When you’re a lobbyist, you’ve got to find all sorts of ways to influence Congress. Last Thursday, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) found a quirky way to lobby about the benefits of chlorine — hold an ice cream social in the Rayburn House Office Building by the U.S. Capitol. We were there. Because Congress was officially
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Today, Bank of America held its annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. As hundreds protested the bank’s heavy-handed political giving outside, a group of shareholders inside voted on various resolutions. Charlotte Observer business reporter Andrew Dunn notes that all shareholder resolutions failed. But a resolution calling on the company to disclose more about its
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The words “foreign aid” conjure up images of American tax dollars being sent overseas to populations far away from our shores. Critics of foreign aid see this as a transfer of taxpayer money to non-Americans. Supporters see it as a way for America to support struggling people in developing nations, promote our values, and protect
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In America’s schools, the barrage of standardized testing kids have come under is overwhelming. From the Iowa Test of Basic Standards (ITBS) to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the alphabet soup of bubble-in tests that fill our schools is provoking a backlash from educators and parents who think kids are over-tested and denied
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Last week, President Obama made headlines when he signed an executive order designed to protect U.S. troops, veterans, and their families from the predatory abuses of some for-profit colleges. The executive order takes aim at some deceptive recruiting practices by these colleges — which soak up taxpayer dollars with little accountability — and requires them
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Today is May Day, a global day of celebrations in favor of workers’ rights — and the day that labor unions in the United States marked as their day of action to win an eight-hour workday. Yet as American unions and Occupy activists take to the streets to celebrate our hard-fought rights, it’s important to
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Republic Report has learned that the Washington Post Company’s Kaplan for-profit college division, was, last year, a member of the controversial business advocacy group the American Legislative Exchange Council. Other major for-profit education companies also joined ALEC. Republic Report has obtained a July 2011 document showing Kaplan Higher Education and other for-profits as members of
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Last night, Hilary Rosen shockingly claimed that Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, “actually never worked a day in her life,” referring to Romney’s role as a stay-at-home mom. Watch her remarks: Rosen’s remarks have set off a firestorm in the media. As press outlets rushed to cover the controversy, they frequently referred to her as
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