Energy secretary: US offshore wind jobs should be union jobs
The U.S. energy secretary and Danish wind developer Orsted say they want American union workers to build offshore wind farms to dot the U.S. coastlines — the building trades workers who could otherwise be left out of a transition to renewable resources.
A bill aiming to protect children online reignites a battle over privacy and free speech
The bill’s revival has reignited a battle over the future of Internet regulation and online speech. Prominent technologists, industry groups, civil rights advocates and LGBT interest groups have aggressively campaigned against it, warning the proposal threatens to erode consumers’ privacy and could have a chilling effect on free expression online.
washingtonpost.com416,000 student-loan borrowers landed $1.85 billion in relief. Elizabeth Warren says that's not enough to compensate those impacted by one of the largest loan company's 'abusive practices.'
In a letter provided exclusively to Insider, three senators asked the Education Department to provide prompt relief to defrauded Navient customers.
news.yahoo.comSenators say they were denied full access to federal prison
Two U.S. senators said Wednesday that they were denied access to parts of a federal prison in Connecticut while trying to examine conditions there in response to correctional officers' complaints about a staffing shortage and lack of coronavirus precautions. Concerns about the spread of COVID-19 itself were behind the denial, the federal Bureau of Prisons said. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Connecticut Democrats, visited the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution with labor union leaders and two state lawmakers.
news.yahoo.comNew step to curb tech giants' power advanced by Senate panel
Congress has taken a new step toward reining in the market dominance of Big Tech. Bipartisan legislation advanced by a Senate panel would bar the dominant online platforms from favoring their own goods and services over those of rivals on the platforms.
Sikorsky celebrates the delivery of its first Connecticut-made high-tech heavy lift helicopter to the US Marines
Sikorsky Aircraft gave a send-off Friday to its first Connecticut-built CH-53K heavy lift helicopter to the U.S. Marine Corps in a ceremony suitable for the massive high-tech aircraft. Nearly 100 executives and employees of the Lockheed Martin Corp. helicopter manufacturer and others celebrated in an aircraft hangar at Sikorsky’s Stratford headquarters, with the helicopter — 99 feet long and ...
news.yahoo.comBlumenthal ‘furious’ at Biden administration over failing to secure evacuee planes
Sen. Richard Blumenthal took aim at the White House and State Department on Monday, saying he is “furious” over struggles to secure planes to evacuate a group of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.
news.yahoo.comDemocrats Sick of Waiting for Republicans on Infrastructure Bill
Photos GettyOne day in late June, President Joe Biden and a group of 10 senators from both parties emerged from the Oval Office and declared they’d reached an agreement on a bipartisan, multi-billion dollar infrastructure deal—the foundation of a signature win for a president obsessed with bipartisanship.Despite that group of senators working furiously to finalize a deal, four weeks later, no deal has materialized. There’s no bill, or even concrete details, for colleagues to consider. And those
news.yahoo.comSenators to Biden: Waive vaccine intellectual property rules
Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.
AP survey: ADs fear sharing revenue with college athletes
NCAA basketball administrators apologized to the womens basketball players and coaches after inequities between the mens and womens tournament went viral on social media. “How does that even work?” Boston College athletic director Patrick Kraft said. Permitting college athletes to earn money off their name, image and likeness once seemed like a radical idea, but that will soon be a reality. The NCAA is already looking for help from federal lawmakers to set national standards for NIL compensation for college athletes. ___More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Democrats vow vote on gun bills; Biden says 'we have to act'
They are not even united themselves, as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters Tuesday that he opposes the House legislation on background checks. The gun debate also highlights a larger difficulty for Senate Democrats as they try to move forward on gun legislation and other policy priorities of the Biden White House. Schumer has not said when he will bring the House legislation up for a vote. Democrats say they feel the environment around gun legislation has evolved, especially since that last major push in 2013. Many in the GOP base are still strongly opposed to gun control of any kind.
Democrats vow vote on gun bills; Biden says ‘we have to act’
They are not even united themselves, as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters Tuesday that he opposes the House legislation on background checks. The gun debate also highlights a larger difficulty for Senate Democrats as they try to move forward on gun legislation and other policy priorities of the Biden White House. Schumer has not said when he will bring the House legislation up for a vote. Democrats say they feel the environment around gun legislation has evolved, especially since that last major push in 2013. Many in the GOP base are still strongly opposed to gun control of any kind.
Biden eyes $3T package for infrastructure, schools, families
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – Fresh off passage of the COVID-19 relief bill, President Joe Biden is assembling the next big White House priority, a sweeping $3 trillion package of investments on infrastructure and domestic needs. Biden's outreach to Senate Democrats comes as the White House is under fire for its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. An infrastructure package would include roughly $1 trillion for roads, bridges, rail lines, electrical vehicle charging stations and the cellular network, among other items. With the House and Senate under Democratic control, the proposals are expected to draw support from all corners of Congress. A White House official said the president has been very clear about his agenda, even though the details are only just starting to surface.
Minorities underrepresented in service academy nominations
Minority students are significantly underrepresented when it comes to getting nominations from members of Congress to attend the nation's military service academies, according to an analysis released Wednesday, March 17, 2021. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)Minority students are significantly underrepresented when it comes to getting nominations from members of Congress to attend the nation's military service academies, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The study by the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center and the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School included nearly 25 years of admissions nomination data from the Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy involving members of the current Congress. Members of Congress have awarded 6% of their total nominations to Black students and 8% to Hispanic students, according to the report. To be considered for admission, all service academy applicants must receive a nomination from a member of Congress, the president, the vice president, a secretary of a military service, or an academy superintendent.
Advocates seek Biden push on gun bills, but prospects iffy
The House recently passed legislation that would require background checks for gun purchases, a signature Democratic issue for decades. The two bills that passed the House last week would expand background checks on gun purchases, the first significant movement on gun control since Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. That leaves gun-control advocates hoping that the politics of gun control have shifted enough that more Republicans may be open to legislation that advocates argue is widely popular with the American public. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate, have worked together for years to find compromise on background checks. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, pointed in particular to Democratic wins in the 2018 midterms while running openly for gun control as evidence the politics are changing.
Congreso renueva iniciativas para control de armas
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on passage of gun violence prevention legislation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 11, 2021, as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., look on. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
House passes bill to expand background checks for gun sales
The House passed two bills Thursday to require background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and to allow an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. While enhanced background checks are generally popular with the American public, even with some conservatives, Congress has so far not been able to find compromise on the issue. “These solutions will save lives.”President Joe Biden has called for Congress to strengthen gun laws, including requiring the background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons. AdThe second bill, which passed 219-210, would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days. While the House bills have Republican cosponsors and won a handful of GOP votes, most Republicans voted against them.
Biden urges Senate Dems to rally behind $1.9T virus bill
“He said we need to pass this bill and pass it soon. The Senate bill was expected to largely mirror the House-approved package, with the most glaring divergence the Senate's dropping of language boosting the federal minimum wage to $15 hourly. Schumer said Senate debate would commence as soon as Wednesday and predicted, “We'll have the votes we need to pass the bill." Progressives, though, were still smarting over the virtual certainty that the Senate bill will lack the minimum wage boost, up from $7.25 hourly locked in since 2009. The funding was removed after some Republican lawmakers had criticized it as an example of a wasteful spending item that should not be part of the COVID relief bill.