Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
End Corporate Welfare for Oil Companies
President Obama has identified over $4.7 billion that the oil and gas industry should pay under standard tax rules this year but that will remain in company coffers because the industry receives preferential treatment in the code. This special treatment gives oil and gas companies advantages that most other companies, individuals, and families don’t receive, […]
A Jobs Bill in Substance or Acronym Only?
The House of Representatives passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act in overwhelming bipartisan fashion (390-23). The JOBS Act is a package of six bills, four of which had already passed the House, and all of which would lift or relax Securities and Exchange Commission rules. The bill is intended to make it easier […]
Super-Pac Tuesday
Ten states are holding primaries and caucuses today, earning March 6th the title of “Super Tuesday.” Participants will show up, cast their vote, and hopefully feel good for participating in the democratic process and fulfilling their civic duty. But thanks to Citizens United, and the Super PACs that flawed decision gave rise to, the voters […]
Nuclear Safety Deferred: U.S. Reactors One Year After Fukushima
In the days that followed the 2011 Great Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami, news outlets around the globe followed the unfolding catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant with what seemed like minute-by-minute coverage. The world witnessed the Japanese rescue workers struggling to keep the plant’s nuclear cores from overheating and melting. We saw graphic […]
In Virginia, the Emperor Has No Clothes
The Virginia Supreme Court rebuffed Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s attempts to access the personal correspondence of climate scientists at Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia. The court’s ruling found that the university does not constitute a “person” and is therefore not subject to the Civil Investigative Demands—essentially subpoenas—issued by the attorney general under the Virginia […]
EPA to Congress: Low-Sulfur Gas Would Cost Only a Penny a Gallon
Here is a letter to Congress from the US EPA clarifying the the scope and cost of gasoline changes related to the so-called Tier 3 clean-car program under consideration. This ought to put to rest the oil industry charges that EPA is planning to do more than just reduce sulfur in gasoline levels, and that […]
Bringing the Heat of Reality to a GOP Freeze on Public Safeguards
The U.S. House of Representatives refuses to let up on its quixotic mission to destroy public safeguards. Its latest incarnation is H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012,” a misguided bill that seeks to halt regulatory protections until the unemployment rate is equal or less than six percent. It was the topic […]
ALEC Gives Cash to Congressmen?
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) strategy of corporations enact favorable legislation at the state level across the country by wining and dining state legislators at fancy conferences and then presenting them with model bills to shepherd into law is well documented. Apparently, ALEC also sees value in currying favor at the federal level as […]
The Economist Recycles Old Right-Wing Ideas to Gut Public Protections
By Rena Steinzor, reprinted with permission from the Center For Progressive Reform The Economist’s February 18 edition offers a cover package of five articles on “Over-regulated America” (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Our British friends want you to know there’s a problem here in the States that needs fixing: A study for the Small Business […]
Small Businesses Aren’t Concerned About Regulations, So Why is Washington?
The headline for next week’s edition of The Economist is “Over-regulated America,” with the subtitle “The home of laissez faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written legislation.” Sounds dramatic, but in reality the only things getting “suffocated” here are the facts about regulations. To be fair, this article does recognize (as few tend […]
Nuclear Power: Only Technology That Requires an Emergency Evacuation Plan
Nuclear power is the only technology that requires an emergency evacuation plan. And for unfortunate communities, like those situated near the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, evacuation has meant more than fleeing one’s home. It has meant the death of livestock, contamination of produce and fish, and the realization that returning home won’t be […]
We Tell the Financial Regulators: Don’t Let Big Banks Make Taxpayer-Backed Bets
U.S. PIRG and the AFL-CIO joined Americans for Financial Reform in a detailed comment letter urging issuance of a strong Volcker rule by the financial regulators. It’s a 72-page pdf comment letter that basically comes down to one simple thing. We tell the financial regulators: don’t let big banks make taxpayer-backed bets. The rule implements […]
GOP to Keystone XL: Be My Valentine
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the House and Senate GOP plan to attach an amendment forcing the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to a completely unrelated piece of legislation. This time around, it’s the transportation bill that is getting the Keystone amendment. While killing the worst transportation bill ever offered wouldn’t […]
IRS Proposes to Expand Tax Relief for Innocent Spouses
If you’re married, you’re probably planning to file your taxes jointly; most couples do. You should know that spouses filing a joint return are generally each liable for all of the tax owed on that return—but the law provides equitable relief when one of the spouses has no control over, or perhaps no knowledge of, […]
iSlaves: Forced Labor Key to Apple Profits
More horrors out now from the Chinese serf-labor system involved in creating Apple products like iPads, iPhones and Kindles. It turns out many of the workers churning out millions of the devices in unendurable conditions at Foxconn and other factories are also forced laborers as young as 16. The Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against […]
Big Oil’s Banner Year
The five largest oil companies — BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell — made a record-high $137 billion in profits in 2011. That’s up 75 percent from 2010. Additionally, these oil giants have made more than $1 trillion in profits from 2001 through 2011. This exceeds the previous record of $136 billion in […]
Obama’s SOTU Claim is Right: Regulations Can Improve the Free Market
Rules to prevent financial fraud or toxic dumping or faulty medical devices — these don’t destroy the free market. They make the free market work better. — President Obama, State of the Union Address, 1/24/12 Over the past year, discussion over regulations has frequently been distortedly one-sided, as if their only possible effect on the […]
Affordable Care Act Saves Seniors $2.1 Billion in Drug Costs
The Affordable Care Act has saved nearly 3.6 million people enrolled in Medicare $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs in 2011, finds a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the health care reform law signed by President Obama in 2010 is already saving money […]
Vast Majority of Small Business Owners Do Not See Regulations as a Major Concern
A just-released survey of small business owners shows a vast majority do not consider regulations as a major concern. Instead, the survey shows weak demand is the primary problem for their business right now, not regulations. MAIN FINDINGS: Weak demand is small business owners’ biggest problem: 34% of respondents said weak demand is their biggest […]
Worst. Transportation. Bill. Ever.
Partisanship is the reason for constant gridlock in Congress. One exception has been the issue of transportation. NRDC is on the record — analyzing and critiquing yet supporting — the bipartisan federal transportation bill that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Passage of that bill through committee was made possible by the collaboration […]