Unemployment rate drops to 9.7%, GOP leaders unmoved

The economy added 431,000 jobs last month, dropping the national unemployment rate from 9.9 percent to 9.7 percent, the Department of Labor Statistics announced this morning.

But Republicans, who a month ago were saying that they’d recognize progress…

In Gulf spill aftermath, oil workers lack advocate

The largest oil spill in U.S. history has received no absence of congressional scrutiny. Yet as lawmakers continue to focus their examinations on the environmental, economic and energy implications of the disaster, a number of labor advocates are beginning to wonder: What about the workers?

Massey miner: ‘I felt like I was working for the Gestapo’

WASHINGTON– A coal miner working at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine when it exploded last month, killing 29 colleagues, described the operation this week as “a ticking time bomb,” where the management valued production over safety and workers didn’t protest for fear of being fired.

Udall, Bennet seek investigation of Transocean’s $1B shareholder payout

Colorado U.S. Sens Mark Udall and Michael Bennet joined 16 other Senate Democrats in demanding the Justice Department investigate $1 billion in shareholder dividends paid out this week by Transocean Ltd., the Swiss company operating the Deepwater Horizon oil rig…

Anti-incumbent narrative complicated by Tuesday elections

The well-worn theme going into Tuesday’s elections — that a nationwide storm of voter unrest would spell mid-term doom for “big government” incumbents and particularly Democrats — was hardly proven. Indeed, two of the three high-profile races yesterday featured establishment candidates taking on other establishment candidates — with liberals coming out on top. If any one message emerged from the voting, it was that Republicans, who have been hoping that public discontent will translate to big congressional gains in November, may be forced to reevaluate.

New offshore drilling would amount to roughly 1 percent of demand

As the scramble continues to plug the oil gusher a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico — and as Senate Democrats promote their long-awaited proposal designed to tackle climate change — Al Gore offers a…

Budget hawks bafflingly idealize big spender Reagan

This morning, Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, senior House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, wondered aloud why Democrats faced with the recent recession didn’t adopt the same policies favored by Ronald Reagan during the economic downturn nearly 30 years ago.…

Udall MIA on effort to close gun-show loophole

There were calls to close it in the wake of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. There were calls to close it in 2007 following the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech. So far, though, Congress has done nothing to address the so-called gun-show loophole, which allows unlicensed vendors to sell firearms without performing background checks on the buyers. That kind of lawmaker inaction hasn’t gone unnoticed by the family members of some of the gun-show loophole victims.

MSNBC: Anti-abortion Stupak mulling retirement

So says MSNBC, which reports this morning that the anti-abortion Michigan Democrat is simply worn out from all the attention (i.e., criticism) he and his family took during the marathon debate over health care reform.

Health reform won’t seriously ding corporate profits

As conservatives scream from the rafters about the elimination of a business tax deduction for retiree benefits in the Democrats’ health reform law, The New York Times responds today with a pretty convincing argument for why…