Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee suspend committee rules and approve the nomination of Scott Pruitt to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Democrats on the panel did not show up for a second straight day Thursday, and the GOP majority voted 11-0 to send the nomination of Pruitt to the full Senate for a vote.

Committee Chairman John Barrasso says the vote had been vetted by the Senate parliamentarian, who determined it was “proper under Senate rules.”

President Trump wants to see the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiated quickly, and blasted the current trade pact as unfair to U.S. companies and workers.

From the White House last week, Trump said he didn’t care if it’s a renovation of NAFTA or a brand new NAFTA, we have to make it fair for American workers and the companies that do business in this country.

Turns out, an update on American farm families and their health insurance is a two-part story.

According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, on the one hand, with the final annual signup under the Affordable Care Act now expired, a lot of low-income farm families face possible loss of health insurance or at least the critical tax credit that makes it affordable for them.

On the other hand, most middle-and high-income farm households still want what the ACA promised: affordable care.

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