WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–January 28, 2014 – Senate and House negotiators have agreed on a new five-year farm bill that emphasizes Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow’s pro-conservation, farm-friendly approach, and turns aside House efforts to undermine safeguards for the nation’s land, water and air and public health. Following is a statement from[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–January 28, 2014.  In advance of the State of the Union address this evening, the Obama administration announced this morning that President Barack Obama will take executive action to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for new federal contract workers. Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden[Read More…]

NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 27, 2014.  The government has partially lifted a gag on Google and other technology companies, allowing them to publish more specific statistics about the information they give to the government in response to national security demands, according to the Justice Department. The announcement comes several months after Google,[Read More…]

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–January 27, 2014.  Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards issued the following statement on Friday in response to news that the Supreme Court has allowed the Little Sisters of the Poor not to file a government form stating they object to providing birth control while their case proceeds[Read More…]

NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 23, 2014.  The National Security Agency’s bulk phone records collection is illegal and should be shut down, according to a new report released today by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an independent executive branch committee. The report from the PCLOB – the oversight committee created by Congress[Read More…]

WASHINGTON, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–January 23, 2014.  Today, South Sudan’s government and opposition forces signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Following weeks of intense mediated talks, this agreement is just the first step on South Sudan’s long road to a durable peace. Violence in South Sudan began in late[Read More…]

Court Decision Paves the Way for Obama Administration to Reconsider Drilling in Wildlife-Rich Arctic Waters NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 23, 2014. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Department of the Interior violated the law when it sold offshore oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea[Read More…]

 NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 21, 2014. Change is undeniably in the air when it comes to our country’s disastrous war on drugs. After 40 years of failure it seems that people are waking up and demanding change. Voters in Colorado and Washington State dealt an unprecedented blow to marijuana prohibition when they[Read More…]

Obama Calls New Laws Legalizing Marijuana in Colorado and Washington ‘Important’ NEW YORK—(ENEWSPF)—January 19, 2014. In an interview with the New Yorker published Sunday, President Obama spoke about his past drug use, said marijuana was no more dangerous than alcohol, talked about racial disparities in marijuana arrests and said the[Read More…]

NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–January 17, 2014. Today, President Obama announced critical changes to the government’s controversial surveillance programs. The president vowed that the government will no longer hold metadata on American telephone records and added a judicial review requirement before the government can search the database. He also called for additional restrictions[Read More…]