The US Environmental Protection Agency has been criticized by environmentalists as being too business-friendly, but recent statements from the agency on climate change suggest it's warming up to environmentalist views. The US Climate Change Science Program, a government agency, also seems to feel to speak its mind.
Pew is also as balanced as you'll get on global warming, although at the end of the day they lean more left than right.
You probably couldn't tell from the 2004 election, but in 2002 Congress set strict limits on how much money can go into federal campaigns. The McCain-Feingold Act, as it's commonly known, was passed with the intent of closing loopholes in earlier campaign finance laws. Opponents of the reform are troubled by how it limits the 1st Amendment right to free association and free speech. Cynics suspect that no matter how much you regulate campaign spending, people with political opinions and money to burn will find a way to toss their 2-plus cents into the election fray; 527's are the latest example.
The laws
In 1867 Congress passed the first law putting a check on how political campaigns could raise money (by saying government employees couldn't wedge money out of naval yardworkers). Campaign finance laws have been expanding – and getting more complicated - every since.
After being hit hard by lobbyist scandals in '05, Congress was in the mood to wipe off the taint of corruption in 2006. But early whip-cracking efforts to clean up lobbyists' act and rein in the influence of corrupting "earmarks" eventually wilted into a few modest reforms - in bills that never got passed.
2007 revived lobby and earmark reform, starting off the year with a reform frenzy, with the House passing rules to out earmark sponsors and the Senate passing a bill to shine even more light on lobbyist activities. The House followed up on the Senate's bill, passing a similar bill in May - with the two chambers passing a final bill in early August.
Though some lawmakers grumbled the 2007 bill didn't go far enough and there's still some talk of creating an independent ethics panel, it looks like Congress is prettyu much finished with lobby and earmark reform for the near future.
During the past five years average public college tuition has increased by a whopping 35% (beating out the 11% achieved by private schools) (NYT). This increase has outpaced inflation and drawn the attention of lawmakers intent on addressing students’ ability to pay for college and higher education’s ability to rein in costs.
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