Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed skepticism toward the wide latitude courts give federal agencies to interpret their own regulations in a case that could bolster the Trump administration’s push toward curbing agency power, according to Reuters. The case, involving a Vietnam War veteran’s fight with the Department … [Read more...]
Decades Old Election Law Overturned
New Hampshire local vote moderators can no longer throw out absentee ballots just because they don’t like the look of the signature on the ballot. On August 16, 2018, a federal judge said the 40-year-old election law that allowed absentee ballots to be thrown out is unconstitutional. Why, exactly, were these absentee ballots thrown out and not … [Read more...]
Administration Fails to Cut Affordable Housing Programs
Lacking any input from long-time civil servants, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin made a shocking announcement on December 1st in a phone meeting with advocates. He told them that the VA would soon end an integral homelessness program and divert the funds to local hospitals. Those hospitals, he said, would be allowed to use the money as … [Read more...]
Trump Signs VA Accountability Act Facilitating the Firing of Employees
On June 23rd, President Donald Trumped signed what the AFL-CIO has called a "destructive piece of legislation," purportedly to reduce scandalous activities by VA employees. In 2014, VA personnel redacted patients’ files in order to cast the organization in a better light. Without the redactions, the fact that patients died while waiting for care … [Read more...]
House Passes Major Spending Package
On July 27th, the US House of Representatives passed a spending bill containing a whole range of provisions including one devoted to funding President Trump’s US-Mexico border wall. The spending package passed mostly along party lines, with five members from each party voting against the grain. The legislation accounts for approximately $800 … [Read more...]
Department of Veteran Affairs Ordered to Reveal Settlement Data
In response to an investigation by the New York Daily News, Florida Rep. Jeff Miller is calling for reform of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). The investigation revealed that the expenditures on settlements has tripled in the past five years. In 2015, the VA spent $338 million in settlements compared with $98 million in 2011. The records, … [Read more...]
