Noteworthy new publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
Bribery, Kickbacks, and Self-Dealing: An Overview of Honest Services Fraud and Issues for Congress, January 30, 2019
China’s Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Agricultural Products, CRS In Focus, January 29, 2019
New Law Requires Agencies to Report on Outstanding IG Recommendations, CRS Insight, January 30, 2019
Potential Implications of U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, CRS In Focus, updated January 25, 2019
The Trump Administration’s National Strategy for Counterterrorism: Overview and Comparison to the Prior Administration, CRS Insight, January 29, 2019
A Possible Second U.S.-North Korea Summit: What Diplomacy Has and Hasn’t Achieved, CRS Insight, January 23, 2019
The U.S. Army and Multi-Domain Operations, CRS Insight, January 17, 2019
Redirecting Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Resources During National Emergencies, CRS In Focus, January 28, 2019
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.