At a Capitol Hill press conference today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released a blockbuster four-volume report based on his two-year investigation of the for-profit college industry.
I’ve already discussed the findings of the report, which details how many of the big for-profit schools engage in fraudulent conduct, offer high-priced, low-quality programs, and leave many students deep in debt.
Harkin today said “the bottom line” is that the $32 billion that taxpayers provide each year to the for-profit college industry is “squandered.” Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) also stressed that enormous $32 billion figure (one quarter of all federal financial aid, and actually …
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a very powerful corporate front group that works with corporations to get bills passed in state legislatures — without the general public ever knowing that these bills are ALEC’s.
It has worked to do everything from pass “Shoot First” laws to suppress votes to give special tax favors to online companies. But the public has started to catch on, and dozens of corporations and organizations have ended their relationships with ALEC in recent months.
ALEC is currently holding a meeting in Utah. Utah State Senate president Michael Waddoups (R) defended the …
Two more major companies have joined the exodus of corporations, organizations, and politicians fleeing the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate front group responsible for pushing Stand Your Ground and voter ID laws in states across the country. Yesterday, General Motors and Walgreens confirmed that they will no longer continue their membership in ALEC, according to Common Cause. They join at least 25 other corporations in dumping ALEC, thanks in large part to pressure from activist groups.
Meanwhile, the organization had its 39th annual conference in Salt Lake City earlier this week, certainly a less festive event than in years past …
Washington Post: Money gap may not matter so much in November
Obama probably will be similarly outspent in the end, but given the near-parity in bank accounts on both sides, it won’t make much difference.
“Nobody’s going to win or lose this election on the basis of not having enough money,” said Bob Biersack, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. “Each of them is going to have around $700 [million to] $800 million available. The idea that that’s not enough is just bizarre.”
Roll Call: Judges Will Rule on Texas Voter ID
The war over …
The Atlantic: Big Campaign Spending: Government by the 1%
Here’s what we must come to see: America has lost the capacity to govern. On a wide range of critical issues — from global warming to tax reform, from effective financial regulation to real health-care change, from the deficit to defense spending — we have lost the capacity to do anything other than suffer through a miserable status quo. If there is a ship of state, its rudder has been lost. We are drifting. We can’t change course. And eventually, and with absolute certainty, in waters such as these, a drifting …
Today, five new companies have pledged to stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). They include John Deere, CVS Caremark, MillerCoors, HP, and Best Buy.
According to the activist group ColorOfChange:
“Over the last few weeks, we have closely followed the issues surrounding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and have heard from numerous stakeholders expressing their views,” said Larry Burton, CVS Caremark Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, in an email to ColorOfChange. “As a result, after careful consideration of the available information, CVS Caremark has discontinued its membership in ALEC.”
“We’ve not contributed to ALEC this year, nor do …
The nation’s major for-profit colleges show no sign that they are ready to accept the inevitable: that in a time of enormous budget pressures, they cannot continue to siphon off 32 billion dollars a year in federal student aid for high-priced, low-quality programs that often leave students without jobs and deep in debt. They show no sign of agreeing to reasonable rules that would bar deceptive marketing and recruiting and cut off aid to college programs that are failing students. Instead, the for-profit colleges continue to reserve a big chunk of their profits to relentless lobbying and lawyering …
In May, Republic Report approached Virginia Democratic Party chairman Brian Moran and asked him if there was a conflict of interest between his role in the party — advancing the goals of President Barack Obama — and his job as a for-profit college lobbyist for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), which has specialized in battling Obama’s attempts to hold the industry accountable to students and taxpayers.
He blew us off, saying that our reporting was “totally unfair” and that there was “absolutely not” any conflict between being chair of the Democratic Party and being a corporate …
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