National Security Letters, Fossil Fuel, and More from CRS
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf).
“National Security Letters: Proposed Amendments in the 111th Congress,” October 28, 2009.
“U.S. Fossil Fuel Resources: Terminology, Reporting, and Summary,” October 28, 2009.
“Unconventional Gas Shales: Development, Technology, and Policy Issues,” October 30, 2009.
“Electoral College Reform: 111th Congress Proposals and Other Current Developments,” November 4, 2009.
“Congressional Printing: Background and Issues for Congress,” November 5, 2009.
“Resolutions of Inquiry: An Analysis of Their Use in the House, 1947-2009,” October 29, 2009.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.
FAS is launching the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (CRI) to build a new, transpartisan vision of government that works – that has the capacity to achieve ambitious goals while adeptly responding to people’s basic needs.