• Andrew Puzder was President Donald Trump’s former pick for secretary of labor, but withdrew his nomination on Feb. 15 after what his spokesman George Thompson told The New York Times was an “unprecedented smear campaign.” Puzder is the chief executive officer of Carptineria-based CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast food burger chains. Puzder took heat for several incidents, particularly after admitting to Trump administration officials and senators involved in his confirmation that he hired an undocumented immigrant to work as a housekeeper, The Huffington Post reported. He also opposed raising the federal minium wage, which unsettled some labor groups. Footage of Puzder’s ex-wife Lisa Fierstein’s appearance on Oprah in 1990, where she alleged domestic abuse against Puzder, was obtained and shared by Politico, plunging Puzder’s chances deeper into doubt. Democrats cheered Puzder’s withdrawal, and particularly Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who called his departure “good news for hardworking Americans across the country.”
• Trump’s cabinet nominees aren’t getting much help from California’s senators, including Diane Feinstein (D), who opposed the confirmation of Scott Pruitt—Trump’s pick for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Before being nominated, Pruitt served as Oklahoma’s attorney general since 2010, suing the EPA more than a dozen times along the way to block federal air and water regulations. Although Pruitt acknowledged that human activity has played a roll in climate change, Feinstein nonetheless said his ties to major fossil fuel polluters demonstrates “extreme hostility” toward this view. “Mr. Pruitt refused to commit to allow states to develop their own stronger enviromental standards, including upholding California’s waiver to establish higher fuel economy standards,” Feinstein said in a statement. “It seems that Mr. Pruitt’s only goal may be to weaken from within the very agency he has battled for decades.”
• On Feb. 16, California’s newest senator, Kamala Harris (D), delivered her first speech on the Senate floor since being sworn into office on Jan. 3. Her speech, a total of 1,379 words, addressed the contributions immigrants have made to society and directly referenced Trump’s executive orders on immigrants and refugees. “The president’s immigration actions and Muslim ban will make America less safe,” Harris said. “Instead of making us more safe, these increased raids and executive orders instill fear in immigrants who are terrifed they will be deported or have to give information resulting in the deportation of their family members.”
• Salud Carbajal (D), who represents California’s 24th Congressional District along the Central Coast, co-sponsored a bill to investigate Russia’s influence on the 2016 election. Introduced on Feb. 15, the bill—the Protecting Our Democracy Act—would create an independent 12-member, bipartisan commission to investigate if and how Russia had a hand in getting Trump elected and the country’s potential influence in his administration. The bill was introduced by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a ranking member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The commission would be called the National Commission on Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election and would investigate Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of John Podesta, the campaign chairman for former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
• California’s 35th District Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham filed his first bill in the state Legislature on Feb. 10. Assembly Bill 445, which has bipartisan support, seeks to improve the state’s Career Technical Education system by creating a permanent $300 million fund to help K-12 schools “offer modernized vocational classes for California’s rapidly changing job market,” according to a statement from Cunningham’s office.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 2, 2017.