🚨BREAKING🚨
 
The Administrative Office of the Courts sent me a letter confirming the Judicial Conference of the US has adopted new, stricter rules requiring way more disclosure of free trips, meals, and other “hospitality” accepted by federal judges & Supreme Court justices. For years, I’ve been pushing for reform in our judiciary’s ethics practices. These are basic changes aimed at protecting and restoring the public’s trust in our federal courts.

You might want to grab a seat for this one 🧵

Yesterday, @POLITICO revealed that @CPInst hosted a “retreat” to teach GOP staffers how to conduct "aggressive oversight of the Biden administration.”

In other words, dark money is now training GOP staff to do dark money’s bidding. CPI is a dark money hub for the MAGA elite, employing many of Trump's closest associates like Mark Meadows and Stephen Miller.

CPI even employs Cleta Mitchell and Jeffrey Clark — both of whom were central to the former president's attempts to overturn the last election.

It’s been two years since Democrats passed the #AmericanRescuePlan, and we’ve made a lot of progress in the time since. Here’s a look at how two years of the ARP have helped Rhode Island, by the numbers 🧵 Businesses got back on track with federal support.

Rhode Islanders applied to start 22,000 new businesses, and 440+ restaurants in the state received relief through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

Here’s how it seems the Chamber game is played. Take your members who want some distance from your terrible climate behavior and corral them into a “climate conversation” that allows them to say they are working to improve your terrible climate behavior.

thehill.com/opinion/congre… Make sure for years nothing good ever comes out of the climate conversation.

Feed the corral occasional PR nuggets to distract them from the fact that there is no sincere change, just a spin shift.

Keep accepting loads of fossil fuel money; don’t tell them.

Trump’s toxic lies—backed by right-wing dark money groups—fomented an insurrection against the United States. Now, Tucker Carlson is using cherry-picked footage to bolster his phony claim that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was nothing more than a “peaceful sightseeing tour." We’ve all seen the horrible videos and images from that day. We know that supporters of the former president attacked police, ransacked our nation's Capitol, and called for the assassinations of Congressional leadership. Tucker Carlson’s lies are dangerous.

Transparency is critical at all levels of government, and the courts are no exception.

businessinsider.com/senator-demand… Here’s what the problem has been:

1. Justice wants fancy vacation.

2. Somebody arranges an invite from a resort owner.

Would that be the same “hegemony” that created a nearly unparalleled post-war period of global peace and prosperity sometimes known as the “American Century”?

washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/… Would that be the same “hegemony” under which China grew from starvation under a murderous “Cultural Revolution” to one of the wealthiest economies in the world with massive American investment?

At the Munich Security Conference I am reminded of John McCain’s observation that Russia is “a gas station, run by gangsters, with an army.” And so it is. My co-lead on “Codel McCain” is Lindsey Graham, who understands we’d be a safer world with clean energy, not dangerous and corrupt petro-states.

whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/w…

I'm reintroducing my DISCLOSE Act today with *all* of my @SenateDems colleagues. Democrats stand united to end the foul scourge of dark money. A toxic flood of dark money allows billionaires and special interests to rig the system secretly in their favor. Dark money enabled these same interests to capture our Supreme Court.

Last week, @POTUS delivered an optimistic, forward-looking State of the Union address.

From protecting Social Security to protecting our planet, here are a few of the shared priorities the president highlighted: Protecting Social Security and Medicare remain among my highest priorities. Rather than putting them on the chopping block, we need to improve and expand them.

Here’s what’s up with the debt limit 🧵 First, Republicans don’t take debt seriously. They massively raised our debt to give huge tax breaks to their big corporate and billionaire donors.

Red flags are flying about the SCOTUS “investigation” into the Alito draft opinion leak.

Lots of things differentiate this from a real investigation. Here are some: 1. The Marshal office of the Court has limited investigative experience and the Court failed to bring in law enforcement agencies despite suggesting laws were broken.

I’m pleased to announce that I will step into the role of Chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee for the 118th Congress. Together with the members of the Committee, we will examine a range of subjects that have enormous consequences for American families, the economy, and the federal budget.

Inequality is the result of a “bonanza of plunder” by the ultra-wealthy, with “successful tax avoidance … the strongest pillar propping up global inequality.”

theguardian.com/commentisfree/… In turn, corrupt tax codes that make office staff pay higher tax rates than their billionaire bosses are propped up by political influence of the billionaire elite.

Supposedly free-market Republicans in states like Texas and Florida decided that they wanted to dictate risk management policies to financial institutions.

finance.yahoo.com/news/research-… Several passed laws prohibiting their states from doing business with financial institutions that avoid investing in or financing risky fossil fuel projects.

There are all sorts of avenues for special interest influence at the Supreme Court: anonymously-funded amicus briefs; orchestrated wining and dining; undisclosed hospitality at fancy destinations; and now the Supreme Court Historical Society.

businessinsider.com/supreme-court-… All of these avenues have been improperly used to acquire secret influence. Anonymously-funded amici arrive in coordinated flotillas, and the Court finds out and does nothing.

🚨 JUST RELEASED 🚨

In our brand new report, Overprivileged, @SenJohnKennedy and I take a closer look at congressional oversight, executive privilege and the separation of powers. This report was a bipartisan effort from start to finish, exploring the relationship between the executive and legislative branches, rather than focusing on one political party or another.

After many perilous moments, last night became a big night for oceans.

The oceans package we built comprises the biggest oceans legislation in decades.

whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/w… Thanks are due to @SenJackReed and @SenSchumer for helping us get it in the original Senate NDAA draft. A few Republican colleagues also helped “bigly.”

Scientists reviewed the scenarios for climate outcomes in the future. There were 1200 reviewed.

washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro… Of those 1200 outcomes, only 230 get us to safe levels of warming below the generally accepted (but not risk-free) level of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Last week, @RepHankJohnson and I sent another letter to SCOTUS about the growing ethics crisis at Court.

Last night, through legal counsel, the Court responded.

The letter is an embodiment of the problems at the Court around ethics issues.

nytimes.com/2022/11/28/us/… The Court continues to ignore most of the allegations; the Court still hasn’t answered my and @RepHankJohnson’s questions or even acknowledged the extent of this 20-year, $30 million judicial lobbying operation.

It doesn’t stop there.

The Conservative Partnership Institute is a dark money hub for MAGA Republicans. CPI served as a cushy landing pad for the former president’s associates – many of whom attempted to overturn the 2020 election. CPI is also a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization, which means that it absolutely can’t engage in any political campaign intervention.