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GAO Congressional and Presidential Transition Resources

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[On November 5, 2024] Americans voted for members of the 119th Congress and a new president. Representatives and senators will be sworn in on Friday, January 3. As they take office, our nation faces many significant challenges—including those that threaten national security, financial stability, public health, and more. Our work here at GAO highlights some of these issues and how they can be addressed. Today’s WatchBlog post looks at some of these issues, which are highlighted on our new Congressional and Presidential Transition webpage. The federal government facilitates programs and policies meant to protect national security and defense, public health and safety, and citizens’ rights. It also delivers services and has programs that encourage economic growth. People expect these things from their government, and the government strives to meet these expectations. But our work has often found that the government may not have what it needs to maintain its operations in a rapidly changing world while addressing serious domestic and global challenges…

 

 

United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book)

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“About United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book) – Published by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and House Committee on Government Reform alternately after each Presidential election, the Plum Book lists over 7,000 Federal civil service leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches of the Federal… Continue Reading

Bloomberg Billionaires Index

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View profiles for each of the world’s 500 richest people, see the biggest movers, and compare fortunes or track returns. – As of November 8, 2024 – The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. Details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire’s profile… Continue Reading

This Election Should Not Determine the Fate of Libraries

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EveryLibrary – (But it Might Have) – “Libraries have never been immune from political and social movements, but we have behaved as if we are somehow a special place, a place apart from these fights. The last three years of censorship and discrimination fights should have been a wake-up call for our library organizations, stakeholders,… Continue Reading

Justice Department to Monitor Polls in 27 States for Compliance with Federal Voting Rights Laws

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Federal prosecutors are on call in every district in the country. Interfering with voting rights is a federal offense. Any effort to intimidate, harass, threaten or harm voters will result in a visit from the FBI. Witnesses or victims may call 9-1-1. (Making a false report is a crime, too!) Let’s keep voting safe, free,… Continue Reading

Nearly 200 Percent Surge in School Book Bans (2023-2024 School Year)

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“PEN America today released new documentation of public school book bans for the full 2023-2024 school year, recording 10,046 instances of books banned nationwide, a dramatic 200 percent rise over the previous school year. Since 2021, the free expression organization has counted close to 16,000 instances of book bans in public schools.” “Nineteen Minutes by… Continue Reading

There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.

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The New York Times Opinion [unlocked], Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, professors of government at Harvard and the authors of “Tyranny of the Minority.” :”…In the United States, the civic response to the Trump threat has been tepid. For a moment, business leaders seemed poised to defend democracy. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, many leading… Continue Reading

The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data

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Krebs on Security: “…Delaware-based Atlas Data Privacy Corp. helps its users remove their personal information from the clutches of consumer data brokers, and from people-search services online. Backed by millions of dollars in litigation financing, Atlas so far this year has sued 151 consumer data brokers on behalf of a class that includes more than… Continue Reading

Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind

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The New York Times unlocked article Robert Paxton thought the label was overused. But now he’s alarmed by what he sees in global politics — including Trumpism…Paxton, who is 92, is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history. His 1972 book, “Vichy France:… Continue Reading

Inside US Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics

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404 Media: “On a computer screen a map shows the movements of smartphones around the globe. Zooming into an abortion clinic in the south of the United States, the online tool shows more than 700 red dots over the clinic itself, each representing a phone, and by extension, a person. The tool, called Locate X and… Continue Reading

Modernizing Congressional Data – Senate Legislation and Amendments on Congress.gov

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In Custodia Legis: “Continuing our series on modernizing the legislative data exchange behind Congress.gov, we are going to look at the next phase of the project – modernizing the exchange of Senate measures and amendments data. The Legislation collection is comprised of bills and resolutions, along with associated actions (including Action Codes), titles, sponsors, cosponsors, and committee-related activity. Legislation text… Continue Reading