WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 -- The Congressional Research Service issued the following Legal Sidebar white paper (No. LSB11031) on veterans disability benefits and secret military programs on Aug. 31, 2023, by legislative attorney Kate R. Bowers: * * * Supreme Court Narrows Dormant Commerce Clause and Upholds State Animal Welfare Law On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld a California rule (Proposition 12) banning the in-state sale of whole pork meat from pigs that had been "confined in a cruel ma  more

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 -- Rep. Joshua Harder, D-California, issued the following news release: Representative Josh Harder just introduced a new bill, the Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2023, to allow the president to declare a "smoke emergency" when wildfire smoke creates hazardous air quality conditions. An emergency declaration would authorize federal agencies to provide emergency assistance to states and local communities such as establishing smoke shelters, assisting with relocati  more

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 -- Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, issued the following news release on Sept. 5, 2023: Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32), senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, and Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO-02), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, were joined by thirty-six of their colleagues on both sides of the aisle in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging the with  more

MAUI, Hawaii, Sept. 5 (Rep.) -- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, issued the following news release on Sept. 3, 2023: Yesterday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy went to the island of Maui to tour the impact of the wildfires in the disaster zone. In Maui, Speaker McCarthy vowed that the people of Hawaii would get the truth on what started the fire, why it grew out-of-control, why residents weren't notified faster, and what can be done in the future to prevent this devastation from happening ag  more