Home

What's New

Report | US PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group | Budget

Following the Money 2018

This report will be available on April 25th, 2018.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Public Health

Tell The EPA To Protect Bees Before April 21 | Kara Cook-Schultz

April 21 is the deadline to submit public comments asking the EPA to ban bee-killing, food-supply-risking pesticides. Take action before it’s too late!

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

The chains binding us to infinite growth | Michelle Surka

The taxes we pay don’t cover what it takes to run this country. That’s a serious problem, and not just because we’re spending beyond our means.In the coming year, the federal government will operate with a budget deficit of $985 billion — nearly one trillion dollars — and we may be looking at two-trillion-dollar deficits by 2028.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Urges Appeals Court to Block President Trump's Illegal Appointment of Mick Mulvaney as Acting Director of the CFPB | Mike Landis

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in English v. Trump, a case involving a challenge to President Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). U.S. PIRG, along with nine other consumer advocacy groups, has filed two amicus briefs in the case (one in the trial court and one in the appellate court) in support of the plaintiff, Leandra English, who is the CFPB’s deputy director and, we believe, the rightful acting director of the agency.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Congress Should Oppose Mick Mulvaney’s Troubling Track Record & Requests

Upon request by the House Financial Services Committee, we submitted a statement for the record for a committee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s semi-annual report. This morning's hearing marks Mick Mulvaney’s first appearance before Congress as acting director of the CFPB.

> Keep Reading

Pages

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

Congress Should Oppose Mick Mulvaney’s Troubling Track Record & Requests

Upon request by the House Financial Services Committee, we submitted a statement for the record for a committee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s semi-annual report. This morning's hearing marks Mick Mulvaney’s first appearance before Congress as acting director of the CFPB.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Health Care

New Trump Administration rules undermine health insurance consumer protections

American consumers know that health insurance still costs too much and delivers far too little for what we pay. Unfortunately, new rules announced today by the Trump Administration will likely make matters even worse.

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Recommends a Privacy Bill of Rights

Here is our press release calling on Congress to introduce and pass a privacy bill of rights in response to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

OUR SUMMARY OF MULVANEY TO CONGRESS: “Let’s take away the Consumer Bureau’s independence and then make it harder for it to do its job.”

Our statement on OMB Director and CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney issuing his first semi-annual report of the CFPB to Congress. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves

U.S. PIRG Education Fund joins Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Lowe’s to stop selling paint strippers made with methylene chloride and the chemical NMP.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Result | Transportation

66 Mayors Sign Letter to U.S. DOT Urging Action to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Transportation

By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. While strong urban centers provide many important benefits, cities also face unique challenges. Despite accounting for just 2 percent of landmass, cities produce 70 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. This sad reality jeopardizes the health of urban residents and the health of our planet. That's why today, U.S. PIRG is proud to announce the support of 66 mayors, representing an estimated combined total 6.4 million people, in calling on the United States Department of Transportation to move forward with new rules that could require localities to track, measure, and take steps to reduce carbon emissions from transportation sources.  

> Keep Reading
Result | Democracy

Delivering one million petitions to President Obama on dark money

U.S. PIRG joined a broad coalition to deliver one million petitions from Americans, including U.S. PIRG members and supporters, calling on President Obama to shine a light on dark money, or secret political spending.

> Keep Reading
Result | Consumer Protection

30 years of toy safety

For the past thirty years, our sister organization U.S. PIRG Education Fund has taken a close look at the safety of toys sold in stores. Their reports have led to more than 150 regulatory actions. In November 2015, they released our 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

> Keep Reading
Result | Democracy

Giving more Americans a greater voice in our elections

In our democracy, the size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, we helped win reforms in Maine and Seattle to ensure that more Americans have a greater say in our elections. Seattle’s Initiative-122 empowers small donors with “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the cap on contributions. In Maine, the state’s Clean Elections Act was improved by strengthening campaign finance disclosure laws and offering qualifying candidates increased public funding.

> Keep Reading
Result | Public Health

Convincing McDonald’s and Subway to protect public health

In 2015, bolstered by the support of more than 100,000 members and supporters, we convinced both McDonald’s and Subway to take action to protect public health. In March, just two days after we delivered more than 30,000 petitions to McDonald’s headquarters, the company announced that they would stop serving chicken raised on medically-important antibiotics. And in October, after more than 100,000 called on the chain to take action, Subway announced a similar policy for all the meat they serve.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Report | US PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group | Budget

Following the Money 2018

This report will be available on April 25th, 2018.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

In Your Face

The negative health effects of asbestos are well-known. Most people may associate asbestos contamination with the workplace or decades-old construction material, but alarmingly, recent media reports have found asbestos contamination in kids' makeup from popular stores. U.S. PIRG Education Fund (PIRG) decided to do its own asbestos testing at an accredited laboratory.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Plugging In

The adoption of large numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) offers many benefits for cities, including cleaner air and the opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles are far cleaner than gasoline-powered cars, with lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower emissions of the pollutants that contribute to smog and particulate matter.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Kiss Off: A Consumer's Guide To Saying No To Toxic Lip Products

Lip products are used by most Americans every day. In fact, 81 percent of women and 39 percent of men use lipstick or lip balm products. Unfortunately, the ingredients in these products are barely regulated, and many major brands use toxic chemicals in these products. This consumer guide includes some potentially dangerous examples and a few “safer” alternative products that do not contain these toxic ingredients. With so many lip products that contain toxic chemicals, it is hard for the average consumer to know what is safe to use and what is not.

> Keep Reading
Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Solid Waste

Trash in America

The United States produces an immense amount of waste. Natural resources are continually extracted to produce goods that are used in the U.S. – often only briefly – before they are thrown into landfills, incinerators or the natural environment. This system of consumption and disposal results in the waste of precious resources and pollution that threatens our health, environment and global climate.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Blog Post | Public Health

Tell The EPA To Protect Bees Before April 21 | Kara Cook-Schultz

April 21 is the deadline to submit public comments asking the EPA to ban bee-killing, food-supply-risking pesticides. Take action before it’s too late!

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Tax

The chains binding us to infinite growth | Michelle Surka

The taxes we pay don’t cover what it takes to run this country. That’s a serious problem, and not just because we’re spending beyond our means.In the coming year, the federal government will operate with a budget deficit of $985 billion — nearly one trillion dollars — and we may be looking at two-trillion-dollar deficits by 2028.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG Urges Appeals Court to Block President Trump's Illegal Appointment of Mick Mulvaney as Acting Director of the CFPB | Mike Landis

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in English v. Trump, a case involving a challenge to President Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). U.S. PIRG, along with nine other consumer advocacy groups, has filed two amicus briefs in the case (one in the trial court and one in the appellate court) in support of the plaintiff, Leandra English, who is the CFPB’s deputy director and, we believe, the rightful acting director of the agency.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Higher Ed

“You might want to tell your instructors about this:” students as sales reps? | Kaitlyn Vitez

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the education community has worried about how student personal and behavioral data gathered from access codes will be (mis)used for. Here's one example.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Solid Waste

Plastic Waste is a Public Health Issue | Alex Truelove

> Keep Reading

Pages

  • STAND UP FOR BEES
    Bees pollinate 70 percent of the world’s crops. Protect bees and the health of our planet by telling your governor to ban bee-killing pesticides.
    TAKE ACTION
  • TELL CONGRESS TO STAND UP FOR CONSUMERS
    The House is considering a bill that benefits credit bureaus at the expense of average consumers and servicemembers. Tell Congress to oppose it.
    TAKE ACTION
  • STOP THE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS ON FARMS
    Antibiotics are often given to animals that aren’t even sick, and are given without a duration limit. Tell Congress: Protect our life-saving medicines.
    TAKE ACTION
  • ASBESTOS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S MAKEUP
    Some makeup sold by Claire’s retail stores is contaminated with asbestos. Tell your representatives: Kids’ makeup shouldn’t contain toxic chemicals.
    TAKE ACTION

DEFEND THE CFPB

Tell your senators to oppose the “Financial CHOICE Act,” which would gut Wall Street reforms and destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as we know it.

Act Now

Support Us

Your donation supports U.S. PIRG’s work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.

donate today

Consumer Alerts

Join our network and stay up to date on our campaigns, get important consumer updates and take action on critical issues.
Optional Member Code