Congressional Dish

In this bonus episode, we look into the state of passenger rail service in the United States by examining the history and current condition of , the only choice for passenger rail service in the nation. The United States has a third world passenger rail transportation system. There's no denying it. There is only one company, Amtrak, that operates nationwide. Amtrak train cars are decades old, the employees are over-worked, and it's incredibly unreliable. But why is that the case? How can we do better? Passenger rail service is a worthy investment for the United States government. Passenger trains consume 17% less energy than airplanes and 21% less energy than cars. Passenger trains also burn far less carbon dioxide: The average intercity passenger train burns 50% less carbon dioxide per passenger mile than an airplane and 60% less than cars. Rail transportation is also a safe mode of transportation, especially when compared to cars; automobile accidents kill an average of compared to an average of caused by accidents on passenger trains. [caption id="attachment_1443" align="aligncenter" width="598"] Automobiles kill 33,000 in the US every year. Trains kill 10.[/caption] But if passenger trains are such a good investment, why is the United States system so behind other countries? It wasn't always this way. In the 1920’s, more than 1,000 companies operated on a network of 380,000 miles of track in the United States. 1.27 billion passengers traveled on the United States' rail network every year, at a time when our population was much less than it is today. However, in the 1970’s, after the interstate highway system was completed and air travel became affordable for the middle class, the private railroads didn’t find passenger trains to be as profitable as freight and they wanted to eliminate passenger services entirely. The government agreed to take over the passenger service that the private sector didn’t want to provide for their own financial reasons. Amtrak was created in 1971 as a quasi public-private entity to provide public rail transportation service nationwide. Amtrak was a compromise between the members of Congress who wanted to keep a passenger rail system in the United States and the Nixon administration, who wanted passenger rail to disappear. In the deal that created Amtrak, the private railroad companies would no longer have to provide passenger services but they would have to provide Amtrak with start-up cash and equipment. The private railroads would maintain ownership of the infrastructure - the railraod tracks - but they would not be allowed to deny Amtrak the right to use them. The only place in the United States where the private railroad companies do not own the infrastructure is in the Northeast Corridor, between Boston and Washington D.C., which just so happens to be the area of the country with the best and most reliable passenger rail service in the country. However, Amtrak is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure; as a result, about 75% of Amtrak's budget goes towards maintaining the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak was given two mandates. The first was to provide a nationwide passenger rail service. The second was to turn a profit. While turning a profit is a worthy goal, no passenger rail service in the world is currently profitable even in countries where the passenger train company is not responsible for maintaining the rail infrastructure. The situation got worse for Amtrak in the 1980's due to the Staggers Act, which deregulated the railroad industry. As a result, railroad companies gobbled each other up in mergers and ripped out even more tracks. Since the 1960’s, almost half of the countries’ rail infrastructure has been abandoned or removed. Today, the vast majority of the country’s remaining railroad tracks are controlled by only four companies: BNSF, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific. Bills Discussed in This Episode Amtrak has been starved of funding since it’s creation, a problem that continues today. Amtrak needs about $5 billion just to maintain old bridges, tunnels, and walls in the Northeast Corridor, the only section of the country where Amtrak owns the tracks it runs on. , the transportation funding bill for fiscal year 2015 which passed the House of Representatives on June 10, would not authorize that money, nor much else for operations in other parts of the country. Provides over $15 billion in Federal subsidies for the aviation industry. Provides over $40 billion in Federal subsidies for the highway trust fund. Provides $1.2 billion in Federal subsidies for Amtrak. Amtrak is also authorized to borrow $5.6 billion. In addition, H.R. 4745 contains some outright fiscal attacks on Amtrak's ability to function. An amendment submitted by Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia defunds food and beverage service on Amtrak trains. An amendment submitted by Rep. Jeff Denham of California defunds . An amendment submitted by Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas eliminates the the only Amtrak route that runs between Los Angeles and New Orleans. There is hope, however. H.R. 4745 needs to be merged with the Senate version. There is still time to remove the Amtrak attacks. More importantly, the multi-year transportation bill known as is set to expire on September 30, 2014, right before the 2014 midterm elections. If we want passenger rail service investments in the United States, now is the perfect time to demand them. Representatives Quoted in This Episode (In Order of Appearance) Sources of Information for the Episode Music Presented in This Episode by (found on ) Intro and Exit Music: by (found on ) New Podcast You Might Enjoy Critical Thinking is Required, hosted by James Sirois

Catching up the the bills that passed the House of Representatives in February, this episode details a bill designed to keep campaign donors secret, a bill to make all regulations more difficult to enact, a bill that makes unlocking your cell phone legal, a bill that prohibits states from seizing your land for another private interest's gain, a bill that sets up the defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau... and more. Introduced by of Missouri Advertisements and/or information provided by the government on radio, TV, internet, and through the mail need to clearly state that it is paid for and distributed “at taxpayer expense”. Representatives Quoted [caption id="" align="alignright" width="268"] “I sometimes have to Google what some of the agencies in the Federal Government do.” – Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas[/caption] Introduced by Would prohibit the Treasury Department from changing the rules that allow social welfare groups to claim tax exempt status. Representatives Quoted Introduced by of North Carolina Title I: All Economic Regulations are Transparent Act of 2014 Makes every Federal agency submit monthly reports on the status of every rule they are working on. Rules can’t go into effect until they have been published on the Internet for at least 6 months. Exemption for national security, emergencies, or implementing international trade agreements. Title II: Regulatory Accountability Act Agencies must justify the rules they make and provide alternatives including “no action” alternatives, eliminating existing rules, and “specifying performance objectives” instead of giving specific actions necessary for compliance Agencies must do a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rules and all alternatives. There must be a 60 day mandatory comment period (120 days for a major rule - which they changed the definition of to basically mean any rule that costs companies money). There will be no judicial review allowed of an agency’s decision to withdraw a proposed rule. The agencies must adopt the “least costly rule considered”. None of these new procedures will apply to monetary policies made by the Federal Reserve. Title III: Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2014 Rule makers must list alternatives that cost businesses the least or benefit “small businesses" the most financially. Every rule needs to be reviewed every 10 years. Title IV: Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act Changes the rules for suing the government in regards to their rule making decisions. Introduced by of Wisconsin A State that uses it’s power of eminent domain to seize a person’s private property for “economic development” will be barred from receiving Federal economic development funds for two years after a court rules that the State took the property for this purpose. States can get Federal money is they return the land. Additional Information : Kelo vs. New London Supreme Court decision Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL struck down Richmond mortgage eminent domain battle expanding, December 9, 2013. : Richmond, CA a long shot against blight, January 12, 2014. Representatives Quoted "Dozens of communities across the country are considering a vulture fund- developed investment scheme by which the municipality’s eminent domain power is used to acquire underwater— but otherwise performing—mortgage loans held by private-label mortgage- backed securities and then refinance those loans through programs administered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Our housing finance system depends on private capital to take risk, make loans, purchase mortgage-backed securities, and help millions of Americans fulfill the dream of homeownership. What this eminent domain scheme considers would be incredibly destructive to the finance of homeownership and would do little more than help a few homeowners who can already afford their mortgage and line the pockets of the investors who developed this proposal. Who would invest in a mortgage knowing that their investment could be stolen just a few months or years later? Ironically, this new risk to the housing finance system would freeze the return of private capital to our markets at a time when many in Congress are looking for ways to increase the role of the private sector and decrease the federal government’s footprint. Using eminent domain in this manner will hurt Main Street investors the most. Those investors and pensioners may be invested in mortgages sitting in communities considering this plan— like Richmond, California—and not even know it. They are the ones who will suffer the most from this particular form of eminent domain. Mr. Sensenbrenner’s legislation shines a spotlight on the abusive uses of eminent domain, including this in- vestment scheme, and I am proud to support the bill. I believe this legislation may have the effect of defeating such a scheme." - Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina Introduced by of California Instead of making FOIA information available for copying, it makes the information “available in an electronic, publicly accessible format”. Gives the government one year to set up a website, “accessible by the public at no cost to access” that allows us to submit information requests, receive status updates on our requests and file appeals. “An agency may not withhold information under this subsection unless such agency reasonable foresees that disclosure would cause specific identifiable harm to an interest protected by an exemption, or if disclosure is prohibited by law.” Creates a pilot program to test the efficiency of using a single website for FOIA requests. One place that will handle requests for at least 3 different agencies. Authorizes no additional money to create the website. Representatives Quoted Introduced by of Virginia Allows people to unlock their cell phones. Prohibits cells phones from being unlocked in bulk. Additional Information The House's cellphone unlocking bill: Thanks but no thanks. February 25, 2014. Representatives Quoted Introduced by of Wisconsin [caption id="attachment_1435" align="aligncenter" width="477"] Yup, that guy is a Congressman.[/caption] The bill takes the authority to police financial products and services away from the and gives that authority to a new five member commission. Four of the members the new commission will be picked by the President and the fifth will be the Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve. Forces the to stop Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations under certain conditions; right now, the board is authorized to do so at their discretion. The Federal Reserve Chairman has a seat on this 5 member board too. Gives the Financial Stability Oversight Board an unlimited amount of time to kill Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations. Forces the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider harm to the “financial soundness” of banks when it makes rules. Allows other agencies to create and change consumer protection laws. Funds the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau via Congress instead of the Federal Reserve. Additional Information Rep. Sean Duffy was on . Representatives Quoted Music Presented in This Episode by (found on ) by (found on ) Intro and Exit Music: by (found on )

In this episode, we look at all the important bills that become laws since the start of 2014, including a law that might cost you thousands of dollars per year, a law that ends public financing of political party nominating conventions, and a law that President Obama openly intends to ignore. We also discuss the resignation of Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey from the House of Representatives.  Laws Discussed in This Episode  Introduced by This law has nothing to do with the South Utah Valley Electric Service District. S.25 changes the cost of living adjustment included in the budget agreement that was created after the shutdown ended which cut cost of living adjustments to pensions paid to veterans by 1%, which would short them each tens of thousands of dollars over the course of their lives. Now, we’re going to short change military members who enroll on or after January 1, 2014. Makes changes to which fund we use to pay Medicare doctors. Pays for all of this by extending the sequester for another year. It’ll now go through 2024. Introduced by In 1997, Congress invented the “Sustainable Growth Rate” (SGR) system for paying Medicare doctors. It tied the amount of money doctors get for Medicare doctors to projected growth of the economy. Since health care costs have skyrocketed at the same time that the economy has gone sour, doctors would see a huge pay cut of 24% if the SGR system of payment were used. H.R. 4302 . Section 213 employer-sponsored health plans for companies with 100 employees or fewer. It is retroactive to March 2010. Introduced by Eliminates all public funding of “any major or minor” political party nominating convention. Authorizes - but does not appropriate - the money to go towards a ten year pediatric research fund Introduced by and Denies visas to United Nations representatives who have been “found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity.” . . President Obama , basically saying he has the right to waive it using his power to receive or reject ambassadors. President Obama claims that Bush set the precedent for waiving laws in this manner. Introduced by Green mountain lookout can’t be moved except for safety reasons Introduced by and will provide “news and information” to Ukraine & Ukraine’s neighboring countries We will conduct a “programming surge” broadcasting 24-7 to “target populations" We will “highlight inconsistencies and misinformation provided by Russian or pro-Russian media outlets” We will focus on areas dominated by Russian media We will put more reporters and “organizational presence” in eastern Ukraine We will “partner with private sector broadcasters” to create content and spread the word. We can use “jamming and circumvention technology to overcome any disruptions to service.” Congress is allowed to use $10 million of our money for this, if they appropriate the funds. Emergency Declarations President Obama continued national emergency declarations for "the situations" in: President Obama declared new national emergencies for situations in: Rob Andrews Resigns from Congress On February 18, resigned from Congress, citing has the reason when the real reason was because he was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. Rob Andrews under investigation for, among other things: Spending over $16,000 of campaign funds to fly his family to a wedding in Scotland. Using campaign funds to fly himself and his daughter to Los Angeles six times in 2011 so that she could pursue an acting career in Hollywood. Using campaign funds to donate thousands of dollars to theaters that hired his daughter to appear in their productions. Earmarking over $1.5 million to the Rutgers University School of Law, where his wife is an Associate Dean. By resigning, Andrews made all these investigations go away because the . On May 5, based out of a Philadelphia law firm where his wife used to work. He will be lobbying on behalf of ., which provides IT and security for private and public institutions including the EPA, National Park Services, U.S. Corps of Engineers, US Navy, US Army, the FAA, the Dept. of Justice, and the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. He will also be lobbying on behalf of the National Coordinating Committee for Multi-employer Plans, which proudly proclaims on that “NCCMP influences virtually every piece of employee benefit legislation for the benefit of multi-employer plans.” Representatives Quoted in This Episode Music Presented in this Episode by (found on ) by ) Intro and Exit Music: by (found on )

In March, the President signed into a law some changes to our flood policy law. What is our flood policy law in the United States? How did we change it? Are the changes good? In the United States, we have a nationalized flood insurance industry. The question becomes then, does our flood insurance system have protections in place to make sure that our tax money is protected? Does is make the people in flood zones pay enough to cover the replacement of their homes? Do the rules make sense? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are all the same: No. The was because the to offer flood insurance after recurring, expensive flooding of the Mississippi River in the 1960s. The refusal of the private sector to provide flood insurance, a product that was in high demand by people in flood zones, left the government with the option of either bailing out flood victims or creating an insurance program itself, so that people in flood zones would at least chip into the pot of money that would inevitably be used to rebuild after floods occur.  The National Flood Insurance Program is managed by FEMA and has three main goals: To provide flood insurance To improve flood plain management To develop maps of flood hazard zones However, because of this dilution that private sector involvement is a good thing in it’s own right, private insurance companies manage our flood insurance program even though .  But this sweet deal isn’t quite sweet enough for the private market as they still want out of the program.  “The main reason carriers have been leaving the National Flood Insurance Program is #1, the profit margin is very slim. We receive approximately 30% for administering this program. Out of that 30%, we pay our agents 20%. We then pay state premium taxes of of 2%, which leaves us 8 points to manage this program and to pay for all of our costs.  - Flood insurance is . It’s still optional for everyone else and many people opt not to buy it, even though they’re in a flood zone. However, even the people required to get flood insurance as a term in their mortgage agreement, often just let the policy lapse once they’re in their home or business. With only the truly responsible paying into the program, we end up paying through emergency FEMA funds to rebuild buildings for people who chose not to insure their property. Smart freeloaders know that the government will pay for them either way.  Despite , flood insurance pretty much paid for itself until 2005, the year of Hurricanes Rita, Wilma, and Katrina. After that year, the flood insurance program went from pretty much solvent to .  Despite the debt, as of 2012, the flood insurance program was still only collecting about $3.5 billion in premiums. , who assume none of the risk and merely sign people up for a profit. One of the reasons that premiums are so low is because with flood insurance. These people can of their own premiums, with and rebuilding their homes - often in the same exact spot where it was destroyed.  For example, . The home, valued at $183,000 has cost us $1.47 million to repeatedly repair and rebuild.  Another problem is that local communities often fight flood prevention measures. Communities in New York and New Jersey have fought recommendations by the Army Corps of Engineers to put up sand dunes on the beaches to protect from ocean flooding. Their reason? They might block ocean views.  Another example is in Tuckerton, NJ, which on the shore and/or relocate them to somewhere outside the flood zone. They didn’t bother and Hurricane Sandy wiped out almost half the homes in their community, except for the few that were elevated by individual, responsible homeowners.  Another huge issue that we’re having with the flood insurance program is that our . Now, what we’re seeing is that communities that are newly placed into flood zones by updated maps are getting pissed and demanding the maps be redrawn. They insist they are not in flood zones and that they should not have to pay more for insurance because a new map says they are in a flood zone.  That’s the problem with the mapping process, we just don’t know how accurate they are. Many, many counties in this country are still operating under old maps, which underestimate the number of buildings in harms way. Our problem is not that too many people are being included in the maps - as whiny Congressmen might have you believe.  Many of my constituents have told me that they are in a Special Flood Hazard Area, despite no evidence of the area ever flooding. - The problem is that the .  That year, at the urging of floodplain administrators, Congress created a law that designated about $1 billion -- $200 million a year for five years -- to update and digitize the nation’s flood maps. But David Maurstad, who ran the flood insurance program from 2004 to 2008, said he told the White House’s Office of Management and Budget that the money wouldn’t come close to covering the cost of updating all the maps. The Association of State Floodplain Managers estimated the total cost of updating flood maps nationwide at $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion. $1 billion wasn't going to cut it.  Even after Hurricane Sandy proved in no uncertain terms that the maps were not accurate, and were leaving too many locations out of flood zones - putting life, property, and tax dollars in danger, Congress has actually cut spending on flood mapping in recent years. Congress allocated $99 million for updating maps in 2012 and 2013, roughly half of what it had spent annually since 2004.   Investing in new maps is crucial because modern technologies are capable of producing far more accurate maps. Lidar, which is collected by airplanes that shoot laser pulses at the ground, can detect differences in ground elevation of as little as 3 inches and produces data that’s 10 times as accurate as that used to generate earlier maps. And computer programs such as ADCIRC can model storm surge and wave action with far greater accuracy.  We have the ability to get this right. What we haven’t had is people in Congress to care enough or understand enough to fund it.  Although, even with this great new technology and even if we fully funded accurate mapping, we still have a huge problem. So, does the bill signed into law last month, which edits the 2012 law, does this new law fix these situations? Let’s look at the details. was signed into law March 21, 2014 by President Obama.  Section 3: Brings back subsidies People who didn't have flood insurance before the flood insurance law and people who bought insurance after the law was passed can now get subsidies.  People who paid more than their subsidized premiums would have been will be refunded the difference.  In a clear favor to the real estate industry - - building owners will be able to pass along their subsidized rate to the next owner, who will then see their rate slowly increase over time. Changes and refunds will be effective by July 21, 2015.  Section 4: Got rid of a requirement that premium adjustments be made based on the current risk of flooding  Section 5: Caps premium increases at 18 percent per year  Section 6: Gives people in areas that weren't in a flood zone before but are in a flood zone after re-mapping a subsidy for their first year and then premiums will increase no more than 18% per year until they are paying the correct amount for insurance for their level of flood risk.  Section 7: Insurance writers must "strive to minimize" the number of yearly premiums that are over 1% of the coverage. $10,000 per year for a million dollar policy. Section 8: All new and renewing flood insurance policies will include a new yearly surcharge. The surcharge is $250 for non-residential properties and vacation homes and $25 for primary homes.  The surcharge will expire when everyone is paying premium rates that reflect their actual risk.  Section 10: FEMA can buy insurance for the flood insurance program from the private sector.   Section 11: Gives flood insurance buyers the option of paying yearly or monthly  Section 12: Gives homeowners the option of buying policies with deductibles as high as $10,000 Section 13: Flood insurance is not required for buildings that aren't attached to your house and that no one lives in.  Section 14: Improvements made to the home to prevent flooding will be taken into account when determining insurance premiums  Section 17:The  will have to sign off on hazard maps to make sure they are credible.  Section 19: In communities where have a flood mitigation project, the people in that flood zone will get lower premiums because of that project. The project does not need to be complete for people to get the reduced premiums. The project needs to be 100% authorized, 60% funded, and halfway done.  Section 24: Flood Insurance Advocate position is created. Responsibilities included educating property owners on flood risks, flood mitigation, ways to reduce rates with flood protection measures, the mapping process, & changes to the flood insurance program. Flood Insurance Advocate will also help pepole get and verify rate information when purchasing & renewing a flood insurance policy  Section 30: Gives affected communities more information during the mapping process and gives them a 30 day window after the first draft is done to add their own data "that can be used to supplement or modify the existing data Additional Information Discussed in This Episode this weekend, including Mayflower, AR and Vilonia, Ar. What a pic! RT Amazing photo from of Louisville, MS supercell that produced the EF-4 tornado Mon. night — Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) Monster MT RT RT : Tornado in Vilonia Rough damage path so far of long track violent in Arkansas (radar based) .. over 40 miles — Ari Sarsalari (@AriWeather) I friend sent me this that was sent to her from Pensacola area. awful !! — Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) Representatives Quoted in This Episode Music Presented in This Episode Music: by Intro and Exit Music: by (found on ) Check Out Adam Scorgie's New Podcast Buy The Union on Amazon Check out the trailer for The Culture High

In February, the House passed a package of ten bills that give away or sell Federal land, most of them so that private interests can use our land for profit.     To contribute to Congressional Dish, please use the PayPal link below. Thank you.   :" Let's be clear: we are talking here about Federal property, that is, property owned by all Americans. The land in question in Escambia County, Florida; Anchorage, Alaska; Fernley, Nevada; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Yellowstone and Grand Teton and the land on which Federal grazing occurs, the land impacted by this package is Federal land, owned by each and every American taxpayer. In the case of these land transfers, the Federal Government gave the land, gave it to a local community as a means of Federal support, and the only requirement, in most cases, was that the land always be used for public purposes. As long as it is a park or a school or a fire station, it is yours, for free. What these bills do is end those public purpose requirements. The communities want to use these lands for private profit. They want to close them to the public, in many cases. This is not a land grab by Uncle Sam. This is not some silly scheme by the Feds to harm local communities and to use their power to hold down the tax-payers and keep the public out. This is a community asking to make money off land that was owned by all Americans, and it is the job of Congress to decide if that is a good idea or not. Allows Escambia County, FL to give away it's title, right, and/or interest in Santa Rosa Island "to any person or entity", without restrictions. Escambia County has 2 years to transfer its rights, title, and interest in its property that falls within Santa Rosa Country to Santa Rosa County. The transfer is final and "shall terminate" "any regulation of Santa Rosa County by Escambia County" : "This is public land, not land to give away and, as stated before, over and over again, be dredged and used for a harbor for potential windfall profit." The concern raised by Raul Grijalva is over the . A pass was dredged for boats in 1965 but was almost immediately destroyed by Hurricane Betsy. In 1968, a permit to re-dredge the pass was denied. The fighting over this has continued ever since. From what I can gather, Santa Rosa county wants to dredge the pass again but Escambia County does not. Both counties currently get a vote on this issue. Terminating any regulation of Santa Rosa County by Escambia County could potentially take Escambia's vote away and allow the pass to be dredged. TITLE II: Transfer of Federal land rights to the City of Anchorage Section 203: Secretary of the Interior will give all rights to land it currently leases to the City of Anchorage "to enable economic development" of that land. City of Anchorage will pay all costs. TITLE III: Sale of Federal land to Fernley, Nevada Introduced by Section 302: Forces the Secretary of Interior to process a sale of 9,407 acres of Federal land to the City of Fernley in Nevada. Secretary of Interior will determine the "fair market price" = almost $33 million worth of land The map of the land will be available for public inspection, but it doesn't say it has to be available before the sale is completed. The land transfer will not be considered a "major Federal action", which exempts it from evaluation under the National Environmental Policy Act Section 303: Releases the Federal government from any liability from "the presence, release, or threat of release of any hazardous substance, pollutant, contaminant, petroleum product (or derivative of a petroleum product of any kind), solid waste, mine materials… on the Federal land in existence on or before the date of conveyance." Section 304: Appears to exempt the land from public land, mineral leasing, mining, and geothermal leasing laws. *confusing - not sure* " include grazing, mining, a public airport lease, and a geothermal lease... The Federal government owns both the surface and mineral estate in much of the parcels and the value of the mineral estate may be substantial." "The city has said could include parks, an airport, hospital, convention center and other businesses." TITLE IV: Prevents Federal land purchases "Let's put one other misleading claim to rest. While Republicans claim the Federal Government owns too much land, the historic trend has been one of divestiture and fragmentation. As recently as the late 1860s, the Fed-eral Government owned 1.8 billion of the 2.3 billion acres in the contiguous United States. Grants to States, home-steaders, land-grant colleges, railroads and others settling in the Alaska and the West have reduced Federal land ownership by roughly 640 million acres to date."* Section 401: No land can be purchased, donated, or transferred to the Federal government until a database of land-for-sale is created and made "easily accessible to the public" Section 401: No land can be purchased, donated, or transferred to the Federal government until a database of land-for-sale is created and made "easily accessible to the public." Introduced by Section 502: Management of will be managed according to a Bush Administration era environmental assessment, issued June 13, 2007. In October 2007, , claiming that they Bush Administration rules didn't restrict off-road vehicles enough to protect the animals and land - including land nesting birds, whose populations were declining - and sea turtles. A "consent decree" - basically a settlement- was agreed to in April of 2008. This consent decree is what is currently governing the seashore. After the consent decree was agreed to, the National Park Service created the rules - which included a public comment period - and went into effect on February 15, 2013. This bill nullifies the consent decree, prevents enforcement of the final rule, and puts the Bush Administration rules back in charge. The Secretary of Interior can not restrict pedestrian or motorize vehicle traffic in order to protect animals beyond the restrictions enacted by the Bush Administration. Protections for endangered species at Cape Hatteras can not be greater than the restrictions placed for that species at any other National Seashore. Section 504: Prohibits enforcement of a final rule regulating off-road vehicles at the seashore that went into effect on February 15, 2012. TITLE VI: Green Mountain Lookout Can't be Moved [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="412"] The Green Mountain Lookout in 2010[/caption] March 2012: A federal structure from Green Mountain wilderness area. The lookout was constructed in 1933 and had been rehabilitated in 2009. "Green Mountain Lookout, located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, was built in 1933 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project to detect fires and spot enemy aircraft during World War II. The look-out is an important, historic and unique part of the Pacific Northwest. It is a popular destination for hikers, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, severe weather caused the Green Mountain Lookout to fall into disrepair in 2001, and the U.S. Forest Service began taking steps to preserve the historic…structure for future generations. How-ever, an out-of-State group filed a law-suit against the Forest Service for using machinery to conduct these repairs, and a U.S. District Court ordered the Forest Service to remove the look-out. My bill would allow critical and routine maintenance while keeping this iconic structure where it is meant to be—in its original home. Local governments in the area, my constituents, as well as a number of environmental and historic preservation groups support my bill to keep the Green Mountain Lookout where it is. The Natural Re-sources Committee agrees. They passed this bill unanimously last year, and why wouldn't they? This bill is common sense. It saves us money because it would actually cost more to remove the lookout than to keep it where it is. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, if this bill had been brought up on its own, by its own merits, it would have passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening here today. Instead, this bill has gotten wrapped up in a series of very controversial and divisive bills" Section 603: Green Mountain Lookout can't be moved except for safety reasons. Introduced by Prohibits the enforcement of two regulations that all rivers to be closed to hand paddlers in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Would take effect 3 years after the bill becomes law. Existing r on rivers and on five of Yellowstone's 168 lakes and a 1,000 foot section of the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park.  The ban was put in place sixty years ago to prevent overfishing. Introduced by Section 802: Increases the term for new permits on Federal land from 10 to 20 years. Anyone who sues to stop grazing and lose in court will pay the legal fees and other expenses of the winner, unless the court rules otherwise. Section 803: An expired or transferred permit will remain in effect, under the original terms, until the government finishes processing a new permit or lease, which will be valid for twenty years. "The renewal, resistance, or transfer of a grazing permit or lease by the Secretary concerned shall be categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement". Crossing and trail authorizations for livestock will be exempt from environmental regulations. Temporary crossing or trailing authorizations "shall not be subject to protest or appeal" Introduced by TOM MCCLINTOCK (CA): The fire also left behind hundreds of millions of board feet of dead timber that is on Federal land that could be sold to raise millions of dollars, money that could then be used to replant and reforest our devastated lands. In addition, processing that timber would help to revive the economy of a stricken region. Section 902: Secretary of Agriculture "shall conduct a timber salvage and restoration pilot program. Automatically deemed to comply with NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and three other forest management laws. Is not subject to "judicial review by any court of the United States." Specifically prohibits a temporary restraining order. The pilot program will be conducted according to an proposed alternative in a draft environmental impact statement. The ", which would govern the pilot program, has no details: "In addition to the Proposed Action, the EIS will evaluate the required No Action alternative and will likely consider other alternatives identified through the inderdisciplinary process and public participation." is in favor of opening some additional land to logging but is pissed at Tom McClintock for going so far and not trying to find a sensible compromise: "McClintock has called for immediate salvage logging of 1 billion board feet of timber. To understand the magnitude of what McClintock envisions, a billion board feet is equal to all the timber logged in California in a year. Much of it is in steep, remote areas. To get to it, loggers would need to cut roads and scale steep mountains, causing yet more erosion on slopes with no ability to stop runoff. The damage – environmental and to whatever is below – could be enormous. McClintock believes that such a massive operation should be exempt from federal environmental laws, public comment and court review. That is nonsensical. There is no scientific basis for the scale of removal that McClintock advocates. Besides, the logging industry doesn’t have enough trucks, crews, equipment and processing capacity for it. For instance, there are only 11 logging crews and 165 trucks working in the area of the Sierra hit by the fire, and they will be busy through the summer simply removing the timber from private lands. And even if more crews and trucks could be brought into the area, the mills would have no place to store that much timber. The congressman from Elk Grove ought to drop his ill-conceived idea and concentrate on helping the timber companies acquire the areas they target." TITLE X: Chesapeake Bay Orders a report on past and future restoration funding levels for activities over $100,000. Develop a restoration plan that will be updated every two years .Create an independent evaluator for the restoration programs. TITLE XI: Issues a patent for 80 acres of Alaska land for surface rights United States keeps all mineral rights. Additional Information The , a rancher in Nevada who has refused to pay his grazing permitting fees for over 20 years, which lead to armed standoff between Federal agents and 100 man hillbilly militia. when the Federal government revoked Bundy's permit for grazing on 600,000 acres of federal land for lack of payment. In 1998, a Las Vegas federal judge ordered Bundy to remove his cows from our land. He has refused.  Since then, Bundy has r and has refused to move his cows onto his own land. Bundy with the Federal government, as it was revoked in 1993. Bundy also says that the land in dispute The Bureau of Land Management removed his cows from the Federal land - impounding them instead of putting them on Bundy's undisputed land - and Bundy and his hillbilly supported showed up pissed off with guns. The BLM last week backed down. Music Presented in This Episode Intro and Exit music: by (found on ) by (found on ) In Kansas City? Want to Dance? Check out , owned by a Congressional Dish supporter! 816-436-5299

We have a new law! President Obama signed a bill loaning a billion dollars and giving another $150 million to Ukraine. In this episode, we find out exactly what's in it and why we are giving money to Ukraine - and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. that was signed into law by President Obama: Key Sections: Section 3: Lists seventeen aspects of United States policy toward Ukraine. Section 5: The Secretary of State will assist the new Ukraine government, the European Union, and "other appropriate countries" with investigative assistance and training to "support the identification, seizure, and return to the Government of Ukraine of assets linked to acts of corruption." Will be aided by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury Specifically names the former President, his family, and other government officials. Section 6: $50,000,000 will be given to the Secretary of State for 2015- either directly or by giving money to non-governmental organizations -for election monitoring, "diversifying Ukraine's economy, trade, and energy supplies, including at the national, regional, and local level," expanding their access to independent media, and supporting political and economic reforms. The President will make the actual strategy for how this will be done. Section 7: $100,000,000 will be used to provide defense articles, defense services, and military training "to countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine." Additional amounts are allowed to be appropriated under other provisions of law. Section 8: Sanctions will be levied against any former or current Ukrainian government officials, anyone acting on behalf of the old government who the President says ordered or controlled acts of violence against antigovernment protestors on November 21, 2013. Sanctions also will be levied against Russian government officials, "close associates" and family members of that official that the President says has expropriated Ukrainian or Russian private or public assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts, the extraction of natural resources, bribery, or transferring their proceeds from these things to other countries Sanctions include exclusion from the United States and blocking and prohibiting all transactions of property and/or money that is either in the United States or in the possession of "United States persons". This is the Citizens United version of "United States persons" as "persons" includes "legal entities" - corporations - and the law specifically says that it includes foreign branches of United States corporations. The sanctions don't apply to the importation of goods. Section 10: Annual report detailing the capability of Russia's military, Russia's space program, Russia's nuclear program. Information about Moldova People in one region are . One of those two huge natural gas pipelines goes through Moldova. Actually goes into Moldova, back into Ukraine, and then into Romania. Information about Lithuania Russia has - dairy, pork, cars - which hurts Lithuanian businesses because Russia buys 20% of their crap. March 14, 2014: Lithuania's Prime Minister said the political crisis in in 2015. March 17, 2014: A plan to establish a was "re-launched" Information about NATO Since , NATO has absorbed Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovania, Albania, and Croatia. 2008: "A powerful military bloc appearing near our borders will be perceived in Russia as a direct threat to the security of our country." - President Putin of Russia. says an attack on one NATO country is considered an attack on all NATO countries. Music in This Episode Intro and Exit music: by (found on ) by (found on )

The United States appears prepared to restart the Cold War and loan at least $1 billion of our tax money to Ukraine through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Why? In this episode, we look at what we're asking for in Ukraine in return for our generosity. Executive Producer: Anonymous * For an excellent perspective on the Russian invasion of Crimea, listen to : Poking the Bear and : Cashing the Doomsday Cheque of . The (IMF) loans struggling countries money but in return the IMF demands that the country change its economic laws to make them much more corporate friendly. As explained in the , there are three economic principles that the free marketeers want their target countries to adhere to: Governments must remove all rules and regulations standing in the way of the accumulations of profits. Governments should sell off any assets they own that corporations could be running at a profit. Governments should dramatically cut back funding of social programs. In Ukraine's case, Their elected government - an elected government that had recently and was recently because - was and it was replaced by an IMF-friendly government, which with Europe and has promised to enact the "painful" IMF economic reforms. The new government is currently being . "You know that we resumed talks with the IMF, we do understand that these are tough reforms, but these reforms are needed for the Ukrainian state. We are back on track in terms of delivering real reforms in my country. Probably in the near future, next week, or in ten days, Ukraine is to sign the political part of an association agreement with the European Union and we want to be very clear that Ukraine is and will be a part of the Western world." -Interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, Our government is supporting this new government. Here's my answer to "Why?". Potential Profits in Ukraine The two most promising areas are in energy and agriculture. First, energy. Poor Ukraine has the potential to become filthy rich because of . Ukraine has not one, but two, big shale formations that are mostly unfracked. Ukraine is completely , but they have been buying it from Russia. Russia has been giving Ukrainians discounts on their natural gas that that Ukraine's natural gas company hasn't bothered to start fracking at home. And yes, that's the other thing. Ukraine's natural gas industry is nationalized. Ukraine's natural gas belongs to the state, it belongs to the government, it belongs to the people. In fact, in 2011, Ukrainians passed a law that said that . No exports allowed. What that means for The People is that they will be able to use their own resources for energy - become energy independent, if you will. What that means for multinational fossil fuel corporations is that they from exporting Ukraine's nationalized natural gas. According to Morgan Williams, President and CEO of the US-Ukraine Business Council, "The new prime minister says " Second, . Ukraine has been nicknamed the "breadbasket of Europe" for centuries and in January, called Ukraine "one of the world's most promising agriculture commodity producers". The reason is that in 2013, Ukraine had their best year ever for corn. The market is practically drooling over the prospects of getting control of this land. - the group I think is really calling the shots here - said, "The potential here for agriculture/agribusiness is amazing ... production here could double. The world needs the food Ukraine could produce in the future. Ukraine's agriculture could be a real gold mine." So Ukraine is a country with huge, untapped natural gas reserves, which can be easily transported and sold to Europe since Ukraine already houses which transport natural gas from Russia to Europe. Ukraine is also a country with fertile land in a time when other "breadbaskets of the world" are either flooded or withering in drought. Add to that Ukraine's educated workforce ripe for corporate slavery and you've got a country that the market would love to take advantage of. This is why Ukraine is a target. This is why we're involved. What Are We Fighting For? According to a , the IMF wants Ukraine to, first and foremost, . The IMF is also adamant that Ukraine needs to e, flexible in the down direction that is. Since the IMF government was installed, Ukraine's currency has fallen 24 percent, making it the . Another goal of the IMF is to "". Ukrainian banks controlled 58% of the Ukrainian banking industry in 2010, . include the "repeal of burdensome government regulations", "wage and employment restraint", which translates to lower wages and cutting of Ukrainian government jobs, via "reforms and reductions" in the health and education sectors, which make up the bulk of public employment in Ukraine. These new laws are in addition to the new laws the IMF had already gotten from the recently ousted government. Ukraine already reformed their pension system by raising the retirement age for women from 55 to 60, lowered corporate tax rates in 2010, laid off 30,000 public employes in 2011, and privatized Ukraine's 11th largest bank in 2011- selling it to a titanium business tycoon who gobbled up Ukraine's government-owned titanium in that took place in 2004. Where Are We Now? It appears that the Ukrainians are screwed. The new prime minster said he is prepared to be and he's enacting the new economic laws, full steam ahead. For our part, in our Congress, the IMF loan money is uncontroversial. Both the which will go towards the IMF loan. Timeline of Events Winters of 2006 and 2009: Russia and Ukraine waged two "gas wars" when and by extension the rest of Europe. July 24, 2010: took effect, which establishes three key principles for the Ukrainian gas market: Free Consumer Choice of Suppliers Nondiscriminatory Access to Gas Transportation System - due January 1, 2012 Horizontal Unbundling of Gas Sector - separating the gas production and marketing from the "natural monopoly" of transportation, to begin with (privatization is prohibited for transportation infrastructure) Early 2011: Ukraine halted natural gas exports to Poland's gas company after . Early 2011: "because Ukraine refused to remove subsidies on household gas supplies." February 2011: Ukraine became a full member of the Energy Community, an organization formed at the initiative of the European Union to extend the EU internal energy market to southeastern Europe and beyond. of membership of the Energy Community. June 2011: allows Ukraine's state-oil company to export Ukraine's natural gas. January 2013: for exploration at Yuzivska in eastern Ukraine Nov. 5, 2013: to develop the western Olesska field. Nov. 21, 2013: President Viktor Yanukovych - in the works since 2005 - with the European Union, instead choosing to - the country that controls their energy supply. February 22, 2014: President Viktor Yanukovych flees to Eastern Ukraine (the Russian side) . February 26, 2014: The government of Ukraine becomes , at least until the election on May 24th. March 21, 2014: Ukraine's interim government signs . March 27, 2014: The after Ukraine's interim government cuts heating subsidies by 50%, promising to eliminate them all by 2016. Full Videos of Clips Presented in this Episode March 6, 2014 , Spokesman for the White House National Security Council , Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Treasury (NY) March 12, 2014 President Obama and Ukraine's Prime Minister speak to reporters after a meeting at the White House March 12, 2014 Ukrainian interim Prime Minister #Music Presented in this Episode by Intro and Exit music: by (found on )

In early February, the House passed a package of eight bills that are supposed to appeal to hunters and fisherman. For this episode, Jen is joined by Cody Herman, host of and owner of , who helps Jen understand the bills and discusses whether or not the changes are good. Passed the House of Representatives on February 5, 2014 by 268-154. H.R. 3590 is a collection of eight bills, two of which never went through the committee process. The bill in its entirely also never went through committee. TITLE I: Prevents the EPA from regulating the chemicals in bullets, shot, projectiles, propellents, and primers. In 2012, a group of 100 environmental organizations asked the EPA to regulate lead in ammunition and fishing tackle as a toxic substance because of the risk lead poisoning poses to animals and humans who eat animals killed by lead bullets and tackle. Lead poisoning has been found in California condors, turkey vultures, ravens, and a mountain lion. Livestock that graze on land contaminated with lead shot often ingest the metal, leading to lead-contaminated meat and dairy products. In October of 2013, . The law will be effective July 2019. under the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate the manufacture or sales of ammunition or tackle containing lead. This title would explicitly prohibit EPA from doing so. TITLE II: Creates public shooting ranges Taxpayers currently pay 75% of the construction, operation, and maintenance of public shooting ranges. This bill increases taxpayer obligation to 90% of construction costs and we'll pay 90% of the cost for buying land for public shooting ranges. Also, the United States can't be sued in civil court or in any case demanding money for injury, property loss or damage, or "death caused by an activity occurring" at the public shooting range. TITLE III: Public Lands Filming for Groups of 5 or Fewer This title will require a permit and a $200 annual fee for commercial filming activities; if you have a permit, you can't be assessed "any additional fee" for commercial activities that occur in areas designated for public use during public hours. Also, the government can't prohibit the use of motor vehicles from being used for filming on Federal lands and waterways. TITLE IV: Polar Bear bill The polar bear was added to the Endangered Species Act on May 15, 2008. On that day, it became illegal for US big-game hunters to bring back polar bear body parts to the United States. This title allows 41 polar bear killers to - or trophies. The bears were hunted in early 2008, but their killers didn't import their body parts in time so the parts are now stuck in Canada. to show off to their friends. This title is being pushed by Don Young of Alaska, who pushed for it last Congress too. Don Young Many of the 41 hunters are members of Safari Club International, which , with the largest chunk of that cash , after he introduced this favor to the Safari Club International members the first time. TITLE V: Electronic Duck Stamps States will be allowed to issue electronic duck stamps- a hunting license/collectors item that serves as an entrance pass to wildlife refuges-  which will be valid for 45 days. 98 cents of every dollar for them goes towards conservation. TITLE VI: Weapons Should be Allowed at Water Resource Facilities Overturns current law that prohibits weapons at water resource projects. TITLE VII: Establishes an Advisory Committee to the Secretary of the Interior The committee will direct the Secretary of the Interior on how to expand hunting and fishing, promote hunting and fishing, create programs to recruit and retain new hunters and shooters, create programs to "increase public awareness of ...the benefits of recreational hunting and shooting", and programs for conservation. TITLE VIII: Open Most Federal Land to Hunting and Fishing Actions to open up land - including land in National Monuments - will not count as "major actions" and will not be subject to environmental impact analysis Lands can be closed for public safety, resource extraction, or compliance with other laws. Orders the government to open more shooting ranges and exempts the government from any liability for injuries, damages, or deaths that occur on those shooting ranges National Parks will not be affected Prohibits any further restriction of motorized vessels in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which is a battle being waged by freshman The that people are running ATV's that damage the vegetation, motorboats are threatening the safety of people on canoes and the motors pollute the river water, and people are pulling trucks into the river and having parties on the gravel bars. Also, horse owners have created 65 miles of unapproved trails and their horse droppings have created an ecoli problem in the area. This in the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana. The decision was made in late 2012 and took effect last year because of safety complaints made by private landowners adjacent to the forest and from people using the land for recreation. Kisatchie National Forest was the only public land where deer hunting with dogs was allowed. Additional Information Music Presented in This Episode Intro and Exit Music: by (found on ) by ) by )

On February 5, the House of Representatives passed a bill that takes away California's right to divide its dwindling water supply. The bill forces California to take water away from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta and give it to Agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley, voiding a bunch of State and environmental laws in the process. Summary of the Bill This is the second time the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed this bill. . TITLE I: Eff The Fish [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="360"] Water would be diverted away from this delta and given to Big Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley[/caption] Section 101: Makes sure that water currently dedicated to fish and wildlife is given Central Valley Project contractors by December 31, 2018. Most in the San Joaquin Valley. Section 102: New terms for water contracts: Eliminates a provision that makes sure the EPA approves new contracts for water delivery. Extends the renewal length of existing contracts from 25 years to 40 years and eliminates requirements for environmental reviews Adds a provision that contracts must only charge water customers for the water actually delivered Section 105: Water usage will be prioritized to go towards agricultural, municipal, and industrial purposes Section 107: Private for-profit organizations would be eligible for water storage and delivery contracts paid for with taxpayer money, which is not currently allowed. If by September 30, 2018, the Central Valley doesn't get an additional 800,000 acre-feet of water, all non-mandatory water uses will be cut off until the Central Valley gets their water. Section 108: Rules will revert back to the law as of 1994. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="314"] The delta smelt, the "stupid little fish" the House GOP is pretending is the only species affected by drying up the delta[/caption] Operations of this new water plan "shall proceed without regard to the Endangered Species Act" Prohibits the Federal government and any agency of the State of California from enforcing a State law that restricts water usage for the Central Valley Project or State Water Project (which gives water to Southern California) to protect any species affected by this new water diversion. Prohibits the State of California from enforcing any of their laws that restricts Central Valley "water rights" "under the Public Trust Doctrine. No costs associated with diverting water to Central Valley contractors will be paid by Central Valley contractors "California law is preempted" from restricting the size of a fish allowed to be taken out of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta. Section 111: Federal agencies can not be forced to change their actions by a National Environmental Protection Act determination. *New to the 113th Congress version* Section 112 & 113: Gives 10 year water contracts to the Oakdale, South San Joaquin, and Calaveras County water districts if it doesn't take water away from the Central Valley *New to the 113th Congress version* Section 114: A pilot program to remove "non-native" bass species from the Stanislaus River. The districts will pay 100% of the costs The government "shall issue" permits for the program under the Endangered Species Act within 180 days; if it's not done in 180 days, the permits "shall be deemed approved" Permitting can be outsourced to "any qualified private contractor' National Environmental Protection Act "shall not apply" to permitting for the program. "Any restriction imposed under California law" on catching fish in the Stanislaus River "is herby void and is preempted" Pilot fish-murdering program will sunset in seven years. TITLE II: Overturns a The Settlement ruled in 2004 that the Bureau of Reclamation illegally dried the San Joaquin River and ruled that they will have to release water from the Friant Dam for the first time in 55 years in order to allow the fish - specifically salmon- in the river to survive. The lawsuit was first filed in 1998 and was one of California's longest running water disputes. It also restores water supplies to farmers near Stockton Section 201: Repeals the settlement and enacts a whole new plan. The new plan "preempts and supersedes any State law" that imposes stricter requirements. Central Valley water contractors are allowed to sue the Federal government if it fails to enact the new plan. Section 211: Repeals a requirement that salmon be reintroduced to the San Joaquin River TITLE III: Payments to Central Valley water contractors Section 301: Federal government has to reimburse water contractors for construction costs already accrued by January 31, 2018; future costs need to be reimbursed by the government within five years. Power revenues can't be used towards construction cost reimbursement TITLE IV: Water Allocations Section 403: Agricultural water contractors in the Central Valley will get 100% of their promised water in Wet - Below Normal years, 75% in a "dry" year, and "50% in a "Critically dry" year Section 404: The Federal government must make sure that the Endangered Species Act and goals of "addressing environmental needs" do not cause any "adverse water supply or fiscal impacts" to Central Valley water contractors. TITLE V: Precedent Section 501: The coordination of water rights "require assertion of Federal supremacy to protect existing water rights", says "these circumstances are unique to California", and therefore "nothing in this Act shall serve as precedent in any other State." Section 502: "Nothing in this Act shall affect in any way the and associated Executive Order issued by Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr. on January 17, 2014." Representatives Quoted in This Episode (In Order of Appearance) Additional Information by George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2014. Jennifer Briney's appearance on of Congressional Dish supporter David's 12 year old son, Sam Levin, and his impressive musical talents Music in this Episode Intro and Exit Music: by (found on ) by (found on ) Get Out of Our House by (found on )

In this episode, we catch up on all the bills that passed the House of Representatives in January, including a bill to protect chemical storage companies from having to pay for their messes, a few bills to damage ObamaCare, and a bill to make sure private health insurance companies can't pay for abortions. Information Presented in This Episode Mel Watt Resigns On January 7, of North Carolina's 12th district resigned to become Director of the after being appointed to the position by President Obama. The Federal Housing Finance Agency was created during the 2008 financial meltdown, a meltdown created largely by giant private banks chopping up bad mortgages, mixing them with good mortgages, and selling them to other companies such as Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA is . because Fannie and Freddie are more heavily regulated than private banks and create a basement of rules that banks sort-of have to play by. Private banks want the "free market" to control mortgages so that they can, once again, do whatever they want and make enormous profits with new financial scams models. Last August and again in the State of the Union, and voiced his support for getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of more private banker control of our mortgages. Who will President Obama's choice to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac side with? Well, former Representative Mel Watt's top two campaign contributors over the course of his Congressional career were Bank of America and the American Bankers Association. In total, he took from the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sector. Representative Watt's former district, North Carolina's 12th district, is a funny shaped, likely gerrry-mandered district that cuts through the center of the state; it includes portions of Charlotte, Salisbury, and Lexington. The district will remain unrepresented until the November election. On January 9, the House passed H.R. 2279. The one good thing about this bill is that it would require owners of chemical storage facilities to report to their states the quantities of dangerous chemical that they store in their buildings. This is a direct response to the giant explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in West Texas, which took place on the same week as the Boston Marathon bombing, killed five times as many people, but didn't get nearly as much press coverage. happened after the building caught fire and ignited ammonium nitrite - the same stuff used in the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing- which was being stored in the building in huge quantities which were never reported to Texas regulators or the Department of Homeland Security. The building had not been inspected by Federal worker safety regulators since 1985, when it was cited for improper storage of dangerous chemicals and given a $30 fine. It had been fined again in 2012 by the Department of Transportation for improper storage of dangerous chemicals. The explosion killed fifteen people, injured 160, and destroyed 50 homes. So had this bill been law early last year, in theory, Texas and the Department of Homeland Security would have known how much the company was storing and may have done inspections more regularly. That's a good thing. But that's where the good things stop. The company responsible for the West, Texas explosion which wasn't nearly enough to cover the damage they caused. The damage was estimated at $100 million, at least. The State of Texas has no requirement for storage facilities to have any insurance, and so FEMA had to pay 75% of the costs of the damage. Despite the fact that the Federal government had to pick up the tab for that explosion, H.R. 2279  would make it more difficult for the Executive Branch, and therefore the Federal government, to require companies that store hazardous materials to have insurance or cash on hand to pay for their accidents; it prohibits the Feds from requiring any more insurance than the States require. Rep. C, argued for H.R. 2279 on the House floor on January 9; he is the author of the bill: "Solid waste must be disposed of in a responsible, efficient, and environmentally friendly manner; but there is no need for overly burdensome regulations that put a strain on businesses." In addition, the law currently says that the President needs to create and annually update a list of facilities with hazardous materials and that each State must designate one facility as their most dangerous. H.R. 2279 says the States no longer need to do this and replaces that requirement with one that says the President can't add a facility to the list if the State objects. Even if the States wanted to, however, the bill says the States can't add facilities to the list any more than once every five years. On the very same day that the House of Representatives were passing H.R. 2279, chemicals that were being stored at a facility owned by - a facility that - spilled into the Elk River near Charleston, West Virginia poisoning the water supplies of over 300,000 people. And just like in Texas, the chemical storage facility in West Virginia was subject to almost no State or local regulations. expressed his concerns about HR 2279 while, unbeknownst to him, poisonous chemicals were gushing into the Elk River: "And I am especially troubled by provisions in the bill that enable sites to veto sites from being added to the Superfund National Priorities List, as well as the provision that weakens the requirement for companies who deal with hazardous materials to carry insurance to cover contamination threats. Absent this insurance requirement, it will be easier for a company to go bankrupt and shirk its responsibility to clean up contamination that it has caused" Which is nine days after the spill. At the time Freedom Industries filed for bankruptcy, against the company, all of which have been put on hold. The bill passed the House of Representatives 225-188 with mostly Republicans voting for it and mostly Democrats voting against it. All three Representatives from the state of West Virginia voted for the bill. Voting yes on H.R. 2279 was , who represents the part of West Virginia directly affected by the spill. A week after she voted for the bill to make it harder to regulate chemical storage facilities while her own constituents got poisoned, she gave a speech which said this on January 16: "For more than two decades, no government agency inspected this facility. Precious response time was lost be-cause Freedom Industries did not immediately report the spill, and responders did not have sufficient information about the chemical. We must examine our existing laws at all levels of government—local, State, and Federal—and find the gaps that allowed this spill to occur. " By voting yes, she did not do what was best for her constituents; she did what was best for Freedom Industries by trying to make it harder for the Federal Government to police them, yet instead of apologizing for that vote a week later, she pretended the vote never happened.  As always, the reason for her vote is most easily found in the financials. Shelley Moore Capito has taken over $800,000 from the mining industry, and Freedom Industries was storing a chemical used to "clean coal" in the facility that poisoned - and - her constituents. Shelley Moore Capito is running for one of West Virginia's two Senate seats in November. On January 10, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3811, which would change the law to say that the Secretary of Health and Human Services will have two days to tell us if there has been a security breach on healthcare.gov if our personal information was stolen. In reality, there on healthcare.gov. Seems to me to be an unnecessary bill aimed to make people think there have been security breaches. H.R. 3811 passed the House of Representatives 291- 122. On January 14, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2274, which exempts mergers and acquisition brokers from registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mergers and acquisition brokers specialize in the sale of private businesses; they help big companies gobble up little companies. basically saying that if a merger and acquisition broker is not dealing at all with securities - if the broker doesn't gamble or "trade" items that they don't actually possess-  then they don't have to register with the SEC, rendering this bill unnecessary. The SEC has ten conditions the merger and acquisitions broker must obey in order to not register; this bill only has two, meaning that the SEC rules protect the financial system better than this bill. H.R. 2274 passed the House of Representatives unanimously. Under the Presidential Records Act, a former President can restrict access to his records for twelve years. After that, an Executive Order says that the former President can appeal to the current President to keep his records secret by claiming executive privilege. In essence, the decision rests with the current President and can be overturned by the courts. This bill makes that rule an actual, passed-by-Congress law, instead of a rule by Executive Order, as has been the case since the Reagan administration. It also puts in place procedures with deadlines for a former President to claim continued executive privilege. One provision says that the former President must make the request personally, which I think means that his records are fair game once he's dead. Passed the House of Representatives 420-0. The Budget On January 15, the House of Representatives passed the 2014 budget, which has been signed into law. The law was covered in detail in Right now, the executive branch is releasing required monthly reports on enrollment data for health insurance plans. H.R. 3362 would require the Secretary of Health and Human services to do a detailed report every week which includes every individual state's enrollment numbers, hits on the health care exchange websites, number of customer chats, number of customer phone calls, how many people enroll per zip code, what kind of plan each person picked, how many people logged into the websites, the ages of new enrollees, the number of new people in Medicaid, an estimation of the cost of tax credits and more. These weekly reports would have to be issued until March 2015. H.R. 3362 also requires the government to publicly publish the names, addresses, and phone numbers of every person trained to help Americans get health insurance coverage - called navigators. But the bottom line is that this will never become law because, once again, it's would have to be signed by President Obamacare, who has no reason to give his administration extra, unnecessary busy work. 259 members of the House voted for this doomed bill. The day of the State of the Union, the Republicans passed a bill that restricts our access to abortions. First, the bill prohibits any Federal money from going towards abortions, except in the cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother, which is already Federal law. The bill changes current law by dictating what private insurance companies will and will not be allowed to cover. Any health care plan offered to Federal employees which will be paid for by their employer - the government - can not offer abortion coverage. The employees would be allowed to get separate abortion coverage with their own money. The bill also allows States and local governments to get extra abortion coverage for their employees; one place that doesn't work for though is the District of Columbia which is part of the Federal government. This bill also prohibits any tax credits from going to a person or company who chooses a health care plan on an exchange that includes abortion coverage. In addition, the bill would stop the private health insurance companies from  offering plans that cover abortions because it changes the definition of "qualified health plans" so that ones that offer abortions are no longer qualified and therefore wouldn't be able to sell those plans on the exchanges. H.R. 7 passed the House of Representatives 227-188. Music in This Episode Intro and Exit Music: by (found on ) by (found on ) Jennifer Briney's Upcoming Guest Appearance , hosted by Nick Seuberling Also recommended: (a podcast about the Cincinnati Bengals), hosted by Nick Seuberling