Today, private organizations charge U.S. citizens hundreds of dollars simply to read a copy of standards they issue, standards that regulate things like gas pipeline safety, crane usage, and toy manufacturing — even though citizens are required to obey those standards, because the federal government has incorporated them into regulations.  This adds up to tens
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National Journal has obtained an e-mail sent from Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) staffer David Banks to two dozen oil lobbyists where he asks for more support from the industry on policy. Here’s the crucial passage: Moving forward, we—your partners—would kindly ask for better coordination and communication from you to prevent the Obama administration from pulling
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Maryland is home to 296 million broiler chickens. That many chickens means just one thing — lots of chicken manure, some of which is used to fertilize fields. According to a Waterkeepers study reported on by Grist, “billions of pounds of chicken litter have flowed into the bay in the decades since international poultry conglomerates
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The United States is the only developed nation that does not require employers to give their employees paid sick leave. For many Americans, that means choosing between their pay and their health — a devil’s choice if there ever was one. Philadelphia’s Claudia Rendon had to face that choice late last year. She was fired
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Today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on House Resolution 568. At first glance, the bill seems to be fairly routine, in that it says it is to express “the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the importance of preventing the Government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.” But dig a
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By now, most Americans realize that Big Money is a powerful force in American politics. Members of Congress often shy away from regulating an industry that showers them with campaign donations. Members will rush to vote for massive subsidies and giveaways to big donors. One senator who has been mostly unmoved by the presence of this
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Bad actors in the for-profit education industry — leading for-profit colleges, private charter schools, and other education profiteers — are accelerating a profitable scam: online education. As my colleague Lee Fang documented in a cover story for The Nation last year, these “online learning” companies have infiltrated American schools, extracting millions of dollars for software
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In March, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) led members from both parties in introducing legislation to delay the implementation of the Volcker Rule, a new regulation to limit risky trading by big banks. He was joined by Pat Toomey (R-PA), one of the biggest proponents of financial deregulation in the Senate. The legislation may come back
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