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Four states have announced that they will be raising their minimum wage rates for 2012, led by Washington state, which will become the first in the country with a minimum wage over $9 per hour. The 37-cent bump in Washington will hike the wage to $9.04, or $1.79 per hour more than the federal minimum … Continue reading
President Barack Obama’s job-creation package effectively fell to pieces on Monday as a top Republican lawmaker said the House of Representatives will only pass portions of the $447 billion measure. As Obama continued to press lawmakers for a vote on his signature legislation, Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, said that was not … Continue reading
Rick Perry’s tuition troubles have a lot to do with the difference between politics in Texas and politics everywhere else. His support for in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants — and the fact that he’s sticking with it — started a political tornado. It was enough to make Herman Cain say he would vote … Continue reading
The White House and congressional Republicans just can’t agree on the best prescription for the economy, with President Barack Obama demanding passage of his $447 billion jobs bill and the GOP pushing to cut government red tape. Both efforts, the focus of competing radio and Internet addresses Saturday, face little chance of success as all-or-nothing … Continue reading
In addition to blocking President Obama’s health care law and slashing funding for job training, the budget plan presented by House Republicans for health and labor programs this week would scuttle several worker safety protections put forth by the Department of Labor. Among other anti-regulatory measures, the budget would block the department from moving forward … Continue reading
Bank of America announced Thursday it will charge its debit card users a $5 monthly fee beginning in early 2012, provoking fury from a senior Democrat. The bank, the largest in the nation by assets, blamed its decision on the so-called Durbin Amendment, a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law put into place by … Continue reading
The House on Thursday gave quick approval to a stopgap spending bill that will finance the government for the first four days of October, until lawmakers can return and vote on a more ambitious seven-week spending bill. The stopgap bill, passed Monday by the Senate, goes now to President Obama, who is expected to sign … Continue reading
The Obama administration Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to settle the constitutional question over the 2010 health-care law this term, meaning that the decision will probably come next summer in the thick of the presidential campaign. The Justice Department asked the justices to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th … Continue reading
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) is standing by his state’s new policy of drug testing welfare recipients even after the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the scheme in a lawsuit and just 2.5 percent of beneficiaries flunked the first round of tests in July, triggering additional calls for the policy’s repeal. The governor highlighted the … Continue reading
If Congress can’t come up with a deficit reduction deal this year, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he’ll try to prevent further required cuts in the military budget. The comment showed that contingency plans already are in place to avoid some of the more than $1 trillion in mandated spending cuts under a … Continue reading
A House Republican freshman on Tuesday night called on the federal government to step up enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, and said removing illegal aliens is one way to create needed jobs for Americans. “There is a surefire way to create jobs now for American citizens,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on the House floor. … Continue reading
President Barack Obama is back in the good graces of progressives. For now. Hours after Obama delivered a fiery speech demanding that the wealthiest Americans “pay their fair share” in taxes as part of his $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan, MoveOn.org launched a new television ad on Monday hammering in the president’s message and ripping Republicans … Continue reading
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt called on Washington to think big about solutions for the nation’s struggling economy calling the current emphasis on cutting spending instead of new stimulus “ludicrous.” The economy would need “not just something like the jobs bill, but also significant government stimulation in terms of buying power and investment,” said Schmidt on … Continue reading
The decision by the Republican controlled House to back and pass a plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan that would turn Medicare into a voucher system is regarded by many Democrats as a strategic error of colossal proportions. And so, it was not by accident that when President Obama addressed the need to reform … Continue reading
Israel’s most vocal supporters in the U.S. have long complained that the United Nations is a bastion of anti-Israeli sentiment, and this year’s General Assembly debate could be worse than ever. Palestinians are seeking U.N. membership as a state even though there’s no peace deal with Israel. Israel is also under diplomatic pressure from regional … Continue reading
President Obama will deliver a critical address Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly expected to be dominated by questions about Palestinian statehood. Obama’s administration will veto any request by the Palestinians for the UN Security Council to grant them a sovereign state, but the White House hopes to avoid that step. Such a vote … Continue reading
Republican opposition is solidifying to President Barack Obama’s $447 billion job creation plan, and his pending proposal to raise taxes on millionaires is already under GOP fire. “If we’re just going to do class warfare and get tax increases out of this, then I don’t think much will come of it,” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) … Continue reading
House Republican leaders came out against nearly all the major proposals in President Obama’s $447 billion job-creation plan Friday, including his middle-class tax cuts and his approach to federal spending on transportation and school construction. In a memo to all House Republicans, the GOP leaders said cutting payroll taxes through 2012 would lead to a … Continue reading
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized President Obama’s jobs plan in an economic address in Washington on Thursday, calling it “a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in America.” In a speech to the Economic Club of Washington, Boehner outlined the Republican plan for job creation … Continue reading
Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) said a push in the North Carolina state legislature to add an anti-gay-marriage amendment to the state constitution has prompted him to co-sponsor federal legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). “For a couple who [have] been married legally, every state should be required to give full faith and … Continue reading
A package of disaster relief funding worth $7 billion was blocked from coming up for a vote by Senate Republicans on Monday, drawing sharp condemnation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who lambasted the conservative party for abandoning Americans in need. “Last night, Democrats tried to move forward on a measure that would have … Continue reading
A House bill to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act has now attracted 122 cosponsors—two more than the total number of sponsors from the previous congressional term, when the legislation was first introduced. A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, lead House sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, told The Advocate … Continue reading
The participant’s in last night’s GOP presidential debate once again took the opportunity to pretend that the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) put a massive dent in Medicare by cutting $500 billion from the program. Michele Bachmann told us that “We know that President Obama stole over $500 billion out of Medicare to switch it over to Obamacare.” … Continue reading
President Obama sent his jobs bill to Congress on Monday, urging lawmakers to put aside “political games” and pass the $447 billion plan meant to increase hiring as the government struggles to curtail persistent high unemployment. But just two hours after Mr. Obama, flanked by firefighters, construction workers and teachers in the Rose Garden, waved a copy … Continue reading
The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 