The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. CONGRESS

Unions leaders mingle with celebrities and politicians as Democrats celebrate their return to power on Capitol Hill.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Editorial Director Ivan Osorio on what organized labor is looking for from the 110th Congress:

“AFL-CIO President John Sweeney calls the election results a ‘mandate for a union agenda,’ and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has taken note. She has promised to push through a hike in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour, a 41 percent increase, during her first 100 hours as Speaker. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), incoming chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, also pledges to raise the minimum wage ‘first and foremost’ and to ‘strengthen labor laws in order to improve the standards of living of middle-class families.’”

2. ENVIRONMENT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans legislative action on global warming, including plans to cap carbon dioxide emissions.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on the possible market for “carbon credits”:

“First, while we are unlikely to ever have definitive proof regarding the extent of human impact on global climate, science is crucial in assessing the risk of manmade global warming. Financial markets regularly assess the risk of real events – life insurance companies, for example, base premiums on actuarial tables. But what is the actuarial table-equivalent for manmade global warming if not the relevant science?”

3. ENERGY

Energy experts plan for improvements in the nation’s electrical grids and transmissions capacity.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the threat to our nation’s electricity infrastructure:

“Misguided environmental regulations, green obstructionism, and the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome have combined to delay the construction of desperately needed new power plants and transmission lines. Needless economic regulation has prevented the development of more appropriate pricing structures.”