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Tag Archives: Congress
Is your member of Congress afraid of Regulatory agencies
j
ust another rant …
What we need are MORE Regulatory agencies doing their jobs … period
If you hear the noise, the fear mongering coming from Teapublicans you might want to laugh first, tilt your head to the side then furrow your brow and ask where were you when the reports came in that we were losing 750,000 jobs month after month, that several financial institutions crashed due to some big time corruption.
Unfortunately, knowing job creators are sitting on trillions of dollars due to what they call “excessive regulation” and “uncertainty” in a time when lack of it created our financial crisis is quite offensive as some Americans continue to lose homes, jobs and health care. The fact is that members of Congress actually needs to invest in their fellow Americans. It is not lost on me that Teapublican members of Congress have conveniently forgotten about the Bush agency parties, drilling permits approved of with tankers that probably were just on the edge of being technically safe. How remarkable is it to hear the current nonsense about the Keystone XL pipeline after all that happened and was exposed during the BP spill is a lesson in what members of Congress will do say and push when their personal investments are involved. It is obvious they have forgotten what led up to the Massey Mine disaster as well.
Fact is, there are things that need strict guidelines, most parents want Clean Air, Clean Water and not only affordable health care but some of us would actually pay a smidge more to make sure that food, flights and anything else that seems too big to handle for an individual can be by the Government and not privatized. If Teapublicans believe privatization is the only way to create more jobs remember; that it also means your cost for services may go up which folks are complaining about now … right; an increase in insurance premiums could be just a start. I like having firefighters, cleared roads, police, the EPA and FEMA and most thing it is worth paying the Government to act for everyone, not just a select few. I will not forget the man who failed to pay his protection fee which resulted in his house burning down; that is what privatization does. I expect the Government to be our children’s watchdog for their health, our future and corrupt regulators need not apply. While the Heritage Foundation is the Teapublicans training ground with quite different attitude about regulations, it is my contention that the Heritage Foundation opinion should not be driving what Republicans in Congress say do or vote.
Yet, folks and organizations like the Grover Norquist’s and the Heritage Foundation just do not understand that they only represent a small percentage of voters and after having read the article it definitely sounded like the Heritage Foundation would love to go around the voter if they could. I find it almost amusing to read how conservative groups rationalize their feelings about regulations. The Heritage Foundation subscribes to wanting a new society. That should scare us all. Then again, it just sheds light on how out of touch the Heritage group is and if this is the meme being pushed on members of Congress who are not only supposed to be working for the People paid by “We the People”, it is truly a sad example of what being a member of Congress means.
I totally get Capitalism. We all strive to be self-sufficient. I just happen to believe it should be with a lower case c, which includes small businesses, and those who aspire to get ahead not just or only for big Corporations who more often than not seem to send opportunities and jobs overseas to avoid regulations .
The featured picture Is called “Faces” taken from the National Museum of African American History and Culture article
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$1,500
Compromise Set to Lower Student Loan Interest Rates
Student loan rates for undergraduates doubled on July 1 from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, threatening to further increase college costs for millions of already-strained students.
Fortunately, a bipartisan deal has emerged in the Senate that looks set to lower interest rates before students head back to campus. Here are the main elements of this compromise:
- It immediately and significantly lowers interest rates, giving students the certainty they need to make borrowing decisions.
- It ties student loan interest rates to the market, allowing students to immediately take advantage of today’s low rates.
- It caps overall rates to help protect students from interest rate increases in the years to come.
- It sets the interest rate at a fixed rate for the entire life of the loan in contrast to a GOP proposal that would’ve allowed the rate to change every single year the loan remained outstanding.
You can find out more details about this plan and why it matters HERE.
This can all be a little confusing, but the immediate impact is pretty simple. Here’s what will happen as soon as this compromise becomes law:
BOTTOM LINE: 11 MILLION students will save an average of $1,500 as a result of the student loan compromise the Senate is going to vote on tomorrow. Young people need Congress to act right away to pass this deal.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
Virginia governor apologizes for involvement in scandal, repays loans from donor he had insisted were not improper.
The FDA made a sweetheart deal that will limit access to cheaper emergency contraception.
North Carolina legislature considering the nation’s worst voter suppression law.
The Supreme Court’s recent marriage equality ruling is already having a big impact.
Internal doc reveals House GOP’s strategy for successful public events: plant questions.
The latest shocking anti-immigrant comment made by a House Republican.
Senator slams domestic spying: “Secret law has no place in America.”
Does an emerging governing coalition spell doom for House conservatives?
Three legal obstacles that may prevent bankruptcy from slashing the pensions of Detroit workers.
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Repeal This!
Speaker Boehner’s Do-Nothing Congress
It’s simply an objective fact that this Congress is on track to be the least productive in modern history, owing largely to the inability or unwillingness of Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to move almost even the most basic legislation through the House of Representatives. That’s right, the Senate is a font of bipartisan comity and productivity compared to the do-nothing House.
Asked about this yesterday on Face the Nation, Speaker Boehner offered up this thoroughly ridiculous defense of Congress’ historically unproductive session:
We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. We’ve got more laws than the administration could ever enforce.
Even by Boehner’s own bizarre standard, Congress has still been spectacularly ineffective. House Republicans have not successfully repealed Obamacare or Wall Street reform, but they have wasted millions of dollars and weeks of time trying — and failing — to do so. As MSNBC’s Steve Benen noted, “In other words, by Boehner’s own standards for evaluating Congress on the merits, he’s failing.”
All that said, we’ll take the Speaker at his word. With that in mind, here’s some things we’d love for him to get to repealing as soon as possible:
- The Defense of Marriage Act: While the Supreme Court threw out the part of DOMA that prohibited the federal government from recognizing legally valid same-sex marriages, the part that allows states to refuse to do so is still on the books. Congress should get rid of that part too.
- Giveaways to Big Oil: Oil prices are once again creeping up, which is a good reminder that oil companies don’t need billions of dollars a year in giveaways from taxpayers. Some of these giveaways have been on the books for a century, so they definitely seem ripe for repeal at a time of sky-high oil prices and Big Oil profits to go along with them.
- Restrictions on Abortion in the District of Columbia: Unable to impose their will on the nation, Republicans have used Congress’ enduring control over the affairs of the District of Columbia’s more than 600,000 disenfranchised residents to advance various pet causes. One of them has been to forbid the District from using funds generated by the taxpayers of the District themselves (i.e local, not federal funds) to pay for abortions for low-income women.
- Giveaways to Hedge Fund and Private Equity Managers: The so-called “carried interest” loophole is the one that allows hedge fund and private equity managers — and hedge fund and private equity managers alone — to avoid paying their fair share in taxes on billions in income by erroneously classifying ordinary income as investment income. It has no economic justification and allows people like Mitt Romney to get away with paying a lower tax rate than many middle class workers.
- Restrictions on Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention Measures: Similar to the aforementioned restrictions on abortion in Washington, D.C., Congress has also seen fit to put numerous restrictions on the ability of the federal government to take commonsense steps to reduce gun violence. These NRA-backed “riders” in annual appropriations bills, including those preventing even basic public health research on gun violence and measures meant to reduce gun trafficking, should be repealed instead of being extended for yet another year.
We could go on. In fact, there’s nearly $1 TRILLION in wasteful and unnecessary giveaways in the tax code alone that Congress could repeal today. Boehner also said yesterday that his top priority is repairing the nation’s finances. If reducing the deficit and repealing things are his top priorities, these giveaways would seem to be a good place for Boehner to start.
BOTTOM LINE: Any way you slice it, Congress is historically unproductive and historically unpopular. Instead of finding up-is-down, black-is-white excuses, Speaker Boehner should start allowing the House of Representatives — the whole House, not just the Republican caucus — to work its will and accomplish something for the American people. If Speaker Boehner is unable or unwilling to lead on issues like immigration reform with a pathway to earned citizenship, he can at least get out of the way.
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Meals for Seniors and Head Start ~~~ End the Sequester
Tonight, chances are a senior in your community will go to bed hungry.
Be a Seed for Change 
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