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Public Citizen Decries Senate Committee Retreat From Safe Banking Consumer Protection Rules
Statement of Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Advocate, Public Citizen
WASHINGTON
Note: On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will begin voting on legislation (S. 2155) that would reduce consumer protections and bank safety rules. Public Citizen analyzed the bill's problems in this letter to the committee.
At a time when the likes of Wells Fargo and Equifax demonstrate that Wall Street needs stronger reforms, Senate banking leaders are proposing to grind holes in key existing safeguards. The legislation would remove protections related to appraisals, escrow and financing for manufactured housing. It would eliminate careful supervision for 25 large banks that collectively control $3.5 trillion in assets and received $48 billion in taxpayer bailouts. Bill sponsors claim this will promote economic growth, but ignore both current record profits at banks as well as the millions of Americans who lost their homes, jobs and savings when inadequate rules and supervision led to the 2008 crash.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Trump Expected to Pick 'Rabid Neocon' Marco Rubio for Secretary of State
"Trump's emerging 'national security' team is shaping up to be a kettle of hawkish neocons," wrote journalist Jeremy Scahill.
Nov 12, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly decided to name Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, a move that would elevate to the status of top U.S. diplomat one of the most reliable war hawks and interventionists in Congress.
Rubio (R-Fla.), whom Trump once attacked as a "little puppet" of the late pro-Israel billionaire Sheldon Adelson, has vocally backed Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, agitated for a military confrontation with Iran, and encouraged a coup in Venezuela. The Florida senator is also a China hardliner, much like Trump's national security adviser pick, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).
The New York Times, which first reported the Rubio selection late Monday, noted that Trump "could still change his mind at the last minute."
The expected Rubio pick runs counter to Trump's attempt during the presidential campaign to posture as a "candidate of peace," which is how Vice President-elect JD Vance described Trump in the run-up to last week's election.
"Trump's emerging 'national security' team is shaping up to be a kettle of hawkish neocons," wroteDrop Site's Jeremy Scahill, pointing out that Waltz was a "counterterrorism adviser" to Iraq War architect Dick Cheney.
Scahill went on to characterize Rubio and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)—Trump's pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations—as "B-list neocon warmongers."
Scahill's colleague, Ryan Grim, called Trump's likely selection of Rubio as U.S. secretary of state a "huge win" for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran have plunged the Middle East into a regional war.
"Marco Rubio is a rabid neocon" who "never met a war he didn't want somebody else to fight," Grim wrote on social media late Monday.
With Republicans set to retake control of the Senate, Trump will likely face little difficulty confirming Rubio and other expected members of his Cabinet. Despite this, Trump is pushing Senate majority leader hopefuls to commit to allowing recess appointments, which would enable Trump to install administration officials without confirmation from the upper chamber.
Trump has yet to name his pick to lead the Pentagon, but his secretary of state and national security adviser choices hardly indicate a break from a foreign policy establishment that has produced catastrophic wars costing millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network, noted Monday that "Rubio supported for-profit wars in Iraq, Afghanistan longer than anyone should."
"He's one of Netanyahu's top apologists, blindly fueling the ongoing genocide in Gaza," Ing added. "Trump's non-interventionist, anti-establishment mask is off. Millions of you got had."
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Trump Cabinet Picks So Far Decried as 'Nightmare Fuel'
"The good news is, we can win these types of fights," said one campaigner. "We helped drive out three Cabinet secretaries from office last time, and we can do that kind of thing again."
Nov 11, 2024
Progressive advocates voiced alarm Monday over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's initial leadership picks—including a border czar who oversaw the separation of migrant families during the Republican's first term—amid fresh allegations that the 2024 victor's transition team is breaking the law by failing to sign a required ethics agreement.
As of Monday, Trump has tapped—or in one case, is expected to imminently name—the following senior administration officials:
Elise Stefanik for United Nations ambassador
On Monday, Trump said he is nominating Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York and longtime ally, to represent the United States at the world body. Stefanik is a dogged defender of Israel, even as the country is on trial for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice for its ongoing obliteration of Gaza.
Stefanik also supports defunding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which provides lifesaving aid to Palestinians, over dubious Israeli allegations that its members are members of Hamas and took part in the October 7 attack.
According to AIPAC Tracker, Stefanik has taken more than $900,000 in campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and aligns with the lobby group's advocacy for unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel.
"Other countries send diplomats to serve as U.N. ambassadors. The U.S. always sends AIPAC-approved Israel shills. And, this time, one who is also an abrasive, bigoted, far-right clown," said Craig Mokhiber, a former U.N. human rights attorney who resigned last year over what he saw as the world body "failing" to respond to a "textbook case of genocide" in Gaza.
Mokhiber added that Stefanik is "a fitting pick to represent the rapid decline of the U.S. on the world stage."
Lebanese American University professor Jad Melki said sardonically of Stefanik's selection, "Thank you Trump for removing any illusions about your administration's supportive policy towards the Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon."
While not a Cabinet-level pick, Trump is expected to appoint Brian Hook—described by Drop Site News' Murtaza Hussain as "a major Iran hawk who helped lead the 'maximum pressure' campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and assassinations that characterized Trump's approach to Tehran"—to lead his State Department transition team.
Lee Zeldin for Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Described by one Trump critic as a "fantastic pick to destroy" the EPA, Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, has an abysmal 14% lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and is expected to oversee the dismantling of Biden administration climate policies. He is an avid booster of the fossil fuel industry, which has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign coffers, and supports expanding fracking and offshore oil drilling.
"At the EPA, Zeldin could undermine any progress made on protecting our environment and slowing climate change, doing more harm than any administrator before him," warned David Arkush, who directs the climate program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
"His record is clear: During his time in Congress, Zeldin cast vote after vote against measures that protect our environment and would slow the climate crisis," Arkush added.
Previewing their plans, Trump said in a statement that Zeldin "will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions," and the ex-congressman declared that "we will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI." Both claimed they would do that while also protecting air and water, which critics contested.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asserted that Zeldin's "only job will be to reward corporate polluters by gutting the EPA and making our air and water dirtier. In Congress and the courts, we've got a fight ahead."
Tom Homan for "border czar"
Late Sunday, Trump announced that Homan, who served as the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during his first term, will be his point person on border policy, a position that will not require confirmation by what will soon be a Republican-controlled Senate.
Homan—who previously enforced Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy that included the separation of thousands of children from their parents and other relatives—will oversee what the president-elect has promised to be the most sweeping mass deportation operation in U.S. history.
During a Monday interview on Fox News, Homan issued a warning to Democratic governors and sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with the future administration's mass deportation program.
"If you're not going to help us, get the hell out of the way," he said. "If we can't get assistance from New York City, we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City, because we're going to do the job."
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security said that around 1,400 migrant children still have not been reunited with their families. This, after Homan told the Conservative Political Action Conference in October 2023 that family separation "worked."
"I'm sick and tired hearing about the family separation," he said. "Bottom line is, we enforced the law."
Trump has not ruled out a return to the highly controversial policy in his second term.
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Homan's appointment "should make it clear to everyone that the Trump administration will make good on their promises of mass deportation."
"We know *exactly* who Tom Homan is. He is the architect of the 'zero-tolerance' policy that separated thousands of migrant children from their parents with no plan for reunification," Ramirez continued. "He demonstrates cold disregard for the U.S. citizenship of the at least 4 million children with an undocumented parent, suggesting to keep families together, they should be deported together."
"The Trump administration's goal is to inflict maximum damage on diverse American families, our children, and our communities," the congresswoman added. "But let it be known, I will fight like hell to keep our families together, and our communities are ready to be an obstacle at every turn as he tries to implement his cruel, vile, gruesome plan."
Susie Wiles for White House chief of staff
Wiles is a longtime GOP strategist who has managed Trump's campaign operations since 2021, even as she worked for the tobacco company Swisher International lobbying to influence Congress on Food and Drug Administration regulations. She is also co-chair of the lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs, which represents Big Pharma and junk food companies in apparent conflict with Trump's stated goal to "make America healthy again."
Stephen Miller for deputy chief of staff for policy
Numerous U.S. media outlets reported Monday that Trump is expected to tap Miller, a first-term senior adviser and speechwriter, as his deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller—an architect of Trump's family separation policy who advocates racist and xenophobic immigration policies—was described in 2019 by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a "verified white supremacist."
Although Miller's appointment was not yet official, Vice President-elect JD Vance on Monday congratulated what he called Trump's "fantastic pick."
Miller notoriously authored much of Trump's January 6, 2001 speech that is widely blamed for inciting that day's Capitol insurrection.
Last year, Miller vowed that Trump's first-term program to strip some naturalized Americans of their U.S. citizenship would be "turbocharged" should he win reelection.
Responding to reports of Miller's White House return, Jesse Mermell, the president and founder of the progressive deWit Impact Group, wrote on social media that "nothing about this is a surprise, but seeing it in print is still nightmare fuel."
Both Homan and Miller are among the at least 140 officials from Trump's first administration involved in Project 2025, a blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that includes terminating the legal status of around 500,000 immigrants currently protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, people commonly called "Dreamers."
CNN reported Monday that billionaire backer Elon Musk has been seen visiting Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida "nearly every single day" since Election Day and is "weighing in on staffing decisions, making clear his preference for certain roles."
Trump said during his campaign that he would place Musk in charge of government efficiency, raising progressive fears of aggressive cuts to crucial social programs and regulators.
As Trump fills out his Cabinet, critics noted in recent days that his transition team still hasn't signed legally required ethics agreements with the Biden administration, possibly over a mandatory pledge to avoid the conflicts of interest that plagued his first term.
"Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Monday on social media. "Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like."
Responding to the prospect of a return to the "countless abuses of power" in Trump's first administration, Lisa Gilbert, the executive vice president of Public Citizen, said Monday that "we need to prepare to push back."
"The good news is, we can win these types of fights," Gilbert added. "We helped drive out three Cabinet secretaries from office last time, and we can do that kind of thing again."
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US House Urged to Stop Bill Enabling Trump to Attack Nonprofits
"The bill could usher in repression on a massive scale," one critic warned.
Nov 11, 2024
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote soon on legislation that would further empower President-elect Donald Trump, who won a new term last week after fear-mongering about the so-called "enemy from within" and vowing to "root out" people he described as "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country."
Nonprofits and rights advocates are sounding the alarm about H.R. 9495, or the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. The bill would provide tax relief for U.S. nationals and their spouses who are unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad but also includes legislation to terminate the tax-exempt status of "terrorist-supporting" groups.
A version of the section targeting groups accused of backing terrorism previously passed the House but stalled in the Democrat-held Senate. As legal scholar Maryam Jamshidi explained on social media Monday, "The cynical move is intended to coerce Congress to pass the 501(c)(3) bill because no one wants to be seen as opposing tax breaks for U.S. hostages/prisoners abroad."
While the bill has long been on the radar of organizations like the ACLU—which led a diverse coalition that spoke out against it in September—the recent election results, Trump's campaign promises, and the upcoming vote are sparking fresh concerns.
"As soon as tomorrow, the House will vote on a bill that would give the incoming Trump administration a new tool they could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish groups that disagree with them," the ACLU said on social media Monday. "This broad, vague bill is an open invitation for abuse. Tell your representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495."
The ACLU highlighted reporting by The Intercept, which on Sunday detailed how the legislation would work:
Under the bill, the Treasury secretary would issue notice to a group of intent to designate it as a "terrorist-supporting organization." Once notified, an organization would have the right to appeal within 90 days, after which it would be stripped of its 501(c)(3) status, named for the statute that confers tax exemptions on recognized nonprofit groups.
The law would not require officials to explain the reason for designating a group, nor does it require the Treasury Department to provide evidence.
"It basically empowers the Treasury secretary to target any group it wants to call them a terror supporter and block their ability to be a nonprofit," said Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action, which opposes the law. "So that would essentially kill any nonprofit's ability to function. They couldn't get banks to service them, they won't be able to get donations, and there'd be a black mark on the organization, even if it cleared its name."
The bill is widely seen as an attempt to silence fierce critics of U.S. support for Israel's ongoing slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has led to a genocide case against the Israeli government at the International Court of Justice. However, Costello warned that "the danger is much broader than just groups that work on foreign policy."
"It could target major liberal funders who support Palestinian solidarity and peace groups who engage in protest. But it could also theoretically be used to target pro-choice groups, and I could see it being used against environmental groups," he said. "It really would be at the discretion of the Trump administration as to who they target, with very little recourse for the targeted organization."
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action similarly stressed on social media Monday that "this bill would grant Donald Trump unilateral power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing—without any explanation required."
"The House must vote no on H.R. 9495," Bend the Arc argued. "It is critical that we are able to organize and that we have a robust nonprofit sector that represents our needs and our interests to the government. This will be a necessary tool against the harms threatened by the second Trump presidency."
Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said in a statement that "this bill should be a five-alarm fire for anyone who seeks to protect free speech, civil society, and democracy. This bill is part of a broader MAGA assault on the right to protest that begins with attacks on Palestinian rights groups, and is aimed at outlawing the social justice movements that fight for progressive change. This is part of a well-worn authoritarian playbook to dismantle fundamental freedoms."
Describing the legislation as "terrifying," Ajam Media Collective editor Alex Shams said Monday that "the bill could usher in repression on a massive scale."
The threat extends to media organizations like Common Dreams. Freedom of the Press Foundation—whose director of advocacy, Seth Stern, wrote about the legislation for The Intercept in May—declared Monday that "this bill is a serious threat to nonprofit news outlets and Trump is sure to abuse these powers if given the chance."
"The threat is far more dire in light of the election," the foundation added. "Tell your representative to stop H.R. 9495 today."
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