Rep. Hoyer warns of ‘freezes, furloughs, layoffs’

The spending bill to support the funding for the rest of the government is facing a 25% cut. House appropriators passed the Financial Services and General Government 2025 spending bill yesterday and it is 20% below the administration’s request and 10% below this year’s enacted levels. But Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the reductions, especially those to the IRS of some $ 2 billion, will have a much bigger effect than any one agency’s budget. “This bill funds every other bill you are going to consider or it funds paying…

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The Overlooked (But Real) Possibility of a Big Democratic Win

Democrats have spent the past year talking much more about the prospect of a Donald Trump victory than about their own. The relentless focus on Trump is understandable, but it has obscured a central reality of the 2024 election: Democrats have a real chance to sweep the presidency, House, and Senate. And if they do, their congressional majority would likely be more cohesive and progressive than during President Joe Biden’s first two years in office. Biden’s deficit in the polls is much smaller than the party’s panic suggests and has…

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Interactive Calculator Shows How Cutting Carbon Emissions Would Barely Budge Temperatures

Ever since the start of Joe Biden’s presidency, curbing climate change has been a fundamental component of his energy policy agenda. During the spring, for example, the Biden administration issued a power plant rule­­, imposing strict emissions reductions regarding the use of fossil-fuel power plants. There have been many other rules proposed as well, including regulating cars, stoves, dishwashers, water heaters, and even microwaves. All of these rules are predicated on concerns about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on global temperatures and climate change. If greenhouse gas emissions drive…

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Roundup: Republicans Boost Third-Party Threats

WASHINGTON, D.C. – MAGA Republicans are willing to do and spend whatever it takes to reelect Donald Trump in November—and that includes helping third-party spoilers like RFK Jr., Cornel West, and Jill Stein.  Earlier this week, USA Today reported that Trump’s biggest donor, Timothy Mellon, has also been boosting RFK Jr.’s campaign with millions in contributions. Since 2023, he has given $ 50 million to PACs supporting both RFK Jr. and Trump. Trump’s allies have been plotting to turn the election against President Biden by backing third-party spoiler candidates, and…

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Coast Guard ‘stymies’ Senate’s investigation of sexual assault

The Coast Guard’s failure to provide Congress with sufficient information regarding the service’s handling of sexual assault cases points to a “continuing culture of cover-up,” lawmakers said Tuesday during a highly-anticipated congressional hearing on the Coast Guard’s investigation of sexual misconduct at the service’s academy. Last year, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requested all records related to Operation Fouled Anchor, the Coast Guard’s internal investigation of sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy. Lawmakers said the records provided to Congress are highly redacted and include a…

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