For an estimated 4 million people, including about 210,000 schoolchildren, the farm bill the House is scheduled to start debating today could mean they will be going hungry a lot more often. That has promoted organizations such as Half in 10 and the Food Research and Action Center to organize a National Call-In Day to [...]
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The Senate is on the verge of preventing an initial filibuster of the bipartisan immigration reform bill, with several Republican votes in support of proceeding. Despite all the trumped up “scandals,” the Republican Party shows little interest in derailing the top item on the President’s second-term agenda. The path to final passage is still tricky, [...]
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Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, argued that “trade policy needs to adapt to global challenges” and “trade done right creates prosperity for the middle class” during a speech on the “Competitive Agenda for a Global Economy” at the Center for American Progress on Friday. Brown urged that now with goods and services trade accounting for nearly [...]
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The Senate on Thursday, in a real sense, filibustered the future. A Republican minority set themselves up as a roadblock against college students struggling to pay for their education and establish financial stability. A narrow, 51-vote majority in the Senate supported legislation that would have kept student loan rates from increasing above 3.4 percent for [...]
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Marcus Hedger was wrongly fired. That’s what the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined. Despite that, Mr. Hedger lost his Antioch, Ill., home. His case got mired in allegations that the board that heard it was illegitimate. Similarly, West Virginia’s Cannelton miners wrongly lost their jobs. The NLRB said so twice. But quarrels over NLRB [...]
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On a call this morning to discuss the continuing obstruction of … everything … by Senate Republicans, Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen asked Senate Democrats to change the rules to at least get nominees to the floor for a vote. It may be Republicans who are obstructing, but Democrats have the power [...]
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MORNING MESSAGE: Apple: Bad Model for “Tax Reform.” California, New Tax Thinkers, Chart a Better Way. OurFuture.org’s Roger Hickey: “In testimony last week Apple CEO Timothy Cook proudly described the ingenious ways in which Apple tax attorneys have gamed the U.S. tax system … Cook also laid out a plan for ‘reform’ of corporate taxes [...]
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MORNING MESSAGE: Apple Pie is American, But Apple Computer Isn’t OurFuture.org’s Richard Eskow: “We should treat Apple and other formerly American multinationals as neutral entities with whom we can cooperate at times for our mutual benefit. We should encourage them to invest in the United States and hire American workers, as we do with other [...]
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The Senate is getting ready to vote on five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They should confirm the whole package and get the NLRB functioning again. They are also voting on several other nominees from judges to cabinet positions. If Republicans filibuster to obstruct these, it is time to fix the filibuster. [...]
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The Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote Thursday on President Obama’s nomination of Thomas Perez, currently head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, to head the Department of Labor. There are a majority of Democrats on this committee, so Republicans will not be able to obstruct this nomination from making it [...]
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