LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 56

Americans celebrated on Friday the release of what was, by one key measure, the best monthly jobs report since the start of the Great Recession. But one Congresswoman cautioned that the economic recovery that has taken place since the Wall Street collapse of 2008 hasn’t benefited all Americans equally. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) hailed the relative state of the economy, but noted that “this recovery remains unequal and too many Americans are still struggling to find a job, especially in communities of color.” “The unemployment rate… Keep Reading

The “Throw the bums out” anti-incumbent mentality that swept the nation over the last few elections is paying dividends, according to recently released data. However, trends still point to elected lawmakers eventually succumbing to careerism. The average number of years lawmakers have served on Capitol Hill hold has dropped precipitously in the last decade, bottoming out at levels not seen this century. Representatives in the 114th Congress have already served, on average, 8.8 years, which is nearly a full-term less than their counterparts had in… Keep Reading

Two prominent Democratic legislators are demanding that the Federal Reserve cough up more information about a leak to an intelligence firm that serves Wall Street hedge funds. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, on Thursday sent a letter to the Fed, asking it to explain more about the Federal Open Market Committee September 2012 disclosure to Medley Global Advisers. Although a Bloomberg report described an internal investigation as reaching “the highest levels of the central… Keep Reading

A leaked paper from trade negotiations being conducted by the US, EU member states, and almost two dozen other countries has raised concerns that the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) could be used to privatize healthcare systems around the world. The document was published Wednesday by an international non-profit called the Associated Whistleblower Press, which claims that it came from the Turkish government and was discussed by EU officials last September in Geneva. A call to the press office of the Turkish embassy in Washington… Keep Reading

A founding member of a new conservative congressional caucus on Tuesday morning distanced the group from his party’s obsession with the Keystone XL Pipeline. “I think every member of the House Freedom Caucus believes that the Keystone Pipeline is a good idea,” Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) said on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, in response to a question from a caller. “But it seems like it has become the energy policy of the Republican Party to do the Keystone Pipeline, and it’s just one component.” Labrador said that the… Keep Reading

A major perpetrator of fraud in the run up to the financial crisis admitted to misleading investors on Tuesday, but won’t face any further prosecution according to a settlement deal with the Department of Justice. Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, or S&P, agreed to pay roughly $1.4 billion in fines stemming from the company’s role in inflating the credit ratings of billion of dollars of junk investments. Those financial vehicles included mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, which helped to inflate the real estate bubble… Keep Reading

Legislation scheduled for a vote in the House this week would undermine consumer protections, take aim at fettering the most prominent institution created by post-2008 financial reform, and place new financial burdens on independent regulatory agencies, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office. And although the bill is being touted by small government conservatives, the study, which was released Tuesday, also found that the bill would add $1.8 million annually to the deficit and foist additional costs upon business and consumers. Sponsored by… Keep Reading

He might have won the most expensive legislative campaign in US history, but that doesn’t mean he should manage your local Arby’s. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Monday that he’s okay with the idea of service industry workers returning to work without washing their hands after touching their unmentionables, as long as customers are made aware of the situation. Tillis made the declaration at to the Bipartisan Policy Center, at the end of a question and answer with the audience. He was relaying a 2010… Keep Reading

Legislation that would force the nation’s central banking authority to submit to an examination more exhaustive than any it has ever faced is receiving renewed prospects on Capitol Hill, uniting the ends of the political spectrum, and forcing a White House, which often boasts of being transparent, into a corner. On Monday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) threw his weight behind Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) bill to audit the Federal Reserve. “Glad to co-sponsor Sen Paul’s bill to #AuditTheFed,” he said in a tweet. Blunt joins… Keep Reading

Despite talk of boosting the middle class, President Obama on Monday released a 2016 budget proposal with progressive policies that “apply more to how he would pay for the new appropriations–not the spending itself,” according to Politico. While the budget outlines a $74 billion spending increase, half would go to defense spending, and a significant chunk of the other half would fund expanded veterans and international affairs programs. Over all, Politico reported, two-thirds of the additional funding would go to programs decried as underfunded by the right-wing… Keep Reading