Congress returns Tuesday from their August recess to a packed legislative session. Number one on the agenda for the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill is the ambitious goal of putting together a comprehensive tax reform bill and sending it to President Trump by October.

The "dreamers" program instituted in 2012 by Barack Obama's administration could be on its way out.

Officially named the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the act allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children, to hold work permits, and defer their deportation.

Reports from the White House press corps suggest the program could end as soon as September 1, although the White House has disputed the accuracy of those reports.

Much of the talk about medical and recreational marijuana involves forms of TetraHydroCannabinol, more commonly known as THC. THC is the psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant, meaning that the “high” associated with marijuana use is due to THC.

Santa Fe voters took action by filing a lawsuit asking the state Supreme Court of New Mexico to order the use of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in Santa Fe’s municipal elections next March. FairVote New Mexico strongly supports this legal action.

More astounding details emerged this week in the House IT scandal around Imran Awan, the ex-Wasserman Schultz IT staffer under investigation for procurement fraud and data breaches of sensitive congressional information on the House IT network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z1EHBzKP44&t=1m42s

A movement is growing to form a new political party -- one that would not compete with the Republican and Democratic Parties, but replace the Democratic Party altogether.

Political advisor and author Mark McKinnon says that “A messy participatory process is representative democracy at its best.” We understand what he’s getting at.

The contest of ideas and the formation of interest groups is an important part of our political process. But there’s a difference between messy and rigged.

Nearly half of all Americans identify as independents, unwilling to endorse either the Democratic or Republican political parties.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would be reversing the ban put in place by the Obama administration that halted the sale of certain surplus military equipment to local police departments.

The two-year-old ban was in response to a string of racially motivated riots, the most widely publicized being that in Ferguson, Missouri.

Assange Ready to Publish

Word that the FBI was not willing to release its findings into the Hillary Clinton email scandal, due to concerns over public interest, caused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to make it abundantly clear on twitter, that his organization will publish all email's related to Clinton.

The Constitution vests the president with the power to pardon anyone he or she wishes. It’s one of the clearest authorities the Founders established.

As with any power granted an elected official, the ability to issue a pardon must be used wisely and respectfully.

As a governor, I had similar authority. A process was in place to consider requests for clemency and insure that pardons were granted carefully and appropriately.