The legal hill that cloud-based TV service Aereo has to climb just keeps getting a little bit steeper. This week, interested parties filed their briefs in Aereo’s Supreme Court case. Broadcast networks and cable companies hate Aereo, but now even the Obama administration is joining the pile-on, too. [More]
white house
Obama Administration Takes Sides In Aereo Case, Asks Supreme Court To Side With Broadcasters
By 3.4.14
White House Wants FCC To Support Net Neutrality, Won’t Order It To Reclassify Broadband ISPs
By 2.18.14
The White House today issued a response to a petition asking the Obama administration to intervene with the FCC to preserve net neutrality. Although the response “reaffirms” and “strongly supports” the administration’s commitment to net neutrality, that support does not extend to telling the FCC what to do. [More]
White House: Unemployment Insurance Must Be Extended To Help Spur Job Creation
By 12.21.11
As the deadline to approve the payroll tax cut extension looms 10 days away, White House officials are speaking out to urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to approve the measure that only days ago was hailed as a bipartisan compromise when it passed in the Senate. However, the White House says Republicans have now changed their tune. [More]
Obama Calls On FDA To Reduce Drug Shortages
By 11.1.11
In an attempt to quell drug shortages that are affecting patients around the country, President Barack Obama ordered the Food and Drug Administration to adjust policies in order to streamline the process of getting drugs into patients’ hands. [More]
White House Announces Plan To Cut Some Student Loan Payments
By 10.26.11
The Obama administration has announced two initiatives to lower student loan payments for some borrowers. One, an update to the existing income-based repayment program, will cap loan payments at 10% of discretionary income for certain borrowers. The other proposal will let some borrowers merge older student loans with newer ones. [More]
White House Picks Princeton Prof. Krueger For Top Economic Adviser Gig
By 8.29.11
Now that economic adviser — and Consumerist pal — Austan Goolsbee has departed the White House, President Obama has a spot to fill. Today he announced the choice of Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger to be chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. [More]
White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers
By 4.19.11
Too many doctors are writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers like OxyContin and fentanyl, says the White House. That’s why the administration is looking to push through legislation that would require training for physicians who wish to write prescriptions for these drugs. [More]
Check Your "Tax Receipt" To See Where Your Money Is Going
By 4.15.11
Here’s one receipt you might want to have checked… Even though today isn’t offically “Tax Day” (that’s been moved to April 18 this year), the White House has gotten into the spirit with its online “Federal Tax Receipt” calculator that intends to show you where your tax money is being spent. [More]
Government Says It Has A Stupidly Large Number Of Buildings It Doesn't Need
By 3.2.11
On Whitehouse.gov today there’s a post declaring that the government has a stupidly large amount of real estate that taxpayers are paying to maintain — but that it doesn’t really need. [More]
GMAC Resumes Foreclosures; White House Warns Banks To Not Be Stupid
By 10.19.10
One month ago, GMAC/Ally was the first major mortgage lender to freeze foreclosures and foreclosure sales in about half the U.S.. But the day after Bank of America announced it was thawing its foreclosure freeze, GMAC followed suit. Meanwhile, the White House has warned all lenders that it will go after banks who are found to employ any of the tactics that got them into this mess in the first place. [More]
White House Says President Won't Sign Bill That Could Make It Harder To Fight Foreclosures
By 10.7.10
In April, legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives that would require courts to recognize out-of-state notarizations. It got little notice at the time and was deemed dead-on-arrival by some. Then in the last couple weeks, GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America announce they are freezing foreclosures in multiple states, in part because of improper notarizations. Suddenly, this bill passes through the Senate without any debate. It was enough to make the White House say “hmmmmm” when it arrived at the Oval Office for the President’s signature. [More]
White House Backs FCC Plan For Wireless Broadband
By 6.29.10
If you’re having trouble getting a signal on your smartphone, the White House feels your pain. The Obama administration has endorsed an FCC plan to nearly double the bandwidth available for wireless devices by freeing up additional wireless spectrum. But don’t expect blazing speeds or better signals overnight. The plan will take several years to implement, require congressional approval, and is tied to a bandwidth auction to get the carriers to pay for the right to use the spectrum. [More]
Self-Insured Premiums Jump By 20%, Triggering Warning From White House
By 6.22.10
About 10% of respondents in our informal poll yesterday about health insurance said they pay their own premiums, and according to a new poll from Kaiser Survey, three quarters of those people just faced a premium increase of 20% on average. The recent hikes have prompted the White House to say it will “sternly warn industry executives” today that insurers shouldn’t try to use the new health care law as an excuse to gouge customers, according to the New York Times. [More]
White House Says CFPA On Your Side: "Anything Is Fair Game"
By 5.21.10
The new Consumer Financial Protection agency will be a place you can go to with your complaints and they will be taken seriously, the White House said this afternoon during a conference call in which Consumerist took part. While, “It’s not totally worked out who’s going to be manning the 1-800 number,” said senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee, [More]
What's In The Financial Reform Bill?
By 5.21.10
Now that the Senate has passed the financial reform bill, it’s off to non-smoke-filled rooms, where it will go into a Blendtec with the version passed by the House last year. CNNMoney.com sifted through all 1,600 pages of the bill and came up with a handy cheat sheet explaining what’s actually likely to change when this thing becomes a law. [More]
White House: Free Market Isn't "Free License To Take Whatever You Can Get"
By 4.22.10
The White House has released potions of a speech to be made by the president later today in NYC. In it Mr. Obama calls on banking industry lobbyists to halt their efforts to stop financial reforms that he feels are in the best interest of the market and the country. [More]
Ask The Administration Your Health Reform Questions
By 3.12.10
Consumer Reports is going to the White House to ask them what’s up with health reform, and they need your questions press to them. The Health Blog is going to interview Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, the crackerjack former state insurance commissioner of Kansas. What does health reform mean? How much will it cost? Are we going to get savings or will private doctors get run out of business? Leave your questions in the comments here or over on the Consumer Reports Health Blog or email it to tips@consumerist.com, subject “health reform.”
Ask a top administration official your questions about health reform [Consumer Reports Health Blog]
White House Proposes New Banking Rules, Wall Street Freaks Out
By 1.21.10
So, we used to have this thing called the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated investment banking from commercial banking. Then we didn’t anymore. Now the President has proposed new rules that would effectively restore some of the provisions of Glass-Steagall. Wall Street is like, so not cool with it, however. [More]
