Interior chief Ryan Zinke urges shrinking 4 national monuments in West
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending that four large national monuments in the West be reduced in size, potentially opening up hundreds of thousands of acres of land revered for natural beauty and historical significance to mining, logging and other development. Zinke’s recommendation, revealed in a leaked memo submitted to the White House, prompted an outcry from environmental groups who promised to take the Trump administration to court to block the moves. The Interior secretary’s plan would scale back two huge Utah monuments – Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante – along with Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou. The monuments encompass more than 3.6 million acres – an area larger than Connecticut – and were created by Democratic administrations under a century-old law that allows presidents to protect sites considered historic, geographically or culturally important. Zinke’s plan also would allow logging at a newly designated monument in Maine and urges more grazing, hunting and fishing at two sites in New Mexico. It also calls for a new assessment of border-safety risks at a monument in southern New Mexico. Bears Ears, designated for federal protection by former President Barack Obama, totals 1.3 million acres in southeastern Utah on land that is sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thousands of archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings. Grand Staircase-Escalante, in southern Utah, includes nearly 1.9 million acres in a sweeping vista larger than the state of Delaware. Republicans have howled over the monument since its creation in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton. Cascade-Siskiyou, which juts into Northern California, protects about 113,000 acres in an area where three mountain ranges converge, while Gold Butte protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert landscapes that feature rock art, sandstone towers and wildlife habitat for bighorn sheep and the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 19-page memo, which was submitted to the White House last month and has not been officially released. Two marine monuments in the Pacific Ocean also would be reduced under Zinke’s memo, and a third monument off the Massachusetts coast would be modified to allow commercial fishing. Commercial fishing also would be allowed at two Pacific sites, west of Hawaii and near American Samoa. President Donald Trump ordered a review of 27 sites earlier this year after complaining about a “massive land grab” by Obama and other former presidents. “It’s gotten worse and worse and worse, and now we’re going to free it up, which is what should have happened in the first place. This should never have happened,” Trump said in ordering the review in April. National monument designations add protections for lands known for their natural beauty with the goal of preserving them for future generations. The restrictions aren’t as stringent as for national parks, but include limits on mining, timber cutting and recreational activities such as riding off-road vehicles. No president has tried to eliminate a monument, but boundaries have been trimmed or redrawn 18 times, according to the National Park Service. Zinke’s recommendations to pare down the four Western monuments – and allow more economic activity at three other sites – “represent an unprecedented assault on our parks and public lands” by the Trump administration, said Jamie Williams, president of the Wilderness Society. “This callous proposal will needlessly punish local, predominantly rural communities that depend on parks and public lands for outdoor recreation, sustainable jobs and economic growth,” Williams said, vowing to challenge in court any actions by the Trump administration to reduce the size of national monuments. It was not clear from the memo how much energy development would be allowed on the sites recommended for changes, but Zinke said in the report that “traditional uses of the land such as grazing, timber production, mining, fishing, hunting, recreation and other cultural uses are unnecessarily restricted.” Those restrictions especially harm rural communities in western states that have traditionally benefited from grazing, mining and logging, said Zinke, a former Montana congressman. “Zinke claims to follow Teddy Roosevelt, but he’s engineering the largest rollback of public land protection in American history,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group. A spokeswoman for Zinke referred questions to the White House, which said in a statement that it does not comment on leaked documents. If Trump adopts the recommendations, it would quiet some of the worst fears of his opponents, who warned that vast public lands and marine areas could be lost to states or private interests. But significant reductions in the size of the monuments, especially those created by Obama, would mark the latest in a string of actions where Trump has sought to erode his Democratic predecessor’s legacy. The recommendations cap an unprecedented four-month review based on Trump’s claim that 1906 Antiquities Act has been misused by recent presidents to create oversized monuments that hinder energy development, grazing and other uses. By sealing off more than 3 million acres in solidly Republican Utah, Obama and Clinton hurt local economies in rural areas that depend on logging and ranching, said Matt Anderson of the conservative Sutherland Institute. “It begs the question: Are these expansions more about ulterior motives like climate change, presidential legacies, corporate interests like outdoor recreation companies, or are they about antiquities?” Anderson asked. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
State Sen. Cam Ward elected chair of national energy research group
Alabaster-Republican, state Sen. Cam Ward has been elected the new chairman for the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research (CLEER) for 2017-2018. Ward was installed at the group’s annual meeting Little Rock, Ark. on Sunday. CLEER is an affiliate of the multi-state Energy Council — consisting of twelve energy producing states and two Canadian provinces with the purpose of monitoring and influencing energy policy. CLEER meetings are held quarterly in conjunction with the Energy Council meetings “I am honored to be selected chairman of such a distinguished research group. Along with my CLEER colleagues from across the country, I will continue to promote an energy and environmental policy that strengthens the United States’ position as the world’s leader in the delivery of electricity, natural gas, and energy resources,” said Ward in a statement. “I want to thank New Mexico State Sen. Carroll Leavell for the tremendous job he’s done as the past chairman of CLEER.”
‘Not a friend of democracy’: Donald Trump’s past UN criticism
“Utter weakness and incompetence.” ”Not a friend of democracy.” ”Just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” As President Donald Trump visits the United Nations, a look at some of his past tough comments about the world body: – “Why is the UN condemning @Israel and doing nothing about Syria? What a disgrace,” he tweeted in October 2011, one of a series of tweets about the organization that year. Trump said that September he was “increasingly concerned” with what he called “the UN’s ploy against @Israel this coming week.” “We must stand firm against the UN’s ploy to sabotage Israel — -if the UN grants the PA statehood then we must immediately defund it,” he wrote. – “The cheap 12 inch sq. marble tiles behind speaker at UN always bothered me. I will replace with beautiful large marble slabs if they ask me,” he tweeted in October 2012. – In a speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington in March 2016, Trump took on what he described as “the utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations.” “The United Nations is not a friend of democracy, it’s not a friend to freedom, it’s not a friend even to the United States of America; whereas you know it has its home and it surely is not a friend to Israel,” he said. -Angry at the Obama administration for not vetoing a U.N. resolution that criticized Israel for its settlement activity, the soon-to-be-president said in a Dec. 23, 2016 tweet that: “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.” -“The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!” Trump tweeted on Dec. 26, 2016, shortly before his move to Washington. – “The U.N. has such tremendous potential, not living up to its potential,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in December 2016. “When do you see the United Nations solving problems? They don’t. They cause problems. So, if it lives up to the potential, it’s a great thing. And if it doesn’t, it’s a waste of time and money.” -“I have long felt the United Nations is an underperformer but has tremendous potential,” Trump told ambassadors and their spouses who visited the White House for lunch in April. “I think that the United Nations has tremendous potential – tremendous potential – far greater than what I would say any other candidate in the last 30 years would have even thought to say. I don’t think it’s lived up – I know it hasn’t lived up to the potential.” He added: “You just don’t see the United Nations, like, solving conflicts. I think that’s going to start happening now. I can see it. And the United Nations will get together and solve conflicts. It won’t be two countries, it will be the United Nations mediating or arbitrating with those countries. So I see fantastic potential.” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
‘Put the Panic back in Hispanic’ pep rally sign causes outrage at Alabama school
A photo from an Alabama high school football pep rally on Friday has stirred up controversy across the internet over the weekend. Posted on social media Saturday, the photo featured two Robertsdale High School students posing with the school’s mascot. In the photo, one of the students is holding a homemade sign that reads, “Put the Panic Back in Hispanic,” as the team prepared to take on the Spanish Fort High School Toros. The other, is holding a Donald Trump campaign banner that reads “Making America Great Again.” The message on the first sign is being called racist across social media. Trey Leggett, a Spanish Fort High School alumni, took to Facebook to express his distaste, writing “If this picture doesn’t make you sick please delete me. You will not be missed.” Current Robertsdale student Jennifer Lopez Vazquez, also posted on Facebook saying the sign was “very disrespectful in so my ways.” Both posts received thousands of comments and shares from across the country. The Baldwin County Public Schools superintendent Eddie Tyler put out a statement on the matter Saturday responding to the complaints. “We are aware of a photo that appears to be taken at a Robertsdale High School football pep rally Friday Sept. 15 that is circulating on social media containing political banners and unacceptable language,” Tyler said. “School administrators, as well as my office, are following up on the matter.” One of the students in the photo has since sought legal representation and has sent an apology letter to the Baldwin County School Board. In the letter, the student writes: ”I am one of the girls in the picture at the Robertsdale High school pep rally. I had the sign that said “Put the “panic” back in Hispanic”. Sir I would like to inform you that, that wasn’t my intention and was not meat for it to be taken that way. We played the Spanish Fort Toros on Friday night, I was meaning “panic the Toros” considering when I think Spanish I think Mexican or Hispanic. When I realized how people were taking it, I wasn’t going to bring it. But my friend who had it in his truck brought it to the bleachers, when one of the boys sitting near me saw it and held it up. I do apologize for making our school look bad and I do understand any consequences I must face. But I also believe in my right of speech. I did not mean it in any kind of racial way, half of my family are Hispanic. Thank you for your time reading this, I apologize for all the publicity and misunderstandings this has brought to our school.”
Donald Trump, in U.N. debut, urges the world body to reform
President Donald Trump made his debut at the United Nations on Monday, using his first moments at the world body to urge the 193-nation organization to reduce bureaucracy and costs while more clearly defining its mission around the world. But while Trump chastised the United Nations – an organization he sharply criticized as a candidate for president for its spiraling costs – he said the United States would “pledge to be partners in your work” in order to make the U.N. “a more effective force” for peace across the globe. “In recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential due to bureaucracy and mismanagement,” said Trump, who rebuked the United Nations for a ballooning budget. “We are not seeing the results in line with this investment.” The president pushed the U.N. to focus “more on people and less on bureaucracy” and to change “business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working.” He also suggested that the U.S. was paying more than its fair share to keep the New York-based world body operational. But he also complimented steps the United Nations had taken in the early stages of the reform process and made no threats to withdraw his nation’s support. His measured tone stood in stark contrast to his last maiden appearance at a global body, when he stood at NATO’s new Brussels headquarters in May and scolded member nations for not paying enough and refusing to explicitly back its mutual defense pact. While running for office, Trump labeled the U.N. as weak and incompetent, and not a friend of either the United States or Israel. But he has softened his tone since taking office, telling ambassadors from U.N. Security Council member countries at a White House meeting that the U.N. has “tremendous potential.” Trump more recently has praised a pair of unanimous council votes to tighten sanctions on North Korea over its continued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. Trump’s big moment comes Tuesday, when he delivers his first address to a session of the U.N. General Assembly. The annual gathering of world leaders will open amid serious concerns about Trump’s priorities, including his policy of “America First,” his support for the U.N. and a series of global crises. It will be the first time world leaders will be in the same room and able to take the measure of Trump. The president on Monday praised U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also spoke at the reform meeting and said he shared Trump’s vision for a less wasteful U.N. to “live up to its full potential.” The U.S. has asked member nations to sign a declaration on U.N. reforms, and more than 120 have done so. The president also kicked off his maiden speech at the world body by referring to the Trump-branded apartment tower across First Avenue from the U.N. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said Trump’s criticisms were accurate at the time, but that it is now a “new day” at the U.N. An organization that “talked a lot but didn’t have a lot of action” has given way to a “United Nations that’s action-oriented,” she said, noting the Security Council votes on North Korea this month. Guterres has proposed a massive package of changes, and Haley said the U.N. is “totally moving toward reform.” Trump riffed on his campaign slogan when asked about his main message for the General Assembly. “I think the main message is ‘make the United Nations great.’ Not again, ‘make the United Nations great,’” Trump said as he left the U.N. building. “Such tremendous potential, and I think we’ll be able to do this.” Trump also planned separate talks Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron. U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster said “Iran’s destabilizing behavior” would be a major focus of those discussions. He also was having dinner with Latin American leaders. The United States is the largest contributor to the U.N. budget, reflecting its position as the world’s largest economy. It pays 25 percent of the U.N.’s regular operating budget and over 28 percent of the separate peacekeeping budget – a level of spending that Trump has complained is unfair. The Trump administration is conducting a review of the U.N.’s 16 far-flung peacekeeping operations, which cost nearly $8 billion a year. Cutting their costs and making them more effective is a top priority for Haley. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Battleground Alabama: Donald Trump vs Steve Bannon
There’s a battle royale going down in the Yellowhammer State. No, not the dogfight between former Ala. Chief Justice Roy Moore and Sen. Luther Strange for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former U.S. Senate. The far more interesting battle is shaping up between the candidate’s big name supporters — President Donald Trump vs. his recently departed chief strategist Steve Bannon. Trump, who endorsed Strange a week ahead of the GOP primary back in August, announced on Saturday he’s headed to Alabama to stump on behalf of the Senator. “I will be in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday night to support Luther Strange for Senate. ‘Big Luther’ is a great guy who gets things done!” Trump tweeted. I will be in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday night to support Luther Strange for Senate. “Big Luther” is a great guy who gets things done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2017 Meanwhile, Bannon who’s back at the helm of Breitbart News, is all-in for GOP insurgent Moore. There, he’s defined the race an battle between the DC establishment and the will of the people — the grassroots conservatives. Bannon announced he was backing the former judge over Trump‘s pick during a closed-door meeting with influential conservatives of the Conservative Action Project in Washington, D.C. last month. He says the outcome of the showdown in Alabama will show whether incumbent senators can be successfully challenged by insurgents in next year’s midterm elections. Trump, who still remains widely popular in Alabama, is offering his help at a pivotal time in the campaign with less than 10 days before the Sept. 26 run-off election. According to recent polls, Moore leads Strange and closing last month secured the endorsement of former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who said Moore “has what it takes to stand up to the out-of-touch political establishment.” As for who’s candidate will walk away victorious, only time and the voters will tell.
Politics and Sean Spicer take center stage at Emmy Awards
Weeks after leaving his job, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer was onstage at the Emmy Awards on Sunday joking about one of his first – and more dubious – claims from the press room. Host Stephen Colbert, playing the straight man in his opening monologue, said it was difficult to tell how many people would be watching the show. At that point, Spicer wheeled a podium onto the Los Angeles stage. “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys period, both in person and around the world,” Spicer said. The reference was to his Inauguration Day claims, contradicted by photos, about how big the audience was for President Donald Trump’s oath of office. “Wow,” Colbert replied. “That really soothes my fragile ego.” Even without Spicer’s surprise appearance, politics couldn’t help but make its way onto the Emmy Awards stage, especially since Colbert noted that Trump was the biggest TV star of the year. Spicer’s joke rubbed several people the wrong way on social media, and Colbert didn’t let him off the hook, either. Pointing out Robert DeNiro in the audience, he noted that the actor had been nominated for his role in the HBO movie “Wizard of Lies” (about Bernard Madoff). Colbert joked that he thought the movie was “The Sean Spicer Story.” On Twitter, actor Zach Braff contended the Spicer appearance was too soon: “I’m not ready to laugh ‘with’ Sean Spicer,” he tweeted. One of former President Barack Obama‘s top aides, Dan Pfeiffer wrote, “congrats to @seanspicer for his new job as the punchline to an unfunny joke.” But he got some sympathy backstage from an unexpected source in Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for his memorable portrayal of Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” “I think the average person is very grateful for him to have a sense of humor and participate,” Baldwin said. “And Spicer obviously was compelled to do certain things that we might not have respected, we might not have admired, we might have been super critical of in order to do his job, but I’ve done some jobs that are things you shouldn’t admire or respect me for, either.” Colbert blamed the Emmys for Trump’s election as president. He suggested if Trump had won an award for “Celebrity Apprentice,” he might not have run for president. He showed a clip of a presidential debate where Trump said he should have won an Emmy. “Unlike the presidency, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote,” he said. Baldwin couldn’t resist picking up that baton when he grasped his trophy. “I suppose I should say, at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy,” he said. “SNL” had a smash year with its political comedy, led particularly by Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy‘s impersonation of Spicer. It dominated the Emmys, too, with the show winning for variety sketch series and Kate McKinnon, who portrayed Hillary Clinton, taking a supporting actress award. McKinnon thanked Clinton from the stage for her “grace and grit.” Lorne Michaels, the longtime top producer at “Saturday Night Live,” said he knew it was an important year for the show to get things just right. “It was one of the most amazing years we’ve ever had because everything changed every day,” he said backstage. Donald Glover, best actor winner in a comedy for his role in “Atlanta,” brought up the president his acceptance speech, saying that “I want to thank Trump for making black people No. 1 on the most oppressed list.” A number of nominees wore blue ribbons, distributed by the ACLU in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. “They asked us if he would wear these ribbons to bring attention to the DACA children – the 800,000 vulnerable children were waiting for Congress and our administration to give them permanent, safe homes – and not keep them in this limbo that is terrifying all of them and really affecting lives,” said actor Mandy Patinkin. Three acting veterans got in the toughest shot at Trump – without mentioning his name. Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the stars of the movie “Nine to Five,” appeared to present an award. “Back in 1980 in that movie, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot,” Fonda said. “And in 2017,” Tomlin added, “we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Bradley Byrne: How we fund the government
Arguably, Congress’s most important power is the power of the purse. Through funding bills, Congress has an important opportunity to set the direction of the government. Founding Father James Madison called it “the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people”. Unfortunately, in recent years, Congress has failed at this basic constitutional responsibility. For far too long, Congress has operated from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis, putting off passing government funding bills until the last possible minute. Even worse, Congress has also fallen into a bad habit of just passing short-term spending bills known as Continuing Resolutions (CR) that simply hold federal spending in place. This is exactly what happened just a few weeks ago. I voted against that bill because it’s unacceptable to operate the government in that manner. Fortunately, for the first time since 2009, the House last week passed all twelve of the individual government funding bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. Only in Washington would simply doing your job be considered a major accomplishment, but this was a big breakthrough in the government funding process and it is important to enacting President Trump’s agenda. For example, our funding bills crack down on illegal immigration and fully fund President Donald Trump’s request for the border wall. The bills also roll back burdensome regulations, provide a raise to our troops, defund Planned Parenthood, cut funds to the IRS and EPA, and boost funding for medical research. While I am proud we got the job done, we still have a lot of work to do. For example, Congress has still not even passed a budget for Fiscal Year 2018 yet, and the Senate has yet to consider even a single funding bill. I want to take a minute to clarify the difference between the federal budget and the funding bills. While the terms are often interchanged, they are actually very different. The budget is more of an aspirational document that does not carry the force of law, but it serves as a blueprint for the funding bills. Even more, the budget submitted each year by the President is truly just a recommendation that Congress uses to draft our own budget. Even still, the budget is important because it sets topline spending levels and provides a more long-term budget outlook. The funding bills are where the money is actually spent. These are very specific bills that lay out line item appropriations for most government agencies and programs. The funding bills run on the fiscal year calendar, so from October 1st to September 30th each year. If the funding bills are not passed before September 30th, a government shutdown occurs. When the process works like it is supposed to, the president submits his budget request in February, the House and Senate pass budget resolutions by the middle of the year, and then pass the twelve individual funding bills by September 30th. We must return to this process. When the system is broken, as it currently is, it makes it much harder to set federal priorities and cut down on wasteful or unnecessary government programs. This is why I think it is so important we return to regular order and get our work done on time. I understand it is difficult to make spending decisions in today’s tight budget environment, but the American people elected us to make difficult choices. While I’m glad the House got our work done this year, we must keep pushing to fix the overall process and restore fiscal sanity in Washington. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
Luther Strange’s disclosure exposes double talk on immigration
Sitting Sen. Luther Strange has found himself in the middle of a dogfight for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, where he faces former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on Sept. 26 in a run-off that’s oft a contest of who’s the most conservative candidate. On the immigration front, both candidates have come up pretty even. Since going to Washington back in February, Strange has worked hard on earning his immigration stripes. In May, he introduced legislation to force sanctuary citizens to pay for the president’s border wall. “They can either follow the law,” Strange said while announcing his bill, “or fund the wall.” What’s surprising however, is finding out the senator has a personal equity ownership in an EB-5 visa development project — a controversial program in which wealthy foreign nationals can purchase visas. Established in 1990, the EB-5 Visa program allows real estate developers to sell legal immigration status to wealthy foreign nationals for $500,000, thus allowing the very rich to buy their way into legal status. Under the program, those foreign nationals, their spouses and their unmarried children under 21 years old are able to apply for green cards. According to his February New Filer Report, Strange listed ownership in the project. In 2016, 8,505 EB-5 visas, of a maximum 10,000, were issued — up dramatically from 2007’s 471. According to data from the State Department, about 80% of the investors came from mainland China. Allowing those who can afford the EB-5 to be able to jump past the long backlog of Chinese citizens seeking entry to the U.S. Here are the top five countries of residence for those who were issued EB-5 visas last year: 82% from mainland China: 6,968 visas issued 3.3% from Vietnam: 287 visas issued 2.3% from South Korea: 195 visas issued 2.1% from Taiwan: 175 visas issued 1.1% from India: 90 visas issued Suddenly Strange’s immigration stance doesn’t seem so sound. What’s more, in August 2011, Strange called on the Alabama legislature to weaken provisions of a state law on immigration, including a measure designed to combat sanctuary cities. Strange stressed illegal Aliens could still attend Alabama public schools and that the Yellowhammer State “welcomes” immigrants. “Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange stressed Wednesday that the law would not prevent undocumented immigrants from having access to public-school education. Strange also argued that the law was not an anti-immigrant measure, and that the state welcomes visitors,” wrote CNN of the situation. Strange went so far as to call for the repeal of a third of the 2011 law, including the right to sue sanctuary city officials who don’t fully enforce the law. “In a memo dated Dec. 1 and sent to Hubbard and Senate President Del Marsh, R-Anniston, Strange calls for an exemption for church activity involving illegal immigrants, an end to the right to sue public officials who don’t fully enforce the law and stopping the requirement that schools gather immigration data on enrollees,” wrote the Huntsville Times (12/7/11). “Strange’s proposals cover nearly a third of the 32 sections in the law and address parts that have already been blocked by federal courts and some elements currently in effect.”
