| Senator Mikulski Pushes For Workers' Rights
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski is standing up for workers' rights to unionize. Thursday, the Senator introduced the "Employee Free-Choice Act".
The legislation is aimed at making it easier to unionize without employer coercion. The bill allows workers to reach first contracts through mediation if they don't settle on one within the first 90 days.
50 percent of workers who choose to unionize still don't have a contract within two years after choosing a union.
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Citizens Give Input On Wicomico County .
Press Briefing by Dana Perino
MS. PERINO: Just a couple of announcements, and then we'll go to questions. You heard the President this morning. He had a meeting with the House Republican Conference, in which they talked about a range of issues, and the President took some questions from the members. Two of the main things the President talked about was the Iraq war supplemental and the 2008 budget resolution that the House is currently debating. The President said he would veto a bill that restricts his commanders on the ground in Iraq, and a bill that doesn't fully fund our troops, and a bill that has got too much spending in it. There is one new data point on this today that I want to make you aware of. As we've said, there are very real consequences for delaying action on the emergency spending bill.
Senate Finance Committee Set To Act on Medicare Prescription Drug ...
The Senate Finance Committee plans to consider legislation that would allow the federal government to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies under the Medicare prescription drug benefit -- a practice prohibited by the 2003 Medicare law -- "as soon as possible" after the spring recess, according to a Democratic committee aide, CongressDaily reports. According to CongressDaily, other sources said that the bill produced by the committee "will be less stringent" than similar legislation approved by the House (Johnson, CongressDaily, 3/29). The House in January passed a bill (HR 4) that would require the HHS secretary to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies under the Medicare prescription drug benefit and report to Congress in six months (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/16).
Condi charts a sensible course
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, THE United States has been in a self-imposed diplomatic isolation in the Middle East. But two paths out of that wilderness are becoming visible, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is moving cautiously down each one. The first path leads toward a regional solution to the nightmare problem of Iraq. Rice will take a crucial step next month when she meets with foreign ministers of Iraqs neighbours, including Iran and Syria. This regional conference, which will take place on May 3-4 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, follows a preliminary meeting last month in Baghdad that ended the US diplomatic quarantine of Iran and Syria. As she prepares for this Iraq neighbours meeting, Rice has been gathering advice from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, among others.
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