Regs Talk: The CSS Blog
Blogs are authored by CSS members and policy experts, and have been reprinted with permission.
CFPB Task Force: Help Consumers, Not Financial Industry
By Better Markets Better Markets has called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s task force to help consumers and not cater to the financial industry. “Millions of Americans who rely on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages need protection from predatory behavior in these markets,” says Steve Hall, legal director and securities specialist. “But time and […]
Leaking and Looming, Legacy Coal Ash Ponds Spew Poisons. Is There One Near You?
By Lisa Evans, Earthjustice Legacy ponds are the walking dead of the coal ash universe – toxic waste sites that live long after coal plants have closed, slipping through regulatory cracks as they continue to poison communities. After years of delay and in clear violation of a court order, the Environmental Protection Agency still has […]
SEC’s Whistleblower Program Under Threat
By Better Markets The SEC Whistleblower Protection and Rewards Program, one of the most successful programs established by the Dodd-Frank Act, is under threat following proposed changes by the SEC that would discourage whistleblowers from reporting illegal activity. Better Markets is fighting to preserve the successful program. Since the start of the whistleblower program in […]
Has the Supreme Court Shielded Us From Trump Administration Health Care Rules?
Be Lee Goldberg, AFL-CIO The Supreme Court last week handed down a landmark decision barring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity—a significant step forward in the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the workplace and in broader society. While this case is an important advance in civil rights, […]
The Supreme Court’s DACA Decision, Environmental Rollbacks and the Regulatory Rule of Law
By William Buzbee, Center for Progressive Reform On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s rescission of the Obama administration’s immigration relief program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In explaining and then defending its DACA rollback, the Trump administration had raised an array of claims that, if accepted, […]
DACA Survives at SCOTUS
By Daniel Costa, Economic Policy Institute Almost eight years to the day after President Obama announced his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, better known as DACA, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has issued a decision in Department of Homeland Security et. al. v Regents of the University of California et.al.—the litigation concerning whether the […]
Sweetened With What? Lack of Transparency and Misleading Claims Make Reducing Added Sugars Confusing
By Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League Many of us are probably trying to heed the advice of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce our consumption of added sugars. FDA has made “Added Sugars” content per serving a mandatory line on the Nutrition Facts label and has established a Daily Value of 50g […]
Climate Scientists Confront a Culture of Fear and Self-Censorship in Government Agencies
By Maria Caffrey, Union of Concerned Scientists This week I was quoted in an article from the New York Times (NYT) about the war on climate science and what those within our federal agencies are doing (or not doing) to protect the science from censorship. It is an excellent article and well worth a read, but I want to […]
As COVID-19 Cases Rise in States That Rushed to Reopen, NELP Urges States to Protect All Workers and Prioritize Workers of Color
By Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project The National Employment Law Project urges state and local governments to protect the health, safety, and economic stability of underpaid and unemployed workers in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic—both during the crisis and in the ensuing recovery. These efforts must be the first step toward long-term structural […]
New Dietary Guidelines Could Help Us Kick Our Sugar Habit — But Will Science Win Out?
By Sarah Reinhardt, Union of Concerned Scientists For the last sixteen months, top health and nutrition experts have been hard at work reviewing the scientific research that will inform the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Yesterday, via webcast, they finally shared the fruits of their labor. Though some of their findings were a foregone conclusion (most […]
Ignoring Protests and Pandemic, Trump Pushes Rollbacks
By Paul Rauber, Sierra Club President Donald Trump thrives on chaos. While the public struggles to deal with the whirlwinds he is riding (and sometimes creating), Trump seizes the opportunity to fulfill his personal agenda. Already under the cover of COVID-19, he has rolled back Obama-era fuel-efficiency standards for cars, expedited oil and gas drilling on public […]
OSHA, Other Agencies Need to Step Up on COVID-19, Future Pandemics
By Thomas McGarity, Center for Progressive Reform Governments and industries are “reopening” the economy while COVID-19 continues to rage across the United States. At the same time, the lack of effective, enforceable workplace health and safety standards puts workers and the general public at heightened risk of contracting the deadly virus. In a new report from the […]
The Toxic Horror Story of Nancy Beck
By Zach Brown, Public Citizen The U.S. Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) is a little-known agency, but it has a big responsibility to ensure that the products in our homes are safe. It has responsibility for ensuring that more than 15,000 products are safe, including toys, household products, furniture, cribs, and recreation equipment including all-terrain […]
How Safe Are Children’s Products? It Might Depend on Trump’s Next Nominee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission
By Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists Today the Senate holds a hearing on the nomination of Dr Nancy Beck to chair the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). I doubt you spend much time thinking about the CPSC, but the little-known agency plays a crucial role in ensuring that the products in our homes are safe. And […]
How Trump’s Consumer Safety Nominee Weakened Regulation of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Consumer Products
By Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group There are many reasons for the Senate to oppose President Trump’s nominee to chair the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Nancy Beck. Since 1980, the use of methylene chloride in paint strippers has killed scores of people. But while in a top position at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety, Beck […]
Scientists Oppose Trump’s CPSC Nominee Nancy Beck
By Jenifer Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council Over 90 scientists are opposing President Trump’s nominee, Nancy Beck, to become the next Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), because of her damaging policies that put consumers in harm’s way. Signers include former heads of federal agencies, high level government and academic scientists, authors of […]
Hurricane Season Is Upon Us and Old Sharpies Never Die
By Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists Last September, as Hurricane Dorian approached the US, the forecasters did their job, but the president decided he knew better. Altering a forecast chart with a Sharpie pen and holding it up in the Oval Office was just the beginning of the farce that became known as SharpieGate. Then, NWS […]
Court Order Okays OSHA Inaction on COVID-19
By Katie Tracy and Brian Gumm, Center for Progressive Reform In a June 11 order, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an AFL-CIO writ of mandamus asking the court to compel the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to do more to protect workers from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. The order continues the dangerous […]
CFPB Complaint Volume Sets Another Record in May
By Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG As of today, consumer complaints to the CFPB set a third straight monthly record in May, with 35,093 complaints reported. Complaints about credit reporting lead by far, followed by debt collection, credit card and mortgage complaints. Job and income losses during the pandemic are hitting families hard. I’m still reading the CFPB’s […]
Federal Lawsuit Could Limit Fluoride in Drinking Water
By Olga Naidenko, Environmental Working Group A landmark federal lawsuit that went to trial this week in California could change the longstanding practice of adding fluoride to the drinking water supplies for 200 million Americans. The lawsuit, brought against the Environmental Protection Agency by groups including the Fluoride Action Network, Food and Water Watch and Moms Against […]