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Restricting EPA Is Not the Way to Deal With Budget
Statement of Tyson Slocum, Director, Public Citizen’s Energy Program
WASHINGTON
As if it wasn't enough that President Barack Obama touted the need for nuclear power and deceptively named "clean coal" during his speech Wednesday on energy security, it is being reported that the Obama administration is insisting that Democrats in Congress agree, as part of budget negotiations, to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to enforce clean air standards.
The very idea is offensive. The White House has denied this report; we hope this is correct and call on the president to pledge to veto any budget that includes such restrictions.
The Obama administration wants to avoid a government shutdown, but it would be foolish for it to think the only way to do that is to agree to GOP demands. Corporate polluters and their congressional allies are demanding that the spending bill include provisions that strip the EPA of its authority to limit carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act.
Enough is enough. Obama and lawmakers should not give in to arm-twisting.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
How Many People Were Charged After DHS Claimed Chicago Building Was Filled With 'Terrorists'? Zero.
“The department I once served is engaging in fascist shows of force,” said Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration.
Nov 13, 2025
Late at night on September 30, over 300 federal agents stormed an apartment building in one of Chicago's lowest-income neighborhoods. After descending from Black Hawk helicopters, they broke down residents' doors, destroyed furniture and belongings, deployed flash-bang grenades, and dragged sleeping people—some naked—out into the cold evening. Dozens of people, including children and American citizens, were held in zip ties and detained for hours.
As part of the highly publicized raid at the South Shore complex, which was filmed and edited into a miniature action film by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), at least 37 Venezuelan residents of the apartment complex were taken into custody.
On Thursday, an investigation by ProPublica revealed that the raid, heralded by the Trump administration as a counterterrorism victory, has resulted in zero charges against the people who were detained.
In the wake of public backlash to the militarized raid’s extraordinary, indiscriminate brutality, the assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, claimed that the operation "successfully resulted in the arrest of two confirmed Tren de Aragua members,“ describing the cartel as ”a terrorist organization.“ She added that ”One of these members was a positive match on the terror screening watchlist.“
She added that others who were detained had their own rap sheets, including "domestic battery, family violence, battery against a public safety official, aggravated unlawful use of a firearm, retail theft, soliciting prostitution, possession of a controlled substance," while another "had an active warrant and was listed as armed and dangerous [with] weapons offenses."
Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump and an architect of his "mass deportation" policy, said that the building was "filled with TdA terrorists" and that the raid had “saved God knows how many lives."
But ProPublica's report called many of the government’s claims into question. The government has not released the names of the 37 Venezuelans detained in the raid, but reporters identified the names of 21 of them and interviewed 12.
The report found that contrary to the government's claims of their rampant criminality, federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against a single person who was arrested. They have also not provided any evidence that two of the men arrested were part of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The names of the two supposed gang members have not been made public, but ProPublica managed to track down one of them—24-year-old Ludwing Jeanpier Parra Pérez—using another government press release that described him as a “confirmed member” of the terrorist cartel.
While the release also described him as a “criminal illegal alien,” the only criminal charges ever filed against him—for drug possession and driving without a license after a traffic stop last year—were dropped. No other charges against him, related to gang activity or anything else, have been filed.
"I don’t have anything to do with that,” Parra told ProPublica from the Indiana jail where he's detained along with 17 others nabbed in the raid. “I’m very worried. I don’t know why they are saying that. I came here to find a better future for me and my family.”
ProPublica said its reporters have also observed eight immigration court hearings for the detained individuals, many of whom have asked to be deported back to Venezuela. In not a single one of the hearings has a government attorney mentioned any pending criminal charges against them while arguing for their deportation, nor have they alleged that any of them have affiliations with Tren de Aragua.
Judges have instead ordered them deported or granted voluntary departure, which the outlet noted is "a sign that they are not seen as a serious threat and can apply for return to the United States."
Mark Rotert, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney in Chicago, told ProPublica that if these detainees actually had the long criminal histories the government claimed they do, they would likely pursue charges.
“Do they really believe they have people who are members of a violent organized crime gang?" he said. "If they believe they have people who fit that criteria, I would be very surprised if they were satisfied with only deporting them.”
As far as other crimes, ProPublica found that 18 of the 21 detainees they identified had no criminal charges against them. Meanwhile, the other three, who were charged with offenses “ranging from drug possession to battery,” have all had their charges dropped.
Among those rounded up at the South Shore apartment who spoke to ProPublica were a man with a steady job at a taco restaurant who has a daughter in elementary school, and a construction worker and former Venezuelan army paratrooper who is raising four children.
The investigation's findings are in line with how the Trump administration has attempted to sell its militaristic Operation Midway Blitz and other prongs of its mass deportation crusade to the public.
While the White House has persistently claimed to be targeting “the worst of the worst” criminals, the latest immigration data shows that around 72% of current detainees have no criminal convictions. Previous data from the libertarian Cato Institute has shown that 93% of ICE book-ins were for non-criminals and nonviolent offenders.
Michael D. Baker, an immigration and criminal defense lawyer based in Chicago, described it as laughable that a "300-agent raid" was being "called a terrorist victory" even while it had "zero criminal charges."
"The Trump administration’s showcase anti-gang operation was built on spectacle, not evidence," he said.
In response to the story, Miles Taylor, who served in the DHS from 2017-19, including as its chief of staff, during the first Trump administration, lamented on social media that the department "is no longer recognizable."
"The department I once served is engaging in fascist shows of force," he said, "violating the rights of Americans—only to satiate the creepy desires of an old man who wants to seem macho."
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Trump Briefed On Venezuela Military Strike Options That Could Occur in 'Coming Days': Report
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly showed the president options for military operations, including "strikes on land."
Nov 13, 2025
The fact that the White House has reportedly made no "final decision" regarding whether it will launch direct strikes against Venezuela offered cold comfort, suggested one policy advocate on Thursday as it was reported that top military officials had briefed President Donald Trump on "options" for attacking the South American country after weeks of US escalation.
"They're presenting options to Trump for war in Venezuela—options that Trump has already rightly expressed reservations about, and options that just days ago they told Republican allies in Congress that they do not have legal authority to do," said Erik Sperling, executive director of Just Foreign Policy and a former adviser to US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). "But sure, no 'final' decision made."
As CBS News reported, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine were among the senior military officials who spoke to Trump Wednesday about potential operations that could be carried out in Venezuela "in the coming days," including "strikes on land."
The meeting came as the USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in the Latin America region, accompanied by warships. The arrival of the carrier strike force brings the number of US troops in the region to 15,000.
Since September, the White House has embarked on what it has called an "armed conflict" with drug cartels in Venezuela over the strong objections of Democrats and a small number of Republicans in Congress.
The conflict has been characterized by the administration's strikes on numerous boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, that the White House has claimed were carrying drugs and operated by cartels. The administration has not released evidence that the people on board the boats were involved in drug trafficking, and legal experts and lawmakers have condemned what they call the "extrajudicial killing" of at least 76 people.
The Associated Press reported on the identities of some of the victims last week and found that they included an out-of-work bus driver and a fisherman who was desperate to feed his family. The family of one victim from Trinidad and Tobago denied that he had been involved in drug trafficking. Two people survived the strikes and were repatriated to Ecuador and Colombia; in the case of the man from Ecuador, authorities released him after finding no evidence he had committed any crime.
Lawmakers in the US Senate have introduced two war powers resolutions to stop Trump from bombing purported drug trafficking boats and from striking Venezuela, but both have been voted down.
The measure focused on Venezuela was voted down after Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed "select members of Congress" and told them the administration is not planning to strike the country and did not have a legal rationale for doing so.
Trump recently told "60 Minutes" that he doubted the US would launch a military attack on the country.
Sperling said Rubio, who has long advocated regime change in Venezuela, appeared "deflated" when speaking to reporters on Thursday and declining to "discuss any possibility of striking Venezuela or arresting [President Nicolás] Maduro."
Despite the aircraft's carrier arrival to the Caribbean, Rubio seems deflated — as he declines to discuss any possibility of striking Venezuela or arresting Maduro.
Seems likely that Trump rightly rejected proposals for a Libya-style regime change or Black Hawk Down-style raid https://t.co/phPXUNIRx8 pic.twitter.com/CgP1w9OE13
— Erik Sperling 🌍 (@ErikSperling) November 13, 2025
"Seems likely that Trump rightly rejected proposals for a Libya-style regime change or Black Hawk Down-style raid," said Sperling.
But Maduro has not been convinced by claims that the US is not planning a strike, and his government announced Wednesday that it was readying its entire military arsenal and deploying 200,000 soldiers to prepare for potential acts of war from the US.
While Trump has appeared to reject proposals to attack Venezuela thus far, he said in 2023 that if he had won the 2020 election, he would have taken the country over and seized its vast oil reserves.
"If Trump rejected Rubio's plans for regime change war in Venezuela, he made the right call," said Just Foreign Policy on social media Thursday. "Former President Barack Obama reportedly wanted to stay out of Libya, but was pressured by advisers—a decision he regretted. Trump must not make the same mistake with Rubio's Venezuela war."
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National 'Billionaires Eat First' Campaign Aims to Make Trump and GOP Pay for Aid Cuts
Organizers of the new campaign said Republicans are slashing nutrition assistance and other programs "after giving Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires a massive tax break."
Nov 13, 2025
A nationwide campaign announced Thursday aims to rally Americans against US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party's unpopular effort to demolish what's left of the country's social safety net to help fund tax breaks for the ultrarich.
The Billionaires Eat First campaign officially launches Friday with events in the nation's capital and Montgomery, Alabama, where local leaders, advocates, and impacted families will gather to spotlight the harms of the GOP's cuts to federal nutrition assistance. Over the summer, congressional Republicans approved the largest-ever cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Trump administration used the prolonged government shutdown to throttle food benefits for millions.
During the shutdown, which ended on Wednesday, the more than 900 billionaires in the United States saw their combined wealth grow to a record $8 trillion as tens of millions of low-income people watched the Trump administration illegally withhold their nutrition benefits.
"Trump and congressional Republicans are taking food off the table for kids, seniors, and veterans, while families already struggle with high grocery costs," said Leor Tal, campaign director of Unrig Our Economy, the coalition that organized the new campaign in partnership with local organizations.
"And they’re doing this after giving Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires a massive tax break," Tal added. "Families need to feed their loved ones; billionaires don’t need yet another tax break. It’s wrong."
Unrig Our Economy said that the Billionaires Eat First events will feature speeches from local leaders and people directly affected by the Trump-GOP SNAP cuts. The campaign is also a mutual aid effort, with volunteers expected to donate hundreds of thousands of meals to local food banks ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Across America, kids, seniors, and veterans have lost vital food assistance. Why? Because Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress chose to give billionaires and big corporations massive tax breaks, while cutting SNAP benefits in their tax law, and heartlessly withholding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown," the campaign's website states. "We’re standing up to say: it’s callous, it’s cruel, and it’s wrong."
In addition to Friday's events, the campaign will have stops in West Virginia and Pennsylvania on Saturday, and Louisiana, New York, and Arizona next week.
The campaign was announced hours after Trump signed funding legislation that ended the government shutdown—though the impacts of the standoff are expected to linger, with SNAP benefits still in chaos and health insurance premiums set to rise further as Republicans refuse to back an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, implored the Trump administration and states to quickly deliver full November benefits to those who have not yet received them.
"It remains shocking that the administration did everything it could during the shutdown to keep much-needed food assistance from reaching those in need," said FitzSimons. "The administration went as far as the Supreme Court to keep SNAP benefits out of the hands of those in need. This unnecessary and harmful decision left millions of Americans hungry and in limbo."
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