During his campaign, President Donald Trump sent shockwaves through Washington D.C. when he promised the people he would "drain the swamp." He said it countless times. He talked about the fact that lobbyists ran Washington and even told his supporters and crowds that he would know, he donated to several politicians himself. However, the last thing he is doing is draining the swamp. In a startling investigation by both the New York Times and Propublica, they revealed the length the White House is going to hide the fact that lobbyists are running the government and the swamp is thriving. At issue is the fact the White House is giving out secret waives to get around ethics concerns. The New York Times provided this example: 'One such case involves …show more content…
The White House requires all of its employees to work closely with ethics counsel to ensure compliance and has aggressively required employees to recuse or divest where the law requires.' The director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Schaub Jr., explained that the removal of the Obama-era regulation on a waiting period for lobbyists to join agencies weakened the standards for applying to around "4,000 executive branch hires." Furthermore, the waivers that the Trump administration has been handing out like candy at one time was required to be reported and were only given out for a limited number of reasons. However, now that is no longer required, none have bee reported. Schaub told the Times: 'There's no transparency, and I have no idea how many waivers have been issued.' Though a rule still exists that lobbyists who lobbied the previous administration on a specific issue is banned from the "development and implementation" of that issue; however, those secret waivers are the work-around for that rule. The Times cited Catanzaro again as an …show more content…
It's a big deal because Talen energy will be facing $1.2 billion in new implementations to meet requirements for improving environmental standards established under the Obama administration. The Times went on to give a length list of the names of conflicted advisers/former lobbyists who are shrouded in a fog of ethics questions. They include Gary Cohn, previously a Goldman Sachs executive, is one of Trump's chief economic advisors and is the Director of the National Economic Council. Then there's also D.J. Gribbin who is now the Special Assistant to the President for Infrastructure Policy. He was previously an employee of a bank that dealt in infrastructure deals. Don't forget Shahira Knight. She's the Special Assistant to the President for Tax and Retirement Policy. She used to be a lobbyist for Fidelity, the business you see plenty of commercials from on retirement. The conflicts of interests do not only apply to the economic council, however. They also apply to the Department of Health and Human Services with Lance Leggit who was a lobbyist last year and is now the chief of staff to the cabinet's figurehead, Tom
The power of executive privilege has been extremely controversial since basically the beginning of the United States as a democratic government. Many saw this power come into a greater public focus particularly during the Nixon presidency and the infamous Watergate Scandal, but the theory and use of executive privilege existed long before Nixon. As in true American fashion, some argue in favor of executive privilege, while others view it in a more negative light. The intense controversy is what makes executive privilege so intriguing to review in a deeper and more in depth analysis. The theory of executive privilege has derived its power throughout evolution of time, a series of presidencies, and quite a few pinpointed circumstances resulting in some very notorious court cases.
Feinstein is serving as a senator for 21years (1992-present). She is the legislative committee member of Appropriations, Judiciary, Rules and Administration, and she is the committee Chair of Select Committee on Intelligence. In her first term as a senator, she co-authored the Gun Free Schools Act and the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act in 1994. Also she led legislation banning sale and possession of military-style assault weapons.
...ess time for the corruption brought on by one man with a plan and carried out by a few men with a hunger for more money to manipulate one man that had no real, true plan to be the President of the United States. Once Hamon’s plan took root, it only took about a year for planning, less than a year to have the “right” people in position, and about one year for the actual deed of drilling on the Naval oil reserve. Yet, it took a large amount of people investigating a case of so few, six years to complete the hearings. Water and oil do not mix just like politicians and big oil companies should not. The end result will always be one, nasty mess that no one wants to wash their hands in. Unfortunately, history has proven itself, The Teapot Dome scandal in 1922, and the Watergate scandal in 1972. If this continues, the next major political scandal will happen in 2022.
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Taylor Jr., Stuart. "CHENEY'S WIN OVER THE GAO THREATENS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT." National Journal 34.50 (2002): 3638. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. Nov. 2010.
...f the covert operations at the time, created friction among policymakers and agency representatives that transpire into inefficient oversight mechanisms from the U.S. government specifically the Congress.
Donald Trump, the current President of the United States, is a villain at heart. Due to his lack of empathy, his greed for power, and because President Trump is immoral which are all characteristics of a villain. After the devastating hurricane hit Puerto Rico, Donald Trump tweeted about how Puerto Rico “owed billions of dollars” to “Wall Street banks” which “must be dealt with”(Donald Trump). Exemplifying Trump's lack of empathy, instead of offering his condolences or support, Trump sent out tweets about Puerto Rico’s lack of infrastructure and surplus of debt. Another characteristic of a villain is greed, and Trump is extremely open about it. The President was quoted at a rally in Iowa saying “I like Money. I’m very greedy. I have always
No, Bill Nelson, Marco Rubio, and Gus Bilirakis are not chair of any Congressional Committees.
in lobbying policy makers, the role of business in financing elections, and messages favorable to
Almost ten years in the past, Bill Clinton’s story in the White House is all but written in stone. No matter the accomplishments the administration accomplished in its time, Clinton’s extramarital affair and subsequent impeachment will pervade, if not dominate, the president’s legacy. The major facts stand mostly undisputed: the president engaged in sexual activity with Monica Lewinsky and maneuvered to keep the affair secret, culminating in explicit lies to a grand jury. Republican opponents of the president had unreserved political motivations to remove the president from office. Revisiting this scandal with these facts would be both fatiguing and evasive of the underlying issues at stake. To truly gauge the justness of Clinton’s impeachment, one must look at the original intent of impeachment as well as its history with regard to other presidents. Furthermore, analyzing the investigation itself requires understanding specific motives and laws that both Democrats and Republicans took advantage of. Here we examine the ethics of the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton with regard to original Constitutional intent, historical precedent, and the political climate during his administration.
Norman Ornstein is regarded as one of our nation's foremost experts on Congress. Mr. Ornstein received a Ph.D.. from the University of Michigan, he writes for the NewYork Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and he has a regular column in Roll Call newspaper called 'Congress Inside Out';. Mr. Ornstein is also an election analyst for CBS and appears frequently on television shows including the Today Show, Nightline and the Mac Neil/Lehre News Hour where he has been a consultant and contributor for
Everyday citizens often live unaware of their government’s inner workings. The knowing of political espionage is often too heavy of a subject to be inducted in conversation. True, prima facie, modest twists and turns of information may not be considered substantial, but this inconsideration leaves much to be uncontrolled. It is easy for political leaders to become power crazed, to not realize the massive implications that come of their actions. Only after all is said and done do the people actually realize their government is an opaque mask of deception. The Watergate Scandal substantially impacted Americans’ trust in their government.
Davidson and Oleszek also mentioned the fact that there is no single spokesperson for Congress as a whole. I completely agree with this because it allows the people to have one person to address instead of searching around and hearing from many different people. Davidson and Olseszek write, “While the President can communicate quickly to the American people concerning his goals and programs Congress lacks such capabilities.
Along with Obama, Vogel mentions Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as critics of large donors, who then also were leading in super PAC fundraisers. Though Vogel mentions many people and events, he never goes into great detail about any of it. Even with the immense amount of information that is left to the reader to decipher and research, one must ask themselves this question, “what are the effects of big money on modern politics.”
In addition to the Feds they have the U.S attorney, Roy Foltrigg. The already TV-celebrity who would do anything to get his own face on TV-screens all over America, in hope getting elected as the new U.S Senator in Louisiana.