Senate

Senate Confirms Industry Lobbyist to Lead EPA Chemical Safety Division

| Importance: 8/10

The Senate approved Douglas Troutman, chief lobbyist for the American Cleaning Institute, to lead EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Troutman previously fought California’s hazardous ingredient disclosure laws on behalf of chemical manufacturers, representing …

Douglas Troutman American Cleaning Institute Senate EPA institutional-capture regulatory-capture conflicts-of-interest corruption
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FDA Commissioner Confirmed Amid Pharmaceutical Industry Ties Controversy

| Importance: 8/10

Dr. Robert Califf confirmed as FDA Commissioner by a narrow Senate vote of 50-46, highlighting ongoing concerns about pharmaceutical industry regulatory capture. Historical evidence suggests a systemic ‘revolving door’ between FDA and pharmaceutical companies, with approximately 27% of …

Robert Califf Senate FDA Leadership Pharmaceutical Industry Executives regulatory-capture revolving-door pharmaceutical-industry conflict-of-interest senate-confirmation
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Senate Passes Franken Amendment Banning Mandatory Arbitration for Sexual Assault Claims by Defense Contractors, 30 Republicans Vote to Protect Corporate Impunity

| Importance: 8/10

The United States Senate passed the Franken Amendment by a 68-30 vote on October 6, 2009, prohibiting defense contractors receiving more than $1 million in Department of Defense funds from requiring employees to resolve sexual assault, battery, or harassment claims through mandatory arbitration. The …

Al Franken Jamie Leigh Jones KBR Halliburton Senate +1 more accountability-crisis corporate-impunity sexual-assault mandatory-arbitration private-military +1 more
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FISA Amendments Act of 2008 Passes, Granting Telecom Immunity

| Importance: 9/10

Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, fundamentally expanding the president’s warrantless surveillance authority while granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the NSA’s illegal domestic wiretapping program since 2001. The Senate voted …

U.S. Congress George W. Bush Senate House of Representatives Telecommunications Companies +2 more fisa-amendments telecom-immunity warrantless-surveillance congressional-legislation section-702 +2 more
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Congress Officially Defunds Total Information Awareness Program

| Importance: 9/10

Congress passes the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for 2004 (H.R. 2658), containing language that permanently terminates funding for the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program and orders the immediate closure of DARPA’s Information Awareness Office. The Senate had voted …

U.S. Congress Senate House of Representatives George W. Bush DARPA +4 more surveillance privacy legislation TIA mass-surveillance +4 more
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