New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have been withheld by Congress from online public distribution include the following.
Defense: FY2014 Authorization and Appropriations, December 16, 2013
Rare Earth Elements: The Global Supply Chain, December 16, 2013
China-U.S. Trade Issues, December 16, 2013
Samantar v. Yousef: The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Foreign Officials, December 16, 2013
Federal Pollution Control Laws: How Are They Enforced?, December 16, 2013
Federal Civil Aviation Programs: In Brief, December 16, 2013
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
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.