Investigating Power
The Koch brothers, multi-billionaires Charles and David, have been funding state and local governmental laws and candidates for many years. Through ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, they are working to benefit corporations and to dismantle voter rights, health care and other governmental benefits for our citizens.
After blocking confirmation of Justice Scalia’s replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court for a full year, the Senate Judiciary Committee is now preparing to take up the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the post on March 20, barely seven weeks after President Trump announced his pick.
Protecting net neutrality is crucial to ensuring that the internet remains a central driver of economic growth and opportunity, job creation, education, free expression, and civic organizing for everyone. The principles of net neutrality—that all data on the internet should be treated equally, and internet service providers (ISPs) should not discriminate or provide preference to any data, regardless of its source, content, or destination—are the foundation that has made the internet the engine of opportunity it is today. The continuation of net neutrality is essential to the continued growth of the country and to ensuring access to social, political, and economic empowerment for all.
When Republican Congressman John Shimkus expressed outrage during a House committee hearing Wednesday “about men having to purchase prenatal care” in their health insurance — the video clip of which caught fire on social media as an example of misogyny and cluelessness — he wasn’t going rogue. He was just getting ahead of party leaders, who haven’t publicly announced their next steps quite yet.
Back in 2013, Gov. Brian Sandoval said saving money was key to his decision to expand Medicaid. Residents would become eligible for Medicaid anyway, the governor reasoned, but expanding the program would allow the state to recoup most of the costs.
But now, with House Republicans working on legislation to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, Sandoval may see those savings vanish.
Ethical and legal questions that dogged Scott Pruitt’s nomination process are continuing to shadow his first weeks as U.S. EPA administrator.
So far, 28 states have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional convention to add an amendment requiring the federal government to balance its budget. However, Montana state lawmakers yet again stopped an effort to join these states last week.
The movement isn’t over. Only six more states are needed to hold a convention under Article Five of the U.S. Constitution.
GIG: Speaking of protecting the environment, plenty of people doubt whether new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will be up to the task, given his cozy relationship with the fossil-fuel industry, as revealed in a recently released batch of more than 7,500 emails.
So far, 28 states have passed resolutions calling for a Constitutional Convention to add an amendment requiring the federal government to balance its budget – but Idaho isn’t one of them.
A state Senate resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention was defeated last week, although a House version is still in play. Only six more states are needed to hold a convention under Article Five of the U.S. Constitution.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s chief justice recently granted Oklahoma’s new attorney general more time to produce documents detailing the relationship between energy companies and new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.