Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Teamsters, Allies Voice Outrage at Attempts to Gut Truck Safety Laws
By Teamster Power Teamsters joined forces today with safety advocates, crash victims, and law enforcement allies for a press event on Capitol Hill to speak out against proposed rollbacks of major truck safety regulations. The event was held as the Appropriations Committee considers the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill for 2016, which […]
We Can Prevent Health Problems from Air Pollution by Strengthening Standards and Stopping Budget Cuts
By Ronald White, Director of Regulatory Policy, Center for Effective Government “My asthma is highly reactive to ozone. On days like this I can hardly walk across the room. My quality of life is trashed by ozone.” This is just one of hundreds of personal stories about the devastating health impacts of air pollution that […]
The Policy Failures Exposed by The New York Times’ Nail Salon Investigation
By David Cooper, Economic Analyst, Economic Policy Institute An eye-opening story published last week by The New York Times revealed how manicurists in New York’s booming nail salon industry are subject to brazen exploitation. Workers are exposed to dangerous chemicals, expected to work excessively long hours, subject to racial and ethnic discrimination and verbal abuse, […]
Arctic Folly
By Jonathon Berman, Sierra Club Yesterday, the Obama administration approved Shell Oil’s exploration plan to begin drilling in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea, despite common sense and science forewarning the potentially catastrophic outcome. In 2012, the world had a front-row seat to view how Shell would operate in the Arctic: the result was disastrous. Shell encountered […]
Charles Murray Wants Right Wing to Use Scientology Strategy in Legal War on U.S. Government
By Peter Montgomery, Senior Fellow, Right Wing Watch, People for the American Way Right-wing think tanker Charles Murray’s latest book is coming out this week, and it offers a plan “to make large chunks of the Federal Code of Regulations unenforceable.” In other words, he says, “I want to pour sugar into the regulatory state’s […]
A No-Brainer: Strengthen Air Quality Standards
By Javier Sierra, Columnist, Sierra Club Does your kid have learning problems? Does he have problems concentrating and he is easily distracted? Is he doing poorly in school? There can be a host of reasons for these problems. But a recent study is confirming the notion that pollution coming from fossil fuels, such as gasoline […]
Care Work is Real Work — And Must Be Compensated as Such
By Agata Pelka, Fellow, National Women’s Law Center Thursday morning, the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in Home Care Association of America vs. Weil, the Department of Labor’s appeal of a district court decision vacating central provisions of new regulations extending basic protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)—like minimum wage and overtime pay—to […]
A Strong Clean Power Plan Will Save Lives
By Sierra Club This year, the Obama Administration is finalizing the first ever safeguards to curb carbon pollution from existing power plants – The Clean Power Plan. The expected benefits range from extensive growth in the American clean energy economy to a huge step forward to tackle the climate crisis. And, according to a new […]
Why Warren Is Right and Obama Is Wrong on Fast Track’s Threat to Wall Street Reform
By Ben Beachy, Research Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen President Obama seems unaware that his controversial trade agenda could undermine the Wall Street reform agenda of his first administration. Fortunately, Senator Elizabeth Warren has been reminding him of this contradiction and the threat it poses to financial stability. Last week, in a speech about […]
DC Court Rejects Challenge to Use of Cellphones During Take-Off and Landing
By Allison Zieve, Director of Litigation, Public Citizen Ruling in a case brought by the nation’s largest flight attendant union, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled on Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration acted within its authority when it decided, in 2013, to allow airline passengers to use cellphone and other […]
The EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Setting the Record Straight on the Benefits and Costs
By John Rogers, Senior Energy Analyst, Union of Concerned Scientists We’re working hard to set the record straight on disinformation about the Clean Power Plan, the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act. It’s not hard to find fodder: there’s plenty of misleading stuff out there, and […]
Rule to Increase Overtime Threshold Advances
By Erick Sanchez, AFSCME The Department of Labor’s proposed rule increasing the salary threshold for overtime pay was sent to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The update to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations would mean increased pay for millions of workers in this country whose wages have stagnated. Long […]
Just What the Doctor Didn’t Order: More Media Consolidation
By Amy Kroin, Editor, Free Press Breathe in and breathe out, take a seat and brace yourself for a real shocker: The National Association of Broadcasters is once again supporting a plan to allow more media consolidation. The powerful lobbying group and trade association representing dominant industry players like the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the NAB […]
Americans for Financial Reform Response to American Action Forum Study on Costs of Dodd-Frank Act
By Marcus Stanley, Policy Director, Americans for Financial Reform | Download PDF The American Action Forum has released a study claiming that the Dodd-Frank Act will reduce total U.S. economic output by $895 billion between 2016 and 2025.(1) But the study has multiple significant flaws. These include: A failure to incorporate any of the benefits […]
Net Neutrality Rules Face Threats in Congress and the Courts
By Candace Clement, Internet Campaign Director, Free Press With a little over a month to go before the FCC’s historic Net Neutrality rules take effect, the cable and phone companies and their lobbyists are working every angle they can think of to destroy the open Internet. There are multiple efforts simmering in Congress to dismantle, […]
Notes from the Chemical Safety Board Public Meeting
By Carli Jensen, Toxics Program Coordinator, U.S. PIRG Yesterday, I attended a public meeting of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, or “CSB,” and this meeting couldn’t have come at a better time. The EPA has announced that they will begin working on a rule to make dangerous chemical facilities safer this September, but they will […]
Protecting Our Drinking Water Sources
By Karen Hobbs, Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council Sometime within the next month, your Senator and Representative will likely have to vote on whether to block an important initiative aimed at protecting the drinking water sources for 1 in 3 Americans. Do you know which way your elected official will vote? Now’s the […]
A Dirty Dozen: Twelve Reasons to Reject New Anti-Clean Water Legislation
By Jon Devine, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council Recently, a number of Senators, led by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), introduced a bill to kill the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers’ Clean Water Rule, a commonsense initiative to restore protections against pollution that once existed for a variety of small, seasonal, and […]
Added Sugar on the Nutrition Facts Label: Public Comments to the FDA Show Big Food Is Sour on Science
By Deborah Bailin, Democracy Analyst, Center for Science & Democracy, Union of Concerned Scientists In new research UCS released this week, an analysis of comments submitted to the FDA on its proposed rule to label added sugar shows a stark difference between supporters and opponents. Comments supporting the proposed rule—a majority of the total comments—came […]
Reid is Slowing Down Fast Track in the Senate
By Teamster Power, Teamsters Corporate elites everywhere received some bad news last night when Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced he would not allow the chamber to move forward with consideration of fast track trade legislation until other more time-sensitive measures are dealt with by lawmakers. Reid, a strong opponent of fast track, said […]