Stuff in the News: Bahrain, Broadband, Iran Nuclear Deal, Power Plant EPA Rule, Jobs Report

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), a senior House Democrat and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, joined Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to announce a bipartisan push to block the sale or transfer of certain arms to Bahrain until the State Department certifies that Bahrain has fully implemented all of the recommendations by an independent oversight commission to strengthen human rights in the country. Congressman McGovern will introduce legislation in the House when Congress returns next month and Senators Wyden and Rubio introduced companion legislation in the Senate earlier this week.

Recalling the success of the New Deal’s Rural Electrification Administration (REA) that began connecting every corner of rural America to the electrical grid in the 1930’s, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan has introduced legislation to launch a massive effort of similar scope for high-speed broadband. Nolan’s Rural Broadband Initiative Act (H.R. 3152) would lay the foundation for new funding and a coordinated federal strategy to bring 21st Century high-tech communications services to millions of underserved rural people and businesses.

Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL), signed a letter along with 93 other members of Congress, sent to President Barack Obama, requesting the text of the “side deals” made between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Iranian Government as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the "Iran Deal."

On Monday, August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a power plant (CO2 ) rule that will not only lead to higher utility bills for hardworking Americans, but will also disproportionately harm millions of millennials and young people comprising the next generation. According to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center, more than half of America's unemployed are teens and young adults. Teens face a staggering unemployment rate of 18.1 percent. The Pew Research data also shows that the share of young adults now living in their parents’ homes is 26 percent, an increase of 2 percent since 2010. The new 1,500-paged EPA rule forces states to rely on less reliable forms of energy and eliminates the move to natural gas, that has created thousands of jobs in New Mexico and nationally. Congress didn’t vote for the rule. In fact, the House expressly rejected this EPA policy to force the closure of coal-fired power plants nationwide. On June 23, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 2042) that would protect consumers from the EPA’s costly, so-called Clean Power Plan. In 2010, a bipartisan coalition in Congress also rejected the Obama Administration’s job-killing cap and trade legislation.

The Department of Labor announced that the economy added 215,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.3 percent. With businesses adding 210,000 jobs last month and a total of 13 million jobs over the past 65 consecutive months, this is the longest period of private sector job growth in American history.