CEI Today: Subsidizing unions, Labor nominee, Monsanto Protection Act?, and Rand Paul

Today in the News

SUBSIDIZING UNIONS – TREY KOVACS

Townhall.com: How the Government Could Save Move-And Protect Workers

In this era of sequestration, why is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) awarding millions in grants to an organization under Congressional investigation?

The group in question is the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC), a union-backed “nonprofit” organization that bills itself as providing a path towards upward mobility and a better life for restaurant workers. Yet it is under investigation over charges of alleged multiple health violations, and is notorious for exploiting vulnerable members of society and intimidating restaurant owners.

 

LABOR NOMINEE – MATT PATTERSON

The Washington Times: The problem with Perez – Labor nominee uses the law as an ideological weapon

The pattern of Mr. Perez’s official life strongly suggests a willingness to use or ignore the law in service of ideological ends. At the Department of Labor, should he be confirmed, he will wield enormous regulatory power over every business in America. Every employer in the nation would rightly ask themselves under a Perez Labor Department: Will I get a fair shake under this man? Or will my politics prejudice him against me?

 

MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT? – GREGORY CONKO

CEI.org: Greens Falsely Sow Seeds of Doubt on Farmer Assurance Provision

During negotiations on the continuing budget resolution last weekend, farm state senators inserted a rider they call the “Farmer Assurance Provision,” which critics have derided as the “Monsanto Protection Act.” The provision codifies existing USDA practices and elements of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that lower courts should not automatically prohibit the planting of biotech crop varieties, or the harvest and sale of biotech crops already planted, when their commercial approval is revoked for procedural reasons. Activists have mischaracterized the rider’s actual effect and have called on Congress to repeal it.

All the Farmer Assurance rider does is codify existing case law and agency practice. > Read more