session to certify the Electoral College tally. House Democrats plan to mount objections to the results--citing voter suppression in several states as well as ineligible electors--but so far no Senators have stepped up to support the challenge, which is essential to having it move forward http://www.politico.com/…/house-democrats-trump-electoral-c…
WHAT WE VOTED ON YESTERDAY
Yesterday, I voted against HR 26, the REINS Act. This bill requires that any new major regulation be approved by Congress within 70 days of its introduction. If not, the rule can not be introduced again—even in amended form—until the next Congress convenes.
When has Congress ever done anything within 70 days? This legislation gives industry special interests and their allies in Congress the power to easily block any regulations they don’t like. Big... banks, polluters, and negligent corporations all stand to benefit while threatening the public health and safety for the rest of us.
Congress already has authority to overturn regulations. We don’t need to hamstring our country’s ability to respond to things like food safety concerns, predatory lending, and threats to clean water by introducing them all to a political process where the power of a few has such a great sway.
While I was proud to participate in a press conference today on defending women's health-care services, Paul Ryan had his own about taking it away.
As part of Affordable Care Act repeal, he's announced that he will include federal defunding of Planned Parenthood. This would mean that millions of low-income women across the country would lose access to reproductive and women's health-care services--on top of the millions of other Americans who stand to lose the coverage they've gained under the ACA.
It's more important now than ever to share your story about what these changes would mean to you: https://pingree.house.gov/share-your-story
With President-elect Trump coming to the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress behind him, many people are asking me: "What can I do?"
My answer today is to share your health-care stories. As I fight to protect the gains of the Affordable Care Act, having stories of the law's successes will be critical. If you have one to share, please go to my website: https://pingree.house.gov/share-your-story. Thank you!
(PLEASE NOTE: while I welcome Facebook comments, in this case I need you to fill out the form on my site so we can follow up and ensure your privacy)
#WHATWE’REVOTINGONTODAY
Today, the House is debating whether to give itself the authority to roll back regulations that President Obama has finalized over the last few months. Keep in mind, Congress already has the power to repeal regulations one by one. But this reaches far beyond that—Republicans in Congress want to be able to bundle all the regulations they don’t like and be able to repeal them with just one vote.
Lots of regulations are being targeted—including ones that... limit methane emissions into the air, establish fair and safe protections for workers, keep states from blocking access to women’s reproductive health, and protect students. These regulations have gone through a long, extensive public process before being finalized.
Just to be clear, I’ve often worked to change regulations that I felt have needlessly burden people and businesses in Maine. But if Congress wants to change regulations, it should give us the chance to adequately debate the merits of each and get feedback from our constituents. I don’t think the Republicans in Congress should have the right to unilaterally erase the last few months of President Obama’s tenure.
I’ll be voting against this legislation.
Thanks to the public outcry, House Republicans have withdrawn their outrageous proposal to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics. But there’s still plenty of terrible things included in the rules package, which is why I’ll be voting against it today. Here are just a few:
1) Fining members up to $2,500 for taking pictures or videos on the House floor—an attempt to curb the kind of demonstration on gun violence we had last year, which we had to broadcast to the public with ...our cellphones when the C-Span cameras were turned off (proud to take a selfie with John Lewis during this part of the debate)
2) Hiding the cost of repealing the Affordable Care Act—Republicans are exempting the Affordable Care Act from their own point-of-order rules for legislation that has significant impacts to the budget, because they know that repealing the ACA will increase spending and the deficit.
3) Setting the stage for cuts to Medicare and Social Security—The rules package requires that committees make recommendations for moving programs from mandatory spending (like what Social Security and Medicare receive) to the partisan fight of year-to-year discretionary spending.
I think it's completely outrageous that House Republicans voted behind closed doors to severely weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics. This office has been critical in ensuring that Members of Congress from both parties are acting in the public's interest and not their own.
I'll be voting against this later today, but am so disappointed that this is the tone Republicans want to set for the new Congress.
For years, Republican leadership in Congress has vowed to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act. Now, they just plan to repeal it without a plan for the thousands of Mainers and millions of Americans they will leave in the lurch. http://bit.ly/2hJGkSU
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