Appeals court rules Trump doesn’t have the authority to fire Copyright Office director

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided appeals court ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally remove and replace the director of the U.S. Copyright Office. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 to temporarily block Trump’s Republican administration from firing Shira Perlmutter as the register of copyrights, who advises Congress on copyright issues. Perlmutter claims Trump fired her in May because he disapproved of advice she gave to Congress in a report related to artificial intelligence.…

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RFK Jr. Cleans House: New Team to Reevaluate COVID-19 Vaccines, Conflict-of-Interest Rules

Following the dismissal of 17 members from a federal vaccine advisory committee in early June, big changes are on the horizon at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Daily Signal spoke with a federal health policy expert about the impact of those changes. Robert Moffit, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health and Welfare Policy, discussed the removal of members from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and President Donald Trump’s health policy agenda. Moffit, editor of the book “Modernizing Medicare,” expects a reevaluation…

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GOP civil service overhaul effort violates reconciliation rules

An attempt from Republicans to remove civil service protections for newly hired federal employees now faces a higher obstacle under GOP reconciliation bill. The Senate parliamentarian on Sunday marked several provisions of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s portion of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” as violations of reconciliation rules. One of those provisions sought to make all new federal employees choose between becoming an at-will employee and taking on a 5% increase in their contribution rate to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), or keeping their civil service…

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Results of the first review initiates battle over budget rules

During the confirmation hearings of the Office of Management and Budget director and deputy director for budget earlier this year, lawmakers pressed Russ Vought and Dan Bishop about whether they would comply with the Impoundment Control Act. The budget rules of the road require Congressional approval if OMB decides not to spend money appropriated in law. While both Vought and Bishop promised to comply with the law, a new decision by the Government Accountability Office casts further doubt on whether OMB will follow the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. GAO…

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Speaker Johnson’s Next Big Test: Who to Choose as Rules Committee Chairman

After narrowly escaping ouster as speaker of the House on Friday, Rep. Mike Johnson faces a decision that could determine his relationship with the hard-line conservative faction of the GOP that nearly took his job away—namely, who to appoint as chairman of the House Rules Committee. The House Committee on Rules is among the most important committees in any Congress, and it will be no different in the 119th session. As the last stop for a bill before it is considered on the floor, the committee largely determines what bills…

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