If there's a defining value to the tax bill now working its way through Congress, it's greed. How else to account for a bill that wipes out tax deductions for health care expenses, double-taxes the money you pay in state and local income taxes, eliminates the deduction for interest on student loans, and at the same time eliminates the tax that's now paid on estates in excess of $5.5 million, eliminates the alternative minimum tax, and slashes corporate taxes, all while adding $1.5 trillion to the federal debt? The principal objective of this bill is to make rich people richer, and it accomplishes that by squeezing pretty much everybody else – some right away, some in a few years.
Of course, greed is at the heart of much of President Trump's policy agenda. In its service, he's rolled back environmental regulations, allowing big corporations to shift the pollution burden their pursuit of profit creates from themselves to you, by letting you breathe it and drink it rather than cleaning up their own mess. His FCC is about to wipe out net neutrality, allowing Internet providers to squeeze more money out of you by coming up with creative new fees and surcharges to access sites you now visit at no additional cost. And with the resignation of Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House is practically salivating at the prospect of defanging the agency created to protect consumers from the many and varied ways that Wells Fargo and other large financial corporations have created to bilk their customers.
Had enough? If yes, here's a way to stand up for a different value: generosity. Today marks the sixth annual Giving Tuesday, the Internet and the nonprofit community's effort to add a grace note of social responsibility to the extended post-Thanksgiving kickoff to the holiday shopping season – Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Across the Internet and in your inbox and Twitter feed today, you'll find CPR and other nonprofits appealing for your support.
CPR is not the only worthy cause, and it's not the only organization fighting the Trump administration's and the congressional majority's ongoing assault on our safeguards. But we bring, as Liam Neeson famously intoned, a very particular set of skills to the job. Our scholars and staff have an unsurpassed understanding of the regulatory process and how Trump's various agency appointees are trying to manipulate it. Their work is thus vital to the work of labor, environmental, consumer protection, and other advocates in the broad progressive community.
If you're repelled by the wave of greed now rolling over Washington and are in search of an outlet for good, wholesome generosity, please consider CPR.
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Matthew Freeman | November 28, 2017
If there’s a defining value to the tax bill now working its way through Congress, it’s greed. How else to account for a bill that wipes out tax deductions for health care expenses, double-taxes the money you pay in state and local income taxes, eliminates the deduction for interest on student loans, and at the […]
Joel A. Mintz | November 27, 2017
The Trump EPA’s shrinking commitment to enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws has focused new attention on state-level enforcement and the extent to which it does or does not address problems of environmental pollution and threats to public health. One recent – and ongoing – controversy, involving toxic chemical contamination of a river in North […]
Katie Tracy | November 20, 2017
On Thanksgiving Day, families across the country will sit down for huge feasts, filling their bellies with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy. My mouth is watering just writing about it. In many households, it’s tradition for each person at the table to say what they’re thankful for and express their appreciation for […]
Evan Isaacson | November 17, 2017
Everyone should be paying attention to the tax "reform" bills making their way through Congress. Whether you are a concerned citizen, a volunteer activist, or a career advocate, chances are the tax legislation will do much more than increase or lower your tax bill. Much of the mainstream media and financial press, along with some […]
David Flores | November 16, 2017
Those who take public safeguards seriously are well aware of the potential consequences that arise from the dangerous combination of poorly written pollution permits and lax – even absent – enforcement. From construction sites with failing erosion and sediment controls to ammonia and bacteria-spewing concentrated animal feeding operations, our waterways, their users, and vulnerable populations […]
James Goodwin | November 14, 2017
Today, CPR Member Scholar Emily Hammond is testifying at a Senate subcommittee hearing that will examine four bills that amount to “rifle shot” attacks on the Clean Air Act’s public health and environmental protections. Hammond’s testimony before the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee casts in […]
Brian Gumm | November 6, 2017
In an article just published in the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Law Reporter, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Bob Sussman examines the tenure of Administrator Scott Pruitt thus far. I recently talked with Mr. Sussman about Pruitt’s so-called “back to basics” approach at EPA, the rollbacks of environmental protections he has overseen so far, […]
Katie Tracy | November 2, 2017
Scott Mugno, Vice President for Safety, Sustainability, and Vehicle Maintenance at Fed Ex Ground in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is President Trump's pick to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Although whispers of Mugno's possible nomination had spread across Washington, D.C., over the past several months, not much has been said about his credentials for […]
Katie Tracy | October 30, 2017
Too often, workplace injuries and deaths result from company policies and practices that encourage and reward unacceptably risky behavior under the false pretense that cutting corners is standard practice and no one will get hurt. As a result, an average of 13 Americans are killed on the job every day, and many more are seriously […]