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Category: Americas

  • MIL-OSI USA: CFTC Releases Staff Letter Relating to Certain Foreign Exchange Transactions

    Source: US Commodity Futures Trading Commission

    CFTC Releases Staff Letter Relating to Certain Foreign Exchange Transactions | CFTC

    /PressRoom/PressReleases/9064-25
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    April 09, 2025

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight today issued an interpretative letter providing the Divisions’ views on the characterization of certain FX transactions as being swaps, foreign exchange forwards, or foreign exchange swaps, in each case, as defined in the Commodity Exchange Act.
    Specifically, the interpretative letter states:

    Window FX Forwards, as described in the letter, should be considered to be “foreign exchange forwards;” and 

    Package FX Spot Transactions, as described in the letter, should not be considered to be “foreign exchange swaps” or “swaps.”

    -CFTC-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ISIS Supporter Sentenced to Over 19 Years in Prison for Recruiting for ISIS, Obstruction, and Attempting to Flee Justice

    Source: US State Government of Utah

    Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, also known as ‘Umm Nutella,’ Initially Cooperated with Law Enforcement, but then Secretly Contacted ISIS Supporters, Deleted Evidence, Lied to Investigators, and Tried to Flee the Country Rather than Face Prison

    A Brooklyn woman, Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, 30, a U.S. citizen, was sentenced today to serve 230 months in prison for three separately charged crimes: conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist organization; obstructing justice while released on bail pending sentencing; and failing to appear for court as required when she attempted to flee the United States. Ceasar pleaded guilty to the material support charge in February 2017, to the obstruction of justice charge in March 2019, and to the failure to appear charge in October 2022.

    “Today’s re-sentencing marks the end of a righteous journey that began a decade ago,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Terrorist organizations like ISIS rely on recruiters like Ceasar to attract, indoctrinate, and enlist new followers. The Department is committed to holding accountable those who seek to follow a similar path. Today was made possible by our prosecutors, staff, and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We are grateful for their tireless pursuit of justice in this case.”

    “With today’s sentence, Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, an unrepentant ISIS recruiter, will be incarcerated for a significant period of time to protect Americans here and abroad from her violent extremism,” said U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York. “Even after pleading guilty to providing material support to ISIS, the defendant continued to support terrorists, obstructed justice and fled from prosecution. This office, together with the FBI, the NYPD, and all the members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, works tirelessly to pursue and hold accountable all those who support terrorism.”

    “Ceasar pleaded guilty to helping ISIS, yet she continued on the same path by communicating with other ISIS supporters, “said Assistant Director David J. Scott of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “Her actions demonstrate a failure to truly accept responsibility for her actions, and she ultimately cut off her electronic monitoring device and went on the run. Ceasar’s efforts failed and with today’s sentencing she is being held accountable for her criminal actions.”

    Between January 2016 and November 2016, Ceasar used numerous social media accounts to praise, promote, and support ISIS and violent jihad and to disseminate ISIS propaganda. Ceasar posted under a variety of names, including her nom de guerre, or war name, “Umm Nutella,” which translates to “Mother of Nutella.” Ceasar developed contacts with ISIS members overseas, recruited individuals in the United States to travel overseas to join and fight for ISIS, and used her contacts with ISIS facilitators to attempt to help at least five people from the United States join ISIS abroad. Ceasar also expressed her own desire to travel to ISIS-controlled territory to join the group and die as a martyr.

    In November 2016, Ceasar was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as she prepared to board an international flight, which was to be the first leg of her journey to join ISIS. Ceasar pleaded guilty in February 2017 to conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigations of ISIS members and supporters.

    In April 2018, Ceasar was released on bail, subject to court-ordered conditions of release. However, she violated those conditions, and her cooperation agreement with the government, by reconnecting with individuals she had identified to the government as supporters of ISIS. Ceasar attempted to conceal these communications from the government and the court, attempted to delete more than 1,000 electronic communications, and lied to the government about her conduct. The court revoked Ceasar’s bail in July 2018. Ceasar pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding in March 2019.

    In June 2019, the late U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein sentenced Ceasar to 48 months in prison for the material support and obstruction offenses, and the government appealed. In August 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the sentence imposed by Judge Weinstein, calling it “shockingly low, and unsupportable as a matter of law,” and sent the case back to the district court for resentencing.

    While the appeal was pending, however, Ceasar completed serving this 48-month sentence in July 2020, and began serving an eight-year term of supervised release. Almost immediately after her release, Ceasar began to repeatedly violate the conditions of her supervision by downloading and using phone apps that she failed to report to the Probation Department, recontacting and communicating with ISIS supporters, soliciting funds from ISIS supporters, communicating with convicted felons, using extremist language, and deleting the evidence of her violations of these conditions of supervision.

    In August 2021, after the Second Circuit issued its decision remanding her case for resentencing, Ceasar fled. On the day she was scheduled to appear before the Court, Ceasar removed her ankle bracelet location monitoring device, and fled New York City on a cross-country bus trip to New Mexico, setting off a nationwide fugitive investigation that led to her arrest in New Mexico two days later. The evidence established that Ceasar intended to escape the United States and travel to Russia, and that, while fleeing, she used an internet-based messaging application to contact an individual in Afghanistan to seek assistance to travel there. She sought assistance from the individual in Afghanistan in the hours after ISIS Khorasan carried out a bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that killed hundreds, including 13 members of the U.S. Armed Forces. In connection with her flight from prosecution, Ceasar ultimately pleaded guilty to her third separate felony offense, a charge of failing to appear before the court as required, in October 2022.

    After being returned to custody at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to await sentencing, Ceasar routinely violated Bureau of Prisons institutional rules, circumvented telephone and email monitoring and use restrictions, and continued to communicate and associate with other ISIS supporters.

    The government’s case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian C. Richardson, currently of the National Security Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew D. Reich of the Eastern District of New York’s National Security and Cybercrime Section.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Republicans Waste Time and Taxpayer Money with Vanity Bill as Economy Crashes

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California

    April 09, 2025

    Washington, D.C. – Today, as the stock market was thrown into chaos and Americans are struggling to make ends meet, the House Natural Resources Committee Republicans held a markup on legislation designed to distract from this administration’s pandemonium and stroke the President’s ego. The markup featured pushing a Gulf of Mexico renaming stunt – all while families across America face rising costs, real crises, Trump Tariff whiplash, and shrinking retirement accounts thanks to the economy Republicans wrecked.

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    “President Trump’s reckless tariff plan has driven our markets into turmoil. The S&P 500 is officially in bear market territory, the Dow is cratering and for the average American teachers, firefighters, truck drivers, their 401ks and retirement savings are crumbling before their eyes, and that’s without getting into the higher prices that we’re all starting to see. These tariffs go into effect starting today. Is the majority doing anything about this looming economic catastrophe that absent decisive intervention will profoundly harm every sector of our economy and numerous programs under this committee’s jurisdiction? Obviously, no. Republicans in this Congress are just too busy renaming things like the Gulf of Mexico,” Ranking Member Huffman said during the markup. “The many issues that we’re neglecting today are not abstract problems, they’re immediate threats to our constituents’ safety, heritage, and livelihoods, and they’re entirely avoidable problems… caused by an administration that is going entirely unchallenged by this Republican Congress. Elon Musk is dismantling the Social Security Administration after calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme just a few days ago.

    “Americans are not asking us to rename places in this moment, they’re asking us to lower costs to protect their savings, to fight for their future. They’re asking us to confront and mitigate the real and immediate threats of drought and wildfire. They’re asking us to stop the absolute chaos coming out of this administration. We urgently need congressional leadership to tackle the most pressing problems in America, and instead we are here with distractions and culture war sideshows. We owe the American people better, much better than this.”

    Republicans voted against multiple Democratic amendments, including: 

    • Ranking Member Jared Huffman’s amendment to restore the name “Denali” to North America’s highest peak.
    • Rep. Darren Soto’s amendment to permanently withdraw the eastern Gulf of Mexico from oil and gas leasing.
    • Rep. Julia Brownley’s amendment to ensure the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the Department will not authorize any oil and gas lease sales in Atlantic and Pacific planning areas.
    • Rep. Debbie Dingell’s amendment to require the protection of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park.

    BACKGROUND

    A full list of amendments offered by Committee Democrats can be found below.

    H.R. 276 (Greene) Gulf of America Act of 2025

    H.R. 276 (Greene) Gulf of America Act of 2025
    Amendment #1 by Dexter Clarifies that nothing in this bill authorizes the federal government to engage in retribution or censorship against a news organization that refers to the gulf as “Gulf of Mexico”
    Amendment #2 by Huffman Adds that the term “Gulf of America” was first coined by Stephen Colbert in reference to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster
    Amendment #3 by Huffman Strikes “Gulf of America” and inserts “Gulf of Ignorance”
    Amendment #4 by Huffman Adds that references to Planet Earth shall be considered references to “Planet Trump”
    Amendment #5 by Soto Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the President permanently withdraws the Eastern Gulf of Mexico from oil and gas leasing
    Amendment #6 by Velázquez Strikes “Gulf of America” and inserts “Gulf of Helene”
    Amendment #9 by Ansari Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that President Trump’s trade war will not increase costs for American families and businesses
    Amendment #11 by Rivas Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior provides an economic policy assessment of the bill to determine its effects on food prices, GDP, job creation, and unemployment.
    Amendment #12 by Velázquez Adds that the bill shall not take effect until CBO certifies that renaming the gulf would not increase the deficit or increase spending.
    Amendment #13 by Gray Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that they will not reduce or redirect funding for the Bureau of Reclamation in drought-vulnerable states
    Amendment #15 by Dexter Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the Department’s Office of the Inspector General is fully funded at the requested FY25 level
    Amendment #27 by Brownley Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Department of the Interior conducts a public comment period on the proposed name change
    Amendment #28 by Brownley Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the Department will not authorize any oil and gas lease sales in Atlantic and Pacific planning areas
    Amendment #31 by Brownley Strikes “Gulf of America” and inserts “Gulf of America Should Rejoin the Paris Agreement” 
    Amendment #34 by Randall Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources certifies that the 119th Congress will not direct or authorize the sale of public lands to raise revenue in a reconciliation bill
    Amendment #36 by Brownley Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the NOAA extreme weather funding, positions, and offices are restored
    Amendment #38 by Brownley Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources certifies that IRA funds supporting Gulf states will not be rescinded
    Amendment #49 by Huffman Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the name “Denali” has been restored to North America’s highest peak

     

    H.R. 845 (Boebert) Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025

    H.R. 845 (Boebert) Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025
    Amendment #1 by Dexter Adds that the bill shall not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior certifies that workforce reductions will not hinder the ability of the Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out monitoring and conservation actions
    Amendment #2 by Hoyle Adds that the final rule will not be subject to judicial review unless the Secretary of the Interior finds that the gray wolf population has declined more than 10 percent in one year. 
    Amendment #6 by Huffman Strikes Sections 2 and 3 and requires the Secretary of the Interior to publish a nationwide recovery plan for the gray wolf.

     

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    Previous Article

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Orders Flags to Fly at Half-Staff in Honor of Whitewater Fire Protection District Chief Garry Moore

    Source: US State of Missouri

    APRIL 9, 2025

    Jefferson City — Today, in honor of Whitewater Fire Protection District Chief Garry Moore, Governor Mike Kehoe ordered U.S. and Missouri flags be flown at half-staff at government buildings in Cape Girardeau County, the Fire Fighters Memorial of Missouri in Kingdom City, and firehouses statewide on Thursday, April 10, 2025, from sunrise to sunset.

    “Garry Moore’s life was devoted to serving his community, state and nation,” Governor Mike Kehoe said. “He served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, during which he first joined the fire service. After retiring from the Navy, he joined the Whitewater Fire Protection District, was soon promoted to chief, and spent over three decades responding to fires and other emergencies. Selfless people like Chief Moore are the foundation upon which our strong Missouri communities are built. Claudia and I are keeping his family and community in our prayers during this difficult time.” 

    On April 2, Chief Moore, 68, responded to the Delta, Missouri area after an EF-2 tornado caused widespread destruction. He was fatally injured while responding to a stranded vehicle.

    The flags will be held at half-staff on the day of Chief Moore’s memorial services. To view the Governor’s proclamation, click here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Massachusetts Man Sentenced for Dog Fighting

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    A Massachusetts man was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison, with the final three months to be served in community confinement, after pleading guilty to nine counts of possessing animals for use in an animal fighting venture, in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

    John D. Murphy, of Hanson, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay a $10,000 fine. He was indicted by a federal grand jury last year after being identified on recorded calls discussing dog fighting and subsequent court-authorized searches of his Facebook accounts which revealed a long involvement in dog fighting. Law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at Murphy’s Hanson residence in June 2023 and seized numerous items — like various breeding and training devices and literature and medical and veterinary supplies — associated with dog fighting. 

    Photos of dogs running on treadmills found in Murphy’s basement; from sentencing memo in United States v. John Murphy, 24-cr-10074 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
    Photo of dog fighting paraphernalia, including break sticks, seized in Murphy’s basement; from sentencing memo in United States v. John Murphy, 24-cr-10074 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

    “Dog fighting is a brutal and inhumane form of entertainment and is associated with other organized criminal activity, including illegal gambling,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “We are committed to holding violators accountable. We commend the collaboration between federal and multiple state and local law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting this case.”

    “Dogfighting is a blood sport rooted in cruelty and greed. For years, Mr. Murphy brutalized defenseless animals for profit and sport – training them to fight, suffer and die for his own financial gain. His actions were not only illegal but deeply disturbing,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley for the District of Massachusetts. “This sentencing marks a historic moment in the first federal dogfighting conviction in Massachusetts and serves as a stark warning: those who engage in this barbaric practice will be exposed, prosecuted and punished. We will not tolerate animal cruelty in our communities.”

    “The Office of Inspector General is committed to working with all of our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners in pursuing individuals who choose to participate in animal fighting activities and engage in violations involving animal welfare,” said Special Agent in Charge Charmeka Parker of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Office of Inspector General.

    To report animal fighting crimes, please contact your local law enforcement or the USDA’s Office of Inspector General complaint hotline at: https://usdaoig.oversight.gov/hotline or 1-800-424-9121.

    The USDA’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police; Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Division; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; USMS; Maine State Police; New Hampshire State Police; Massachusetts Office of the State Auditor; Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the police departments of Hanson, Boston and Acton.

    Senior Trial Attorney Matthew T. Morris of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danial E. Bennett and Kaitlin J. Brown for the District of Massachusetts prosecuted the case.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Time Federal Felon Sentenced to 151 Months in Federal Prison

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    A male who conspired to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl pills after previously being convicted of a federal firearms crime was sentenced today to 151 months in federal prison.

    Ian Michael Bonnette, age 45, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a July 30, 2024 guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.  Evidence at the sentencing hearing demonstrated that in addition to conspiring to distribute controlled substances, defendant had many woman over to his home and provided them free methamphetamine in exchange for sex.  Many of these women were homeless and with limited resources and defendant took advantage of them due to his financial position.  The evidence also showed that defendant threatened a female with a knife over drugs he believes were stolen from him.

    Bonnette was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Bonnette was sentenced to 151 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

    Bonnette is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force, at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 24-CR-01012. 

    Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Media Advisory: Setting a bold ambition, Canada could be the number one exporter of liquefied natural gas to Asia

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Media Advisory – TC Energy Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TC Energy or the Company) announces that François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will deliver a keynote address to the Canadian Club Toronto on the country’s time-bound opportunity to fortify its economic sovereignty, build its economy and establish itself as a global energy leader.

    The theme of the sold-out event, Canada’s Will to Win – Seizing a Generational Opportunity, examines how we can empower growth and mobilize the country’s resource wealth to the benefit of Canada’s economic independence. The country has an opportunity right now to become a liquefied natural gas (LNG) superpower with a focus on Asian markets, if ambitions are bold instead of middling.

    “We stand before an extraordinary opportunity to transform our economy and establish our country as the number one LNG exporter to Asia,” he says. “Even beyond the West Coast projects currently proposed, we have the potential for so much more.”

    Media are invited to the address on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at One King West (1 King Street West) in Toronto. Mr. Poirier will begin his remarks just after 8 a.m. ET. For those who can’t attend in person, a live stream will begin here at approximately 8:05 a.m. ET.

    About TC Energy
    We’re a team of 6,500+ energy problem solvers connecting the world to the energy it needs. Our extensive network of natural gas infrastructure assets is one-of-a-kind. We seamlessly move, generate and store energy and deliver it to where it is needed most, to homes and businesses in North America and across the globe through LNG exports. Our natural gas assets are complemented by our strategic ownership and low-risk investments in power generation.

    TC Energy’s common shares trade on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. To learn more, visit us at TCEnergy.com.

    -30-

    Media Inquiries:
    Media Relations
    media@tcenergy.com
    403-920-7859 or 800-608-7859

    Investor & Analyst Inquiries:
    Gavin Wylie / Hunter Mau
    investor_relations@tcenergy.com
    403-920-7911 or 800-361-6522

    PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/9660c529-a63d-40bb-9767-3ab2dcb95070

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Markey Joins Sen. Hirono, Rep. Norcross in Introducing Legislation to Strengthen Rights of Public Sector Workers to join Unions, Bargain Collectively

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
    Washington (April 8, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee today joined Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representative Donald Norcross (D-NJ) in reintroducing the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, bicameral legislation to guarantee the right of public sector employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively in states that currently do not afford these basic protections. This comes at a critical time, after President Trump’s recent executive order ended collective bargaining for over a million federal workers.
    “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing everything in their power to kill public sector unions and deny public servants their fundamental right to organize and collectively bargain. Their union busting is disgusting,” said Senator Markey. “Congress must pass the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act to guarantee public service workers their rights and empower them to fight for better wages and working conditions. Public servants deliver for the American people every day, and we must deliver for them.”
    “Public sector workers teach our children, protect our safety, and keep our communities moving forward—they deserve the right to organize,” said Senator Hirono. “The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act will help ensure that that millions of public sector workers across our country have the federal protections they deserve as they fight for fair wages, benefits, and improved working conditions. Private sector workers are already guaranteed the right to organize under federal law, it should be common sense that public sector workers are afforded those same rights. As President Trump works to gut our public sector workforce, this bill is crucial to protect workers’ freedom to organize and bargain collectively. I’m proud to lead this important legislation with Representative Norcross to help ensure that every public employee has their voice heard in the workplace.”
    “I know the power of collective bargaining because I’ve lived it,” said Congressman Norcross, a former union electrician, member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and co-chair of the Congressional Labor Caucus. “I spent decades at the negotiating table standing up for working families—fighting for fair pay, safer jobs, and better benefits like health care and retirement. This bill ensures public-sector workers across the country have that same right to a voice on the job and a seat at the table.” 
    The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act would establish baseline federal protections to ensure all public service workers can join a union and negotiate workplace conditions—regardless of state law. Unlike private sector workers, there is currently no federal law protecting the freedom of public sector workers to join a union and collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits, and improved working conditions.
    “Unions built the middle class,” said Senator Alsobrooks. “At a time when our President has unleashed brazenly illegal attacks on unions, we need legislation to protect our public service employees – those who keep us safe, who ensure our communities can function, and who are teaching our next generation. They deserve fair benefits and wages, safe working conditions, and the right to organize – and we won’t stop fighting until they get it.”
    “The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act ensures that teachers, nurses, child welfare workers, firefighters, and so many others who serve our communities are afforded the same right to join a union as workers in the private sector,” said Senator Blumenthal. “All workers deserve the free and unhindered opportunity to organize and collectively bargain for better pay, benefits, and working conditions.”
    “As the granddaughter of union steelworkers and Delaware’s former Secretary of Labor, I know the power workers have when they stand together,” said Senator Blunt Rochester, member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. “At a moment when the Trump administration is indiscriminately firing federal employees across government, it is past civil servants have the protections and benefits that private sector workers do: the right to organize. I look forward to working with Senator Hirono and Congressman to get the bicameral Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act across the finish line. We are standing up for public servants across the nation.”
    “Public sector workers bear a huge responsibility within our communities, whether it’s teaching our children, responding to emergencies, or providing vital services that keep our society running,” said Senator Booker. “Public servants should have the same right to advocate for higher pay or safer working conditions as everyone else in America. The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act will ensure all workers have the opportunity organize, collectively bargain, and thrive in our economy.”
    “Public servants ask nothing more than the chance to serve our communities and our nation. They are our neighbors and often our heroes: teachers and 911 operators and police officers,” said Senator Coons. “This legislation protects their right to unionize so they can seek fair salaries and safe workplaces, just like everyone else. When public servants join together and elect a path forward, we ought to respect that choice. I’m proud that the bill we put forward today will do just that while creating better opportunities for public servants and their families in Delaware and across the country.”
    “Our public sector workers deserve the same right to organize as private sector workers, to work in a safe job that pays a livable wage and to be able to save for a secure retirement,” said Senator Duckworth. “As Donald Trump works to hollow out the backbone of our public sector, I’m proud to help Senator Hirono and my colleagues introduce this legislation that would protect these hardworking Americans by finally enshrining their right to unionize into law and enabling them to advocate for the wages and working conditions they rightfully deserve.”
    “Public sector workers – our teachers, firefighters, nurses – keep our communities safe, healthy, and educated.  They deserve the same freedom to organize and collectively bargain as those who work in the private sector,” said Senator Durbin.  “I am cosponsoring the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act to ensure that those who serve our communities are not denied basic labor rights.”
    “From the firefighters and police officers who keep us safe to the educators who teach our kids, public sectors employees serve Arizonans every day. They deserve our support in return,” said Senator Gallego. “I’m proud to back this bill to ensure that public sector employees have the same rights and protections as any other worker.”
    “Public sector workers are the backbone of our communities, ensuring that essential services are provided with dedication and care,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Unionization and collective bargaining are not just rights—they are a recognition of the value of these critical public servants. The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act would help ensure that millions of public sector workers have a voice in their working conditions, pay, and benefits, giving them the same federal rights as their private sector counterparts. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation so that every worker can organize and fight for fair treatment.”
    “Unions, including public-sector unions, have provided critical advocacy and support for many workers,” said Senator Kaine. “I am proud to cosponsor this crucial legislation to protect millions of American workers’ right to unionize and bargain for better wages and working conditions.”
    “All workers deserve the right to collectively bargain and have their voices fully heard on the job,” said Senator Kim. “As President Trump continues to vilify public service and go after workers’ rights, it is as important as ever that congress pass legislation like this to defend them, empower their voice, and have their backs as they simply demand the fair pay and benefits working families across our country deserve.”
    “Every worker in this country should have the opportunity to speak up for themselves on the job. This includes the teachers shaping our kids’ futures, the first responders keeping us safe, and the healthcare and social workers who are there for us when we need them most,” said Senator Luján. “I’m proud to introduce legislation that ensures the folks essential to our communities have the right to organize and fight for fair wages, good benefits, and safe working conditions.”
    “As the son of a union mechanic, I know unions make a difference in standing up for workers and their families by ensuring they have a safe workplace and good pay for their work,” Senator Merkley said. “While the Trump Administration threatens the rights of America’s public sector workers to organize and receive fair treatment in the workplace, we’re pushing to make sure these workers receive just treatment and fair pay for a hard day’s work.”
    “Trump has already stripped hundreds of thousands of federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, and even more public sector workers could be next. Unions built the middle class, and they’re still the best tool for workers to fight for better pay and fair treatment. This legislation would make sure our teachers, firefighters, and more than a million Americans who serve their communities have a seat at the negotiating table,” said Senator Murphy.
    “The nearly 20 million public sector workers across our nation deserve the fundamental right to organize and fight for a fair contract and better working conditions. Yet, the Trump Administration has repeatedly tried to strip away this right and attack public service workers’ ability to unionize,” said Senator Padilla. “From public school teachers who educate our children to first responders on the frontlines of emergencies in our communities, we must guarantee the right for workers to join a union and collectively bargain nationwide.”
    “Working men and women deserve the freedom to negotiate for fair wages and improved working conditions in the communities they serve.  This bill is about basic fairness,” said Senator Reed.
    “Nevada’s police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other public servants work tirelessly to serve our communities, and they absolutely deserve the right to bargain for better wages and working conditions,” said Senator Rosen. “That’s why I’m proud to help introduce a bill to protect their right to join a union and collectively bargain amid attacks from the Trump Administration. I’ll always stand up for Nevada’s public servants.”
    “Donald Trump is dead set on illegally dismantling workers’ rights to organize and advocate for higher pay, benefits, and workplace safety,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Public employees dedicate themselves to serving their communities each and every day, and they deserve the opportunity to join a union. Democrats stand with working Americans and will continue to fight until the right to organize is fully protected.”
    “Americans have a fundamental right to come together to bargain with their employer for fair wages and better working conditions,” said Senator Smith. “By protecting the rights of public employees to organize and advocate for themselves, we will put the power back in the hands of workers and strengthen the middle class.”
    “American workers’ right to organize is ingrained in our democratic principles, but for state and local government employees, this right is not a given. These public servants deliver vital services for our communities – and we’re fighting to ensure they have the freedom to organize and be treated fairly, no matter where they live,” said Senator Van Hollen.
    “Our hardworking civil servants dedicate their careers to teaching our kids, making sure our buses run on time, protecting our communities, and so much more. They should have the freedom to collectively organize and fight for good pay and working conditions,” said Senator Warren. “This bill protects the rights of these workers in every state to unionize and fight for what they deserve.”
    “Public servants are at the heart of our country and are essential to the functioning of our communities. The work of public employees–from our teachers to health care professionals to firefighters–is invaluable, and they deserve fair wages that reflect the important work they do every day,” said Senator Welch. “This bill will ensure that public sector employees have federal protections to form a union and collectively bargain in their efforts to secure better pay and safer working conditions for their essential work. In the wake of Elon Musk’s DOGE and Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce, it’s never been so important to protect workers.”
    Specifically, this bill would set a minimum nationwide standard of collective bargaining rights that states must provide, including allowing public service workers to join together and have a voice on the job to improve both working conditions and the communities in which they live and work. The legislation gives public service workers the freedom to:
    Join together in a union selected by a majority of employees; 
    Collectively bargain over wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment; 
    Access dispute resolution mechanisms; 
    Use voluntary payroll deduction for union dues; 
    Engage in concerted activities related to collective bargaining and mutual aid; 
    Have their union be free from requirements to hold rigged recertification elections; and 
    File suit in court to enforce their labor rights. 
    “Passing this legislation has never been more urgent — especially now, as federal workers face unprecedented attacks on their collective bargaining rights,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “We believe, as most Americans do, that every worker deserves a union — no matter who they work for.  This bill is about something fundamental: respect. Respect for the public service workers who’ve devoted their careers to serving their communities. And respect means the freedom to negotiate.”
    “When workers stand together in a union, their jobs and lives improve. But in half of the country, the people who keep our cities and towns running are banned from collectively bargaining for a good union contract. Every day, the attacks on the fundamental freedoms of workers who keep our streets and water clean, our public transportation moving, and our children learning are increasing from the highest level of government,” said AFL-CIO President, Liz Shuler. “We need federal law to protect their rights to form a union and negotiate fair contracts that allow them to continue to do the work that is so essential to our communities. We call on every member of Congress to stand with working people and support the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act.”
    “For years now, the rights of workers like nurses, librarians, educators, and all our essential public servants who dedicate themselves to our communities have been chipped away at, despite their dedication and selfless service to their communities,” said Claude Cummings Jr., president of the Communications Workers of America. “That’s why the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act is so vital. It protects public sector workers’ fundamental right to join together, bargain for fair pay, and stand up for decent working conditions. Congress needs to step up and pass this now and push back against efforts trying to undermine these essential rights.”
    “As education, healthcare and public service workers, our members make a difference in the lives of others every day. But too many states don’t allow the people who do the work to have a voice,” said Randi Weingarten, President of AFT. “The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act would change that, ensuring public servants, no matter where they reside, have a means to influence their own lives. Whether it’s higher wages, safer working conditions, or a secure retirement, the ability to organize a union and bargain collectively lifts working families, students, patients, and entire communities up. That’s why we enthusiastically support this legislation and are committed to moving it forward.”
    This legislation is cosponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
    The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act is endorsed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); the Communications Workers of America (CWA); American Federation of Teachers (AFT); AFL-CIO; Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU); Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE); International Brotherhood of Teamsters; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); International Union of Police Associations (IUPA); International Union of Painters & Allied Trades (IUPAT); Laborer’s International Union of North America (LiUNA); National Education Association (NEA); National Nurses United; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Transport Workers Union of America (TWU); UNITE HERE!; United Autoworkers; United Steelworkers (USW).
    The full text of the legislation is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Mullin, Capito, Fischer, Introduce Resolutions to Repeal California’s Extreme EV Mandate

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator MarkWayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)

    Mullin, Capito, Fischer, Introduce Resolutions to Repeal California’s Extreme EV Mandate

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal California’s EV waivers that prohibit the sale of new gas-powered light-duty vehicles by 2035, and set unrealistic and stringent requirements for heavy-duty trucks and heavy-duty diesel engines.
    Senator Mullin’s CRA, the ‘Omnibus’ Low NOx Regulation, overturns a Biden EPA approved waiver that allowed California to enforce overly burdensome Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emission limits regulations for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines. The regulation includes longer emission control system warranties, new cold start emission requirements, and extended durability requirements over a vehicles operational life. This waiver applies to model year 2024 and later on-road heavy-duty Otto-cycle and heavy-duty diesel engines used to operate Class 3-8 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including drayage trucks, buses (except transit buses), refuse trucks, and other commercial work vehicles. 
    “This waiver imposes significant compliance costs estimated at upwards of $20,000 per truck making it more difficult for small fleets and independent operators to invest in new equipment. Moreover, this creates a competitive disadvantage for manufactures and fleets by forcing stricter standards to apply unequally across the country. We cannot allow California’s costly and extreme Green New Deal agenda to bankrupt families and eliminate consumer choice for hundreds of millions of American families. Thankfully, after four years of ineffective one-size-fits-all crippling bureaucracy, the Trump administration is bringing back common sense,” said Senator Mullin. “I’m grateful to my colleagues for partnering with me on this effort.”
    “By sending these rules to Congress, Administrator Zeldin and the Trump administration followed the law and addressed the Biden administration’s attempt to circumvent Congress in this process. California’s extreme EV mandate imposes unrealistic and stringent requirements, fails to meet the Clean Air Act’s requirements for a waiver, forces the hand of American consumers, and makes our country more reliant on China for critical minerals. The American people have made it clear that they want consumer choice – not an EV mandate,” said Senator Capito. “I will continue to address all options available to strike down these rules and eliminate the consequential impact they would make across our country.”
    “As we saw under the Biden administration, what happens in California doesn’t stay in California. Their emissions regulation will cripple the truck manufacturing industry nationwide, overloading companies and truckers with expensive, heavy-handed requirements. This inevitably leads to increased prices for families across the nation. My resolution will overturn the Biden administration’s waiver allowing the ACT regulation to take effect without congressional review,” said Senator Fischer.
    The ‘Omnibus’ Low NOx Regulation is supported by the following groups: American Trucking Association, American Petroleum Institute, National Automobile Dealers Association.
    Full text of the resolution can be found here.
    Background:
    In December 2024, EPA granted California’s “Omnibus” low-NOx regulation waiver for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines.
    In February 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin sent over to Congress three of the Biden Administration’s rules granting waivers that allowed California to preempt federal car and truck standards approved by EPA and DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Zeldin’s decision to send over the rules are part of EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback” initiative to protect human health and the environment while restoring our economy.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman Hageman Champions Conservation Easement Reform

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman

    Washington, DC – Today, Congresswomen Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Julie Fedorchak (R-ND), introduced the Landowner Easement Rights Act. This bill would prohibit the Department of the Interior (DOI) from entering into new conservation easements exceeding 30 years and empower landowners to renegotiate terms, renew agreements, or buy back conservation easements at fair market value. This does not prevent Americans from entering into conservation easements or force them to renegotiate easements they wish to continue, but instead provides optionality to those seeking to change their agreements, an option not currently available. 

    “Under our current system of perpetual conservation easements, the devil is in the details. Americans seeking new means of conservation and financial returns on their land enter conservation easements and soon discover they’ve ceded some of their most important private property rights, including development rights and management decisions, to third parties who increasingly work more as government agents than with the landowner. Intergenerational land use restrictions can cause serious problems with little to no recourse. This bill ends the current policy and allows a landowner to enter into time-limited conservation easements, thereby ensuring that each generation can make decisions regarding their property,” said Rep. Hageman.

     “North Dakota landowners are among the best stewards of our natural resources, and they don’t need the federal government locking up their land forever,” Rep. Fedorchak said. “Easements shouldn’t last multiple generations. This bill restores balance, gives landowners flexibility, and allows them the freedom to reassess, renegotiate, and reclaim control over their property. Conservation should be a partnership, not a one-sided permanent restriction.”    
     
     “No one has the right to permanently impair the property rights of future generations, but that is exactly the role forever conservation easements play,” said Margaret Byfield, Executive Director of American Stewards for Liberty.“Rep. Hageman and Fedorchak’s Landowners Easement Rights Act limit the easements held by the Department of the Interior to 30 years. This is a vital step in making the property rights whole again and reducing the stranglehold the federal government has over landowners. It is not our right to tell future generations what they can and cannot do with their land.” 

    Background  

    Conservation easements are legal agreements which allow landowners to retain and use their property but permanently remove development rights to achieve conservation priorities and in exchange for certain tax benefits. Most landowners are told of the incentives when entering into the agreement but not their downside, namely the loss of private property rights, the lack of productive development from the land, and the inability to change the land use in the future. Additionally, the third parties which manage the easement act more in concert with the government and its restrictive land management priorities rather than that of the owner. Easements also reduce local revenue and can increase dependency on the federal government.  

    ###

    Contact: Esteban Elizondo, Communications Director 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Passes Bill to Address Haiti’s Gang Crisis

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Florida 20th district))

    WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, released the following statement after the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance her bill, the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act.

    “As a leader on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I’m working across party lines to find solutions that meet our national security needs and keep Americans safe. Armed criminal gangs, with the promotion of cartels, continue to wreak havoc across Haiti, fanning the flames of a worsening humanitarian crisis that has left children hungry. 

    “The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act will shine a necessary light on Haiti’s economic and political elite who regularly use gangs as levers of power.

    “I’ll work alongside my colleagues to get it passed and signed into law.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI—Hagerty Joins Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to Discuss Tariffs, Budget Resolution

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty

    WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, today joined Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to discuss the Senate-passed budget resolution being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, along with President Donald Trump’s trade agenda.

    *Click the photo above or here to watch*

    Partial Transcript

    Hagerty on the budget resolution: “I’m very optimistic. The House Rules Committee will actually be meeting this morning. President Trump, as you know, met with a number of people in the House last night. I think we’ll get this moved through. This budget resolution process will then unlock the reconciliation process, which is where we’ll actually get the tax cuts extended. We’ll bring the certainty that American business needs to make the capital investments that they want to make. The optimal deadline would be sometime before the 8th of May, but I think we can definitely get this done in the next four weeks.”

    Hagerty on the misunderstanding of spending cut levels in the budget resolution: “We’re going to get to work on the committee level to work through and try to bring about as many cuts as we can possibly deliver for the American people. Over time, we want to deliver at least $2 trillion worth of cuts here. There’s been some miscommunication, I think, about some of the targets that we set, but we want to make certain the hurdles are low enough that we don’t have a procedural issue, but we certainly are going to be shooting high, in terms of the cuts that we want to deliver.”

    Hagerty on potential trade negotiations: “As you know, Japan’s got a team here this week on the ground. I think there’s a wonderful opportunity to see real breakthroughs and real progress. When I served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, we did two trade deals there. Our teams know the issues, and I’ve encouraged the parties to really think broadly beyond just trade, but also think about our defense relationship, to think about opportunities with energy, ways that we can make our economies much more integrated, much more harmonized, and at the same time, our national security and our energy security needs will be met as well. I’m very optimistic about what will be forthcoming here.”

    Hagerty on the budget resolution passing before recess: “As we look at the House Rules Committee today, I think we certainly will [get it passed]. I hope that they’ll be able to move on this before we leave for Easter recess. Our teams are certainly working hard here in the Senate on the reconciliation process itself. So, we’ll be ready to go as soon as we get back from recess [and] get [tax reform] passed.”

    Hagerty on Trump using tariffs to resolve trade imbalances: “I think we’ve got a great opportunity here, and Maria, there’s an historic reason for this. A lot of these imbalances that President Trump has been signaling, very clearly to the market, that he wants to address a lot of these imbalances dated all the way back to World War II and the reconstruction effort afterwards. Japan, European nations got very favorable terms of trade. Now is the time to rectify that, though these are fully developed economies, and what we’ve seen is a very deep imbalance. We’re in the process of getting that adjusted. We started working on that when I was Ambassador, but COVID hit. So, there’s more opportunity there on the terms of trade, but if we broaden this even further, there’s a lot more that we can do, in terms of defense production, technology development. If you think about energy, Maria, there’s a tremendous opportunity for us to cooperate with the Japanese there to send more American energy, not only to Japan, but to partner with Japan, to send it throughout Southeast Asia. I see great opportunity here, and I’ve been encouraging the parties to really focus broadly, make the problem larger, and then solve it.”

    Hagerty on China’s retaliatory tariffs: “China should have seen this coming. President Trump telegraphed this throughout the campaign. He wants to rectify the situation with China. There’s an opportunity here as well. I think China needs to step up to the plate. I’m very optimistic that David Perdue, former U.S. Senator, will be confirmed as our Ambassador to China very soon. My colleague, [Senator] Steve Daines, has been working closely trying to encourage the right type of cooperation there. And when David Perdue gets into the mix, I think we’ll see a lot more opportunity to bring the parties together. That’s where we need to head with China.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hagerty Reintroduces Legislation to Reverse IRS Snooping of Third-Party Payment Platforms

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty

    SNOOP Act would strike the Biden Administration’s intrusive American Rescue Plan provision requiring thousands of small businesses to provide their personal information to the IRS

    WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today reintroduced the Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments, or SNOOP, Act, a bill to strike the tax code provision inserted by the Biden Administration in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) that requires third-party payment platforms to report businesses’ gross transaction volumes totaling more than $600 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

    Prior to the ARP, payment providers were only required to report information when a payee had over 200 commercial transactions per year that exceeded $20,000. As a result of the new provision, thousands of small businesses will have to fill out 1099-Ks to provide their personal information to the IRS, despite the IRS’ poor history of safeguarding Americans’ personal data.

    “The Biden Administration proved to be relentless in its attempt to invade the privacy of Americans’ lives and finances,” said Senator Hagerty. “It is regrettable that the Biden Administration insisted on advancing their perilous and oppressive political agenda to the detriment of taxpayers’ privacy, heedless of the IRS’s failed track record of protecting Americans’ confidential data and the deep concern of the American people that they served. Though Republican efforts to repeal these new requirements were ignored for years, the Trump Administration is thankfully now looking out for the small business owners the Biden Administration ignored. It is past time we stand up for our small business owners and put an end to this egregious and unwarranted overreach for good.”

    Background:

    • During the 117th Congress, Hagerty led his colleagues in introducing the SNOOP Act, and Representative Michelle Steel (R-CA-45) led the effort in the House of Representatives.
    • In 2022, the Washington Examiner reported that third-party payment processors, like Venmo and PayPal, will be required to report these business transactions. 
    • During the 117th Congress, Democrats used the IRS to target conservative political organizations and private citizens to further their political agenda. 
    • Although the effort ultimately failed, the Biden Administration attempted to force banks to report data on all bank accounts with more than $600 in annual transactions, which would have allowed them to pry even further into Americans’ lives.
    • In December 2022, the IRS announced a one-year delay in increasing reporting thresholds for third-party payment platforms.
    • In January 2023, Hagerty led his colleagues in reintroducing the SNOOP Act during the 118th Congress.
    • In November 2023, the IRS announced a delay in the 1099-K reporting threshold for third-party platform payments in 2023 and plans for a threshold of $5,000 for 2024 as part of a phased implementation.

    Full text of the legislation can be found here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Chairman Wicker: Senate Must Stay “As Long As It Takes” to Confirm Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Mississippi Roger Wicker

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding the confirmation of Lieutenant General (ret.) John D. Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: 

    “The Chinese Communist Party continues an expansive military buildup, and our adversaries continue to band together against the United States. It is critical that the Senate confirm Lieutenant General Caine as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this week.

    “President Trump should have the expertise of the highest-ranking military officer in place without any delays. 

    “Lieutenant General Caine sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee on a 23 to 4 vote – an overwhelming, nearly unanimous, bipartisan endorsement. We must stay as long as it takes to get the president’s chief military official on the job – because that is what the American people deserve and what the moment demands.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senators Collins, Cassidy, Cornyn, Fetterman Request Full Retroactive Payments Under Social Security Fairness Act

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins

    Some qualified beneficiaries have been limited to six-month retroactivity when filing for benefits adjustment even though the law applies to all payments after and including January 2024.

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), and John Fetterman (D-PA) sent a letter to Social Security Administrator Leland Dudek requesting that the Social Security Administration (SSA) review agency policy and grant maximum retroactive payments to all protected spouses under the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA). The SSFA, coauthored by Senator Collins and cosponsored by Senators Cassidy, Fetterman, and Cornyn, restores earned Social Security benefits for millions of public employees and their spouses by repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. The SSFA also provided for retroactive payments to January 2024.

    “Over the past few weeks, several constituents have contacted our offices regarding the retroactivity of their spousal benefits under the Social Security Fairness Act,” the Senators wrote. “The law provides for retroactivity to the year the bill was introduced, first being applied to the January 2024 payment. These spouses, including widows and widowers, have shared with me that when they contacted the Social Security Administration years ago inquiring into spousal benefits, they were told by SSA employees that their spousal benefits would be reduced to $0 due to the Government Pension Offset; and therefore, there was no need to file an application for spousal benefits. Now, these same spouses are being told to file a claim for spousal benefits yet are only being granted a maximum of six months retroactivity from their most recent date of contact with the SSA.”

    “As noted, we have assisted spouses who have contacted our offices questioning the retroactivity,” they continued. “They have shared that even if they question the retroactivity with the SSA employees during their recent appointment to apply for benefits, the applicants are only granted six-months retroactivity from the most recent contact date. We ask SSA to review the agency’s policy and grant maximum retroactivity payments to all spouses who were protected on prior applications and wrongly advised by employees of SSA not to apply for spousal benefits when they first inquired.”

    The full text of the letter can be read here.

    As of March 10, 23,697 Mainers have received retroactive payments amounting to $158,412,740. Nationally, since implementing automated benefit adjustments under the SSFA, SSA has paid more than 2.2 million beneficiaries a total of $14.6 billion in retroactive benefits. Updates on the SSA’s implementation of this law, including a subscription link to receive all future updates, are available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Collins, Bipartisan Group Introduce Resolution to Support the Independence and Critical Services of the United States Postal Service

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Gary Peters (D-MI), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bipartisan resolution to support the independence and critical public service mission of the United States Postal Service (USPS), emphasizing the essential role the Postal Service has played since its founding in 1775, by binding the nation together and connecting Americans in every community through its services.

    “The U.S. Postal Service plays a vital role in the daily lives of millions of Americans, especially in rural states like Maine, where the timely delivery of essentials like prescription medications is critical,” said Senator Collins. “Privatizing the Postal Service would jeopardize its core mission while driving up costs and reducing service. I have long supported efforts to strengthen the Postal Service, and I will continue working to ensure that it remains accessible in American communities for years to come.”

    The resolution notes that the Postal Service delivers mail to more than 168 million residential and business addresses six days a week and is one of the most trusted government agencies. The Postal Service is a self-sustaining entity that is not funded by taxpayer dollars and relies on revenues derived from its products and services. The resolution also highlights the Postal Service’s critical role in the $1.9 trillion mailing industry, which employs 7.9 million Americans. The Postal Service provides affordable and universal service to rural, suburban, and urban communities alike, and employs more than 73,000 military veterans. Finally, the resolution underscores that Congress should ensure the Postal Service remains an independent establishment and not subject to privatization.

    Senator Collins has been a long-time advocate of the Postal Service, and has fought against proposed changes to the Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Hampden since 2012, when she led the successful effort to halt a considered closure of the plant.

    In November 2023, she wrote to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, objecting to the Postal Service’s announced proposal to consolidate outgoing operations of Maine’s two USPS processing facilities. Senator Collins also provided comments for a public meeting on the proposal in February 2024. Prior to this, Senator Collins wrote to DeJoy several times, addressing concerns about delivery delays and workforce retention in Maine and across the national postal network. Additionally, she met with the USPS Inspector General in September 2023 to discuss their examination of Postal Service quality in Southern Maine.  

    In April of 2024, Senator Collins and former-Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) led a bipartisan group in sending a letter to DeJoy opposing the USPS’ recent nationwide consolidation and review announcements.  Then, in May, Senators Collins and Gary Peters (D-MI) led a bipartisan letter requesting a full review of the Delivering for America proposal by the Postal Regulatory Commission (USPS’ independent regulator).

    Following these efforts, in September 2024, Postmaster DeJoy called Senator Collins to inform her that the USPS had permanently abandoned its proposed changes to the Hampden facility.

    The full text of the resolution can be read here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders Statement on Trump Tariff Announcement

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

    WASHINGTON, April 9 – After Trump posted on social media yet another change to his sweeping global tariffs, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement: 

    As someone who strongly opposed disastrous unfettered free trade deals with China, Mexico and other low-wage countries, I understand that we need trade policies that benefit American workers, not just large corporations. Targeted tariffs can be a powerful tool to stop corporations from outsourcing American jobs. They can help level the playing field for American autoworkers or steelworkers to compete fairly against companies who have moved production to countries where they can pay starvation wages. 

    But Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs are not the way to do it. 

    Imposing steep tariffs on countries like Germany or France will not bring jobs back to America. These are not low-wage countries. Corporations are not shutting down plants in America and moving them to Switzerland. Trump’s blanket tariffs will just raise prices for American consumers and hurt our relationships with allies, undermining our global position. 

    Trump’s trade chaos – changing policy from day to day – is rapidly undermining our economy and making it impossible for households and small businesses to function. How can you plan for next week, let alone next year, when the rules might change tomorrow? People in my home state of Vermont are hurting. 

    This is exactly why the Constitution gives Congress sole authority to raise taxes and “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,” not the President. What Trump is doing is unconstitutional. Trump has claimed supposed “emergency” powers to bypass Congress and impose unilateral tariffs on hundreds of countries. The last president to try something like this was Richard Nixon, and his overreach prompted Congress to pass the law Trump is now abusing. This is another step toward authoritarianism. 

    And let’s be clear about why Trump is doing all this: to give massive tax breaks to billionaires. These tariffs will cost working families thousands of dollars a year, and Trump plans to use that revenue to help pay for a huge tax break for the richest people in America. That is what Trump and Republicans in Congress are working on right now: If they have their way on the tariffs and their huge tax bill, most Americans will see their taxes go up, while those on top will get a huge tax break. 

    Enough is enough. We need a coherent trade policy that puts working people first. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Ricketts, Smith Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen Organic Import Verification

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Pete Ricketts (Nebraska)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced the Organic Imports Verification Act. The bipartisan legislation would protect American organic farmers from fraudulent organic imports. It would preserve the integrity of domestic organic commodities through robust certification and monitoring practices.

    “Fraudulent organic imports hurt American farmers and degrade consumer trust. This must stop,” said Senator Ricketts. “By enhancing oversight and enforcing stricter controls, we can better safeguard U.S. organic farmers and maintain consumer trust in organic products. This bipartisan legislation levels the playing field for our domestic organic producers.”

    “Many Americans pay a premium for organic food at the grocery store and many farmers invest a lot of work and financial equity to sell certified organic products in the marketplace,” said Senator Smith. “Despite USDA’s best efforts, products being imported to this country are often deemed organic when they are not, hurting both consumers and farmers. This bill will help ensure that items labeled organic are indeed organic, protecting the quality of food we eat and farmers’ livelihoods.”

    Specifically, the Organic Imports Verification Act: 

    1. Authorizes a full U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report to Congress on residue testing for all imported organic feedstuffs shipped via bulk;
    2. Authorizes USDA to take corrective action and stop the sale of organic imports for positive residue contaminant tests.

    The residue testing report must include frequency of testing, methods used, results, analysis standards, and any actions taken as a result of testing.

    Full text of legislation can be found here. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) is a co-sponsor of the legislation.

    The legislation is supported by the Organic Trade Association, Organic Farmers Association, and the National Organic Coalition.

    BACKGROUND:

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the Organic Food Production Act. This Act sets standards for labels on organically produced agricultural products. It creates a national list of approved and prohibited substances for organic production. It also includes an organic certification program, called the National Organic Program (NOP). The NOP establishes rules and regulations for the production, handling, labeling, and enforcement of organic products that undergo residue testing.

    The USDA and third-party organic certifiers are responsible for testing imported organic commodities under the NOP. A majority of these imports are coming from high-risk countries with a weak verification process in place.  This lack of an established verification process raises concerns about the authenticity and quality of these organic products coming into U.S. ports. 

    In 2024, 1.3 million metric tons of organic feedstuffs were imported via maritime vessels, with 80% originating from countries with questionable organic enforcement. This influx is equivalent to the output of 800,000 acres of domestic organic production and $1 billion in losses for U.S. organic farmers.

    U.S. organic farmers require stronger oversight and enforcement to protect the integrity of the organic marketplace. While import fraud affects various organic commodities, feedstuffs are particularly vulnerable. Products such as whole soybeans, soybean meal, corn, cracked corn, canola, sunflowers and sunflower byproducts frequently enter the U.S. market through high-risk and complex supply chains.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Ricketts, Flood CRA Legislation to Overturn CFPB’s Regulatory Overreach of Consumer Payment Companies Passed by House, Heads to President Trump’s Desk

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Pete Ricketts (Nebraska)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) celebrated House passage of his bicameral Congressional Review Act. The resolution overturns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s latest overreach in the digital consumer payment market. U.S. Representative Mike Flood (R-NE-01) led the legislation in the House. The Senate passed the CRA on March 5. The resolution now heads to President Trump’s desk. 

    The legislation, introduced in February, would nullify the CFPB’s burdensome “Defining Larger Participants of a Market for General-Use Digital Consumer Payment Applications” rule. The rule took effect on January 9, 2025. 

    “This is an early victory for President Trump,” said Senator Ricketts. “Our legislation overturns Biden-Harris overreach and eliminates barriers to innovation. It supports our job-creators. By cutting red tape, we’re helping President Trump deliver on his campaign promises. Thank you, Congressman Flood, for leading this in the House. I look forward to President Trump signing this common-sense legislation.” 

    Bill text can be found here. 

    BACKGROUND 

    On November 21, 2024, the CFPB finalized a rule entitled “Defining Larger Participants of a Market for a General-Use Digital Consumer Payment Applications.” The rule was one of the Biden Administration’s many midnight rulemakings at the end of the year. Effective Jan. 9, 2025, the rule stretched CFPB’s powers to establish new supervision and examination authority. It claimed new authority over nonbank entities identified as “larger participants” in the general-use digital consumer payment applications market. These entities include payment apps, digital wallets, peer-to-peer payment apps, and other entities. “Larger participants” are entities that facilitate at least 50 million consumer payment transactions annually.  

    Many payment companies are already regulated at the federal and state level. Consumers are having positive experiences in engaging with these services. Despite minimal consumer complaints about payment services—accounting for only 1% of the CFPB’s 1.3 million complaints in 2023—the CFPB chose to layer additional oversight on an already well-regulated industry. 

    This one-size-fits-all solution in search of a problem expands CFPB’s authority without properly identifying a specific market it seeks to supervise. It fails to identify the risks within a specific market that pose harm to consumers that existing regulation doesn’t already mitigate. It also layers overreaching, duplicative regulation that could stifle innovation and lead to fewer services and increased costs. 

    Further, the cost-benefit analysis supporting the rule is insufficient, unrealistic, and notably underestimates a CFPB exam to cost just $25,001. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Tackles Regulations That Stifle Competition

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    RESTORING COMPETITION TO U.S. MARKETS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at eliminating anti-competitive regulations. Competition lowers prices, speeds innovation, and increases options for consumers. The Executive Order continues the President’s policy of ushering in a Golden Age of American economic prosperity.
    Agency heads, in coordination with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General, are directed to review all regulations subject to their authority and identify any that impose anti-competitive restraints.
    This includes regulations that facilitate the formation of monopolies, create or impose unnecessary barriers to entry, or needlessly burden agency procurement.

    In the next 70 days, Agency Heads must provide the FTC Chairman and Attorney General a list of all anti-competitive regulations, as well as a proposal to rescind or modify them as necessary.
    Regulations requiring rescission or modification will be placed on the Unified Regulatory Agenda created pursuant to Executive Order 14129 of February 19, 2025.

    SOLICITING PUBLIC INPUT: The American people, more than any Federal official, know which regulations stifle entrepreneurship and economic growth. You are invited to tell us which regulations impede competition and should be changed or repealed:
    The FTC Chairman is required to seek input from the public, asking for help identifying anti-competitive regulations.
    The FTC Chairman will convey useful responses to the relevant agency for possible rescission or modification.
    POWERING ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH DEREGULATION: This Executive Order is another element of the President’s sweeping deregulatory agenda that will ensure America remains the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Pushes the Reset Button on America’s Energy Regulations

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    ZERO-BASED REGULATION TO UNLEASH AMERICAN ENERGY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order requiring the automatic rescission of outdated regulations to unleash American innovation and energy production.
    The Order requires ten agencies and subagencies to insert a one-year expiration date into existing energy regulations.
    If not extended before the expiration date, these energy regulations will expire no later than September 30, 2026.
    Agencies will extend only those regulations that affirmatively serve American interests.  The rest will expire, resetting the regulatory landscape.

    This Order will unleash American energy innovation, which has been frozen in the 1970s.  Regulations from the Carter Administration should not govern energy production today.
    President Trump is laser focused on energy abundance, not just efficiency.

    KEEPING AMERICAN ENERGY ON THE CUTTING EDGE: President Trump is committed to keeping American energy on the cutting edge:
    The Order requires the same agencies to include a five-year expiration date in future energy regulations, unless those new regulations are themselves deregulatory.
    If an agency does not affirmatively extend the expiration date of any energy regulation, that regulation will automatically expire after five years.
    This Order will ensure American energy regulations are continually reviewed and updated to keep up with modern technology and needs.
    The Order exempts permitting regimes, to ensure certainty for long-term development projects.
    REWIRING THE BUREAUCRACY: President Trump knows that the bureaucracy is built to regulate, not deregulate. The result is an ever-increasing number of regulations that stifle innovation and limit American freedom.
    Zero-based regulation uses the bureaucracy against itself. If bureaucrats move slowly, the default is deregulation and free markets—not the sclerotic status quo.
    Zero-based regulation demolishes agency resistance against innovation. It forces agencies to reconsider every regulation, and justify it for the present day, making regulation more accountable to elections and the American people.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Makes America’s Showers Great Again

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    UNDOING THE LEFT’S WAR ON WATER PRESSURE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and make America’s showers great again.
    The Order directs the Secretary of Energy to immediately rescind the overly complicated federal rule that redefined “showerhead” under Obama and Biden.
    Twice in the last 12 years, those administrations put out massive regulations defining the word “showerhead.”  The Biden definition was a staggering 13,000 words. The Oxford English Dictionary, by contrast, defines “showerhead” in one short sentence. 
    President Trump is restoring sanity to at least one small part of the federal regulations, returning to the straightforward meaning of “showerhead” from the 1992 energy law, which sets a simple 2.5-gallons-per-minute standard for showers.
    The Order frees Americans from excessive regulations that turned a basic household item into a bureaucratic nightmare. No longer will showerheads be weak and worthless.
    ROLLING BACK OVERREGULATION: Overregulation chokes the American economy, entrenches bureaucrats, and stifles personal freedom.         
    Under Obama and Biden, the government issued lengthy rules—thousands of words long—redefining “showerhead” as a “nozzle” and making multi-nozzle showers illegal if they collectively discharged over 2.5 gallons of water per minute.
    These changes served a radical green agenda that made life worse for everyday Americans.
    President Trump sought to undo this definition in his first term by publishing extensive analysis and a formal rule—however, Biden undid this progress and the shower wars continued. 
    The government should not waste taxpayer time and money writing another elaborate definition for a term that has a simple definition.
    No market failure justifies this intrusion: Americans pay for their own water and should be free to choose their showerheads without federal meddling.

    It’s not just showers—the Biden Administration aggressively targeted everyday appliances like gas stoves, water heaters, washing machines, furnaces, dishwashers, and more, waging war on the reliable tools Americans depend on daily.
    These appliances worked perfectly fine before Biden’s meddling piled on convoluted regulations that made those appliances worse. 
    President Trump is slashing red tape and ending Biden’s dumb war on things that work.

    DELIVERING ON PROMISES: By restoring shower freedom, President Trump is following through on his commitment to dismantle unnecessary regulations and put Americans first.
    President Trump: “We’re going to get rid of those restrictions. You have many places where they have water, they have so much water they don’t know what to do with it. But people buy a house, they turn on the sink, and water barely comes out. They take a shower, water barely comes out. And it’s an unnecessary restriction.”
    This Executive Order builds on actions President Trump has already taken to roll back overregulation and empower Americans, including:
    Cutting red tape across federal agencies to unleash economic growth.
    Repealing burdensome Biden-era executive actions that stifled freedom.
    Fighting against radical green agendas that prioritize ideology over people.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 2025

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    class=”has-text-align-center”> BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    A PROCLAMATION 
    On this National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, we remember every American service member who carries the memory of being captured in war as a consequence of defending American freedom.  Since the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, millions of selfless patriots have sacrificed their lives, safety, and security to protect our homeland and preserve our inheritance of liberty.  These noble men and women embody the best of our Nation’s spirit.  Tragically, far too many have been taken by the enemy and forced to endure captivity and sometimes torture.My Administration is steadfastly committed to taking care of our great veterans — especially every former American prisoner of war (POW).  For 4 long years under the previous administration, illegal aliens were living in luxury hotels while our homeless veterans were shivering on the sidewalks — a disgrace of the highest order.  Today, more than 30,000 veterans are homeless.  To that end, I am committed to eradicating all veteran homelessness in our country.  Under my leadership, if you served our Nation in uniform, your Government will never betray you — and we will never stop fighting for the brave men and women who devoted their lives to protect our sovereignty.To protect our brave service members and uphold our Nation’s interests both at home and abroad, my Administration remains committed to restoring peace through strength and ending the years of endless foreign wars.  As I stated during my Inaugural Address, we will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars we end — and my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.We are approaching the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army later this year, and I pledge to every POW, POW family, and member of our Armed Forces that you have our Nation’s full support and unending gratitude.  Today and every day, we pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in service to our Nation.  We ask Almighty God to preserve America’s peace, prosperity, security, and freedom for generations to come.NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 2025, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day.  I call upon Americans to observe this day by honoring the service and sacrifice of all former prisoners of war and to express our Nation’s eternal gratitude for their sacrifice.  I also call upon Federal, State, and local government officials and organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand thisninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, 2025

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    class=”has-text-align-center”> BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    A PROCLAMATION 
    All Americans should be able to thrive in their communities, raise their families, and lead long and fulfilling lives without fear of being victimized by crime.  Tragically, in recent years, soft-on-crime policies have emboldened vicious criminals, murderers, and gang members to wage war on our public safety, endanger our public spaces, and break down the rule of law.  This National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we offer our unending support to every victim of crime, and we recognize that freedom in America cannot survive without safety in America.Under the previous administration, violent crime skyrocketed in virtually every city of our great Nation, with 12 major cities breaking all-time high murder records in 2021.  Over the last 4 years, radical left-wing policies empowered some of the most depraved criminals on the planet and made it harder for police officers to do their jobs.  Earlier this year, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row criminals guilty of the most heinous acts imaginable — including rape, child molestation, and murder.  These commutations stand as a devastating betrayal of innocent victims and their families. During the Biden Administration, the United States Border Patrol recorded over 10.8 million encounters of illegal aliens nationwide, along with over 2 million known “got aways” — a number that could be underreported by as much as 20 percent.  Millions of illegal aliens have entered or evaded capture, with countless criminals and potential national security threats now at large in our Country.  That is why within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our southern border.  We have also begun the largest deportation operation in the history of our country — and as your 47th President, the first bill I signed into law was the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety.To aid the righteous mission of the men and women in blue, my Administration is committed to enhancing legal protections for law enforcement officers.  I am also asking the Congress for a new crime bill that will get tough on repeat offenders while enhancing protection for our law enforcement officials, so they can do their jobs without fear of their lives being destroyed. Under my leadership, America will soon, once again, be a country where the blessings of life and peace exist freely in our homes, at places of work and worship, and throughout our cities, streets, and neighborhoods.  Our citizens will be able to live without the threat of getting robbed, assaulted, or shot.  This week, as we honor the lives of victims and their families, I reaffirm my solemn pledge to build a safer, stronger, and more secure Nation for citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed.NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 6 through April 12, 2025, as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.  I urge all Americans, families, law enforcement, community and faith-based organizations, and private organizations to work together to support victims of crime and protect their rights.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand thisninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Directs Repeal of Regulations That Are Unlawful Under 10 Recent Supreme Court Decisions

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    REPEALING UNLAWFUL REGULATIONS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum requiring agencies to rescind regulations that are unlawful under 10 recent landmark Supreme Court decisions.
    This memorandum implements President Trump’s Executive Order 14219, Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “Department Of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative (February 19, 2025).
    EO 14219 ordered agencies to review and identify their unlawful regulations.  Now, President Trump is directing agencies to prioritize that review under 10 recent watershed Supreme Court cases, and to repeal regulations that are unlawful under those cases.
    IMPLEMENTING THE LAW FROM RECENT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS:  President Trump’s memorandum directs departments and agencies to review rules for legality under ten recent watershed Supreme Court decisions:
    Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024) overturned the Chevron doctrine.  Accordingly, agencies are to repeal any regulation that is not consonant with the “single, best meaning” of the statute authorizing it.   Agencies are also to repeal any regulation that was promulgated in reliance on the Chevron doctrine and that could be defended only by relying on Chevron deference.
    West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. 697 (2022) was a landmark ruling applying the Major Questions Doctrine, i.e., the principle that an agency cannot claim to discover vast delegations of power on an important issue in a statutory text that doesn’t clearly provide such authority. (Agencies cannot “seek to hide ‘elephants in mouseholes.’”)  Accordingly, agencies must repeal any regulation promulgated in violation of the Major Questions Doctrine. 
    SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024) held that it violates the Seventh Amendment for agencies to adjudicate common-law claims in their in-house courts.  Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation authorizing enforcement proceedings that enable the agency’s courts to impose judgments or penalties that can only be obtained via jury trial in Article III Courts.
    Michigan v. EPA, 576 U.S. 743 (2015) held that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act for an agency to promulgate regulations without properly considering the cost as well as the benefits.  Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation where the costs imposed are not justified by the public benefits, or where such an analysis was never conducted to begin with.
    Sackett v. EPA, 598 U.S. 651 (2023) ended a twenty-year attempt by the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act against landowners whose property was near a ditch that fed into a creek, which fed into a navigable, intrastate lake.  Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation inconsistent with a properly bounded interpretation of “waters of the United States.”
    Ohio v. EPA, 603 U.S. 279 (2024) struck down an EPA plan under the Clean Air Act that the EPA had adopted after the scientific and policy premises undergirding it had been shown to be wrong.  Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation that does not sufficiently account for the costs it imposes, or for which foundational assumptions have changed and are no longer defensible.
    Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 594 U.S. 139 (2021) held that a law that forced landowners to admit union organizers onto their property violated the Takings Clause. Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation inconsistent with a proper understanding of the Takings Clause, which protects far more than just real estate from being taken by the government without compensation.
    Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023) held that “affirmative action” admission programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Agencies accordingly must repeal any regulation that imposes racially discriminatory rules or preferences.  As the Court said, “[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” 
    Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. 767 (2022) held that a law excluding religious schools from participating in Maine’s school-voucher program violated the Free Exercise Clause.  Agencies accordingly must review their regulations to ensure equal treatment of religious institutions vis-à-vis secular institutions for purposes of funding and access to public benefits.
    Roman Cath. Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. 14 (2020) struck down New York’s Covid-era occupancy restrictions on churches and synagogues because they were uniquely harsher than those that applied to “essential” businesses—such as acupuncture facilities.  Each agency should review its regulations to ensure at least equal treatment of religious institutions vis-à-vis secular institutions for regulatory purposes. 
    AVOIDING CUMBERSOME AND UNNECESSARY PROCEDURES:  President Trump’s memorandum directs agencies to revoke these unlawful regulations expeditiously, using the Administrative Procedure Act’s (“APA”) “good cause” exception where appropriate.  Agencies must move quickly to delete illegal regulations from imposing further burdens on the American people. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Addresses Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    RESTORING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum revoking any active security clearance held by Chris Krebs and his associates.
    The Order directs the head of every federal agency to immediately revoke any active security clearance held by Krebs.
    The Order also suspends any active security clearance held by individuals at entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.
    Furthermore, the Order calls for a review of Krebs’ activities as a government employee, including his leadership of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
    The review will include a comprehensive evaluation of all of CISA’s activities over the last 6 years and will identify any instances where Krebs’ or CISA’s conduct appears to be contrary to the administration’s commitment to free speech and ending federal censorship, including whether Krebs’ conduct was contrary to suitability standards for federal employees or involved the unauthorized dissemination of classified information.

    ENDING GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP: President Trump is committed to ending government censorship of Americans and believes that those who engage in such conduct should not have access to our nation’s secrets.
    Krebs, the former head of CISA, is a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority.
    Krebs, through CISA:
    Suppressed conservative viewpoints under the guise of combatting purported misinformation, and recruited and coerced major social media platforms to further its partisan mission.
    Covertly worked to blind the American public to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop.
    Promoted the censorship of election information, including known risks associated with certain voting practices, and falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, including by inappropriately and categorically dismissing widespread election malfeasance and serious vulnerabilities with voting machines.
    Skewed the bona fide debate about COVID-19 by attempting to discredit widely shared views that ran contrary to CISA’s favored perspective.

    ENSURING LOYALTY AND ACCOUNTABILITY: President Trump has made clear that loyalty to the United States must come before personal or partisan agendas, taking decisive action against those who misuse their undeserved influence to deceive the American public.
    President Trump already revoked the security clearances held by intelligence officials who falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation during the 2020 election.
    On Day One, President Trump signed an Executive Order to restore freedom of speech, dismantling federal programs that censored dissenting voices under the guise of combating misinformation, ensuring government serves the people—not partisan narratives.
    That same day, President Trump signed an Executive Order ending the weaponization of the federal government.
    These decisive actions underscore President Trump’s pledge to ensure a transparent government that is loyal and accountable to the people.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Population and Development Commission Continues General Discussion, Holds Panel on ‘Ensuring Healthy Lives and Promoting Well-Being for All at All Ages’

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    Following the continuation of its general discussion in the morning, this afternoon, the Commission on Population and Development heard from Deus Mubangizi, Director of the Health Products Policy and Standards Department and Director ad interim of Innovation and Emerging Technologies Department of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Werner Obermayer, Director of WHO New York Office.

    Their presentations were followed by a multi-stakeholder panel Moderated by Pascale Allotey, Director of the WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research.  The panel featured the following pannelists:  James Sailer, Vice-President and Executive Director, Biomedical Research Center, Population Council; Gloria Langat, Head of Ageing and Development, African Population Health and Research Center; Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, Professor of Medical Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico; Ashley Ambrose, Deputy Director, Health Equity, Clinton Global Initiative; and Hanna Mulugeta, Youth Country Coordinator, RHRN2 Programme Ethiopia, Development Expertise Center.

    The Commission’s fifty-eighth session, held this week from 7 to 11 April, is focusing on the theme “ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages”.

    …

    __________

    * Owing to the liquidity crisis facing our Organization, the 4th through 6th Meetings were not covered.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Kelly, Strickland, Harrigan, Williams announce relaunch of House Small Brewers Caucus

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), and Nikema Williams (D-GA) announced the reintroduction of the House Small Brewers Caucus in the 119th Congress. These members will serve as caucus co-chairs.

    “Small breweries are also small businesses. They employ thousands of people across Pennsylvania and contribute more than $5 billion to the commonwealth’s economy,” said Rep. Kelly. “As Co-Chair of the House Small Brewers Caucus, I look forward to working on policy that keeps Pennsylvania’s beer industry brewing for years to come.”

    “Small brewers are a critical part of the Washington and South Sound economy,” said Congresswoman Strickland. “Relaunching this caucus means that this industry, small businesses, and their workers are supported across our region, and our country.” 

    “North Carolina is home to some of the most innovative and hard-working brewers in the country,” said Congressman Harrigan. “These small businesses create jobs, attract investment, and strengthen the fabric of our communities. I’m proud to support them and to help lead this caucus as we work to cut red tape and keep this industry growing.”

    “In Georgia’s Fifth District and across the country, small brewers are making a big splash. With a market value of $715 million in Georgia, small brewers demonstrate the impact small businesses can have on a community. These establishments create jobs, engage with their local neighborhoods, and promote economic and structural development. I am proud to help small brewers grow everywhere,” said Congresswoman Williams.

    BACKGROUND

    The House Small Brewers Caucus advocates for the 9,736 small and independent breweries in the United States. Craft breweries are vital small businesses and focal points of the communities in which they reside. In 2024, craft breweries supported nearly 460,000 jobs nationwide and contributed $77.1 billion to the U.S. economy, according to the Brewers Association.

    Pennsylvania ranks third nationally with 530 craft breweries calling the Keystone State home.

    Previously, as Co-Chair of the House Small Brewers Caucus, Rep. Kelly led the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. This legislation would make permanent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s (TCJA) excise tax reduction on breweries, wineries, and distilled spirits producers.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: El Representante Juan Vargas, Miembros del Congreso y la Familia de Kilmar Abrego García se Unen para Exigir su Regreso Inmediato a los Estados Unidos

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51)

    April 09, 2025

    WASHINGTON – Hoy, el Representante de los Estados Unidos Juan Vargas (D-CA) y sus colegas del Congreso se unieron a la esposa de Kilmar Abrego García, Jennifer Vásquez Sura, y líderes defensores de los inmigrantes para exigir respuestas y responsabilidad de la Administración Trump sobre la deportación ilegal y la desaparición de Abrego García.

    Ábrego García es un padre y miembro de un sindicato que estaba viviendo legalmente, bajo estatus protegido, en Maryland con su familia hasta que fue deportado por la Administración Trump sin debido proceso a una prisión en El Salvador donde permanece. La Administración ha admitido que la deportación de Ábrego García fue resultado de un “error administrativo”.

    Una transcripción está disponible a continuación:

    Muchas gracias. 

    En primer lugar, quiero dar las gracias a la familia por estar aquí. 

    Quiero darte las gracias, a ti, Jennifer, en particular. 

    Y quiero agradecerte especialmente por tus lágrimas. Porque creo que la gente americana pudo ver el dolor de tantas familias en América en este momento. 

    Tus lágrimas se unen a las lágrimas de mucha gente de mi distrito en San Diego, y forman un torrente, y en todo este país, forman un río, un río de lágrimas por lo que les está pasando a las familias. 

    Ahora, supuestamente la Administración es la Administración de los “valores familiares” y sin embargo están destrozando a estas familias. 

    Así que gracias por tu valentía al subir aquí y mostrar la emoción que sientes hacia tu marido que ha sido desaparecido. 

    Y yo tampoco pensé nunca que esto ocurriría en Estados Unidos. 

    Pasé un tiempo en El Salvador durante los años ’80 como jesuita. Estuve allí como misionero. Y allí también desaparecían personas y nunca las volvías a encontrar. 

    Nunca pensé que algo así ocurriría en mi propio país, donde personas enmascaradas que trabajan para el gobierno vendrían y secuestrarían a gente de la calle. 

    Así que, de nuevo, quiero darles las gracias por su valentía. 

    También quiero que sepas que tenemos dos trabajadores del metal del sindicato que han venido a apoyarte, se han enterado de lo de tu marido y están aquí. Gracias. Gracias por estar aquí. 

    Gracias a ti por estar aquí. No estás sola. Estamos contigo. 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Juan Vargas, Members of Congress, and Family of Kilmar Abrego Garcia Join Together to Demand His Immediate Return to the United States

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51)

    April 09, 2025

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Juan Vargas (D-CA) and Congressional colleagues joined Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and immigrant advocacy leaders to demand answers and accountability from the Trump Administration on the illegal deportation and disappearance of Abrego Garcia.

    Abrego Garcia is a father and a union member who was living legally, under protected status, in Maryland with his family until he was deported with no due process by the Trump Administration to a prison in El Salvador where he remains. The Administration has admitted that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was the result of an “administrative error”.

    A transcript of Rep. Vargas’s remarks is available below:

    Thank you very much. 

    First, I want to thank the family for being here. 

    I want to thank you, Jennifer, in particular. 

    And I especially want to thank you for your tears. Because I think the American people got to see the hurt of so many families in America right now. 

    Your tears are joined with the tears of many people in my district in San Diego, and they form a stream, and throughout this country, they form a river, a river of tears because of what’s happening to families. 

    Now, supposedly the Administration is the ‘family values’ Administration, and yet they’re tearing these families apart. 

    So, thank you for your courage to come up here and show the emotion that you feel towards your husband who’s been disappeared. 

    And I, too, never thought that this would happen in America. 

    I spent time in El Salvador during the 80s as a Jesuit. I was there as a missionary. And they disappeared people there, too, and you never found them again. 

    I never thought that something like that would happen in my own country, where masked people that work for the government would come and abduct people off the street. 

    So again, I want to thank you for your courage. 

    I also want you to know that we have two sheet metal workers right here in the union, they came to support you, they heard about your husband, and they’re here. Thank you. 

    Thank you for being here. You’re not alone. We’re with you. 

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    MIL OSI USA News –