Trump Administration Ending Michelle Obama's Girls Education Program and More in Politics Today
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It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:
1. First on CNN: Trump administration ending Michelle Obama's girls education program
The Trump administration is discontinuing a signature girls education initiative championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, according to officials.
The "Let Girls Learn" program, which she and President Barack Obama started in 2015 to facilitate educational opportunities for adolescent girls in developing countries, will cease operation immediately, according to an internal document obtained by CNN.
Read more at CNN.
2. An appeals court just let Obama’s net neutrality rules stand
A federal appeals court voted on Monday not to reconsider a court ruling upholding the legality of President Obama’s network neutrality rules. Monday’s decision represented the second-to-last hurdle those rules needed to clear. Now the opponents of the regulations need to decide whether to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
But the Supreme Court will have a good reason to delay: The new Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission has announced plans to dismantle the rules. By the time the Supreme Court rules on the FCC’s old rules in late 2017 or early 2018, it’s likely the issue will be moot.
Read more at Vox.
3. Federal government relaxes nutrition standards for school lunches
Schools won't have to cut more salt from meals just yet and some will be able to serve kids fewer whole grains, under changes to federal nutrition standards announced Monday. The move by the Trump administration partially rolls back rules championed by former first lady Michelle Obama as part of her healthy eating initiative.
As his first major action in office, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the department will delay an upcoming requirement to lower the amount of sodium in meals while continuing to allow waivers for regulations that all grains on the lunch line must be 50 percent whole grain.
"If kids aren't eating the food, and it's ending up in the trash, they aren't getting any nutrition — thus undermining the intent of the program," said Perdue, who traveled to a school in Leesburg, Virginia, to make the announcement.
Read more at MPR News.
4. Trump says he’d consider increasing the gas tax
President Trump on Monday said he was open to raising the federal tax on gasoline and using the new revenue for his infrastructure package, a potentially major policy change as his top advisers try to assemble a plan to finance $1 trillion in new projects.
Trump, whose policy prescriptions have largely been articulated broadly and lack many details, has expressed openness to a wide range of ideas since taking office, some of which he or his administration have later ruled out.
The federal tax on gasoline is 18.4-cents per gallon, and for diesel, it is 24.4 cents per gallon. The gasoline tax was last raised in 1993. States charge their own gasoline taxes on top of the federal tax.
Read more at the Washington Post.
5. Trump administration still considering how to make it easier to sue the media, Priebus says
Reviving a controversial theme that President Trump brought up on the campaign trail, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday that the administration has ‘‘looked at’’ potential changes to libel laws that would make it easier for Trump to sue news organizations that criticize him.
Priebus criticized ‘‘articles out there that have no basis or fact’’ and alluded to reports on cable news stations about contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia.
Read more at the Boston Globe.
— Asha Sanaker
(Photo Credit: Obama White House Archives / Creative Commons)
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