Two Bills in the U.S. Senate Worth Watching; a Cucumber Recall That’s Big–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Nov. 29, 2024

Indy Digest: Nov. 29, 2024

As the 118th Congress enters its final month, I am very closely following two pieces of legislation—one of which would be a boon to press freedom, and another which poses a serious threat.

The PRESS Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously, and is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate. As the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press explains: “The PRESS Act would bar the federal government from using subpoenas, search warrants, or other compulsory actions against journalists to force the disclosure of information identifying confidential sources as well as other newsgathering records, except in very limited circumstances. It would also broadly limit the government’s ability to use the same actions against third parties, including email providers and search engines, to seize journalists’ data, with narrow exceptions.”

One would think the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats until Jan. 3, would be in favor of this. However, there’s a huge obstacle now in the way named President-elect Donald Trump. As The New York Times explains:

President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday instructed congressional Republicans to block the passage of a bipartisan federal shield bill intended to strengthen the ability of reporters to protect confidential sources, dealing a potentially fatal political blow to the measure—even though the Republican-controlled House had already passed it unanimously.

The call by Mr. Trump makes it less likely that the bill—the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, or PRESS Act—will reach the Senate floor and be passed before the current session of Congress ends next month. Even one senator can hold up the bill, chewing up many hours of Senate floor time that could be spent on confirming judges or passing other legislation deemed to be a higher priority.

Mr. Trump issued the edict in a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday afternoon. Citing a “PBS NewsHour” report about the federal shield legislation, he wrote: “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!”

Mr. Trump has exhibited extreme hostility to mainstream news reporters, whom he has often referred to as “enemies of the people.” In his first term as president, he demanded a crackdown on leaks that eventually entailed secretly seizing the private communications of reporters, including some from The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.

Here’s hoping the Senate somehow finds a way to get this bill passed and to the desk of President Joe Biden.

As for the bill about which I am deeply, deeply concerned: On Nov. 21, in a 219-184, mostly party-line vote, House Republicans passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would give the Treasury Department the unilateral ability to remove the tax-exempt status of any nonprofits it deems to be supporting terrorism.

I think we can all agree that supporting terrorism is bad. But the authority this bill would give the treasury secretary—and their boss, the president—is terrifying. The ACLU and 353 other organizations, in a letter to House leaders, wrote: “If this bill were to become law, the Secretary of Treasury could strip a U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status without providing the nonprofit a meaningful opportunity to defend itself before a neutral decisionmaker. The legislation further does not require disclosure of all the reasons for such a decision or the evidence relied upon to support it. Nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision, leaving an accused nonprofit entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support.”

According to Free Press Action Policy Counsel Jenna Ruddock: “The addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the Treasury Department to explicitly target, harass and investigate thousands of organizations that make up civil society, including nonprofit newsrooms, in the United States. The language of the bill lacks any safeguards against abuse, and puts the burden of proof on organizations rather than on the government. It’s extremely likely that the Trump administration would use it to exact revenge on groups that have raised questions about or simply angered the president-elect and other officials in his orbit.”

Yikes.

Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler or Adam Schiff (depending on the timing): Please do everything you can to make sure the PRESS Act gets passed, and that the co-called “Stop Terror Financing” bill gets defeated. A LOT of our freedoms depend on it.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• How will the president-elect’s proposed tariffs affect Americans? Time reports: “Trump said on Truth Social on Monday night that he intends to sign an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the U.S., and a 10% tariff on goods from China. He said the tariffs would be in response to migrants and drugs, such as fentanyl, traveling across U.S. borders. Trump initially promised during his campaign to institute a 10-20% tariff on all imports, and as high as 60% on goods from China. … Mexico is the U.S.’s top trading partner, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from September. The main products Mexico exports are cars and car parts, as well as electrical machinery and appliances, such as laundry machines, according to data from The Atlas of Economic Complexity. Trump’s proposed tariffs could make these cars and appliances built in Mexico, or cars and appliances assembled in the U.S. but that have parts imported from Mexico, more expensive, economists predict. … The U.S. also gets foods like meat and fish from Mexico, according to Sharyn O’Halloran, professor of political economy at Columbia University, and Trump’s tariffs could drive up those prices too.”

• A proponent of “herd immunity” during the COVID-19 crisis has been tapped to head the National Institutes of Health. NPR reports: “President-elect Donald Trump is tapping Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health researcher, to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. … An open letter called ‘The Great Barrington Declaration’ … was released in October 2020 and challenged policies such as lockdowns and mask mandates. Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the document. The declaration called for speeding herd immunity by allowing people at low risk to get infected while protecting those most vulnerable, like the elderly. ‘I don’t think that Jay Bhattacharya belongs anywhere near the NIH, much less in the director’s office,’ says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. ‘That would be absolutely disastrous for the health and well-being of the American public and actually the world.’ Still, others are more measured. ‘There were times during the pandemic where he took a set of views that were contrary to most people in the public health world, including my own views,’ says Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health who served as President Biden’s COVID-19 Response Coordinator. ‘But he’s fundamentally a very smart, well-qualified person.’“

• Amazon workers across the world went on strike today. ABC News explains: “Workers for the largest online retailer in the world are on strike during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the holiday season. Amazon employees have begun protesting, with demonstrations planned in more than 20 countries starting on Black Friday over ‘labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy,’ according to UNI Global Union and Progressive International, a Switzerland-based global labor union. Demonstrators are calling for increased wages, improved working conditions, and for employees to be permitted to unionize. Dubbed the ‘Make Amazon Pay days of resistance,’ the strike is scheduled to last from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the union announced in a press release. Protests can be expected in major cities in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Brazil and more.”

• Today’s recall news involves … cucumbers! NBC News says: “An Arizona produce company is recalling all sizes of its whole, fresh American cucumbers in 26 states and parts of Canada because they could be contaminated with salmonella, it said. SunFed said in an announcement posted online Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration that cucumbers it sold from Oct. 12 to Nov. 26 were recalled because of the potential contamination, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. The recalled cucumbers were packaged in bulk cardboard containers marked with the SunFed label or in generic white boxes or black plastic crates with stickers naming the grower, according to the company. The produce was distributed in 26 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.”

• The fight between the Oswit Land Trust and the Mesquite homeowners’ association over the Prescott Preserve may be nearing the end. Our friends at the Palm Springs Post report: “After two years of legal battles, Oswit Land Trust (OLT) and Mesquite Country Club Homeowners Association have reached an agreement in principle regarding the former Mesquite Golf Course, now known as Prescott Preserve. The resolution, announced in a joint statement Tuesday evening, came after eight hours of mediation led by David Chapman, who listened to arguments and concerns from both parties. ‘OLT and MCC are grateful for the work done by (the mediator),’ the joint statement read. ‘Both MCC and OLT are looking forward to putting their disputes behind them and working to create a spectacular nature preserve in the heart of our community.’ Specific details of the agreement remain undisclosed as mediation documents are being drafted.”

• And finally … has TSA Precheck gotten TOO popular? Perhaps, but the feds want it to get even MORE popular. The Washington Post says: “Jeff Price, an aviation professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, has started hearing grumbling in the exceedingly crowded PreCheck lanes. … Since the program debuted in 2013, the number of travelers enrolled in PreCheck, which allows participants to skip standard security scrutiny, has swelled. When factoring in people who acquired trusted traveler status through other programs and affiliations, such as active military and Global Entry, the PreCheck rolls exceed 41 million. The Transportation Security Administration said about 30 percent of fliers are PreCheck members, and it wants that number to increase to a 70 percent majority. The idea of cramming more people into these designated areas seems to defy the point of the fast lane, especially if you have to show up at the airport earlier and stand in line longer. Price said travelers should lower their expectations, but advised against quitting PreCheck. ‘You might want to stick around here because the PreCheck lines typically move faster, and you still don’t have the hassle of removing the liquids and the laptops and the shoes,’ he said.”

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