LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 53

Two prominent Democratic lawmakers said in a letter published Tuesday that a financial regulator appointed by President Obama has “failed to answer a number of key questions” about a potential conflict of interest. House Government Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday told Commodity Futures Trading Commission official J. Christopher Giancarlo that he has neglected to answer some of their pointed questions about stock transactions centering around a company Giancarlo once helped manage. The inquiry highlights the potential… Keep Reading

Succumbing to legal pressure built around mounting health problems suffered by first responders to the World Trade Center, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to respond to a whistleblower and a government watchdog group, who both demanded that the agency update its corrosive dust standards. According to court documents released on Monday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the EPA must respond to a petition for stronger rules before the end of March 2016. The current rules on toxic dust are 35-years-old, and… Keep Reading

The Republican and Democratic parties collectively reached a new low in recent weeks, as Gallup reported that a record number of Americans are dissatisfied with both factions. For the first time, neither the GOP nor the Dems cracked the 40 percent favorability rating in a poll that has been conducted since 1992, with Americans earlier this month largely expressing disgust with both major parties in record numbers. “Except for a brief spike to 51% for the Democrats after Obama was re-elected in 2012, both parties’ ratings… Keep Reading

Former White House economists who last week wrote to Congress, urging it to pass “fast track” trade approval did not disclose their ties to companies that stand to benefit from increased global economic integration. Six former chairs of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers failed to note their personal interests–in multinational corporations, financial institutions, and consultancies–in their message to lawmakers, The Huffington Post reported on Friday afternoon. Two of them had previously been criticized for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in a high-profile documentary.… Keep Reading

Leading Senate proponents of US military adventurism are threatening to withhold their support for this year’s GOP budget plan, unless sequestration spending caps are removed from defense spending, or a package includes an arcane provision that could pave the way for future Pentagon budget increases. In the absence of Pentagon-specific Budget Control Act repeals, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) want to see “deficit-neutral reserve funds” that could free up budgetary restrictions on US military spending. Although these “reserve funds” won’t eliminate fiscal… Keep Reading

A bill that looks likely to pass the Senate would drastically reduce the ability of states to regulate toxic chemicals, according to a leading environmental law firm. Legislation proposed Tuesday by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.), with the backing of 16 bipartisan cosponsors, “represents a giant step back,” Earthjustice stated in a letter. Andrea Delgado, a legislative representative for the group, said Thursday that the measure has been put forward, in a roundabout way, due to the weakness of the Toxic Substances… Keep Reading

The company owned by billionaire conservative activist brothers Charles and David Koch has rejected Senate Democrats’ request for information about climate change research funding—an inquiry the legislators sent to fossil fuel industry players in the wake of a cash-for-analysis scandal. A response to the letter from a Koch Industries Inc. lawyer struck a defiant tone, describing the request as an infringement on free speech. “To the extent that your letter touches on matters that implicate the First Amendment, I am sure you recognize Koch’s right… Keep Reading

Tens of millions of Americans bilked by financial companies unknowingly give away their right to ask a judge to grant them relief, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found, in a report set to be released Tuesday—an investigation that increases the likelihood new proposed rules on banks could be imminent. Three-out-of-four credit card and bank account holders are unaware that their contracts with financial institutions include so-called “forced arbitration clauses”–fine print on contracts that prevents consumers from banding together to claw back extortionate charges in… Keep Reading

Legislation needed to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership is expected to be introduced in Congress as early as next month, as Republicans and the administration strain to get House and Senate Democrats on board. Many progressive legislators and their allies are confident that after a big victory on Net Neutrality they can marshal their network of supporters to resist the secretive corporate-backed trade deal. It would have to be effective in a matter of weeks, however. The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said this… Keep Reading

A House committee advanced legislation that critics say will make the American political system even more vulnerable to the sway of big business. The House Committee on Administration voted on Wednesday to mark-up a bill that would withhold public financing from presidential election campaigns. The measure was passed without either a roll call vote or debate. The Washington-based nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen called the move a “sneak attack” and said in a press release that it would “give corporations and the wealthy still more influence… Keep Reading