In Custodia Legis – “Earlier this month, Margaret shared the enhancements to the Congress.gov Help Center and additional Congresses added to our Bound Congressional Record collection. One of the behind-the-scenes items that we worked on for the latest release was to prepare Congress.gov for the new 117th Congress. We also have been working to make… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Operation Warp Speed Contracts for COVID-19 Vaccines and Ancillary Vaccination Materials
CRS Insight – Operation Warp Speed Contracts for COVID-19 Vaccines and Ancillary Vaccination Materials, December 22, 2020: “Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is an interagency partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) that coordinates federal efforts to accelerate the development, acquisition, and distribution of COVID-19 medical countermeasures.… Continue Reading
The Plague Year – The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy
The New Yorker published a 40-page account by Lawrence Wright about how American botched its virus response, December 28, 2020: “There are three moments in the yearlong catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic when events might have turned out differently. The first occurred on January 3, 2020, when Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for… Continue Reading
20 striking findings from 2020
“The global coronavirus pandemic upended life in the United States and around the world in 2020, disrupting how people work, go to school, attend religious services, socialize with friends and family, and much more. But the pandemic wasn’t the only event that shaped the year. The videotaped killing of George Floyd by police officers in… Continue Reading
Proposals for Reform: National Task Force on Rule of Law & Democracy
Brennan Center – “The Task Force is a nonpartisan group of former public servants and policy experts. We have worked at the highest levels in federal and state government, as prosecutors, members of the military, senior advisers in the White House, members of Congress, heads of federal agencies, and state executives. We come from across… Continue Reading
Congress passed $900 billion coronavirus relief bill
Axios – “The House on Monday released the text of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package and $1.4 trillion government spending bill that Congress expects to pass before the holidays. The House will move quickly to pass the bill on Monday night, with the Senate likely to stay late to vote in the early hours… Continue Reading
GPO To Close Brick and Mortar Bookstore in Washington DC
“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) will permanently close its brick-and-mortar bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW in Washington, DC on January 4, 2021. After lengthy consideration, GPO, in consultation with the Joint Committee on Printing and its congressional oversight committees, determined that the bookstore is no longer financially viable due to changes in… Continue Reading
House watchdog details extensive meddling with CDC Covid-19 reports
New documents show political appointees sought to influence at least 13 reports as they ignored warnings from career officials: “The House panel probing the Trump administration’s coronavirus response released new documents detailing political appointees’ extensive efforts to modify or scuttle scientific Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, as it also ordered top Trump health… Continue Reading
LC – New “Past Presentations” Webpage in Legal Research Institute
In Custodia Legis – [December 15, 2020] marks the last webinar of 2020 for the Law Library, but don’t fear! We have created a new webpage so that you will be able to enjoy a selection of our past presentations again and again! We have expanded our previous “webinar archive” to include many of our… Continue Reading
SolarWinds Attack—No Easy Fix
CRS Insight, December 15, 2020. SolarWinds Attack—No Easy Fix: “On December 13, 2020, the cybersecurity firm FireEye published research that a malicious actor was exploiting a supply chain vulnerability in SolarWinds products to hack into government and private sector information technology (IT) networks. SolarWinds confirmed the security incident.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued… Continue Reading
LC Complete Digitization of 23 Early Presidential Collections
Library of Congress Blog: “The Library of Congress has completed a more than two decade-long initiative to digitize the papers of nearly two dozen early presidents. The Library holds the papers of 23 presidents from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, all of which have been digitized and are now available online. The Library plans to… Continue Reading
Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
CRS report via LC – Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, Updated December 16, 2020: “USAspending.gov, available at https://www.USAspending.gov, is a government source for data on federal awards by state, congressional district (CD), county, city, and zip code. The awards data in USAspending.gov are provided by federal agencies and represent contracts, grants, loans,… Continue Reading
