The Latest: House scraps background check regulation

WASHINGTON – The Latest on Congressional efforts to undo Obama-era regulations (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

The House has voted to scrap an Obama administration regulation extending background checks for disabled Social Security recipients mentally incapable of managing their own affairs.

The vote to repeal the regulation is 235-180.

The vote is part of an effort to repeal a handful of regulations issued in President Barack Obama’s final months and represents the first steps toward strengthening gun ownership under President Donald Trump.

The background checks rule established the criteria the Social Security Administration will follow when forwarding names for the criminal background check system.

Those fitting the criteria have a mental disorder so severe that they cannot work and need a representative to manage their benefits. The administration projected that the regulation would affect about 75,000 beneficiaries.

Gun rights groups and advocates for the disabled supported the repeal effort.

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3 p.m.

The Senate has given final legislative approval to a measure that scuttles a new regulation aimed at preventing coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams.

The Senate’s 54-45 vote sends the measure to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

Republicans and some Democrats say the rule could eliminate thousands of coal-related jobs and ignores dozens of federal, state and local regulations already in place.

The Interior Department said in announcing the rule in December that it would protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests, preventing coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby waters.

The vote was the first in a series of actions Republicans are taking in coming weeks to reverse years of what they call excessive regulation during Obama’s presidency.