LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 57

On Thursday evening, the Senate finally passed its Keystone XL bill, twenty-three days after the legislation was formally introduced. It was a long slog for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and one that will prove fruitless because in the end–even after allowing open debate and votes on several dozen amendments, he failed to muster up a veto-proof majority. The bill, per President Obama’s threats, will never become law. In addition to futility, the last month also served as a sign of things to come… Keep Reading

Assuming Loretta Lynch is confirmed as the next US Attorney General—a scenario that looks likely at this point–she may have to immediately back up promises she made during her confirmation hearing, and take on a misbehaving bank that has already defied her once before. When banking giant HSBC was fined $1.9 billion for laundering drug money and violating economic sanctions, the company agreed to system-wide reforms in order to avoid prosecution. That agreement was approved by Loretta Lynch, who oversaw the settlement as the US… Keep Reading

This week witnessed a setback to Keystone XL pipeline legislation in the Senate, as Democrats prevented the bill from advancing with limited debate. But oily interest groups are taking the fight to a new venue to influence DC policymakers: the Super Bowl. On Wednesday, the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington, DC-based political watchdog group, picked up on a peculiar six-figure Super Bowl ad buy from the nation’s preeminent fossil fuel lobby, the American Petroleum Institute (API). The ad, which will only run only on Washington, DC’s… Keep Reading

The number of children on food stamps in 2014 edged up by almost half a million to the highest number it has been since the Wall Street collapse of 2008. According to US Census Bureau data released Wednesday, the quantity of kids receiving food stamps last year breached the 16 million threshold for the first time since the government agency started publishing the statistic in 2007. The numbers show that the rate of Americans under the age of 18 receiving food stamps was at 21.7%–also… Keep Reading

Although negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership have been secretive, a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday shed light on the extent to which it could hamstring regulators. US Trade Representative Michael Froman told committee chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that the Obama administration is pushing for “protection against data localization requirements.” The issue, which Hatch brought up specifically with respect to the financial services industry, could hinder governments’ ability to enforce rules, critics fear, though Froman said the USTR is proposing it to obviate the need for “the… Keep Reading

Despite support from congressional conservatives, the Obama administration might not get the votes it needs to advance the Trans Pacific Partnership through the Senate. Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee mostly voiced their skepticism over the secretly-negotiated trade deal, while their opponents across the aisle served up rare praise for the White House on Tuesday at a hearing. The split could leave President Obama without the mandate he needs for the Senate to invoke cloture on a key precursor to the deal–a move that would… Keep Reading

One day after the White House proposed to designate millions of acres of pristine wildlife in northern Alaska as a wildlife sanctuary, GOP lawmakers from the state lashed out at the conservationist agenda, using rhetoric that hardly matches the reality of the administration’s actions. “This administration has effectively declared war on Alaska,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) speaking to reporters on Monday. On Sunday, the White House moved to designate more than 12 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, as “wilderness.”… Keep Reading

Congress will embark next week on helping the fracking industry win a drawn out-battle when the Senate holds a hearing on legislation that would relax export restrictions on liquid natural gas (LNG). The Senate Energy Committee is set to discuss a bill that would force the Secretary of Energy to make final decisions on LNG export permits 45 days after environmental reviews are concluded. Introduced by committee Republican member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and co-sponsored by three other Republicans and four Democrats–including two opponents of the… Keep Reading

Union members continued to make more money and saw stronger wage growth than non-union counterparts last year, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But despite earning employees larger compensation and seeing their ranks grow, unions represented a smaller percentage of the workforce in 2014. Median weekly earnings of union members and workers represented by unions increased by $20 and $21 respectively, to $970 and $965. Non-union workers, meanwhile, only saw median weekly wages increase by $13, to $763. The total… Keep Reading