We just got out of court -

 

We just got out of a hearing where we argued that Trump’s Office of Management and Budget is violating transparency laws and preventing the American people from seeing how taxpayer money is being spent. That’s illegal. So we, along with our co-counsel at Public Citizen, sued them for taking offline a legally required public database that shows how funds are being allocated. Donald Trump has tried to illegally withhold congressionally appropriated funds before, and this database is critical to the American public’s ability to hold him accountable for doing so when or if he does so again. Today we went to court, and asked a judge to rule that what OMB did was illegal and force them to bring back the database. In their filings for today's hearing, they tried to argue that requiring transparency from the executive branch on federal spending is unconstitutional! This should go without saying, but a law passed by Congress requiring government transparency isn’t unconstitutional—it’s completely consistent with democratic governance and America’s founding principle of the separation of powers. That’s what we’re defending in court. this case is simple: it’s about transparency and forcing the Trump administration to follow the law. Make a contribution to CREW today to keep the fight going → If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your tax deductible donation will go through immediately to ActBlue Charities Inc. and be disbursed to CREW within 30 days: Donate $10 → Donate $25 → Donate $50 → Donate $100 → Donate $250 → Other → Thank you, CREW HQ

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WATCH: Sen. Peters tells Vought he's good at not answering questions in confirmation hearing

 

PBS NewsHour

4.47M subscribers

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., accused Office of Management and Budget nominee Russell Vought of giving “bureaucratic answers” and avoiding questions in a confirmation hearing Wednesday held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “You do give really good bureaucratic answers, which is why people, I guess, are crazily frustrated with bureaucrats. You are a very good bureaucrat and not answering questions,” Peters said. Peters had been questioning Vought about his prior term leading the agency and whether he advised staffers to not comply with the law. Vought, a Project 2025 co-author, briefly led OMB at the end of President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. The agency may play a larger role in Trump’s second term as the incoming president has promised to dramatically cut the federal workforce. Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show. Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: TikTok:   / pbsnews   X:   / newshour   Instagram:   / newshour   Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour

RSN: FOCUS | RootsAction: Tell Your Senators to Vote No on Neera Tanden (Petition)

 

 

20 February 21

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20 February 21

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MY OWN CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS — In that our organization is supported by contributions I feel it’s only right to contribute to other organizations as well. I am not the biggest donor out there to be sure. My contributions do not exceed $20. However I always contribute on an ongoing monthly basis. I don’t believe that tossing an occasional contribution at an organization has any real chance of supporting the work that they do over the long term. To have a lasting effect I feel it’s essential to make an ongoing commitment. So I go the monthly route, even if the dollars figure is modest, and in my case it is. I like environmental/preservation organizations like GreenPeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sea Shepard and others as well. I also support the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBT Workplace initiative. All part of an alternative non-corporate economy. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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FOCUS | RootsAction: Tell Your Senators to Vote No on Neera Tanden (Petition)

RootsAction

resident Biden’s nominee to be director of the powerful Office of Management and Budget spent the last decade opposing progressive policies, while raising huge amounts of money for her think tank from wealthy donors representing corporate interests and from foreign governments, including the anti-democratic United Arab Emirates.

In recent years, Tanden has become known as one of the most anti-progressive voices of the neoliberal establishment. She has expressed support for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and opposition to Medicare for All and a $15 federal minimum wage. She is a determined foe of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing; journalist and former Sanders speechwriter David Sirota called her “the single biggest, most aggressive Bernie Sanders critic in the United States.”

As OMB Director, Tanden would be overseeing what the Washington Post described as “the nerve center of the federal government . . . setting fiscal and personnel policy for agencies, and overseeing the regulatory process across the executive branch.”

Her coziness with corporate elites raises questions about her potential role in the regulatory process. As the Washington Post recently reported, she has “mingled with deep-pocketed donors who made their fortunes on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and in other powerful sectors of corporate America.” And, “at formal pitches and swanky fundraisers, Tanden personally cultivated the bevy of benefactors fueling the $45 million to $50 million annual budget” of her think tank, the Center for American Progress.

In 2011, after the U.S. and NATO militarily overthrew Libya’s government (leading to years of chaos and violence), Tanden sent an email that later became public and infamous. Tanden wrote: "We have a giant deficit. They have a lot of oil. Most Americans would choose not to engage in the world because of that deficit. If we want to continue to engage in the world, gestures like having oil rich countries pay us back doesn't seem crazy to me." The email's subject line: “Should Libya pay us back?”

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