Crashing coastal property values and the economic fallout of climate change
Climate change has taken hold here in New England. From the White Mountains to Narragansett Bay, there have been more frequent heat waves; native wildlife and plants are shifting north; and there have been troubling upticks in climate-related ailments like tick-borne diseases and asthma. But nowhere is climate change more apparent than along the coast, where […]
Trump’s coronavirus response proves Congress once again needs its own science advisers
With an administration in power that mocks and disparages science — at the bidding of big special interests and for its own perceived political gain — it falls to Congress to ensure that our government is listening to science. But right now, Congress itself often doesn’t act on the best available scientific knowledge — in […]
Moot Points, Gun Laws and the Supreme Court
The Journal’s editorial board joined Justice Samuel Alito to blame us for the failure of a major Second Amendment challenge at the Supreme Court (“The Chief Justice Ducks on Gun Rights,” April 28). The Justice alleges that we somehow “manipulated” the court. That’s rich, in light of the right-wing dark-money machine surrounding the court. New […]
The corrupt tax provision in the CARES Act: Rep. Doggett & Sen. Whitehouse
As Americans battled the human and economic devastation of COVID-19, Congress sent rapid relief out to families, our health sector, small businesses and our economy. The most recent relief bill, the CARES Act, enjoyed wide bipartisan support and will help if implemented effectively. But tucked into its 880 pages were Republican-inserted tax provisions. The more we’ve learned about their immense cost and […]
Impeachment: What Trump’s Missing Witnesses Say
In the ongoing Senate impeachment trial, the White House’s defense of President Donald Trump hinges on keeping damning documents and witness testimony out of evidence. That is why, for the rst time in our history, a president has deed every request for documents and witnesses from House impeachment investigators, and gone to extraordinary lengths to […]
Carbon pricing represents the best answer to our climate danger
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, represents Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate. James Slevin is president of the Utility Workers Union of America. One of us is a labor leader from a union whose members are hard at work in all facets of energy generation, from coal-fired and nuclear power plants to natural gas and renewable energy systems. […]
Are We on the Cusp of Crippling the CFPB?
On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the culmination of Wall Street’s sustained assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Killing off the CFPB would be a blow to the countless Americans this agency protects. But the powerful forces attacking the CFPB have even […]
With Supreme Court Mired in Dark Money, Time for Large Dose of Transparency
In 1971, prominent corporate lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a memo for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He said, “the American economic system” – which seems to mean the power of corporate America – “is under broad attack” from academics, the media, leftist politicians, and other progressives. Against the nefarious forces of the […]
The unglamorous job of federal budgeting
OPINION — It is no secret that a vast majority of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Too often our political debates are characterized by hyperpartisanship, rather than achieving meaningful outcomes for the American people. Nowhere is this problem more acute than when it comes to our inability to address our country’s unsustainable […]
Climate change and dark money
The earth is spinning toward climate catastrophe. The international community has about a decade to take the steps necessary to avoid breaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius safety zone that the scientific community has established. It will take American leadership to achieve that goal, which means not only bold action in Congress, but meaningful leadership from […]
