dc-bureau
Congressional farm leaders split over work requirements for food aid, climate funds
Thompson suggested the House Agriculture Committee could request the House Appropriations Committee reappropriate Inflation Reduction Act funds to the farm bill baseline, given the House’s jurisdiction over federal spending granted in Article I of the Constitution.
U.S. House GOP pushes through debt ceiling increase coupled with massive spending cuts
GOP leaders passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act by a margin of 217-215 after late-night maneuvering Tuesday into early Wednesday to pacify party holdouts who demanded expedited work requirements for assistance for low-income Americans and Midwestern lawmakers who wanted ethanol tax credits restored.
U.S. House GOP plan would expand work requirements for food aid for older adults
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act proposes returning discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing limit, often called the debt ceiling, by $1.5 trillion — but only through March 31, 2024, at the latest.
U.S. Senate panel probes how crypto mining increases energy consumption
Crypto mining in both Nebraska and Pennsylvania was discussed in particular by the members of the panel of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Fossil fuel drilling threatens air and wildlife in national parks, advocacy group finds
Environmental problems like these are already resulting from fossil fuel extraction near four federally protected lands — and could become even wider problems if the federal government doesn’t bolster protections, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks said in a recent report.
USDA to use outdoors recreation to boost economy around national forests, grasslands
The USDA program is an acknowledgement from the government about the clear economic benefits of the outdoor recreation sector for rural areas, Chris Perkins, the senior director at the industry and nonprofit coalition group Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, said.
Court releases partially redacted affidavit for Mar-a-Lago search
The search warrant and property receipt were publicly released on Aug. 12, showing that Trump was under investigation for possibly violating the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.
U.S. Senate preps big tax, climate and health bill after deal struck with Sinema
U.S. Senate Democrats’ wide-ranging tax, climate and health bill appears set to pass after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona struck a deal to soften the measure’s corporate tax increase and a second tax hike aimed at wealthy finance-sector workers, Schumer told reporters Friday.
Pa. eligible for more than $244M in U.S. Interior Department mine cleanup funds
Guidance released last month by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, an agency within Interior, also called for states to prioritize employment opportunities for coal workers.
Record rent increases, low wages are driving an eviction crisis, U.S. Senate panel told
The chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, said that families are being priced out of buying homes, and rising rents mean that tenants are “just one illness or job loss or car repair away from eviction.”
U.S. House Democrats file brief in college affirmative action case
The Supreme Court originally combined the two cases that challenged affirmative action, but then separated them — likely because the newest justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, said she would recuse herself from the Harvard case because she previously held a six-year term on Harvard’s board of overseers. Legal experts have said the court's decision could reshape the use of affirmative action in higher education.
U.S. Senate in turnaround backs aid for veterans exposed to burn pits
The shift came after days of protest and vigils outside the U.S. Capitol, in heat and rain, by veterans outraged at the delay in passage of the $280 billion measure due to objections from Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. Veterans advocacy groups were intensely critical of the delay as well.