The Senate today will vote on a Republican measure limiting the president’s authority to set national monuments and a Democratic proposal to set national energy efficiency standards, as the chamber tries to finish work on a bipartisan energy package by week’s end. Senators will vote this afternoon on an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)…
Tag: legislation
Democrats offer bill to curb Big Oil’s tax benefits | Reuters
Senate Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill to eliminate billions of dollars in tax benefits enjoyed by big oil and gas companies, one day after President Barack Obama renewed his call for plugging tax loopholes in his State of the Union address. Obama and fellow Democrats for years have targeted oil and gas tax breaks,…
This Congress could be least productive since 1947
In 2011, after Republicans took control of the U.S. House, Congress passed just 90 bills into law. The only other year in which Congress failed to pass at least 125 laws was 1995. These statistics make the 112th Congress, covering 2011-12, the least productive two-year gathering on Capitol Hill since the end of World War…
Republican Jobs Bills Won’t Actually Create Jobs, Say Economists
The GOP jobs package, which currently includes 32 bills, represents Republicans’ hallmark legislative accomplishment over the past two years. In the months ahead of the election, they will lean on it as proof of two things: that they are not the do-nothing obstructionists that Democrats paint them as, and that they are working hard to…
ALEC to Right-Wing Bloggers: We Need Your Help!
As PR Watch reported, Caitlyn Korb, ALEC’s director of external relations, told attendees at a Heritage Foundation “Bloggers Briefing” on Tuesday that the campaign against ALEC was “part of a wider effort to shut all of us down.” She asked the bloggers for “any and all institutional support” in ALEC’s fight against progressive groups, especially…
Cantor’s ‘Small Business’ Bill is a $46 Billion Loophole for the Rich
The U.S. House of Representatives early next week will hold a vote on H.R. 9, a bill introduced by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to provide a one-year, 20 percent tax deduction for business income. The Cantor bill is sadly just another tax windfall for the rich, financed by larger federal budget deficits, which largely…
Mars Inc. Says Adios to ALEC
Mars Inc., the company that makes everything from Skittles to M&M’s to Uncle Ben’s, has joined McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and a half-dozen other companies in quitting the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, as it’s known, is a corporate-funded non-profit that writes pro-business and often anti-union draft legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their legislatures. ALEC…
Kansas Abortion Bill: Risks Lives, Governor Hasn’t Read It, But Promises To Sign It
Brownback, speaking to The Huffington Post Monday following the National Governors Association meeting, said that while he has not read the 69-page bill, he is likely to sign the proposal since he opposes abortion rights. Brownback, a former U.S. senator, has signed several anti-abortion bills since he took office last year. “I am pro-life,” Brownback…
Citizens United Going Down? Democrats Introduce Constitutional Amendment To Overturn Ruling
The Supreme Court may treat corporations like people who can spend whatever they want on elections, but the American people dont have to accept it, said Democratic senators who proposed a constitutional amendment Tuesday to retake control of campaign spending.The amendment, introduced by Sen. Tom Udall D-N.M., doesnt directly address the justices legal…