A week after the head of the Department of Education’s Civil Rights division publicly apologized for making an unsubstantiated and unsourced claim that nine in 10 sexual assault and harassment allegations are baseless and can be tied back to nothing more than too much drinking and bad breakups, lawmakers are calling for the her removal. [More]
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Lawmakers Call For Removal Of Education Dept. Civil Rights Chief After College Rape Claims
By 7.19.17
Lawmakers Ask Education Secretary DeVos To Explain Delayed Loan Forgiveness For ITT, Corinthian Students
By 5.18.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
Thousands of former students at bankrupt for-profit schools run by ITT, Corinthian Colleges, and others are still on the hook for millions of dollars in student loans, even though the Department of Education approved their claims for a refund. Now, lawmakers want Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to explain why. [More]
18 Attorneys General Ask Education Secretary DeVos To Not Go Soft On For-Profit Colleges
By 2.22.17 — Updated: 2.23.17
A number of high-profile for-profit educators shut down or scaled back operations in recent years, among accusations of overcharging and under-educating students, and new rules intended to hold schools accountable. However, these companies’ fortunes began to turn after the election of Donald Trump and his naming of pro-industry Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. That’s why a group of 18 state attorneys general is calling on the administration to not ease up on these controversial schools. [More]
Lawmakers Who Received Money From Wells Fargo Now Want Answers From Bank’s CEO
By and 9.29.16 — Updated: 10.3.16
Imagine you’re a politician who received tens of thousands of dollars in recent years from a bank, and hundreds of thousands from a banking industry that wants to do away with new consumer protections. Then that bank is caught opening up millions of fake accounts without authorization. If you’re one of these bank-backed legislators, this huge scandal is apparently an opportunity to take shots at the federal regulator the banking industry has been trying to undermine since its creation. [More]
6 Things You Should Know About Heather Bresch, The CEO Behind EpiPen Price Hike
By 8.24.16
As you may have heard, the cost of a life-saving EpiPen from drug maker Mylan increased as much as 600% in just nine years, causing lawmakers and health advocates to call on the drug company — and its CEO Heather Bresch — to lower the cost and provide answers for its increase in the first place. But that could be difficult given the executive’s personal connections not only to the medication, but one legislator. [More]
Religious Groups Call On DNC Chair To Denounce Pro-Payday Loan Bill
By 3.17.16
Faith-based community organizations are among the loudest voices in the battle against predatory lending practices like payday loans. And while most of their efforts are on education and local reforms, a coalition of these groups is thinking nationally, calling on Congress, including the chair of the Democratic National Party, to rethink their support a pro-payday loan piece of legislation. [More]
Bank-Backed Lawmakers Accuse CFPB Of Hurting Consumers By Trying To Regulate Payday Loans
By 2.11.16
It’s never a good sign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when it’s called to testify at a Congressional subcommittee hearing subtitled “The CFPB’s Assault on Access to Credit and Trampling of State and Tribal Sovereignty.” And so it should come as little surprise that bank-backed members of the House Financial Services Committee is trying to paint the agency’s efforts to rein in predatory lending as an attack on the very people the CFPB is trying to protect. [More]
Lawmakers In House, Senate Investigating Fraudulent Returns Filed With TurboTax
By 2.17.15
Joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service on the case of bogus tax returns filed used Intuit’s TurboTax software will now be lawmakers from both the House and Senate, who have started probing the recent flurry of fraudulent activity. [More]
Oregon Lawmakers Cool With BPA In Baby Bottles
By 3.1.10
Most people seem to agree that baby bottles that include the chemical BPA are probably less than awesome to use to feed your baby. States and municipalities have banned BPA, but the beleaguered chemical has finally found some allies in the Oregon state legislature, which voted down a bill that sought to ban it, the Oregonian reports: [More]
Federal Stimulus Is Over-Stimulating Big-Shot Lawmakers' Districts
By 6.22.09
USA Today reports that Army Corps of Engineers federal stimulus construction projects are mysteriously ending up in the districts of important lawmakers.
