Archive
Progressives Beat Back Walmart. Now Let's Beat Back Unemployment
Progressives won a victory in Washington this week when the D.C. City Council stood up to Walmart and passed a bill that would require the retailer, and other nonunion big-box retailers, to pay their employees a $12.50 minimum wage. Walmart promptly announced that it...
Where are the Voices of Republican Senators Who Still Care About Democratic Institutions?
Before January 2009, the filibuster was used only for measures and nominations on which the minority party in the Senate had their strongest objections. Since then, Senate Republicans have filibustered almost everything, betting that voters will blame Democrats for the dysfunction in Congress as much as they blame the GOP.
So far the bet is paying off because the press has failed to call out the GOP – which is now preventing votes on the President’s choices for three D.C. Circuit Court nominees, the Labor Department and the EPA, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board.
Senate Moving To Hit Students With A Bad Deal On College Loans
Last night, a group of Democratic senators did the unthinkable. They signed on to a plan that increases interest rates on student loans substantially. Why? The Republicans filibustered the bill that would have passed easily otherwise.
Progressive Breakfast for July 11, 2013
Bipartisan Deal Struck To End Setting Student Loan Rates Student loan deal reached. HuffPost: "A bipartisan group of senators struck a deal late Wednesday tooverhaul the federal student loan program, tying interest rates on new loans to the U.S. government’s cost to...
It's Time. Make Voting A Constitutional Right.
Two weeks ago, with two rulings in two days, the Supreme Court gave a whole new meaning to what W.E. DuBois described as a "double consciousness" or a "two-ness" of being. When the Court's decision in Windsor ruled a major part of the Defense of Marriage Act...
48 Senators In The Hall Of Shame For Rejecting Student Loan Rollback
Once again, Congress has failed our students. Today, the bill to roll back student loan interest rates to 3.4 percent proposed by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) failed to get cloture, meaning it will not be able to move forward for full floor consideration and an up-or-down...
Still Sequestered: DOD Furloughs Start
Remember the Washington Post article claiming that the "bad stuff" that was supposed because of the sequester didn’t, and thus sequestration can’t be all that bad? Well, the sequester is still on, and still doing harm. Just ask the 650,000 DOD...
What If You Gave A Midsession Budget Review And Nobody Noticed?
In this era when almost all federal budget process deadlines are routinely missed or completely ignored, it's hard to believe that the fiscal 2014 mid-session review of the budget was released yesterday, a full week ahead of the July 15 statutory deadline.
The mid-session review was released with virtually no fanfare. In fact, many of my budget geek friends who, trust me on this, live for the release of federal budget documents, didn't know it had been released until this morning.
From the Up is Down files: Southern style
I don't think I need to point out just how obvious these people are being, do I?
Progressive Breakfast for July 10, 2013
Reid Readies Filibuster Ultimatum "Sen. Harry Reid ready to go nuclear on executive branch nominations" reports Politico: "Reid appears to have enough support within the Democratic Caucus to go forward with the proposal, several Democratic senators and aides said....
