Media

A new report from Public Campaign shows what could happen if the Supreme Court deals another blow to campaign finance reform in McCutcheon v. FEC.

It's no secret that the public's approval of Congress has been near an all-time low in recent years. According to Gallup, which has been tracking congressional approval since at least 1974, just 10 percent of Americans said they approved of how Congress was handling its job last August -- the lowest ratings ever recorded. 

The federal lawsuit filed to block North Carolina’s restrictive new voting laws is set to test the government’s ability to protect voting rights in the aftermath of a Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act.

The student loan default rate is soaring, and it's flying highest among for-profit schools.

The U.S. Department of Education reports that across the nation, the share of borrowers who default within two years after college loan payments become due has risen nearly a full percentage point to 10 percent, while the rate for people who default within three years is up to 14.7 percent.

Here we go again: Financial markets are plummeting thanks to the threat of a government shutdown and, beyond that, another debt ceiling crisis. One of the great bull markets of recent years is being derailed by a bunch of extreme conservatives in Congress. But Wall Street shouldn't just blame the Tea Party for ruining a good thing. It should blame big donors from its own ranks who are bankrolling groups like the Club for Growth who are also responsible for the crisis.

The drive for deregulation during the 1970s found support among Democrats and Republicans alike. And I don't just mean centrist Democrats, by the way. Many liberal Democrats favored deregulation in the face of evidence that elaborate forms of red tape favored monopoly-like corporations and prevented competition. Many deregulatory proposals were viewed as pro-consumer. 

WHAT: Press call about upcoming SCOTUS Case McCutcheon v. FEC featuring NAACP, Sierra Club, Communications Workers of America, People For The American Way Foundation, Greenpeace, Main Street Alliance, OurTime.org, Rock The Vote, American Federation of Teachers, Working Families Organization, U.S. PIRG and Demos.

WHEN: Friday October 4th, 11:00 AM Eastern

Philadelphia Council authorized a public vote on Bill 130532 last Thursday. The bill amends the city charter to provide better wage protections and benefits for subcontracted city workers. The referendum will appear on the Spring 2014 ballot. Council supported this item unanimously.

According to attorney Steve Masters of JustLaws,

The Census Bureau has steadfastly resisted calls to end the practice of counting inmates as “residents” of their prisons instead of the cities and towns where they lived and to which they typically return. The bureau’s new director, John Thompson, seems at least open to ending this wrongful practice.