Five Other Laws That Rick Scott’s Plan Would Still Sunset

Rick Scott insisted Friday that he never intended to sunset Social Security and Medicare, but his plan to socially and economically overhaul the United States would still affect other laws.

The Florida senator unveiled his 12-step “Rescue America” plan in February 2022. A part of one of those steps was a plan to sunset “all federal legislation” every five years and have Congress re-vote on those laws. He amended that point Friday to specifically exclude Social Security, Medicare, and the U.S. Navy, but the rest of the language remains unchanged.

Scott’s proposed plan is, frankly, implausible. During Donald Trump’s presidency and the first two years of Joe Biden’s alone, Congress passed more than 4,000 laws. Scott’s proposal would include every law ever enacted.

There just isn’t enough time in the world to review every single federal law every five years. But giving Scott the benefit of the doubt, here are five of the many laws that would have to be re-passed under his proposed plan.

1. The Affordable Care Act

Also known as Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 with the goal of making health care more affordable. It also sought to lower medical care costs and expand Medicaid. Republicans have been trying to dismantle the act since it was enacted. Under Scott’s plan, this act would have to be re-voted on and would be unlikely to pass the currently Republican-controlled House. Medicaid requirements could be changed, or the program could be done away with altogether.

2. The Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 to regulate water pollution. Under the law, the Environmental Protection Agency has been able to create pollution-control programs and water quality standards. Scott’s plan would require this law to go before Congress again for a vote.

3. The Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act became law in 1963 and protects against wage discrimination based on sex. It covers all forms of financial compensation, including overtime pay, bonuses, and life insurance. Republicans, however, seem bent on enacting laws that restrict the rights of women and gender minorities.

4. The Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964. It banned racial discrimination in public places and employment, and required that schools and public facilities be integrated. Considering the fact that House Republicans are trying to pass laws that would decrease protections against discrimination, it’s unclear that this act would pass if it had to be voted on again.

5. Laws against child pornography

The United States has multiple laws protecting against child pornography, and all of them would have to go before Congress for a vote under Scott’s plan. These would be likely to pass again, as there have been multiple bipartisan pushes over the years to increase child safety, particularly online. In his plan, Scott insists that “if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.” But if everyone agrees a law is worth keeping, why waste everyone’s time going over it every five years?

Fox hosts including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity all thought conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election were a bunch of baloney. At least, that’s what their own words express in newly-surfaced texts released by a $1.6 billion lawsuit against the network.

After twice-impeached former President Donald Trump lost to President Biden, he primed the pump of conspiracy theories about the outcome of the election: fraud, stolen votes, suspicious machines, you name it. Two of the people helping stir up these theories were Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The pair spent a considerable amount of time pushing a conspiracy theory about election technology companies Dominion and Smartmatic, accusing them of conspiring to flip votes from Trump to Biden.

The theory was, of course, false, and was rejected in court. Afterwards, Dominion sued the pair for defamation and filed a massive $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News for its role in propagating the conspiracy theories and lying to their viewers.

In the latest filing of the lawsuit, numerous Fox employees were revealed to have expressed their concern both about the conspiracy theories, and the purveyors of them—including some even among their own ranks.

“Sidney Powell is lying. Fucking bitch,” Carlson told his producer Alex Pfeiffer.

“Sidney Powell is a bit nuts,” Ingraham texted Carlson and Hannity. “Sorry but she is.”

“F’ing lunatics,” Hannity said about the theories and Fox guests promoting them.

Just as well, even while they may seem to have understood (as even a fifth grader could) the absurdity of these claims, the trio’s hands were still very dirty. On November 12, 2020, in a group chat, the three complained about Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich fact-checking a tweet by Trump that mentioned Hannity’s and Lou Dobbs’s broadcasts about Dominion. Heinrich merely pointed out that election officials said there was no evidence of voting system malfunctions. Straightforward enough.

“Please get her fired. Seriously…What the fuck? I’m actually shocked,” Carlson told Hannity.

Hannity responded, saying he had already sent Henrich’s fact-check to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.  He continued “I’m 3 strikes. Wallace shit debate[.] Election night a disaster[.] Now this BS? Nope. Not gonna fly. Did I mention Cavuto?”

Scott texted Fox News Senior Executive VP for Corporate Communications Irena Briganti that “Sean texted me.” “She [Heinrich] has serious nerve doing this and if this gets picked up, viewers are going to be further disgusted.” Heinrich deleted her basic fact-check tweet by the next morning.

Given the Fox’s big three themselves openly hosted and supported these “lunatics,” some of their own coworkers took issue with them, too.

“If Trump becomes a sore loser we should watch Sean especially and others don’t sound the same,” Murdoch wrote in a message to Scott, expressing concern about hosts aligning with Trump and his conspiracy theories.

“Crazy Tucker and crazier Hannity,” Brian Farley quipped about the duo. “Hannity is a little out there,” said Fox SVP and former Trump Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah.

“This dominion shit is going to give me a fucking aneurysm—as many times as I’ve told Laura [Ingraham] it’s bs, she sees shit posters and trump tweeting about it…” Ingraham producer Tommy Firth texted to Ron Mitchell, one of the executives who oversees Ingraham’s show.

Ultimately, the texts reveal how little Fox cares about actually delivering news, or about the consequences of that indifference (like a riot in the Capitol). Moreover, it reveals how little they think of their audience, even while showrunners themselves know they are serving their viewers “bs.”

As Fox producer Justin Wells texted Carlson’s producer: “We’re threading a needle that has to be thread because of the dumb fucks at Fox on Election Day. We can’t make people think we’ve turned against Trump. Yet also call out the bullshit. You and I see through it. But we have to reassure some in the audience.”

Rick Scott wants everyone to know that when he said “all federal legislation” should sunset after five years, he didn’t mean programs such as Medicare or Social Security.

The Florida senator has come under fire since the State of the Union, when President Joe Biden called out “some Republicans [who] want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.” Although he didn’t name names, it was a direct reference to Scott’s year-old proposal to sunset laws and re-vote on them every five years.

By Friday morning, Scott had amended the language in his proposal to specifically exempt federal entitlement programs.

The edits also included a note directly to Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell—As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy.”

So there!

Biden scored a big win during the State of the Union address when he appeared to get Republicans to agree not to cut funding for Medicare or Social Security. Both McConnell and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy have criticized Scott’s proposal. Even Donald Trump, who tried to cut the programs’ funding every year he was in office, bashed Scott’s plan.

Despite Scott’s sudden about face, Republicans have, by and large, tried to end the entitlement programs since they began in 1935. Since the party took control of the House of Representatives in January, they have been weighing options to slash Social Security and Medicare, ostensibly in order to curb federal spending. GOP lawmakers are threatening to hold the debt ceiling hostage until the federal budget is reduced, and Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block.

Scott initially tried to deflect Biden’s accusation that he wanted to sunset the programs by doubling down on his plan to cut the programs.

But as he made abundantly clear Friday, that was never actually the plan. Ok, guys?

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman checked himself into a hospital for clinical depression, his chief of staff announced Thursday.

Fetterman was evaluated Wednesday night at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, and his doctor recommended he receive inpatient care.

“While John has experienced depression on and off throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” Adam Jentleson said in a statement. “The doctors at Walter Reed told us that John is getting the care he needs, and will soon be back to himself.”

Fetterman’s decision to receive inpatient therapy is bound to attract some negative opinions. He was constantly questioned about his fitness for office after he had a stroke during the campaign.

But getting treatment, and announcing publicly that he is doing so, is important. Letting depression go untreated can take a serious toll, both physically and mentally. Seeking care in the public eye will help remove some of the stigma around the illness.

Fetterman was briefly hospitalized last week after experiencing lightheadedness. Doctors said he had not suffered a second stroke.

Fetterman’s wife Gisele praised him for getting treatment. “After what he’s been through in the past year, there’s probably no one who wanted to talk about his own health less than John,” she said on Twitter. “I’m so proud of him for asking for help and getting the care he needs.”

While residents of East Palestine, Ohio are still navigating the chaotic aftermath of their own Norfolk Southern train derailment, another of the company’s trains has derailed outside Detroit, Michigan. At least six cars were rooted off the track Thursday morning.

The incident occurred in Van Buren Township; the community’s public safety Facebook page reported no injuries, and no evidence of exposed hazardous materials. The page reported that one car contained liquid chlorine, but was not among the six uprooted cars.

“One railcar that derailed contained agricultural grain and the remaining cars were empty. No hazardous material release to soil or waterway (located approximately 900ft to the NW),” Incident Management Specialist Travis Boeskool said in a statement on Facebook. “Norfolk Southern has equipment on-site and is removing/uprighting rail cars. They anticipate having the railcars removed and (the) rail open later today.”

The page also noted an immediate response from numerous officials, including Representative Debbie Dingell who activated FEMA and an EPA response team.

“After the recent incident in Ohio, Van Buren is going to know we are safe before we disengage from this event,” the township concluded.

The far-right already seems to be pouncing on the incident as proof of conspiracy amok, particularly after the derailment in East Palestine.

But in reality, from 1990 to 2021, there were at least 54,539 accidents in which a train derailed, according to the Bureau of Transportation. That is an average of 1,704 derailments per year.

So while it may certainly seem as if these crashes are happening at a suspiciously inordinate pace, that feeling actually just comes from an exposure bias from the media finally directing more attention to our poor infrastructure and accompanying regulation.

In the same way every new day seems to hold the possibility for another mass shooting, or another instance of police brutality, so too does it hold the possibility for another failure of our infrastructure. There’s not some new conspiracy—we’ve had a bad record of standards for years. Maybe with all this attention we can actually do something about it.