Overnight Regulation: Administration finalizing executive action on guns

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from Capitol Hill and beyond. Here’s the latest.

THE BIG STORY

The White House is reportedly finalizing a new executive action to expand background checks on gun purchases.

Though White House press secretary Josh Earnest refused to give a timeline, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said Wednesday that the president has asked his team to send him a completed plan “in short order,” according to The Associated Press.

{mosads}Obama’s actions come in the wake of multiple mass shootings over the last few weeks. The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has the full story here.

Meanwhile Thursday, lawmakers applauded Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy’s (D) plan to ban gun sales in the state to anyone on the federal government’s terror-watch list.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said Malloy’s move toward executive action was the right decision.

“From 2004 to 2014, more than 2000 people on the watch list were able to legally purchase guns in America, making our communities more susceptible to gun violence and terror attacks,” she said. “Now that Connecticut has led the nation with a sensible change to gun policy, it is time for Congress to do the same.”

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) joined DeLauro in calling on Congress to end the ban on federal funding for gun violence research.

“Doctors agree, medical professionals agree, even the author of the amendment agrees: it’s time to do away with the Dickey Amendment and let our experts do what they do best — conduct research that will save some live,” he said in a news release. “For nearly 20 years, experts at the CDC have been prohibited from reaching the causes and best ways to prevent gun violence.”

Thompson said the omnibus spending bill under negotiation in Congress is the perfect opportunity to repeal the Dickey Amendment.

TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY

The Obama administration will publish 187 new regulations, proposed rules, notices and other administrative actions in Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register.

Keep and eye out for a proposed rule from the Department of Defense to establish a uniform policy for when law enforcement and security personnel should use force. The rule updates the use of force section in its regulations to ensure that the level of force is reasonable in intensity, duration and magnitude, and based upon the level of effort required.

The public has 60 days to comment.

NEWS RIGHT NOW

Black Caucus member: Scalia’s race comments ‘shocking,’ ‘abhorrent’ http://bit.ly/1RHmhOy

Feds fine Fiat Chrysler $70 million extra for recall failures http://bit.ly/1lSIAEp

Pelosi pushes to end ban on gun research http://bit.ly/1mdxDO8

Wildlife agency seeks overhaul of refuge drilling rules http://bit.ly/1TDPA2V

Feds giving to workplace campaign drops, but they donate time – The Washington Post http://wapo.st/1RHmHo1

Connecticut to ban gun sales to those on terror lists – The New York Times http://nyti.ms/1NeEL5X

VW says emissions cheating was not a one-time error – The New York Times http://nyti.ms/1Y0brbl

After illegal wiretap, suspects go free and want a refund – USA Today http://usat.ly/1lQpgYq

BY THE NUMBERS

$175 million: The fine against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for failing to properly report defects with cars that have been subjected to recalls.

$70 million: How much the Obama administration wants to add to that fine.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Judges have to have integrity and they need to be independent and not make reckless comments from the bench that cast a shadow on the administration of justice,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), in response to comments Justice Antonin Scalia made about black students on Wednesday.

Hearing an affirmative action case, Scalia suggested some black students might be better off at “less­-advanced” schools.