Biden/Harris Legislative/Policy Discussions - Now with a Republican House starting 2023

[China]

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn withdraws after more than a year of fighting for post

 

President Joe Biden’s long-stalled nominee for the Federal Communications Commission — Gigi Sohn — said on Tuesday she will withdraw her nomination to fill the fifth seat on the commission.

 

Sohn’s withdrawal came shortly after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced he would vote no on her nomination.

 

The withdrawal marks a blow for Biden and many Senate Democrats who have fought since October 2021 to advance Sohn. It also cements the current 2-2 partisan tie at the FCC for several additional months.

 

The narrow Democratic majority in the Senate — and ongoing reservations from moderates like Manchin — presented challenges to advancing Sohn’s bid, particularly given sustained attacks from conservative, industry and police interests. If Democrats had remained united, they would have been able to confirm Sohn and seat a Democratic majority at the FCC.

 

The commission, meanwhile, has lacked a Democratic majority for the entirety Biden’s time in the White House. It’s not immediately clear who Biden will nominate next for the seat, but it will likely take several months for the Senate to consider a new contender.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Simmsy]

Does the GOP really care if Manchin votes no on this or is he just being a **** head. We need to find another senate seat so we can forget about WV once and for all.

[China]

Biden is once again pushing to give all US workers paid parental leave— and he wants their kids to have free universal preschool, too

 

Right now, the US is one of just six countries without paid leave. President Joe Biden wants to change that with his next budget through mandating time off — and making childcare cheaper across the country. 

 

In his budget for fiscal year 2024, Biden is proposing establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, which would give workers up to 12 weeks off to tend for a newborn, recover, or care for a family member. It includes up to three days of bereavement leave.

 

The president is also urging Congress to mandate that employers give all workers seven sick days every year — an issue that's been particularly salient in major labor disputes, as rail workers were prepared to strike over sick time off before Biden stepped in and Congress voted to avert the action. 

 

"Policies such as paid leave and childcare will bring more workers into the labor force and improve productivity," Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said. "Investments in early education, mental health, and community college not only expand our economy's productive capacity, but pay dividends for generations to come."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[tshile]

totally support paid paternal leave 

 

it’s kind of taking off already on its own but surely it’ll be a while before it naturally trickles down all the way. 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

40 minutes ago, China said:

Biden is once again pushing to give all US workers paid parental leave— and he wants their kids to have free universal preschool, too

 

Right now, the US is one of just six countries without paid leave. President Joe Biden wants to change that with his next budget through mandating time off — and making childcare cheaper across the country. 

 

In his budget for fiscal year 2024, Biden is proposing establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, which would give workers up to 12 weeks off to tend for a newborn, recover, or care for a family member. It includes up to three days of bereavement leave.

 

The president is also urging Congress to mandate that employers give all workers seven sick days every year — an issue that's been particularly salient in major labor disputes, as rail workers were prepared to strike over sick time off before Biden stepped in and Congress voted to avert the action. 

 

"Policies such as paid leave and childcare will bring more workers into the labor force and improve productivity," Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said. "Investments in early education, mental health, and community college not only expand our economy's productive capacity, but pay dividends for generations to come."

 

Click on the link for the full article

Universal preschool seems like a no brainer, as long as you can get good people. 

[Larry]

8 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Universal preschool seems like a no brainer, as long as you can get good people. 

 

Uh . . . . 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

 

Uh . . . . 

What am I supposed to do with this? 

[Larry]

2 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

What am I supposed to do with this? 

Look at your post, and contemplate the part that's missing?  Like the large number of good teachers that your "no brainer" assumes exists?  

[Jabbyrwock]

59 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

What am I supposed to do with this? 

Weird, thats usually my line...

[goskins10]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

Look at your post, and contemplate the part that's missing?  Like the large number of good teachers that your "no brainer" assumes exists?  

 

@CousinsCowgirl84s post makes no such assumption as I read it. But even if it did, because there are not enough teachers now would be a horrible reason to not try to fund a program like this. Make teacher training part of the funding. Good teachers can be developed.

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

Look at your post, and contemplate the part that's missing?  Like the large number of good teachers that your "no brainer" assumes exists?  

The post literally says “if we can get enough good people”

32 minutes ago, Jabbyrwock said:

Weird, thats usually my line...

Picture the motion of the ocean, now reverse it.

[dfitzo53]

17 minutes ago, goskins10 said:

 

@CousinsCowgirl84s post makes no such assumption as I read it. But even if it did, because there are not enough teachers now would be a horrible reason to not try to fund a program like this. Make teacher training part of the funding. Good teachers can be developed.

 

I 100% agree that good teachers can be developed and that we should bolster public education

 

None of that is going to be possible until we get our heads out of our asses as a society and spend much more on education. There isn't a compelling reason for people to enter into education as a career outside of feeling a calling. If you sign on to teach you are implicitly accepting lower than average pay for your education level, a very rigid work schedule (albeit with good vacation) and guaranteed unpaid after-hours work if you want to do a proper job. Attendance in teacher prep programs has been declining for over a decade.

[goskins10]

5 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

I 100% agree that good teachers can be developed and that we should bolster public education

 

None of that is going to be possible until we get our heads out of our asses as a society and spend much more on education. There isn't a compelling reason for people to enter into education as a career outside of feeling a calling. If you sign on to teach you are implicitly accepting lower than average pay for your education level, a very rigid work schedule (albeit with good vacation) and guaranteed unpaid after-hours work if you want to do a proper job. Attendance in teacher prep programs has been declining for over a decade.

 

I agree but I think that is exactly what this bill is trying to do. Let's start with preschool and then work from there. Can't boil the ocean.

 

That is a problem I think the dems have. They try to fix a decades old problems with one bill then wonder why no one has the stomach for it. Or ask for so much that it never passes so the end result is nothing happens. Education, health care, infrastructure - all have taken decads to get into shambles. Was glad the dems settled for a smaller infrastructure bill. Not because I don't think more is needed. But let's get some wins then build on that and fix things right. Show people progress can be made and they will be willing to spend more resources. 

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, goskins10 said:

 

I agree but I think that is exactly what this bill is trying to do. Let's start with preschool and then work from there. Can't boil the ocean.

 

That is a problem I think the dems have. They try to fix a decades old problems with one bill then wonder why no one has the stomach for it. Or ask for so much that it never passes so the end result is nothing happens. Education, health care, infrastructure - all have taken decads to get into shambles. Was glad the dems settled for a smaller infrastructure bill. Not because I don't think more is needed. But let's get some wins then build on that and fix things right. Show people progress can be made and they will be willing to spend more resources. 

 

How do you eat an elephant?

[tshile]

On 3/8/2023 at 4:46 AM, Simmsy said:

Does the GOP really care if Manchin votes no on this or is he just being a **** head. We need to find another senate seat so we can forget about WV once and for all.

She had a terrible confirmation process and performed poorly during hearings. Not just republicans got after her, either. 
 

He had very good reason to announce he’d vote against her. Bad nominees happen, it’s not a big deal, it’s funny who does and doesn’t care/notice though. 

Edited March 11, 2023 by tshile

[Larry]

5 hours ago, dfitzo53 said:

I 100% agree that good teachers can be developed and that we should bolster public education

 

None of that is going to be possible until we get our heads out of our asses as a society and spend much more on education. There isn't a compelling reason for people to enter into education as a career outside of feeling a calling. If you sign on to teach you are implicitly accepting lower than average pay for your education level, a very rigid work schedule (albeit with good vacation) and guaranteed unpaid after-hours work if you want to do a proper job. Attendance in teacher prep programs has been declining for over a decade.

Don't forget the chance of facing felony criminal charges because one Karen in another county read a social media post that claimed that displaying coloring that includes more than two colors was child abuse. 

[China]

Biden has big ideas for fixing child care. For now a small workaround will have to do

 

You might call it a creative hack. Thinking outside the box.

 

Who would have ever thought that the road to affordable child care could be through semiconductor chips?

 

Let's back up.

 

Child care in America can cost as much as rent or a mortgage, and high-quality care can be hard to come by.

 

President Biden has spoken frequently about fixing these problems, by making care affordable for all Americans and raising the wages of child care workers so there will be a steady supply.

 

In his new budget, Biden proposed a record $600 billion in spending on child care and early education, even more than what was in his Build Back Better plan. That plan died in the Senate, and presidential budgets usually do little more than serve as guidelines for potential legislation.

 

So for now, his administration is taking concrete action through a workaround of sorts, using a bipartisan bill Congress passed last summer, the CHIPS and Science Act.

 

The bill provides, among other things, $39 billion in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturers to build new fabrication plants in the U.S.

 

There's no child care money in the bill per se, but late last month, the Commerce Department told companies: If you're applying for more than $150 million in CHIPS funding, you must come up with a plan to provide affordable child care for your workers.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[GoCommiesGo]

3 minutes ago, China said:

Child care in America can cost as much as rent or a mortgage, and high-quality care can be hard to come by.

 

We live in a HOCL area, we had our first kid enrolled in a center as a one-year-old in 2011. We got incredibly lucky that a new center was just finishing construction about ten minutes from our house. It was $1,275 a month. We had our second kid in 2015, the first people to know my wife was pregnant was that center. Our son was born in February, he didn't enroll until September, the only reason we were able to get him enrolled is because another couple had to move. 

 

We told the center in July / August of 2014, we had to prepay for a month to hold our spot for a year later. The price for a baby was $1,925 a month, our daughter was still going there. Our daughter was in her final year at the daycare. Our total out of pocket cost for that year averaged out to $2,500 a month. It was more than the mortgage on our house.

 

We have friends that are our age and have a one-year-old, they have her in a daycare in a lower cost of living area, I think they pay something like $275 a week. I'd love to know what they think affordable is for childcare. 

[Cooked Crack]

Lmao

 

They really gonna pretend to be outrage by this?

[Captain Wiggles]

[China]

Biden has vetoed his first bill. Here's how that compares to other presidents

 

More than two years into his term, President Biden has used his veto powers for the first time. Biden has sent a bill back to Congress that the White House said would have been bad for retirees.

 

It's something that could happen a bit more often now that Republicans control the House of Representatives, although it's more likely to be a trickle of vetoes than a flood.

 

In this case, the veto blocks a measure that was aimed at reversing a Biden administration rule for pension managers. The rule allows them to make investment decisions taking into consideration environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors.

 

"Retirement plan fiduciaries should be able to consider any factor that maximizes financial returns for retirees across the country. That's not controversial — that's common sense," Biden said in his veto message.

 

The rule will now stand, as there's unlikely to be enough votes in Congress to overturn Biden's veto.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

16 minutes ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

 

 

This is a tremendously hot topic right now.  The tactics are referred to by the very ominous-sounding name "digital dark patterns." 

 

The FTC released a report here:  https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/09/ftc-issues-illuminating-report-digital-dark-patterns

 

The upshot is that skilled web and app designers can pretty easily trick people into signing up for things they don't want or otherwise agreeing to things without realizing it, because people are kind of lazy and don't read things.  It's a huge problem because, on the two sides of a transaction, one has all the power and spends a ton of resources figuring out how to trick lots of people, and on the other side of the transaction is some poor schmuck that has no idea he is being targeted in this way and very little ability to defend against it. 

 

One of the biggest settlements so far, and a good example of how it works, for Epic Games which makes the video game Fortnite, involved them tricking people (mostly kids) into making in-game purchases without (1) knowing they were doing it and (2) without any kind of parental consent.

 

Quote

The company has deployed a variety of dark patterns aimed at getting consumers of all ages to make unintended in-game purchases. Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button. For example, players could be charged while attempting to wake the game from sleep mode, while the game was in a loading screen, or by pressing an adjacent button while attempting simply to preview an item. These tactics led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers.

...

The FTC alleged that Epic locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies. Consumers whose accounts have been locked lose access to all the content they have purchased, which can total thousands of dollars. Even when Epic agreed to unlock an account, consumers were warned that they could be banned for life if they disputed any future charges.

 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/12/fortnite-video-game-maker-epic-games-pay-more-half-billion-dollars-over-ftc-allegations

Edited March 23, 2023 by PleaseBlitz

[China]

Manchin vows to sue Biden administration over EV tax credits

 

US Senator Joe Manchin was instrumental in rewriting the nation's electric vehicle incentives, but now the West Virginia Democrat says he wants to sue the federal government "if I'm allowed to" in order to stop too many EVs from reaching US customers with battery packs that contain materials and components refined, processed, or manufactured abroad. The politician made the remarks during a panel on Wednesday, according to S&P Global.

 

Originally, the IRS tax credits offered to car buyers to incentivize them to purchase a plug-in electric vehicle were linked to the size of the car's battery. But as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the rules were changed. Now, the $7,500 tax credit is only applicable to "clean vehicles"—either battery EVs or hydrogen fuel cell EVs, not plug-in hybrids.

 

There are several more requirements, including final assembly in North America, but for most new EVs, the stumbling block is a requirement that battery components be domestically sourced.

 

From this year, $3,750 of the credit is tied to a requirement that at least 40 percent of the battery pack's critical minerals have to be extracted or processed in the US or a country that has a free trade agreement with the US; each year, the percentage increases by 10 percent until 2027, when 80 percent of the pack's critical minerals must be domestically sourced.

 

This was at the behest of Sen. Manchin—a well-known opponent of electric car incentives—and was opposed by the auto industry on the grounds that the US has very little current capacity to mine, refine, or otherwise process the minerals used in lithium-ion batteries.

 

When the new rules went into effect at the beginning of this year, the US Treasury Department said that it would not enforce the domestic battery content regulations until it had prepared guidance—that document is expected on March 31. In the interim, as long as the other requirements of the clean vehicle credit were met, those vehicles have been eligible for the full $7,500 tax credit.

 

Sen. Manchin has not been pleased by the IRS's permissive attitude toward EV adoption. In January, he introduced a bill to force the IRS to implement all the rules immediately, but that proposed legislation only has a single cosponsor and appears unlikely to gather much more support.

 

Without his fellow legislators on board, the coal millionaire says he will turn to the courts. "I'll do whatever I can," said Manchin. "If that means going to court and I can do it, I'll do it. I don't know if I can or not, but I'll do it if I'm allowed to."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

Just mad that their boy is getting arrested