GOP Governors Cut Unemployment Benefits After Disappointing Jobs Report
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Three Republican governors have announced plans to cut expanded federal jobless benefits, arguing that an extra $300 a week is keeping people from working.
The governors of Arkansas (Asa Hutchinson), Montana (Greg Gianforte) and South Carolina (Henry McMaster) are all cutting federal unemployment benefits to push their constituents to leave the safety of their homes and retain full-time employment.
The announcements come after the Labor Department announced a woeful 266,000 jobs added in April. Economists expected about 1 million jobs to be added. The Chamber of Commerce is also pushing Congress to end extended federal unemployment benefits before they expire this fall.
Submitted by BlueNC on
Mon, 05/03/2021 - 08:36
OVER 40% OF NORTH CAROLINIANS ARE FULLY VACCINATED: At least 969,752 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 12,651 have died since March 2020, according to state health officials. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,231 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 1,985 reported the day before. At least 1,101 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus as of Friday, down from 1,137 reported on Thursday. As of Wednesday, the latest day for which data is available, 4.8% of coronavirus tests were reported positive. Nearly half of adults in North Carolina, or 49.2%, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. At least 40.5% are now fully vaccinated.
Senate Reinstates Obama-Era Controls on Climate-Warming Methane Source: By Coral Davenport, New York Times • Posted: Thursday, April 29, 2021
Senate Democrats on Wednesday deployed a once-obscure law to resurrect Obama-era regulations on methane that the Trump administration had wiped away.
A gas flare near Coyanosa, Texas, in August. Jessica Lutz for The New York Times
WASHINGTON The Senate voted on Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation designed to clamp down on emissions of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden’s ambitious climate change promises.
Taking a page from congressional Republicans who in 2017 made liberal use of a once-obscure law to roll back Obama-era regulations, Democrats invoked the law to turn back a Trump methane rule enacted late last summer. That rule had eliminated Obama-era controls on leaks of methane, which seeps from oil and gas wells.
U.S. Senate OK s reversal of Trump rollback of methane emissions rule I believe this is the most important environmental vote of this decade, Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats, said at a news conference ahead of the vote.
Written By:
Valerie Volcovici / Reuters | 4:52 pm, Apr. 28, 2021 ×
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a news conference after the Senate passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 22, 2021. REUTERS/Erin Scott
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a measure to restore regulation of emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, a move Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called a big deal in fighting climate change.