In an effort to help boost the fortunes of the oil and gas industry, the Trump administration in August rolled back an Obama-era rule on methane emissions, spurring mixed reactions from within the industry as well as strong opposition from environmentalists. The administration’s rule would remove the requirement for oil and gas companies to install technology to monitor and limit methane leaks from new wells, storage facilities and pipelines. Methane is one of the main components of natural gas, and it is also a potent greenhouse gas that plays a major role in global warming when released during natural gas…

Amid the dismissal of several inspectors general (IGs) by President Donald Trump this past spring, lawmakers of both parties introduced legislation to protect the independence of these agency watchdogs. Congress initially passed legislation in 1978 to establish oversight within federal agencies via the independent inspectors general positions. The law, which was updated in 2008, requires the president to notify Congress at least 30 days prior to removing an IG from office and to provide a reason for the removal. In just a few weeks in spring 2020, President Trump removed two IGs and replaced three acting IGs. In May, he…

In June, the Trump administration issued regulation reversing an Obama-era rule that established nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ patients under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Under the new rule, the government interprets sex discrimination based on the plain meaning of “sex” as male or female and as determined by biology, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency argued that the new rule restores the civil rights provision in the ACA to not go beyond the “plain meaning of the law.” Under the Obama administration’s rule, “sex discrimination” was broadened to include discrimination…

National parks, wildlife refuges and recreational areas in the U.S. received a boost in funding this August when President Donald Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act (P.L. 116-152) into law on Aug. 4. The law will provide $9.5 billion over five years to help maintain and expand parks and natural areas throughout the country. It also provides $900 million a year to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides grants to local, state and federal governments to preserve and acquire land and water areas. The revenue from energy development and oil and gas exploration will fund these conservation…

In a historic move, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in late June to make the District of Columbia a state. The D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), introduced by the District’s long-serving, nonvoting Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, would make D.C. the 51st state, allowing it to hold elections for two senators and one representative. The new state would be renamed “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.” The bill passed the House by a largely party-line vote of 232-180. No Republicans voted for the bill, which conservatives have decried as a “power grab” by Democrats (one Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, voted against…

Even as numbers of positive COVID-19 cases continued to climb in the U.S. and around the world in early July, the U.S. formally ended its relationship with the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO). The Trump administration first announced the controversial withdrawal in late May and cut off funding to the group; weeks later, the White House submitted an official departure notice. When the move takes effect — no sooner than July 2021 — the health organization will lose funding from one of its biggest contributors. President Donald Trump began voicing his discontent with the WHO early in the spring…

The coronavirus lockdowns this spring that kept millions of Americans at home and away from large crowds crashed headlong into the primary elections around the nation. At least 16 states pushed back their primary dates, prompting renewed calls for voters to have more access to mail-in and early voting options for the November elections. In late March, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced S. 3529, the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act (NDEBA), which would ensure that voters have 20 days of early voting and no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail options. Under the bill, states would be required to…

As the U.S. continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, there have been growing concerns about surprise medical bills, the unexpected charges that patients receive after unscheduled or emergency out-of-network medical services. An August 2019 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the percentage of emergency room visits with surprise bills jumped 10% between 2010 and 2016, while the number of inpatient admissions that resulted in surprise bills rose nearly 16%. The cost of those bills has also increased, often leading to significant financial strain on patients. Twenty-eight states have enacted consumer protections against surprise medical billing,…

Congress demonstrated its disapproval of the Trump administration’s recent military action against Iran when it approved a bipartisan resolution (S.J. Res. 68) limiting the president’s war powers against that country. Weeks after the Trump administration ordered an airstrike in January that killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, the Senate passed S.J. Res. 68 in a 55-45 vote, with eight Republicans joining all Senate Democrats in approving the measure. In March the House passed the measure by a vote of 227-186, with several Republicans joining Democrats in support of the resolution. President Trump, however, is likely to veto it. “With…

In December 2019, Congress approved federal funding for gun violence research for the first time in nearly 20 years. As part of the fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020) spending bill (H.R. 1865), Congress approved $25 million that will be split evenly between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to research firearm-related deaths and injuries. “The epidemic of gun violence is a public health emergency,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services that approved the funding, said in a statement. “Yet, for more…