Latest news with #U.S.GovernmentAccountabilityOffice
The Hill
5 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
Are ‘pocket rescissions' legal? Congressional watchdog says ‘no'
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said this week that so-called pocket rescissions, a controversial maneuver that President Trump's budget office is considering to reduce spending, are not legal, potentially throwing a wrench into the administration's plans. A pocket rescission occurs when the president asks Congress to cancel already approved funding close to the end of the fiscal year, putting a hold on the money so it's unlikely to ever be spent. While Congress has 45 days to approve or deny a rescissions request, a pocket rescission essentially runs out that clock. Democrats are expecting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to employ a pocket rescission sometime before the Sept. 30 government funding deadline so that the administration can claw back funding already appropriated by Congress without congressional approval. But the GAO, citing a 2018 decision, wrote on its website this week that such a move would be illegal. The agency wrote that the Impoundment Control Act does not provide a president the authority to bypass Congress's power of the purse. It argued that a pocket rescission could allow a president to avoid spending money regardless of whether Congress approves a rescission request and would cede Congress's power of the purse. 'If Congress wanted a president to have that authority, it would need to change the law,' the agency wrote. It cited a legal analysis from 2018 to back up its guidance. Even some Republicans on Capitol Hill, who last month approved Trump's first request to cancel already allocated funding, have balked at the prospect of the White House budget office using a pocket rescission to claw back funding previously approved by Congress. 'Pocket rescissions, I think, are unconstitutional,' said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. 'So, just like impoundment, I think, is unconstitutional.' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought assurances from Trump not to employ a pocket rescission when he negotiated with the president last weekend over a potential deal to speed up the confirmation of scores of lower-level executive branch nominees. Trump turned down Schumer's offer, telling the New York Democrat: 'Go to hell.'
The Herald Scotland
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Trump tax bill sends new icebreaker fleet into melting Arctic
The icebreakers and ice-strengthened cutters would work in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, which are seeing increasing focus as climate change makes mining and shipping more practical by melting some of the ice. Shrinking sea ice in Alaska in particular means more commercial ships would be traveling through or fishing the area, requiring more Coast Guard patrols. "This historic investment marks a new era for the Coast Guard," Coast Guard Acting Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday said in a statement. The Coast Guard currently only has one heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, and it's almost 20 years beyond its expected service life. The Coast Guard's other icebreaker, the 27-year-old medium-duty USCGC Healy, has suffered repeated fires. Last year the Coast Guard cancelled its planned Alaska-area patrols due to an engine-room fire, according to officials. Global tension: Greenland not for sale. It is welcoming Americans with direct flights. On Trump's birthday Russia operates multiple nuclear-powered icebreakers, which U.S. defense officials say gives it an advantage in the strategically crucial region. Coast Guard officials have been warning for years they lack the necessary ships to properly patrol icy waters, which include shipping routes between the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes, along with serving Alaska and the Antarctic research base McMurdo Station. Alaska Native people living along the shores of the Bering Sea worry increasing shipping and resource extraction pose environmental dangers, especially if the Coast Guard lacks the resources to patrol the area. Trump has vowed closer American oversight of both northern Canada and Greenland. When free of ice, the fabled Northwest Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific via the Bering Sea - a 40% shorter route for ships to travel from Asia to Europe compared to using the Panama or Suez canals. Federal officials worry that China is increasingly collaborating with Russia in the area, which is rich in both oil and rare Earth minerals necessary for computer chips and other technology. Greenland in particular is seen by Trump as a contested area where climate change is melting ice sheets and opening new areas for mining. The Arctic Institute, a nonprofit think-tank based in Washington, D.C., has long lobbied for more Coast Guard icebreakers, given the potential for how climate change will alter shipping, fishing and mining in the polar regions. The institute has called the United States "woefully behind" other Arctic-adjacent countries when it comes to icebreaker construction, and said opening up the Arctic without adequate icebreakers is akin to playing baseball without bats. The Coast Guard already has one large icebreaker under construction, but that project has seen signifcant costs overruns and delays of more than a year for completion. The nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a December 2024 analysis that the Coast Guard might end up paying billions more than planned for that ship and two others that have already been authorized. They might be ready sometime in the mid-2030s, the GAO said, while the first ships authorized by the new Trump spending might not be operational until the 2040s. The White House wants to increase domestic shipbuilding capacity but in the interim, the Coast Guard last year bought a used oil exploration ship that will be extensively renovated, renamed and deployed in Juneau, Alaska.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Emissions rollback: Bonta files 23rd lawsuit against Trump Administration
The Brief AG Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit on Thursday in response to the Trump Administration rolling back California's vehicle emission standards. This marks the 23rd lawsuit Bonta has filed against the administration since Trump began his second term. Trump's order is another move to ease emission standards and revive the auto and oil industries. OAKLAND, Calif. - California has 48% more electric vehicle chargers than it does gas nozzles, and a new lawsuit from the state Attorney General is fighting to keep it that way. Rob Bonta on Thursday filed his 23rd lawsuit against the Trump Administration, in response to a bill blocking a state law banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. It also offers less stringent regulations on tailpipe emissions. "We made a promise that if the president attempted to illegally interfere with our clean air standards, we'd hold him accountable in court," Bonta said in an interview announcing the lawsuit. "Today we are making good on that promise." What we know Trump was signing a bill passed under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to pass legislation overturning a rule issued by a federal agency. In this case, it allows for the undoing of tougher environmental protections granted to California under the 1970 Clean Air Act — protections put in place to help the state reduce severe air pollution. Renewable energy and lower or zero-emission vehicles have become part of that effort. Trump, in signing the bill, said he was "rescuing the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating the California electric vehicle mandate once and for all." The president called the state regulations "crazy," and said it's "been a disaster for this country." Bonta said Trump doesn't have the legal authority to "weaponize" the CRA against California, The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, found that California's standards cannot legally be blocked using the Congressional Review Act. The Senate parliamentarian agreed with that finding. It may not be so cut-and-dry, though. "What has gone through Congress is essentially the equivalent of legislation. And that, of course, can ordinarily supersede any sort of inconsistent prior legislation," Tseming Yang, a professor of environmental law at Santa Clara University, said in an interview with KTVU. Bonta filed his lawsuit in the Northern District Court of California. If his suit is unsuccessful, he can appeal to the federal appellate level. Legal experts say the case will likely work its way all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Big picture view California, which makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. auto market, has significant power to sway trends in the auto industry. About a dozen states signed on to adopt California's rule phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars. Trump has pledged to revive American auto manufacturing and boost oil and gas drilling. The CRA bill follows other steps his administration has taken to roll back rules that aim to protect air and water and reduce emissions that cause climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed repealing rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Dan Becker with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the signing of the resolution was "Trump's latest betrayal of democracy." "Signing this bill is a flagrant abuse of the law to reward Big Oil and Big Auto corporations at the expense of everyday people's health and their wallets," Becker said in a statement. California, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution, has for decades been able to seek waivers from the EPA, allowing it to adopt stricter emissions standards than those of the federal government. In his first term, Trump revoked California's ability to enforce its standards, but Democratic President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2022. Trump has not yet sought to revoke it again.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
H-2A visas for white South African workers have surged 1,300% since 2011
The country's H-2A program has grown in popularity as a response to farm labor shortages. Between 2018 and 2023, the number of applications for H-2A workers increased by 72%, according to a new analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Screenshot taken Nov. 15, 2024, GAO official YouTube channel (Credit: Ben Felder / Investigate Midwest) Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers come to the U.S. to fill temporary agricultural labor shortages through the H-2A program — a system first introduced in 1986 to address shortages in farmwork. From 2011 to 2024, the use of the program grew more than 400%, with nearly 90% of visas going to workers from Mexico. But the fastest-growing group is from South Africa – and predominantly white, according to private and federal lawsuits. While South Africans consist of only 3% of the program, their numbers have climbed by 1,300% according to data from the State Department between 2011 and 2024, and the rate of increase far outpaces any other nationality. The rapid rise has collided with legal scrutiny. Since 2022, the Mississippi Center for Justice, a law firm focused on advancing racial and economic justice, has filed seven lawsuits on behalf of Black farmworkers in Mississippi, alleging they were paid less than temporary workers from abroad who were mostly white men from South Africa. Each of those lawsuits were settled out of court with significant compensation and back pay, according to attorney Rob McDuff, who represented the plaintiffs. The latest case, filed in May, is still pending. 'This is the latest version of an age-old problem in America, in terms of the treatment of Black farmworkers,' McDuff said. The Department of Labor, under the Biden administration, conducted its own investigation following those initial lawsuits and found 44 additional agricultural employers in Mississippi to be in violation of the H-2A program's law. By 2023, the department's Wage and Hour Division had recovered $505,000 in back wages for 161 workers whose rights were violated. Employers were also required to pay an additional $341,838 in civil money penalties. The South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA, a non-partisan, independent organization and business association, promotes the work program to its citizens. After the lawsuits, the organization worked with the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa to make the H-2A program more inclusive and diverse. The federal government tracks the country of origin for visa holders, but does not collect data on which businesses hire those workers. Agricultural companies in the southeast host the largest number of H-2A workers in the nation. Because South Africans speak English and their growing and harvest seasons are the opposite of North America's, they make attractive candidates. 'You can get any nationality you want in H-2A, and we chose South Africans because their English is better,' Joel Brown, a farmer in Missouri, told Farm Progress. 'There are a lot of large farms in South Africa, and some of these guys are coming off those farms.' This article first appeared on Investigate Midwest and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SEC scrubbed guidance on DEI in asset manager selection from website
The Securities and Exchange Commission has purged guidance from its website regarding fund manager diversity, but it was hard to find even before President Donald Trump's second term. That pullback from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in asset management comes as part of the Trump administration's executive orders targeting "DEI" programs. And it underscores the confusing current state of federal efforts to ensure that more women- and minority-owned fund firms get a fair shot at doing business with large government pensions and retirement plans. For advocates, such programs open doors to capital and to rewarding careers as financial advisors or wealth and asset management professionals and, in some cases, the enforcement of crucial civil rights laws. To Trump's supporters, DEI has expanded access for some at the expense of others, to the point that consideration of factors involving race, gender and other identities has turned more important than merit in, say, hiring or the awarding of contracts. The SEC has removed an October 2022 "frequently asked questions" memo explaining how the fiduciary duty applies to the use of DEI criteria in the selection of asset managers, according to a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency that reports to Congress. The SEC issued the FAQ during President Joe Biden's administration, at which time critics questioned its importance and obscure previous location on the agency's website. Now, with so many aspects related to DEI in administrative or legal limbo, the way forward after small but notable progress in opportunities for women and minority financial professionals looks anything but clear. "I'm optimistic, and that's because we've seen this movie before," said Dorien Nuñez, the president and director of research with consulting firm OMNI Research Group and co-founder of OMNI Wall Street Advantage, a chartered financial analyst training, mentoring and internship organization. He cited the Reagan administration's unsuccessful push to eliminate the Small Business Administration in the 1980s. "This is definitely more aggressive," Nuñez said. "ESG is flourishing globally. DEI is flourishing globally. It's just the political will and megaphone that is fighting against it so much, so vocally." For impact managers whose strategies seek to close wealth gaps through clients' investment portfolios, the administration's anti-DEI actions are "really hampering their marketing efforts" and capital-raising, said Will Gholston, a CFA and certified financial planner who is the vice president of investments with New York-based registered investment advisory firm Re-Envision Wealth. At this point, any fund manager "would definitely think twice before bringing that type of product to market in this environment," he said. "I am currently at a Black-owned firm that's made racial equity investing the centerpiece of our strategies," Gholston said. "You have to be much more cautious in the way that you design products, the way that you talk about products. There is that risk that you're going to be in trouble." READ MORE: Which publicly traded firms have the best and worst racial equity grades? Representatives for the SEC didn't respond to inquiries about the removal of the guidance from its website or the findings of the GAO report, which updated the watchdog's 2017 study on asset manager diversity and came at the request of Democratic lawmakers three years ago. The dearth of assets managed by women- or minority-owned firms received more attention following the 2020 murder of George Floyd as part of the industry's response to the nationwide protests. The GAO found some signs of change at certain pension plans and across the industry. Five federal pensions told the researchers that 61 women- or minority-owned asset managers were overseeing a combined $4.06 billion on their behalf at the end of 2022 — but that was still only 2.8% of the externally managed assets across the plans. On the other hand, that is a far higher share than in asset management in general. As of 2023, the industry-wide assets managed by women- and minority-owned firms had ticked up to 1.1% from less than 1% in 2017. However, that tiny blip added up to a total of $1.3 trillion in assets managed by 340 firms, compared to $529 billion at just 180 firms only six years earlier. That's a 146% surge in assets, or a difference of $771 billion in AUM, and an 89% jump in the net increase of 160 more firms with some degree of ownership by women or Black, Hispanic, Asian American or other minority group members. READ MORE: DOGE cuts to fair housing grants hit HOME for financial advisor The ramifications of Trump's DEI orders to the SEC remain difficult to ascertain, based on the agency's website. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 policy blueprint for Trump's administration called for the SEC to end "discrimination based on immutable characteristics" in the form of "offices at financial regulators that promote racist policies (usually in the name of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion')." And, in February, SEC staff informed GAO researchers that they had taken down the previous guidance about "investment advisers' consideration of DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers" based on Trump's executive orders in the previous month, the GAO report said. "As a result, we removed our assessment of this guidance from our review," the report's authors, Director of Financial Markets and Community Involvement Michael Clements and Director of Education, Workforce and Income Security Tranchau "Kris" Nguyen wrote. "SEC staff also told us that they were analyzing the potential impact of the executive orders on their activities related to promoting and collecting diversity policies and practices through SEC's diversity self-assessment form for its regulated entities." The link to the 2022 FAQ now goes to a "403 error" page. But still available are the "Diversity self-assessment tool" for regulated entities, a bare section explaining the purposes of the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion under the Dodd-Frank Law and a statement by two commissioners praising the now-purged guidance. The report, which stated that the GAO hasn't "determined the scope and effect of the January 2025 executive orders or their impact on SEC programs and activities" didn't include any information about what specifically made the FAQ out of compliance with Trump's executive orders. "Staff from SEC's Division of Investment Management issued this guidance to clarify that investment advisers may consider DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers, such as asset management firms, provided that doing so is consistent with the client's objectives, the scope of the relationship and the adviser's disclosures," Clements and Nguyen wrote in a footnote. READ MORE: Fighting systemic racism with estate planning — one client at a time Even before Trump took office, some industry experts wondered what, if anything, to conclude from the FAQ. The guidance "raises more questions than it answers," according to a November 2022 blog by consulting firm Patomak Global Partners entitled "The Curious Case of the Hidden FAQ." The SEC issued no corresponding public announcement about the guidance, the blog noted. And the agency didn't even include the FAQ alongside others available in the FAQ section of its website. In fact, the mere existence of the guidance may not have become publicly known without two of the commissioners releasing the statement. And any asset allocators or managers would have found it difficult to use in the first place, according to Patomak, which described it as "a check-the-box exercise to implement a controversial recommendation." "Even if an adviser stumbled upon the FAQ," the blog continued, "it does not provide helpful guidance as to how an adviser can incorporate DEI factors into its selection or recommendation of other advisers consistent with its fiduciary duty to clients. Investment advisers should be wary of overreliance on this FAQ. Staff FAQs have no legal force or effect and do not alter or amend applicable law, given that they represent the views of SEC staff, not the Commission. Choosing an investment adviser with a short track record or minimal AUM can open an investment adviser to significant liability in the event of subpar performance or an incident of defalcation, a problem this nonbinding FAQ is unlikely to solve, particularly in light of the fact that it contains no guidance on how to balance these competing concerns." READ MORE: How financial advisors can help close the racial wealth gap Regardless, advocates like Nuñez and Gholston will continue their work in any political climate — and welcome collaboration from other industry professionals in the mission to increase opportunities and align clients' portfolios to their principles. "The short answer is, contact me," Nuñez said. "Some of us have been out here doing this for decades, and we're now working closer together than before. But it is very fragmented." Taking down the guidance is "definitely a move in the wrong direction" by the SEC, but efforts to increase women- and minority representation in asset management "have been so inadequate to date that there's not much room to decline," Gholston said. And that has spanned Democratic and Republican administrations, he pointed out. The underlying trends in the investing marketplace aren't going away in Trump's second term, according to Gholston. "The desire for greater fairness and a level playing field in the investment management world has not declined amongst the populace, the investment world and our clients," he said. "It's very likely that, over the long term, we're going to see a renewed effort in this space." 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