Podcasts about congressional research service crs

We hear how Florida is on its way to banning and criminalizing alternative meat.  We introduce you to the NextGen Cattle Company.  We have market reports, news updates, bull sale updates, markets, hay auctions and lots more on this all new episode of The Ranch It Up Radio Show. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel. EPISODE 177 DETAILS Florida is on its way to banning and criminalizing alternative meat production.  We have updates of how other states like Texas and Tennessee are pushing for the same legislation.   Beefmaster, Charolais and NextGen Angus X bulls at NextGen Cattle Company.  We go behind the scenes with one of the founders to find out more of this unique seedstock offering.  Plus we have news and market information along with the latest hay and cattle auction results. NEXTGEN CATTLE COMPANY The NextGen Story The creation of NextGen Cattle Co. began as a vision for founders and cousins Derek Thompson, Damon Thompson and Brad Lindstrom. Throughout their professional careers they built reputations on relationships and service and they bring those experiences and commitments with them to the seedstock industry. The NextGen Traditional Values The commercial cattleman represents some of the oldest and most traditional values of integrity, trust, passion and vision. The passion to start a seedstock operation, with the goal to serve the commercial cattleman, was a natural fit for Nextgen Cattle Co. NextGen Cattle Co owns and operates businesses in every segment of the beef industry. NextGen Cattle Co. Ranch, NextGen at Riverbend, and NextGen at Allen.   RITCHEY LIVESTOCK ID The tag that never fades Tag longevity sets us apart at Ritchey.  Livestock ID information is permanently engraved into the tag and readable for the lifetime of the animal.  After all, what's a tag work that fades? Absolutely nothing. American Made, Family Owned Being American made and family owned is what makes us unique at Ritchey Livestock ID.  It inherently feels right to be making livestock ID tags in the United States. Make Your Mark Ritchey livestock tags are the only tag that allows you to quickly engrave ID information yourself.  You can proudly display your family's brand or engrave a last second tag at the chute.  The power is yours!   COW COUNTRY NEWS Florida Is On It's Way To Banning & Criminalizing Alternative Meat Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to keep lab-grown meat out of Florida.  Over the last several months, Florida legislators have been quietly working to ban — and criminalize — the production and sale of cell-cultivated meat across the state, via the introduction of two bills, House Bill 1071 and Senate Bill 1084. On February 6, the state's House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 1084, which now sits on DeSantis' desk awaiting a signature. And if his previous comments are any indication, he will be pulling out his pen soon.  "I know the Legislature is doing a bill to try to protect our meat," DeSantis said in February while visiting the South Florida State College Hardee Campus, "You need meat, and we're going to have meat in Florida." DeSantis added, "We're not going to have fake meat. That doesn't work." Cell-cultivated meat, to be clear, differs from traditional veggie burgers and meat alternatives like Impossible Burgers. As the Congressional Research Service (CRS) defines, Cell-cultivated meat "is developed in a lab, grown from a sample of animal cells that does not require the slaughter of animals." The development of cell-cultivated meat, the CRS explained, happens in five steps: the biopsy of animal cells, cell banking, cell growth, harvesting, and food processing. It's an industry that has heavy oversight in the U.S. by both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  As the CRS noted, there are about 150 companies around the world involved in the cell-cultivated meat industry, 43 of which are based in the U.S. Of those 43, just two companies, Good Meat and Upside Food, have FDA approval in the U.S. While it's still a relatively small industry, it's one with major financial backing. According to the CRS, some $3 billion has been invested in its growth via private capital, and an additional $5 million has been issued via the National Science Foundation in research grants, along with an additional $12 million in grants by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Florida, however, isn't alone in its pursuit to block the production and sale of this type of meat. As Fast Company reported, Tennessee is considering a similar bill that would impose a $1 million fine for selling cultivated meat. Alabama also passed a bill to ban the sale and manufacturing of it, making it a Class C felony. This means that if you're caught selling cell-cultivated meat there, you could wind up in prison for up to 10 years. And, as Food Dive reported, Texas also implemented legislation around how cultivated meat can be labeled and marketed.  More from this article can be found HERE. Ranchers Urge BLM To Incorporate Latest Science In New Sage Grouse Plans The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) responded to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) release of the updated greater sage grouse management plans. These plans will shape public land use across 10 different states and tens of millions of Western acres. After completing revisions to the plans in 2015 and again in 2019, the agency is currently amending 77 separate land use plans across the West, and could potentially designate millions of acres as new Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs). Despite this incredibly expansive scope, the BLM provided only 90 days to comment on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and only 60 days to comment on proposed Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Here is the background.  The sage grouse habitat has been declining across the West due to a variety of factors including catastrophic wildfires, urban development, and the spread of invasive grasses. As a result, more than half of the remaining prime sage grouse habitat exists on BLM acres. The pressures on sage grouse habitat vary from state to state, from ecosystem to ecosystem, and sometimes from county to county. One-size-fits-all conservation strategies are ineffective for this species. Habitat management must be tailored to local needs in order to achieve the best results for the bird. The expertise of local stakeholders, like federal grazing permittees, will be crucial for conserving the species. The Public Lands Council President and Colorado federal grazing permittee, Mark Roeber said years of research, including a very recent and comprehensive 10-year study, support the fact that managed livestock grazing is compatible and can actually benefit the bird. He went on to say the agency must look at the science, and leverage livestock grazing as a tool for strengthening the sagebrush steppe, preventing wildfire, and conserving this iconic species.” For Additional details check out the full article HERE   UPCOMING BULL SALES ANGUS CHAROLAIS HEREFORD GELBVIEH BALANCER RED ANGUS SIMMENTAL SIMANGUS   Miller Angus Farms: March 25, 2024, Watertown, South Dakota L 83 Ranch: March 26, 2024, Mandan, ND Vollmer Angus Ranch: April 2, 2024, Wing, North Dakota A & B Cattle:  April 4, 2024, Bassett, Nebraska Montgomery Ranch: April 14, 2024, Carrington, North Dakota Jorgensen Farms:  April 15, 2024, Ideal, South Dakota DLCC Ranch:  April 20, 2024, Pierz, Minnesota BULL SALE REPORT & RESULTS Churchill Cattle Company Van Newkirk Herefords Gardiner Angus Ranch Cow Camp Ranch Jungels Shorthorn Farms Ellingson Angus Edgar Brothers Angus Schaff Angus Valley Prairie Hills Gelbvieh Clear Springs Cattle Company CK Cattle Mrnak Hereford Ranch Frey Angus Ranch Hoffmann Angus Farms Topp Herefords River Creek Farms Upstream Ranch Gustin's Diamond D Gelbvieh Schiefelbein Farms Wasem Red Angus Raven Angus Krebs Ranch Yon Family Farms Chestnut Angus Eichacker Simmentals & JK Angus Windy Creek Cattle Company Pedersen Broken Heart Ranch Mar Mac Farms Warner Beef Genetics Arda Farms & Freeway Angus Leland Red Angus & Koester Red Angus Fast - Dohrmann - Strommen RBM Livestock Weber Land & Cattle Sundsbak Farms Hidden Angus Wheatland Cattle Company   FEATURING Derek Thompson NextGen Cattle Company https://www.nextgencattle.com/ @nextgencattle   Bryce Kelley Ritchey Livestock ID https://ritcheytags.com/ @RitcheyLivestockID   Kirk Donsbach: Stone X Financial https://www.stonex.com/   @StoneXGroupInc      John Fischer Stockmen's Livestock Exchange, Inc. http://www.gostockmens.com/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095025190101&sk=photos https://www.cattleusa.com/   Mark Van Zee  Livestock Market, Equine Market, Auction Time https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ @LivestockMkt @EquineMkt @AuctionTime   Shaye Koester Casual Cattle Conversation https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ @cattleconvos   Questions & Concerns From The Field? Call or Text your questions, or comments to 707-RANCH20 or 707-726-2420 Or email RanchItUpShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @RanchItUpShow SUBSCRIBE to the Ranch It Up YouTube Channel: @ranchitup Website: RanchItUpShow.com https://ranchitupshow.com/ The Ranch It Up Podcast available on ALL podcasting apps. Rural America is center-stage on this outfit. AND how is that? Because of Tigger & BEC... Live This Western Lifestyle. Tigger & BEC represent the Working Ranch world by providing the cowboys, cowgirls, beef cattle producers & successful farmers the knowledge and education needed to bring high-quality beef & meat to your table for dinner. Learn more about Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ #RanchItUp #StayRanchy #TiggerApproved #tiggerandbec #rodeo #ranching #farming References https://www.stonex.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://gelbvieh.org/ https://www.imogeneingredients.com/ https://alliedgeneticresources.com/ https://westwayfeed.com/ https://medoraboot.com/ http://www.gostockmens.com/ https://ranchchannel.com/ https://ritcheytags.com/ https://www.foodandwine.com/florida-lab-grown-meat-ban-legislation-8609560 https://publiclandscouncil.org/2024/03/15/ranchers-urge-blm-to-incorporate-latest-science-in-new-sage-grouse-plans/

Federal rescheduling of cannabis has been a big topic in recent news. A government analysis predicts the DEA is likely to reschedule cannabis. The analysis, conducted by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), is based on the DEA's past practices and the HHS's recent recommendation to reschedule marijuana. The CRS analysis states that the DEA has historically been reluctant to reschedule marijuana, but that it has also shown a willingness to do so when there is strong scientific evidence to support the change. In this case, the HHS's recommendation is based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, which found that there is sufficient evidence to support the medical use of marijuana. The CRS analysis also notes that the DEA is currently facing a number of challenges, including budget cuts and increasing public pressure to reform its drug scheduling system. These factors could make the DEA more likely to reschedule marijuana, as it would be a way to show that the agency is responsive to public concerns. However, it is important to note that the CRS analysis is just a prediction. The DEA is not required to follow the HHS's recommendation, and it could ultimately decide to keep marijuana in Schedule I. The DEA is expected to make a decision on the scheduling of marijuana in the coming months. If the DEA does decide to reschedule marijuana, it would be a major victory for advocates of cannabis reform. It would make it easier for researchers to study the potential medical benefits of marijuana, and it would make it easier for doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients with certain conditions. It would also make it possible for banks to offer services to marijuana businesses, which would help to legitimize the industry. Here are some of the specific implications of rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III: •It would make it easier for researchers to study the potential medical benefits of marijuana. •It would make it easier for doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients with certain conditions. •It would make it possible for banks to offer services to marijuana businesses. •It would make it easier for people who use marijuana to obtain housing and employment. •It would have limited implications for state recreational marijuana programs and those who use marijuana recreationally. The decision of whether or not to reschedule marijuana is a complex one, and there are a number of factors that the DEA will need to consider. However, the HHS's recommendation is a significant step forward and could pave the way for further reforms in the future. Get in touch with us:

*SPECIAL EPISODE*On this special Feudal Future episode, join Joel Kotkin as he sits down with Marshall Toplansky & Sougata Poddar as they discuss Chapman University's brand new report on nurturing California industries.DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:https://www.chapman.edu/communication/demographics-policy/ca-industries-2023.pdfCalifornia Has the Opportunity to Maintain and Grow Industries That Can Provide Future Jobs to Middle Class Citizens and Make the State More Competitive.ABOUT THE AUTHORS:Marshall Toplansky is an award-winning Innovation Professor of Management Science at the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University. He is a research fellow at the Center for Demographics and Policy and is director of the school's Analytics Accelerator program. He and co-author Joel Kotkin recently published an economic and social policy brief entitled, “Restoring the California Dream”, which discusses the issues the state faces in maintaining home ownership for the middle class and rebuilding a positive business climate. Marshall is also co-host of “The Feudal Future Podcast”, which is seen twice monthly by viewers around the world.Sougata Poddar has taught Economics, Statistics and Business in various leading universities worldwide for several years. His areas of research interest are Applied Economic Theory, Industrial Organization and Competition Policy. He has published widely in the field of Technology Transfer and Licensing, Economics of Digital Piracy and Copyright Issues. His publications appeared in Economic Theory, Economics Letters, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Oxford Economic Papers, Review of Industrial Organization among other leading journals of economics and generated significant research impact and citations. His main research focus is to understand and analyze the impact of consumer behavior, firm strategies, emerging technologies and technology trends in the decision-making process of firms and competition policies from government agencies. Sougata is an economics faculty at the Argyros School of Business and Economics in Chapman University. He lives in Irvine, California.Heather Gonzalez is an independent policy analyst with over two decades of experience in federal and state government. She served as a specialist with the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), where she advised Members of Congress and their staff on the America COMPETES Act(s) and U.S. competitiveness and innovation-related programs, funding, and policies. At the state level, she worked on issues related to technology and education as senior staff to two Silicon Valley state senators (Vasconcellos and Simitian). Gonzalez graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and has a master's in public policy from Pepperdine. She lives in San Francisco.Visit Our Pagewww.TheFeudalFuturePodcast.comFor additional information, please contact Mahnaz Asghari, sponsored project analyst for the Office of Research, at (714) 744-7635 or asghari@chapman.edu.Follow us on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-...Tweet thoughts: @joelkotkin, @mtoplansky, #FeudalFuture #BeyondFeudalismLearn more about Joel's book 'The Coming of Neo-Feudalism': https://amzn.to/3a1VV87Sign Up For News & Alerts: http://joelkotkin.com/#subscribeThis show is presented by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, which focuses on research and analysis of global, national and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time.

The topic of this episode is, “What is the Congressional Research Service, and what does it do?”The guest of this show is me, Kevin Kosar. I spent a little over a decade at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) working as a non-partisan analyst and as an acting section research manager. Subsequent to my time at the agency, I was one of the individuals who advocated that Congress make CRS reports available to the public and not just legislators. I've also written about CRS and the other legislative branch support agencies, like CBO and GAO.But it would be weird for me to ask myself questions and then answer them, so I asked my AEI colleague, Jaehun Lee, to serve as my interlocutor.Kevin Kosar:Welcome to Understanding Congress, a podcast about the first branch of government. Congress is a notoriously complex institution and few Americans think well of it, but Congress is essential to our Republic. It's a place where our pluralistic society is supposed to work out its differences and come to agreement about what our laws should be. And that is why we are here to discuss our national legislature and to think about ways to upgrade it so it can better serve our nation.I'm your host Kevin Kosar and I'm a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC.All right, Jaehun, take it away.Jaehun Lee:Let's start simple. What is the Congressional Research Service?Kevin Kosar:The Congressional Research Service is the rare government agency where its name actually accurately describes what it does. It is a research and reference service for Congress. Congress is its lone client. CRS is an agency in inside the Library of Congress. So it is a federal government agency—not some sort of private sector research outfit—and its job is to support Congress and to do so by providing nonpartisan research, analysis, legal opinions, and just about anything else that Congress may require.You think about Congress, it's comprised of regular Americans—anybody can run for Congress and anybody can become a congressional staffer. And when those people come to Washington DC, they're suddenly saddled with this immense responsibility of governing: they have to make laws, they have to oversee executive agencies, and they have to respond to lots of constituents. They have to receive interest groups who come through their doors, making demands of them related to policy and spending.Nobody who enters that position is fully equipped to handle it. We're all amateurs when it comes to governing, and CRS plays a critical role in helping those folks govern. So if you're a brand new legislator and you're trying to figure out, “How do I introduce my first bill? Where do I even get this thing drafted?” You can call up CRS and they'll say, “Okay, here are the steps. Here's how you should reach out to legislative counsel within the chamber who can actually put your ideas into a template and grind it through.” They can help you on these sort of things. They can teach you the basics of legislative procedure: what's a filibuster? How does a congressional budget process work?They also are a giant resource for facts and nonpartisan—and this is key, nonpartisan—analysis. Everybody in DC in the private sector to one degree or another has an angle, a perspective. Often, especially when you're talking about interest groups or lobbyists, they have specific policy goals and they are going to make arguments to persuade you to pick their policies or to support them. CRS...

Laut offiziellen Daten des „Congressional Research Service“ (CRS – vergleichbar mit dem Wissenschaftlichen Dienst des Bundestages), veröffentlicht unter dem Titel „Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2022“, haben die Vereinigten Staaten allein in den Jahren zwischen 1991 und 2022 mindestens 251 militärische Interventionen durchgeführt. Das entspricht durchschnittlich acht Militärinterventionen pro Jahr.Weiterlesen

What is the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and what is the role of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team? What kind of services does the STAA provide? How does the STAA differ from the Congressional Research Service (CRS)? Join Dr. Lewis and Dr. Timothy Persons, Chief Scientist for the Government Accountability Office, in this informative discussion on how the GAO's STAA team provides oversight for the federal science and technology programs and why that oversight is necessary.

If you enjoy this content please SUBSCRIBE, and REVIEW on iTunes, and SHARE! In this episode of Bitcoin Magazine's “Fed Watch'' podcast, Christian Keroles and I sit down with Jeff Snider, Head of Global Investment Research at Alhambra Investments and premier Eurodollar expert, for a conversation about the current and changing state of the global financial system. We cover LIBOR and SOFR, the Federal Reserve hawkish pivot, what we can learn from yield curves, and of course, bitcoin. Why LIBOR and SOFR are important Deep in the heart of the Eurodollar system was the London Interbank Offer Rate, known as LIBOR. It was the rate that banks charged each other to borrow money. Since it acted as a Fed Funds rate of sorts for the international Eurodollar system, it was the rate at which informed all the other rates above it. For years, the Federal Reserve and other central banks had been trying to get rid of LIBOR and it seems they might have done it this time. In 2022, “financial firms using LIBOR face legal, operational, credit, regulatory, and reputational risk,” according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) document published on Dec 15, 2021. Jeff's comments were insightful around why it had taken so long to move away from LIBOR and that the transition will take until at least June 2023 when the last futures contracts using LIBOR expire.  The replacement offered by the Federal Reserve is the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), while private firms like Bloomberg are also offering alternatives. There is no clear winner at this time, and it might be that there isn't one for a prolonged period of time. LIBOR was an emergent market phenomenon that allowed Eurodollars contracts to eat the financial world. From the above document, in 2020, LIBOR was referenced in $223 trillion worth of contracts. That's a lot of unwinding, and Jeff mentioned that in stopping the market from using LIBOR, regulators opened up much more systemic risk and uncertainty. For my part, I think this a fantastic opportunity to observe how the system adapts to a fundamental change. One day, it will have to happen when they adopt bitcoin, so this experiment is one where we can get some data. Exploring Reasons for the Hawkish Fed Pivot I couldn't let Jeff come on the show and not ask him what his thoughts are on the recent Jerome Powell flip-flopping. His response centered around the Fed being worried that the confusion and discontent over the world “transitory” was going to filter through to longer run consumer and business inflation expectations. That's what the Fed has wanted since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), but now they are worried inflation expectations will become too high. Jeff points out that inflation and growth expectations have actually been falling as the Fed has been pivoting hawkish (not after!). The 5y 5y forward is falling below 2% and the IMF has released their January updated GDP estimates for 2022, three months after their previous estimate, cutting US growth by 1.2% to 4 percent, and global growth to 4.4%. Next, we try to get into the head of the central banker and discuss other reasons Jerome Powell might have made this hawkish move, like to give room for future rate cuts and restarting of QE. What would the Fed do in the coming downturn if they were still at full throttle, rates at zero and QE at $120/month? That is the ECB's current situation by the way. Yield Curves look more like Japan than Recovery Jeff is a yield curve whisperer. I ask him specifically about one of his recent points he made about the US yield curve is more like Japan, in the lost two decade sense, than any sort of recovery. He launches into a great explanation. I'll quote at length because it's that good. What we would expect to see if things are going from very wrong, which means low nominal levels, to something better than very wrong, or even normal, we would expect the yield curve to first steepen way out, nominal rates, especially the longer end to rise much more rapidly than those at the short end. And that would tell us, “OK, maybe there's a regime change. Maybe we're getting away from this Japan deflationary scenario, it's something better.”  It started to be the case early last year, late 2020 and early 2021, particularly January and February of 2021, when the yield curve did steepen out. The yield curve told us at that time, essentially because it was low still and not really transitioning all that much, but it was transitioning that the market was becoming a little bit more optimistic. If only relative to 2020. Which is not a very high standard for comparison. But it never really progressed much more than that. The yield curve always stayed low and flat, even though it had steepened out.  Now ever since March of last year, it has remained essentially that way, but it has flattened even more, because now we have the Fed coming in with its with its rate hikes expected for this year, which has had the effect of boosting short term interest rates without boosting long term interest rates. Now we have a flattening yield curve at an incredibly low level that never really got outside the Japanese range, for lack of a better term, which means the yield curve is telling us not inflation, more deflationary risks. Jeff Snider's thoughts on Bitcoin Jeff has been on Fed Watch two previous times. Each time, we discussed bitcoin. He recently has been doing some different media where he gets to talk about bitcoin, so we were wondering if his opinions had changed at all. He is not anti-bitcoin. He likes bitcoin and wishes it luck, but doesn't fully embrace it. His main hurdle in fully embracing it is important, and bitcoiners would be well served by listening to him and trying to answer it instead of dismissing it. I personally disagree, but he is coming from a vast knowledge of the current system. The bottom line is he doesn't see a route to bitcoin being a transactional currency. He does see it as a store of value, but not able to get to a medium of exchange. The problem for Jeff is its lack of elasticity. Overall, it's a rational argument and worth engaging with. I think I'll write a future post for Bitcoin Magazine about precisely this criticism. Stay tuned. Thanks to Jeff Snider for coming on. It was a great conversation! If you enjoy this content please SUBSCRIBE, and REVIEW on iTunes, and SHARE!

On this episode of Health Equity Now, John is joined by DC policy wars veteran and fellow CMS alumnus Mark Newsom. John and Mark delve into SSBCI, the risk of Medicare Trust Fund solvency, and the political challenges facing the Biden/Harris administration's healthcare agenda. Prior to founding Health Evaluations, LLC, Mark led public policy development and regulatory advocacy at Humana and previously held senior policy and compliance roles at CVS Health and Coventry. On the government side, Mark occupied policy directorship and key operational roles at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and served as a senior policy advisor at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) during the development of the Affordable Care Act. (Note: interview recorded 3/1/21)

Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Todd Votteler, talks with Dr. Rosario Sanchez, who is a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Graduate Faculty in the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) at Texas A&M University. She is the Principal Investigator of the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Act Program funded by the USGS. Her work is to integrate, develop and create research and data on transboundary aquifers between Mexico and the United States, particularly with Texas. She has 15 years of academic and work experience on transboundary issues between Mexico and the United States and has been working and publishing on transboundary water issues at international and binational level since 2006. Her work has been cited by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 2016 and 2018. She has recently published the only complete study on transboundary aquifers between Mexico and Texas that has deserved recognition by state and federal agencies from both sides of the border. She is now working on developing models for cooperation and management of transboundary aquifers between Mexico and the United States.

These days, it costs almost nothing to publish information online. So why isn't more government information available to the public? Taxpayers spend $100 million a year on the Congressional Research Service (CRS), but only Congress gets to decide whether the research gets published. Is that fair? Should the CRS just put it all online? Evan is joined by Kevin Kosar, Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute and a supporter of legislation that would make all CRS reports public. Is there any potential harm to releasing this information? Could more transparency improve citizens' view of government? For more, see Kevin's post on Medium.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)—in partnership with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses—invites you to a briefing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions of the President's budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Speakers from the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) will give an overview of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) budget request, explain the EERE Office budget priorities, and provide context on how these priorities and trends compare to prior years.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)—in partnership with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses—invites you to a briefing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions of the President's budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Speakers from the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) will give an overview of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) budget request, explain the EERE Office budget priorities, and provide context on how these priorities and trends compare to prior years.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)—in partnership with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses—invites you to a briefing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions of the President's budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Speakers from the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) will give an overview of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) budget request, explain the EERE Office budget priorities, and provide context on how these priorities and trends compare to prior years.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)—in partnership with the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus—invites you to a briefing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy implications of the fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget proposal released by President Obama on February 2. The Administration's budget proposal would invest $7.4 billion in clean energy technology programs across all agencies, led by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Agriculture. This briefing will focus on the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), whose budget would increase to $2.7 billion. Speakers from the Department of Energy and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) will give an overview of the EERE budget requests, explain the Office's budget priorities, and provide context on how these priorities and trends compare to prior years.

April 15, 2014. Author Ruth Ellen Wasem discussed her book, "Tackling Unemployment: The Legislative Dynamics of the Employment Act of 1946," which covers the sweeping legislation on which postwar United States economic policy was built. Speaker Biography: Ruth Wasem is a social-science analyst in the Domestic Social Policy division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. She has researched, written and testified before Congress on immigration and social-welfare policies. Before joining CRS, she was a Public Health Service fellow in the Office of Population Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6340

April 19, 2013——The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) – in partnership with the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus – held a briefing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy implications of the fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget proposal released by President Obama on April 10. The budget proposal reflects the Administration's commitment to investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. In particular, the budget sets the foundations for achieving President Obama's new goal of doubling energy productivity by 2030 from 2010 levels. Speakers from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) gave an overview of the budget requests for various clean energy programs, explained budget priorities, and provided context on how these priorities and trends compare to prior years.

Yes, America is Still in an Official State of Emergency by Washington's Blog Is the U.S. still in an official state of emergency, and if so, what that means. The answer is yes, we are still in a state of emergency. Specifically: On September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001: "A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . ." That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 [throughout the Bush administration] to the present. On September 10 2009, President Obama continued the state of emergency: The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2009, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat. Does a State of Emergency Really Mean Anything? Does a state of emergency really mean anything? Yes, it does: The Washington Times wrote on September 18, 2001: "Simply by proclaiming a national emergency on Friday, President Bush activated some 500 dormant legal provisions, including those allowing him to impose censorship and martial law." Is the Times correct? Well, it is clear that pre-9/11 declarations of national emergency have authorized martial law. For example, as summarized by a former fellow for the Hoover Institution and the National Science Foundation, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gary Schlarbaum Award for Lifetime Defense of Liberty, Thomas Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties, Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty and Templeton Honor Rolls Award on Education in a Free Society: In 1973, the Senate created a Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emergency (subsequently redesignated the Special Committee on National Emergencies and Delegated Emergency Powers) to investigate the matter and to propose reforms. Ascertaining the continued existence of four presidential declarations of national emergency, the Special Committee (U.S. Senate 1973, p. iii) reported: "These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law. . . . taken together, [they] confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes. Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communications; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens." (Most or all of the emergency powers referred to by the above-quoted 1973 Senate report were revoked in the late 1970's by 50 U.S.C. Section 1601. However, presidents have made numerous declarations of emergency since then, and the declarations made by President Bush in September 2001 are still in effect). It is also clear that the White House has kept substantial information concerning its presidential proclamations and directives hidden from Congress. For example, according to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy: "Of the 54 National Security Presidential Directives issued by the [George W.] Bush Administration to date, the titles of only about half have been publicly identified. There is descriptive material or actual text in the public domain for only about a third. In other words, there are dozens of undisclosed Presidential directives that define U.S. national security policy and task government agencies, but whose substance is unknown either to the public or, as a rule, to Congress." As former United States congressman Dan Hamburg wrote in October: While ... Congress and the judiciary, as well as public opinion, “can restrain the executive regarding emergency powers,” nothing of the sort has occurred. Under the 1976 National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651), Congress is required to review presidentially declared emergencies. Specifically, “not later than six months after a national emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether that emergency shall be terminated.” Over the past eight years, Congress has failed to obey its own law, a fact that casts doubt on the legality of the state of emergency. As far as public opinion is concerned, how many Americans are even aware that a state of emergency even exists. For that matter, how many members of Congress know? ... The Obama administration is essentially arguing that the United States is currently in a state of resisting foreign invasion a full eight years after the attacks of 9/11! This is ludicrous. [Dr. Harold C. Relyea, a specialist in national government with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress] argues that Congress and the judiciary, as “co-equal branches of constitutional government,” serve as a check on the executive power. As we have seen, Congress has either been shut out of this process, or, as in so many cases, it has capitulated. Dr. Relyea then offers that public opinion can restrain the executive. But the public doesn’t even know they’re living under a state of emergency. The media doesn’t report it, and the government is certainly not in the business of providing information that might raise the hackles of real Americans. It’s time for the American people to rise to this challenge. Write your member of Congress, and your senators. Tell them to obey their own laws. Tell them to end this phony and treacherous state of emergency that imperils the freedom of us all. Hamburg's must-read article also discusses the suspension of Possse Comitatus, the operation of Northcom inside the U.S., and the refusal of the Department of Homeland Security to provide information on the state of emergency to Congress or even to Congress members on the Homeland Security committee with the highest security clearances.

Mr. Christopher Blanchard, United States Congress, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Middle East Policy Analyst, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division; General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.), former Commander, U.S. Central Command; Mr. Richard J. Millies, Vice President, International Strategy and Business Development, BAE Systems; and H.E. Mohammed Bin Abdullah Bin Mutib Al Rumaihi, Foreign Minister's Assistant for Follow Up Affairs, State of Qatar; at NCUSAR's 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. Visit www.ncusar.org to learn more.