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News Release | MoPIRG Foundation | Democracy

New Report Released: Auctioning Democracy

Today MoPIRG Foundation and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.

News Release | RIPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Unlikely Allies Uncover $1 Trillion in Savings for Super Committee

As the Congressional “Super Committee” begins its search for $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, a new study released today by the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group (RIPIRG) and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) provides the panel with a great place to start: more than $1 trillion of spending cuts with appeal from across the political spectrum.

Report | MoPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice | Financial Reform

Representation Without Taxation

Marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case, this report takes a hard look at the lobbying activities of profitable Fortune 500 companies that exploit loopholes and distort the tax code to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

News Release | MoPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice | Financial Reform

Thirty Fortune 500 Companies Paid More to Lobby Congress than they Did in Federal Income Taxes

With the second anniversary approaching of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case – which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections – Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MoPIRG) and Citizens for Tax Justice reveal 30 corporations that spent more to lobby Congress than they did in taxes.

Report | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

The 2011 Trouble in Toyland report is our 26th annual survey of toy safety. In this report, we provide safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for young children and provide examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Improved Financial Reform Bill Moves to Senate Floor

Statement of Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski: “The U.S. Public Interest Research Group applauds Chairman Christopher Dodd and a majority of the Senate Banking Committee for Monday evening’s vote to move a Wall Street reform package to the Senate floor. It’s been over a year and a half since taxpayers bailed out the Wall Street bankers after their reckless actions ravaged our economy and cost us our jobs, our retirement income and our homes. The prospect of floor action, while overdue, is welcome. U.S. PIRG and the state PIRGs will work to ensure that this package is improved in the floor voting expected before Memorial Day."

News Release | MoPIRG | Safe Energy

President Obama Reiterates Call for Home Star Energy Efficiency Program

President Barack Obama toured classrooms training students to install insulation and other efficient technologies and delivered remarks highlighting the proposed Home Star program for residential energy efficiency retrofits. Home Star was included in the Senate Democratic leadership’s Jobs Agenda for this spring, and is also being considered in the House for inclusion in job creation legislation. The program would provide rebates to consumers who invest in new energy efficient appliances, weatherize their homes, or purchase other efficient technologies for their home.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Democracy

Citizens United Solution Unveiled

Today Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Chris Van Hollen introduced a series of strong reforms in response to the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling.

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Health Care

Consumer Group Gives Senate Health Reform Bill a B+

With the addition of the managers' amendment, the Senate health reform bill earned a B+ from the consumer group U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) for its cost-containment provisions on Saturday.

News Release | MoPIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. PIRG Applauds White House Changes to Stimulus Lobbying Rules

On Friday May 29th the White House announced a series of changes to the President’s March 20, 2009, Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds.

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Report | MoPIRG | Consumer Protection, Food

Recipe for Disaster: Food Recalls Proliferated While Food Safety Fix Awaits Action in the Senate

The recall of more than 500 million eggs from two Iowa egg farms is the largest but not the last of 85 recalls that have taken place in the year since food safety reform moved to the U.S. Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) on July 30, 2009. However, the Senate’s version of the bill – the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) – has languished while waiting for time on the Senate’s floor schedule.

Report | National Workgroup for Safe Markets | Consumer Protection

No Silver Lining: An Investigation into Bisphenol A in Canned Foods

A public health debate is raging around the world about the safety of bisphenol A (BPA). Chemical manufacturing and packaging companies claim BPA is safe and necessary to protect food from metal can corrosion and bacterial contamination.

However, scientists, health professionals, and children's and environmental health advocates are concerned that hundreds of independent peer-reviewed scientific studies have found negative health outcomes resulting from low doses of BPA.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Transportation

Road Work Ahead: Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America's Crumbling Roads and Bridges

The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways.

Report | MoPIRG | Democracy

Following the Money: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data

This report evaluates states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0”—a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility. At least 7 states have become leaders in the drive toward Transparency 2.0, launching easy-to-use, searchable Web sites with a wide range of spending transparency information. Twenty-five additional states have made initial steps toward online spending transparency by launching Web sites with checkbook-level detail on state spending that nonetheless have much room for improvement.

Report | MoPIRG | Transportation

The Right Track: Building a 21st Century High-Speed Rail System for America

America’s highways and airports are increasingly congested. Our nation’s transportation system remains dependent on oil. And our existing transportation infrastructure is inadequate to the demands of the 21st century.

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STOP TAX DODGERS

Corporate tax avoidance cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. We're working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

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YOUR TAX DOLLARS BECOME CORN SYRUP

At a time when one-in-three kids is overweight or obese, over a billion taxpayer dollars go to high-fructose corn syrup and junk food ingredients.

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Reclaim Democracy

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision ushered in an era of unprecedented spending by big money in our elections, but we're working to return our democracy back to the principle of "one person, one vote."

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BUILDING A BETTER HEALTH CARE MARKETPLACE

Now the fight for health care reform is in Missouri.

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PRIORITY ACTION

Some of the nation’s best-known companies — including GE, Google and Goldman Sachs — have avoided paying the taxes they owe, costing us $100 billion last year.

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