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It would also require the Labor Department to compile a list of companies ineligible for federal contracts based on "serious, repeated, or pervasive violations of child labor laws." The Labor Department said earlier this month that in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2023, investigations had found close to 5,800 kids illegally employed in the U.S., an 88% increase from 2019. Another bipartisan Senate bill introduced on Thursday by Republican Marco Rubio from Florida, with Democrats Alex Padilla from California and John Hickenlooper from Colorado, and Republican Roger Marshall from Kansas, would require the Labor Department to report more details to lawmakers about the perpetrators and victims involved in child labor cases. A February 2022 Reuters story exposed child labor at Alabama chicken plants, revealing how unaccompanied Central American migrants in debt to human smugglers were working grueling factory shifts. Later, in November, the Labor Department filed a complaint against cleaning company Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) for employing dozens of kids cleaning meatpacking plants around the country, some of whom suffered chemical burns and other injuries.

Persons: Cory Booker, Kevin Lamarque, Josh Hawley, Republican Marco Rubio, Alex Padilla, John Hickenlooper, Republican Roger Marshall, Rubio, Dick Durbin, Mica Rosenberg, Joshua Schneyer, Kristina Cooke, Aurora Ellis, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Capitol, REUTERS, Democratic, Labor Department, U.S . Department of Agriculture, The Labor Department, Republican, Central, Packers Sanitation Services Inc, Hyundai, Kia, Reuters, Democratic Senators, Senate, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, United States, U.S, New Jersey, Missouri, Florida, California, Colorado, Kansas, Alabama, Korean, Mexico, Illinois, New York

[1/2] The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Randall HillWASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it is searching for remnants of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down the previous day, in a dramatic spy saga that has further strained American-Chinese relations. A successful recovery could potentially give the United States insight into China's spying capabilities, though U.S. officials have downplayed the balloon's impact on national security. Democrats said Biden's decision to wait to shoot down the balloon until it had passed over the United States protected civilians from debris crashing to Earth. The Pentagon will brief senators on the balloon and Chinese surveillance on Feb. 15, Schumer said.

☆ U.S. senators question Meta over Chinese, Russian access to Facebook data -statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators said on Monday they had sent a letter to Meta (META.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioning the company about documents that they say reveal that Facebook developers in China and Russia had access to user data. "It appears from these documents that Facebook has known, since at least September 2018, that hundreds of thousands of developers in countries Facebook characterized as 'high-risk,' including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), had access to significant amounts of sensitive user data," Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Marco Rubio wrote in the letter, which was released in a statement by their offices. Reporting by Rami AyyubOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Republicans criticize Biden for waiting to shoot down Chinese balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. Schumer said downing the balloon into the ocean likely enables U.S. intelligence officials to examine its remnants. The Pentagon will brief senators on the balloon and Chinese surveillance on Feb. 15, Schumer said. Trump on Sunday disputed Austin's statement that Chinese government surveillance balloons had transited the continental United States briefly three times during his presidency. Speaking on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" show, Trump's former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe also denied such balloon incidents.

☆ Democratic senator urges Apple and Google to ban TikTok from their app stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee is calling on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores over concerns about national security, in the latest indication of mounting scrutiny on the short-form video app from members of Congress. The laws in question, Bennet wrote, require organizations in the country to “cooperate with state intelligence work” and to allow the government to access company resources. China could potentially try to shape what US users see on the app, Bennet warned, with possible implications for foreign policy and democracy. Apple, Google and TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Some other US officials have also called on Apple and Google to voluntarily remove TikTok from their app stores.

☆ The 2024 Senate map just got even more difficult for Democrats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Harry Enten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Sinema’s interests are no longer necessarily the Democrats’ best interests in the next Congress, and the 2024 Senate map became even more complicated for Democrats with Sinema’s decision. The Democrats who run against independent Sen. Angus King in Maine have not gained traction in recent elections. Having two people in the race who are going to caucus with the Democratic Party likely makes it more difficult for the Democrats to win. All that said, the Democrats already have a difficult map heading into 2024. With Sinema’s break from the Democratic party, the road is, if nothing else, curvier for Democrats.

☆ Marco Rubio slams Biden shutting down a rail strike for workers who want more paid sick leave: 'I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn't have the support of the rail workers'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rail workers were threatening to strike over lack of paid leave, potentially devastating the economy. "But if Congress is forced to do it,I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn't have the support of the rail workers." Congress is able to vote to step in and impose a deal for rail workers, overruling the normal bargaining process. Workers wanted 15 paid sick days, according to Reuters, but railroad companies agreed to just one paid personal day in the tentative agreement. Michael Paul Lindsey, a locomotive engineer in Idaho and steering committee member for Railroad Workers United, told Insider it was a "blatant betrayal," but he wasn't surprised.

☆ 'Life is wild!': First Generation Z member elected to U.S. Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Tyler Clifford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Nov 9 (Reuters) - Maxwell Frost had just been elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Congress when the 25-year-old received a call that embodied the historical moment. It was U.S. President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat calling with congratulations on being the first person of Generation Z elected to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. Identifying as Afro-Latino, Frost's background reflects a generation of Americans that is more racially and ethnically diverse than older age groups. Another Gen Z candidate, Republican Karoline Leavitt, lost her congressional race in New Hampshire. Gen Z voters have come of age in a world reshaped by the global pandemic that disrupted work and school culture, all while stirring economic uncertainty.

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