Ditch Mitch As Majority Leader - October 2017

The fight for deregulation and transparency in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spearheaded by Administrator Scott Pruitt, charged on this week in an agency-wide directive on Monday. Aiming to terminate the regulation-through-litigation practice known as “sue and settle,” Pruitt’s directive opens up this formerly closed process to public comment and influence.

CNN had some egregious 'reporting' recently. This time it is screaming, belligerently, about a meeting between EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Tom Collier, the CEO of the major mining company, Pebble Partnership.

Imagine living in a country where transporting property from one place to another could result in your property being seized by the government. The process of civil asset forfeiture makes it so the mere suspicion of a crime is enough for law enforcement officials to take and keep possessions. Law enforcement officials in this are able to keep a portion of the assets that they confiscate so the system is frequently abused.

Coming off a week-long recess and without any significant legislative victories this year, the pressure is on the Senate this week to pass the FY 2018 budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 25, which provides reconciliation instructions for fundamental tax reform. The House passed its own version of the FY 2018 budget, H.Con.Res. 71, on October 5 by a vote of 219 to 206.