Lawmakers have been quite busy

The men elected to represent our area in Congress have been busy. Feb. 19’s Roll Call informed us they:

▪  Nullified a rule guiding state governments to help set up payroll deduction plans for workers who do not have access to retirement plans through their employers. (Too bad for those who work for small companies without a 401k.)

▪  Nullified as too weak a rule allowing states to choose to require drug testing for people applying for unemployment compensation. (Too weak? Do they plan to make it mandatory?)

▪  Nullified a rule affirming Planned Parenthood’s eligibility to receive family planning funds. (That’s a gimme.)

▪  Nullified a rule designed to keep people with serious mental illnesses from passing federal background checks on gun purchases. (Might prevent shooting sprees on campus, in theaters, etc. Your NRA lobbyist dollars at work.)

They still had time to confirm more appointees to President Donald Trump’s cabinet, including Scott Pruitt as administrator of the EPA. No fear though, because Rep. Steven Palazzo helped sponsor a bill to do away with the EPA so our state can take care of its own environmental problems. Wonder how that will go.

These are just ones I’ve read about. There may have been more clandestine meetings like the 1 a.m. meeting of House members weeks ago in an attempt to strip the Ethics Committee of power until the “fake news media” made the public aware and they had to backtrack and say they didn’t mean to do it.

They’re making America great again!

This story was originally published March 5, 2017 at 4:45 AM with the headline "Lawmakers have been quite busy."