Elaine Lan Chao is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transportation in the administration of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party,Chao was the first Asian American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. She resigned as transportation secretary after the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act,which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29,1970. OSHA's mission is to "assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training,outreach,education,and assistance." The agency is also charged with enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations. OSHA's workplace safety inspections have been shown to reduce injury rates and injury costs without adverse effects on employment,sales,credit ratings,or firm survival.
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations as they are not sovereign entities. In contrast,each state has a sovereignty separate from that of the federal government and each federally recognized Native American tribe possesses limited tribal sovereignty as a "dependent sovereign nation". Territories are classified by incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government through an organic act passed by the Congress. American territories are under American sovereignty and may be treated as part of the U.S. proper in some ways and not others. Unincorporated territories in particular are not considered to be integral parts of the U.S.,and the U.S. Constitution applies only partially in those territories.
Judicial Watch (JW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit American conservative activist group that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials. Founded in 1994,Judicial Watch has primarily targeted Democrats,in particular the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,as well as Hillary Clinton's role in them. It was founded by attorney Larry Klayman,and has been led by Tom Fitton since 2003.
Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party,Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer of WL Ross &Co from 2000 to 2017.
Benjamin Domenech is the Editor at Large of The Spectator World. He is also a television commentator,radio host,and publisher of The Transom,a daily subscription newsletter for political insiders. In 2013,he co-founded The Federalist, where he served as publisher and hosted The Federalist Radio Hour. He earlier had been a co-founder the RedState group blog. He joined Fox News as a commentator in 2021.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is an American conservative think tank based in Austin,Texas. The organization was co-founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger and Fritz S. Steiger,who sought intellectual support for his education reform ideas,including public school vouchers. Projects of the organization include Right on Crime,which is focused on criminal justice reform,and Fueling Freedom,which seeks to "explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels" by rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.
Francisco J. Domenech is a former director of the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico (2005–2008),a lawyer,and a professional political campaign manager. Domenech spent part of his childhood and adolescent years,in Ocala,Florida,having attended Blessed Trinity Catholic School,and Forest High School.
Michael Richard Pompeo is an American politician who served in the administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. He also served in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
According to the United States Office of Government Ethics,a political appointee is "any employee who is appointed by the President,the Vice President,or agency head". As of 2016,there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which an incoming administration needs to review,and fill or confirm,of which about 1,200 require Senate confirmation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is one of the offices most responsible for political appointees and for assessing candidates to work at or for the White House.
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began on January 20,2017,when Trump was inaugurated and ended on January 20,2021. Trump,a Republican from New York,took office following his electoral college victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election,in which he lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly three million votes. Upon his inauguration,he became the first president in American history without prior public office or military background. Trump made an unprecedented number of false or misleading statements during his 2016 campaign and first presidency. His first presidency ended following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election to former Democratic vice president Joe Biden,after his first term in office.
Seema Verma is a General Manager and Executive Vice President at Oracle Corporation. She was administrator of the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services in the first Donald Trump administration. During her tenure,she was involved in efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act,as well as reduce Medicaid benefits and increase restrictions on Medicaid. She was embroiled in ethics and legal controversies related to her use of taxpayer money while in office.
The environmental policy of the first Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations,the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term,his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations,leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021,the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.
David Longly Bernhardt is an American lawyer who served as the 53rd United States Secretary of the Interior from 2019 to 2021 in the administration of Donald Trump. He previously was a shareholder at the Colorado law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck,where he was an oil and energy industry lobbyist and natural resources attorney. He began working for the United States Department of the Interior (DOI) in 2001,and served as the department's solicitor from 2006 to 2009 and deputy secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Suzanne Israel Tufts is an American consultant and attorney. She is a former Assistant Secretary of Administration at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),having resigned in October 2018.
Thomas Ulrich Brechbuhl is a Swiss-American businessman and former government official,having held the position of Counselor of the United States Department of State from May 1,2018,to January 20,2021. He was appointed by and reported to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,and replaced Maliz E. Beams. Along with the role of Counselor,he served as the Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State from March to September 2020.
Steven Alan Linick is an American attorney and State Department official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State and led the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. In 2013,he was nominated by President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the United States Senate. Linick was removed from office by Donald Trump on May 15,2020,effective in 30 days per federal law,with Stephen Akard appointed acting inspector general in the interim.
Michael Ellis is an American attorney,Republican political operative,and former government official. He is a visiting fellow for law and technology with The Heritage Foundation's Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Ellis previously worked in multiple positions in the George W. Bush administration,for Republican congressman Devin Nunes and the first Trump administration,being called a Donald Trump loyalist. He worked as a legal advisor to the National Security Council and was later appointed as Senior Director for Intelligence for the agency. In December 2021,he became the general counsel for the online video platform Rumble.
The Joe Biden administration pledged to pass government ethics reform. The Biden administration also pledged to pass legislation and enforce policies to enforce electoral reform,in response to the influence of special interests and gerrymandering in elections.
