into | Voter.org

This legislation would turn Veterans Affairs whistleblower policy into law

July 1, 2022 Affairs, 'whistleblower', Policy, would, into, This, veterans, Legislation, turn0 comment

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on <a href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/federal-drive-with-tom-temin/id1270799277?mt=2″>Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href=”https://www.podcastone.com/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589″>PodcastOne</a>. In an agency as large as Veterans Affairs, with a third of a million employees, there is no shortage of things to go wrong. Often it’s whistleblowers that point them out, often to the Office of Inspector General. Now a bipartisan bill that passed the House would ensure continuance of a policy that every VA employee received training by the OIG to learn how to report alleged wrongdoing. For more…

Republican who signed anti-trans sports bill into law suggests gender-affirming care is child abuse

February 23, 2022 antitrans, genderaffirming, Republican, abuse, into, Bill, care, child, suggests, sports, signed0 comment

While conservatives have fanned faux hysteria about trans girls participating in girls’ sports teams, they’ve gotten a distressing amount of people on board for anti-trans rhetoric. Normalizing exclusion, discrimination, and “othering” always leads us… Daily Kos

Biden goes nuclear on the filibuster, Republicans but his ploy runs into Democratic resistance

January 12, 2022 ploy, Republicans, Democratic, Biden, into, nuclear, runs, Filibuster, goes, Resistance0 comment

President Biden, in a major speech Tuesday, called for blowing up the Senate filibuster rules to fight what he says is a Republican assault on American democracy, but Sen. Joe Manchin III is again poised to derail the president’s plans. Mr. Biden, who served as a senator for 36 years, … The Washington Times stories: White House

Joe Biden signs annual defense policy bill into law

December 28, 2021 annual, Policy, Biden, Defense, into, Bill, Signs0 comment

President Biden on Monday signed into law the annual defense-policy bill, capping months of partisan back-and-forth over a litany of hot-button issues as the legislation made its way through Congress. The final version of the $ 770 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes a nearly 5% increase in military spending … The Washington Times stories: White House

The Coronavirus Turned a Rural County Into a Battleground for Millionaires

December 13, 2021 turned, millionaires, Coronavirus, Battleground, County, into, Rural0 comment

Joni Reynolds often wonders how things in Gunnison County got so out of hand. How did she, the top health official of a sparsely populated county deep in the Rocky Mountains, end up the target of national fury, and frightened enough to sleep with a gun on her nightstand? Joni and her husband, Dennis, moved to Gunnison in 2015 to be closer to nature: the smooth waters of the Blue Mesa Reservoir; the craggy, snow-capped peaks of the Rockies; and the yellow aspens dotting the landscape in autumn. The 61-year-old…

Democrats Stare Into the Abyss

December 2, 2021 Democrats, into, Stare, Abyss0 comment

Since mid-summer, Democrats have been trapped in a downward spiral of declining approval ratings for President Joe Biden, rising public anxiety about the country’s direction, and widening internal divisions over the party’s legislative agenda. The next few weeks will likely determine whether they have bottomed out and can begin to regain momentum before next year’s midterm elections. Roughly since the rise of the Delta variant sent COVID-19 caseloads soaring again, the White House and congressional Democrats have faced a debilitating slog of dashed hopes and diminished expectations. Weeks of negotiation…