In the News

The region’s least senior congressman now sits on the U.S. House committee that controls all the federal money. House Democrats elected U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright to the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, one of the most powerful panels because it approves spending before the full House does. Cartwright, D-Moosic, fills a vacancy created by the resignation of U.S. Rep. Chaka…

Bloomberg BNA By Sara Hansard | February 24, 2016 6:57PM ET Feb. 24 (BNA) -- Maryland's insurance commissioner told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 24 he'll look at ways to help nonprofit CO-OPs created under the ACA and other new plans remain viable under the law's risk-sharing programs. Al Redmer Jr., the state insurance commissioner and a Republican, will testify Feb. 25 before a…

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Penn State Schuylkill had a special international guest on Monday with a visit by Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States and Mexico Žygimantas Pavilionis. Pavilionis stopped at the Schuylkill Haven campus as a guest of U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, to enjoy some ethnic coal region cuisine, chat with people from the county and give a presentation on…

BRENDAN GIBBONS, STAFF WRITER A proposed rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would extend crucial protection to Pennsylvania wetlands, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright said Friday. Mr. Cartwright, D-17, Moosic, joined PennEnvironment Director David Masur to express support for the EPA’s rule at a Friday press conference at the Lackawanna Heritage Valley headquarters in…

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s legislation to grant a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment to 1,809 non-salaried Tobyhanna Army Depot employees and other blue-collar federal workers has been included in the $1.1 trillion appropriations bill that the House is expected to pass today. “I’m very happy,” Cartwright said by phone Tuesday afternoon. “They told me it…

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright apparently has done his homework — he received a top grade for his first year in office from an independent government tracking website. GovTrack.us this week released its 2013 Legislative Scorecards that ranked Cartwright first among the 76 freshman House members in leadership, the number of bills introduced, the most powerful co-sponsors for his bills and…

— Matt Cartwright starts this day as he has most mornings since being sworn into Congress seven months ago: two cups of coffee, two bowls of rice cereal sprinkled with flax seeds and a long jog around the Capitol. Rounding the Capitol reflecting pool Wednesday, the freshman congressman from Scranton pauses to take in the bronze and marble statue of Ulysses S. Grant on horseback, his…

Hazardous wastes produced during the extraction of oil and natural gas would be subject to federal law to the same extent as wastes produced by other industries under a bill introduced this week by U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright. Laws in Pennsylvania and other states require proper disposal of hazardous wastes, but Mr. Cartwright, D-17, Moosic, said the laws differ widely from state to…

KINGSTON - About 750,000 low-income women and children nationwide could be turned away from an effective nutrition program as a result of budget cuts, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright said Friday. Mr. Cartwright said the sequester could threaten participation in Women, Infants, Children, a federally funded program that provides nutrition education, access to healthy foods, breast-feeding…

On June 25, an AP story appeared in The Times-Tribune warning that the Social Security Administration is "approving disability benefits at strikingly high rates" and that "claims for benefits have increased by 25 percent since 2007." The article went on to forecast that these measures are leaving the Social Security Trust Fund on the "brink of insolvency" particularly because poor…