Welcome to Thursday, September 19th, diamonds and pearls...

President Donald Trump has revoked a waiver allowing California to set higher auto emissions standards.

 Trump continued that the action will result in vehicles that are safer and cheaper, and that "there will be very little difference in emissions between the California standard and the new U.S. standard."

Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded that the Trump administration "has abdicated its responsibility to the rest of the world on cutting emissions and fighting global warming" and is acting "on a political vendetta."

Do you support revoking the waiver for California to set higher auto emissions standards?

On the Radar

Fed Announces Another Interest Rate Cut 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced Wednesday that the central bank’s board of governors voted 7-3 in favor of lowering the federal funds rate by 0.25% to a new target range of 1.75% to 2%, the first time in 2019 the rate will be at or below 2%.

The Fed’s second rate cut of the year is the same size as the first cut, which was announced in July and similarly enacted out of concern about global trade uncertainty that’s weighing on an otherwise strong U.S. economy.

In a press conference, Powell said that if the economy weakens the Fed may embark on a “sequence” of interest rate cuts, but that it’s not necessary at the moment: “If the economy does turn down, then a more extensive sequence of rate cuts will be appropriate. We don’t see that it. It’s not what we expect.”

Do you support the Fed's decision to cut interest rates?

Blocking Funding Over Border Wall

Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a procedural vote that would’ve allowed for the consideration of the upper chamber’s first “minibus” spending package of the year amid an ongoing dispute over the Pentagon’s ability to transfer funds for construction of the border wall.

The House-passed bill was a $982 billion funding package covering defense, health and human services, education, foreign affairs, energy and water, and the legislative branch. 

The Senate’s plan was to amend H.R. 2740 to include its versions of the defense and energy & water funding bills. But while the energy & water bill passed the Appropriations Committee last week on a 31-0 vote the defense bill was approved on a party-line 16-15 vote over concerns about the transfer of funds to the border wall. 

Do you support or oppose funding for the border wall?

Under the Radar

Police Crackdown on Homeless 

The Trump administration is exploring using local police to remove homeless people from the streets.

A new report from the president’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) said “policing may be an important tool to help move people off the street and into shelter or housing where they can get the services they need.”

During a fundraising trip to California Tuesday, Trump told reporters that homeless people are living on the “best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings” as property owners pay “tremendous taxes” and picked their locations because of “prestige.”

Osha Neumann, a civil rights lawyer who has long advocated for the homeless in northern California, told The Guardian that policing “contributes to the problem rather than solving it.”

“The idea that we can criminalize our way out of a crisis that is the result of the failure of the system to provide basic human needs for a large percent of our population is ridiculous," Neumann said.

Would you support a police crackdown on homeless?

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should the Helen Keller National Center be Reauthorized Through 2023?