Apparently a day is all it took. We reported Tuesday that, although a variety of financial reform advocates believe the new Senate reform package lacks needed teeth, they stopped short of declaring outright opposition to the bill. There appeared to be a sense that provisions — particularly those placing a new consumer-protection agency within the Federal Reserve – could be changed. On Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont stepped up and announced that he would do just that. A...
Monthly Archives: March 2010
House Approps Chairman Asks, ‘Why On Earth Wouldn’t Americans Be So Angry?’
Rep. David Obey has made no secret of his skepticism of President Obama’s direction in Afghanistan. But when it comes to Obama’s economic policies, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday leaped to the president’s defense. In fact, the veteran Wisconsin Democrat opened a hearing on the federal budget and broader economic outlook for fiscal year 2011 offering not only full-throated support for Obama’s stimulus and job-creation programs, but dispensing a wider broadside against earlier conservative economic...
Reform Advocates Believe Sen. Chris Dodd’s Bill Has No Teeth, But That Can Be Fixed
Supporters of financial reform are, as expected, panning Sen. Chris Dodd’s legislation for submerging a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) within the Federal Reserve. But there also seems to be a sense that that can be changed before the bill becomes law. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd unveiled his reform legislation Monday, after talks with Republicans broke down. The Connecticut Democrat, who is retiring from Congress this year, included a provision as called for by...
Think Tank Adds Firepower To Democrats’ Emerging Plan To Reform ‘Abused’ Filibuster
A liberal Washington think tank is throwing its weight behind a nascent plan among Democrats to reform the escalating use of the filibuster to block an ever-increasing amount of legislation in the Senate. Top Senate Democrats last week began to lay groundwork to change the way the filibuster works after Senate Republicans turned what was once a rarely used maneuver into a routine tool to block Democrats at nearly every turn. GOP senators have used a threat of filibuster...
Pa. Dem Wants Dodd To Add Foreclosure Prevention Plan To Financial Reform Bill
A Democratic House member from Pennsylvania is asking the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee to add the Pennsylvanian’s foreclosure prevention plan to the Senate version of financial oversight reform. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) asked Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to add an emergency mortgage assistance program to the financial reform plan that Dodd unveiled Monday. Fattah’s program passed as part of the House version of financial reform approved in December. Fattah says his program is based on a successful...
SHAMELESS: DA Refuses to Prosecute Animal Cruelty Case; Pennsylvania Only State to Permit Live Pigeon Shoots
A Pennsylvania district attorney took campaign funds from an organization which promotes killing live pigeons in contests, and then refused to allow the prosecution of animal cruelty charges against a gun club that hosts pigeon shooting contests. DA John T. Adams of Berks County accepted $500 campaign contributions from the Flyers Victory Fund in August 2008 and August 2009, according to campaign finance reports issued by both the Pennsylvania Department of State and the Berks County Registrar of Voters....
Once More With Feeling: Advocates Press Nancy Pelosi On Including A Healthcare Public Option
It’s been declared dead before, only to be resurrected — and Democracy for America (DFA) hopes to pull that rabbit out of a hat one more time. The progressive advocacy organization is rallying supporters to push House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include a provision for a healthcare public option in the final bill lawmakers approve and send on to the Senate. Pelosi had been one of the strongest advocates for inclusion of a public option but last week indicated...
It’s Almost At The Finish Line, But Amnesty International Says Health Reform Will Do Nothing For Deadly Maternal Risk
Just as President Obama and congressional Democrats could nearly see a day in sight where healthcare reform would become law, their year-long struggle hit another pothole as the legislation came under fire from a global human rights group. Amnesty International’s report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, urges action to tackle a crisis that sees between two and three women die every day during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States. A total of 1.7...
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