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Dingell slams Trump attempt to overhaul bedrock environmental law
By: Allison Winter - February 25, 2020
WASHINGTON — Concerned citizens and environmental activists from around the country traveled to the nation’s capital on Tuesday to blast the Trump administration’s plans to overhaul one of the nation’s bedrock environmental policy laws at a rare public hearing with administration officials. President Donald Trump last month unveiled a massive rewrite of the regulations associated […]
Trump’s poverty line changes could crush Michiganders ‘barely getting by’
By: Susan J. Demas and Allison Winter - February 17, 2020
Low-income Michiganders could face cuts to federal food, health care and heating assistance programs under proposed regulatory changes from the President Trump administration. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is pushing changes to how the government calculates the official definition of poverty in the United States. The technical recalculation could have major […]
Upton joins Dems in approving massive U.S. House wilderness bill
By: Allison Winter - February 13, 2020
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats approved legislation Wednesday that would place permanent wilderness protections on vast swaths of land in the West. U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) crossed over to vote with Democrats. The Michigan delegation was split 8-5, with U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (I-Cascade Twp.) voting with Republicans. As the Advance has reported, […]
Native American women have gone missing. Many have been murdered. Will Washington act?
By: Allison Winter - February 8, 2020
WASHINGTON — Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was 22, eight months pregnant, and looking forward to her baby shower the following day when she went missing on a sunny August afternoon in 2017. She had gone to a neighbor’s apartment in Fargo, N.D., where she had been asked to help with a sewing project. She never went home. […]
Effort to stop mine near Boundary Waters divides Democrats
By: Allison Winter - February 7, 2020
WASHINGTON — As the President Trump administration pushes to allow mining near Minnesota’s iconic Boundary Waters, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) is waging an attempt to thwart the plans. A bipartisan group of four Michigan lawmakers back her legislation, U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Flint), Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) Andy Levin (D-Bloomfield Twp.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly). Upton […]
State health experts ask Congress for help combating opioid crisis
By: Allison Winter - January 16, 2020
WASHINGTON — States need sustained, flexible federal funding to support programs working to reduce deaths and addiction from opioids and other drugs, state health officials told Congress this week. Public health officials asked lawmakers for continued commitment to Medicaid and programs that help states address drug addiction problems. A panel of the U.S. House Energy […]
Congress reaches deal on paid family leave for federal employees
By: Allison Winter - December 11, 2019
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have reached a landmark agreement on paid parental leave for federal workers that could institute paid time off for civilian employees for the first time. The measure would give federal workers 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child — extending the same benefits currently given to […]
Most U.S. aircraft carriers sit idle in ports
By: Allison Winter - November 30, 2019
WASHINGTON — More than half of the nation’s aircraft carriers are not currently ready for deployment, as the massive ships sit off the Virginia coastline in various states of repair or testing. The U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carriers, more than any other nation. Six of them are currently docked off the Virginia coast and […]
Michigan Dems battle Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over student loan forgiveness
By: Allison Winter - November 27, 2019
WASHINGTON — A long-simmering feud between U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and congressional Democrats over student loan forgiveness is heating up as hundreds of thousands of borrowers continue to wait for help on loans they claim were fraudulent. DeVos narrowly avoided a congressional subpoena earlier this month after a lengthy fight against the U.S. House […]
U.S. House votes to ban offshore drilling
By: Allison Winter - September 11, 2019
WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers approved bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would block new offshore drilling off the majority of the U.S. coast — despite pushback from many Republicans. The legislation would put in place far-reaching new protections, blocking drilling off most of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday on a […]
Michigan Dems to White House contenders after debates: Don’t take state for granted
By: Allison Winter - August 2, 2019
After watching this week’s Democratic debates in Detroit, Michigan’s Democratic members of Congress want their party’s presidential candidates to give more attention to the bread-and-butter issues that are key for Michigan voters — which they say will be central in the effort to seize the White House in 2020. Democratic lawmakers desperately want to push […]
Kildee warns climate change harms Great Lakes, experts urge ‘Apollo-type’ investment to stop climate disaster
By: Allison Winter - July 25, 2019
WASHINGTON — Climate change could cost Americans billions of dollars, destroy coastal communities and put agriculture, health care and military facilities at risk unless the government acts swiftly, experts warned Congress Wednesday. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint), whose district includes 119 miles of Lake Huron shoreline, told the U.S. House Budget Committee that rising temperatures […]