The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. CONGRESS

The House Education and Labor Committee holds a hearing on changes to union recruiting rules.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Editorial Director Ivan Osorio on the anti-democratic effect of the proposed new labor regulations:

“Forced to confront a collapse of union membership in the private sector, organized labor, rather than adapt to the changing economy, is turning to government for help. In order to gain a greater recruiting advantage, unions have increasingly relied on employer-sanctioned ‘card check’ organizing campaigns, which circumvent secret-ballot elections. Rep. Miller’s new legislation would tip the scale further toward union influence by cutting employers out of the process.”

2. POLITICS

Political observers assess how Rudy Giuliani’s performance as mayor on 9/11 will impact his political prospects.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: Economic Policy Fellow John Berlau on how Giuliani tackled public health challenges while mayor:

“Giuliani’s courageous actions may have prevented West Nile — although still a serious virus that is made worse by continuing enviro campaigns against mosquito spraying — from becoming a rapid bird-flu like pandemic in the U.S. after it first arrived in New York City. As I write in Eco-Freaks

although he didn’t receive the glory for these actions as he did for those in 2001, ‘Giuliani displayed [in the West Nile crisis] the courageous leadership the nation would again observe in the days after the 9/11 attacks.’