Free Republic

When an overwhelming number of Americans support a specific public health policy, as rare as that is these days, you’d think our elected leaders in Washington would rush to pass legislation that reflects the will of their respective voters. And when that policy involves the pressing issue of solving child hunger, you’d think Congress would move expeditiously to prevent further suffering endured by a defenseless segment of the U.S. population.

The Biden administration wants Congress to mandate airlines to pay cash compensation for delays of three hours or more when carriers are responsible, and provide new requirements for transparency over fees such as for baggage when booking tickets. The bill released on Friday does not include those consumer proposals but does respond to a Biden administration call in February to ban family seating fees for airlines that assign seats ahead of time. “Baggage fees are bad enough - airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage,” President Joe Biden said in February.

President Joe Biden called for the education system to be expanded from 12 years to 14 years for all Americans Focus of his trip was the education part of his 'human' infrastructure plan His speech in Illinois drew about 100 protesters holding signs for Donald Trump McHenry County, where Biden made his remarks, went for the former president in the 2020 election 'We should have a minimum of 14 years of education,' the president said, 'without spending a cent' Biden also called for his child tax credit to be expanded until 2025 Payments for the child tax credit start on...

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, its staff depleted by Trump-era hiring freezes, is advertising for thousands of jobs. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is bringing on dozens of lawyers after being gutted by four years of budget cuts. The Agriculture Department is moving to replace hundreds of scientists who fled or were forced out by the last administration At the Justice Department, officials are looking to hire civil rights attorneys — and the Energy Department is recruiting for senior energy efficiency and renewable energy roles that went unfilled when Donald Trump was president.....As Trump rolled back regulations and aimed for...

The Alliance to Save Energy joined its honorary Board chair, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and her colleague Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in unveiling a bipartisan bill that its sponsors say will help our nation regain its economic footing and global leadership by deploying energy efficiency widely across the US. “At a time of extremely acrimonious partisanship on Capitol Hill, Sens. Shaheen and Portman have reached bravely across the political divide to help American consumers and businesses that are reeling from rising energy costs,” commented Alliance President Kateri Callahan. She continued, “The Alliance applauds Sens. Shaheen and Portman for their statesmanship...

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is the lead player in a legislative effort, already endorsed by a handful of other senators, that would spend $60 million to develop a program that would charge consumers for the costs of installing drunk-driving interlock devices in vehicles. The proposal, S.510, was introduced this week in the U.S. Senate by Udall, who was joined by Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Al Franken, D-Minn., Amy Klobuchar D-Minn., West John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. The legislation actually doesn't call for the technology to be installed in...

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Friday that he would reintroduce legislative language next week that would require large financial institutions to pay for federal mortgage assistance programs. Frank said his bill would allow four federal mortgage programs that Republicans are working to eliminate this month to continue operating without threatening to increase the U.S. budget deficit and debt. He said his bill would be similar to language that he tried unsuccessfully to include in financial reform legislation last year. "I don't mean to demonize, but I think Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo, and the Bank...

What makes no sense is that, despite all this unnecessary pain and calls for "shared sacrifice," the governor has shunned the one obvious measure that would moderate the severity of budget cuts: extending the personal income tax surcharge paid by the richest 5% of New York taxpayers. Preserving the surcharge, by itself, does not do a lot to help in the coming budget year, since it currently extends through Dec. 31. But it would make a $5 billion difference next year, when the state would otherwise face the second year in a row of deep cuts in school aid, Medicaid,...

If a RINO is a Republican In Name Only, let's coin a new acronym for David Brooks: RINYTO: Republican In New York Times Only. For only in the Gray Lady's bailiwick could Brooks be considered much of a Republican. Take his current column in the Times. Brooks warns Republicans on the verge of regaining power that it would be nothing short of a "tragedy" if they were to oppose . . . more government and higher taxes.

SNIPPET: “Tell me that the comprehensive plan is not about control,” she said. She reiterated concerns she has expressed during city meetings regarding the exclusion of the public from the process. “See, the majority of us were not invited,” Taylor-Restine said. A 21-member steering committee appointed by the City Commission drafted the plan, with the help of a consulting firm. It contains ideas and identifies priorities established during a 14-month process of meetings and hearings that by state law had to be open to the public. Any regulations initiated as a result of the comprehensive plan will have to go...

Impact for dietetics practitioners and consumers discussed in Journal of the American Dietetic AssociationSt. Louis, MO, September, 8, 2010 – The government's role in improving the nation's nutrition is now firmly established with nutritional labeling for restaurant meals now mandated across the United States as part of HR 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. An article in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association explains how state and municipal labeling laws developed and how the new national law will supersede these and replace them with a uniform standard. It also addresses the American Dietetic...

Reporting from Washington — President Obama on Monday is set to create a national stewardship policy for America's oceans and Great Lakes, including a type of zoning that could dramatically rebalance the way government regulates offshore drilling, fishing and other marine activities.

When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.) But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn't the least bit tongue-tied. "She...

Drop 'miles per gallon' as fuel measure, says US National Research Council The US National Research Council has said that "miles per gallon" should not be used on its own in measuring a car's fuel use, backing a green motorist's group which called the measure "stupid". By Tom Chivers Published: 2:57PM BST 13 Jul 2010 The NRC said that the measure caused consumers to overestimate the importance of changes at high miles-per-gallon (mpg) values, and underestimate it at small ones. Particularly, it says: "Fuel economy data cause consumers to undervalue small increases (1-4 mpg) in fuel economy for vehicles in...

Film buffs might recognize the Los Angeles River as the gigantic concrete gutter used for car chases in "Grease," "Terminator 2" and other movies. But the river is something else for U.S. EPA: "a traditional navigable water." EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's declaration of the cement-lined channel today as "navigable" is aimed at allowing her agency to enforce Clean Water Act protections throughout the river's 834-square-mile watershed.

Hundreds of New Yorkers, like others nationwide, have been making a few extra dollars by using sites such as AirBnB, Crashpadder, Roomorama, and Craigslist to sublet pullout sofas, living rooms, and whole apartments. But that may end soon. This week, New York state senators vote on a bill that would make it illegal for any homeowner or renter to sublet for less than a month. The new law would be a blanket ban on short-term rentals no matter how ethical the renter is. (It's always been illegal to violate co-op leases and condominium bylaws.) This proposed law is bad news...

A Democratic congressman is seeking to strip the word "navigable" from the 1972 Clean Water Act to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to surpass the limits imposed by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on the kinds of waterways the agency can regulate. A Democratic congressman is seeking to strip the word "navigable" from the 1972 Clean Water Act to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to surpass the limits imposed by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on the kinds of waterways the agency can regulate.

At a White House healthcare summit held Thursday, President Barack Obama urged Republican congressional leaders to consider working on several areas of common interest in the healthcare reform package, giving them a rough 6-week deadline before Democrats may consider using alternative measures to pass the plan. Obama named health insurance reform, the purchase of health insurance across state lines and medical liability reform among the top three areas where agreement could possibly be reached. Republicans argued they wanted to scrap all proposals on the table and rework a set of smaller steps to reform healthcare. For Democrats, starting over is...

First Lady to Governors: Address Child Obesity THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 20, 2010 WASHINGTON (AP) -- First lady Michelle Obama appealed to governors on Saturday for help in reducing child obesity and said they had a moral and financial imperative to act. She praised states for their steps already and assured state leaders that the federal government had no interest in taking over their efforts. ''Let's stop wringing our hands and talking about it and citing statistics,'' she told governors at their winter meeting. ''Let's act. Let's move. Let's give our kids the future they deserve.'' The first lady found...

Video Either you do cap and trade or we do cap; no trade... Government given power to regulate every aspect of your life through EPA... The new socialism... States there will be a new revolution... watch video.