LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 59

Congress will likely take up a bill next week that would effectively hogtie all federal regulators, watchdogs have warned, but it stands little chance of gaining Presidential approval. The Regulatory Accountability Act, which the House is expected to vote on this Tuesday, would force federal agencies to subject proposed rules to an additional layer of scrutiny that has been decried has frivolous. “The current rulemaking process is already plagued with lengthy delays, undue influence by regulated industries, and convoluted court challenges,” officials from Public Citizen and the… Keep Reading

The US government put itself at odds with the National Football League in a case that will determine the fate of a franchise’s racist mascot. In a statement released on Friday, the Department of Justice said it would defend the constitutionality of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to repeal the Washington Redskins’ trademarks, which were found last year to be “disparaging to Native Americans at the time they were registered.” One of the trademarks struck down was the actual name of the organization,… Keep Reading

Reporters sparred with a State Department spokesperson on Friday, hoping to glean information about the agency’s final report on the Keystone XL pipeline, after a critical legal obstacle was lifted earlier in the day. The Nebraska Supreme Court tossed out a lawsuit challenging the pipeline project in a decision that upholds the route approved by the state’s governor. Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters following the ruling that department agencies must now “complete their consideration of whether the proposed project serves the national interest and provide… Keep Reading

As Democrats celebrated the latest positive press release, published Friday, about the economy, a Republican senator played killjoy by taking a closer look at jobs numbers. “It is good news that the unemployment rate has decreased to 5.6%,” Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said in the first of two tweets. “The bad news behind this statistic is that too many discouraged, working-age Americans are opting out of the job market,” he added. Indeed, while the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that unemployment fell by… Keep Reading

A full inspector general report published this week showed that The Federal Reserve Board of New York pushed back against oversight claims made last year about its supposed interagency “London Whale” failures. But one of the top Fed officials who defended the institution was aware of widespread problems her own examiners were encountering from their bosses by early 2012. Sarah Dahlgren, the regulator’s head of supervision, and Thomas Baxter, its general counsel, accused the inspector general of reading history backwards. The internal probe, which was first… Keep Reading

The President announced a new proposal Thursday that is, perhaps, the most progressive initiative of his administration. And if the fight over healthcare reform is any indication, it will draw the ire of Republicans in Congress, despite inspiration for the idea coming to the White House from a deeply red state. President Obama said that on Friday he will officially unveil a program that will give all Americans conditional free access to a two-year community college. “Put simply, what I’d like to do is see… Keep Reading

The Senate voted to renew the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) on Thursday afternoon, after shooting down an effort to scupper a deregulatory measure attached to the legislation. The bill passed the chamber by a vote of 93-4. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were the quartet to disapprove of the measure. Warren and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced an amendment that sought to strip a provision from the bill that prevents regulators from imposing collateral requirements on… Keep Reading

A congressman who has been called “Wall Street’s Favorite Democrat” said emotion and misperception are fueling his party’s opposition to financial deregulation, and accused Sen. Elizbaeth Warren (D-Mass.) of speaking about the issue in bad faith. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) lamented the level of scrutiny of big banks within his caucus and decried the failure of the House this week to delay, without debate, the implementation of a Dodd-Frank provision on risk. “There is a very strong movement out there, that any adjustment to Dodd-Frank of… Keep Reading

Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved legislation to force construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. It was marked-up in a 13 to 9 vote. All Republicans supported the measure. They were joined by a lone Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.). But before passage, the Committee had to address an amendment proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would compel Congress to agree that anthropogenic climate change isn’t a hoax. “This is the Energy Committee of the United States Congress, so we… Keep Reading

Details of a US-EU trade deal with “unprecedented public interest” were officially published Wednesday for the first time, but a European watchdog said that the revelations were insufficient, and that opacity at the behest of American officials could violate EU rules. European negotiating positions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) were revealed Wednesday by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. The documents covered EU proposals on competition, agricultural safety, certain trade barriers, small and medium-sized businesses and state-state dispute settlement tribunals. Malmström said, according to… Keep Reading

While many observers expect consumer interest rates to rise over the next few months, President Obama will make it easier this week for first-time homeowners to obtain mortgages. The White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said Wednesday that it will lower fees on federally-insured home loans by a half-point. The move, which will affect mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, is expected to save new borrowers about $900 on an annual basis, according to White House calculations. Sen. Barbara Boxer… Keep Reading