Yesterday, the U.S. Senate scheduled a vote on a motion to proceed on the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2011. The vote, if passed, would have allowed amendments to be discussed and voted on for the bill. One of those amendments was the “DREAM Act.” Unfortunately, the GOP voted against the motion, effectively stalling any movement on the bill and on the “DREAM Act” for the time being. The Washington Post writes:
“Republican lawmakers on Tuesday stalled a Senate measure to allow children of undocumented immigrants to get on a path to citizenship, and accused the Obama administration of seeking amnesty for illegal immigrants through administrative changes within the Department of Homeland Security.
“The so-called Dream Act to grant permanent residency to immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who have completed some time in college or in the armed forces has been a sought-after goal for Democrats, who attached the measure to an important defense spending bill. Republicans used a procedural vote to block the bill. Immigration advocates accused Republicans of sacrificing the well-being of thousands of young people to cater to nativist sentiment.”
According to a new study released by the College Board, the value of a college degree is on the rise. The New York Times has the story:
“Despite rising tuition and student-loan debt levels, the long-term payoff from earning a college degree is growing, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by the College Board.
“Workers with a college degree earned much more and were much less likely to be unemployed than those with only a high school diploma, according to the report, ‘Education Pays: the Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society.’
“According to the report, the median earnings of full-time workers with bachelor’s degrees were $55,700 in 2008 — $21,900 more than those of workers who finished only high school.
“And the pay premium for those with bachelor’s degrees has grown substantially in recent years. Among those ages 25 to 34, women with college degrees earned 79 percent more than those with high school diplomas, and men, 74 percent more. A decade ago, women with college degrees had a 60 percent pay premium and men 54 percent.”
Six months after the president signed health care reform into law, its effects are starting to be felt, but not in the way that was expected. Large insurance companies are planning to stop providing child-only insurance plans, according to the Los Angeles Times:
“Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.
“Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories.
“The action will apply only to new coverage sought for children and not to existing child-only plans, family policies or insurance provided to youngsters through their parents' employers. An estimated 80,000 California children currently without insurance — and as many as 500,000 nationwide — would be affected, according to experts.”
Mortgage paperwork is to be simplified as soon as possible, according to USA Today. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Obama advisor Elizabeth Warren see it is part of consumer protection:
“Obama adviser Elizabeth Warren and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that the administration is committed to implementing, as soon as possible, several consumer protections that are part of the sweeping overhaul of the financial system that Congress passed in the summer.
“Geithner and Warren made the comments as part of a forum they held at the Treasury Department with a number of consumer advocacy groups, financial literacy counselors and representatives of the mortgage industry to receive input on ways to simplify mortgage disclosure forms.
“‘Whenever possible, we are committed to expediting completion of the law's requirements ahead of statutory deadlines,’ Geithner said. ‘Moving quickly to improve mortgage disclosures is one in a series of concrete steps we're taking.’
“One of the requirements of the new Dodd-Frank law is to combine and simplify two overlapping mortgage disclosure forms, one required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the other by the Federal Reserve.
“Despite a decade of efforts, the government has yet to combine the two overlapping forms.”