Senate confirms C.Q. Brown as chairman of Joint Chiefs after monthslong Tuberville hold
Source: CNN
The Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Gen. C.Q. Brown to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, following a monthslong hold of over more than 300 military promotions by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved Wednesday to have the three spots – the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Marine Corps commandant, and the Army chief of staff – voted on separately rather than as part of a bloc of holds by Tuberville.
On Thursday, the Senate will take votes to confirm the new Army chief of staff and the new Marine Corps commandant.
Schumer assailed the Alabama Republican’s tactics in a fiery speech on the Senate floor earlier on Wednesday, as Tuberville had threatened to file a motion himself on the Senate floor, something traditionally only afforded to the Senate majority leader.
Biden administration takes steps to remove medical bills from credit reports
Source: CNBC
Published Thu, Sep 21 2023 6:14 PM EDT
The Biden administration wants to remove medical debt completely from consumer credit reports, so the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday outlined its proposed rules to keep unpaid medical bills from affecting patient’s credit scores. One in 5 Americans have medical debt on their credit reports, according to the CFPB. Medical debt can lead to a debt spiral for some consumers and narrow their options for housing, loans and credit cards.
“We know credit scores determine whether a person can have economic health and wealth,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “Credit scores determine whether a person can buy a home, whether they can buy a car, rent an apartment, or own a small business.” Medical debt is the most common debt in collection. The CFPB found that 58% of all third-party debt collection on consumer credit reports was for medical bills.
weatheriscool wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:23 pm
Biden administration takes steps to remove medical bills from credit reports
Source: CNBC
Published Thu, Sep 21 2023 6:14 PM EDT
The Biden administration wants to remove medical debt completely from consumer credit reports, so the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday outlined its proposed rules to keep unpaid medical bills from affecting patient’s credit scores. One in 5 Americans have medical debt on their credit reports, according to the CFPB. Medical debt can lead to a debt spiral for some consumers and narrow their options for housing, loans and credit cards.
“We know credit scores determine whether a person can have economic health and wealth,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “Credit scores determine whether a person can buy a home, whether they can buy a car, rent an apartment, or own a small business.” Medical debt is the most common debt in collection. The CFPB found that 58% of all third-party debt collection on consumer credit reports was for medical bills.
We’re Living in a Kevin McCarthy Doom Loop by Inae Oh
September 24, 2023
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) For the second time in three days, a group of far-right House Republicans on Thursday blew up a short-term plan to fund the government, setting fire to efforts to avoid a government shutdown at the month’s end.
“This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after failing once again to advance a spending bill. “That doesn’t work.”
Anyone who has paid even the smallest attention to McCarthy’s leadership, which itself only emerged after a series of historic humiliations and deals with the Big Lie’s worst offenders, is unlikely to sympathize. In fact, the top Republican is far more familiar with extremists intent on burning down the government than he lets on, having already caved to these very individuals on multiple occasions. The apotheosis of such self-serving capitulation came earlier this month when McCarthy, under pressure from these hardline Republicans, launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden despite clearly lacking the evidence to do so.
But if McCarthy believed that ordering an impeachment inquiry would satisfy the Matt Gaetz’s of the party, they quickly dispelled that magical thinking. “The impeachment inquiry is right,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) told NBC News. Good is one of several Republicans to threaten that even a meritless impeachment inquiry would fail to satisfy them. “That has absolutely nothing to do with the spending battle,” he said. “We can do both at the same time.”
McCarthy is one of a few lawmakers who remained in D.C. this weekend to work on a short-term fix. And as of this Sunday writing, six days out from a looming government shutdown, no progress has been made. Perhaps a more productive exercise would be for the speaker to read my colleague Tim Murphy, who explains how a career of bankrupt morals and shameless groveling turned him into one of the most ineffective leaders in recent memory.
New ProPublica Report Indicates Clarence Thomas Secretly Attended Fundraising Event for Group Pushing Cases Before the Court by Kelsey Reichmann
September 22, 2023
Introduction:
WASHINGTON (Courthouse News) — Justice Clarence Thomas faced new criticism Friday following a report detailing his connections to the Koch network — a political organization supporting one of the biggest cases in the high court’s upcoming term.
According to ProPublica, Thomas took a private jet flight to Palm Springs in 2018 to attend the network’s private conference. At the event, the conservative justice served as a fundraising draw, participating in private dinners for the organization’s donors.
Attendees who got the chance to dine with Thomas and other high-profile guests are said to give millions to the Koch organization each year. Just to attend the yearly summit, donors must give at least $100,000 a year, according to the report.
Koch network executives told ProPublica that these dinners were a fundraising strategy. The donors would get access to high-profile guests to encourage them to continue their support for the organization.
The Koch network and its founders, billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, have put many consequential cases before the court, including one of the biggest the court will hear in their upcoming term.
White House Preparing for Government Shutdown as House Republicans Lack a Viable Endgame for Funding September 22, 2023
Introduction:
WASHINGTON (AP via Courthouse News) — The White House is preparing Friday to direct federal agencies to get ready for a shutdown after House Republicans left town for the weekend with no viable plan to keep the government funded and avert politically and economically costly disruption of federal services.
A federal shutdown after Sept. 30 seems all but certain unless Speaker Kevin McCarthy can persuade his rebellious hard-right flank of Republicans to allow Congress to approve a temporary funding measure to prevent closures as talks continue. Instead, he's launched a much more ambitious plan to try to start passing multiple funding bills once the House returns Tuesday, with just five days to resolve the standoff.
“We got members working, and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward on Tuesday to pass these bills,” McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol.
McCarthy signaled his preference for avoiding a closure, but a hard-right flank of his House majority has effectively seized control. “I still believe if you shut down you’re in a weaker position,” he said.
The standoff with House Republicans over government funding puts at risk a range of activities — including pay for the military and law enforcement personnel, food safety and food aid programs, air travel and passport processing — and could wreck havoc with the U.S. economy.
US government and 17 states sue Amazon in landmark monopoly case
Source: CNN Business
CNN — The US government and 17 states are suing Amazon in a landmark monopoly case reflecting years of allegations that the e-commerce giant abused its economic dominance and harmed fair competition.
The groundbreaking lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and 17 attorneys general marks the US government’s sharpest attack yet against Amazon, a company that started off selling books on the internet but has since become known as “the everything store,” expanding into selling a vast range of consumer products, creating a globe-spanning logistics network and becoming a powerhouse in other technologies such as cloud computing.
The complaint alleges Amazon unfairly promotes its own platform and services at the expense of third-party sellers who rely on the company’s e-commerce marketplace for distribution.For example, according to the FTC, Amazon has harmed competition by requiring sellers on its platform to purchase Amazon’s in-house logistics services in order to secure the best seller benefits, referred to as “Prime” eligibility. It also claims the company anticompetitively forces sellers to list their products on Amazon at the lowest prices anywhere on the web, instead of allowing sellers to offer their products at competing marketplaces for a lower price.
That practice is already the subject of a separate lawsuit targeting Amazon filed by California’s attorney general last year. Because of Amazon’s dominance in e-commerce, sellers have little option but to accept Amazon’s terms, the FTC alleges, resulting in higher prices for consumers and a worse consumer experience. Amazon also ranks its own products in marketplace search results higher than those sold by third parties, the FTC said.
Biden urges striking auto workers to "stick with it" in picket line visit unparalleled in history
Updated 2:20 PM EDT, September 26, 2023
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- President Joe Biden joined United Auto Workers strikers on a picket line Tuesday as their work stoppage against major carmakers hit day 12, a demonstration of support for organized labor apparently unparalleled in presidential history.
"Stick with it," he told them, exchanging fist bumps with grinning picketers as he walked along the line. "You deserve the significant raise you need," Biden said through a bullhorn while wearing a union baseball cap after arriving at a General Motors parts distribution warehouse west of Detroit.
He encouraged them to continue fighting for better wages despite concerns that a prolonged strike could slow the economy. He said "yes" when asked if UAW members deserved a 40% raise, one of the demands that the union has made. "No deal, no wheels!" workers chanted as Biden arrived. "No pay, no parts!"
He was joined by UAW President Shawn Fain, who rode with him in the presidential limousine to the picket line. "Thank you, Mr. President, for coming to stand up with us in our generation-defining moment," said Fain, who described the union as engaged in a "kind of war" against "corporate greed." "We do the heavy lifting. We do the real work," Fein said. "Not the CEOs."
Republicans’ long shot attempt to impeach President Joe Biden got off to a rocky start Thursday, with their star witness, legal expert Jonathan Turley, outright saying he doesn’t see any evidence to support impeachment.
“I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment,” he testified.
Turley, a Fox News legal analyst and D.C. lawyer who argued against Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment, was called on by House Republicans to testify in the first hearing of an inquiry into whether Biden should be impeached. Republicans have been desperately searching for evidence of wrongdoing since well before Biden was elected, and the inquiry gives them the ability to obtain materials like bank records.
Measure to Slash Defense Secretary’s Salary Shows 'Growing animosity between conservatives and military leaders' September 28, 2023
Introduction:
(Alternet) During the George W. Bush years, far-right Republicans often attacked Democrats as weak on national defense — especially if they openly opposed the invasion of Iraq. But these days, Republican anti-Democrat messaging on the military is much different.
It isn't uncommon for Republicans to slam Democrats, including the Biden Administration, for making the U.S. military "woke" — or criticize military aid to Ukraine. One of their targets is Gen. Lloyd Austin, defense secretary under President Joe Biden: House Republicans, on September 27, approved a measure to cut Austin's salary from more than $221,000 per year to only $1.
Military Times reporters Leo Shane III and Bryant Harris, however, note that the move is merely symbolic — as it has "little chance of becoming law." But they point out that it "underscores the growing animosity between conservatives and military leaders reporting to President Joe Biden."
"House Democrats dismissed the move as little more than a political stunt," Shane and Harris report. "As part of debate on the fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bill, GOP lawmakers approved multiple similar proposals to cut salaries for Defense Department positions they dislike."
The reporters add, "The Pentagon's director of diversity and inclusion, the head of the department's equity and inclusion office, the military's chief diversity officer, and the assistant secretary of defense for readiness — a transgender woman — were all targeted with amendments that would trim their annual salary to less than $1."
Republicans’ long shot attempt to impeach President Joe Biden got off to a rocky start Thursday, with their star witness, legal expert Jonathan Turley, outright saying he doesn’t see any evidence to support impeachment.
“I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment,” he testified.
Turley, a Fox News legal analyst and D.C. lawyer who argued against Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment, was called on by House Republicans to testify in the first hearing of an inquiry into whether Biden should be impeached. Republicans have been desperately searching for evidence of wrongdoing since well before Biden was elected, and the inquiry gives them the ability to obtain materials like bank records.
One wonders if this is more about Republican moderates pointing out to the MAGA extremists that there is no rational basis for moving forward to impeach Biden. Media reports are that the Republicans do not want to vote on such matters on the full House floor, thus the possible desire to choke it all off in committee.
