Wall Street finally peeled off enough Senate Democrats to get major rollbacks of financial regulation one step closer to becoming law on Wednesday, when the Senate passed a bill to exempt dozens of banks from the Dodd-Frank reform law. But now it seems one key House Republican who’s pushed the industry’s wish list for years might, bizarrely, end up standing in the way.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX), a longtime advocate for the most radical category of deregulatory policies po...
Month: March 2018
Nebraska is mere steps away from defunding Planned Parenthood
The funding for Planned Parenthood’s Lincoln South Health Center, a clinic where Brooke Thomas gets birth control shots every three months to deal with excruciating pain, is at risk. The Nebraska Legislature advanced a budget bill Tuesday evening that includes language that would deny Planned Parenthood and other local family planning clinics public funds. In a 38-6 vote, lawmakers voted to block federal Title X funding to clinics that perform, counsel, or refer abortion services.
Trump’s new economic adviser is really bad at economics. Here are the receipts.
Larry Kudlow is President Donald Trump’s choice to replace Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council (NEC). Cohn spent over 25 years at Goldman Sachs, and was president and COO for ten years before he joined the Trump administration. Past NEC directors have had law degrees from Yale or Harvard or Cornell, MBAs from Harvard or Wharton (not a bachelor’s with an economics major like the president), a Ph. D in economics from Harvard or MIT, decades of business experien...
Health care is a top priority for the Pennsylvania voters who turned out for Conor Lamb
While many Republican strategists and conservative pundits struggled to make sense of how a Democrat could have been so successful in Pennsylvania’s 18th district on Tuesday, voters sent a clear message: Health care is a priority.
Election night exit polling by Public Policy Polling found that among PA-18 voters who said health care was the most important issue, Democrat Conor Lamb beat Republican Rick Saccone by a margin of 64 to 36. Saccone’s support of the Republican health care ...
Virginia Republicans Divided On Medicaid Expansion
Medicaid expansion is a real possibility in Virginia this year. The matter will be taken in up in a special session after lawmakers failed to agree on whether or not to do it in the regular session.
(Image credit: Craig Carper /WCVE)
Lawmakers question whether Ryan Zinke illegally mixed politics with official government travel
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s visit to a small town south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, less than three weeks before a special election, is drawing scrutiny to determine whether the official trip was really an opportunity to throw his support behind the Republican hoping to fill the open congressional seat.
Several politicians were on hand for the February event in East Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, reportedly organized to announce how much funding Pennsylvania will receive in abandoned...
The Health 202: Republicans could lower Obamacare premiums. But will they?
The next spending bill fight is coming.
Norfolk Islanders go to UN to fight Australia over right to self-govern
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson launches legal challenge on behalf of islanders, who say they are a distinct ethnic group
The international human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has launched a legal challenge with the United Nations on behalf of Norfolk Islanders, alleging the Australian government has placed islander’s culture and language at risk by revoking their right to self-govern.
The island – roughly halfway between Australia and New Zealand – had been governed by its legislative assembly since 1979, until the Australian government’s decision in 2015 to revoke its autonomy. Australian federal and state laws are now enforced and islanders are now entitled to Medicare and other government services. Travelling between the island and Australia no longer requires a passport.
Continue reading...