For nearly a century, the House has been fixed with 435 members. A growing movement in Congress and in think tanks, however, seeks to bump that number up to increase public access to members, improve diversity and reduce workloads for individual members. In January, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced H.R. 622, the Restoring Equal and Accountable Legislators in the House (REAL House) Act, which would add 150 seats to the House, increasing it to 585 members. “Members of the House of Representatives are their constituents’ most direct connection to the federal government and its resources and services,” Blumenauer said in…

Congressional Republicans recently attempted to block a new rule from the U.S. Department of Labor that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments. The ESG rule, formally known as the Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights, went into effect on Jan. 30, following an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in May 2021. “The intensifying impacts of climate change present physical risk to assets, publicly traded securities, private investments, and companies — such as increased extreme weather risk leading to supply chain disruptions,” the executive order…