January 2018

The second highest court in the country overturned a ruling that would have deprived the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of independence. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed a decision stating that the CFPB Director could be fired at-will by the President. “Congress validly decided that the CFPB needed a measure of independence and chose a constitutionally acceptable means to protect it,” Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for a 6-3 majority. One Republican appointee joined all five Democrats presiding over the case to uphold the agency…

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The Environmental Protection Agency’s Administrator has been shirking congressional inquiries about politicization within his agency, it was revealed during a hearing Tuesday. Scott Pruitt faced a grilling from Democratic Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He was peppered with questions about his environmental record, his responsiveness to Congress, and prior comments about the President. Pruitt claimed ignorance when asked about a New York Times report last month revealing a no-bid contract awarded to a Republican-supporting firm to monitor EPA employees and their attitudes…

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The Department of Homeland Security will ignore dozens of environmental regulations as it adds to existing walls on the US-Mexico border. According to a decree published in the Federal Register on Monday, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said wall upgrades in DHS’s El Paso sector wouldn’t have to comply with construction rules under the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Nation Environmental Policy Act, and roughly two dozen other environmental laws. Nielsen cited an Executive Order signed by President Trump last January, which directed her…

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The highest court in the US on Monday announced it would take up a case that pits the well-being of an endangered amphibian against the interests of private developers. Louisiana landowners are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service that classified 1,500 acres of land as a critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The designated tract cuts right through property owned by timber company Weyerhaeuser, which had intended to use the land for residential and commercial development projects.…

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The Senate moved overwhelmingly on early Monday afternoon toward ending a brief government shutdown. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he supported reopening the government, citing a promise by Republican leaders to bring up proposals on granting status to Dreamers. Senators voted 81-18 to limit debate on a continuing resolution that would fund federal agencies for two weeks. The supermajority approval means that the proposal can’t be filibustered. Late Friday, a similar vote failed to advance right before parts of the government ran out of…

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Watchdogs’ worst fears about Mick Mulvaney undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are proving well-founded. The interim CFPB director and top White House aide has asked for no additional money from the Federal Reserve for the next fiscal quarter, according to a Tuesday letter obtained by the conservative Washington Examiner. Since the CFPB opened its doors earlier this decade, it has received on average roughly $500 million per year from the Fed, which oversees agency finances. The funds have been used to win about $2…

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The recent wild fluctuations in the value of cryptocurrencies has the Senate Banking Committee probing potential consequences. The panel is scheduled to hold a hearing on virtual currencies early next month, committee leaders announced last week. And at a Wednesday hearing on the Bank Secrecy Act, some members voiced concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering. Bitcoin, the most prominent of virtual currencies, saw its value explode 800 percent in the second half of last year. Roughly half of the spike occurred in…

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