On the Radar

9/11 Victims Compensation Fund

The financially beleaguered September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) is set get relief from Congress in the coming weeks, as leadership in both chambers of Congress have announced plans to vote on a bill funding the VCF permanently.

The fund was last authorized in 2015 through fiscal year 2020, but the VCF’s administrators announced benefit cuts earlier this year because an influx of claims by 9/11 first responders and victims who have contracted illnesses from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero has depleted the approved funding faster than anticipated.

In a late June meeting with 9/11 victims, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) committed to holding a vote on the legislation in his chamber before the Senate adjourns for recess in August ― although it’s unclear whether it will be considered as standalone legislation or attached to a broader bipartisan bill (like a conference report that compromises between the House and Senate defense authorization bills).

Do you support permanently funding the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund?

Judge Rejects DOJ Bid to Change Lawyers in Census Case

A federal judge has blocked the Justice Department from switching legal teams midway through a case challenging the Trump administration's efforts to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census.

District Judge Jesse Furman blocked nine DOJ lawyers from stepping down from the case until they met a legal requirement to explain why they want to depart and showing that their exit wouldn't impede the lawsuit. Even if they are relieved, they'd be required to remain under the court's jurisdiction to answer any future questions.

Trump blasted both the decision, and the "Obama appointed judge," in a tweet Tuesday night.

“So now the Obama appointed judge on the Census case (Are you a Citizen of the United States?) won’t let the Justice Department use the lawyers that it wants to use,” he tweeted. “Could this be a first?”

Do you support a citizenship question on the census? 

Under the Radar

Keep on Truckin'

The Department of Transportation is moving to relax the federal regulations on how many hours truck drivers can work.

The trucking industry has long fought to relax the “hours of service” rules, which confine long-haul truck drivers to a 14-hour “driving window” limit, 11-hour driving limit, and 60-hour/7-day and 70-hour/8-day duty limits.

The National Transportation Safety Board has declared fatigue a “pervasive problem” in all forms of transportation and added reducing fatigue-related accidents to its 2019-2020 “most wanted list” of safety improvements.

Norman Tello, a driver for Tate Transportation, told the Idaho Post Register that the rules should be changed.

“It’s flawed because you’re racing the clock all the time,” Tello said. “You’re constantly fighting to get to where you want to go before your time runs out.”

Do you support relaxing truckers’ drive-time restrictions?

California Bans Discrimination Based on Hair

California has passed the Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act, which bans discrimination against employees based off hairstyle and texture, both of which are often associated with race. 

Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed the bill into law Wednesday, making California the first state to legally protect people in workplaces and K-12 public schools from discrimination based on their natural hair.

“That is played out in workplaces, it’s played out in schools - not just in athletic competitions and settings - every single day all across America in ways that are subtle, in ways overt," Newsom said during the bill-signing ceremony in Sacramento.

Should the U.S. ban discrimination based on hair?

What You're Saying

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