Government

Reuters reports: U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday said an upcoming proposal by President Donald Trump to provide temporary protections for some undocumented immigrants in return for building a wall on the southwestern border with Mexico was “unacceptable.” Trump’s plan also does not “represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives” and is unlikely …

NBC News reports: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb made his most direct threat yet against e-cigarette companies Friday, saying they face an “existential threat” if they don’t stop marketing to youth. Gottlieb said he was horrified at the recent rapid rise in teen vaping. He called out the most popular product — Juul— by name and said …

Reuters reports: Detained in a California lockup with hundreds of other immigrants seeking asylum, Duglas Cruz faced a choice. He could content himself with a jailhouse diet that he said left him perpetually hungry. Or he could labor in the prison’s kitchen to earn money to buy extra food at the commissary. Cruz went to work. But his $1-a-day salary …

Axios reports: President Trump has formally sent Andrew Wheeler’s nomination for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Senate for confirmation, the White House announced Wednesday. Wheeler, the current acting chief of the EPA, is a former coal lobbyist who is expected to run a more conventional and inclusive policy process than former administrator Scott Pruitt. The end result, …

CNN reports: Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports, according to two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials. The mass call outs could inevitably mean air travel is less secure, especially as the …

The Washington Post reports: While many federal workers go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year. The pay raises for Cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators and even Vice President Pence are scheduled to go into effect beginning Jan. 5 without …

The Associated Press reports: Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty. Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors …

Just in via press release: Today, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch (KCNF DC) sued the federal government on behalf of AFGE members and federal employees being forced to work without pay. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government is violating the law by requiring some federal employees to work without pay during …

The Associated Press reports: House Democrats are unveiling legislation to reopen the government without money for President Donald Trump’s border wall. The House is preparing to vote on the package Thursday when the new Congress convenes. This is according to an aide who was not authorized to discuss the plan publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It will include …

Roll Call reports: As the partial government shutdown grinds on, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday evening that would freeze pay for federal workers in 2019. Trump telegraphed the move in his February budget request for fiscal 2019 when he proposed a pay freeze for the roughly 2.1 million federal civilian workers. White House and Office of Management …

ABC News reports: The president’s incoming chief of staff said Sunday that any money for the border wall would have to come from the Treasury Department, saying “the Department of Homeland Security can’t actually spend money from Mexico.” “Technically, you and I both know that it cannot work exactly like that,” Mick Mulvaney told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent …

Bloomberg reports: Senators are preparing for a possible vote on Friday if the House is able to send it an amended government funding bill. Senators and aides say they’ve been told to tentatively plan for a vote around noon on Friday, even as scores of senators have already left Washington after passing a seven-week stopgap funding measure on Wednesday night. …

The Hill reports: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she didn’t hear Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) farewell speech on Wednesday because she “was busy doing other things.” “This may come as a shock to you, but I was busy doing other things at the time. I wish him well as he goes forward,” she said when asked …

ABC News reports: House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Wednesday afternoon after meeting with President Trump that the President will not sign a spending bill that has already passed the Senate because it does not offer funding for his border wall. Trump had indicated yesterday that he would sign the bill in order to prevent a government shutdown. The government …

Reuters reports: Fears about a partial government shutdown grew Thursday as President Donald Trump left the door open to vetoing a short-term spending bill expected to pass Congress. The Senate has approved a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. But it was unclear Thursday morning whether the House would pass it — or if Trump would sign it — …

CNBC reports: The Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against Chinese two nationals accused of conducting a global hacking campaign. The defendants, Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, are charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of multiple years long campaigns to steal from numerous foreign governments and dozens of companies. Through a …

Politico reports: Mitch McConnell is working to bail out Congress and President Donald Trump from an intractable government shutdown impasse, moving on Wednesday to fund the government into early February and avoid a funding lapse right before the holidays. The Senate majority leader will introduce a bill that funds the government through Feb. 8 after a longer-term offer was rejected …

Via press release from the FDA: FDA wants you to be aware that some decorative glitters and dusts promoted for use on foods may, in fact, contain materials that should not be eaten. Many decorative glitters and dusts are sold over the Internet and in craft and bakery supply stores under names such as luster dust, disco dust, twinkle dust, …