Sunday, August 16, 2020
'Big News': GAO Says Top Trump DHS Officials Wolf and Cuccinelli Appointed Illegally
Democratic lawmakers said the GAO decision "paints a disturbing picture of the Trump administration playing fast and loose by bypassing the Senate confirmation process to install ideologues."
by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/14/big-news-gao-says-top-trump-dhs-officials-wolf-and-cuccinelli-appointed-illegally
The Trump administration's top officials at the Department of Homeland Security—Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli—were illegally appointed to their positions, the Government Accountability Office said Friday.
The decision from the internation government watchdog states that the appointments were not in compliance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act or Homeland Security Act.
From the GAO decision:
Upon Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation on April 10, 2019, the official who assumed the title of Acting Secretary had not been designated in the order of succession to serve upon the Secretary's resignation. Because the incorrect official assumed the title of Acting Secretary at that time, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official were invalid and officials who assumed their positions under such amendments, including Chad Wolf and Kenneth Cuccinelli, were named by reference to an invalid order of succession. We have not reviewed the legality of other actions taken by these officials; we are referring the matter to the Inspector General of DHS for review.
The Democratic lawmakers who demanded the review of the appointments seized upon the GAO determination as evidence that both Wolf and Cuccinelli should step down.
The decision "paints a disturbing picture of the Trump administration playing fast and loose by bypassing the Senate confirmation process to install ideologues," Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
"At a time when DHS should be marshaling the resources of the federal government to respond to the pandemic that has killed over 165,000 Americans, the department's illegally appointed leaders are instead focused on continuing the administration's attack on immigrants and intimidating peaceful protesters in a show of force for the president's reelection campaign," the lawmakers said.
Advocacy groups weighed in on the development as well, with immigrant rights groups calling it "BIG news as it'll effect a variety of pending lawsuits raising similar challenges."
According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the GAO decision "raises serious legal questions."
"There must be accountability," the group said.
Amid 'Coup Attempt in the Making' by Trump, Top Democrat Demands Rapid IG Probe Into Postmaster General
Rep. Gerry Connolly warned that the timing of Louis DeJoy's policy changes suggest a "deliberate attempt" to influence the November election.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/14/amid-coup-attempt-making-trump-top-democrat-demands-rapid-ig-probe-postmaster
The top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, a panel with jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service, is demanding that the agency's inspector general conduct a "flash review" of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's recent policy changes that have dramatically slowed mail delivery across the nation and raised the specter of calculated election sabotage.
"The timing of his proposals—amidst a global pandemic and just weeks before a contentious presidential election that will rely on the Postal Service to deliver unprecedented volumes of mail-in-ballots—constitutes a deliberate attempt to use the Postal Service to stifle democracy and influence an election," wrote Connolly, a co-sponsor of new legislation in the House aimed at reversing DeJoy's policy changes.In a letter (pdf) sent Thursday to Postal Service IG Tammy Whitcomb, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) wrote that he and his colleagues in Congress are "disturbed by recent steps taken by Postmaster General (PMG) Louis DeJoy to restructure the Postal Service" with less than 90 days to go before the November elections.
Connolly noted that DeJoy—a major Republican donor to President Donald Trump—has in recent weeks:
Removed employee access to overtime, despite clear evidence of a workforce shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic;
Told employees to leave late-arriving mail behind, changing years of Postal Service practice;
Introduced a reorganization plan without providing any evidence or justification for it;
Announced plans to request authority for a hiring freeze, again in the midst of a global pandemic that is prompting workforce shortages; and
Announced plans to consolidate regions without clarity as to what problem these changes would solve.
"It remains unclear whether the postmaster general is complying with all statutory, regulatory, and administrative processes related to implementation of his drastic changes to nationwide operations and service delivery standards," Connolly wrote. "I believe he is not."
"It is unconscionable that the postmaster general would take steps to intentionally reduce the hours of Postal Service employees at a time when it is clear that the workforce is the solution to labor shortages at the agency," Connolly wrote. "These steps make no sense, and only fuel my fears that the postmaster general is intentionally infusing chaos and disarray into the Postal Service just weeks before a presidential election in which the use of mail-in-balloting is anticipated to skyrocket. "Given the potential impact the postmaster general's changes could have on upcoming elections, Connolly is asking that the USPS inspector general "expedite a rapid review of the statutory and regulatory compliance of Mr. DeJoy's recent actions."
Connolly's call comes as anecdotal evidence of the havoc DeJoy's changes are wreaking on day-to-day Postal Service operations abounds—from major package backlogs to veterans not receiving prescription medicine to reports of mail sorting equipment being removed from post offices around the country without explanation.
Postal workers and watchdog groups have warned that if they aren't quickly reversed, DeJoy's policies could threaten the timely delivery of mail-in ballots in November.
On Thursday, as Common Dreams reported, Trump openly admitted that he is blocking emergency Covid-19 funding for the Postal Service with the express purpose of hindering mail-in voting.
Susan Harley, managing director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division, warned in a statement Thursday that Trump and DeJoy's sabotage of the Postal Service amounts to a "coup attempt in the making."
"Trump and his election saboteur aide Louis DeJoy must stop their demolition of the Postal Service," said Harley. "Mail-in voting is an absolute necessity to ensure Americans can exercise their right to vote amid the worst pandemic in a century—which Trump has also made dramatically worse—just like everything else he touches."
"Trump's latest attempts to underfund and stifle the Postal Service not only puts Americans' access to vital medicines, products, and government payments at risk—it threatens our election system and our democracy," Harley added.
Despite 'Frantic' Walk-Back Efforts, Group Says Trump Threat to Destroy Social Security Must Be Believed—and Defeated
"The only prudent course for people who care about their earned Social Security is to defeat Trump this November."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/14/despite-frantic-walk-back-efforts-group-says-trump-threat-destroy-social-security
As the White House scrambles to contain the political backlash sparked by President Donald Trump's latest threat to defund Social Security if reelected in November, one progressive advocacy group said Thursday that Trump's long history of attacking the New Deal program means he should be taken at his word—and diligently opposed—when he openly states his intention to "terminate" the system's revenue stream.
"The White House is telling us not to believe our own eyes and ears," Social Security Works president Nancy Altman said in response to attempts this week by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and one anonymous administration official to walk back Trump's overt threat last weekend to unilaterally and permanently end the payroll tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare.
By attempting to massage and downplay Trump's comments, Altman said, White House officials "insist that Trump did not mean what he said, and 'has no plans' to defund Social Security. So, let's review the evidence."During a press briefing Wednesday, Trump repeated his threat without equivocating. "On the assumption I win," the president said, "we are going to be terminating the payroll tax after the beginning of the new year."
Altman went on to offer several examples of Trump's hostility to Social Security from both before he took office—in his 2000 book "The America We Deserve," Trump called for the privatization of Social Security—and during his presidency, despite his 2016 campaign vows to protect the popular safety net program from cuts.
"Once in office, Trump's proposed budgets included cuts to Social Security," Altman wrote. "Earlier this year, Trump told a room filled with Davos elites that he would look into cutting entitlements—code for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—if he is reelected. Last week, Trump showed us how he would defund Social Security, when he unilaterally ordered the IRS to stop collecting Social Security contributions temporarily."
Altman said that whether one believes the president's own words or his advisers' attempted walkbacks, "the only prudent course for people who care about their earned Social Security is to defeat Trump this November."
Last Saturday, as Common Dreams reported, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Treasury Department to defer collection of the employee-side payroll tax from September 1 through the end of the year. The order has been met with widespread confusion as well as condemnation from experts and progressive observers who say the deferral is an unconstitutional assault on Social Security and Medicare.
"Employers don't know whether the order is mandatory, what the process will be for eventually paying back the deferred taxes, or even which employees are actually eligible," Bloomberg Law reported this week. "Those questions make it extremely difficult for employers to carry out the changes and adjust their payroll systems."
In an op-ed for Common Dreams on Friday, Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, marked the 85th anniversary of the enactment of the Social Security Act of 1935 by warning that Trump "has been enlisted in the effort to dismantle" the program.
"The most glaring example is the president's unilateral (and possibly unconstitutional) action to defer the payroll taxes that fund Social Security through the end of the year," Richtman wrote. "Upon announcing this executive order, the president promised to 'terminate' payroll taxes if re-elected. That would either bankrupt Social Security or force depend on general revenue, which would destroy the program's worker-funded nature and open it up to benefit cuts in the name of deficit reduction."
"On this anniversary, we must renew our commitment to preserving and expanding Social Security in the face of these relentless efforts to undermine it," Richtman added. "Fortunately, the broader public—those who paid for, depend on, and cherish their earned benefits—have an opportunity to elect new leaders who will protect seniors, the disabled, and their loved ones against the 'hazards and vicissitudes' of life that President Roosevelt understood so well."
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