Weekly Spotlight: It’s the Old “New War” Work-Around 

REPORTING BACK “In bad faith and for an improper purpose” — A federal judge delivered a scathing rebuke of the Trump v. IRS case, in which the president sued his own administration for $10 billion in tax dollars (and then attempted to settle for a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” plus immunity from audits of past taxes). The conflicts of interest were so blatant that even the president couldn't deny them. The judge’s ruling voids the settlement and imposes disciplinary actions on two of the lawyers involved. POGO submitted an amicus brief in this case with Common Cause and four former high-ranking government officials. We’re glad to see justice being served.

ABUSING POWER AND RIGHTS

ICE terror

On Monday, an ICE officer shot and killed Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Maine. This is just days after an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas. Neither of these men were the intended targets of ICE's operations. These are extrajudicial killings. In both cases, the Department of Homeland Security has attempted to sell tales of aggression on the part of the victims — a familiar line that has proved false in many other cases. Nothing could justify ICE’s reckless, needless violence. These men should not have died. ICE’s campaign of terror continues to create irreparable voids in families and communities. This out-of-control agency needs to be stopped.

• POGO’s David Janovsky joined Border Report Live to urge investigations into these shootings.
• In light of the shootings, ICE issued a temporary pause on vehicle stops. A day later, President Trump overturned the order.

National Guard to remain in Washington, DC

The Pentagon told NPR that the National Guard will remain deployed in Washington until Inauguration Day in 2029 — i.e., the rest of President Trump’s term. Around 5,000 troops are currently deployed in the city. There are significant costs that come with this continued deployment — not just to our democracy, but to your tax dollars. POGO estimates that the DC deployment could end up costing anywhere between $2.5 and $3.4 billion over the next few years. And that is a conservative estimate, POGO’s Virginia Burger told NPR. The ongoing military presence in our cities is eroding norms that are foundational to democracy.

• Close to a year after we delivered this testimony on the dangers of domestic deployment, the threat prevails. Congress must act.

EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB

The old “new-war” work-around

Last weekend, President Trump sent notice to Congress that our country is once again at war with Iran. It’s a meaningless notice, given that we never stopped being at war with Iran — no permanent peace deal was signed, no ceasefire respected. What it is attempting to do, however, is restart the 60-day clock that allows a president, in some extraordinary circumstances, to take military action without Congress’s authorization. The president can’t pull the extraordinary circumstances lever twice. “A new letter to Congress doesn’t erase two and a half months of illegal war," POGO’s David Janovsky writes in a new statement.

• STATEMENT: Claims of a “New” Iran Conflict Attempt to Dodge the Law. Make no mistake, this is not a new conflict with Iran.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

The good:

This is what it looks like when Congress uses its power of the purse. Senators voted to prevent floor consideration of the $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act. “The Senate was right to reject the National Defense Authorization Act, particularly as the executive branch continues its illegal, unsanctioned war in Iran,” POGO’s Greg Williams told Common Dreams. No accountability? No strategy? No rubber stamp. That’s how it should be.

The bad:

Meanwhile, in the House, your representatives kicked off the process for the third reconciliation bill since the start of this Congress. It seeks to add $95 billion in deficit spending — $60 billion of which is earmarked to the Pentagon — all outside of the standard appropriations process. Congress should not be sidestepping the norms that keep federal spending transparent and accountable. And it certainly shouldn’t be rushing to hustle billions to the Pentagon amidst an illegal war.

• Read an explainer from Greg Williams on why reconciliation is unnecessary and destructive to congressional norms.

POGO INVESTIGATES

The near-billion dollar “Project Homecoming” contract

Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security cancel its $915 million self-deportation contract with Salus Worldwide Solutions after POGO and Mother Jones exposed how the contract was awarded.

• INVESTIGATION Top Homeland Security Democrat Demands Cancellation of Massive DHS Self-Deportation Contract
• INVESTIGATION Unraveling the Corporate Ties to DHS's “Big, Beautiful Jet”

ICYMI

Congress’s packed week

This week was chock-full of hearings for Congress. Here’s what you may have missed:

• POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette testified in front of the Senate, advocating for real reforms to address systemic waste and fraud instead of a superficial, misplaced focus on standalone instances. (Watch his testimony.)
• Todd Blanche, the president's nominee for attorney general, had his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate and faced bipartisan scrutiny over the “anti-weaponization fund,” his personal relationship with the president, and the Department of Justice’s treatment of the press, among other things. The DOJ has become a personal tool of the president under the Trump administration, and it is crucial that Congress scrutinizes the department’s next leader extremely carefully.
• As we emailed you about earlier this week, Jay Clayton, the nominee to be the director of national intelligence, also had his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. In advance of the hearing, POGO urged your senators to press Clayton on your digital privacy rights.