Democrats stop bid to block EPA rules
WASHINGTON – Democrats have blocked a Senate bill that would have forced the Obama administration to withdraw new federal rules to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands from development and pollution.
Supporters of the legislation – and opponents of the rules – did not get the 60 votes needed Tuesday to stop debate and consider the bill. The vote was 57-41, meaning Democrats have blocked the bill, for now.
Most Democrats say the Obama administration rules will safeguard drinking water for 117 million Americans and should remain in place. The White House threatened a veto of the bill, saying the regulations are “essential to ensure clean water for future generations.”
Republicans and a handful of Democrats from rural states say they fear a steady uptick in federal regulation of every stream and ditch. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor that the regulations are “a cynical and overbearing power grab dressed awkwardly as some clean water measure.”
Tarantino isn’t worried about boycott threat
NEW YORK – Quentin Tarantino says he won’t be intimidated by police groups calling for a boycott of his upcoming film after he spoke against police brutality.
In his first comments about the controversy, Tarantino told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the law enforcement groups that have criticized him are attempting to bully him. “Instead of dealing with the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out,” Tarantino told the Times.
Tarantino signaled that he isn’t backing down from comments he made last month at a Brooklyn rally against police brutality where he said he was “on the side of the murdered.”
The director added Tuesday that “all cops are not murderers.”
White House defends health care co-ops
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration defended the health care law’s struggling insurance co-ops Tuesday, suggesting to Congress that cutbacks demanded by lawmakers themselves put added pressure on an altruistic alternative to mega-insurers.
State regulators have ordered 11 of the 23 nonprofit co-ops shut down over solvency concerns, forcing several hundred thousand customers to seek new coverage. Only one co-op, the one in Maine, made money last year. Congressional Republicans say the taxpayer-financed program exemplifies “crony capitalism” in which the government backs certain businesses for political purposes.
The argument at Tuesday’s hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee was the administration’s most direct response to a wave of seven co-ops closing last month. State insurance regulators appear to be moving proactively to avoid serious disruptions for consumers by winnowing out plans that could fail next year.
Associated Press
