The EPA has announced its intention to cut carbon emissions from new and existing power plants -- and Rep. Whitfield (R-KY) and Sen. Manchin (D-WV) plan a legislative effort to block the EPA's efforts. Their bill (which they haven't formally introduced as of this writing) would also require additional authorization from Congress before the EPA could roll back carbon emissions from existing power plants, though the Clean Air Act already gives the EPA the authorization it needs. What do these guys have against clean air and a non-boiling planet? Wait, let me guess: EPA KILLZ THA JOBZ AND THA SMALL BIZNIZZIZZ!!!!! WITH COMMUNISM SOCIALISM NAZISM KENYAN ANTI-COLONIALISM!!!!!!!! Am I not giving my opponents enough credit? Then they should try earning that credit -- preferably by not asserting that small businesses could possibly be responsible for so much pollution. The Environmental Defense Fund helps you tell your Reps and Senators to let the EPA do its damn job already.
Meanwhile, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell our government not to give J.P. Morgan Chase a $4.5 billion welfare handout, then PennPIRG still helps you do that. What manner of "welfare handout" is this, you ask? Well, J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to pay a $13 billion fine to settle various mortgage lending abuse cases prosecuted by the Justice Department -- and, since a fine for wrongdoing is essentially a "loss," they could conceivably deduct the fine from their income and pay $4.5 billion less in taxes. That's money they owe us, I feel compelled to add using the Italics Hammer. The Justice Department can forbid them from deducting the fine for tax purposes, but may benefit from pressure from our elected representatives in Congress. Five U.S. Senators have already joined the call to keep J.P. Morgan Chase from manipulating the system; PennPIRG tool helps you pressure more Senators to get on board.
Finally, it must be three days now since we've told the House of Representatives to pass ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act -- which the Senate passed last week, no thanks to 32 objectively pro-discrimination Senate Republicans -- so CREDO helps us pressure the House to pass ENDA, again. CREDO reminds us that House Speaker John Boehner is not exactly impervious to pressure -- when confronted with massive pressure to pass the better version of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, he did ultimately relent. And what did John Boehner do when he shut down our government and then suddenly found himself facing a President who wouldn't negotiate over the debt limit? Fold like a house of cards, that's what. These guys all think they're big shots. They're not. And one day, they will pay, with their jobs and with their dignity, for all the harm they've done to the country we love.
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