Sarah Okeson, The National Memo

Sarah Okeson

The National Memo

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Past articles by Sarah:

Gun Industry Pours Blood Money Into Republican Warchests

Republicans in Congress received all but $12,000 of the almost $984,000 in campaign contributions that the gun industry has donated to federal candidates so far this year. Sen. Paul Rand (R-Ky.), who is seeking his third term, received the most, $38,458, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that → Read More

Gun Industry Pours Blood Money Into Republican Warchests

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) who has opposed eliminating the filibuster, which helps Republicans block gun legislation, is the only Democratic senator getting money from the gun industry. He has received $5,000 so far.Researcher Dan Auble said Manchin’s donations were from board members of the Boone &... → Read More

Florida Legislator Threatens Biden Over Gun Safety Speech

A Florida state representative appeared to threaten President Joe Biden on Twitter after the president’s remarks about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two adults were killed. “I have news for the embarrassment that claims to be our President → Read More

Florida Legislator Threatens Biden Over Gun Safety Speech

Fine defended his comments as reasonable, even necessary.“If the president of the United States wants to politicize a tragedy, he should expect people to get upset,” Fine said.In a scrum with reporters, Fine called Biden’s remarks “incendiary” because the president spoke in support of gun control.An... → Read More

My Daughter Was Murdered And My Senators Don’t Give A Damn

Reprinted with permission from DC Report My oldest daughter was shot in the head in April while reading in her Kansas City apartment by someone who aimed through her first-floor window. Aviva lived for two more days, kept alive by machines until her brain swelled enough that she could be pronounced brain dead. I watched as a doctor removed Aviva from the ventilator to see if she could breathe on… → Read More

Will Biden's Federal Election Commission Go After Dark Money?

Reprinted with permission from DC Report Before leaving office Donald Trump stuffed the Federal Election Commission with ineffective anti-regulation attorneys; now President Joe Biden can nominate at least two commissioners. The FEC spent much of the presidential election year of 2020 not even able to meet because it didn't have enough commissioners. The terms of Sean Cooksey, previously the… → Read More

Biden Moves To Strengthen EPA For First Time In Decades

The Biden administration is asking Congress for more than $110 million to hire and support scientists and staff at the Environmental Protection Agency, which the previous president decimated. → Read More

States Banning Deadly Paint Stripper Allowed By Trump

Each year tens of thousands of workers are exposed to methylene chloride in paint and coating removers on construction and contracting jobs. Workers like Kevin Hartley, a contractor from Ashland City, TN, who was stripping old finish from a bathtub, are especially vulnerable. DCReport → Read More

Fearful Senate Republicans Drop Controversial Pendley Nomination

William Perry Pendley, the embattled attorney who is acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, is out as a candidate for the permanent job. Trump withdrew Pendley's nomination on Saturday because it could have caused problems for three Republican senators in tough re-election races. → Read More

Minnesota Natural Wonder Is On Trump Team’s Hit List To Despoil

Now the Trump administration is preparing to sully this beautiful protected land forever—for the benefit of the billionaire Chilean landlord of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. → Read More

Trump’s USDA Speeds Up Meatpacking Despite Virus Deaths

Trump administration officials may have used misleading data to analyze safety so that meatpacking plants could skirt a safety rule regulating their processes. The rule regulates how fast pigs can be slaughtered. → Read More

Trump Appointees Permit Higher Soot Emissions, Increasing Covid-19 Mortality

A new Harvard study has found that long-term exposure to microscopic soot in the air appears to be associated with higher death rates from the coronavirus. → Read More

McConnell’s Scheme To Protect Corporations From Covid-19 Liability May Fail

The landmark Supreme Court decision that upheld most of the Affordable Care Act could help doom efforts by Trump Republicans to shield companies from COVID-19 lawsuits. → Read More

Trump Administration Rigs Market For Big Beef Packers

Trump's Agriculture Department is turning our nation's cattle ranchers and feedlot operators into modern-day sharecroppers as beef prices soar during the pandemic. → Read More

EPA Chief, Former Uranium Lobbyist, Eases Mining Standards

Acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, who once lobbied for Energy Fuels, withdrew proposed regulations on uranium waste. → Read More

Is Trump's EPA Trying To Kill The Gulf Of Mexico?

A rule published in 2015 under Obama could have restricted pollution from chemical fertilizers and pesticides. → Read More

Ousted Zinke Proposed To Restrict FOIA Access At Interior

Ryan Zinke is out as secretary of the Interior, but in his last days in office he tried to suppress what we can learn about the destruction Trump is doing to our nation’s public lands. → Read More

In The West, It's Open Season On Nature For Big Oil

The land, most now scheduled to be sold in February and March, is home to the imperiled greater sage grouse, a ground-nesting bird known for its distinctive mating dance. → Read More

Lame-Duck GOP Congress Targets Endangered Wolves

Gray wolves have been listed as endangered or threatened in the lower 48 states since the 1960s, but the lame-duck Republican House wants to strip federal protections from most wolves. → Read More

Zinke Prepares Alaska Wilderness Giveaway For Big Oil

“Climate change is already underway in Alaska, and this lease sale will only make it worse,” said Miyoko Sakashita of the Center for Biological Diversity. → Read More