News and Issues

A team from The Wall Street Journal uncovered secret payoffs that Donald Trump and his associates arranged during the 2016 presidential election campaign to suppress sexual allegations from two women, including a porn star known as Stormy Daniels. The Journal first reported on a Trump-related payoff right before the 2016 election. On Nov. 4, 2016, journalists Joe Palazzolo, Michael Rothfeld and Lukas Alpert broke the news that the company that owns the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., agreed to give former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story of an extramarital affair with Trump a decade earlier. But the company, headed by a longtime friend of Trump, did not publish the story, the Journal reported. more »

“From shampoo and shaving cream to deodorant and make-up, every American comes into contact with personal care products every day,” said Senator Feinstein. “Families trust that these products are safe, but unfortunately many ingredients have never been independently evaluated. Our bipartisan legislation, which has the support of numerous companies and consumer advocacy groups, would modernize FDA’s oversight authority and give consumers confidence that everyday personal care products won’t harm their health.” “Americans use a variety of personal care products daily, and they should be able to know whether the products that they are applying to their hair or skin are safe,” said Senator Collins. “By updating FDA oversight of the ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products for the first time in nearly 80 years, our legislation will help increase safety for consumers, protect small businesses, and provide regulatory certainty for manufacturers.” more »

Julia Quittman's grandmother told her she should choose any career that made her happy: Now she's a Senior Computer Systems Engineer keeping BART’s systems running. Maansii Chirag Sheth's parents supported her decision to leave India as a young woman for the United States to pursue higher education and an electrical engineering career. Now she’s a Project Manager for cathodic protection, battling corrosion wherever metal meets water. Van Nguyen loved math and science since childhood and considered medical school, but decided to get an engineering degree in four years. Now she’s a Senior Engineer working on the Transbay Tube earthquake retrofit. Editor's note: One interviewee when asked about the perception that women tend to have more “soft skills,” she said, “You still have to back it up with logic and really knowing your subject matter, being a good manager or engineer.” more »

A bill to assist states in carrying out projects to expand the child care workforce, early learning and child care facilities in the states; A bill to deter, prevent, reduce, and respond to harassment in the workplace, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and harassment based on protected categories; A bill to require that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits be calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plans as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes; A bill to provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to provide coordinated case management services for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients; A bill to provide coverage for custom fabricated breast prostheses following a mastectomy; A bill to promote the economic security and safety of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and for other purposes; Hearing: Re-Authorization of the Violence Women Act.   Weekly Legislative Update February 25- March 1, 2019     Bills Introduced   Child C… more »