Category «Congress»

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024

“The federal budget deficit has fallen sharply during the past few years, and it is on a path to decline further this year and next year. However, later in the coming decade, if current laws governing federal taxes and spending generally remained unchanged, revenues would grow only slightly faster than the economy and spending would …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Drones at Home: Domestic Drone Legislation – A Survey, Analysis and Framework

Zoldi, Dawn M. K., Drones at Home: Domestic Drone Legislation — A Survey, Analysis and Framework (July 9, 2014). Available at for download SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2486259 “Can the government employ drones domestically without running roughshod over personal privacy? In an effort to preemptively rein in potential government overreach, most states have proposed legislation that restricts or forbids …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

“Crisis” Management: Uncertainty and the Workplace

August 2014 EBRI Issue Brief #403 Paperback, 20 pp. Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2014 Executive Summary: “While the nation is now a few years removed from the financial turmoil that led to the so-called Great Recession, “crisis” is a word still much bandied about. Crisis is, after all, something that cries out for swift and decisive action—and …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Health Care

Unaccompanied Alien Children – Legal Issues: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

CRS – Unaccompanied Alien Children – Legal Issues: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Kate M. Manuel, Legislative Attorney; Michael John Garcia; Legislative Attorney. July 18, 2014. “Recent reports about the increasing number of alien minors apprehended at the U.S. border without a parent or legal guardian have prompted numerous questions about so-called unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Some of these questions pertain to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, July 29-30, 2014

A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was held in the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 29, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. and continued on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at 9:00 a.m.  [snipped from the release] Staff Review of the Economic Situation” The information …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Criminal Justice Act: At 50 Years, a Landmark in the Right to Counsel

US Courts news release: “August 20, 1964—the President signed into law the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), which for the first time assured professional legal counsel in federal courts by paying an hourly fee for court appointed lawyers. Six years later, Congress established a full-time federal defender service within the judicial branch. Together, the measures created the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

CRS – Telemarketing Regulation: National and State Do Not Call Registries

Telemarketing Regulation: National and State Do Not Call Registries. Kathleen Ann Ruane, Legislative Attorney. August 14, 2014 “Today, it is axiomatic that telemarketers in the United States generally are not permitted to place outgoing telemarketing calls to phone numbers on the national do not call list, unless an exception applies. This was not always the case, however. The …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Government Documents, Marketing, Privacy

RegData is an innovative new way of measuring the size and scope of US federal regulation

“RegData [beta], developed by Patrick A. McLaughlin, Omar Al-Ubaydli, and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, improves dramatically on the existing methods used to quantify regulations. Previous efforts to assess the extent of regulation in the United States have used imprecise variables such as the number of pages published in the Federal Register or …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Economy, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Help Celebrate 103rd birthday of Eldest Surviving Civil Rights Activist, Amelia Boynton­ Robinson

Aug. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ – “Amelia Boynton ­Robinson, the oldest of the surviving veterans of the 1965 Selma, Alabama Civil Rights Movement, will celebrate her 103 birthday this coming August 18. Still completely mentally alert and combative, Boynton­Robinson states that not only does she intend to attend the 50th anniversary commemoration of the passage of the Voting …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation

Senator Schumer Calls On Regulators to Make Fitness Data Private

EPIC – Senator Charles Schumer has denounced the data collection practices of “activity trackers” such as FitBit. “Activity trackers” are mobile devices that record highly personal information about the wearer and constantly analyze the wearer’s activities, including their diet, exercise, sleep, and even sexual habits. However, it is not clear whether federal privacy law protects this personal data from …

Subjects: Congress, E-Commerce, Health Care, Internet, Privacy

Reducing the Budget Deficit: Overview of Policy Issue

Reducing the Budget Deficit: Overview of Policy Issues. Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy. August 7, 2014. “The federal budget has been in deficit (i.e., spending has exceeded revenues) since 2002, and deficits were significantly larger from 2009 to 2012 than in any other year since World War II. As a result, the federal debt held by the …

Subjects: Congress, Financial System, Government Documents