Investigations Update: 'Burrowing In,' Medicaid Block Grants, and Pennsylvania County Election Certifications
In this email:
* Trump Appointees ‘Burrowing In’ Ahead of Presidential Transition
* Exclusion of Undocumented Immigrants from Congressional Apportionment 
* Pennsylvania County’s Election Certification 

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Here’s a look at the investigations our team has been pursuing through public records requests in the last week:

Immigration IQ Test Advocate Joins Commerce
Last month, Science reported that Jason Richwine — a public policy analyst known for his controversial doctoral thesis advocating for IQ-based immigration restrictions — was appointed ([link removed]) to a high-level position at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. In 2013, Richwine worked at the Heritage Foundation, where he co-authored a highly criticized study ([link removed]) that claimed it would cost trillions to implement immigration reform, and left the organization after news broke about the topic of his dissertation. More recently, he’s been working with ([link removed]) the Center for Immigration Studies, an extreme anti-immigrant group ([link removed]) . We filed
a FOIA request ([link removed]) to NIST for all records concerning Richwine’s reported hiring.

Trump Appointees ‘Burrowing In’ Ahead of Presidential Transition
According to recent news reporting, at least a dozen ([link removed]) Trump political appointees have been approved to work in new civil service positions, a move known as “burrowing in” — when political appointees convert to career positions, potentially with intentions to impede the agenda of the upcoming administration. As part of our investigation ([link removed]) into the potential burrowing in of Trump’s political appointees, last week we filed FOIA requests with multiple agencies for records (including resumes and ethics documents) related to the hiring process of specific Trump appointees at the Departments of Defense ([link removed]) and Justice
([link removed]) .

Exclusion of Undocumented Immigrants from Congressional Apportionment
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging the Trump administration’s bid to exclude ([link removed]) undocumented immigrants from the decennial reapportionment. It’s the administration’s latest ([link removed]) attempt to interfere in the 2020 census, following weeks of legal battles over whether the administration could end the count early ([link removed].) . We sent FOIA requests to Commerce and the Census Bureau for communications ([link removed]) concerning the counting of immigrants, as well as for any
directives ([link removed]) sent from the Census Bureau headquarters to regional field offices.

Pennsylvania County’s Election Certification
Last week, the board of elections in Luzerne County, Pa., voted to certify ([link removed]) election results, but was split along partisan lines. Republican board members opposed the certification, despite the fact that Trump won the county ([link removed]) by 14 points, and at least one of the Republican members reportedly called ([link removed]) for a paper ballot recount. We sent a records request to Luzerne County for board members’ related email communications.

Medicaid Block Grant Funding in Oklahoma
In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced a new option ([link removed]) for states to receive federal funding for Medicaid in the form of block grants. In April, Oklahoma became the first state to submit an application ([link removed]) requesting block grant funding, but subsequently withdrew the request ([link removed].) without explanation. We filed records requests with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and the governor’s office for records ([link removed]) regarding the state’s waiver application as well as for any
related assessments or analyses ([link removed]) .
To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) and @ojocorrupcion ([link removed]) , or like us on Facebook ([link removed]) . If you are able, please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

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Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.

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