"Who Runs Gov offers a unique look at the world of Washington through its key players and personalities. Our site will feature profiles of a select group of government officials, including members of the new presidential administration, legislators, senior Congressional aides and committee staff, and experts at think tanks and interest groups who influence how policy is made. Each profile focuses on an individual's policy experience and involvement with specific areas of government decision-making, from health care to telecommunications to financial services to national security. Our goal is to become the web destination for business, opinion and political leaders – as well as students, educators and engaged citizens - looking for crucial, real-time information on the individuals who shape the policy-making process in the nation’s capital." [Gloria Miccioli]

H.R. 2998, American Clean Energy and Security Act, June 26, 2009 - Cost estimate for the bill as amended and reported by the House Committee on Rules on June 26, 2009

News release: "Today, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV) announces the release of an investigative staff report, Underpayments to Consumers by the Health Insurance Industry.

News release: "Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2009 Congressional Pig Book, the latest installment in the group’s 19-year exposé of pork-barrel spending. The Pig Book revealed 10,160 earmarks worth $19.6 billion...The Pig Book Summary profiles the most egregious examples, breaks down pork per capita by state, and presents the annual "Oinker" Awards. All 10,160 projects are listed in CAGW's searchable database."

Patricia White, Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics - Testimony: Over-the-counter derivatives Before the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment, Committee of Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. June 22, 2009 [link to all related testimony]: "...I appreciate this opportunity to provide the Federal Reserve Board's views on the development of a new regulatory structure for the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. The Board brings to this policy debate both its interest in ensuring financial stability and its role as a supervisor of banking institutions. Today, I will describe the broad objectives that the Board believes should guide policymakers as they devise the new structure and identify key elements that will support those objectives. Supervision of derivative dealers is a fundamental element of the oversight of OTC derivative markets, and I also will discuss the steps necessary to ensure these firms employ adequate risk management."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today sent a copy of a recent staff report, Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, to two subcommittees of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that are holding a joint hearing on behavioral advertising. A letter on behalf of the Commission that accompanied the report states that the FTC “has actively encouraged industry to embrace new measures relating to behavioral advertising to inform and empower consumers and is monitoring developments” so that consumers’ privacy is protected. The letter and report were sent to the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection."

"The Federal Trade Commission today described its comprehensive efforts to combat identity theft before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The FTC also recommended legislative remedies to enhance the effectiveness of these efforts. The testimony presented by Betsy Broder, Assistant Director of the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, highlighted the agency’s leadership role in developing a national strategy to combat identity theft as part of the President’s Identity Theft Task Force. The Task Force issued 31 recommendations that promoted an enhanced data security culture in the public and private sectors, launched victim assistance initiatives, and improved law enforcement’s ability to pursue and punish identity thieves."

CBO: Preliminary Analysis of Major Provisions Related to Health Insurance Coverage Under the Affordable Health Choices Act, June 15, 2009. Letter to the Honorable Edward M. Kennedy.

"The RaceTracker project on the OpenCongress wiki tracks every election for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and state governor. RaceTracker is a free, open-source, fully-referenced, and non-partisan public resource. It is coordinated by the crew at the SwingStateProject."

Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, H.R. 1207 - To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.

Responses to Questions About the Cost of a Cap-and-Trade Program, June 12, 2009 - Letter to the Honorable John F. Kerry

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Subcommittee on Domestic Policy held a hearing on: Bank of America and Merrill Lynch: How Did a Private Deal Turn Into a Federal Bailout?

• Opening Statement of Chairman Edolphus Towns
  
• Prepared Testimony of Mr. Kenneth D. Lewis
  
• Fed E-mails
  
• Opening Statement of Chairman Dennis Kucinich
  
• Closing Statement of Chairman Edolphus Town
  
• Related postings on financial system
Permanent Link

Did the 2008 Tax Rebates Stimulate Short-Term Growth?, June 10, 2009 Economic and Budget Issue Brief

"The Congressional Oversight Panel June 2009 Oversight Report, Stress Testing and Shoring Up Bank Capital, examines the recent stress tests conducted on America’s 19 largest bank holding companies (BHCs)...The Panel’s report examines how effectively Treasury and the Federal Reserve conducted the stress tests, specifically reviewing the government’s economic assumptions, their methods of calculating bank capitalization, their release of information to the public, and whether the stress tests should be repeated in the future. To help make these assessments of the stress tests, the panel engaged two internationally renowned experts in risk analysis, University of California at Berkeley Professors Eric Talley and Johan Walden, to review the stress test methodology."

"H.R. 2454, American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on May 21, 2009 would make a number of changes in energy and environmental policies largely aimed at reducing emissions of gases that contribute to global warming. The bill would limit or cap the quantity of certain greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from facilities that generate electricity and from other industrial activities over the 2012-2050 period. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would establish two separate regulatory initiatives known as cap-and-trade programs—one covering emissions of most types of GHGs and one covering hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). EPA would issue allowances to emit those gases under the cap-and-trade programs. Some of those allowances would be auctioned by the federal government, and the remainder would be distributed at no charge...CBO has determined that the non-tax provisions of H.R. 2454 contain intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). Several of those mandates would require utilities, manufacturers, and other entities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade programs and performance standards. CBO estimates that the cost of mandates in the bill would well exceed the annual thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates (in 2009, $69 million and $139 million respectively, adjusted annually for inflation)."

• May 04, 2009 - How Would Medicare Part B Premiums Be Affected If There Is No Social Security COLA?
• April 30, 2009 - The 2009 H1N1 \"Swine Flu\" Outbreak: An Overview - See also related postings.
• April 29, 2009 - U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians
• April 27, 2009 - Federal Tort Claims Act
• April 27, 2009 - The 2010 Decennial Census: Background and Issues
• Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001 (fact sheet), updated June 3, 2009.
• Political Turmoil in Thailand and U.S. Interests, May 26, 2009.
• Defense: FY2010 Authorization and Appropriations, May 8, 2009.
• Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies, March 31, 2009

FoxBusiness: "Lawmakers and Obama Administration officials are moving closer to finalizing proposals to overhaul the financial regulatory system -- a discussion which now includes federal insurance regulation and institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but significant conflicts remain unresolved."

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Current economic and financial conditions and the federal budget, Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009

"As the ongoing recession places new constraints on family and government budgets, the long-standing gap between Americans’ need for long-term care services and the public and private funding available to pay for them grows ever wider. Policymakers may be interested in exploring whether private long-term care insurance – which now covers only about 6 million individuals – could play a larger role in financing the country’s long-term care needs. A new policy brief, Closing the Long-Term Care Funding Gap: The Challenge of Private Long-Term Care Insurance, from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured examines the fundamentals of private long-term care insurance...Also available is related testimony, Filling In the Long-Term Care Gaps, from Diane Rowland, Executive Vice President of the Foundation and the Executive Director of KCMU, who testified June 3 at a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on the role of private insurance in long-term care."

The Budgetary Treatment of Proposals to Change the Nation's Health Insurance System, May 27, 2009

Treasury: Quarterly Report to Congress on International Monetary Fund Lending, January 1 – March 31, 2009

Fact Sheet: "Today, President Obama signs the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, marking a turning point for American consumers and ending the days of unfair rate hikes and hidden fees. Americans need a healthy flow of credit in our economy, but for too long credit card contracts and practices have been unfairly and deceptively complicated, often leading consumers to pay more than they reasonably expect. Every year, Americans pay around $15 billion in penalty fees. Nearly 80 percent of American families have a credit card, and 44 percent of families carry a balance on their credit cards. To tackle these problems, the Administration moved swiftly with the Congress to enact reforms."

• Endangered Species Act: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Has Incomplete Information about Effects on Listed Species from Section 7 Consultations, GAO-09-550, May 21, 2009
• Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-09-699T, May 21, 2009
• Responses to Questions for the Record: March 18, 2009, Hearing on ATC Modernization: Near-Term Achievable Goals, GAO-09-718R, May 20, 2009
• Effect of Personnel Reform on the Federal Aviation Administration's Budget, GAO-09-645R, May 14, 2009
• Freight Rail Security: Actions Have Been Taken to Enhance Security, but the Federal Strategy Can Be Strengthened and Security Efforts Better Monitored, GAO-09-243, April 21, 2009

Oversight of the Troubled Assets Relief Program - The witness was The Honorable Timothy Geithner, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Oversight of the Troubled Assets Relief Program - The witness was The Honorable Timothy Geithner, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

News release: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation posted a $33.5 billion deficit for the first half of fiscal year 2009, PBGC Acting Director Vince Snowbarger told the Senate Special Committee on Aging at a hearing today. Based on unaudited financial numbers as of March 31, the deficit represents an increase over FY 2008’s $11 billion shortfall, and is the largest in the agency’s 35-year history...The $22.5 billion deficit increase was due primarily to about $11 billion in completed and probable pension plan terminations; about $7 billion resulting from a decrease in the interest factor used to value liabilities; about $3 billion in investment losses; and about $2 billion in actuarial charges."

News release: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D‐Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R‐Iowa) today released policy options for financing reform of America's health care system...Three areas of potential funding sources explored in the financing options are: savings achieved from within the health care system from reductions in current levels of spending; reevaluating current health tax subsidies; and changing non‐health tax provisions."

News release: "Today, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, introduced The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009. This important legislation establishes a comprehensive and unifying mission for the nation’s surface transportation system."

News release: "Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chairman of the JEC, released a report showing unfair credit card practices are sending American families further into debt and undermining the economic recovery. The report, Vicious Cycle: How Unfair Credit Card Company Practices Are Squeezing Consumers and Undermining the Recovery, outlines how the economic downturn and financial crisis have accelerated the adverse impacts of these practices on consumers, small businesses and our economy as a whole."

Description of Policy Options Expanding Health Care Coverage: Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans, Senate Finance Committee, May 14, 2009

Follow up to GPO Access: Budget of the United States Government and The President’s 2010 Budget, from OMB: "Today, we released the final volumes of the President’s FY 2010 Budget. These volumes include the Summary Tables, which show aggregate budget projections for the next 10 years; Historical Tables, which offer a wealth of budget data over the last century; and Analytical Perspectives, which provides a detailed discussion of certain budget concepts and Administration policies."

Follow up to April 26, 2009 posting - WSJ Interactive Map - Adverse events at top 100 newspapers, 2006-2009, this New York Times op-ed by Frank Rich - The American Press on Suicide Watch: "Newspaper circulations and revenues are in free fall. Legendary brands from The Los Angeles Times to The Philadelphia Inquirer are teetering. The New York Times Company threatened to close The Boston Globe if its employees didn’t make substantial sacrifices in salaries and benefits. Other papers have died. The reporting ranks on network and local news alike are shriveling. You know it’s bad when the Senate is moved, as it was last week, to weigh in with hearings on The Future of Journalism."

• Monthly Budget Review, May 2009 - Based on the Monthly Treasury Statement for March and the Daily Treasury Statements for April: "The federal government incurred a deficit of close to $800 billion for the first seven months of fiscal year 2009, CBO estimates—$646 billion more than the deficit recorded through April 2008. That estimate includes outlays for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) measured on a net-present-value basis (adjusted for market risk), consistent with statutory requirements and with the approach used in the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2010, which was transmitted today. On a present-value basis, CBO estimates that outlays for the TARP were $116 billion through April."
• Financing Federal Aviation Programs, May 7, 2009 - Testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives: "In reauthorizing activities of the FAA, particularly modernizing and operating the air traffic control system, the Congress faces a decision about how to split the costs between users of the agency’s services and taxpayers. During recent years, about 75 percent to 85 percent of funding for the FAA has come from users of the air traffic control system through various taxes, while the remaining amount has come from the general fund of the Treasury."
• The Distribution of Revenues from a Cap-and-Trade Program for CO2 Emissions, May 7, 2009 - Testimony before Committee on Finance, United States Senate: "Under a cap-and-trade program, consumers would ultimately bear most of the costs of emission reductions. Firms that used emission allowances for CO2 would generally pass along to consumers the cost of using those allowances in the form of higher prices for their products—regardless of whether the government sold emission allowances or gave them away. Such price increases would be essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program because they would be the most important mechanism through which businesses and households were encouraged to make investments and behavioral changes that reduced CO2 emissions. see also related postings on climate change].

On May 6, 2009 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held the following Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet hearing: The Future of Journalism. Witness statements:

• Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience, Google Inc.
  
• Alberto Ibargüen, President and Chief Executive Officer, John S. And James L. Knight Foundation
  
• David Simon, Author, TV Producer and Former Newspaperman
  
• Steve Coll, Former Managing Editor, The Washington Post
  
• James Moroney, Publisher/CEO, The Dallas Morning News
  
• Arianna Huffington, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services that, with the rapid increase in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, the FTC has intensified its efforts to protect consumers from foreclosure rescue and loan modification scams. The FTC also recommended legislative and other remedies to enhance the agency’s effectiveness. Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Financial Practices, Peggy Twohig, testified that the Commission has brought 11 cases targeting mortgage foreclosure rescue and loan modification scams in a little over one year, and is actively engaged in ongoing, non-public investigations."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today testified on the Commission’s efforts to promote better security for sensitive consumer information and to prevent the inadvertent sharing of consumers’ personal or sensitive data over Peer-to-Peer Internet file-sharing networks. As part of these efforts, the agency also announced that it had reached an agreement with one of the largest privately held lenders in the United States to resolve charges that the company violated federal law by failing to provide reasonable security for consumers’ sensitive information. In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Eileen Harrington said the agency strongly supports the goals of H.R. 2221, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, which would require companies to put reasonable data security policies and procedures in place, and to notify consumers when there has been a data security breach that affects them. The legislation also would give the Commission the authority to obtain civil penalties for violations."

News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing its strategy for increasing the supply of renewable fuels, poised to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, as mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007."

"Chairman Henry A. Waxman, Subcommittee Chairman Edward J. Markey, Chairman Emeritus John D. Dingell, Congresswoman Betty Sutton, Congressman Jay Inslee, and Congressman Bart Stupak reached an agreement on a "Cash for Clunkers" program that will help the auto industry while cleaning our air. This agreement is based on H.R. 1550 [Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009], introduced by Congresswoman Sutton, and H.R. 520, introduced by Congressman Inslee."

• Information Security: Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities Place Federal Systems at Risk, GAO-09-661T, May 5, 2009: "Cyber threats to federal information systems and cyber-based critical infrastructures are evolving and growing. These threats can be unintentional and intentional, targeted or nontargeted, and can come from a variety of sources, such as foreign nations engaged in espionage and information warfare, criminals, hackers, virus writers, and disgruntled employees and contractors working within an organization. Moreover, these groups and individuals have a variety of attack techniques at their disposal, and cyber exploitation activity has grown more sophisticated, more targeted, and more serious. As government, private sector, and personal activities continue to move to networked operations, as digital systems add ever more capabilities, as wireless systems become more ubiquitous, and as the design, manufacture, and service of information technology have moved overseas, the threat will continue to grow."
• Recovery Act: GAO's Efforts to Work with the Accountability Community to Help Ensure Effective and Efficient Oversight, GAO-09-672T, May 5, 2009: "GAO is carrying out its responsibilities to review the uses of Recovery Act funds and will also target certain areas for additional review using a riskbased approach. GAO’s first bimonthly report examined the steps 16 states, the District of Columbia, and selected localities are taking to use and oversee Recovery Act funds. These states contain about 65 percent of the U.S. population and are estimated to receive about two-thirds of the intergovernmental grant funds available through the Recovery Act. GAO’s report made several recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) toward improving accountability and transparency requirements; clarifying the Recovery Act funds that can be used to support state efforts to ensure accountability and oversight; and improving communications with Recovery Act funds recipients."
• Related postings on financial system

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, The economic outlook - Before the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2009

News release: "Today, President Obama and Secretary Geithner are unveiling two components [Fact Sheet and Backgrounder] of the Administration's plan to reform our international tax laws and improve their enforcement. First, they are calling for reforms to ensure that our tax code does not stack the deck against job creation here on our shores. Second, they seek to reduce the amount of taxes lost to tax havens – either through unintended loopholes that allow companies to legally avoid paying billions in taxes, or through the illegal use of hidden accounts by well-off individuals. Combined with further international tax reforms that will be unveiled in the Administration's full budget later in May, these initiatives would raise $210 billion over the next 10 years. The Obama Administration hopes to build on proposals by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel – as well as other leaders on this issue like Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Lloyd Doggett – to pass bipartisan legislation over the coming months."

• March 05, 2209 - Legal Issues Related to Funding for Religious Schools in P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• April 23, 2009 - Airport Passenger Screening: Background and Issues for Congress
• April 20, 2009 - Insolvency of Systemically Significant Companies: Bankruptcy vs. Conservatorship/Receivership
April 16, 2009 - Organized Crime in the United States: Trends and Issues for Congress
• April 14, 2009 - NATO Enlargement: Albania, Croatia, and Possible Future Candidates
• See also related postings on financial system and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

"On Tuesday, April 28, the Senate overwhelmingly passed anti-fraud legislation that was reported earlier this year by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act was introduced on February 5 by Committee Members Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.). On February 11, the Committee held a hearing to consider the legislation. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act was reported by the Committee on March 5. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 is also cosponsored by Committee Members Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). In total, nearly 30 senators have cosponsored the legislation."

• The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009
  
• Committee Report
  
• Statement of Administration Policy

"The Subcommittee on Health held a hearing titled, Swine Flu Outbreak and the U.S. Federal Response, on Thursday, April 30, 2009. The hearing examined the recent outbreak of swine flu and the next steps for a federal response at the Department of Health and Human Services.

News release: "Today, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, joined by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, met with consumer groups, civil rights leaders and credit card consumers to discuss the national need for credit card reform. The discussion centered on the House Bill, Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights of 2009, (HR 627) which is set for a vote tomorrow and would significantly strengthen consumer protections in the credit card market."

News release: "With the NYCStat Stimulus Tracker, New Yorkers can track the City’s use of federal stimulus/recovery funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This funding includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, energy efficiency and infrastructure. The stimulus money for New York City will be used to ensure continued vital City services, provide assistance to New Yorkers in need, and stimulate the City’s economy."

News release: "In anticipation of President Obama’s 100th day in office, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today released a "100 Day Rule of Law Report" to examine the new administration’s efforts to reverse the Bush administration’s eight year assault on the rule of law. Feingold assessed the steps the Obama administration has taken thus far to address recommendations made by forty organizations and experts in connection with a Senate Constitution Subcommittee hearing chaired by Feingold on September 16, 2008, entitled Restoring the Rule of Law. President Obama received high marks for several actions he has taken in his first 100 days in office, including his executive orders to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, ban torture and increase transparency. However, Feingold’s review finds the Obama administration’s invoking of the state secrets privilege “troubling.”

Auto Industry: Summary of Government Efforts and Automakers' Restructuring to Date, GAO-09-553, April 23, 2009: "The turmoil in financial markets and the economic downturn has brought significant financial stress to the auto manufacturing industry. The economic reach of the auto industry in the United States is broad, affecting autoworkers, auto suppliers, stock and bondholders, dealers, and certain states. To help stabilize the U.S. auto industry and avoid disruptions that could pose systemic risk to the nation's economy, in December 2008 the Department of the Treasury established the Automotive Industry Financing Program (AIFP) under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). From December 2008 through March 2009, Treasury has allocated about $36 billion to this program, including loans to Chrysler Holding LLC (Chrysler) and General Motors (GM). GAO has previously identified three principles to guide federal assistance to large firms: define the problem, determine the national interests and set goals and objectives, and protect the government's interests. As part of GAO's statutorily mandated responsibilities to provide timely oversight of TARP activities, this report discusses the (1) nature and purpose of assistance to the auto industry, (2) how the assistance addresses the three principles, and (3) important factors for Chrysler and GM to address in achieving long-term viability and the challenges that they face to become viable. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed Chrysler's and GM's restructuring plans and financial statements, as well as Treasury documents related to AIFP. GAO also reviewed the terms and conditions of the federal loans to identify risks to the government and compared these loan provisions to GAO's principles for providing federal financial assistance to large firms."

New York Review of Books: The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs, By Arlen Specter, April 16, 2009

The Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing titled, Communications Networks and Consumer Privacy: Recent Developments on April 23, 2009. The hearing focused on technologies that network operators utilize to monitor consumer usage and how those technologies intersect with consumer privacy. The hearing explored three ways to monitor consumer usage on broadband and wireless networks: deep packet inspection (DPI); new uses for digital set-top boxes; and wireless Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking."
Testimony and Statement for the Record of Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, EPIC Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center: "we believe it is becoming clear that unregulated collection of consumer data is posing an increasing danger to online privacy and maybe even to the economic model itself. A small number of companies and large advertising networks are obtaining an extraordinarily detailed profile of the interests, activities and personal characteristics of Internet users. Users have little idea how much information is gathered, who has access to it, or how it is used. This last point is critical because in the absence of legal rules, companies that are gathering this data will be free to use it for whatever purpose they wish – the data for a targeted ad today could become a detailed personal profile sold to a prospective employer or a government agency tomorrow."

News release: "Today, in an Earth Day speech at a wind turbine tower manufacturing plant, President Barack Obama announced that the Department of the Interior has finalized a long-awaited framework for renewable energy production on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The framework establishes a program to grant leases, easements, and rights-of-way for orderly, safe, and environmentally responsible renewable energy development activities, such as the siting and construction of off-shore wind farms, on the OCS...In addition to establishing a process for granting leases, easements, and rights-of-way for offshore renewable energy development, the new program also establishes methods for sharing revenues generated from OCS renewable energy projects with adjacent coastal States. Additionally the framework will enhance partnerships with Federal, state, and local agencies and tribal governments to assist in maximizing the economic and ecological benefits of OCS renewable energy development. The Final Framework has been submitted to the Federal Register, and is available online."

• Energy Policy Act of 2005
  
• OCS Renewable Energy Program Framework
  
• FERC/DOI Memorandum of Understanding

Prepared by the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation: Tax Expenditures for Energy Production and Conservation, Scheduled for a Public Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Finance, April 23, 2009.

• Secretary Geithner Opening Statement Before the Congressional Oversight Panel, April 21, 2009: "Today I will outline the steps taken by the Obama Administration to restore the flow of credit to get our economy back on track and Americans back to work."
• Secretary Geithner Written Testimony Congressional Oversight Panel, April 21, 2009: "The challenges that our financial system faces are complex, interrelated, and the result of developments over many years. Earlier in this decade, a combination of fundamental factors and financial innovations generated unsustainable bubbles in many housing markets across the country. When those bubbles began to burst, starting in early 2006, housing price declines led to a sharp acceleration in mortgage delinquencies and charge-offs. Those unanticipated losses revealed deep-seated problems in our financial and economic systems. A protracted period of rapid innovation, excessive risk taking, and inadequate regulation produced a financial system that was far more fragile than was generally appreciated during the boom times."
• Related postings on financial system

Unclassified and Redacted - Inquiry Into the Treatment Of Detainees In U.S. Custody, November 20, 2008 (Released, April 22, 2009) (263 pages, PDF)

The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, April 21, 2009 - Quarterly Report to Congress: "The Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) now includes 12 separate, but often interrelated, programs involving Government and private funds of up to almost $3 trillion — roughly the equivalent of last year’s entire Federal budget. From programs involving large capital infusions into hundreds of banks and other financial institutions, to a mortgage modification program designed to modify millions of mortgages, to public private partnerships purchasing “toxic” assets from banks using tremendous leverage provided by Government loans or guarantees, TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale, and complexity. Before the American people and their representatives in Congress can meaningfully evaluate the effectiveness of this historic program, that scope and scale must be placed into proper context, and the complexity must be made understandable. That is what this report attempts to do.

In this report, the Offi ce of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“SIGTARP”) endeavors to (i) explain the various TARP programs and how the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) has used those programs through March 31, 2009, (ii) describe what SIGTARP has done since its Initial Report to Congress, dated February 6, 2009 (the “Initial Report”), to oversee this historic program with respect to both audits and investigations, and (iii) set forth a series of recommendations for the operation of TARP."

News release: "On April 17, 2009, HHS issued guidance specifying the technologies and methodologies that render protected health information unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This guidance was developed through a joint effort by OCR, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)."

News release: "[April 17, 2009] the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee posted to its website a joint discussion draft and summary for the “21st Century Energy Technology Deployment Act.” {CEDA] This proposal, put forward by the bipartisan Committee staff, seeks to improve the loan guarantee program at the Department of Energy and to provide additional options for deploying energy technologies. The basis of the bill is to shore up the existing program at DOE, then transition to a new financially-focused agency to perform and expand upon the duties of the program."

"Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) believes the many fees extracted from 401(k) accounts are adding insult to injury for millions of Americans whose accounts have been decimated by stock losses and whose retirements are now in jeopardy. Miller talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft for a report on how the recession is affecting 401(k) retirement plans to be broadcast this Sunday, April 17, 2009."

• Small Business Administration's Implementation of Administrative Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, GAO-09-507R, April 16, 2009
• Maritime Security: Vessel Tracking Systems Provide Key Information, but the Need for Duplicate Data Should Be Reviewed, GAO-09-337, March 17, 2009
• Superfund: Greater EPA Enforcement and Reporting Are Needed to Enhance Cleanup at DOD Sites, GAO-09-278, March 13, 2009

The Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications, Dick K. Nanto, Coordinator, Specialist in Industry and Trade, April 3, 2009.

Public Law 111–5, 111th Congress, 123 STAT. 115, Feb. 17, 2009 [H.R. 1] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 407 pages, PDF

News release: "Organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and writers today launched the latest phase in their five-year campaign to restore the reader privacy safeguards that were stripped away by the USA Patriot Act. Since 2003, the Department of Justice has used its expanded power under the Patriot Act to issue more than 200 secret search orders under Section 215 and more than 190,000 National Security Letters (NSLs). Despite several efforts to reform the Patriot Act, the FBI can still search any records it believes are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation, including the records of people who are not suspected of criminal conduct."

Metro Potential in ARRA: An Early Assessment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, The Brookings Institution, March 30, 2009

News release: "The Federal Communications Commission today begins the process of developing a national broadband plan that will seek to ensure that every American has access to broadband capability. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – known as the stimulus package – Congress charged the Commission with creating a national broadband plan. In a Notice of Inquiry adopted [April 8, 2009], the Commission begins a proceeding to create that national broadband plan, seeking input from all stakeholders: consumers, industry, large and small businesses, non-profits, the disabilities
community, governments at the federal, state, local and tribal levels, and all other interested parties. The Commission must deliver the plan to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010. It will provide a roadmap toward achieving the goal of ensuring that all Americans reap the benefits of broadband."

CDT: "A cybersecurity bill introduced April 01, 2009 in the Senate would give the federal government extraordinary power over private sector Internet services, applications and software. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would, for example, give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds. The bill would grant the Commerce Department the ability to override all privacy laws to access any information about Internet usage in connection with a new role in tracking cybersecurity threats. The bill, introduced by Sens. John Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe, would also give the government unprecedented control over computer software and Internet services, threatening innovation, freedom and privacy. CDT President and CEO Leslie Harris said, "The cybersecurity threat is real, but such a drastic federal intervention in private communications technology and networks could harm both security and privacy."

U.S. Strategy for Afghanistan: Achieving Peace and Stability in the Graveyard of Empires, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia

Testimony:

• Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, Chairman, House Subcommittee on the Middle East & South Asia
  
• Karin von Hippel, Ph.D., Center for Strategic and International Studies
  
• Seth G. Jones, Ph.D., Rand
  
• Anthony H. Cordesman, Ph.D., Center for Strategic and International Studies
  
• Related postings on Afghanistan

"The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure today released a report on the progress of programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing April 2, 2009: Recovery and Investment Spending: Implementing a Bold Oversight Strategy, the Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Ranking Member Susan M. Collins discussed the urgency of making sure that proper controls are in place to deter waste, fraud, or mismanagement before stimulus money is distributed..."The two witnesses - Robert L. Nabors, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Earl Devaney, Chair of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board - spoke about the development of Recovery.gov, the Administration website that allows Americans to track grants, contracts and other forms of assistance as they are awarded and report back on suspected waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in their own communities. Recovery.gov receives about 4,000 hits a second, for a total of about 300 million since its creation, according to Devaney."

• Contingency Contracting: DOD, State, and USAID Are Taking Actions to Track Contracts and Contractor Personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, GAO-09-538T, April 01, 2009
• Defense Acquisitions: Measuring the Value of DOD's Weapon Programs Requires Starting with Realistic Baselines, GAO-09-543T, April 01, 2009
• High Speed Passenger Rail: Future Development Will Depend on Addressing Financial and Other Challenges and Establishing a Clear Federal Role, GAO-09-560T, April 01, 2009
• Human Capital: Improved Implementation of Safeguards and an Action Plan to Address Employee Concerns Could Increase Employee Acceptance of the National Security Personnel System, GAO-09-464T, April 01, 2009
• Wildland Fire Management: Actions by Federal Agencies and Congress Could Mitigate Rising Fire Costs and Their Effects on Other Agency Programs, GAO-09-444T, April 01, 2009
• Methadone-Associated Overdose Deaths: Factors Contributing to Increased Deaths and Efforts to Prevent Them, GAO-09-341, March 26, 2009
• 2008 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Lobbyists' Compliance with Disclosure Requirements, GAO-09-487, April 01, 2008

A Review of CBO's Activities in 2008 Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, March 2009

• March 10, 2009 - The United Arab Emirates Nuclear Program and Proposed U.S. Nuclear Cooperation
• March 10, 2009 - Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative: Legal Authorities and Policy Considerations
• March 10, 2009 - Medicare Primer
• March 10, 2009 - Filling U.S. Senate Vacancies: Perspectives and Contemporary Developments
• March 09, 2009 - Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy
• March 09, 2009 - Credit for Military Service Under Civilian Federal Employee Retirement Systems

• An Assessment of the Potential Effects of the Reductions in Medicare's Payment Rates for Physicians Called for Under Current Law, March 27, 2009 Letter to the Honorable John M. Spratt Jr.: "This letter responds to your request for an assessment of the potential effects of the substantial across-the-board reductions in Medicare’s payment rates for physicians that are called for under current law. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that, without legislative action, physician payment rates under Medicare will be reduced by about 21 percent in January 2010 and by about 6 percent annually for at least several years thereafter. By 2014, the cumulative reduction in the rates will be about 40 percent.
• Flexibility in the Timing of Emission Reductions Under a Cap-and-Trade Program, March 26, 2009, Testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives: "Accumulating evidence about the pace and potential extent of global warming has heightened policymakers’ interest in cost-effective ways to achieve substantial reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. Although the potential damage from climate change is large, the potential cost of avoiding change is large as well. Meaningfully reducing the risk of damage would require that the United States and other nations make fundamental changes in the way that energy is produced and used. Those changes could include replacing carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels with appropriate renewable fuels or nuclear power; reducing energy use, perhaps through major gains in energy efficiency; and capturing and storing greenhouse gases on a large scale."
• Related postings on climate change

News release: "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday called for new legislation granting additional tools to address systemically significant financial institutions that fall outside of the existing resolution regime under the FDIC. A draft bill will be sent to Congress this week...The legislative proposal would fill a significant void in the current financial services regulatory structure and is one piece of a comprehensive regulatory reform strategy that will mitigate systemic risk, enhance consumer and investor protection, while eliminating gaps in the regulatory structure."

Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission On "Consumer Credit and Debt: The Role of the Federal Trade Commission in Protecting the Public,” Presented By Chairman Jon Leibowitz Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, United States House of Representatives (March 24, 2009)

Show Us the Data: Most Wanted Federal Documents A Report By Center for Democracy & Technology & OpenTheGovernment.org, March 2009 - "In the past few months, President Obama and his appointed officials have indicated that policies around open government and information disclosure will change drastically. While each administration adopts its own standards for the management of unclassified federal documents, change at the agency level does not take place instantly nor will such change be universally accepted."

The Top Ten Most Wanted Government Documents

1. Public Access to All Congressional Research Service Reports- Legislative Branch
   
2. Information About the Use of TARP and Bailout Funds - Executive Branch
   
3. Open and Accessible Federal Court Documents Through the PACER System - Judicial Branch
   
4. Current Contractor Projects - Executive Branch
   
5. Court Settlements Involving Federal Agencies - Judicial Branch
   
6. Access to Comprehensive Information About Legislation and Congressional Actions via THOMAS or Public Access to Legislative Information Service - Legislative Branch
   
7. Online Access to Electronic Campaign Disclosures - Legislative Branch
   
8. Daily Schedules of the President and Cabinet Officials - Executive Branch
   
9. Personal Financial Disclosures from Policymakers Across Government - All Branches
   
10. State Medicaid Plans and Waivers - Executive Branch and State Agencies

"GPO is releasing the Public Printer's Letter to President Obama regarding transparency and open Government. The letter offers GPO's support in helping to implement the President's initiative leveraging the Federal Digital System (FDsys). Five goals with accompanying actions were provided that GPO is prepared to undertake to help implement the President's initiative."

"In testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar detailed President Obama's New Energy for America Plan that will create a clean energy-based economy that promotes investment and innovation here at home, generating millions of new jobs. It will ensure energy security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, increasing efficiency, making responsible use of our domestic resources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Secretary also noted that Interior and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have reached agreement on managing renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf."

News release: "During the House Financial Services Subcommittee meeting today, American International Group’s Impact on the Global Economy: Before, During, and After Federal Intervention, Rep. Barney Frank discussed the AIG employee contracts."

• 2008 Employee Retention Plan
  
• Confirmation and Acknowledgement
  
• Schedule to the Master Agreement
  
• Related postings on AIG and on the financial system

Letter to Rep. Barney Frank from Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York re: AIG 2008 Retention Bonuses

Prepared Testimony of Doug Shulman, Commissioner Internal Revenue Service, Before the Senate Finance Committee on Tax Issues Related to Ponzi Schemes and an Update on Offshore Tax Evasion Legislation, March 17, 2009

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR): Problems in the Past, Potential for the Future? Report by the Majority Staff of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives to Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller, March 10, 2009

Joint Committee on Taxation: JCX-20-09 (March 09, 2009) List Of Expiring Federal Tax Provisions 2008-2020

News release: "he Federal Election Commission has added a new page to its website to aid compliance with the lobbyist bundling disclosure provisions of the Honest Leadership and Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA). The new rules require disclosure of contributions bundled by lobbyists and registrants as of March 19 and of those bundled by the PACs of lobbyists and registrants as of April 18. In addition to revised forms to be used by lobbyist/registrant PACs and leadership PACs to identify themselves as such, the new lobbyist bundling page has links to the following:

• Frequently Asked Questions - answers to common questions regarding the FEC's lobbyist bundling rules;
  
• List of Lobbyist/Registrant PACs - political committees that have identified themselves as lobbyist/registrant PACs by March 29, 2009;
  
• Clerk of the House Website - source for identifying lobbyists/registrants and their PACs; and
  
• Secretary of the Senate Website - source for identifying lobbyists/registrants and their PACs.

CBO Testimony: Statement of Terry M. Dinan Senior Advisor - The Distributional Consequences of a Cap-and-Trade Program for CO2 Emissions before the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, U.S. House of Representatives, March 12, 2009.

askSam: "This database contains a complete text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also known as the Stimulus Bill or Bailout Bill. It was formerly referred to as the Economic Stimulus Act. This database is fully searchable by division, title, section, and keyword. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("Stimulus Bill", Pub.L. 111-5, H.R. 1, S. 1) is an Act of Congress enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009."

"The purpose of this hearing [was] to assess Treasury’s oversight of the use of funds by financial institutions provided under the TARP. The hearing...evaluate[d] Treasury’s data collection procedures for monitoring the use of TARP funds allocated under the Capital Purchase Program, the largest TARP program. The hearing...also examine[d] Treasury’s ability to detect and prevent waste and misuse of TARP monies. Additionally, [and] examples of TARP recipient spending since their receipt of TARP funds."

Mother Jones: "By slipping a simple, three-sentence provision into the gargantuan spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last week, a congressman from Silicon Valley is trying to nudge Congress into the 21st Century. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) placed a measure in the bill directing Congress and its affiliated organs—including the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office—to make its data available to the public in raw form. This will enable members of the public and watchdog groups to craft websites and databases showcasing government data that are more user-friendly than the government's own."

Unclassified: Office of the Director of National Intelligence Data Mining Report, 15 February 2008.

Follow up to related postings on presidential signing statements, today's memo from the White House:

ARRA 101: "Completing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a long and arduous process for the Obama Administration and the new Congress. Now that President Obama has signed the bill into law, our nation can begin the journey of restoring our economic stability through the programs and initiatives this law will make possible.

Throughout the process of creating this law, the library community demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the American public by working to inform our leaders in Washington about the programs and services libraries across the country are providing to help America get back to work, such as assistance with resume building and online job searching as well as free classes to teach the public 21st century job skills.

With many opportunities available to libraries through the stimulus bill, the library community must continue our efforts to educate our elected officials on the benefits of investing in libraries – focusing now on the state level."

• Information Technology: Census Bureau Testing of 2010 Decennial Systems Can Be Strengthened, GAO-09-262, March 05, 2009
• Information Technology: Census Bureau Testing of 2010 Decennial Systems Can Be Strengthened, GAO-09-414T, March 05, 2009
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: GAO's Role in Helping to Ensure Accountability and Transparency, GAO-09-453T, March 05, 2009
• 2010 Census: Little Time Remains to Address Operational Challenges, GAO-09-408T, March 05, 2009
• Environmental Protection Agency: Major Management Challenges, GAO-09-434, March 04, 2009
• Climate Change: Observations on the Potential Role of Carbon Offsets in Climate Change Legislation, GAO-09-456T, March 05, 2009
• NASA: Projects Need More Disciplined Oversight and Management to Address Key Challenges, GAO-09-436T, March 05, 2009
• Systemic Risk: Regulatory Oversight and Recent Initiatives to Address Risk Posed by Credit Default Swaps, GAO-09-397T, March 05, 2009
• DOD Business Transformation: Status of DOD's Actions on Previous Recommendations for the Defense Travel System, GAO-09-416T, March 05, 2009

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Written Testimony - As Prepared for Delivery to the Committee on Ways and Means:..."What I propose to do in the remarks that follow is to:

• Describe the economic and financial challenges that greeted us upon our arrival in office, and discuss how we are addressing them;
• Lay out the intermediate and long-term threats to our fiscal condition, and explain how the President's Fiscal Year 2010 Budget will return the nation to a sustainable fiscal position; and
• Explain how this Budget puts the nation on a path towards energy independence, better educational outcomes, and a reform of health care that both lowers costs and expands access."
• Related postings on the FY 2010 Budget
• Related postings on financial system

News release: "House Committees on Science and Technology, Education and Labor, Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming are the first four Congressional Committees to join Twitter. These Committees use Twitter as a new tool to reach their audience and ensure transparency between the government and the public."

• House Committee on Science and Technology
  SciTechCmte (Twitter) - http://twitter.com/SciTechCmte
  
• House Committee on Education and Labor
  edlabordems (Twitter) - http://twitter.com/edlabordems
  
• House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  HouseTransInf (Twitter) - http://twitter.com/HouseTransInf
  
• House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
  MarkeyMemo (Twitter) - http://twitter.com/MarkeyMemo

USA Today: "For three years, the investigative arm of Congress has seen its staff dwindle in size. Now, the agency is getting a $25 million infusion of cash from the stimulus bill signed by President Obama last month to hire investigators, auditors and others to track hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending to jump-start the economy. The stimulus bill contains $330.5 million for oversight and offers the president his first opportunity to put into practice his campaign pledge to demand greater accountability of federal spending. It provides $25 million for the Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan congressional agency; $84 million to create an accountability board within the administration and $221.5 million to the inspectors general who serve as department watchdogs."

EPIC: "Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before the House Committees on Homeland Security, and said that DHS plans to connect governmental databases containing personal information, expand the government's employment tracking system, promote passenger screening, use e-passports, employ watchlists and utilize contactless identity verification cards. EPIC has opposed Fusion Centers, the E-Verify program and the use of Backscatter X-Ray devices. EPIC has also objected to the use of RFIDs in passports, in Air Travel and in driver's licences."

News release: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has announced three witnesses for a hearing scheduled Wednesday, March 4, on Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry. Leahy has proposed establishing a nonpartisan commission to examine past national security policies. Leahy has invited three witnesses to testify at the hearing: Thomas Pickering, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Retired Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, and attorney John Farmer."

How Convicts and Con Artists Receive New Federal Contracts: "The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee examines the Excluded Parties List System, a federal database intended to prevent persons and businesses ineligible to receive federal contracts due to past misconduct from receiving new awards. A GAO report...released at the hearing finds numerous examples of ineligible parties continuing to receive new federal contracts, due to flaws in the database and inadequate contracting procedures. Many of the parties who continue to receive new contracts have been debarred from contracting for egregious violations that directly threatened the national security of the United States and the safety of U.S. troops and citizens. The hearing will review whether immediate changes should be implemented to prevent the award of economic stimulus contracts to ineligible fraudulent contractors."

• H.R. 1106, Helping Families Save Their Homes Act February 25, 2009 - Cost estimate for the bill as introduced on February 23, 2008. "CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1106 would increase direct spending by $7.6 billion over the 2009-2014 period, and would reduce direct spending by $14.9 billion over the 2009-2019 period. Enacting H.R 1106 would increase revenues by $19 million over the 2009-2014 period and by $23 million over the 2009-2019 period."
• The Department of Veterans Affairs' Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor Program, February 25, 2009, Letter to the Honorable Kent Conrad. "The discount that VA has negotiated with its single vendor is comparable with the corresponding discounts that DoD has negotiated with its three national vendors. Thus, CBO finds that requiring VA to award contracts to multiple vendors would be unlikely to result in substantial cost savings in VA’s drug purchases."
• Options for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage and Controlling Costs, February 25, 2009. Testimony before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate. "Without changes in policy, a substantial and growing number of people under age 65 will lack health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the average number of nonelderly people who are uninsured will rise from at least 45 million in 2009 to about 54 million in 2019. That projection is consistent with long-standing trends in coverage and largely reflects the expectation that health care costs and health insurance premiums will continue to rise faster than people’s income—making health insurance more difficult to afford."

Federal Reserve Board: Monetary Policy Report to the Congress - Current Report: February 24, 2009

• Part 1: Overview of Monetary Policy and the Economic Outlook
  
• Part 2: Recent Financial and Economic Developments
  
• Part 3: Monetary Policy in 2008 and Early 2009
  
• Part 4: Summary of Economic Projections
  
• Appendix: Federal Reserve Initiatives to Address Financial Strains
  
• Abbreviations
  
• Full Report - Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, February 24, 2009
  
• Related postings on financial system

"U.S. home prices posted record declines in the fourth quarter of 2008 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index (HPI). The FHFA seasonally-adjusted purchase-only house price index, based on data from home sales, was 3.4 percent lower on a seasonally-adjusted basis in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter. This decline was greater than the 2.0 percent decline in the third quarter and the largest in the purchase-only index’s 18-year history. Over the past year, seasonally-adjusted prices fell 8.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008."

• See also 2009 Conforming Loan Limits Increased by American Recovery and Investment Act: "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which was signed into law on Tuesday, increased the maximum conforming loan limit for mortgages originated in 2009. The increase affects 250 counties across the United States. For these areas, identified in the attached table, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits will return to their late-2008 levels, which were up to $729,750 for one-unit properties in the continental United States. Loan limits in other areas are not changed by the legislation."
  
• Related postings on financial system

Estimated Impact on the Deficit of Three Alternative Policy Scenarios Specified by Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Spratt, February 23, 2009 - Letter to the Honorable Nancy Pelosi and the Honorable John M. Spratt Jr.: "CBO projects a deficit of $1.2 trillion for fiscal year 2009 and a cumulative deficit of $3.1 trillion between 2010 and 2019."

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., February 24, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery Address to Joint Session of Congress, Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

• Press Release: "Today Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced a $410 billion bill to wrap up work on the fiscal year 2009 appropriations bills. Last year, President Bush refused to work with Congress to come up with compromise to finish these nine bills, instead insisting on unacceptable cuts to energy research, healthcare, education, law enforcement and biomedical research."
• Bill Text and Explanatory Statements
• Summary: Agriculture
• Summary: Commerce, Justice, Science
• Summary: Energy and Water Development
• Summary: Financial Services
• Summary: Interior and the Environment
• Summary: Labor, Health and Education
• Summary: Legislative Branch
• Summary: State and Foreign Operations
• Summary: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

Securing, Stabilizing, and Developing Pakistan's Border Area with Afghanistan: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight, GAO-09-263SP, February 23, 2009

Presentations By The Acting Comptroller General:

1. GAO's Work on Today's High Risk Issues and Long-Term Challenges, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Arizona Society of CPAs, in Phoenix, Arizona. GAO-09-382CG, February 6, 2009
   
2. Challenges Facing the New Administration and the 111th Congress, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the AGA 2009 Leadership Conference, in Washington, D.C. GAO-09-383CG, February 19, 2009

See this White House webpage which in turn links to the final version, published in the Congressional Record version (PDF) - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, inclusive of an online "form on the right to leave your comments, thoughts, and ideas." Required data: email address and name. Comments are limited to 5,000 characters.

Report to Congress on Implementation of Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act (as required by Section 1001(3) of Public Law 107-56), Special Report, February 2009, Office of the Inspector General.

The Stimulus Plan: A Detailed List of Spending by Michael Grabell and Christopher Weaver, ProPublica: "The appropriations section of the bill details spending in excess of $311 billion for programs ranging from Pell grants for college students to clean water in central Utah to nearly $100 billion in new transportation and infrastructure projects. Here’s our earlier chart comparing the differences between the House, Senate, and conference versions of the bills."

White House: "Today President Obama is celebrating the passage [Senate approved HR 1 by a 60-to-38 vote, House approved the compromise bill by a 246-to 183 vote] of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a "major milestone on our road to recovery," while still emphasizing that we have many miles yet to go...President Obama acknowledges that some people are skeptical about the plan given how Washington has performed in the past, which is why he's encouraging people to check back at Recovery.gov -- the site where, once the plan is in action, you'll be able to track the funds."

The Legislative Source Book of the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC) now has a 1.5 MB file, in PDF, of the complete Conference Report, H. Rep. 111-16, to H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which has been taken and combined from five Congressional Record (50 page) files on GPO Access (210 pages all together). [thanks to Rick McKinney]

H.R. 1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, February 13, 2009. Cost estimate for the conference agreement for H.R. 1: "Combining both spending and revenue effects, CBO estimates that enacting the conference agreement for H.R. 1 would increase federal budget deficits by $185 billion over the remaining months of fiscal year 2009, by $399 billion in 2010, by $134 billion in 2011, and by $787 billion over the 2009-2019 period."

News release: "In public testimony today before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair outlined the most significant global security threats facing the nation. Recognizing that global threats comprise a diverse set of issues and factors, Director Blair framed the analysis by identifying key areas of risk, concern and opportunity that could have direct effects on the quality of life and security for Americans. The hearing also marked the first occasion where the Director, the leader of the nation’s Intelligence Community, was the sole witness providing comprehensive analysis from all 16 intelligence agencies."

The Army's Wireless Communications Programs, February 12, 2009 Letter to the Honorable Neil Abercrombie

Nancy Pelosi's Gavel Blog: "The Appropriations Committee and the Ways and Means Committee have released detailed summaries of the appropriations and tax provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• full summary from the Appropriations Committee
  
• full summary of the tax provisions from Ways and Means
  
• full summary of the health care, broadband, and energy provisions from the Energy & Commerce Committee
  
• Related postings on financial system

Joint Committee on Taxation (February 12, 2009) Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In The Conference Agreement For H.R. 1, The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Conference Report on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Preliminary Overview, February 12, 2009: "Just over three weeks since the Inauguration of President Obama, Congress will consider the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to save and create jobs, get our economy moving again, and transform it for long-term growth and stability. The landmark legislation is the first dramatic new investment in the future since the creation of the interstate highway system a half century ago."

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: State-By-State Jobs Impact, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, February 12, 2009

February 11, 2009 - The Need for Increased Fraud Enforcement in the Wake of the Economic Downturn, John S. Pistole, Deputy Director, FBI, Before the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

House Financial Services Committee hearing entitled TARP Accountability: Use of Federal Assistance by the First TARP Recipients, February 11, 2009. The committee called on eight CEOs representing companies who received TARP money to testify.

Witness List & Prepared Testimony:

• Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co.
  
• James Dimon, Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  
• Robert P. Kelly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of New York Mellon
  
• Ken Lewis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
  
• Ronald E. Logue, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, State Street Corporation
  
• John J. Mack, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Stanley
  
• Vikram Pandit, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup
  
• John Stumpf, President and Chief Executive Officer, Wells Fargo & Co.
  
• See also OTS Urges Temporary Halt to Foreclosures
  
• Related postings on financial system
  

Follow up to related postings on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, from the Senate Finance committee, this Side-By-Side Chart of Notable Differences Between the Senate-Passed and the House-Passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

• Joint Committee on Taxation - Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009,” As Amended And Passed By The Senate On February 10, 2009
  
• Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In The Collins-Nelson Amendment (# 570) In The Nature Of A Substitute To The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009,” Under Consideration By The Senate
  
• Related postings on financial system

Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director, Expanding Health Insurance Coverage and Controlling Costs for Health Care before the Committee on the Budget, February 10, 2009

Congressional Budget Office: H.R. 1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, February 9, 2009. Cost estimate for an amendment in the nature of a substitute by Senator Reid for Senators Nelson and Collins, February 7, 2009.

"Wikileaks has released nearly a billion dollars worth of quasi-secret reports commissioned by the United States Congress. The 6,780 reports, current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on some of the most contentious issues in the nation...Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices." [As noted by Michael Ravnitzky, "there are additional reports and briefings prepared for specific offices that are not included in that electronic output."]

• Alphabetical list of reports
  
• Chronological list of reports
  
• These reports have also been merged into OpenCRS.
  
• Torrent: WikiLeaks Document Release: CRS Reports, Feb 2009 (full pack, incl. metadata for indexing). Where applicable we have also categorized the reports according to country and attached them to our general country index.
  
• Note: See also the FAS directory of links to topical CRS Reports

"In response to a letter from GAP and 9 other public interest organizations, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) sent a letter to GAP demonstrating his commitment to protect whistleblowers who disclose evidence of waste, fraud and abuse of bailout funds. In the letter, Special IG Neil Barofsky states: "One of the principal means by which [the SIGTARP IG's] mission will be achieved is through gathering evidence of fraud, waste, abuse and misconduct involving TARP funds. Whistleblowers represent a vital source of such information. SIGTARP is committed -- even beyond obligations under the relevant provisions of law -- to build a robust whistleblower system that will both encourage individuals to come forward and protect those individuals once they have done so."

WSJ: "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's revamp of the $700 billion financial-sector bailout is likely to rely on a broad range of tools, from injecting additional capital into banks and helping homeowners avoid foreclosure to expanding the roles of the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to people familiar with the matter."

AP: "A comparison of the $827 billion economic recovery plan drafted by Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans with an $820 billion version passed by the House. Additional debt costs would add about $350 billion or more over 10 years. Many provisions expire in two years."

"GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) is an advanced digital system that will enable GPO to manage Government information in a digital form. FDsys will enable GPO to manage information from all three branches of the U.S. Government. As a state-of-the-art digital content management system, FDsys will contain information gathered through three methods:

• Files submitted by Congress and Federal agencies;
  
• Information gathered from Federal agencies’ web sites (often referred to as “harvesting” information);
  
• Digital files created by scanning previously printed publications."
  
• See the Advanced Search page to specify specific dates and collections.

"Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program [SIGTARP] must report to Congress on its oversight activities and compile certain specified data and information about the operation of TARP. SIGTARP’s reports to Congress are due 60 days after confirmation of the Special Inspector General and quarterly thereafter...SIGTARP’s mission is to advance economic stability by promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of TARP management, through transparency, through coordinated oversight, and through robust enforcement against those, whether inside or outside of government, who waste, steal or abuse TARP funds."

Senate Banking Committee hearing, Pulling Back the TARP: Oversight of the Financial Rescue Program, February 5, 2009. Witness Testimony:

• Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General, United States Government Accountability Office
  
• Neil M. Barofsky, Special Inspector General, Troubled Asset Relief Program
  
• Professor Elizabeth Warren, Chair, Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program: "As part of our continuing mission to get answers about TARP, the Congressional Oversight Panel examined whether Treasury’s injections of cash into financial institutions have resulted in a fair deal for taxpayers. The findings are in our February report, which will formally be submitted to Congress tomorrow. Despite the assurances of then‐Secretary Paulson, who said that the transactions were at par—that is, for every $100 injected into the banks the taxpayer received stocks and warrants from the banks worth about $100—the valuation study concludes that Treasury paid substantially more for the assets it purchased under the TARP than their then‐current market value. Extrapolating the results of the ten transactions analyzed to all 4 purchases made in 2008 under TARP, Treasury paid $254 billion, for which it received assets worth approximately $176 billion, a shortfall of $78 billion."
  
• Related postings on financial system

Follow up to previous postings on digital television transition, "by a vote of 264 to 158, the House of Representatives approved S. 352, the DTV Delay Act, which will postpone the transition to digital television until June 12, 2009. This delay will grant millions of households the chance to be prepared for the transition and retain access to an important information resource."

Estimated Macroeconomic Effects of the Inouye-Baucus Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 1, February 4, 2009, Letter to the Honorable Judd Gregg.

The 2009 Future Years Defense Program: Implications and Alternatives, February 4, 2009, Testimony before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System, February 4, 2009. Witnesses - Paul A. Volcker, Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board and former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Mr. Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States.

Statement of John F. Bovenzi, Deputy to the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Promoting Bank Liquidity and Lending Through Deposit Insurance, Hope for Homeowners, and Other Enhancements before the Committee on Financial Services; U.S. House of Representatives, February 3, 2009.

Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) - Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience, February 2, 2009

Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In Titles I And III Of S. 350, The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009,” As Reported By The Committee On Finance

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, adopted by the House this week, includes strong privacy provisions ("Subtitle D - Privacy") for the proposed medical health network. Among the key provisions: a ban on the sale of health information, audit trails, encryption, rights of access, improved enforcement mechanisms, and support for advocacy groups to participate in the regulatory process. Patient Privacy Rights has expressed support for the legislation. A similar bill, S. 336, is pending in the Senate. Senator Leahy has called for strong safeguards to protect America's health privacy. For more information, see EPIC's page on Medical Privacy."

Supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation infrastructure investment, energy efficiency/science, assistance to the unemployed, and State/local fiscal stabilization: H.R. 1 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (680 pages, PDF)

The Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) - "COP released its special report on regulatory reform today. The report discusses how regulation would have averted the crisis that we are in today, and how the implementation of smart regulation will help the United States can prevent another financial crisis and determine our economic success in the years to come. The report examines how deregulation of financial markets over the last twenty-five years have returned the boom-and-bust cycles that had plagued the United States’ economy until reforms of the Great Depression ushered in a half-century of financial stability. The report specifically points to three areas of regulation that could have prevented the current economic crisis, specifically basic consumer protection rules, supervision of credit rating agencies, and regulation of companies that are “too big to fail."

• Read the Report
  
• Summary, Part I
  
• Summary, Part II
  
• Related postings on financial system

News release: "The House Oversight Committee asked the nation’s IGs to identify all recommendations made between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2008 that had not been implemented by federal agencies. The information provided shows that the Bush Administration failed to implement 13,847 recommendations since 2001, which could have saved taxpayers $25.9 billion. Almost half of these recommendations were made over a year ago, and more than a quarter were made over two years ago. The five agencies that could save the most money by implementing open recommendations are the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development."

Testimony, CBO, Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director, The State of the Economy and Issues in Developing an Effective Policy Response before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, January 27, 2009.

"House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter today to the TARP Special Inspector General praising him for his work in providing greater transparency for the TARP Program. Frank’s letter...is in response to a letter from Inspector General Barofsky, where the IG stated, “Specifically, we [Treasury Special Inspector General] will be sending a request to all entities that have received TARP money to date asking them to account for their use of the TARP funds and to describe their efforts to comply with applicable executive compensation restrictions.”

• January 22, 2009 - Proposed Funding for Education in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• January 16, 2009 - Health Insurance Continuation Coverage Under COBRA
• January 16, 2009 - Economic Stimulus: Issues and Policies
• January 15, 2009 - Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center - Legal Issues: "This report provides an overview of major legal issues likely to arise in the event of executive and/or legislative action to close the Guantanamo detention facility. It discusses legal issues related to the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees (either to a foreign country or into the United States), the continued detention of such persons in the United States, and the possible removal of persons brought to the United States."
• January 15, 2009 - Congress as a Consumer of Intelligence Information: "Among the issues the 111th Congress may choose to examine are ongoing efforts by the Director of National Intelligence to strike a balance between protecting intelligence sources while providing intelligence analysts and consumers—including those in Congress—more information about the reliability of those sources."

CRS Report - Economic Stimulus: Issues and Policies, January 23, 2009

"Recent policies have sought to contain damages spilling over from housing and financial markets to the broader economy, including monetary policy, which is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve, and fiscal policy, including a tax cut in February 2008 of $150 billion and two extensions of unemployment compensation in June and November of 2008. Over the past few months, the government has also intervened in specific financial markets, including financial assistance to troubled firms, including legislation granting authority to the Treasury Department to purchase $700 billion in assets.

The broad intervention into the financial markets has been passed to avoid the spread of financial instability into the broader market but there are disadvantages, including leaving the government holding large amounts of mortgage debt.

With the worsening performance of the economy, congressional leaders and President Obama have now proposed much larger stimulus packages, ranging from $600 to $850 billion, comprised of spending and tax cuts. An $825 billion package with $275 billion in tax cuts and the remainder in spending has been proposed, containing infrastructure spending, revenue sharing with the States, middle class tax cuts, business tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and food stamps. The need for additional fiscal stimulus depends on the state of the economy. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), in December 2008, declared the economy in recession since December 2007. Growth rates, after two strong quarters, were negative in the fourth quarter of 2007, positive in the first and second quarters of 2008, and a negative 0.5% in the third quarter. According to one data series, employment fell in every month of 2008. The unemployment rate,which rose slightly in the last half of 2007, declined in January and February of 2008, but began rising in March and in December stood at 7.2%. Some forecasters believe that the ongoing financial turmoil will result in a recession that is deeper and longer than average.

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure: H.R. 1, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" - Distribution of Highway Infrastructure Funds to Large Urbanized Areas with Populations Greater than 200,000
See also:

• Funding Tables for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - data by state, provided for: Highways and State Bridges, Transit Capital, Fixed Guideway Modernization, Clean Water SRF
  
• Related postings on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and on the financial system

News release: Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) and former Subcommittee Chairman for Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, James R. Langevin (D-RI), released a Majority staff report entitled “Getting Beyond Getting Ready for Pandemic Influenza.” The report examines the Nation’s state of preparedness and response capabilities in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak. It identifies sixteen weaknesses in the outgoing Bush Administration’s approach to get prepared for pandemic influenza. In addition, the report provides fifteen critical recommendations for what Congress, the incoming Administration, and the public and private sectors can do to achieve National readiness to combat this threat."

Washington Post site, a work in progess: WhoRunsGov.com offers a unique look at the world of Washington through its key players and personalities. It’s your window into how deals get made and policy is shaped in the new Obama administration that is remaking the nation’s capital."

News release includes detailed summary: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today unveiled an original Chairman’s Mark of economic recovery provisions for inclusion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including $275 billion in tax cuts and investments that will create jobs in fields like green energy, highways, and health care, and provide relief for working families and businesses. The plan, which the Finance Committee will formally consider next week, also contains approximately $180 billion in additional investments to help Americans who have lost their jobs to keep their health care coverage and find new work, and to inject cash into struggling state economies..."

• Original Chairman’s Mark of Senate Finance Committee Tax Provisions for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Title I (Tax Relief, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and Other Provisions)
  
• Original Chairman’s Mark of Additional Senate Finance Committee Provisions for the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, Titles II – V (Unemployment Insurance, Health, and Other Provisions)
  
• Related postings on financial system

News release, Congressman Dave Obey: 'The economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression. Credit is frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, in the last four months the country has lost 2 million jobs and we are expected to lose another 3 to 5 million in the next year. Conservative economist Mark Zandi was blunt: ‘the economy is shutting down,'" Obey noted. "In the next two weeks, the Congress will be considering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. This package is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, jumpstart our economy, and begin the process of transforming it for the 21st century with $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in."

Summary of the Bill / Economic Analysis Supporting the Bill / Bill Text / Report Text

"After successful beta testing, GPO has integrated Authenticated Congressional Bills into the live Congressional Bills application on GPO Access at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html. Users of this application will notice digital signatures on bills from the 110th and 111th Congresses."

"GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides public access to government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies and preserved as technology changes. The migration of information from GPO Access into FDsys will be complete in mid-2009. The migration is occurring on a collection-by-collection basis. Collections currently available on FDsys are: Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993 to Present); Congressional Bills (103rd Congress to Present); Congressional Documents (104th Congress to Present); Congressional Hearings (105th Congress to Present); Congressional Record (1994 to Present); Congressional Reports (104th Congress to Present); Federal Register (1994 to Present); Public and Private Laws (104th Congress to Present)."

News release: "Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the incoming Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, and the founder of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, today praised a new report by the National Academies of Sciences entitled Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium. The report concludes that the production of critical medical isotopes, necessary for a range of advanced medical procedures such as diagnostic imaging, can be completely and cost-effectively converted away from the use of dangerous Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU), which can also be used to make nuclear weapons."

H.R. 2, Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, January 13, 2009. Cost estimate for the bill as transmitted to CBO by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 13, 2009.

An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring and Other Improper Personnel Actions in the Civil Rights Division, July 2, 2008 (Released Publicly January 13, 2009)

Follow up to previous posting, Oversight Committee Holds Hearing on EPA's New Ozone Standards, this recently released memo from DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel: Assertion of Executive Privilege Over Communications Regarding EPA's Ozone Air Quality Standards and California's Greenhouse Gas Waiver Request (June 19, 2008) (added 1/08/09).

News release: "House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced [on January 9, 2009] H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009, to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA). The legislation will strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation.

"Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Sen. Claire McCaskill, and Rep. Ed Towns issued a new report that finds that the Bush Administration has failed to implement over 13,000 recommendations made by Inspectors General (IGs) since 2001. Federal agencies could save taxpayers over $25 billion by implementing these open recommendations...The House Oversight Committee asked the nation’s IGs to identify all recommendations made between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2008, that had not been implemented by federal agencies. The information provided shows that the Bush Administration failed to implement 13,847 recommendations since 2001, which could have saved taxpayers $25.9 billion. Almost half of these recommendations were made over a year ago, and more than a quarter were made over two years ago."

News release: "Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), incoming Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced three significant changes to further increase transparency and reduce funding levels for earmarks, building on reforms brought about in the last Congress...new reforms to begin with the 2010 bills include:

• Posting Requests Online: To offer more opportunity for public scrutiny of member requests, members will be required to post information on their earmark requests on their Web sites at the time the request is made explaining the purpose of the earmark and why it is a valuable use of taxpayer funds.
  
• Early Public Disclosure: To increase public scrutiny of committee decisions, earmark disclosure tables will be made publically available the same day as the House or Senate Subcommittee rather than Full Committee reports their bill or 24
  hours before Full Committee consideration of appropriations legislation that has not been marked up by a Senate Subcommittee.
  
• Further Cuts: Earmarks will be further reduced to 50% of the 2006 level for non-project-based accounts." [Note: "President-elect Barack Obama said today in a meeting with members of his budget team that he will ban earmarks from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will soon go before Congress. The President-elect also said he expects his administration to inherit a budget deficit of up to $1 trillion."]

"The Treasury Department today released the report, United States Department of the Treasury Section 105(a) Troubled Asset Relief Program Report to Congress for the Period December 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, required by section 105(a) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The first in the series of reports was delivered on December 5, 2008."

States of the Union Before and After Bush, by Jodie T. Allen, Senior Editor, Pew Research Center, January 5, 2009

• Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession, December 23, 2008: "After the long economic expansion that characterized much of the current decade, the nation entered its eleventh postwar recession in December 2007. The unemployment rate rose from 5.0% in that month to 6.7% in November 2008, the latest data released to date by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A majority of those unemployed in November—some 6 out of 10 million people—had been laid off by their employers. In November 2008 alone, employment at nonfarm businesses fell by 533,000, marking the biggest one-month drop recorded by the BLS Current Employment Statistics program since December 1974."
• Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile, December 31, 2008: "This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.

News release: "The Treasury Department today released responses to questions posed in the Congressional Oversight Panel's first report on implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act."

News release: "The Securities and Exchange Commission today delivered a report to Congress mandated by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that recommends against the suspension of fair value accounting standards. Rather, the 211-page report by the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant and Division of Corporation Finance recommends improvements to existing practice, including reconsidering the accounting for impairments and the development of additional guidance for determining fair value of investments in inactive markets, including situations where market prices are not readily available."

Historical Effective Tax Rates, 1979 to 2005: Supplement with Additional Data on Sources of Income and High-Income Households, December 23, 2008, Letter to the Honorable Max Baucus, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance.

• December 12, 2008 - U.S.-Iraq Withdrawal/Status of Forces Agreement: Issues for Congressional Oversight
• December 11, 2008 - The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Final Part B Regulations
• December 08, 2008 - Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979: Background, Provisions, and Cost
• December 03, 2008 - Financial Market Turmoil and U.S. Macroeconomic Performance
• December 03, 2008 - U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring
• December 02, 2008 - Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Call for Action: Enabling Healthcare Reform Using Information Technology "outlines specific priorities and recommendations for the Obama Administration and 111th Congress to harness IT's power to reform healthcare and stimulate the U.S. economy."

• HIMSS Recommendations to Obama Administration and 111th Congress
  
• Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Adoption Model for Hospitals and Expected Benefits for Each Stage
  
• EMR Soft Return on Investment
  
• EMR Hard Return on Investment
  
• Frequently Asked Questions about Health Information Technology
  
• HIT legislation in the 110th Congress

Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life - Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress, December 19, 2009

POGO letter to Congressional Oversight Committee leaders concerning certain financial companies seeking backdoor access to TARP funds: "The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a non-partisan, non-profit government watchdog that works to achieve a federal government that is effective, accountable, open, and honest. In our continuing scrutiny of the Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) implementation, we have identified a disturbing trend. As you know, the TARP was created for the express purpose of buttressing the financial system by assisting institutions in danger of going under. In the language of the statute, the TARP was meant to "provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers." ...It has come to our attention that a number of insurance companies are attempting to qualify for TARP funds by purchasing banks. We found eight financial institutions engaging in such practices..."

Follow up to previous postings on auto industry, today's White House press release: "...the only way to avoid a collapse of the U.S. auto industry is for the executive branch to step in. The American people want the auto companies to succeed, and so do I. So today, I'm announcing that the federal government will grant loans to auto companies under conditions similar to those Congress considered last week...These loans will provide help in two ways. First, they will give automakers three months to put in place plans to restructure into viable companies -- which we believe they are capable of doing. Second, if restructuring cannot be accomplished outside of bankruptcy, the loans will provide time for companies to make the legal and financial preparations necessary for an orderly Chapter 11 process that offers a better prospect of long-term success -- and gives consumers confidence that they can continue to buy American cars."

Treasury Releases Term Sheet for Automotive Plan: Washington - The U.S. Treasury Department today released the term sheet and appendices for the Administration's plan for stabilizing the automotive industry.

• Chrysler Term Sheet and Appendix
  
• General Motors Term Sheet and Appendix
  
• New York Times: Bush Approves $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout

Follow-up to previous postings on the auto industry, this CRS report, U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring, December 3, 2008: "The three domestically owned U.S. manufacturers of cars and light trucks are requesting federal financial assistance in the form of “bridge loans” to assure their ability to continue in business. The companies, General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler (collectively known as the “Detroit 3”), have directly appealed to Congress for aid in a series of hearings that began in November 2008. The companies have been affected by a long-term decline in U.S. market share, the impact of a general decline in U.S. motor vehicle sales in 2008 that has impacted all producers, and the effects of a severe constriction of credit, resulting from problems in U.S. and global financial markets. The rise in gasoline prices to more than $4.00 a gallon in July 2008 caused a significant fall in vehicle use and miles driven, and a structural shift in motor vehicle consumption patterns. The subsequent decline in gas prices in Fall 2008 has not led to increased consumer spending on autos and light trucks, in spite of numerous incentives by American and foreign-owned motor vehicle companies."

"On December 15, 2008, the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States submitted an interim report to members of the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees. The interim report summarizes the Commission’s activities since it began its work in spring 2008 and reiterates its commitment to deliver a final report on April 1, 2009."

"Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar wrote to President-elect Obama regarding their investigation into the drastic deterioration of the Clean Water Act enforcement program. New internal documents obtained by the Committees show that hundreds of Clean Water Act violations have not been pursued with enforcement actions. Dozens of existing enforcement cases have become informal responses, have had civil penalties reduced, and have experienced significant delays. Many violations are not even being detected because of the substantial reduction in investigations. Violations involving oil spills make up nearly half of the Clean Water Act violations that have been detected but are not being addressed."

• Letter to President-elect Obama
  
• Memo: Decline of Clean Water Act Enforcement Program
  
• Supporting Documents

"A comparison of legislative resources available on GPO Access and other Government and non-Government Web sites was recently completed. Eight Web sites were selected for in-depth analysis including GPO Access, THOMAS, House.gov, Senate.gov, CQ.com, HeinOnline, Lexis-Nexis Congressional, and Westlaw. The report specifically evaluates the availability of legislative resources on all of the databases examined, the scope of the resources on each database, the source of those resources (i.e., whether they house their own content or link to other Web sites for it), and additional legislative resources or features exclusive to comparable Web sites. The 2008 comparison report and previous reports are available as follows:

• Executive Summary
• Chart - Comparison of Legislative Resources: Scope of GPO Access and Government Web Sites
• Chart - Comparison of Legislative Resources: Scope of GPO Access and Non-Government Web Sites."

News release, Sen. Wyden: "Significant harm to the integrity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the morale and reputation of the Fish and Wildlife Service as well as potential harm to individual species,” and the “untold waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars” are just some of the consequences of what the Interior Department’s Inspector General Earl Devaney terms one former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald’s “zeal to advance her agenda.” General Devaney released these findings in a 141 page report detailing his office’s year-long investigation, initiated at the request of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) who believed that 18 ESA decisions may have been tainted by Ms. MacDonald. The full text of the Inspector General’s report, The Endangered Species Act and the Conflict between Science and Policy.

"As policymakers in Washington consider health reform, the care and coverage of the nation’s children is certain to be part of the debate. During the campaign President-elect Barack Obama said that he would require that all children have health coverage. Moreover, Congress is expected to take up reauthorization of the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) before the program’s funding expires at the end of March.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has several resources that explain the state of children’s health and health care coverage and can serve as helpful reference guides in understanding the policy debate. The materials include state level data on children’s coverage and overviews of the role of Medicaid and SCHIP, which together provide coverage for more than one in four children."

Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act - H.R. 7321 passed authorizing financial assistance to eligible automobile manufacturers, and for other purposes.

In following posting today, Interior Publishes Final Changes to Endangered Species Act Regs, this news release: "The announcement by the Interior Department of a new rule eliminating Congress’s authority to prevent new mining on public lands escalated concerns about the Bush administration's last ditch efforts to push through major regulatory rule changes to energy and environmental policies. From global warming to water quality to endangered species to clean air, the Bush administration is pushing harder than ever to advance its anti-environmental agenda by rescinding, changing, or issuing rules, with negative consequences for our natural resources, environment, and America’s energy policy. A panel of environmental and regulatory experts will discuss the ramifications of these last-minute rulemakings at a hearing before Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming."

Follow up to related postings on "midnight regulations," this news release and report: "In 2001, the Bush administration began its radical, anti-environmental agenda by rescinding, changing, or issuing rules that degraded America’s environment. From refusing to reduce the arsenic levels in drinking water, to opening wilderness areas to new roads, to rejecting the Kyoto Protocol after promising to cut emissions, early actions merely presaged later damaging activities on global warming, clean air laws, and myriad other environmental and energy issues."

"The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has prepared the following report on what administrative actions the Bush administration could take in the final days of its second term": Past is Prologue: For Energy and the Environment, the Bush Administration’s Last 100 Days Could Rival the First 100, A Majority Staff Report.

News release: "The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today outlined the key policies that President-elect Obama and the Congressional leadership must address to expand the use of solar energy and help put over 1 million Americans back to work by 2011. SEIA released Solar Energy: A Blueprint for Job Creation and Economic Security, which recommends that the new Administration and Congress embrace the following policies and programs to expand the creation of clean energy jobs in the United States: Improve solar tax credits; Increase government procurement of solar power; Create tax incentives for manufacturing; Pass a national renewable portfolio standard with a solar provision; Expand and update transmission infrastructure; Improve access to federal lands to harness our vast solar resources; Create a federal Clean Energy Bank; Create the office of Renewable Energy Development; Establish national standards for interconnection and net metering; Increase DOE Solar Appropriations; Enact climate legislation to reduce carbon emissions, stimulate solar generation."

Mr. Frank of Massachusetts introduced the following bill on December 10, 2008: Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act (1) to immediately provide authority and facilities to restore liquidity and stability to the domestic automobile industry in the United States; and (2) to ensure that such authority and such facilities are used in a manner that—(A) results in a viable and competitive domestic automobile industry that minimizes adverse effects on the environment; (B) enhances the ability and the capacity of the domestic automobile industry to pursue the timely and aggressive production of energy efficient advanced technology vehicles;(C) preserves and promotes the jobs of American workers employed directly by the domestic automobile industry and in related industries; (D) safeguards the ability of the domestic automobile industry to provide retirement and health care benefits for the industry’s retirees and their dependents; and (E) stimulates manufacturing and sales of automobiles produced by automobile manufacturers in the United States."

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on investments in clean energy and natural resources projects and programs to create green jobs and to stimulate the economy: Testimony of Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund, December 10, 2008: "In this testimony, the Center for American Progress Action Fund offers some thoughts on: 1) the current economic downturn and the urgent need for an aggressive stimulus package that extends well into the coming year; 2) why clean energy should be a major centerpiece of any such recovery plan, possibly constituting from one quarter to one third of a larger stimulus package; and 3) priority measures that will not only create jobs and growth in the short term, but help rebuild the foundation of the U.S. economy over the long term on the platform of renewable and efficient low-carbon energy."

Via Taxpayers for Common Sense: "The Congressional Oversight Panel for Economic Stabilization has released its first report on the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act."

• Hensarling Testifies Before House Financial Services Committee - [here] is a copy of the testimony (as prepared for delivery) by Congressman Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee and Minority Leader John Boehner’s appointment to the Congressional Oversight Panel for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Congressman Hensarling voted against the first report issued by the panel last evening."
  
• Related postings on financial system

DOJ OIG: Review of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), Evaluation and Inspections Report I-2009-001, December 2008: "...we found that information in the national sex offender registries is incomplete and inaccurate and therefore the registries are not reliable tools for law enforcement and the public. For example, we found that registries were missing records, did not always identify known fugitives, and did not always contain sufficient information to enable law enforcement and the public to accurately identify sex offenders."

News release: "Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, today released a Committee on Energy and Commerce Majority Staff report detailing the findings of the Committee’s bipartisan investigation relating to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)...The report, titled Deception and Distrust: The Federal Communications Commission Under Chairman Kevin J. Martin, is the culmination of a bipartisan investigation into the FCC’s regulatory processes and management practices that was formally launched on January 8, 2008."

Follow up on previous postings concerning the auto industry bailout, today's draft bill - Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act, December 8, 2008: "The purposes of this Act are —(1) to immediately provide authority and facili16 ties to restore liquidity and stability to the domestic automobile industry in the United States; and (2) to ensure that such authority and such facilities are used in a manner that - (A) stimulates manufacturing and sales of automobiles produced by automobile manufacturers in the United States; (B) enhances the ability and the capacity of the domestic automobile industry to pursue the timely and aggressive production of energy efficient advanced technology vehicles; (C) preserves and promotes the jobs of 355,000 workers in the United States directly employed by the automobile industry and an additional 4,500,000 workers in the United States employed in related industries; (D) safeguards the ability of the domestic automobile industry to provide retirement and health care benefits for 1,000,000 retirees and their dependents; and (E) results in a viable and competitive domestic automobile industry that minimizes adverse effects on the environment..."

"The House Oversight Committee will next Tuesday consider a report supported by Chairman Henry A. Waxman and former Ranking Member Tom Davis finding that President Bush made a “legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege” when he directed Attorney General Mukasey to withhold Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview of Vice President Cheney from the Committee."

• Draft Report: President Bush's Assertion of Executive Privilege Regarding Attorney General Mukasey
  
• Appendix A to Report on President Bush's Assertion of Executive Privilege Regarding Attorney General Mukasey
  
• Appendix B to Report on President Bush's Assertion of Executive Privilege Regarding Attorney General Mukasey
  
• Draft Report: Additional Views of Chairman Waxman on President Bush's Use of Executive Privilege

• Auto Industry: A Framework for Considering Federal Financial Assistance, GAO-09-247T, December 05, 2008: "From our previous work on federal financial assistance to large firms and municipalities, we have identified three fundamental principles that can serve as a framework for considering future assistance. These principles are (1) identifying and defining the problem, (2) determining the national interests and setting clear goals and objectives that address the problem, and (3) protecting the government's interests."

  See also: Big Three Restructural Plans Presented To Congress

• Genetically Engineered Crops: Agencies Are Proposing Changes to Improve Oversight, but Could Take Additional Steps to Enhance Coordination and Monitoring, GAO-09-60, November 05, 2008: "The unauthorized mixing of some GE crops with non-GE crops has caused controversy and financial harm. GAO examined (1) unauthorized releases of GE crops, (2) coordination among the three agencies, and (3) additional actions they have proposed to improve oversight. GAO gathered data from agencies and stakeholders; used criteria from prior GAO work to assess coordination; and reviewed agency proposals."
• Financial Audit: Capitol Preservation Fund's Fiscal Years 2007 and 2006 Financial Statements, GAO-09-92, December 05, 2008)
• Transportation Security Administration's Suspension of the Butane Lighter Ban Onboard Commercial Aircraft, GAO-09-177R, December 05, 2008

News release: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy has unveiled its Transition Plan for Securing America's Energy Future, an energy policy roadmap with 88 concrete recommendations and detailed timelines for President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress."

"Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director James B. Lockhart today submitted to Congress the first report as a Federal Property Manager (FPM) detailing actions FHFA is taking to prevent unnecessary foreclosures. Section 110 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) directs Federal Property Managers to develop and implement plans to maximize assistance for homeowners and encourage servicers of underlying mortgages to take advantage of programs to minimize foreclosures."

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affair: Big Three Restructural Plans Presented To Congress, December 2, 2008

• Ford Motor Company's Report and Restructural Plan Presented to Congress
  
• Ford Motor Company's Restructural Plan Appendix Powerpoint
  
• General Motors Corporation's Letter about Restructural Plan
  
• General Motors Corporation's Report and Restructural Plan Presented to Congress
  
• Chrysler Corporation's Letter about Restructural Plan
  
• Chrysler Corporation's Report and Restructural Plan Presented to Congress
  
• Chrysler Corporation's Appendix: Areas of inquiry
  
• Related postings on auto industry

"GPO's Authentication initiative focuses on the primary objective of assuring users that the information made available by GPO is official and authentic and that trust relationships exist between all participants in electronic transactions. In furthering GPO's mission to provide permanent public access to authentic U.S. Government publications, GPO is working to afford users further assurance that files are unchanged since GPO authenticated them.

The Beta release of an Authenticated Congressional Bills application provides digitally signed and certified Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files for a sample set of Congressional Bills from the 110th Congress. GPO has signed and certified the House and Senate bills PDF files within this application as part of GPO's initiative to reassure users that the online documents are official and authentic."

News release: A congressionally appointed commission is calling on the President-elect and the next Congress to immediately initiate several concrete actions, unilaterally and with the international community, to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction that pose the greatest peril: nuclear and biological weapons. The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism released its report, World At Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism today, and is briefing Vice President-elect Biden, President Bush and congressional leaders."

The New Team - "As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of a new Obama administration. Below is a series of profiles of potential members of the administration."

House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Final Staff Report for the 110th Congress Staff, October 21, 2008: "The scientific debate on the cause of climate change is over. A clear scientific consensus now holds that global warming is happening, that manmade greenhouse gas emissions are largely responsible, and that failure to dramatically reduce those emissions in the coming decades will result in catastrophic impacts. Human activities have changed the atmosphere as much in 200 years as natural variations changed it over 20,000 years. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide—a key heat-trapping gas—have increased from 280 parts per million to 380 parts per million since 1750, and are higher than any level seen in the last 650,000 years. These concentrations could exceed 700 parts per million by 2100—leading to an increase in global average surface temperature of over 11 ºF—if current trends in emission growth continue."

• Executive Summary
  

  Full Report (By Section):
  

• Part One: The Climate & Energy Challenge
  
• Part Two: Energy & Climate "Win-Win" Solutions
  
• Part Three: Oversight of Bush Administration
  
• Part Four: International Efforts
  
• Part Five: Additional Views, Full Hearing & Witness List
  
• Related postings on climate change

The Government Domain: Tracking the Transition - Peggy Garvin's thorough and concise guide to free online presidential transition trackers allows you to stay current with all the latest news, rumors and commentary about the incoming administration, via reliable websites, blogs and RSS feeds.

CongressLine: Presidential Patronage - Paul Jenks' commentary addresses the background of the scramble for thousands of presidentially appointed offices within the government that accompanies a new administration. The selection process has evolved over the past couple of hundred years and every position outside of the new president’s personal staff requires Senate approval.

Report on Challenges and Recommendations for United States Overhead Architecture authored by the Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, Report 110–914

News release: "China relies on heavy-handed government control over its economy to maintain an export advantage over other countries. The result: China has amassed nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange and has increasingly used its hoard to manipulate currency trading and diplomatic relations with other nations. These are among the concusions in the sixth Annual Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “Rather than use this money for the benefit of its citizens—by funding pensions and erecting hospitals and schools, for example--China has been using the funds to seek political and economic influence over other nations,” said Larry Wortzel, chairman of the Commission, at the official release of the group’s 2008 report to Congress on Thursday."

• The U.S. Financial Crisis: The Global Dimension with Implications for U.S. Policy, November 18, 2008
• Reporting Requirements in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, updated November 13, 2008
• The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and Current Financial Turmoil: Issues and Analysis, October 31, 2008
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act: Preliminary Analysis of Oversight Provisions, October 31, 2008
• The Global Financial Crisis: The Role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), October 30, 2008
• Related postings on financial system

• News release: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd today unveiled a $100.3 billion economic recovery package that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, support a struggling auto industry and help families hurting in this flagging economy."
• Reid Byrd Economic Recovery Package Explanatory Statement: "In response to higher unemployment, rising food costs, higher energy costs, State budgets in crisis, and increased dependence on foreign oil, President-Elect Obama has called for a second stimulus bill to jump start the economy and help Americans recover from the recession. It is time to deliver to Main Street."
• Text of Reid Byrd Economic Recovery Package: H.R. 7110 - Making supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation, infrastructure investment, and economic and energy assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes."
• Related postings on financial system

Interim Assistant Secretary Neel Kashkari, November 19, 2008: "...The EESA is not an economic stimulus plan, nor is it an economic growth plan. It was designed to stabilize the financial system. Today, the LIBOR-OIS spread has fallen 238 basis points from its peak to 100 basis points. We believe the combined actions of Treasury, the Federal Reserve and FDIC have stabilized the financial system and prevented a financial collapse. Nonetheless, the current crisis took years to build up and will take time to work through, and we still face some real economic challenges."

• Credit Indicators
  
• Related postings on financial system

New Member Pictorial Directory: 111th Congress - View images of the new members of the 111th Congress.

House Financial Services Committee - Oversight of Implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and of Government Lending and Insurance Facilities; Impact on Economy and Credit Availability Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Witness List & Prepared Testimony

• Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
  
• Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
  
• Sheila C. Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

S. 3689, Economic Recovery Act of 2008 - November 18, 2008 - Cost estimate for the bill as introduced on November 17, 2008.

Attorney General Must Work Without Partisanship, Op-Ed, October 28, 2008, By Sen. Patrick Leahy & Sen. Arlen Specter: "In much the same way that our financial system is suffering a crisis of confidence, our Justice Department — the flagship of our system of justice — also faces a difficult road to rebuild trust after a crisis of leadership and conscience. The infusion of politics into the Justice Department and an abdication of responsibility by its leaders have dealt a severe blow, squandering the public’s trust in a system that is supposed to apply our laws without fear or favor. Investigations by Congress and the DOJ’s inspector general into the U.S. attorney firing scandal and the politicized hiring of attorneys and immigration judges have substantiated some of our worst fears. We now have the corrosive situation in which defendants routinely question whether federal prosecutions are politically motivated. Great damage has been done to the credibility and effectiveness of the Justice Department...The next president should nominate someone who understands our moral obligation to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans and to respect the human rights of all people. The attorney general must hold everyone, no matter how powerful, accountable to the law. Any nominee must have a visceral commitment to pursuing and achieving justice, and a record of doing just that."

Senate Banking Committee Hearing: Oversight of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act: Examining Financial Institution Use of Funding Under the Capital Purchase Program, November 13, 2008

• Opening Statement of Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, “Oversight of the EESA: Examining Financial Institution Use of Funding Under the Capital Purchase Program” - "...five trillion dollars have been committed in several forms, including: the guarantee of all non-interest bearing deposit accounts at federally insured banks and thrifts...The Fed alone has committed up to one trillion in tax dollars so far to the recovery effort...I think I speak for many members of the Committee and the Senate in saying that we want to see more progress from our friends in the financial sector – more progress in foreclosure mitigation, in affordable lending, and in curbing excessive compensation."
  • Washington Post: Bailout Lacks Oversight Despite Billions Pledged - "In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders...Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste."
  • Treasury news release: "Today's story in the Washington Post leaves out critical steps taken by Treasury to ensure that there is strong oversight in place as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is implemented."
  • Reuters, Commentary: TARP and Fed facilities unravel - "The twin pillars of the rescue program are the multiplicity of liquidity and lending programs being offered by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Both programs are now in deep trouble. In fact the various rescue packages risk becoming a textbook example of how poorly designed programs can fail to achieve their objectives."
  • Joint Letter of Concern to Secretary Paulson After His Announcement to the Change Intent of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, November 13, 2008
  • Related postings on financial system

"The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled, Hedge Funds and the Financial Market, on November 13, 2008. The hearing examined systemic risks to the financial markets posed by hedge funds and proposals for regulatory and tax reforms."

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus: "It is the duty of the next President and the next Congress to reform America’s health care system. In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves universal coverage while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable. In preparing to act, I led the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance in holding nine hearings on health care reform this year, and hosted a day-long health summit in June 2008 to explore in greater depth the problems plaguing our health system. This paper – this Call To Action, Health Reform 2009 report represents the next step. It is not intended to be a legislative proposal. Rather, it details my vision for both policy and the process in the upcoming health care reform debate. The plan contained outlined here addresses health care coverage, quality, and cost. Many components will require an initial investment but, over time, will vastly improve the quality of the health care Americans receive and reduce the cost of that health care, ultimately putting our system on a more sustainable path. It is my intention that after ten years the U.S. will spend no more on health care than is currently projected, but we will spend those resources more efficiently, and will provide better-quality coverage to all Americans."

Follow up to previous postings on calls for a government bail- out of the auto industry, today Speaker Pelosi stated: "I have asked Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee to work with House and Senate leaders, and with the Bush Administration, to craft legislation to provide emergency and limited financial assistance to the automobile industry under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA)."

• WSJ: Democrats Plot Detroit Rescue
  
• New York Times: "The struggling auto industry was thrust into the middle of a political standoff between the White House and Democrats on Monday as President-elect Barack Obama urged President Bush in a meeting at the White House to support immediate emergency aid."
  
• New York Times: Democrats Seek Help for Automakers

Follow up to November 7, 2008 posting - Is a Government Bail-Out In GM's Future? - this November 8 press release: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling on him to review the feasibility of using the authority given under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) of 2008 to provide temporary assistance to the automobile industry during this financial crisis. Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi added: “Were you to determine that the automobile industry is eligible for assistance under EESA, we would urge you to impose strong conditions on such assistance in order to protect taxpayers and maximize the potential for the industry's recovery.”

News release: "The Commission has approved the Report to Congress Under the Do Not Call Improvement Act of 2007 (2007 DNCIA) [Pub. L. No. 110-187, 122 Stat. 633 (2008)], signed into law on February 15, 2008. The report, which is mandated under the 2007 DNCIA, contains information on the Commission’s efforts to improve the accuracy of the National Do Not Call Registry. The report details the efforts that the FTC has taken in the nine months since the 2007 DNCIA was signed into law and describes the new procedure that will be used to remove disconnected and reassigned numbers from the National Registry."

"Following each presidential election, GAO serves as a resource to assist with the transition to a new Congress and administration. On this Web site, Serving the Congress and the Nation, using its institutional knowledge and broad-based, nonpartisan work on matters across the government spectrum, GAO provides insight into, and recommendations for addressing, the nation’s major issues, risks and challenges. Also located throughout the site are key reports for further research, as well as contact information for and video messages from GAO experts.

Many of the urgent policy concerns identified here are critical and time sensitive and require prioritized federal action. They include: oversight of financial institutions and markets, U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, protecting the homeland, undisciplined defense spending, improving the U.S. image abroad, finalizing plans for the 2010 Census, caring for service members, preparing for public health emergencies, revamping oversight of food safety, restructuring the approach to surface transportation, retirement of the Space Shuttle, ensuring an effective transition to digital TV, and rebuilding military readiness."

"Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, JEC Vice Chair, released a new JEC report entitled Stemming the Current Economic Downturn Will Require More Stimulus. The current economic downturn follows the weakest recovery on record. Families face rising unemployment, high prices, dwindling assets, historically high debt, and their real income remains lower than it was over eight years ago, all of which makes prospects for a consumer-led recovery highly unlikely. The weakness of household finances means that absent aggressive government action, the current downturn could be particularly long-lasting and severe."

Stock Market Fluctuations and Retiree Incomes: An Update - by Gary Burtless, The Brookings Institution

CBO: An Analysis of NASA's Plans for Continuing Human Spaceflight After Retiring the Space Shuttle, November 3, 2008, Letter to the Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D.

• Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Fiscal Year 2008 Airport and Airway Trust Fund Excise Taxes, GAO-09-90R, November 03, 2008
• Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Fiscal Year 2008 Highway Trust Fund Excise Taxes, GAO-09-91R, November 03, 2008
• The Upcoming Transition: GAO's Efforts to Assist the 111th Congress and the Next Administration, before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, GAO-08-1174T, September 24, 2008

Follow up to previous postings on perchlorate and drinking water contamination, this recent CRS report: Perchlorate Contamination of Drinking Water: Regulatory Issues and Legislative Actions, October 16, 2008

Telework Legislation Pending in the 110th Congress: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Provisions, October 20, 2008

"The Law Library of Congress contains approximately 75,000 volumes of printed Congressional Hearings. Committees hold hearings for a variety of purposes. Testimony is received from members of congress, officials of the executive branch, policy experts, interest groups and sometimes the general public on legislative proposals, the functioning of government programs, subjects of controversy, and matters under investigation. As part of the Law Library’s transition to the digital future, a collaborative pilot project was undertaken with Google, Inc. to digitize the entire collection and make it freely available to Congress and the world. Three collections have been selectively compiled to provide users with a test experience: Census: U.S. / Freedom of Information/Privacy / Immigration." [Scout Report]

Justice Denied: Waste & Mismanagement at the Department of Justice, United States Senate, 110th Congress, Office of Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., Ranking Member Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, October 2008

News release: "According to a report released today by Chairman Waxman, key FDA career officials strongly objected to Bush Administration drug labeling regulations that would preempt state liability lawsuits, asserting that the central justifications for the regulations were “false and misleading” and warning that the changes would deprive consumers of timely information about drug hazards."

CongressLine: Congress and Money - Paul Jenks examines how the appropriations process this year has provided a multitude of interesting examples of the wide variety of tools available to Congress and the federal government for appropriating money, beyond just the ordinary appropriations bills in Congress.

CRS Report - Status of a Senator Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony, October 22, 2008

News release: "Consistent with Section 601 of the "Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007," Public Law 110-53, the Director of National Intelligence is disclosing to the public the aggregate amount of funds appropriated by Congress to the National Intelligence Program (NIP) for fiscal year 2008 not later than 30 days after the end of the fiscal year. The aggregate amount appropriated to the NIP for fiscal year 2008 was $47.5 Billion."

Testimony for the House Education and Labor Committee - The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security, October 7, 2008. Additional Statement for the Record, Jack VanDerhei, Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

• M-09-03, Guidance on implementing P.L. No. 110-329 in accordance with Executive Order 13457 on “Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks” (October 23, 2008)
• M-09-02, Information Technology Management Structure and Governance Framework: "Organizational Structure and Reporting Relationships of IT Executives and Senior Managers - A. The Department or Agency has a designated executive-level Chief Information Officer (CIO) reporting to the head of the organization, with formal and full responsibility for all requirements set forth in promulgating statutes, regulations and guidance of Public Law 104-106, “Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996,” Public Law 107-347, “E-Government Act of 2002,” Title 44 U.S. Code Section 3506 “Federal Agency Responsibilities,” Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 39, “Acquisition of Information Technology,” and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, “Transmittal Memorandum #4, Management of Federal Information Resources.” (October 21, 2008)
• M-09-01, Spectrum Relocation Fund Guidance (SRF) (October 14, 2008): "The SRF was created in 2004 to streamline the process through which Federal agencies can recover the costs associated with relocating their radio communications systems from certain spectrum bands, which were authorized to be auctioned for commercial purposes. This process allows for the consolidation of Federal spectrum use, with budgetary benefit resulting from spectrum auction proceeds, economic benefit resulting from new consumer wireless services, and agency benefit through the procurement of new communications systems."

"The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held holding a hearing titled, The Financial Crisis and the Role of Federal Regulators on, Thursday, October 23, 2008. The hearing examined the roles and responsibilities of federal regulators in the current financial crisis. A preliminary hearing transcript (201 pages, PDF) is available for download."

The Food Stamp Program And Older Americans Fact Sheet, Jean C. Accius, AARP Public Policy Institute, October 2008: "Approximately 2 million older individuals (of whom 1.6 million live alone) received food stamps in 2006."

House Document 108-224, Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007: "The most comprehensive history available on the 121 African Americans who have served in Congress. The Full House Document (803 pages) is available in five ZIP files." Users may also download individual sections of the book, available in PDF.

Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President - Federal R&D Agenda for Net Zero Energy, High-Performance Green Buildings, October 22, 2008.

News release: "A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today found better data management and more inspections are needed to strengthen the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) foreign drug inspection program. The report was requested by Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI) and Joe Barton (R-TX), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Bart Stupak (D-MI) and John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman and Ranking Member of its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The lawmakers asked GAO to assess (1) the extent to which FDA has accurate data on the number of foreign establishments subject to inspection, (2) the frequency of foreign inspections, and (3) oversight by FDA to ensure that foreign establishments correct serious problems identified during inspections. GAO analyzed information from FDA databases, reviewed inspection reports which identified serious deficiencies, and interviewed FDA officials."

News release: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) issued a subpoena Tuesday compelling Attorney General Michael Mukasey to provide testimony and related documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee about legal analysis and advice from the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) related to the Bush administration’s terrorism policies, including detention and interrogation policies and practices."

"The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing titled, Credit Rating Agencies and the Financial Crisis on Wednesday, October 22, 2008...The hearing examined the actions of the three largest credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Corporation, and Fitch Ratings, leading up to the current financial crisis."

• A preliminary hearing transcript is available for download.
  List of links to witness testimony and associated documents
  
• From list referenced above, Moody's Town Hall Transcript, September 2007: "You can see that much of the criticism about our rating has revolved around the rating, these high rating assignments on structured securities have failed to capture the changes in price movements. The market value of these transactions has plummeted and the rating agencies got it wrong because they assigned investment grade, in many cases high investment grade ratings..."
  
• Related postings on financial system
  
• New York Times: Credit Rating Agency Heads Grilled by Lawmakers

"In testimony before the House Budget Committee hearing on Economic Recovery: Options and Challenges, Martin Baily, Martin Neil Baily, Brookings Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, says we need a second fiscal stimulus package to avoid a deep recession. He advocates for an immediate infusion of $200 billion, with a second $100 billion released if unemployment hits 7.5 percent. The package should include help for homeowners, tax rebates for families and aid to states and localities."

"The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing titled, Credit Rating Agencies and the Financial Crisis on Wednesday, October 22, 2008...The hearing will examine the actions of the three largest credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Corporation, and Fitch Ratings, leading up to the current financial crisis."

"On the eve of the 36th anniversary of the enactment of the Clean Water Act (October 18), Rep. James L. Oberstar, Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, released the report, Stagnant Waters - the Legacy of the Bush Administration on the Clean Water Act, on the status of the nation’s waters under the Bush Administration. This landmark environmental statute, which established a national commitment to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters, has been undermined and weakened by the Bush administration, and many Federal clean water protections have been eliminated in the past eight years."

"In response to reports that AIG [American International Group] spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on extravagant employee events after receiving an $85 billion rescue package, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Waxman requested a detailed listing of all conferences, events, or retreats paid for by AIG this year as well as bonuses paid to AIG executives."

• Letter to Edward Liddy, CEO, AIG
  
• Related postings on financial system
Permanent Link

"A bipartisan report circulated today by House Committee on Oversight Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Ranking Member Tom Davis finds that President Bush made a “legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege” when he directed Attorney General Mukasey to withhold Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview of Vice President Cheney from the Committee. A separate report circulated by Chairman Waxman criticizes the President’s assertion of executive privilege in the Committee’s investigation into recent climate change and Clean Air Act decisions. Both reports will be considered by the full Committee next week." [Appendices to both reports are linked here]

News release: "The President's Working Group on Financial Markets made a statement Tuesday on a series of comprehensive actions to strengthen public confidence in our financial institutions and restore functioning of our credit markets."

• Statement by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on Actions to Protect the U.S. Economy
  
• Joint Statement by Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC
  
• Treasury Announces TARP Capital Purchase Program Description
  
• Treasury Announces Executive Compensation Rules Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
  
• Related postings on financial system

Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari Remarks before the Institute of International Bankers, October 13, 2008

The Open House Project: "Fulfilling one of the recommendations of the Open House Project report, The Library of Congress has published on their THOMAS web page directions for creating permanent links."

Follow up to September 17, 2008 posting, Congress Passes ADA Amendments Act, this America.gov article, Protections for America’s Disabled Workers Expanded Under New Law: "A new law restores workplace protections for the disabled that had eroded as a result of several Supreme Court decisions issued since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush on September 25, clarifies and broadens the definition of disability and expands the population eligible for protection under the ADA. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with physical and mental disabilities in such areas as employment, public accommodations and transportation. It mandates that employers make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled individuals unless those accommodations impose an "undue hardship" on the employer."

News release: "American workers have lost as much as $2 trillion in retirement savings over the last year – highlighting the devastating toll that the nation’s financial crisis is taking on their retirement plans, witnesses told the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today. Today’s hearing is one of several that House Democrats have scheduled to investigate the causes of the financial crisis and what additional steps should be taken to protect taxpayers, homeowners, workers, and families...According to the Congressional Budget Office, this multi-trillion dollar loss in workers’ retirement wealth could further slow the ailing economy."

From Chairman Waxman's Opening Statement: "Today we are holding our second day of hearings on the financial crisis on Wall Street. Yesterday, we examined the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Our focus today is AIG. There are obvious differences between Lehman and AIG. Lehman is an investment bank; AIG is an insurance company. Lehman fell because it placed highly leveraged bets in the subprime and real estate markets; AIG’s problems originate in complex derivatives called credit default swaps. But their stories are fundamentally the same. In each case, the companies and their executives grew rich by taking on excessive risk. In each case, the companies collapsed when these risks turned bad. And in each case, their executives are walking away with millions of dollars while taxpayers are stuck with billions of dollars in costs."

Minority Staff of the Joint Economic Committee: Government Policy Blunders Largely Caused the Global Financial Crisis, October 7, 2008. Research Report #110-26

• "Macroeconomic and microeconomic policy blunders by both the U.S. government and foreign governments inflated an unsustainable housing bubble in the United States and other developed economies. When this bubble inevitably popped, a global financial crisis ensued. Although misaligned private incentives, methodological errors in rating structured credit products, and the recklessness of some private financial institutions and investors did play a contributory role in the recent financial turmoil, individuals and firms could not have created and sustained such a large housing bubble over so long a time without major macroeconomic and microeconomic policy mistakes."
  
• Related postings on financial system

The Economic Bailout: An Analysis of the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act, Katalina M. Bianco, J.D., John M. Pachkowski, J.D., CCH - Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

Republican Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Examining the Causes of the Credit Crisis of 2008 Minority Staff Analysis, October 6, 2008

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing today to examine the regulatory mistakes and financial excesses that led to the bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers. The following witnesses have testified:

• Dr. Luigi Zingales (Oral and Written Testimony), Professor of Finance, University of Chicago
  
• Dr. Robert F. Wescott, President, Keybridge Research LLC
  
• Nell Minow, Chairman of the Board and Editor, The Corporate Library
  
• Gregory W. Smith, General Counsel, Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association
  
• Peter J. Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
  
• Richard S. Fuld, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lehman Brothers Holdings
  
• Related postings on financial system

Congressional Reports: Browse - "To browse a current catalog of congressional reports available on GPO Access, click on the link for the appropriate Congress and session below. Catalogs are available for the 110th Congress. Links are included with each congressional report listed in the catalog, which retrieve the text of the corresponding document as an ASCII text or PDF file. If a congressional report is not listed in the catalog, it is not available electronically via GPO Access at this time."

News release: "...the Sunlight Foundation is releasing a beta version of FARAdb, which digitizes disclosures filed by lobbyists representing 15 foreign countries required by the Foreign Agent Registration Act. These reports are filed twice a year by firms hired to lobby Congress and the executive branch by foreign governments, political parties, individuals and organizations–including for-profit companies. The lobbying firms disclose specific details about which government officials, including members of Congress and their staffs, were contacted by lobbyists for each client, and gives details about what specific issues were discussed. The firms must also disclose all the campaign donations made by their employees who lobby for foreign clients."

Follow-up to previous posting, Perchlorate and TCE in the Nation’s Waters, this news release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted extensive review of scientific data related to the health effects of exposure to perchlorate from drinking water and other sources and found that in more than 99 percent of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the agency determined there is not a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction" through a national drinking water regulation. While fewer than one percent of the drinking water sources have perchlorate levels above the health reference level, EPA is committed to working with states and localities to ensure public health is protected. States have the right to establish and enforce drinking water standards and EPA encourages state-specific situations to be addressed at the local level. EPA intends to issue a health advisory at the time it issues its final regulatory determination for perchlorate, to assist states with their local response."

• October 2008 Preliminary Regulatory Determination for Perchlorate (81 pages, PDF)
  
• Washington Post: EPA Makes No Rule On Chemical in Water: "Last month, The Washington Post reported that White House officials had extensively edited the EPA's perchlorate rule-making documentation to remove scientific data highlighting some of the risks associated with the chemical, which has been found in water in 35 states. The Defense Department and Pentagon contractors who face legal liability stemming from rocket fuel contamination have lobbied for six years to avoid a federal drinking-water standard for perchlorate. In the document released yesterday, the EPA assumes that the maximum safe perchlorate contamination level is 15 times higher than what the agency suggested in 2002. By that standard, the EPA estimates that more than 16 million Americans are exposed to the chemical at a level that is unsafe."
  
• See also, EPA - Ground Water & Drinking Water

Follow up to September 29, 2008 posting, DOJ: An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, today's House Judiciary Committee Hearing on: the Continuing Investigation into the U.S. Attorneys Controversy and Related Matters

Statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice concerning “The Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006” October 3, 2008.

• Opening Statement of Chairman John Conyers, Jr.: "...with this detailed Report before us, there can no longer be any dispute that the firings were improper, that false statements were made to Congress, and that the Justice Department has been severely harmed as a result. As the Report states – and I quote: “Political partisan considerations were an important factor in the removal of several of the U.S. Attorneys.”
  
• Conyers Calls for Special Counsel on U.S. Attorney Report Judiciary Committee Hearing Scheduled for Friday

Follow up to previous posting, Senate Passes Bailout Bill - Moves Back to House on Friday, the House vote today was 263 to 171

• The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, passed in the House, Friday, October 3, 2008 - Roll Call Vote 681; 451 pages, PDF
  
• Section-by-Section of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
  Treasury Under Secretary David H. McCormick Remarks at Wharton’s Eleventh Annual Investment Management Conference Responding to Today’s Market Turmoil: "How did we get to this point? The story begins with a decade of benign economic conditions marked by low interest rates, low inflation, and less volatile asset markets, which led many to ignore the "risk" half of the risk-reward equation at the heart of financial markets. Investors around the world, who in preceding years had enjoyed above-historical returns on most assets, continued reaching for ever-higher gains. The financial-services industry created a variety of complicated new products to meet this demand. Regulators and investors alike showed a growing complacency toward risk. These factors blended into a dangerous cocktail of underlying conditions ripe for instability."
  
• Paulson Statement on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
  
• Related postings on financial system

News release includes links to letters requesting testimony from officials in government and private sector: "In light of the dramatic events that have occurred in global financial markets, the Oversight Committee will hold five hearings in October to examine the regulatory mistakes and financial excesses that led to the market breakdowns on Wall Street. In announcing the hearings, Chairman Waxman stated: “This financial crisis has shaken the global economy. Congress cannot wait until a new administration arrives in January to examine what went wrong and who should be held accountable.” In addition to the previously announced hearings on the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers (October 6) and the $85 billion bailout of AIG (October 7), the Committee will hold the following hearings in October..."

CBO's Analysis of Dodd Substitute Amendment for H.R. 1424, October 1, 2008: "Cost estimate for an amendment proposed by Chairman Dodd, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, on October 1, 2008."

Via Sen. Dodd's website, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, October 1, 2008:

• the latest version of the package legislation which includes the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
  
• one page summary of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
  
• legislative text of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 section by section
  
• legislative text of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 bill language
  
• Related postings on financial system

Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, September 2008. Report to Congress In accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2008 (Section 9010, Public Law 109-289; Section 9204, Public Law 110-252)

• RollCall.com: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) set up a vote on a Wall Street rescue plan for Wednesday night. The $700 billion package to buy up troubled mortgages will include tax-extender legislation and a $150,000 increase on the amount of deposits the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insures. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), sent out an alert saying the measure would be subject to a filibuster-proof, 60-vote threshold."
• New York Times: Senate to Vote Wednesday on Bailout Plan: "The Senate tax bill would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power. The bill would also extend the business tax credit for research and development, expand the child tax credit, protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax, and provide tax relief to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms."
• Related postings on financial system
• And for additional perspective, Economics Blog Directory & Ranking

Follow up to September 28, 2008 posting on The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, "Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee, and House Democratic leaders held a news conference this afternoon following the defeat of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008..."

• House Roll Call #1042 Details - H.R.3997: An Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax relief and protections for military personnel, and for other purposes.
  
• House Republican Conference: H.R. 3997, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, September 29, 2008
  
• Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Remarks
  
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008: PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO THE BILL (H.R. 3997) TO AMEND THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986 TO PROVIDE EARNINGS ASSISTANCE AND TAX RELIEF TO MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS, AND PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, House Report 110-903, September 29, 2008.
  
• Related postings on financial system

CNNMoney.com: "The federal government would provide as much as $700 billion in a far-reaching plan to rescue the nation's troubled financial system, according to a draft of the proposed bill obtained by CNN. The legislation is still being negotiated and elements of the bill could still change. The core of the bill is based on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for authority to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions so banks can resume lending and so the credit markets, now virtually frozen, can begin to operate more normally."

• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: "Significant bipartisan work has built consensus around dramatic improvements to the original Bush-Paulson plan to stabilize American financial markets—including requiring a plan to ensure the taxpayer is repaid in full. Read the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (SUBJECT TO FURTHER TECHNICAL REVISIONS - 110 pages, PDF)
  
• Summary of the Draft Proposal To Rescue U.S. Financial Markets, Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- Sept. 28, 2008, via WSJ.com
  
• Full text of the draft bill via WSJ.com
  
• WSJ.com: Success of Rescue Depends On Lending From China, Mideast: "The U.S. is turning to foreign governments and overseas investors to buy much of the $700 billion in Treasury debt that would be sold to finance the bailout."
  
• Bill Allison, Sunlight Foundation, September 28, 2008: "Mark Tapscott of the D.C. Examiner posts a comparison of what was in the original plan submitted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and what congressional negotiators have arrived at now."
  
• Advocates Demand Congress Put Bailout Details on Internet: "[Ellen Miller, co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation] wants legislators to make any and all of the iterations of the legislation available electronically -- all the way until it is ready to be voted on on the floor of both congressional chambers."
  
• Related postings on financial system

Cost Estimate on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, September 28, 2008, Letter to the Honorable Barney Frank: "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reviewed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, as released by the House Committee on Financial Services on September 28, 2008. The legislation would, among other provisions, create a Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), under which the Secretary of the Treasury would be authorized to purchase, insure, hold, and sell a wide variety of financial instruments, particularly those that are based on or related to residential or commercial mortgages issued prior to March 14, 2008. Under the legislation, the authority to enter into agreements to purchase such troubled assets would initially be set to expire on December 31, 2009, but could be extended through two years from the date of enactment upon certification by the Secretary that such an extension is necessary."

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age - Heather A. Phillips highlights attorney John Gant's contention that one's title, income, and employer are at best side issues in determining who is a journalist in the day-to-day realities of issuing press passes as well as in larger policies such as the extension of shield laws.

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation - Hearing on: Broadband Providers and Consumer Privacy, September 25, 2008

News release: "Nevada Senator Harry Reid testified this week at a hearing before the Commerce Committee regarding the safety and security dangers associated with the proposal to ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. Reid spoke about the Department of Energy’s unpreparedness to begin a massive nuclear waste shipping campaign."

Legislative Text of FY 2009 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, September 24, 2008 [357 pages, PDF]

OFHEO Strategic Plan 2006-2011: "OFHEO has an important and compelling mission “to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” These Enterprises own or guarantee 41 percent of residential mortgages in the U.S. and are among the largest guarantors and borrowers in the world. In short, they and, thus, we are critical to the success of our nation’s housing finance system.

OFHEO is focused on dealing with major accounting scandals and management failures at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is forcing both Enterprises to correct significant accounting, internal control and management weaknesses identified through our Special Examinations. The costs of these problems are adding up: earnings were misstated by an estimated $16 billion, fines exceeded one-half billion dollars, lawsuits will total well over a billion dollars, and remedial costs will exceed two billion dollars. The Enterprises are making progress in addressing these problems, but it will take several more years to complete their efforts. OFHEO will continue to seek corrective action by each company while continuing oversight of their operations, policies, procedures and risks. However, a much stronger regulatory framework is crucial to future success."

• OFHEO Oversight Reports to Congress
• Statement of The Honorable James B. Lockhart III, Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the Appointment of FHFA as Conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, September 23, 2008
• Related postings on financial system

Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing entitled Turmoil in U.S. Credit Markets: Recent Actions Regarding Government Sponsored Entities, Investment Banks and Other Financial Institutions, September 23, 2008

• A Summary of Chairman Dodd's proposal in response to the Treasury Department's plan
  
• Full text of the draft legislation: To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets and banking system and protecting taxpayers, and for other purposes.

"Speaker Pelosi issued the following statement today as Congress and the White House work to craft legislation to address the crisis in our financial markets:

Congress will respond to the financial markets crisis by taking action this week in a bipartisan manner that will protect the taxpayers’ interests. The Administration’s $700 billion proposal does not include the necessary safeguards. Democrats believe a responsible solution should include independent oversight, protections for homeowners and constraints on excessive executive compensation.

We will not simply hand over a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome. Democrats will act responsibly to insulate Main Street from Wall Street."

• New York Times: Democrats Begin to Set Own Bailout Terms
  
• AP: Paulson urges quick action on $700 billion bailout
  
• AP: Graphic shows timeline of credit crisis events with banking and mortgage foreclosures data
  
• From the Wall Street Journal, continuing coverage on Wall Street in Crisis
  
• Related postings on financial system

• September 18, 2008 - Royalty Relief for U.S. Deepwater Oil and Gas Leases
• September 18, 2008 - Reauthorization of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC): Opportunity to Reexamine the Congressionally Mandated Antitrust Exemption for Ocean Liner Carriers?
• September 16, 2008 - Japan's Political Turmoil in 2008: Background and Implications for the United States
• September 16, 2008 - Outer Continental Shelf Leasing: Side-by-Side Comparison of Five Legislative Proposals
• September 15, 2008 - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Conservatorship
• September 15, 2008 - Older Workers: Employment and Retirement Trends

Issues in Designing a Cap-and-Trade Program for Carbon Dioxide Emissions, September 18, 2008. Testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives Hearing on Policy Options to Prevent Climate Change.

From the CRS summary of S. 3406, passed by the Senate on September 11, 2008: "ADA Amendments Act of 2008 - (Sec. 4) Amends the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to redefine the term "disability," including by defining "major life activities" and "being regarded as having such an impairment."

Sets forth rules of construction regarding the definition of "disability," including that: (1) such term shall be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals under the Act; (2) an impairment that substantially limits one major life activity need not limit other major life activities in order to be a disability; (3) an impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active; and (4) the determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity shall be made without regard to the ameliorative effects of specified mitigating measures.

(Sec. 5) Prohibits employment discrimination against a qualified individual on the basis of disability. (Current law prohibits employment discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability.)..."

House Committee on Education and Labor: "The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was intended to “provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” Just as other civil rights laws prohibit entities from basing decisions on characteristics like race or sex, Congress wanted the ADA to stop employers from making decisions based on disability. Unfortunately, four U.S. Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the definition of disability so much that people with serious conditions such as epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, cancer, diabetes, and cerebral palsy have been determined to not meet the definition of disability under the ADA. The result: In 2004, plaintiffs lost 97% of ADA employment discrimination claims that went to trial, often due to the interpretation of definition of disability. People who are not hired or are fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job – or because the employer does not want “people like that” in the workplace – have been denied protection from employment discrimination due to these court decisions. This was not the intent of the ADA."

House Committee on the Judiciary - Oversight Hearing on: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, September 16, 2008

Journal of the American Medical Association - JAMA. Published online September 16, 2008 (free articles as follows):

• Association of Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration With Medical Disorders and Laboratory Abnormalities in Adults - "Using data representative of the adult US population, we found that higher urinary concentrations of BPA were associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities. These findings add to the evidence suggesting adverse effects of low-dose BPA in animals. Independent replication and follow-up studies are needed to confirm these findings and to provide evidence on whether the associations are causal."
  
• Bisphenol A and Risk of Metabolic Disorders: "Based on this background information, the study by Lang et al, while preliminary with regard to these diseases in humans, should spur US regulatory agencies to follow the recent action taken by Canadian regulatory agencies, which have declared BPA a "toxic chemical" requiring aggressive action to limit human and environmental exposures. Alternatively, Congressional action could follow the precedent set with the recent passage of federal legislation designed to limit exposures to another family of compounds, phthalates, also used in plastic. Like BPA, phthalates are detectable in virtually everyone in the United States. This bill moves US policy closer to the European model, in which industry must provide data on the safety of a chemical before it can be used in products."
  
• Related postings on Bisphenol A

• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Announces It Intends to File Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petition; No Other Lehman Brothers' U.S. Subsidiaries or Affiliates, Including Its Broker-Dealer and Investment Management Subsidiaries, Are Included in the Filing, September 15, 2008
• Federal Reserve Board announces several initiatives to provide additional support to financial markets, including enhancements to its existing liquidity facilities, September 14, 2008
• Bank of America Buys Merrill Lynch Creating Unique Financial Services Firm - Combines leading global wealth management, capital markets and advisory company with largest consumer and corporate bank in U.S., September 15, 2008
• WSJ: "The U.S. government, which bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a week ago and orchestrated the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in March, played much tougher with Lehman. It refused to provide a financial backstop to potential buyers. Without such support, Barclays PLC and Bank of America, the two most interested buyers, walked away. Late Sunday night, Lehman said it intends to file for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York."
• New York Times: After Frantic Day, Wall St. Banks Falter - Lehman Will File Bankruptcy; Merrill to Be Sold
• "As part of its ongoing investigation into executive pay, the Oversight Committee asked Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart to provide documents related to severance compensation and other exit pay for Richard F. Syron and Daniel H. Mudd, the former CEOs of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae."

Giving a Voice to Open Source Stakeholders: A Survey of State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement, Majority Staff Report, September 2008.

Finance leaders seek to extend wind, solar, other incentives America's energy, economic future: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today unveiled energy tax legislation that they intend to bring to the Senate for consideration this month. The Finance tax measures seek to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying, homegrown, clean energy jobs by providing credits and incentives to facilitate independent energy solutions. These include the production and use of wind and solar energy, biofuels, and carbon sequestration technologies. Provisions in the bill improve transportation and domestic fuel security, as well as conservation and energy efficiency. The cost of the package is offset in part with reductions in tax breaks for major oil and gas companies. The tax offsets in the package are used entirely for tax relief."

News release: "At a Thursday hearing entitled, Dividend Tax Abuse: How Offshore Entities Dodge Taxes on U.S. Stock Dividends, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will examine how some financial institutions have designed, marketed, and implemented transactions to enable foreign taxpayers, including offshore hedge funds, to dodge millions of dollars of taxes on U.S. stock dividends each year. The hearing, which follows a year-long bipartisan investigation, is part of a series of Subcommittee hearings on offshore tax abuse, which costs the United States an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues every year. Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ranking Minority Member Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) will release a 77-page joint staff report [PDF] detailing the findings of the investigation in conjunction with the hearing."

Budgetary Issues Governing the Leasing of Oil and Gas Resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, September 10, 2008. Letter to the Honorable Nick J. Rahall II, Chairman - Committee on Natural Resources: "You asked for information about the budgetary implications of a recent administrative action and potential legislative changes in policies governing the leasing of oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). In particular, now that the President has removed previous restrictions on leasing
in areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, you asked how CBO would
estimate the budgetary impact of legislative proposals that would authorize the spending of some of the receipts from future leasing or that would impose a permanent restriction on leasing in certain OCS areas."

"Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) announced the release of a report prepared by the Majority Staffs of the Committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs. The report, entitled Wasted Lessons of 9/11: How the Bush Administration Has Ignored the Law and Squandered Its Opportunities to Make our Country Safer, examines the Administration’s performance on the requirements in H.R. 1, the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007. This comprehensive homeland security legislation was signed into law on August 3, 2007. The report surveys many of the key provisions and finds that little, incomplete, or no progress has been made on many of the key requirements of the law."

News release: "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters today directed the Federal Highway Administration to take immediate steps to protect the solvency of the highway account of the Highway Trust Fund and called on Congress to act quickly to finally address this long-predicted problem...The Secretary said the legislation was needed now because Congress had failed to heed over three years of warnings from the President and the Department about the long-predicted highway trust fund shortfall. She added that the recent and sudden decline in American driving and the resulting decline in gas tax revenue during the summer had accelerated the predicted shortfall."

News release: "Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairman and Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released statements in reaction to troubling new data from the U.S. Census Bureau on household incomes, health care coverage, and poverty. While wages have risen slightly from 2006 to 2007 and fewer families are without health insurance coverage, over 30 million Americans are still living in poverty. More importantly, in the last seven years, the vast majority of Americans’ incomes are down, more families are going without health insurance, and millions more are living in poverty."

JEC fact sheets

• Poverty in America
  
• Wages in America
  
• Health Insurance in America

GPO Access: "To browse the current catalog of Congressional Committee Prints - available from 110th Congress, 1st Session (2007-2008) forward, click here. Links are included with each Congressional Committee print listed in the catalog, which retrieve the text of the corresponding document as an ASCII text or PDF file."

Via FAS - CRS: Journalists’ Privilege: Overview of the Law and Legislation in the 109th and 110th Congresses, Updated July 29, 2008

"In Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 679-680 (1972), the Supreme Court wrote journalists claim “that to gather news it is often necessary to agree either not to identify the source of information published or to publish only part of the facts revealed, or both; that if the reporter is nevertheless forced to reveal these confidences to a grand jury the source so identified and other confidential sources of other reporters will be measurably deterred from furnishing publishable information, all to the detriment of the free flow of information protected by the First Amendment.” The Court held, nonetheless, that the First Amendment did not provide even a qualified privilege for journalists to refuse “to appear and testify before state or federal grand juries.” The only situation it mentioned in which the First Amendment would allow a reporter to refuse to testify was in the case of “grand jury investigations … instituted or conducted other than in good faith…Official harassment of the press undertaken not for purposes of law enforcement but to disrupt a reporter’s relationship with his news sources would have no justification.”

Though the Supreme Court concluded that the First Amendment does not provide a journalists’ privilege in grand jury proceedings, 49 states have adopted a journalists’ privilege in various types of proceedings; 33 have done so by statute, and 16 by court decision. Journalists have no privilege in federal proceedings. On July 6, 2005, a federal district court in Washington, DC, found Judith Miller of the New York Times in contempt of court for refusing to cooperate in a grand jury investigation relating to the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA agent. The court ordered Ms. Miller to serve time in jail. Ms. Miller spent 85 days in jail. She secured her release only after her informant, I. Lewis Libby, gave her permission to reveal his identity."

"President Bush...announced his intention to nominate CDT Vice President for Public Policy James X. Dempsey to serve a five year term on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency within the executive branch that will review the civil liberties impact of anti-terrorism policies and programs, providing advice on policy development and implementation and oversight of government actions relating to terrorism. In legislation adopted last year, Congress reconstituted the Board and made it independent of the White House. The position, which is subject to Senate confirmation, is part-time, so Dempsey, if confirmed, will continue in his position with CDT."

Via FAS:

• Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector, July 28, 2008: "Damage to or destruction of the nation’s water supply and water quality infrastructure by terrorist attack or natural disaster could disrupt the delivery of vital human services in this country, threatening public health and the environment, or possibly causing loss of life. Interest in such problems has increased greatly since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
  Across the country, water infrastructure systems extend over vast areas, and ownership and operation responsibility are both public and private, but are overwhelmingly non-federal. Since the attacks, federal dam operators and local water and wastewater utilities have been under heightened security conditions and are evaluating security plans and measures. There are no federal standards or agreed upon industry practices within the water infrastructure sector to govern readiness, response to security incidents, and recovery. Efforts to develop protocols and tools are ongoing since the 2001 terrorist attacks. This report presents an overview of this large and diverse sector, describes security-related actions by the government and private sector since September 11, and discusses additional policy issues and responses, including congressional interest."
  
• Financing Issues and Economic Effects of American Wars, updated July 29, 2008: "The increased government outlays associated with wars can be financed in four ways: through higher taxes, reductions in other government spending, government borrowing from the public, or money creation. The first two methods are unlikely to have an effect on economic growth (aggregate demand) in the short run: the expansion in aggregate demand caused by greater military outlays is offset by the
  contraction in aggregate demand caused by higher taxes or lower non-military government spending. The latter two methods increase aggregate demand. Thus, a by-product of American wars has typically been a wartime economic boom in excess of the economy’s sustainable rate of growth. Wars may shift resources from nonmilitary spending to military spending, but because military spending is included in GDP, it is unlikely to lead to a recession. Just as wars typically boost aggregate demand, the reduction in defense expenditures after a war removes some economic stimulus as the economy adjusts to the return to peacetime activities."
Permanent Link

• Senate Lobbying Contributions Database
• House Lobbying Contributions Database
• "The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 requires lobbying registrants and individual lobbyists to file a semi-annual report of certain contributions, along with a certification that the filer understands the gift and travel rules of both the House and the Senate. These reports are due by July 30th (for the January through June reporting period) and by January 30th (for the July through December reporting period) or the next business day should either of those days fall on a weekend or holiday. Registrants, and each of their lobbyists, who were active for all or part of the semi-annual reporting period must file separate reports detailing certain FECA contributions, honorary contributions, presidential library contributions, and payments for event costs."

• H.R.1338 - To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.
• House Reports: 110-783
• Center for American Progress - Fair Pay by the Numbers: "the House passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen current protections against wage discrimination. The act would help close loopholes in current laws that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility for gender-based pay discrimination. It has been 45 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, affording federal protections against wage discrimination to women, minorities, and the disabled. Yet as the numbersbelow shows wage discrimination is still pervasive.
  • From $400,000 to $2 million: Lost wages for a woman over a lifetime of unequal pay.
  • $48,768: Average income for a male over the age of 15 in 2006.
  • $31,402: Average income for a female over the age of 15 in 2006.
Permanent Link

Via FAS:

• Intelligence Reform at the Department of Energy: Policy Issues and Organizational Alternatives, July 28, 2008
  
• The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions, July 31, 2008
  
• U.S. Nuclear Cooperation With India: Issues for Congress, updated July 30, 2008
  
• Financing Issues and Economic Effects of American Wars, updated July 29, 2008
  
• A Parliamentary-Style Question Period: Proposals and Issues for Congress, July 29, 2008

  Permanent Link

Public Integrity: "For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates. Researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer. The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants."

Download report excerpts:
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Conclusions

News release: "In response to Chairman Waxman’s inquiry, EPA provided analyses EPA had conducted of reductions that would be necessary from the transportation sector to meet a range of global warming goals."

• The Potential Energy and GHG Implications of Plug-in Hybrid
  Vehicles: A Scenario Analysis, 2008 - SAE Government/Industry Meeting, U.S. EPA, May 14, 2008
  
• Related postings on climate change

News release: "U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that a number of the largest American internet companies [Microsoft, Google, Yahoo], human rights organizations and other stakeholders have reached agreement on a voluntary code of conduct that would govern internet companies operating in countries where internet freedom is restricted, like China."

CBO Testimony, Statement of Eric J. Labs, Senior Analyst, The Navy’s Surface Combatant Programs before the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, July 31, 2008.

News release: "The U.S. House of Representatives today approved the Conference Report on H.R. 4040 the “Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act” under suspension of the rules...“This conference report represents the most significant overhaul of U.S. consumer product safety laws since the creation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” said House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell.

• Read the Final Conference Report
  
• Read the the joint explanatory statement for H.R. 4040

"Congressman John P. Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, announced today that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense has marked-up the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill. The $487.7 billion bill is $4 billion below the President’s budget request and $28.4 billion above the Fiscal Year 2008 enacted level."

Follow up to Committee Investigates Accidental Electrocutions of Soldiers in Iraq, today the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled, Deficient Electrical Systems at U.S. Facilities in Iraq. The hearing examined electrical problems leading to the injuries and deaths of military personnel and the Department of Defense’s management and oversight of contractors.

• Chairman Waxman's Opening Statement
  
• Majority Staff Analysis: New Information about the Electrocution of Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth

Follow up to July 28, 2008 Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General, the Statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing concerning Politicized Hiring at the Department of Justice, July 30, 2008.

The text of the Conference Report for H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (183 pages, PDF).

DOJ press release: "United States Senator Theodore F. Stevens of Alaska was charged today in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia with seven counts of making false statements related to Stevens’ financial disclosure forms, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced.

The seven-count indictment charges Sen. Stevens, the former chairperson of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, with engaging in a nearly eight-year scheme to conceal his receipt of more than $250,000 in things of value from VECO Corporation, formerly a multi-national oil services company based in Alaska, and Bill J. Allen, the Chief Executive Officer of VECO at the time. According to the indictment, Stevens concealed these things of value from his publicly filed United States Senate financial disclosure forms. The things of value that Stevens allegedly received included: substantial home improvements to property Stevens owns in Girdwood, Alaska; automobile exchanges in which Stevens received new vehicles worth far more than the used vehicles Stevens provided in exchange; and household goods. The indictment also alleges that Sen. Stevens, during the same time that he was concealing his continuing receipt of these things of value from VECO and Allen, received solicitations for official actions from Allen and other VECO employees, and that Sen. Stevens used his position and office on behalf of VECO during that same time period."

• 28 page Indictment
• Press Conference Transcript
• Statement from Alaska Senator Ted Stevens: "I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years. My public service began when I served in World War II. It saddens me to learn that these charges have been brought against me. I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a U.S. Senator."
• Background on the indictment from OpenSecrets.org: Feds Indict Alaska Sen. Stevens

News release: "Even as the last of the stimulus checks that have blunted the worst effects of the economic downturn are cashed, the economy remains poised on the brink of what could be a prolonged period of economic stagnation. According to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Congress and the administration must take action now to both provide a further short-term boost to the economy and to put the nation on a path toward sustainable growth and rising incomes for working families. Slow-Motion Recession: What Congress Can Do to Help, by economists Eileen Appelbaum, Dean Baker and John Schmitt, emphasizes the need both for fundamental economic reforms and for a second stimulus package to minimize economic hardship and promote growth."

See also the following commentary and links:

• States & Localities: Here’s to $4 Gas, By Peter Harkness, CQ Columnist: "In metropolitan areas across the country, exurban sprawl has slowed or stalled, both because of the collapse of the housing industry and the price of fuel. Neighborhoods closest to the urban core have the most resilient housing prices, because that’s where people now want to live. Utah has made a four-day, 10-hour workweek mandatory for most state workers. Oklahoma and West Virginia are considering similar moves. A number of other states and localities are emphasizing telecommuting and flextime to reduce congestion and cut fuel consumption."
  
• Related postings on the mortgage market and foreclosures
  
• Related postings on rising energy costs
Permanent Link

Follow up to July 23, 2008 posting on the House passage of H.R. 3221, on July 26 the Senate passed the bill, which now goes to the President for signature.

New York Times: "The House approved far-reaching government assistance on Wednesday for the nation’s housing market, including broad authority for the Treasury Department to protect the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies from collapse."

• House Committee on Financial Services, H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, and Detailed Summary of H.R. 3221
  
• Press release
  
• Roll Call Vote
  
• Related postings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

H.R. 3221, Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, July 23, 2008. Cost estimate for the bill as passed by the Senate on July 11, 2008, with an amendment transmitted to CBO on July 22, 2008

"This legislation would make a number of changes in federal housing policy. The major changes would:
• Provide temporary authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase any obligations and other securities in any amounts issued by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) involved in the mortgage market. Those GSEs include the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs).
• Establish a single regulator—the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)—for the GSEs involved in the home mortgage market.
• Require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to annually pay amounts equal to 4.2 basis points on each dollar of unpaid principal balance of each enterprise’s total new business purchases (that is, 4.2 cents per $100 of the value of the new mortgages purchased or securitized in that year). Those assessments would begin during fiscal year 2009 and would be deposited into new federal funds."

JCX-64-08 (July 23, 2008) Estimated Budget Effects Of The Tax Provisions Contained In H.R. 3221, The "Housing And Economic Recovery Act Of 2008," Scheduled For Consideration By The House Of Representatives On July 23, 2008

Permanent Link

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing: Information Sharing: Connecting the Dots at the Federal, State, and Local Levels, July 23, 2008

US Courts: "The first annual report to Congress containing new bankruptcy statistics mandated by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was filed by the Administrative Office in advance of the July 1, 2008 deadline.

The 2005 law requires bankruptcy courts to collect statistics on debtors who meet certain criteria. The Judiciary data systems in place when the law was enacted could not capture all the required information. Consequently, a whole new system and software had to be built, and the Judiciary began collecting the mandated data on October 17, 2006."

The 2007 Report of Statistics Required by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.

"Chairman Waxman requests additional information about Defense Department and KBR failures to address defective electrical systems throughout Iraq that have caused hundreds of fires and resulted in multiple fatalities."

Documents and Links

• Letter to Robert M. Gates
  
• Memorandum for Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
  
• Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) E-Mails
  
• 2006 E-mails Requesting Fire Report

  Permanent Link

News release: "An investigation by the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has found that members of government at the highest levels, including the office of President George W. Bush’s Chief of Staff and numerous heads of Cabinet departments, had decided to use the Clean Air Act to regulate global warming emissions not only from vehicles, but also from power plants, refineries, and other so-called stationary sources – but reversed their decision in the face of strong opposition from ExxonMobil and others within the oil industry, as well as from at least one senior adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney...The investigation by the Select Committee is based on an on-the-record interview with a former high-ranking EPA official, Jason Burnett, confidential discussions with other EPA staff, and review of EPA documents obtained in response to a Select Committee subpoena."

• The full investigative report
  
• and transcript of the interview with Mr. Burnett

The Overuse, Underuse, and Misuse of Health Care. Testimony before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, July 17, 2008.

Long-Term Effects of Indexing the Alternative Minimum Tax and Extending the Tax Reductions of 2001 and 2003. Letter to the Kent Conrad, Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, July 17, 2008.

Increasing the Value of Federal Spending on Health Care, July 16, 2008, Testimony before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives.

News release: Chairman Ben S. Bernanke - Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, July 15, 2008

Chairman Dodd, Senator Shelby, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy Report to the Congress.

The U.S. economy and financial system have confronted some significant challenges thus far in 2008. The contraction in housing activity that began in 2006 and the associated deterioration in mortgage markets that became evident last year have led to sizable losses at financial institutions and a sharp tightening in overall credit conditions. The effects of the housing contraction and of the financial headwinds on spending and economic activity have been compounded by rapid increases in the prices of energy and other commodities, which have sapped household purchasing power even as they have boosted inflation. Against this backdrop, economic activity has advanced at a sluggish pace during the first half of this year, while inflation has remained elevated."

News release: "A proposed Committee report on the investigations into the death of Corporal Patrick Tillman and the capture of Private Jessica Lynch discloses important new details about the incidents, but could not resolve “the key issue of what senior officials knew” because “the investigation was frustrated by a near universal lack of recall.” The full Committee will meet on Thursday to approve the report."

"EPIC testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee [hearing: Passport Files: Privacy Protection Needed For All Americans], urging new protections for passport information privacy. The hearing, held at a time of increased information collection and dissemination by the government, addressed an Inspector General report [Review of Controls and Notification for Access to Passport Records in the Department of State’s Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS)]on data breaches at the State Department. EPIC's testimony recommended implementing the privacy protections of S. 495, the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2007; limiting employee and contractor disclosures; increasing accounting requirements; and creating an independent privacy agency. In a FOIA request filed today, EPIC demanded the release of the complete Inspector General report, substantial portions of which have been withheld from the public."

News release: "The Commission has approved the issuance of a report to Congress regarding the Do Not Call Registry for Fiscal Year 2007. The report..has been submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as required by Section 4(b) of the Do Not Call Implementation Act. The report – the fourth and final submission required by the Act – contains information on the following topics: 1) the effectiveness of the Registry; 2) the number of consumers who have placed their telephone numbers on the Registry; 3) the number of entities paying fees to access the Registry and the amount of the fees; 4) the progress of coordinating the operation and enforcement of the Registry with similar registries maintained by the states; 5) the progress of coordinating the operation and enforcement of the Registry with enforcement activities of the Federal Communications Commission under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act; and 6) FTC enforcement of the Registry under the Telemarketing Sales Rule."

Report to the Congress on the Human Resources Line of Business, June 25, 2008

On June 20, 2008 the House passed H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. Today the Senate passed the bill. Related commentary and articles as follows:

• ACLU: Senate Passes Unconstitutional Spying Bill And Grants Sweeping Immunity To Phone Companies
  
• New York Times: Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers
  
• WSJ Law Blog: "As the WSJ reports, the bill renews the legal backing for the federal government’s warrantless surveillance program, allowing the National Security Agency to listen in to Americans’ phone calls to people abroad and read emails sent to people overseas. It would also provide effective legal immunity for the telephone companies who agreed to government requests to access their customers’ phones and emails."
  
• Closing Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On Senate Consideration Of The FISA Amendments: "The bill, if adopted without amendment, seems intended to result in the dismissal of ongoing cases against the telecommunications carriers that participated in the warrantless wiretapping program, without allowing a court ever to review whether the program itself was legal. "

News release, includes links to witness testimony and related documents: "As part of its continuing investigation into the FEMA’s toxic trailers, the Committee held a hearing on July 9, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing examined the role of four manufacturers who provided trailers with dangerous levels of formaldehyde to victims of the Gulf Cost hurricanes in 2005.

The Committee’s investigation and hearing in 2007 revealed that FEMA failed to adequately respond to reports of problems with the trailers, and the CDC recently announced that flawed manufacturing practices and lax government oversight were key factors in the production of the toxic trailers.

• Majority Staff Analysis: Trailer Manufacturers and Elevated Formaldehyde Levels
• Formaldehyde Level Chart
• Related postings on FEMA toxic trailers

Overview Of Selected Tax Provisions Relating To The Financing Of Surface Transportation Infrastructure, Scheduled for a Public Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Finance on July 10, 2008, Prepared by the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Committee on Oversight: "Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, and Rep. Paul W. Hodes released a new GAO report that finds that senior federal officials are failing to comply with requirements to preserve e-mail records. On Wednesday, the House is expected to consider legislation (H.R. 5811) to modernize the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act to ensure the preservation of these important federal records.

The new GAO report, Federal Records: National Archives and Selected Agencies Need to Strengthen E-Mail Management, finds:

• All four of the agencies examined — the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Trade Commission — are relying on outdated and unreliable “print and file” systems for preserving e-mail records.
  
• Senior agency officials did not fully comply with key requirements for preserving e-mail records. GAO reviewed the practices of 15 senior agency officials in the four agencies and found that a majority of these officials failed to manage their e-mail records in accordance with regulatory requirements. E-mails were not retained in adequate recordkeeping systems, making the e-mail records easier to lose, harder to find, and vulnerable to deletion or other tampering. Inadequate oversight and training within agencies contributed to the inconsistent compliance with preservation requirements..."

News release: "The Miller Center's National War Powers Commission, co-chaired by former Secretaries of State James A. Baker, III and Warren Christopher, today recommended that Congress repeal the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and substitute a new statute that would provide for more meaningful consultation between the president and Congress on matters of war.

In a report released today after 13 months of study, the Commission concluded that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 has failed to promote cooperation between the two branches of government and recommended that Congress pass a new statute – the War Powers Consultation Act of 2009 – that would establish a clear process on decisions to go to war. The Miller Center impaneled the National War Powers Commission in February 2007. This bipartisan commission met seven times, interviewing more than 40 witnesses about the respective war powers of the president and Congress."

• National War Powers Commission Final Report
• Web Appendices to Report
• Commission at a Glance
• Commission Biographies
• Press Coverage

2008 Data Mining Letter Report (PDF, 46 pages): "This is the third report by the Privacy Office to Congress on data mining. This letter report identifies the data mining activities deployed or under development within DHS, as defined by the Data Mining Reporting Act, and describes the framework the Department will use to report on such activities in the future pursuant to Section 804 of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, entitled, The Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007 (Data Mining Reporting Act)."

News release: "The Department of Justice today announced the final guidelines for Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The Guidelines provide necessary tools for states, the District of Columbia, territories and certain federally recognized Indian tribes to incorporate SORNA minimum requirements into their sex offender registration and notification programs...Today's final guidelines provide direction and assistance to all jurisdictions in their efforts to meet the minimum standards of the Adam Walsh Act. Since the enactment of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act in 1994, all states, the District of Columbia and two territories currently have some form of a sex offender registration and notification program. On July 27, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act which dramatically enhanced the effectiveness of current programs by establishing a new comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification throughout the United States."

• Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) site.
  
• National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification

"Chairman Henry A. Waxman and