Impeachment, USPS, Privacy, Pelosi, Non-citizens, Disaster Relief, Emergency Rooms

Today's News for February 10, 2020

Graham: Cloud Over The Presidency Has Been Removed
Source: Senator Lindsey Graham (R - SC)
February 5, 2020
This partisan-driven impeachment has done injury to the office of the presidency and was an injustice to President Trump
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Griffith Statement on President Trump’s Acquittal
Source: U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA, 9th)
February 5, 2020
The Senate has finally ended an ordeal that never should have started. Democrats in the House brushed aside principles of fairness and impartiality in conducting this impeachment process, yet, in my belief, they failed to find impeachable offenses. The Senate agreed.
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The State Of Our Union Is STRONG
Source: U.S. Representative Sam Graves (R-MO, 6th)
February 6, 2020
While the President worked throughout this sham impeachment, securing better trade deals, eliminating terrorists, and ditching bad government regulations like WOTUS, Congress was basically at a standstill. Now, with this political circus finally over, it is my hope that we can get back to work.
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Rep. Grijalva Supports Passage of USPS Fairness Act
Source: U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ, 3rd)
February 6, 2020
The House of Representatives, with large bipartisan support, passed the USPS Fairness Act last week. The bill will repeal the retiree health pre-funding mandate that a Republican-led Congress imposed on the Postal Service in 2006. The mandate, which no other federal agency or private company must abide by, required the postal service to pre-fund decades of future retiree benefits while still paying for current retiree benefits—costing the USPS an annual average of $5.4 billion over the past dozen years.
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Grothman Statement on the Passage of the PRO Act
Source: U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI, 6th)
February 6, 2020
Under this bill, the employer is forced to hand over the telephone number, the email and the address of each employee to the union,” said Grothman. “I believe in the importance of protecting people’s privacy. To say that unions have the right to know every member’s home address, and turn it over to who knows how many functionaries, I find very offensive. I would find it very scary if an employee came home one night to find someone waiting there for them to talk about a union election.
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Granger Resolution to Hold Pelosi Accountable, Honor American Heroes
Source: U.S. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX, 12th)
February 7, 2020
“Speaker Ryan and Speaker Boehner - they may have disagreed with the President on a multitude of issues, but they treated him with respect. Can you imagine the outrage if they had acted this way towards President Obama? What Nancy Pelosi did was shameful, and it degraded the proceedings of the joint session. The other thing, Mark, when she tore [the President’s remarks] up, it was a slap in the face to those heroes and their families that the President had honored.”
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Grassley Seeks Information on Noncitizens Working Without Authorization
Source: Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
February 7, 2020
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Andrew Saul and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad Wolf seeking information on why SSA is not providing the statutorily required information to DHS regarding noncitizens working on and reporting wage earnings to non-work social security numbers.
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Congressman Al Green’s Statement on the Passage of H.R 5687, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act
Source: U.S. Representative Al Green (D-TX, 9th)
February 7, 2020
In November of 2019, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019 (H.R. 3702) – that I and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) authored – passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support. H.R. 3702 helps to ensure the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program operates more efficiently, with few unnecessary delays. As the representative of a congressional district frequently impacted by severe flooding, I understand the need for legislation that works to improve the process of providing disaster-affected areas with appropriate relief funding.
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Rep. Green Cuts Red Tape with Rural ER Access Act
Source: U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN, 7th)
February 7, 2020
Green’s legislation repeals an onerous and burdensome federal regulation, the ‘35-mile rule’, which prohibits free-standing emergency departments (FSEDs) from operating more than 35 miles from a hospital. The bill would abolish this arbitrary and unfair mileage requirement, allowing free-standing ERs to serve the rural communities that are desperately in need of such care.
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DelBene Introduces Legislation to Protect Consumer Privacy

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by: Suzan Delbene (D-WA, 1st)

Washington, D.C. - April 1, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Suzan DelBene reintroduced legislation that would change the way consumers' personal, private information is protected. The Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act would give people control over their most sensitive information while ensuring the government can enforce these rules.

“A lack of privacy control is a threat Americans face every day. As a former tech entrepreneur with experience in this field, I’m aware of the critical moment we’re facing. This is a time for consumers, policymakers and the private sector to come together and protect consumers’ sensitive personal information from bad actors,” said DelBene.

She added, “Under this legislation, privacy will be the default. People will no longer have to dig through confusing user policies and opt out of highly invasive settings, and the Federal Trade Commission will have the authority to hold companies accountable. The U.S. must take a national stance and be a leader in setting global standards on this important issue. Let’s use our standing as the world’s undeniable leader in tech innovation to protect the people who use it every day.”

“This legislation is an important step forward in finding a balanced approach to consumer data protection. This proposal would significantly strengthen the FTC’s enforcement capabilities, establish uniform national rules for the digital economy, and ensure businesses are focused on protecting consumers’ most sensitive information. This legislation shows that it is possible to both protect consumers without undermining innovation, and we encourage Congress to move forward quickly with this proposal to provide guidance and certainty to consumers and business alike,” said Daniel Castro, Vice President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

“We thank Congresswoman DelBene for her leadership in introducing the Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act. Privacy is one of the most important issues before Congress, and this legislation is a valuable contribution to the discussion. BSA stands ready to work with all Members of Congress and the committees of jurisdiction to pass a strong, comprehensive federal bill to create one national standard that protects privacy and restores the American people’s trust,” said Craig Albright, Vice President of Legislative Strategy, BSA | The Software Alliance.

DelBene's legislation would:

Help consumers by ensuring all users are presented with companies’ privacy policies in "plain English."

Require companies to allow users to “opt in” before companies can use consumers’ most sensitive private information in ways the public might not expect.

Require companies to declare if and with whom private and behavioral data will be shared, and the purpose of sharing such information.

Give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) privacy targeted rule making authority and empowers states attorney generals to also pursue violations of this legislation.

Give the FTC the ability to fine bad actors on their first offense.

Require companies to obtain privacy audits by a neutral third party and submit the results to the FTC biannually.

The bill text can be read here and full details of the bill can be found here. DelBene first introduced a similar version of this legislation in the 115th Congress.

Rep. DelBene is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee as well as the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the New Democrat Coalition. She is co-chair of the Digital Trade Caucus, Women's High Tech Caucus, and Internet of Things Caucus.

She represents Washington’s first congressional district.

Bipartisan Legislation To Protect Privacy of Consumers’ Online Data Introduced

Washington, D.C. - January 21, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- U.S. Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act, bipartisan legislation that will protect the privacy of consumers’ online data. The legislation will improve transparency, strengthen consumers’ recourse options when a breach of data occurs and ensure companies are compliant with privacy policies that protect consumers.

“I don’t want to regulate Facebook or any private social media company, but these platforms continue to compromise their users’ private data,” Kennedy said. “Our legislation reinforces data privacy standards and requires these companies to be transparent with how they are using our private information. In today’s world, private data is the equivalent of our personal identities, and companies need to know that they’ll be held accountable when they violate the public’s trust and compromise our private information. Our legislation does just that.”

“Every day, companies profit off of the data they’re collecting from Americans, yet leave consumers completely in the dark about how their personal information, online behavior and private messages are being used. Consumers should have the right to control their personal data,” Klobuchar said. “Our legislation would ensure that companies use plain language to explain to consumers how their data is being used, allow consumers to opt out of certain data tracking and collection, and require companies to notify consumers of privacy violations within 72 hours of a breach.”

Social media and other online platforms routinely capture users’ behavior and personal information, which is then used to help advertisers or other third parties target those users. Kennedy and Klobuchar’s legislation would protect the privacy of consumers’ online data. Specifically, the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act would:

Give consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection,

Provide users greater access to and control over their data,

Require terms of service agreements to be in plain language,

Ensure users have the ability to see what information about them has already been collected and shared,

Mandate that users be notified of a breach of their information within 72 hours,

Offer remedies for users when a breach occurs,

Require that online platforms have a privacy program in place.

Related Information


Amy Klobuchar, John Kennedy again push bipartisan online-privacy legislation in Senate
Yahoo Finance

Consumer Watchdog Calls On Pelosi To Stop Lame-Duck Preemption of New California Privacy and Auto Safety Laws; Industry Deal Threatens To Undo CA's Robot Car and Privacy Standards

Consumer Watchdog Calls On Pelosi To Stop Lame-Duck Preemption of New California Privacy and Auto Safety Laws; Industry Deal Threatens To Undo CA's Robot Car and Privacy Standards
Consumer Watchdog
December 6, 2018
New amendments to SB 1885, the AV START Act, give automakers a specific exemption from state privacy law and give exclusive jurisdiction to Trump's Federal Trade Commission. The self-driving car bill is expected to be added to the federal spending bill, which would circumvent the current hold on the legislation by Senator Feinstein and four other senators.

Read more...

Congressman Biggs' Statement on the Presidential Transition Team's Right to Privacy

By Andy Biggs (R-AZ, 5th)



Washington, D.C. - December 21, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- Recently, we learned that the General Service Administration (GSA) inappropriately, and potentially illegally, released tens of thousands of private documents from Donald Trump’s Presidential Transition Team (PTT) to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Current law considers records produced by the PTT as private and they are afforded Fourth Amendment protections. These documents are not government property, and the GSA does not have the authority to release any of these records without due process.

In August, Special Counsel Mueller requested that GSA release copies of the emails, laptops, cell phones, and other materials associated with 13 PTT members responsible for national security and policy matters. Contrary to legal precedent and prior direction from the GSA General Counsel, his Deputy General Counsel turned over mountains of private communications to Mueller. He did so without notifying the PTT or redacting any private, privileged information. Congressman Andy Biggs released the following statement –

“The GSA’s distribution of unredacted and private records is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. It appears that the request and acquiescence by the GSA Deputy General Counsel was done to fuel Special Counsel Mueller’s overly broad investigation. The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 ensures that transition teams receive the right to privacy and I will introduce legislation to strengthen these rights, if necessary. I will also be sending letters to the General Services Administration and Special Counsel Mueller for clarification as to the basis of the request and transfer of these privileged documents.”


See more headlines at The Ponder News Web Site

Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule Remains a Guiding Principle for Physician Members

Source: American Psychiatric Association

Arlington, VA - October 7, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- The American Psychiatric Association (APA) today released the following statement regarding The Goldwater Rule:

“In the past year and a half, there have been numerous news articles and commentaries on The Goldwater Rule. The Goldwater Rule is an ethics principle that guides our physician members not to provide professional opinions in the media about the mental health of someone they have not personally examined and without patient consent or other legal authority. A personal examination includes ruling out physical causes of or other reasons for a behavior. Nothing about the Goldwater Rule discourages psychiatrists from providing education to the public about mental illnesses; in fact, APA encourages psychiatrists to educate the public about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

The APA would also like to dispel a common misconception about the so-called “Duty to Warn.” The duty to warn is a legal concept which varies from state to state, but which generally requires psychiatrists to breach the confidentiality of the therapeutic session when a risk of danger to others becomes known during treatment of the patient. It does not apply if there is no physician-patient relationship.”

The American Psychiatric Association, founded in 1844, is the oldest medical association in the country. The APA is also the largest psychiatric association in the world with more than 37,000 physician members specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses. APA’s vision is to ensure access to quality psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.

Rooney Introduces Bipartisan Child Safety Legislation

Washington, D.C. - October 3, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- Congressman Tom Rooney (FL-17) introduced the bipartisan National Child Identification Assistance Act with Congressman Charlie Crist (FL-13) today. This bill protects children’s sensitive information by empowering parents to store it themselves, rather than the government.

“The National Child Identification Assistance Act highlights the importance of the National Child Identification Program, a national community service initiative which provides inkless, in-home fingerprinting kits to parents so they can proactively collect and store their child’s vital identification in the privacy of their own homes,” Rooney said. “It also decentralizes the process for law enforcement agencies that may lack the resources to collect and centrally-store information related to individual children. Should a child go missing, parents will be able to immediately furnish all of the pertinent information that law enforcement needs to conduct a search and rescue as quickly as possible. In the past, this program has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, local law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other community service organizations and this bill is an important step to ensure parents are directly involved in its continued success.”

“We must do all we can to protect our children. I am proud to join my friend, Congressman Rooney, in introducing this common-sense bill to do just that, promoting a proactive approach to address the growing issue of missing and exploited children,” added Charlie Crist.

“I am so proud that Congressman Rooney and Crist are leading the effort to help protect our greatest asset, our nations' children.  I was one of the coaches that helped start this program, and to date with 57 million ID kits distributed, it is the largest child ID program in the world. What a blessing,” said former Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden.

Originally recognized by Congress in 2001 for its dedication and efforts to protect children, the National Child Identification Program is a community service initiative that partners with college football teams and NFL teams to provide parents and guardians with ID kits that they can use at home to store their child’s sensitive identification information.

Former West Virginia Head Coach Don Nehlen stated, “Nothing is more important to the country than our children, they are our future.  This ID Kit can be filled out in about 5 minutes, stored in the home and can be provided to authorities in the case of an emergency.”

“It is a great initiative that I have been involved with since 1997.  This is another positive way that we can protect one of our most important natural resources that we have and that's our children,” said Coach Jim Caldwell of the Detroit Lions and longtime program board member.

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Coming to a Hospital Near You...

In the new age of social media, Wabash General Hospital is taking steps to ensure patients' privacy.

At Monday's regularly scheduled WGH Board of Directors meeting, Tamara Gould, vice president of clinical services, share that the new policy is essentially a extension of HIPPA.

"We're trying to limit protected health information from being put out where it shouldn't be — to protect the privacy of our patients and employees," she said.

Gould continued to say that the hospital will be putting signs out in public areas, requesting that visitors who have any portable electronic devices with cameras to have them out. Additionally, if people want to take photos of a family member or friend, the hospital asks that the physician or staff member is present to make sure consent is given by all parties involved.

The policy will protect not only patients, but employees as well.

"Some of our employees may not want their picture taken and posted all over Facebook or Twitter," Gould said.

The board approved the new policy unanimously.

This came from the Mt. Carmel Register, a newspaper in Illinois. As an employee in a hospital, I can assure you that all hospitals take their patient's and employees privacy rights VERY seriously, and if this works for one hospital, expect to see it all over the country soon.

Read more...

Congress acts to protect the most personal data – genetic information

Washington, D.C. - December 7, 2016 (The Ponder News) -- Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes important new protections for genetic privacy, which were top priorities of Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

The bill strengthens privacy protections around the collection of genetic information for medical research participants. As federal agencies and other groups continue advancements in scientific health research, their collection of individual’s personal genetic information continues to grow larger and larger.

“There have been amazing advancements in genetic research – personalized medicine and the truly remarkable work being done by researchers across the country brings us closer than ever to cures for life threatening diseases. But with those developments come new threats to the genetic privacy of research participants,” Enzi said, “I am proud to have the next generation of genetic privacy protections put into law to ensure that this vital information is handled correctly and securely. I have worked on this issue for close to a decade and I am excited to see these 21st century privacy protections head to the president’s desk to be signed into law.”

Senator Enzi has been a leader on this issue in the Senate, having been an original sponsor of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). Along with federal agencies and research institutions maintaining large databases of genetic information, it also is now possible to use genetic information to identify individuals and to learn information about their health and the health of their family members. The new legislation would provide stronger protections to ensure that personal genetic information held by federal agencies cannot be made public, and to guarantee confidentiality by federally-funded researchers.

The 21st Century Cures Act, which the Senate and House passed earlier this week with overwhelming support, would also bring lifesaving drugs and devices to market more quickly, as well as boost cancer and Alzheimer’s disease research, provide grants to states to fight opioid abuse.

LGBT Discrimination, Privacy, Article V of the Constitution, Alzheimer's

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY, 18th) amendment to prevent federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 223-195. The Maloney amendment was introduced to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017, and would specifically prevent contractors paid by funds allocated for energy and water projects from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Maloney is accusing House Republican Leadership of violating their own rules to strong-arm seven republicans into switching their votes to vote against Maloney’s amendment, yet the Maloney amendment passed with 43 Republican votes.

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11 states, including Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s directive for more inclusive bathrooms for transgender students.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI, 4th) calls the lawsuit "yet another frivolous and politically motivated lawsuit against the Obama administration."

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Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA) and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced the bipartisan and bicameral International Communications Privacy Act (ICPA). Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chris Coons (D- DE) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced identical legislation in the Senate. Reps. Marino and DelBene introduced similar legislation last year, H.R. 1174, the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act (LEADS Act), which also focused on addressing the conflict between cross border data flows and law enforcement requests for electronic communications.

The International Communications Privacy Act provides a common sense solution to the complicated questions surrounding international data storage and lawful government access to that data. ICPA will modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), based on the recognition that today’s technology is global and our laws must reflect that reality. This bill will modernize our laws to establish a rule of law on lawful access to data in the global environment.

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On Wednesday evening, Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC, 11th) bill, H.R. 5233, the Clarifying Congressional Intent in Providing for D.C. Home Rule Act of 2016, passed the House of Representatives.

The bill would repeal the District of Columbia’s "Local Budget Autonomy Amendment Act," passed in 2012 by the D.C. city council, and reaffirm Congress’ authority in D.C. budgetary matters as established under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

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Congressman Luke Messer (IN-06) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Article V Records Transparency Act (H.R. 5306), to ensure states are able to exercise their authority under Article V of the Constitution by restructuring the recordkeeping process of Article V applications.

Article V of the Constitution provides two methods to amend our founding document. The first method allows Congress to propose amendments to the states for ratification if two-thirds of both Chambers agree upon a proposed amendment. The second method, known as the convention method, requires Congress to call a convention to consider amendments if two-thirds of the states submit applications requesting such a convention.

Since the founding of our country, states have submitted hundreds of convention applications on a variety of topics. Unfortunately, the federal government has never kept track of these applications. And subsequently, not even the National Archives—the chief record keeping agency of the federal government—knows how many applications actually exist.

H.R. 5306 requires the National Archives to find every state application and rescission within two years and transmit them to Congress. The bill then requires the Chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to post these applications and rescissions on a public website, which would serve as the official database for all Article V records.

The Article V Records Transparency Act is being heralded as a vital piece of legislation by numerous stakeholders, including the Jeffersonian Project, the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 501(c)(4) affiliate, the Friends of the Article V Convention, Assembly of State Legislatures (ASL), the Compact for America, the Madison Coalition, the Compact for a Balanced Budget, and constitutional scholars Prof. Rob Natelson (University of Montana) and Prof. Larry Lessig (Harvard).

H.R. 5306 is also being supported by broad coalition of legislators, including democrat Members Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL); the House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA); the Judiciary Subcommittee Chair on the Constitution and Civil Justice Trent Franks (R-AZ); the Rules Subcommittee Chair on the Rules and Organization of the House Steve Stivers (R-OH); Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL); and Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX).

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U.S. Representative Patrick E. Murphy (FL-18), a member of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease and the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus, introduced the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Sunshine Act. The bill promotes the development of a much-needed breakthrough in treatment of Alzheimer's disease by providing a tax exclusion on the sale of new FDA-approved therapies.