Driven by big gains in wealthy suburbs and in districts won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, Democrats lived up to pre-election expectations and won back the House of Representatives on Tuesday, winning a net of 26 House seats as of the publication of this post. However, Republicans took advantage of an extremely favorable Senate map and expanded … [Read more...]
House Republicans Might Be Willing to Pass Dodd-Frank Reform Measures
The Senate and the House have split on issues before. Most famously, last year, Congressional leaders were unable to come to a consensus on health care, despite the fact that Republicans have been saying for years that they want to repeal Obamacare. Now, it appears, they might be willing to put their differences aside in order to pass reforms to … [Read more...]
Senate Appropriations Bill Would Cut Important EPA Program
On November 20th, the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee released the Environmental Appropriations Bill for FY 2018. The bill, if implemented, would cut a program responsible for monitoring the negative health impact of certain chemicals. That program, known as the Integrated Risk Information System (or IRIS), would be combined with the … [Read more...]
Different Taxes for Workers and Investors
As conservatives have taken over the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, the question of tax reform has emerged with full force. Tax reform is one of the major pillars of the conservative movement. According to Corey Robin, political scientist and commentator, it is even baked into the reasoning behind repealing the ACA, … [Read more...]
House Republicans Vote to Repeal Key Reforms in Dodd-Frank
This past Thursday while everyone was watching the Comey hearing, the House of Representatives voted to rescind several post-2008 regulations that Republicans regard as too restrictive on financial institutions. This is the latest in a series of GOP-guided initiatives to roll back Obama-era rules. Trump said earlier in his presidency that he would … [Read more...]
