Last Friday marked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's 6th birthday. It celebrated with a report describing what it considers the agency's top 6 accomplishments.These topics are described below, and the specifics are provided after the jump (with links to further information). 1. Our actions have resulted in nearly $12 billion in relief for more than 29 million harmed […]
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In Competitive Enterprise Institute v. DOT, by a 2-1 vote, the D.C. Circuit has upheld a Department of Transportation rule banning use of e-cigarettes on commercial passenger flights. The main question was whether Congress's 1987 law making it illegal "to smoke" on certain commercial flights justified a recent regulatory ban on using (or, some might say, […]
This article by AP medical journalist Carla Johnson explains that Trump is not simply letting the Affordable Care Act fail (as he has occasionally pledged to do), but taking affirmative steps to harm the Act by making it harder to sign up for coverage. As the article explains, these actions could, in turn, destabilize markets in […]
The independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's director is under challenge in the D.C. Circuit. And the agency's arbitration rule is under siege from corporate America and in Congress. Meanwhile, the agency — because of its independence — keeps very busy doing the work Congress assigned to it. To see what the CFPB is up to, review […]
Reuter's reports that, "[a]s part of its review of Amazon's agreement to buy Whole Foods, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into allegations that Amazon misleads customers about its pricing discounts, according to a source close to the probe. The FTC is probing a complaint brought by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which looked at […]
Discussing a resolution introduced by two Republican Congressmen to kill the CFPB's arbitration rule, Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell observes: "For some reason, though, the idea of giving consumers the choice to participate in a court of law — a right enshrined in the Seventh Amendment — leaves some GOP legislators quaking in their loafers." […]
by Paul Alan Levy Two decisions were issued late yesterday in cases involving the procedures for adjudicating subpoenas seeking to identify anonymous Internet speakers who are accused of actionable speech. An appeals court in California embraced most elements of the Dendrite / Cahill test for deciding whether the plaintiff in such a case should be […]
The White House has withdrawn or removed from active consideration more than 800 regulations proposed during the Obama administration. Among the regulations are auto safety protections, environmental protections, worker protections, and a range of others. A New York Times article is here. Public Citizen's reaction is here. The list of remaining rules under consideration and […]
Peter Lurie — the current FDA associate commissioner for public health strategy and analysis and former deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group — will become the President of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in September. Peter will succeed Mike Jacobson, who co-founded CSPI in 1971. Peter is terrific.
No doubt our readers have heard about the Congressional Budget Office's report on the repeal-only version of Trumpcare (sometimes pushed by Trump and often times pushed by ACA-hater purists). But if you want to actually read it, go here. The two key take-aways on number of people covered and premiums: The number of people who are […]