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Follow up to previous postings on judicial pay raises, see How to Pay the Piper: It’s Time to Call Different Tunes for Congressional and Judicial Salaries – Issues in Governance Studies, April 2007 “A group of former U.S. Senators and Representatives is preparing to call for Congress to end the practice of linking the salaries …
“The year 2006 marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services, 20th anniversary of the False Claims Amendments Act of 1986, and 10th anniversary of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Protecting Public Health and Human Services …
From Wired, Web Mashups Turn Citizens Into Washington’s Newest Watchdogs: “Sites like Maplight.org, Opensecrets.org and Follow the Money, along with wiki-based political reporting resources like Congresspedia, are increasingly giving ordinary citizens the ability to easily document the flow of special-interest money and how it influences the legislature. These new tools are providing an unprecedented level …
“Following media reports that at least 20 political briefings were given to officials of at least 15 federal agencies, Chairman Waxman writes to government agencies requesting further information and documents about any briefings mentioning elections or candidates provided to agency employees by officials in the White House.” [This link includes the text of each letter]
2007-P-00019 Evaluation of U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Boards Compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act and Efforts to Protect Sensitive Agency Information (Fiscal Year 2006) [Report PDF – 33 pages] [At a Glance] April 23, 2007.
Press release: “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released today a Report on the issue of excessively violent television programming and its impact on children. The FCC found that research indicates exposure to violence in the media can increase aggressive behavior in children, at least in the short term. Given this finding, the FCC recommends that …
Wikipedia: When in Doubt, Multitudes Seek It Out – “More than a third of American adult internet users (36%) consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia, according to a new nationwide survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And on a typical day in the winter of 2007, 8% of online Americans consulted Wikipedia. …
Institute for Legal Reform: “The 2007 State Liability Systems Ranking Study was conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform among a national sample of in-house general counsel or other senior corporate litigators to explore how reasonable and balanced the tort liability system is perceived to be by U.S. business.” Executive Summary (PDF) State …
UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, Human Rights Report, 1 January – 31 March, 2007 (30 pages, PDF) “Large-scale indiscriminate killings and targeted assassinations continue to impede efforts to bring lasting stability and security to Iraq, according to the latest United Nations human rights report released today on the strife-torn country, where causalities continue to climb …
House Document No. 108-223, Women in Congress 1917 – 2006
Department of Homeland Security: Observations on GAO Access to Information on Programs and Activities, GAO-07-700T, April 25, 2007.: “In testimony before this committee and the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Homeland Security in February 2007, GAO stated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not made its management or operational decisions transparent enough …
“On Wednesday, the Government Oversight Committee approved the issuance of three subpoenas related to ongoing investigations. The Committee issued two subpoenas to the Republican National Committee requesting the testimony of RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and documents related to possible violations of the Presidential Records Act and the Hatch Act by White House officials. The third …