Category: Bob Goodlatte

Jeff Sessions’ team takes over Washington

With the ascension of former Sen. Jeff Sessions to attorney general and several of his former staff installed at the White House and federal agencies, immigration policy experts are sensing a sea change in Washington. Advocates and policy staff of both parties half-jokingly refer to the “Sessions cabal” that has now found power in President Donald Trump’s Washington — a group that for years has found itself outside the mainstream on immigration policy in Washington and faced ire from their Republican and Democratic colleagues for what one sparring partner called “strident” positions.

Lawmakers scrap Obama rules on coal mining, guns

In this file photo, President Barack Obama speaks during his final presidential news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. The Republican-controlled House on Thursday took its first steps toward strengthening gun ownership under President Donald Trump, moving to scrap a requirement for background checks for Social Security recipients mentally incapable of managing their own affairs.

Congress scraps Obama rules on coal mining, guns

The Republican-controlled Congress on Thursday scrapped Obama-era rules on the environment and guns, counting on a new ally in the White House to help reverse years of what the GOP calls excessive regulation. The Senate gave final approval to a measure eliminating a rule to prevent coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams, while the House backed a separate resolution doing away with extended background checks for gun purchases by some Social Security recipients with mental disabilities.

House GOP passes bill to undo a midnighta Obama administration regulations

House Republicans passed a bill aimed at reversing “midnight” or last-minute regulations created in the waning months of a presidential administration on Wednesday. The Midnight Rules Relief Act, which passed the House mostly along party lines 238-184, would allow Congress to repeal rules finalized in the last 60 legislative days of President Obama’s administration.

U.S. House makes it easier to repeal Obamacare, harder for lawmakers to protest

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, after dropping plans to eliminate an independent ethics office, approved new rules that would fine lawmakers if they broadcast from the floor, as Democrats did last year to demand new gun safety legislation. The rules package, which passed with no Democratic support, 234-193, also will make it easier for the House GOP to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance for more than 20 million Americans, without offering any way to replace their coverage.

Trump, with 2 tweets, helps push GOP reversal on ethics

Members of the House of Representatives, some joined by family, gather in the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017, as the 115th Congress gets under way. Members of the House of Representatives, some joined by family, gather in the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017, as the 115th Congress gets under way.

Trump objects after House GOP votes to gut ethics office

President-elect Donald Trump criticized House Republicans Tuesday for making one of their first acts a vote to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, arguing that tax reform and health care should be higher priorities. “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” Trump asked over Twitter the morning after the surprise and secretive move by the House GOP.

House GOP votes to gut independent ethics office

House Republicans have voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison. The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday.

House Republicans Move To Weaken Congressional Ethics Office

U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy laughs as he and House Speaker Paul Ryan, flanked by House Republican Whip Steve Scalise , introduce Representative Jason Smith and Representative Luke Messer as new members of the House Republican leadership team after their caucus held leadership elections on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. November 15, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst In an abrupt move made without the backing of their leaders, Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to dramatically scale back an independent congressional ethics office created eight years ago.