EPA’s Global Warming Plans, Debit Card Fees and Alcohol Energy Drinks
The Senate will vote this week on Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block the EPA’s proposed global warming regulations.
California State Senator Jenny Oropeza has introduced a bill to ban debit card surcharges by retailers.
Energy drinks with added alcohol generate debate among consumers and retailers.
1. ENVIRONMENT
The Senate will vote this week on Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block the EPA’s proposed global warming regulations.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Christopher Horner on why senators should support the resolution.
“EPA’s breathtaking Power Grab raises questions critical to our form of governance. The powers EPA has claimed for itself include staking out national policy on the contentious “climate” issue, and even amending the Clean Air Act on its own initiative and authority.”
2. FINANCIAL
California State Senator Jenny Oropeza has introduced a bill to ban debit card surcharges by retailers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on why the bill is a good example of a cheap solution to a consumer problem.
“Surcharges can often mean inaccurate pricing, and can hit consumers when it is too late to change their minds based on the omitted information. The most prominent example is that of gas stations. Imagine you see a sign from the street saying that gasoline is $2.50 a gallon. You pull in and fill up. Then you discover you were charged an extra 5 cents a gallon because you used a credit or debit card. What are your options?
3. HEALTH
Energy drinks with added alcohol generate debate among consumers and retailers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Food and Drug Policy Gregory Conko on why the Food and Drug Administration should back off of its crackdown on alcohol energy drinks.
“The FDA’s effort, brought at the behest of grandstanding state attorneys general and pro-regulation activist groups, is nothing more than an unprincipled attack on a small, politically incorrect segment of the market. Moreover, the central objection is not just to the mixture of alcohol and caffeine in a product, but the addition of caffeine to a food or beverage at all. The same arguments could be used to ban everything from Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper to an array of popular candies and snacks that currently contained added caffeine.”