“Washington, D.C.’s federal architects have a special proclivity for underground tunnels. District residents navigate the tubes like human submarines, and rely on their services for basic needs like drinking water and central heat. Contributing factors include the city’s unique building height limit, extreme weather, and the security considerations of recent decades. As a result, Washington sits atop… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Predicting, Managing, and Preparing for Disasters Like Hurricane Ida
National Academies: “…Today, communities across Louisiana and Southeastern coasts are emerging from the shadow of Hurricane Ida. The storm has left New Orleans without power, surrounding areas flooded, and thousands evacuated from their homes. Since Hurricane Katrina swept through Louisiana almost exactly 16 years ago, the National Academies have helped produce scientific insights and recommendations… Continue Reading
Controlled Digital Lending: Unlocking the Library’s Full Potential
Library Futures – “For many, libraries are a more trusted source of information than government, news, and social media. As physical spaces closed in response to the pandemic and communities turned more to digital resources to access knowledge, libraries moved to meet the challenge with new digital initiatives. Through a process called “controlled digital lending”… Continue Reading
The US Budgetary Costs of the Post 9/11 Wars
20 Years of War – A Costs of War Research Series, Watson Institute of Public and International Affairs, Brown University: “The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $6.4 Trillion through Fiscal Year 2020 in budgetary costs related to and caused by the post-9/11 wars—an estimated $5.4 Trillion in appropriations in… Continue Reading
Copyright Office Releases Report on Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Infringement Cases
“August 31, 2021 the U.S. Copyright Office released a report entitled Copyright and State Sovereign Immunity. The report marks the completion of a study conducted by the Office in response to an April 2020 request by Senators Thom Tillis and Patrick Leahy following the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Cooper. In that case, the… Continue Reading
Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans
“In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half – dropping from 70% in 2016 to 35% this year. This decline is fueling the continued widening of the partisan gap in trust of the media. Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (78%)… Continue Reading
Climate Change and U.S. Financial Regulators: Overview and Recent Actions
CRS Insight – Climate Change and U.S. Financial Regulators: Overview and Recent Actions, Updated August 26, 2021: “Under the Biden Administration,financial regulators have announced a range of new measures to address financial risks associated with climate change. The Department of the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Reserve have each announced… Continue Reading
Jan. 6 select committee sweeping records request to NARA and federal agencies
“Today, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson announced the Select Committee’s first round of demands for records as the committee expands its investigation into the January 6th violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and its causes. In letters to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and seven other Executive Branch agencies, Chairman Thompson renewed and expanded… Continue Reading
GPO Makes Available Statute Compilations in USLM XML Format
“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and its legislative data partners in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have made Statute Compilations available in USLM XML format. This new format makes documents easier to use, read, and download. The public can access the compilations on GPO’s trusted digital repository govinfo, the one-stop… Continue Reading
Congress.gov August 2021 New, Tip, and Top
In Custodia Legis: “At the end of July, Andrew shared the enhancements from the last Congress.gov release, which included adding Key Word In Context (KWIC) search results for the Bound Congressional Record and new customization options for bill alerts. With this month’s release, a link to the treaty errata tab from the overview section on… Continue Reading
What is the Constitution Annotated?
In Custodia Legis: “For over a hundred years, the Constitution Annotated—officially The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation—has served as Congress’s Constitution of record. A Senate document, the Constitution Annotated surveys and illuminates how the Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted every provision of the Constitution throughout the nation’s… Continue Reading
Not a single federal agency received an ‘A’ in a new Senate cybersecurity report card
Popular Science: “On Tuesday, members from the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a bipartisan report [PDF] that states that seven out of the eight federal agencies they reviewed still have not met the basic cybersecurity standards needed to protect the sensitive data they stored and maintained. The report was led by… Continue Reading
