Tanya Lee: Republicans in Congress run amok as nation fixates on Trump

Thursday, February 23, 2017  

Republicans in Congress are busy writing and passing bills to repeal Obama-era regulations. Photo: Speaker Paul Ryan

Are you paying just a bit too much attention to the antics of President Donald Trump? Well don't forget to pay attention to Congress! Tanya H. Lee offers an update on what Republican are doing over on Capitol Hill:

In just the three weeks since Trump’s inauguration, Republican members of Congress have introduced legislation to:
• terminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (H.R. 861);
• terminate the U.S. Education Department (H.R.899); and
• terminate the Election Assistance Commission, which is “charged with supporting state and local election officials in their efforts to ensure accessible, accurate and secure elections.” (H.R.634)

Until EPA can be gotten rid of entirely (or in case that doesn’t work) several other pieces of legislation would seriously curtail its authorities. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, has introduced legislation (H.R. 958) that would “eliminate certain [unspecified, since the text of the bill is not available yet] programs” of the EPA.

Climate change is denied by presidential order and eliminating the term from the EPA website, which is still partly blocked, as well as proposed legislation. The No Tax Dollars for the United Nations’ Climate Agenda Act (H.R. 673) prohibits the U.S. from paying for any activities of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Green Climate Fund. The Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2017 (H.R.637) prohibits EPA or any other federal agency from regulating GHGs. And legislation is pending to reject several recent EPA regulations.

Congress is also planning to use the option of rejecting agency regulations to gut the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, whose main purpose is to ensure equal education for American Indian, Alaska Native and other minority children. Representatives introduced and the House passed within a week legislation that rejects the accountability (H.J.Res. 57) and teacher preparation (H.J.Res.58) provisions of ESSA.

Read More on the Story:
Tanya H. Lee: Congress Runs Amok While We Watch Trump Play a Magician (Indian Country Today 2/22)