U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and David Vitter (R-La.) have introduced legislation to block an increase in the amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline. The bill would overturn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waivers that allow gasoline containing 15% ethanol (E15) to be used for many passenger cars and light trucks. The…
DetailsA bipartisan group of 53 U.S. senators and representatives has introduced legislation that would allow local brick-and-mortar retailers to compete with out-of-state Internet sellers. While brick-and-mortar retailers collect sales taxes from customers who make purchases in their stores, many online and catalog retailers do not. Under the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, states would have…
DetailsDuring his State of the Union address, President Obama called for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 (indexing it to inflation), sparking numerous debates among economists, including whether the move would truly help workers or stymie job hiring. “An increase in the minimum wage raises the income of those who…
DetailsThe Affordable Care Act has just passed a new milestone: All states have committed to what kind of health insurance marketplace, also referred to as an exchange, will be running in their states starting in January 2014. Seven states including Michigan have submitted applications for a state–federal partnership marketplace. Under this arrangement, the state might…
DetailsFor merchants, accepting credit cards comes with a sense of mystery — they never know what swipe fees they will have to pay for processing that transaction. The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) has unveiled a new document that shows how MasterCard and Visa have worked with big banks on price-fixing those fees. Even though banks…
DetailsThe American Petroleum Institute (API) and other groups have appealed a D.C. Circuit Court decision rejecting a challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) grant of partial waivers for use of the ethanol-gasoline blend, E15. “We’ve filed this petition because the D.C. Circuit incorrectly concluded that none of the 17 petitioners had standing to…
DetailsThe U.S. State Department released a draft supplemental environmental impact (SEIS) assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline last week, suggesting that the project will not have a huge impact on the environment, reports the Washington Post. From the report: “Based on information and analysis about the North American crude transport infrastructure (particularly the proven ability…
DetailsOn Feb. 22, 2013, NATO filed a supplemental set of comments asking the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products to review the recently approved Potential Tobacco Product Violation Report form and to consider making several changes to the form. FDA earlier received approval from the Office of Management and Budget to begin using a Potential Tobacco…
DetailsMillions of Americans continued to struggle to afford enough food in 2012, according to new food hardship data from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). More than one in six Americans (18.2 percent) said there had been times over the past 12 months that they didn’t have enough money to buy food that they…
DetailsAn anti-smoking group is reigniting its pressure on the FDA to study the safety, ingredients, and potential health impacts on consumers of electronic cigarettes. The Hill reports that the request from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network comes after the release of a CDC study that found one in five U.S. adult cigarette smokers…
Details