FREEDOMWORKS 04/03/2018 SENATOR McCONNELL IS OVERSEEING A 'DO NOTHING' SENATE!

1. "It Sucks": Senators Fume Over McConnell's Tight Grip

Via Politico Republican John Kennedy has served in the Senate a full 15 months — and not once received a roll call vote on one of his legislative amendments. “I think it sucks,” the Louisiana senator fumed as Congress headed home in March for a two-week recess. The Senate has voted on only six amendments this year. “All I hear is, ‘Well, it’s not done that way,’” Kennedy said of his call for a more robust debate of ideas on the Senate floor. “Well, the way we’ve been doing it for a long time sucks.” When Mitch McConnell took over as majority leader in 2015 after years in the minority, he vowed to make good on a central campaign pledge of returning to a more “free-wheeling” Senate. And in the early days of his tenure, he did: McConnell presided over open, raucous floor debate on the Keystone XL Pipeline, winning praise even from some Democrats. But the Senate has reverted to form. The body has taken just 25 roll call votes on so-called binding amendments so far during this two-year Congress, a sharp decrease from the 154 amendments voted on by this point during the 114th Congress under Barack Obama. Each year since McConnell took over, the Senate has voted on fewer nonbudget amendments: 140 in 2015, 57 in 2016, 19 in 2017 and six so far this year. READ MORE HERE

2. "Right to Try" Offers Promising Access to Revolutionary Treatments for Cancer Patients

Via The Hill Cancer is a scary word. Throughout the course of our lives, we share a 40 percent risk of developing some kind of cancer, and for one in five, it delivers an unwanted ending. Right now, Congress is taking a hard look at legislation that will make it easier for patients with end-stage diseases to gain access to potentially life-saving treatments. For both patients and our nation, it’s about time. This is especially true when we think of pancreatic cancer. For Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze to and the football great Gene Upshaw, no amount of money or prestige could guarantee a cure. The reality is that a late-stage pancreatic cancer diagnosis carries an exceedingly low survival rate. My two brothers lost their fight against pancreatic cancer, and that experience taught me something only those facing an end-stage anything can truly appreciate — hope falters when the disease outpaces science. House approval of the “Right to try” legislation last week marks a trend that will spark fresh optimism for patients embattled in the fight for their lives. Driven by the fundamental instinct to grasp life before accepting death, "right-to-try" opens the door for terminally ill patients to consider all options. “Right to try” allows experimental treatments that may prolong a life, alter disease progression or improve the quality of their final days. READ MORE HERE

3. Trump EPA to Roll Back Obama-Era Auto-Emissions Standards

Via National Review The EPA announced Monday that it will begin to roll back Obama-era vehicle-emission standards due to concerns the regulations were overzealous and the product of “politically charged expediency.” The emissions standards, which would have applied to cars and light trucks produced between 2022 and 2025, were a core component of the Obama administration’s commitment under the Paris Climate Accords to cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025. The announcement represents the conclusion of the Trump administration’s review of the regulations and the beginning of a months-long rule-rewriting process. “Obama’s EPA cut the midterm evaluation process short with politically charged expediency, made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality and set the standards too high,” EPA administrator Scott Pruitt wrote in a statement. READ MORE HERE

4. Supreme Court Case Could Upend How We Buy and Sell Things Online

Via Competitive Enterprise Institute Imagine that you live in Texas, and you want to sell some trinkets to a guy in South Dakota. Should South Dakota be able to tax you on that? You’ve never even set foot in South Dakota, and the trinkets are worth about twenty bucks. You’re just a young entrepreneur trying to start a business out of your home. So why should South Dakota get a cut? This is exactly the question that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this year. In April, the court will hear a case, South Dakota v. Wayfair, Corp, that could have a huge impact on people who sell and buy things online. At issue is the necessity of a physical presence to trigger sales tax obligations. That is, does a seller have to have a store, office, or warehouse in a state before that state can force it to calculate, collect, and remit sales taxes to that state? According to the 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the current answer is yes. The standard set in Quill should be upheld for reasons of sound public policy, and more specifically, because the Constitution requires the standard to be upheld unless it is changed by Congress, rather than by individual states. Quill’s physical presence rule is not some pointless anachronism. Rather, it preserves fundamental principles of federalism. READ MORE HERE

5. Congress Killed Efforts to Undo Civil Asset Forfeiture Expansion

Via Forbes It was a brief moment of bipartisan unity. Last September, the U.S. House of Representatives approved several amendments to block an infamous civil forfeiture program that had been revived by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Under civil forfeiture, the government can permanently confiscate property even if the owner is never criminally charged. Tellingly, not a single representative voted against the amendments or voiced support for Sessions’ new forfeiture policy. Sessions’ forfeiture announcement was deeply unpopular. A survey taken by Morning Consult/Politico shortly after his decision found that Americans opposed the new Justice Department policy by a margin of almost 3:1. Only 19 percent of Americans thought expanding civil forfeiture would do “more good than harm.” Even many on the right blasted the decision, including Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee as well as the editorial board for National Review. Yet despite this overwhelming consensus, none of the anti-forfeiture amendments made its way into the final version of the omnibus spending bill President Donald Trump signed last month. READ MORE HERE