legislation

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Conservative Group Tried to Sell its Support for $2M

Offered to launch campaign backing FedEx in legislative battle

(Newser) - A major conservative group offered its backing to FedEx on a bill before the Senate—for a price tag of at least $2 million, Politico reports—and then, when FedEx didn't take the bait, switched sides. A letter to FedEx shows the American Conservative Union proffered services like writing op-eds...

Fat Chance Lawmakers Will Read Health Bill: Hoyer

(Newser) - House lawmakers may well be be voting before the end of summer on a momentous health-care reform bill. But that doesn't mean they're actually going to read the bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer laughed off the suggestion when CNS News posed it. “If every member pledged to not...

Health-Care Reform Will Save Economy, Too: Obama

He pushes reform during town hall meeting

(Newser) - Americans will suffer doubly without immediate health-care reform because the economy needs the boost, President Obama said in a town-hall meeting today as he tried to sell a plan half of Americans say they don’t really understand. He cited rising premiums, less employer coverage, and increasing Medicare costs as...

Troubled Banks Have a New Benefactor: You

Industry hikes fees on checking accounts, overdraft transactions

(Newser) - Your children aren’t the only ones who think you’re an ATM: Your bank does, too. Facing declining revenues and smacked with tough, new credit card legislation from Congress, banks are hiking overdraft, ATM, and checking account fees, the Washington Post reports. The average bounced check fee rose 2....

Forget Bipartisan Backing for Health Care Reform Bill

(Newser) - Barack Obama can keep up the bipartisan talk, but it looks like Democrat-sponsored health care reform legislation in Congress has very little chance of winning meaningful GOP support, per the New York Times. GOP lawmakers are balking en masse at the provision for a public plan to challenge private insurers,...

Court Will Quash Key Voting Act Provision—Next Time

(Newser) - Today’ non-decision by the Supreme Court on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is actually a stern repudiation, Tom Goldstein writes for SCOTUSblog. Reading between the lines, Goldstein surmises that the court will strike down Section 5 when the next challenge comes if Congress does not significantly alter it...

Obama Signs Smoking Crackdown

(Newser) - President Barack Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he took up as a teenager as he signed the strongest-ever US anti-smoking bill today and praised it for providing needed protections for future generations. "It is a law that will save American lives," Obama said....

On Immigration Reform, Obama Skips Specifics
On Immigration Reform, Obama Skips Specifics
ANALYSIS
Jun 19, 2009 2:45 PM CDT

On Immigration Reform, Obama Skips Specifics

(Newser) - Lackluster support for immigration reform has forced President Obama to be purposefully vague about a timeline for legislation, Michael Muskal writes in the Los Angeles Times. “I’m committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform,” Obama told Latino leaders today. But his “vague language on timing for immigration...

Why Health Reform Will Happen—And Why It Won't

(Newser) - With the Obama administration stepping up its push for health-care reform, Mark Halperin, in Time, lists five reasons why it will, and won't, get done. The pros:
  • The industry is "still on board."
  • "Barack Obama doesn't fail too often."
  • It's a must-win for the entire White
...

Kennedy: An Outline for Health-Care Reform

Sen. offers 5 key elements of coming legislation

(Newser) - The US health-care system that “shortchanges millions of Americans” is “about to change,” writes Ted Kennedy in the Boston Globe. The senator lays out five key elements of legislation he’s working on with “colleagues on both sides of the aisle”:
  1. Americans will have “better
...

Congress Mulls Tighter Offshore Drilling Rules

Natural-gas firms currently exempt from clean-water laws

(Newser) - A bill pushed by Dick Cheney 4 years ago freed natural-gas drillers from clean-water laws, but pollution concerns are driving congressional Democrats to rethink the matter, ProPublica reports. They’ve drafted legislation that would end the natural-gas exemption and require drillers to reveal the chemicals they use in their work,...

New Credit Card Rules Could Trim $10B From Industry Coffers

Law dials back crucial fees, interest rates

(Newser) - A law President Obama is expected to sign today bringing new consumer-friendly rules on credit cards could cost the industry $10 billion in revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports. The legislation, which dials back various fees and interest rates, will devastate companies that target consumers with checkered credit histories and...

Utah Drinkers Get in Touch With Bartenders

New law knocks down barriers, hands-off policy in restaurants

(Newser) - Under a new law that went into effect yesterday, restaurants that sell alcohol no longer need to separate patrons from the people serving them drinks, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “Not having these barriers is going to save us a lot of time, especially with out-of-state visitors who constantly...

Del. Moves to Legalize Sports Betting

(Newser) - The Delaware State Senate has approved a bill legalizing sports betting and allowing casinos to operate table games like roulette, the News Journal of Wilmington reports. The governor, seeking to close a gaping budget gap, will sign the bill this week. The measure sailed through the senate after a pitched...

Obama Wants Health Care Bill by Year's End

(Newser) - President Obama today called on lawmakers to send him a health care reform bill before the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We've got to get it done this year,” the president said in a meeting with House Democrats. “We don't have any excuses,...

House Approves Credit Card Reform

(Newser) - The House today approved legislation to protect credit card holders from hidden fees and sudden rate hikes, Reuters reports. Legislators voted overwhelmingly for the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, a measure banks complain will tighten the amount of credit available and make holding a card more expensive. The Senate is...

Obama Policies Make Boehner 'Want to Throw Up'

(Newser) - The Obama administration’s policies on national security, spending, and the law make John Boehner almost physically ill, the House minority leader tells the Washington Times. Democratic hate-crime legislation in particular, which Boehner says could be used against religious leaders who don’t support the gay agenda, makes him “...

Market-Regulation Bill No Longer on Fast Track: Frank

Obama wants bill passed fast, but Congress chooses to take its time

(Newser) - Once on the fast track to President Obama’s desk, a bill that would grant the government powers to place large companies into receivership has been pushed to the slow lane, Rep. Barney Frank tells the Wall Street Journal. The bill’s complexity, and a slow-moving Senate, led the Financial...

'Rahmbo' Sets Aside Partisan Image in Pursuit of Votes

Emanuel takes time for individual concerns in Congress

(Newser) - Rahm Emanuel has a tough-guy reputation, but it’s his openness that’s making a difference to the Obama administration, the Washington Post reports. The president’s chief of staff is ready to listen and respond to concerns from countless individual lawmakers—and their appreciation is helping to build consensus...

If I Knew, I Would Have 'Rejected' Legislation: Dodd

(Newser) - Sen. Chris Dodd says that if he had known the purpose of changes to legislation he drafted for the stimulus package, he “would have flatly rejected it,” CNN reports. Dodd’s rewrite, at the behest of unnamed Treasury officials, allowed AIG and others receiving federal assistance to dole...

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