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Pros & Cons of Gun Violence Research
In December 2019, Congress approved federal funding for gun violence research for the first time in nearly 20 years. As part of the fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020) spending bill (H.R. 1865), Congress approved $25 million that will be split evenly between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to research firearm-related deaths and injuries. “The epidemic of gun violence is a public health emergency,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services that approved the funding, said in a statement. “Yet, for more…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Returning to the Moon
Should NASA explore the moon or look farther to Mars? President Trump boosted his plan to return American astronauts to the moon when he announced his fiscal year 2021 budget proposal in February. The White House requested roughly $25 billion for NASA, a 12% increase from what the space agency received just a year before. “The reinforced support from the president comes at a critical time as we lay the foundations for landing the first woman and the next man on the South Pole of the Moon by 2024,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote in support of the proposed funding….
Read more...Pros & Cons of Banning Fentanyl
To stem the growing opioid crisis, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2018 temporarily placed the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its variants in the highest legal and regulatory category, Schedule I, on par with highly addictive substances like heroin and ecstasy. In January 2020, just before that ban was set to expire, the Senate unanimously passed the Temporary Reauthorization and Study of the Emergency Scheduling of Fentanyl Analogues Act (S. 3201), which would maintain fentanyl variants’ classification as Schedule I drugs for 15 additional months, through May 2021. The bill faced more difficulty in the House, where partisan disagreements…
Read more...Pros & Cons of the Voting Rights Advancement Act
Late in 2019, the House passed legislation to ensure all Americans have equal access to vote. H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), passed in December on a near party-line vote (228-187), with one Republican supporting it. The bill aims to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in its entirety. The landmark law was pared back after the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which essentially stripped the law of a “coverage formula” that determined which jurisdictions had a history of racial discrimination in voting policies. Those jurisdictions would then need…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Paid Family Leave Legislation
The issue of paid family leave in the U.S. is gaining momentum among lawmakers. In December 2019, President Trump signed a multibillion-dollar defense bill that guarantees federal workers 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. The bill includes language from the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, written by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). “When this bill is signed into law, it will be a tremendous victory for 2.1 million federal employees who will no longer need to choose between being home with their new child or their paychecks,” Maloney said in a statement. While the…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Legislation to Save Our Seas
A bipartisan bill that aims to help rid the world’s oceans of plastic waste is making its way through Congress. The Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (SOS 2.0) builds on a 2018 law and outlines several steps to reduce marine debris currently floating in the ocean and prevent future waste from piling up. A group of U.S. senators led by Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced the bipartisan bill (S. 1982) in June 2019. It aims to improve the domestic response to current marine debris and prevent future buildup by improving U.S. infrastructure. The bill…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Regulating the Gig Economy
More Americans are turning to jobs in which they can make their own hours and be their own boss. A 2019 survey from the Freelancers Union and Upwork found that the United States now has 57 million freelancers, up from 53 million in 2014, who make up 35% of the U.S. workforce and contribute nearly a $1 trillion to the country’s gross domestic product. With the number of freelance and gig workers on the rise, some states are proposing bills aimed at protecting this class of workers by guaranteeing them minimum wage and benefits, such as unemployment and disability insurance….
Read more...Pros & Cons of LGBTQ Adoption and Foster Care
Religious Freedom vs. LGBTQ Rights The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a new rule in November 2019 that would allow HHS grant recipients, including adoption and foster care agencies, to decline services to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposed rule, which was announced on the first day of National Adoption Month, would roll back a 2016 regulation that added nondiscrimination language to grant-funded programs to protect the rights of LGBTQ individuals. As it stands, federal law does not provide consistent protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Student Loan Reform
Legislation on College Affordability and Student Debt More than half of young adults in the U.S. who have attended college took on some debt, including student loans, to pay for their education, according to a 2019 Federal Reserve Board study. The Fed also estimates that the current amount of student loan debt in the United States is more than $1.6 trillion and that 20% of those who still owe money are behind in their payments. Congress recently took up the issue of student loan reform with both Democrats and Republicans introducing legislation aimed at lowering the cost of college and…
Read more...Pros & Cons of Drug Imports from Canada
Federal and State Importation Proposals to Lower Drug Costs Americans spend more on prescription drugs than any other country in the world. In 2017, U.S. consumers spent about $333 billion on prescription drugs, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and prescription drug costs are expected to continue to trend upward over the next decade. The idea of importing drugs from Canada to help lower prescription drug costs in the United States has steadily gained traction over the years. Approximately 80% of Americans are in favor of buying prescription drugs imported from Canada, according to a 2019 Kaiser…
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