Senate Votes To End CFPB Arbitration Rule
Flake and Corker join Trump to upend a major consumer protection. The Intercept: "With national attention focused Tuesday morning on a mushrooming feud between President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., followed by a feud in the afternoon between Trump and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., the Senate gift-wrapped the biggest present Congress has so far bestowed upon Wall Street in the Trump era. With a razor-thin margin, the Senate passed a resolution to nullify a signature regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which banned forced arbitration provisions... Consumer advocates had hoped that moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine would block the GOP effort. They did not. Only GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana bucked their party — but a no vote when the measure passes is not much of a bucking. In a sign of how far the Democratic Party has come in recent years, all 48 members of the Senate caucus voted to keep the arbitration rule."
U.S. Restricts Refugees From 11 Nations
Trump targets 11 nations in refugee order. Politico: "The Trump administration will resume refugee admissions, but will impose new security measures on 11 nations. President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday to restart the refugee resettlement program, which was suspended for 120 days as part of the president’s travel ban. The order initiates a new 90-day review period for the administration to conduct an 'in-depth threat assessment' of the 11 countries, according to a senior administration official. The administration did not disclose the 11 countries, but based on statements from senior administration officials they appear to be: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. All except for North Korea and South Sudan are majority-Muslim."
Sen. Flake Retires, Breaks With Trump
Sen. Flake: 'There Is A Sickness In Our System.' WaPo: "There is a sickness in our system -- and it is contagious. How many more disgraceful public feuds with Gold Star families can we witness in silence before we ourselves are disgraced? How many more times will we see moral ambiguity in the face of shocking bigotry and shrug it off? How many more childish insults do we need to see hurled at a hostile foreign power before we acknowledge the senseless danger of it? How much more damage to our democracy and to the institutions of American liberty do we need to witness in silence before we count ourselves as complicit in that damage?"
More from OurFuture.org:
Why “Centrists” Will Sink the Democrats, If They Haven’t Already. Richard Eskow: "No ideology in modern American history has failed as consistently or for as long as the Wall Street-friendly 'Democratic centrism.' Its practitioners are undeterred by the losing streak that has brought their party to its knees."
Do Democrats Really Need Wall Street? Harvey J Kaye: "Some warn all hell will break loose if we use democracy to challenge the power of money. They forget that we are descended from revolutionaries, radicals, socialists, progressives, populists, labor unionists, feminists, and civil rights and environmental activists who made America truly great by refusing to bow to the powerful and wealthy and instead fighting to extend and deepen freedom, equality, and democracy."
