Congressional Oversight

Trump is rapidly imposing his fascist agenda with barely a whimper of protest from the Democratic Party.

Rather than fight for the best interests of the American public, Senate Democrats have been eager to accede to the policies, culture wars and nominees of Donald Trump. This capitulation will not help the party or its base, it will simply embolden the felon soon to be in the White House

As the Biden Administration Enters Its Twilight, Let’s Face Facts

Big Real Estate and landlord lobby groups have given large donations to the four co-founders of the Congressional Real Estate Caucus.

With a divided Congress and an election fast approaching, congressional Democrats have little opportunity to enact any landmark legislation, but they need not sit on their hands. Congressional committees have the power to conduct hearings, investigations, and issue subpoenas. As the majority party in the Senate, Democrats should be using this authority to aggressively critique corporations that harm the public’s health and pocketbooks.

The Hatch-Waxman Act, despite its intentions, has become a monopoly-extending machine that prioritizes pharmaceutical profits over public health. A 40th birthday is a good chance for anyone to rethink where their life is headed — and major legislation is no exception.

Last week, the Supreme Court mulled over whether the former president (the “very stable genius” who pushed a “miracle cure” for COVID later tied to 17,000 avoidable deaths) should be prescribed his own miracle cure: presidential immunity for the crimes he is charged with committing while in office. 

The scandal-plagued software company has hired a trio of Capitol Hill insiders to fend off regulatory scrutiny from Congress.

Today the Revolving Door Project and Fight For The Future released Congressional Appropriators & Big Tech, a special report detailing financial ties, revolving door moves, and other conflicts of interest between congressional appropriators (and their staff) and monopolistic companies like the Big Tech giants.

Coverage of presidential elections typically hones in on contestants’ competing legislative visions, which in truth, tend to morph considerably when hit by the reality of an intransigent Congress. This prompts an important question: are presidential elections overrated? Well, before drawing that conclusion, consider one of the underrated consequences of a federal election: the potential for a new administration to alter the management of the federal workforce and the operations of individual departments within the executive branch. Although journalists eschew reporting of these consequences in favor of (legislatively focused) policy platforms and rallies, there is a wide body of academic research which investigates the impact of presidential administrations on the federal executive branch’s ability and capacity to fulfill its roles and responsibilities. 

The patent system exists to promote scientific innovation to benefit the public, not to enrich private interests regardless of the merits of their scientific contributions. Yet that is precisely what PERA and PREVAIL would do by granting Big Pharma even more sweeping government monopolies and associated price-gouging power.

Today, the Revolving Door Project, Take Back the Court Action Fund, People’s Parity Project, Freedom BLOC and the George Mason University chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent a letter to members of the Virginia General Assembly calling on them to investigate Leonard Leo in regard to his undue influence on George Mason University. The groups called on the state legislature to investigate what Leo-tied activities are taking place under the aegis of a state school.

Uncovering Crow’s and Leo’s full relationships with the Court is precisely the sort of scenario for which Congress has subpoena powers in the first place. As of now, these plutocrats have been able to scoff at the will of elected leaders. Durbin’s actions, or lack thereof, will inform whether history remembers this Congress as stepping up or shrugging off one of the greatest threats to the American legal system in our lifetimes.