Josh Riley Stands Against Tsunami Of Crime and Corruption From Elon Musk and Donald Trump
Much of what the US Congress is supposed to be doing, it is failing to do. Donald Trump is not only violating laws that have been passed by Congress, but has been moving rapidly to undermine the ability of Congress to exercise much federal power at all. The Republican leadership of Congress is failing to stand up for America’s constitutional system of checks and balances.
Much of what the US Congress is doing, there is no need of doing. The US Congress is drowning in nonsense legislation that will help nobody. US Representative Earl Carter, for example, introduced a bill this week that would officially rename the island of Greenland, calling it Red, White, and Blueland. It sounds like a stupid joke, but this legislation is for real. Nobody but the most obsequious toadies would actually start calling Greenland Red, White, and Blueland. It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, but if passed into law, this measure would result in a surprising amount of waste. The bill would require every single federal government agency would be required to review every single map, law, regulation, document, and paper it has in its possession, and then edit every one of those that refers to Greenland, replacing the name Greenland with Red, White, and Blueland.
There is a third category of legislation making its way through the US Congress, however, that is much more dangerous. The Republican leadership of Congress is pushing through many bills that seek to line the pockets of people who are already rich and powerful, while undermining the ordinary rule of law.
This week, Congressman Josh Riley is defying the torpor of the Republican leadership, and keeping his feet amidst the flood of empty right-wing ideological posturing in the US House of Representatives. Ignoring the distractions, Representative Riley has focused in on two more dangerous pieces of legislation pushed to a vote on the House floor.
H.R. 77, the Midnight Rules Act, was designed as a measure to demolish the legacy of Joe Biden’s presidency, but its worst impacts have nothing to do with a personal rebuke to Biden. This legislation also creates a shadow under which Republicans can destroy child safety and consumer protection standards. Congress already has the authority to overrule presidential Executive Orders. What the Midnight Rules Act does is give Congress the ability to take all executive regulations issued during the President’s last year in office and destroy them en masse without distinguishing helpful regulations from harmful ones. It’s a clumsy legislative approach that is sure to cause a great deal of damage to the ability of America’s government to address the needs of the people.
US Representative Jerrold Nadler rose to the floor to explain his opposition to the Midnight Rules Act.
“This legislation would allow the majority to put dozens of critical regulations issued by the Biden administration on the chopping block. Republicans will talk all about the costs of these regulations, but the majority will never talk about the benefits, like healthier children, safer drinking water, and stronger consumer protections. If my Republican colleagues really want to roll back regulations that ensure the safety of bath seats for infants or create dust, lead, and lead pipe safety standards, or update certain emergency braking standards, fine. Let’s have that debate out in the open. We can let our constituents judge whether we took the right vote. Don’t hide behind a giant omnibus bill that obscures the consequences of the majority’s actions.
If we are truly concerned about so-called midnight rules, we have other options to check them. For example, at the end of President George W. Bush’s administration, I authored a bill that would delay implementation of rules issued near the end of a President’s term, giving his or her successor the chance to review such rules and to determine if they should go forward. I believe there are ways that we could work together in a bipartisan manner to address this issue. Where past efforts tried using a scalpel to address the problems associated with midnight rulemaking, today’s Republicans want to instead use a machete, hacking away at the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda, putting all of the rules together in one vote, and furthering their ideological goal of radically transforming our government.”
Congressman Josh Riley did the right thing, and joined Jerrold Nadler in opposing this destructive legislation. Representative Riley voted against H.R. 77.
Another dangerous piece of legislation opposed by Josh Riley was H.R. 26, the Protecting American Energy Production Act. When a new law specifies that it’s protecting a powerful industry with massive political influence, it’s important to ask just who this industry needs protecting from.
In the case of the Protecting American Energy Production Act, it seems that Republicans believe it’s important to protect dirty fossil fuels corporations from American families whose children have become sick because toxic fluids used in fracking has leaked into their drinking water. H.R 26 would make it impossible for any President to regulate fracking for methane using existing laws already passed by Congress.
US Representative Diane Degette explained how H.R. 26 endangers American families.
“This bill would allow natural gas producers to keep abusing loopholes that allow them to hide dangerous chemical components in their fracking fluid, and that is something I don’t think any of us should support. Having served as the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security in the last Congress, I have worked closely on this issue for many years. I have introduced legislation that would ensure that our communities would be safe from the dangerous chemicals that are often used in fracking fluid. Fracking releases thousands of harmful chemicals that poison our drinking water and pollute our air, including hydrogen sulfide, which causes nausea, vomiting, and headaches; benzene, a known carcinogen; toxic metals; acids; and even diesel fuel. A significant number of scientific studies prove negative health effects like cancers, asthma, and birth complications are caused by fracking chemicals. These chemicals particularly affect the most vulnerable in our society, including children, people who are pregnant, the elderly, lower-income communities, and communities of color.
For example, those who gave birth while living near a fracking site had children who are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7 than those who were not exposed. For older adults, a study found that living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania during its so-called fracking boom between 2002 and 2015 were more likely to be hospitalized for cardiovascular disease than those in neighboring states where fracking was banned. What complicates our ability to regulate these hazardous chemicals is that only in retrospect can we assess the damage that is being done in the name of oil and gas production. It was just 2 years ago that scientists were able to conclude the extent of harm caused by the fracking fluid in 2016, that was almost 10 years ago. A study found it caused 410,000 asthma flare-ups; 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma; and 7,500 excess deaths, costing $77 billion in health impacts.”
US Representative Steve Cohen then rose to the floor of the US House to point out the irony of giving Congress more authority to protect corporations that pollute America’s drinking water when Congress is refusing to assert the authority it already has to protect inspectors general that are supposed to protect Americans from institutional abuse.
“I just find it unbelievable that we have called up a bill today to require the President to have congressional approval to stop fracking when we don’t ask the President to not impound funds that have been appropriated through Article I by Congress, which is how they are supposed to be appropriated, and when we don’t ask the President to not fire the inspectors general when legislation requires him to give 30 days’ notice to Congress before he does so and to give good reason for it when the inspectors general are there to find fraud, abuse, and waste of government moneys. That is more important and adds up to more and more dollars that the inspectors general find, and there are other areas where our authority has been stepped on and violated. This is just insane that we are doing this today.”
Representative Riley voted against H.R. 26. Unfortunately, despite Josh Riley’s opposition, both H.R. 26 and H.R. 77 were approved by the US House of Representatives. Neither bill has yet been approved by the US Senate or been signed into law.
Josh Riley also took action this week to confront the fascist takeover of the US federal government. Riley was also one of over a hundred Democrats from the House of Representatives who signed a letter to Russell Vought, a prominent contributor to Project 2025 and head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury.
The letter protests the Trump Administration’s illegal shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Constitution clearly states that the President of the United States “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”. Congress has passed legislation creating and funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, granting the CFPB the authority to protect American consumers from fraud and other forms of exploitation by banks and other large financial businesses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s work is a matter of law - and by ordering the CFPB to stop its work, Donald Trump is violating the Constitution and law passed by Congress.
The attack on the CFPB was begun by Elon Musk’s team of corporate hackers. The letter explains that:
“On the evening of Thursday, February 6th, at least three of Musk’s employees entered CFPB headquarters and requested access to sensitive CFPB information, including internal staff records, competitive industry data, and personally identifiable consumer information. The release of this data to inexperienced, untrained, and unvetted employees raises serious concerns about its impact on law enforcement, consumer privacy, and the protection of confidential supervisory information of the nation’s biggest financial institutions, while stoking fears that Musk will try to virtually dismantle the agency to the extent possible.”
After the attack by hackers from Tesla, Russell Voght ordered the CFPB headquarters to shut down and its employees to stop all work. The letter signed by Congressman Riley demands that the attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by stopped, and that the bureau be allowed to conduct its work in accordance with the law. The letter states:
“The Trump Administration has effectively fired the financial cop on the beat and declared open season for predatory lenders and scam artists working to steal Americans’ money and threaten their financial security. No matter how badly someone has been cheated and no matter how extensive the scam, the Administration has declared that the financial cops should simply stand by and watch while giant networks of lenders cheat American consumers. This is particularly costly for people whose claims of illegal foreclosures, car repossessions, or debanking are currently under investigation by the agency. Your efforts to dismantle the CFPB are dangerous, and we will fight them at every turn. We ask that you remove Mr. Musk’s operatives from the CFPB, restore all internal and external systems and operations, and allow the CFPB to continue to do its job of protecting American consumers.”
In other news, Josh Riley’s congressional staff members are holding a series of meetings with constituents in New York’s 19th congressional district. Meetings are taking place on in the following locations and times:
Ithaca, New York
Tompkins County Library, Schwarz Jacobson Meeting Room
Tuesday, Tuesday, February 25
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tannersville, New York
Mountain Top Library
Thursday, February 13
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
*In partnership with the Office of Michelle Hinchey,
New York State Senator for NY's 41st District.
Norwich, New York
Norwich City Hall, Conference Room
Thursday, February 13
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Philmont, New York
Philmont Library
Tuesday, February 18
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
*In partnership with the Office of Michelle Hinchey,
New York State Senator for NY's 41st District
and the NYS Comptroller, Thomas D. Napoli.
Greene, New York
Moore Memorial Library, Computer Room
Thursday, February 27
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
