Inside these posts: U.S. Congress

Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.

 

Congress acts to shush loud TV ads

Here’s a message TV viewers may not want to mute: The days of getting blasted out of the easy chair by blaring TV commercials may soon be over.

The House on Thursday gave final congressional approval to a bill that would prevent advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to catch the attention of viewers wandering off when regular programming is interrupted. Get the full story »

Ill. job training program set to expire without funding

From the Chicago Sun-Times | A stimulus program that has given job training and work experience to 26,000 low-income Illinoisans will end today unless Congress extends its funding. Gov. Quinn extended the “Put Illinois to Work” program for two months past its original Sept. 30 expiration date by allocating $75 million in state money on Sept. 29. Get the full story >>

Experts say Congress may slow green job growth

Republican gains in the next Congress will likely curtail spending on green construction projects, but the sector promises to be a source of job growth for an economy that sorely needs it, advocates say.

“America needs 30 million jobs. Our mission ought to be to make those green jobs,” David Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of nine labor unions and four environmental groups, told the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago. Get the full story »

Doctors urge Congress to halt Medicare pay cuts

The American Medical Association unleashed its latest salvo Monday in its campaign against cuts in Medicare payments to doctors with a survey that finds overwhelming concern among Americans.

The physician’s group did an online survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older and found 94 percent of them said they are concerned about the cuts to doctors who treat elderly patients.

The group released the findings at a meeting in San Diego to kick off a new advertising and lobbying push to convince lawmakers to block payment cuts — set to take effect Dec. 1 — before they recess for the Thanksgiving holiday later this month. Get the full story »

U.S. decision on China yuan practices looms

President Barack Obama’s  administration faces a deadline on Friday on whether to formally declare for the first time that China manipulates its currency, following an election-year vote in Congress to get tough with Beijing. Get the full story »

U.S. regulators vow team effort on financial reform

U.S. regulators will put up a united front before a divided Congress on Thursday, promising to cooperate on hundreds of new rules aimed at preventing Wall Street excesses from triggering another financial crisis. Get the full story »

Bill on outsourced jobs fails Senate test

As expected, a Senate bill designed to end tax breaks for U.S. companies that move jobs and manufacturing plants overseas failed a key test vote Tuesday.

With a 53-45 vote, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic efforts to end debate and ultimately vote on a “jobs” bill. Get the full story »

SEC watchdog: Timing of Goldman case ’suspicious’

Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the Senate hearing on the role of investment banks during the financial crisis, Apr. 27, 2010. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

The timing of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was “suspicious,” the federal regulator’s watchdog said Wednesday.

The SEC filed civil fraud charges against Goldman in mid-April, the same day the watchdog group released a damning report that accused the SEC of mishandling its probe of Allen Stanford’s alleged Ponzi scheme.

The report, authored by SEC Inspector General David Kotz, said the SEC had suspected as early as 1997 that Stanford was running a Ponzi scheme, but did nothing to stop it until late 2005. Get the full story »

Cybercrime bill on list for passage this year

Capitol Hill staffers have made progress stitching together cybersecurity proposals into a huge bill, aides said, with Senate leadership putting it on their short list for passage this year. Get the full story »

Future hiring will mainly benefit the high-skilled

Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay — or none at all. Get the full story »

White House: August jobs report reassuring

The White House on Friday greeted a better than expected August employment report as reassuring news after a recent spate of “unsettling” economic data, and reiterated it was working with Congress to take additional steps to boost U.S. growth and hiring. Get the full story »

U.S. unions urge Congress to pass currency bill

The largest U.S. labor group urged Congress on Friday to pass legislation to fight China’s currency practices, a day after the Obama administration again declined to label Beijing a currency manipulator.

The United States should also keep other options on the table, including a possible challenge of China’s currency practices at the World Trade Organization, Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said in a statement. Get the full story »

Congress votes to extend homebuyer tax credit

The U.S. Congress Wednesday approved a bill extending the closing deadline for homebuyers trying to take advantage of a popular tax credit. Homebuyers with contracts signed by April 30 who failed to go to closing by the June 30 deadline will now have until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases. Get the full story »