Sam Knight - page 8

A Republican lawmaker defended the lack of a federal prohibition on usury by citing economic problems in East Germany before its 1989 collapse. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) was attacking a proposal to cap consumer interest rates in the United States at 36 percent. The legislation was introduced during a House Financial Services Committee meeting on Wednesday by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the panel. “That’s what they experienced on the other side of this [Berlin] Wall that had held them captive behind… Keep Reading

Senate Democrats are on the verge of helping Congressional Republicans scale back key banking regulations signed into law after last decade’s massive financial crisis Moderate liberals on the Senate Banking Committee are working with Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to hash out a proposal that would relax rules on speculation and oversight of some of the country’s largest banks. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) are at the heart of efforts to revise the framework established… Keep Reading

A top labor regulator could be poised to quietly rule on matters involving past clients. Senate Democrats this week hit out at National Labor Relations Board Member William Emanuel for only disclosing the names of those who recently paid at least $5,000 for his legal expertise. The legislators noted that while these disclosures may satisfy Congressional requirements, President Trump initially made rigorous ethics demands on his nominees. In a January executive order, days after his inauguration, Trump asked appointees to abstain from taking part “in any particular matter…directly… Keep Reading

Republicans are attempting to hurriedly ram major tax reform through Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee started mark-up hearings on Monday, to advance a bill that would re-write the tax code. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) complained at the start of the process about the dearth of any public examination of the proposal in hearings before the influential Ways and Means Committee. Doggett also decried Trump’s refusal to disclose his own financial holdings–a move that would reveal how he personally stands to be impacted by… Keep Reading

Federal regulators are considering taking action to stop the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T. The Justice Department and AT&T aren’t close to an agreement on conditions for the merger, according to a report Thursday morning in The Wall Street Journal. Antitrust Division lawyers are subsequently weighing a lawsuit to block the deal. The telecoms giant wants to purchase Time Warner as a content source for its mobile phone customers. Time Warner–owner of CNN, HBO, and TBS–wants to maximize viewership, as Bloomberg noted. Announced in… Keep Reading

A Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission called for an investigation into the agency’s ties with a broadcasting giant. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the agency appears to be heavily influenced by Sinclair Broadcast Group, claiming: “all of our media policy decisions seem to be custom built for this one company.” “If you look at the series of media policy decisions that has been made by this commission, they all seem to serve Sinclair Broadcasting’s business plans,” Rosenworcel said on Wednesday. She cited a number… Keep Reading