Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
Injury Prevention Policy: All Levels of Government Must Do More to Keep People Safe
by Laura Segal, Director of Public Affairs, Trust for America’s Health It’s common sense, right? If you want to avoid injuries, you wear seatbelts and helmets, use proper child safety seats and undertake other means that you know prevent injuries. While individuals are responsible for taking steps to stay safe and protect themselves and their families […]
Crashing the USDA’s 150th Birthday Party
By Walker Foley, Food and Water Watch “On behalf of the department, we’re delighted to share our 150 years as part of this Folklife Festival. 150 years. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s our birthday.” That was USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan as she welcomed onlookers to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall […]
Overtime Rules Help the Economy
By Catherine Ruckelshaus, Legal Co-Director, National Employment Law Project Big drug companies’ salespeople don’t usually inspire much sympathy for being overworked or exploited. But last week’s Supreme Court decision in Christopher v. GlaxoSmithKline was a reminder that even pharmaceutical sales representatives, who brought a case for working 60-odd hours a week without being paid overtime, […]
Free Trade and Regulation: Making Both Better
by Edward Alden Freer trade and effective government regulation have been seen by many critics as antithetical. In “Better Regulation for Freer Trade”, a Policy Innovation Memorandum released today by the Renewing America initiative, Thomas J. Bollyky argues that this is a false choice. Opponents of new trade rules warn that giving governments, or worse […]
Congressional Field Hearing Yields Real Small Business Issues
by The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce South Carolina Congressman Mick Mulvaney held a field hearing in Rock Hill, SC, yesterday titled “Caught Up in Red Tape: The Impact of Federal Regulations on Small Businesses and Contractors”. Mr. Mulvaney is the Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce. I wasn’t able to […]
Jamie Dimon and the Anniversary of Glass-Steagall
by Wallace Turbeville Jamie Dimon’s testimony yesterday before the Senate Banking Committee — the week of the anniversary of the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933 — is ironic, to say the least. He objected to the Volcker Rule’s prohibitions against proprietary trading by federally insured banks (acting like hedge funds, in the words of […]
Home Care Workers Deserve Protections
By Catherine Ruckelshaus, Special to CNN Editor’s note: Catherine Ruckelshaus is legal co-director at the National Employment Law Project. She is a co-author of the report, “Fair Pay for Home Care Workers.” (CNN) — Five years ago Monday, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to a hardworking woman from Queens, New York. Evelyn Coke, […]
How to Save a Trillion Dollars
by Peter Lehner According to the latest forecast from Weather Channel meteorologists, most of the country is in for a hot summer this year. This is more than a matter of personal discomfort. It also means skyrocketing energy bills, lost work days due to air pollution, and possibly heat-related deaths. As global warming continues unchecked, […]
Tell Jamie Dimon: “Leave the Fed” and Other Bank News
by Ed Mierzwinski JP Morgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon (photo) has been one of the leading opponents of strong bank regulations but still sits on the board of one of his bank’s chief regulators– the New York Fed — despite his bank’s recent gambling losses which probably would have been limited by a strong Volcker […]
Groups to FDA: Get Toxic Chemicals Away From Drugs and Biological Products
By: Christine Hines Public Citizen recently joined with other consumer and patient groups in a letter urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban phthalates from drugs and biologic products. Phthalates are a family of chemicals known as “plasticizers” that are used in consumer and pharmaceutical products. For example, they are used to soften […]
GE Mosquitoes and Salmon Show the Need for Better Regulation
By Prashanth Kamalakanthan There’s been a lot of news lately about risky genetically engineered animals in the queue for federal review. British biotechnology firm Oxitec continues to pursue permission to release its genetically engineered mosquitoes into the Florida Keys in what would be the first release of these engineered bugs into the wild in the […]
Center for Public Integrity Makes a Strong Case for More Regulation and Better Enforcement
By Ross Eisenbrey Business groups and conservatives constantly attack the federal government for overregulating. They claim that businesses are “drowning in a sea of regulations” and that job creation and profitability are being sacrificed in favor of a nanny state. Workplace safety rules, in particular, have been a favorite target of the Chamber of Commerce […]
Crystal Clear and Beautiful, but Endangered
By Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers Today is Crystal River Day! The Crystal River appeared as #8 on American Rivers’ 2012 list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers. Today we are talking about ways to help the Crystal River in order to give it a boost on the road to Wild and Scenic River designation. The Crystal […]
Regulation Reporting Malpractice Continues: Newspapers Increase Use of “Job-Killing Regulation” Language by 17,550%
ET by Oliver Willis A new study from NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity found that usage of the phrase “job-killing regulation” in newspapers has increased 17,550% between 2007 and 2011. The Institute’s executive director, Michael A. Livermore, notes: Claims that regulations have a significant impact on American employment call for careful scrutiny. Because they are […]
Dirty Secrets Behind the Campaign to Poison Your Air
By John Walke, Clean Air Director/Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council Sometimes a moment captures dirty, squirming truths like a rat trap. That happened last week in the Senate. The Senate’s clean air subcommittee convened a hearing on EPA’s mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants that burn coal and oil. […]
Why Women Need a Buffett Rule
On Monday, the Senate is set to vote on whether to begin debate on the Paying a Fair Share Act (S. 2232) sponsored by Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI). By requiring that all households with incomes above $1 million pay at least a 30 percent tax rate (with a phase-in for incomes between $1 million and $2 […]
Letting the Fox Guard the Henhouse — Literally
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) made the front page of The New York Times this week for its proposal to change the way chickens and other poultry are inspected in processing plants before they are sent to supermarkets and butcher shops all across the country. In January, the […]
Yet Another Way NOT to Decrease Gas Prices
Here is a list of things that have a direct impact on current gas prices: oil speculation; increased tensions with, and sanctions on, oil-producing nations like Iran; and high levels of global demand due to economic growth and increased consumption among developing nations. Here is a list of things that do not have an impact […]
CBO: Republicans and Right-Wing Media Spreading Falsehoods on ACA Costs
If you only got your news from the right-wing media, you might think the Congressional Budget Office’s report last week on the Affordable Care Act meant that the bill cost more than it was originally expected to — a lot more. But the fact is, and as Talking Points Memo pointed out last week, the […]
Report to Congress Confirms Large Benefits, Modest Costs of New EPA Rules
The Office of Management and Budget just posted a draft of its annual report to Congress on the benefits and costs of federal regulations. This official documentation of all major regulations reviewed by OMB includes an individual listing of the benefits and costs of all such rules finalized by the Obama administration through Sept. 30, […]