Sam Knight - page 7

The Trump administration is refusing to even respond to a public information request on climate science, accusing a public non-profit of trying to trigger an “endless fishing expedition.” Lawyers for the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency made the claim in response to a lawsuit brought by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The organization had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to determine what sort of analysis EPA head Scott Pruitt relied on–when making declarative statements about climate… Keep Reading

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised the heat on Republicans’ scramble this week to keep the government funded. The two Senators called on their colleagues to increase spending on the neglected, patchwork federal safety net, and threatened to withhold support for a push to avert a government shutdown. The US government runs out of money on Friday. Congressional Republicans are hoping to pass a two-week extension of funding, while simultaneously attempting to finalize watershed legislation that would slash corporate tax rates. “The Republicans… Keep Reading

Divisions within the Democratic Party were laid bare on Tuesday, as the Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to grant relief to some of the largest financial institutions in the country. The left-wing of the party, led by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), questioned the merits of both the process and the substance of the legislative package, clashing with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Centrist Democrats, including Mark Warner (D-Va.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana), defended their proposals as… Keep Reading

Congressional Republicans are hoping to avert an impending government shutdown this week, with Washington engrossed in tax reform. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday afternoon to set the terms of debate over a bill that would fund the government for two weeks. The United States government runs out of short-term funding on Friday. The committee vote is set to come one day after the House is expected to advance a watershed tax reform plan. Early Saturday morning, Senate Republicans approved of… Keep Reading

A Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board revealed the names of more than a hundred more former clients and committed to recusing himself from matters they might have before his agency. William Emanuel disclosed a more complete list of firms who employed his legal services in the past two years, after prodding from Democratic Senators. Before his appointment to the NLRB, Emanuel worked as a partner for Littler Mendelson, a law firm that specializes in union-busting consultancy. The lawmakers had noted that while… Keep Reading

One block west of the White House, the Trump administration is currently engaged in a battle with federal officials resisting a Republican attempt to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Meanwhile, a few blocks West on Pennsylvania avenue, the President is getting a helping hand from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Though the temporary appointment of Mick Mulvaney signals doom for the CFPB (the top White House economic aide has described the watchdog agency as “a sick, sad joke”), legislation, with liberal support, could do much… Keep Reading

Records on roughly one percent of outstanding auto loans in the United States were plagued last year by inaccuracies caused by a software company’s negligence. Source code used by Conduent Business Services was buggy for years and the company knew it, according to details of a consent order released Monday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB said that Conduent data last year alone was off for “over one million of the more-than 6.4 million consumer accounts” that the company oversees. Bureau officials noted… Keep Reading