On March 21, 2019, CfA sent a letter to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calling on the agency to review the error-riddled Title X application submitted by the Obria Group, in conjunction with the Heidi Group and other Texas-based crisis pregnancy centers.
On March 20, 2019, CfA asked the House Judiciary Committee to refer Scott Lloyd, previously the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services, to the Department of Justice for investigation into whether he deliberately lied to Congress. Because his tenure was so controversial, Lloyd stepped down from that position to serve Senior Advisor to the HHS Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives.
On March 20, 2019, CfA called on North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen, and the Internal Auditor for the Department of Health and Human Services, David King, to investigate and terminate a contract between the Department of Health and Human Services and Human Coalition.
On March 12, 2019, CfA called on federal officials to investigate whether Andrew Wheeler, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), and his former lobbying firm, Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act by failing to disclose an April 2017 meeting with an Interior Department official regarding the borders of Bears Ears National Monument.
On March 6, 2019, CfA, represented by American Oversight, filed two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) seeking records regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back Title X funding for comprehensive family planning services.
On March 6, 2019, CfA, represented by American Oversight, filed two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) seeking records regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back Title X funding for comprehensive family planning services. These are the original FOIA requests.
On February 28, 2019, 71 organizations strongly urged all House Members to support the historic package of democracy reforms contained in H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) and now with 234 Members cosponsoring. The organizations also strongly urged Members to vote against “any weakening amendments” and “any motion to recommit to weaken or remove any provision in the Act.”
On February 27, 2019, CfA submitted a comment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) warning the agency about seemingly unbiased academic studies that have been bought and paid for by the payday lending industry and have been used to lobby against regulations to protect consumers from payday lending companies.
On February 25, 2019, CfA released a new report, Academic for Hire, revealing that a lawyer for the payday lending industry, Hilary Miller, funded, designed, and edited an academic study defending the payday lending industry. In conjunction with the report, CfA also requested an investigation into whether the Community Financial Services Association of America, and one of its lobbyists, Joi Sheffield, violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act by failing to disclose lobbying contacts with officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
On February 25, 2019, CfA released a new report, Academic for Hire, revealing that a lawyer for the payday lending industry, Hilary Miller, funded, designed, and edited an academic study defending the payday lending industry. Mr. Miller, the chairman of the Consumer Credit Research Foundation worked closely with Kennesaw State University Professor Jennifer Priestley to develop a study for the payday lending industry to use to lobby against government regulations that would have protected consumers from payday lenders.