Trump Budget Proposes Charging Stores to Accept Food Stamps and More in Politics Today

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. Trump wants to start charging stores to accept food stamps

The White House proposal to overhaul the U.S. food stamp program — and the deep cuts it would make to benefits for the poorest households — has sparked public outrage on both sides of the aisle. But there's another change tucked into the proposal that businesses say caught them off guard — and could wind up costing them more than $2 billion.

That provision is a new fee that the White House wants to charge retailers that accept food stamps, which is now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Office of Management and Budget said the fee would be assessed when stores sign up and would require renewal after five years. The budget office said the amount would depend on the size and type of retailer, but the president's budget estimates that the fee would generate $2.4 billion in revenue over the next decade.

Read more at CNBC.

2. U.S. intelligence contractor heads to court on leak charges

The White House called for tough punishment of people who leak classified information, ahead of a detention hearing on Thursday for an intelligence contractor charged with releasing a report on Russian election interference.

An attorney for the 25-year-old contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, said she intends to plead not guilty, NBC News reported on Wednesday.

Read more at Reuters.

3. Trump White House lacks waivers for longtime lobbyists

At least a half-dozen former lobbyists are working in President Donald Trump’s White House even though they haven’t received waivers from the administration’s ethics rules, raising questions about how much the rules do to prevent conflicts of interest.

The lack of transparency on how these staffers are following the ethics rules has drawn criticism from Democratic members of Congress and ethics lawyers who question whether officials with broad portfolios can recuse themselves from a wide array of issues.

Read more at Politico.

4. Inside Trump's secretive immigration court: far from scrutiny and legal aid

Behind two rows of high fencing and winding coils of razor wire, and surrounded by thick forest in central Louisiana, hundreds of miles from the nearest major city, stands a newly created court the Trump administration hopes will fast-track the removal of undocumented immigrants.

This is the LaSalle detention facility that, since March this year, has been holding removal proceedings for hundreds of detained migrants in courtrooms adjoining a private detention center, which incarcerates more than 1,100 men and women and has the highest number of prisoner deaths of any in America over the past two years.

The new setup is part of Donald Trump’s attempts to ramp up deportations by vastly expanding the arrest powers of federal immigration enforcement and prioritizing more vulnerable groups of detained migrants in new court locations around the country. It has received little scrutiny since its introduction following a presidential order in January, and the Guardian is the first news organisation to observe proceedings here.

Read more at the Guardian.

5. Debt Ceiling Is Again a Battleground, This Time with Republicans in Charge

With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress and the Oval Office, some thought that the debt ceiling would be an easy lift.

Instead, it has become an obstacle threatening to further stall an agenda that has already fallen well behind schedule. The Treasury Department wants the debt ceiling raised before Congress leaves for its August recess, a demand that could consume many of the 13 legislative days on the calendar next month.

Time is running short. Republicans must finish their health care legislation under the Senate’s budget process in the coming weeks and pass a 2018 budget resolution before they can move on to the tax legislation that they have promised to approve this year. This fall, they will have to cut a deal with Democrats to fund the government. And all of that must happen against the backdrop of investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election.

Read more at the New York Times.

— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Paul Sableman via Flickr / Creative Commons)