Last month, a resolution (H.Res. 496) was introduced in the House of Representatives to “condemn and censure” President Trump for “his inadequate response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.” No action has been taken on the resolution, which was sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler and 77 Democratic colleagues.
The history of such resolutions of censure was reviewed last week by the Congressional Research Service.
On only four occasions has a censure resolution ever been passed by the House or Senate, CRS found, though numerous attempts have been made since 1800 when the House proposed to charge President John Adams with interfering in judicial proceedings. All of the last three presidents prior to Trump have been targets of censure resolutions that were not adopted.
See Resolutions Censuring the President: History and Context, 1st-114th Congresses, CRS Insight, September 14, 2017.
And see, relatedly: Congressional Consideration of Resolutions to “Censure” Executive Branch Officials, CRS Insight, September 14, 2017.
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The ranks of qualified US Air Force pilots are being depleted due in part to increasing demand for commercial airline pilots, another new CRS publication reported. “According to current Air Force statistics, the service is 1,947 pilots short of its authorized strength,” CRS said. See U.S. Air Force Pilot Shortage, CRS Insight, September 11, 2017.
Other noteworthy new or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
Military Sexual Assault: A Framework for Congressional Oversight, September 12, 2017
Unauthorized Childhood Arrivals: Legislative Options, CRS Insight, September 14, 2017
Social Security: The Trust Funds, updated September 12, 2017
Social Security: What Would Happen If the Trust Funds Ran Out?, updated September 12, 2017
NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet, updated September 11, 2017
Taylor Force Act: Palestinian Terrorism-Related Payments and U.S. Aid, CRS Insight, September 12, 2017
CRISPR Gene Editing Research in Embryos Generates Scientific and Ethics Debate, CRS Insight, September 12, 2017
Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress, updated September 14, 2017
As the United States continues nuclear modernization on all legs of its nuclear triad through the creation of new variants of warheads, missiles, and delivery platforms, examining the effects of nuclear weapons production on the public is ever more pressing.
“The first rule of government transformation is: there are a lot of rules. And there should be-ish. But we don’t need to wait for permission to rewrite them. Let’s go fix and build some things and show how it’s done.”
To better understand what might drive the way we live, learn, and work in 2050, we’re asking the community to share their expertise and thoughts about how key factors like research and development infrastructure and automation will shape the trajectory of the ecosystem.
Recognizing the power of the national transportation infrastructure expert community and its distributed expertise, ARPA-I took a different route that would instead bring the full collective brainpower to bear around appropriately ambitious ideas.