Troubled Asset Relief Program – Treasury Sees Some Returns as It Exits Programs and Continues to Fund Mortgage Programs, GAO-13-192, Jan 7, 2013 Temporary Assistance For Needy Families – More Accountability Needed to Reflect Breadth of Block Grant Services, GAO-13-33, Dec 6, 2012 Preventive Health Activities – Available Information on Federal Spending, Cost Savings, and… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2013
FTC Issues 2012 Update of Horizontal Merger Investigation Data Report
News release: “To promote transparency in merger enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission released an updated staff report on the agencys major investigations of horizontal mergers. The update adds four more years of data to the agencys previous report, which was issued in 2008. Horizontal mergers involve two firms that are competitors or have overlapping lines… Continue Reading
New Bipartisan Policy Center Analysis Shows Debt Ceiling Limit Fast Approaching
Could Hit Ceiling as Early as Mid-February: “An analysis released today by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) confirms that the federal government will be unable to meet all of its spending obligations as early as mid-February unless the debt ceiling is raised. Click here to read the analysis. Based on financial data from Treasury, we… Continue Reading
Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy
CRS – Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, Kenneth Katzman. Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. January 4, 2013 “The Administration view is that, no matter the U.S. and allied drawdown schedule, Afghan stability after the 2014 transition is at risk from weak and corrupt Afghan governance and insurgent safe haven in Pakistan. Among other… Continue Reading
Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery
Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery, By Doris Meissner, Donald M. Kerwin, Muzaffar Chishti, and Claire Bergeron. Migration Policy Institute, January 2013. “The US government spends more on federal immigration enforcement than on all other principal federal criminal law enforcement agencies combined, and has allocated nearly $187 billion for… Continue Reading
Go Direct Campaign, U.S. Department of Treasury – Social Security Checks
“The U.S. Department of the Treasury needs your library’s help in getting out the word on changes to Federal Benefit Checks. Everyone who receives a paper check for Social Security or other federal benefit payments is required by law to switch to an electronic payment by March 1, 2013. This is your last chance to… Continue Reading
2012 Brief: Coal and mid-continent crude oil prices declined during 2012
EIA: “Coal and mid-continent crude oil (WTI) led energy commodity price declines in 2012. Natural gas was the only key energy commodity with a significant price increase when comparing January 1 to December 31. Heating oil, Brent crude oil, and wholesale gasoline (RBOB) ended 2012 close to the level at which they started the year.… Continue Reading
Emergency Preparedness and Public Health: The Lessons of Hurricane Sandy
Powell, Tia, Hanfling, Dan and Gostin, Lawrence O., Emergency Preparedness and Public Health: The Lessons of Hurricane Sandy (November 16, 2012). JAMA Online, 2012; Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No. 12-189. Available at SSRN “When Hurricane Sandy hit downtown Manhattan, three neighboring hospitals each made different decisions about when to evacuate. Across the metro region,… Continue Reading
Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision endorses revised liquidity standard for banks
Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision endorses revised liquidity standard for banks. January 6, 2013 “The Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, met today to consider the Basel Committee’s amendments to the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) as a minimum standard. It unanimously… Continue Reading
Foreign Banks in the U.S.: A Primer
Foreign Banks in the U.S.: A Primer, William Goulding and Daniel E. Nolle “This paper describes the foreign banking landscape in the United States. It begins by establishing a vocabulary for discussion of the subject, and then identifies a number of important data-related issues. With that information in hand, the remainder of the paper focuses… Continue Reading
GSA – 2012 Year in Review – E- Gov Usability Testing Program
Jonathan Rubin, DigitalGov: “Looking back, its clear that 2012 was a big year for the First Fridays Usability Testing Program. Improving the user experience is our game, and thats what we spent the bulk of the year doing. Besides celebrating our second birthday (huzzah!), we conducted 26 tests on federal websites, mobile sites, intranets and… Continue Reading
Army Drawdown and Restructuring: Background and Issues for Congress
CRS – Army Drawdown and Restructuring: Background and Issues for Congress, Andrew Feickert, Specialist in Military Ground Forces. January 3, 2013 “On January 26, 2012, senior DOD leadership unveiled a new defense strategy based on a review of potential future security challenges, current defense strategy, and budgetary constraints. This new strategy envisions a smaller, leaner… Continue Reading
