By Jessica Corbett On the heels of polling that showed 88% of Americans worry Big Pharma will exploit the ongoing pandemic to hike drug prices, House Democrats on Monday introduced two bipartisan bills to prevent price gouging for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines and to strengthen oversight of federal spending on coronavirus research and development. Public […]
Two top administration officials, at the direction of President Trump, helped the Federal Reserve alter its lending program intended to bail out small businesses specifically to aid mid-size oil companies, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Bloomberg TV this week. “Secretary Mnuchin worked very closely with the Federal Reserve … and made that program available to […]
By Jake Johnson President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Thursday that environmentalists warned will accelerate the corporate exploitation of oceans by relaxing regulations on and streamlining the construction of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which critics deride as “floating factory farms” that pump pollution and diseases into public waters. The Don’t Cage Our Ocean […]
By Jessica Corbett As the U.S. death toll from Covid-19 stood above 63,000 people Friday—with over a million confirmed cases nationwide—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill in the U.S. House that would enable a federal relief agency to provide disaster assistance during pandemics. The Democratic congresswoman represents New York’s 14th district, which—along with the rest […]
By Robert Reich Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of Americans struggle to get by. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires and disruptions of supplies of food, […]
Wonder Bread is once again off the cafeteria menu as a federal district judge Monday struck down a Trump administration rollback of nutrition standards for children’s school lunches. The 2012 standards, which were championed by former First Lady Michelle Obama, required schools serving lunch to switch over to whole grain options and reduce sodium over […]
By Jeff Turrentine The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined our priorities. Everyone right now is — or should be — concerned first and foremost with keeping themselves, their loved ones, and their communities safe. And when nearly the entire world shifts into triage mode, as it has over the past several weeks, it’s hard for many […]
By Jake Johnson Just over a month after proclaiming that the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. would soon “be down to close to zero,” President Donald Trump said during a press briefing on the White House lawn Sunday that limiting U.S. deaths from the pandemic to between 100,000 and 200,000 people would mean […]
By Jon Queally Climate action groups and progressive critics expressed disappointment and outrage on Friday afternoon after President Donald Trump — despite a continued failure to offer far-reaching support to the U.S. public — moved to bolster the bottom lines of oil and gas companies by announcing a massive federal purchase for the nation’s Strategic […]