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☆ Biden's Education Department just finalized a rule allowing states to protect student-loan borrowers from 'unfair and deceptive practices,' reversing the Trump administration's efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Education Department finalized a rule to allow state oversight into federal student-loan servicers. The rule is intended to protect borrowers from misleading behavior or inaccurate payment counts. The department concluded that the Higher Education Act of 1965 allows states to play a role in regulating federal loan servicers to better protect borrowers from misleading behavior. "States may consider and adopt additional measures which protect borrowers and can be harmonized with Federal law," it said. The notice does have some limits on what states can do, like ruling a federal loan servicer in a state cannot continue operations.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Miguel Cardona, Donald Trump's, Betsy DeVos, —, servicers Organizations: Education Department, Service, Joe Biden's Education Department, Federal, Higher, Department, servicer Locations: Wall, Silicon, Federal, —

☆ Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Insisting He Is Not a Bigot, Says Opponents Seek to Silence Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Sheryl Gay Stolberg | More About Sheryl Gay Stolberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came to Capitol Hill on Thursday and pointedly declared that he is neither an antisemite nor a racist, while giving a fiery defense of free speech and accusing the Biden administration and his political opponents of trying to silence him. Mr. Kennedy, a scion of the Democratic political clan, appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government — a panel created by Republicans to conduct a wide-ranging investigation of federal law enforcement and national security agencies. He said he had “never been anti-vax” and had taken all recommended vaccines except the coronavirus vaccine. Thursday’s hearing was devoted to allegations by Mr. Kennedy and Republicans that the Biden administration is trying to censor people with differing views. It was rooted in a lawsuit, filed last year by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and known as Missouri v. Biden, that accused the administration of colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech on Covid-19, elections and other matters.

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Biden, Kennedy Organizations: Democratic, Capitol, New York Post, Federal Government, Republicans Locations: Missouri, Louisiana

☆ Social Security, Medicare, federal salaries: What payments may be delayed in debt ceiling standoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Among the ramifications of a debt ceiling standoff, any payment issued by the federal government — like Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds, military paychecks and ample others — may be delayed. Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesThe U.S. is in this situation due to a political standoff tied to the debt ceiling, also known as the debt limit. Congress periodically raises or temporarily suspends the debt ceiling to avoid the other scenario: a default on the national debt and other federal payments. Here's the current problem: The country hit the debt ceiling — currently $31.4 trillion — in January. Federal Reserve officials alluded to the likelihood of prioritizing bondholders in a 2011 meeting that followed an earlier debt ceiling episode.

☆ How green mortgages can help finance an energy-efficient home and save money
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

For many potential homebuyers, a green mortgage could be a good idea, especially as incentives for energy-efficiency upgrades increase and costs of new climate technology are coming down. A green mortgage — also known as an energy-efficient mortgage — is different than a conventional mortgage in that it allows borrowers to finance certain green improvements at the same rate and terms as their home purchase. How energy upgrades are rolled into a housing loanIf the home you're considering needs various energy-efficient upgrades, as many houses do, it pays to see what a green mortgage can offer. With an energy-efficient mortgage, homebuyers can finance these types of improvements on better terms. The Inflation Reduction Act and home improvementsThe Inflation Reduction Act — an expansive climate-protection effort by the federal government — makes green improvements even more advantageous for would-be homebuyers.

☆ Biden is once again pushing to give all US workers paid parental leave— and he wants their kids to have free universal preschool, too
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Biden is pushing for paid family and medical leave in his budget proposal unveiled on Thursday. "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. Biden has long supported paid family and medical leave, along with investments in childcare, and he has urged Congress to implement measures that would bolster those programs. "For middle- and low-income workers in particular, access to paid family and medical leave is all too rare, but even the highest wage workers are more likely than not to be without paid family leave," they wrote in their letter. The last time the Biden administration tried to push through paid leave — even at just four weeks — it was torpedoed by Republicans and one Democrat.

☆ If Student Loan Forgiveness Is Overturned by the Supreme Court, Refinancers Are Waiting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Thomas Gokey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The PSLF program cancels federal student loans for people who work in public-service jobs for 10 years, and the impact of relief is profound. In the process, borrowers forfeit many protections that come with federal student loans, including the chance to get their loans canceled. In one survey, more than one-third of respondents who refinanced their federal student loans said they eventually came to regret it. President Biden announced a plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt, but if you privately refinanced, you won't benefit. Most private student loans allow for some kind of "cosigner release" so no one else is on the hook for your loans.

☆ Tucker Carlson, with help from Kevin McCarthy, tries to sanitize the very real violence of the January 6 attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Taken as a whole the video record does not support the claim that January 6th was an insurrection,” Carlson claimed. McCarthy, of course, knew precisely what he was doing when he handed over the footage to Carlson while denying it to actual news organizations. So when McCarthy bows and grovels at the feet of Carlson, it is worth paying close attention. McCarthy, like the rest of his flock in Congress, knows that Carlson is the real boss inside the Republican Party. And it appears to have worked for the moment, with Carlson on Monday night offering some praise for McCarthy.

☆ Student-Debt Relief: Why Refinancing Your Student Loans Is a Trap
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Thomas Gokey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The PSLF program cancels federal student loans for people who work in public-service jobs for 10 years, and the impact of relief is profound. In the process, borrowers forfeit many protections that come with federal student loans, including the chance to get their loans canceled. Recent changes to the law require private student loans to be discharged if you die, but that isn't the case with older loans. Most private student loans allow for some kind of "cosigner release" so no one else is on the hook for your loans. Refinancing companies make the system worse for everyonePrivate refinancing companies don't just hand out their loans to anyone.

☆ Prosecutors in Georgia are fast approaching a decision on whether to charge Trump. Here's how it would go down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Over the past year, she empaneled a grand jury and fought court battles to ensure testimony from Gov. Two other high-profile witnesses who fought grand jury subpoenas, Mark Meadows and Newt Gingrich, have their cases before appeals courts. A regular grand jury, which sits for two months, would probably move swiftly, Carlson said, since it would have all the evidence painstakingly compiled by the special grand jury. "The reason it'll go very fast is the regular grand jury will have a transcript from the testimony of a laundry list of witnesses that have already testified to the special grand jury," Carlson said. The case in Georgia, Carlson pointed out, is especially potent because of how uniquely strong the evidence is and how reliable the witnesses would be.

These so-called Twitter Files were proof of “free speech suppression,” the billionaire claimed. But for supporters, the details are less important than the narrative: another battle in Musk’s grand war to protect and enable “free speech” — seemingly everywhere and anywhere. Before Musk, Twitter wisely began labeling and then removing tweets that disseminated false information about the pandemic. But it feels like Musk’s actions as head of Twitter are incorrectly being blended with his statements on free speech. Musk’s self-proclaimed defenses of free speech sound good — most Americans remain, rightly, committed to this fundamental tenet of constitutional freedom.

☆ Gen Z workers are underrepresented in the federal government: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Z employees are underrepresented in the federal government, according to a new report. The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service analyzed federal retention trends centering on Gen X and Gen Z. The average turnover rate for Gen Z in the federal government — more than 12% — was also significantly higher than the federal government-wide rate at around 6%. Congress will, however, soon have its first Gen Z member in Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Democrat who won Florida'sFinancial stability was a chief concern among Gen Z workers, who on average had more than $18,000 in student debt in 2021. With the COVID-19 pandemic still present, workplace flexibility and easy-to-use digital technologies were also among the priorities of Gen X and Gen Z federal employees, according to the report.

☆ Republicans' next big play is to 'scare the hell out of Washington' by rewriting the Constitution. And they're willing to play the long game to win.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-31 | by ( Grace Panetta | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

Whether it happens, he said, is highly dependent on Republicans' success winning state legislatures during the 2022 midterm elections. But not everyone in the conservative constitutional convention movement believes such a gathering is so imminent. Constitutional convention boosters include many of Trump's current and former allies, including conservative legal scholar John Eastman, Florida Gov. In 2012, the Republican National Committee went so far as to pass a resolution formally opposing the convention movement. A convention of states would be the first of its kind since the original Constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

☆ Nancy Pelosi's husband just invested millions in 2 tech companies with lots at stake on Capitol Hill
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-12 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The House speaker's husband, Paul Pelosi, made two million-dollar stock trades. Pelosi's husband buys up more stocksHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, bought stocks in Google's parent company, Alphabet, and in Nvidia Corporation, which designs graphics-processing units for the gaming market. Drew Hammill, the speaker's spokesman, said she did not own any stock and complied with all disclosures, which require members of Congress to post stock trades for spouses and dependent children. Rep. Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas, in a group photo with freshman members of the House Republican Conference on the House steps of the US Capitol on January 4. By federal law, members of Congress have 30 days from when they become aware of a stock trade to formally disclose it.

☆ Anthony Gonzalez snags GoodRx, Marie Newman sells Moderna, Gary Peters buys fossil fuel burners
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-26 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Newman sells ModernaLast week, Insider reporters Kimberly Leonard and Warren Rojas profiled the stock trades of Rep. Marie Newman, a freshman Democrat from Illinois, and her husband. On Wednesday, Newman reported that she or her husband made additional stock trades in January. And he and his wife last week reported making dozens of different stock trades and financial moves during March. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey, made more than 60 stock trades during March. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, meanwhile made nearly 20 stock trades during March.

☆ Seth Moulton bankrolls ring maker, Mark Green goes crypto, Mark Warner sells a 7-figure window-and-door investment
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-19 | by ( Dave Levinthal | Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton has made a major investment in a Finnish wearable tech firm. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, sold a major investment in a high-end window company. Elon Musk would be proudRep. Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee, purchased between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of cryptocurrency Dogecoin — the same day virtual currency platform Coinbase went public. According to Barron's, he paid $1.95 million to acquire 15,000 shares for $130 each, and paid $1.4 million for 10,000 shares for $140 each. He also bought between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in Amazon.

☆ Congressional stock report: Diet Coke-loving Debbie Dingell buys the competition, environmentalist Lois Frankel eyes oil, and Dan Crenshaw gets his move on
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-29 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Members of Congress regularly make stock trades and are required to disclose them. Here's Insider's compilation of the most recent stock trades lawmakers disclosed. Her stock sales include the American Express Company, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation, consumer credit reporting agency Equifax Inc., and oil company Hess Corporation. Dingell this month also sold up to $50,000 worth of stock in the parent company of department store Macy's. These disclosures, which include a range of information about members' income, assets, debt, and financial trades, were originally due May 17.

☆ Leaked documents show White House blocked government website used to recruit election workers during the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-14 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Government emails and documents exclusively obtained by Insider reveal an internal fight within the Trump administration over whether to create the poll-worker recruitment website HelpAmericaVote.gov. The White House's Office of Management and Budget initially rejected the Election Assistance Commission's request to create the website. EAC officials immediately resubmitted their HelpAmericaVote.gov request. In a separate statement to Insider, the General Services Administration, which had overseen distribution of ".gov" website domains since 1997, confirmed it was no longer involved in approving or denying federal agencies' website requests. Hovland added his agency's request for the HelpAmericaVote.gov website contained all the information OMB required and that he was "surprised" approval was so difficult to obtain.

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