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The chief House Republican overseeing the banking industry is trying to tack on nearly thirty additional bills to the deregulatory package that just passed the Senate with the help of centrist Democrats. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) on Wednesday applauded the upper chamber’s approval of legislation paring back the framework enacted in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Act. Parts of the proposal will relax rules on some of the country’s largest banks. “I look forward to combining them with our helpful House bipartisan banking bills and getting…

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The US Department of Agriculture announced Monday it would rescind a regulation aimed at improving animal conditions at certain slaughterhouses. In an announcement to be published in the Federal Register, the department claimed the rule exceeded its statutory authority. The regulation would have affected participants in the National Organic Program, requiring them to take a number of steps to improve the well-being of poultry and livestock. In order to keep their organic certification, the rule stipulated that producers must ensure chickens have free movement within…

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Last minute changes to the Senate’s financial deregulation bill could expose sensitive private information to additional malefactors, while weakening remedies for those harmed by negligent cybersecurity practices. “Corrections” to the legislation offered late Wednesday evening by co-sponsors include language that would forbid Americans from suing bungling credit reporting agencies like Equifax, according to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.) The eleventh hour amendments would also permit “credit card companies to tap the Social Security Administration database to verify identities,” Brown said late Thursday morning. “There hasn’t been…

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Congress is set to consider a long-term spending measure next week, and the Democrats’ leader in the House offered up disappointing news about the process to Dreamers and gun reform advocates. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that her caucus would not insist on a DACA fix or new gun control measures as part of the omnibus spending bill coming down the pike. The government runs out of money again on March 23, providing Democrats with leverage to demand Dreamer…

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The National Labor Relations Board must continue pursuing litigation against McDonald’s under an Obama-era standard now that the standard has been restored, Democratic lawmakers said on Tuesday. In January, Trump’s Board had obtained a delay in the lawsuit against the fast food giant after rolling back the 2015 joint-employer rule—a regulation that made corporations responsible for “indirect control” exerted over franchise labor practices. The case used as a vehicle to annul the rule, Hy-Brand, was vacated by the Board last month. T he NLRB Inspector General…

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Legislation that would relax major post-financial crisis banking regulations moved one step closer to clearing the Senate and becoming law. The upper chamber voted on Tuesday 67-32 to limit debate on the bill, setting the stage for its final passage later this week. Sixteen Democrats backed the motion to advance the legislation; twelve of them are cosponsors. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered no criticism of the bill, in his regular morning remarks on Tuesday, just fifteen minutes before the vote. Every single Republican…

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After President Trump’s first tumultuous thirteen months in office, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) looks set to finally have a major confrontation with the White House. Ryan issued a statement on Monday critical of Trump’s decision to propose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, in objections that yielded public indifference from the President. “No, we’re not backing down,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter to respond to Ryan’s criticism of the plan. Staffers for Ryan had said they “are extremely worried about the consequences…

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